From the desk of Bill Arnold

SKIDOO

Yankees skipper Aaron Boone and Mets manager Buck Showalter could both be handed the pink slip before the conclusion of the regular season on Oct. 1, say the online oddsmakers at sportsbetting.ag.

The Yanks, although snapping their nine-game losing streak (the team's longest since 1982) with a win on Wednesday, have gone 6-16 since July 30 and are residing four games under .500 and in last place. Across the city, Showalter has seen his Mets completely fall apart and are scrambling to stay out of the division's cellar. The Met's poor play and some ill-timed injuries have left the team 10 games under .500.

Last year, both teams made the playoffs. The Yankees lost the American League Championship Series to the eventual World Series Champion Houston Astros, while the Mets were knocked out in a wild-card game by the San Diego Padres.

Both teams began the 2023 season as favorites to win their divisions and perhaps reprise their 2000 Subway World Series. But Boone and Showalter aren't the only managers to disappoint. Here are the odds (through Wednesday) on which of the 10 struggling 2023 skippers will be first to walk the plank:

Aaron Boone, Yankees, 7-4

Buck Showalter, Mets, 3-1

Phil Nevin, Angels, 4-1

Bob Melvin, Padres, 6-1

Oliver Marmol, Cardinals, 7-1

Pedro Grifol, White Sox, 8-1

Bud Black, Rockies, 9-1

Alex Cora, Red Sox, 16-1

Mark Kotsay, A's, 33-1

Matt Quatraro, Royals, 33-1

 

SEVEN RULES

The number seven played the tiniest role in the game between the San Francisco Giants and the Atlanta Braves on August 18. In the bottom of the seventh, Giants reliever Luke Jackson, wearing number 77, relieved Scott Alexander on the mound and pitched a scoreless inning of relief. At the top of the eighth, the Braves replaced starter Spencer Strider with their number 77, reliever Joe Jimenez. The reliever's first pitch hit the Giants batter, J.D. Davis, who wears number seven.

 

SAY HEY, A NEW KID

Willie Mays saw another of his records (a somewhat obscure one) disappear when Jose Altuve recorded his 2,000th career hit on August 19. With that milestone hit, the Astro second baseman broke Mays' record as the fastest player to reach 2,000 hits, 200 home runs, and 200 stolen bases. Altuve needed just 1,630 games to break Willie's record of 1,669 games.

 

AROUND THE HORN

... The Angels turned the 14th 6-4-3-2 triple play in major-league history when they executed the rare three-out feat against the Rays on August 18. The last team to turn the 6-4-3-2 trick was the Brewers against the Red Sox on April 28, 1971.

... Tropical Storm Hilary bowled into Southern California on August 20, knocking Sunday games for the Angels, the Dodgers, and the Padres right off the schedule, along with the Angels' game Monday against the Reds. The Giants and Dodgers arrived in the Golden State in 1958, the Angels in 1961, the A's in 1968 and the Padres in 1969, and of the more than 23,000 games in the halcyon years that followed, the five teams have seen just 115 called because of bad weather.

 ... Trea Turner became the first MLB player to hit two homers off the same relief pitcher in the same inning when the Phillies sent 11 batters to the plate during their eight-run eighth against the Nationals on August 19.

... Except for two pitcher's errors, Ezequiel Duran has made the only infield errors by a Ranger since the All-Star Break: a total of five through Wednesday.

... The Angels' 6-4-3-2 triple play of August 118 gave the team the unique distinction of becoming the last team to turn a triple play in the 21st century,

... On Tuesday, Kyle Harrison (22 years and 10 days)  became the youngest left-handed starter to debut with the Giants since Madison Bumgarner (20 years and 58 days) took the bump in his maiden game on Sept. 3, 2009.

... Eugenio Suárez of the Mariners is the only qualified third baseman in the bigs who hasn't made a throwing error this season.

... Northpaw Kodai Senga just became the seventh Mets' rookie pitcher to record at least 150 strikeouts in a season, hurling his milestone whiffer on August 19. He joins Dwight Gooden (284 K's in 1984), Jerry Koosman (178, 1967), Tom Seaver (170, 1967), Jon Matlack (169, 1972), and Noah Syndergaard (166, 2015).

... The Rangers' Jordan Montgomery is the first left-handed pitcher in MLB history to record at least two wins over 26 innings of work, allowing five runs or less, issuing fewer than three walks and recording 26 strikeouts, all in his first four games after being traded. The Rangers acquired Montgomery from the Cardinals at the trade deadline.

... The Blue Jays' pitching staff became the final team to give up 500 runs this season when they surrendered three runs to the Orioles on Tuesday.

... The Braves have scored the most first-inning runs this season: 123. The Mets have scored the fewest: 42.

... Cal Raleigh (Mariners), Mookie Betts, and Max Muncy (Dodgers) are tied for the second most multi-homer games this season, with five. The Braves' Matt Olson leads the majors with seven.

... On Monday, Triston Casas drew his 75th career walk, making him the only Bosox player besides Ted Williams to record at least 25 homers and 75 free passes in his first 140 career games. In his first 140, Williams had 28 homers and 92 walks.

... The Giants' Patrick Bailey, with 62 starts, and Blake Sabol, with 35, are just the seventh pair of rookie catchers since 1965 to each start at least 35 games behind the dish in a season. The Cubs were the last team to boast two such active newbie backstops: Steve Clevenger, with 49, and Welington Castillo, with 46.

... The Braves, for the first time since 1961, have had five pitchers with concurrent 10-innings-or-more scoreless streaks: Spencer Strider (14.0 innings), Raisel Iglesias (12.0), Jesse Chavez (11.0), Charlie Morton (11.0) and Pierce Johnson (10.2).

... His single on August 18 made Masyn Winn, at 21 years, 150 days, one of the four youngest Cardinal shortstops to record a hit in his MLB debut. He joins Tommy Thevenow (20 years and 364 days old, in 1924), Frank "Creepy" Crespi (20.021, in 1938), and Garry Templeton (20.138, in 1976).

 ... The Royals are 5-20 (.200) in games decided by exactly two runs.

... Although the Marlins have a 16-25 (.390) record for the first game of a three-game series this season, they are 46-35 (.568) for the second and third games of the set.

... On Tuesday night, LF Everson Pereira, CF Harrison Bader and RF Aaron Judge each recorded an outfield assist...marking the Yankees' first game with an outfield assist by each OF position since July 27, 1980, at Kansas City, where Lou Piniella (LF), Ruppert Jones (CF), and Reggie Jackson (RF) performed the same trifecta.

... The Giants have recorded two or more errors in a major-league-leading 25 games.

 

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