Not sure if you heard, but Fernando Tatis Jr. basically saved baseball over the weekend. Despite the nonsensical seven inning no hitters and the bogus runner on second rule in extra innings and all the other garbage the current form of baseball features, Tatis Jr. is a shiny ray of hope in an otherwise frustrating-to-watch league.
Tatis Jr.'s final tally in San Diegos' four-game set with the rival L.A. Dodgers: 8-for-18, five home runs, six RBIs and nine runs scored. More importantly, three wins for the Padres, who are now three games back of the Dodgers for first in the NL West. Double more importantly, he trolled the hell out of them all weekend, specifically pitcher Trevor Bauer.
To Bauer's credit, he was perfectly fine with it, and most folks under the age of 40 are starting to come around on the whole "let the kids play" schtick. Phil Mickelson, a San Diego native, is not one of those people. He was absolutely sick over Tatis Jr.'s postgame leaping celebration on Sunday night following the Padres comeback win in extra innings:
OK, maybe we lied. In reality, Mickelson is just making an expert dad joke about how jealous he is of the height Tatis Jr. and teammate Trent Grisham got here. Lefty can only dream of those ups:
Not bad for a guy who didn't have a running start like Tatis Jr. and Grisham did. Unfortunately, those days could be over for 50-year-old Phil, no matter how much magical coffee he pumps into those veins.
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