Three Up, Three Down: Rich Hill deserved so much better

The Little League World Series is going on, and as if actually making it to the pinnacle of youth baseball isn't enough for those talented kids, they also had the opportunity to rub shoulders with real-life, actual Major League Baseball players! Thanks to MLB coming up with an awesome idea for once, the Pirates and Cardinals  descended upon Williamsport, Pa., this past Sunday for the Little League Classic.

The big leaguers didn't just show up in town to play a baseball game. They spent the entire day hanging out with the kids. From the ballparks to the buses, if you saw a Little League player, there was a Major Leaguer nearby. This all culminated in the Pirates and Cardinals playing a game in front of just under 2,600 Little League players and their families. It was an amazing idea, and it should be an annual occurrence — if only to remind us all that this is still a kid's game above anything else. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Pirates beat the Cards 6-3 in the game.

Down: Rich Hill threw nine scoreless, hitless innings and lost

Yes, you read that heading correctly. Rich Hill pitched the game of his life on Wednesday night. He threw nine full shutout innings of baseball while striking out 10 Pirates batters and giving up zero hits over those nine innings. He even had a perfect game through eight. Unfortunately, this may end up being one of those performances that gets lost through the sands of time. Despite Hill's amazing performance, the Dodgers didn't score either, and the only hit he gave up for the entire night was a walk-off solo home run that won the game for the Pirates in the 10th.

Everything has come up Dodgers for Los Angeles this season, so I can understand if it's hard for Joe or Joan Baseball Fan to feel bad about the team finally having some bad luck. With that being said, this is some absurdly bad luck! In fact, it was historically bad luck. Hill is only the 14th pitcher in baseball history to have a no-hitter broken up in extra innings, and per Ryan M. Spaeder, this was the first time ever that it was broken up via walk-off home run. The Dodgers haven't had to deal with bad luck much this season, but they and Rich Hill apparently received an entire season's worth of it in one night.

Up: Manny Machado is the man right now

Manny Machado may have had a slow start to this season, but he's rounded into MVP-caliber form as of late. Right now he's in the midst of a tear at the plate that's making people remember why he's considered as one of the game's premier players. He's hit a couple of walk-off homers in the past few days, but his efforts this past Friday night were otherworldly.

Baltimore's star third baseman hit three homers in that game against the Angles and managed to upstage Mike Trout for a night. The third homer was the crown jewel, as it was not only a walk-off dinger, but a grand slam as well. He followed that up with another walk-off homer the following Wednesday. In a crazy AL Wild Card race where wins are as precious as gold, the stars are stepping their games up, and Manny Machado is doing his best to make sure the Orioles stay in it.

Down: Umpires stage extremely lame protest for a day

There is a lot going on in the world right now. This isn't the time or place to discuss all of the ills that plague our society, and even if it was, you'd hate me because I'd talk your head off about them for a solid two hours. I'm saying this to note that baseball's umpires came off as being extremely out-of-touch when they staged a protest last weekend.

After Ian Kinsler was "only" fined $10,000 for critical comments made in the direction of Angel Hernandez, the umpires responded by wearing white wristbands Saturday and planned to do so on an indefinite basis. They relented after a day, and that's only because the commissioner decided to have a meeting with them to discuss things. Still, this was very silly and accomplished the exact opposite of what any good umpire, referee or official wants — lack of attention. Instead, this was the highest-profile example of an ump show you will see in baseball for a while.

Up: Reds blow a nine-run lead and still win

In last week's Three Up, Three Down, I noted that Joey Votto had transformed into Wrigley Field's biggest villain after he tried his best to troll the fans and Joe Maddon's tactical nous. Well, the grand finale of that series was an absolute doozy that saw Votto further his status as a villain by hitting a three-run dinger to put the Reds up 9-0 after just a couple of innings. Jon Lester had another one of "those" days.

However, the wind was blowing out of Wrigley Field on that day, which meant the game was not over. By the time the fifth inning rolled around, the Cubs had tied the game 9-9. Just when it seemed like order had been restored and the Cubs were going to beat a bad team like they should, the Reds managed to compose themselves and went on to win the game. They won't have many highlights this year, but that game was definitely one of them.

Down: What in the world were the Mariners doing on this play?

The Seattle Mariners are normally a good defensive team, but their trip to Cobb County to visit the Atlanta Braves resulted in a mental vacation from playing defense. They committed seven errors across the three-game series (which they managed to take two out of three, because the Braves are not a good baseball team), but there was one defensive play (or lack thereof) that defied all logic.

Now, to be clear, this should have resulted in a TOOTBLAN for the Braves. However, rookie Ozzie Albies managed to outsmart the entire left side of Seattle's defensive infield and scored a run. The play still ended in Braves getting thrown out on the base paths, but it should have never come to that. Maybe the Mariners will return to being a good defensive team once they leave Georgia, but for now they left a trail of defensive blunders in their rare trip to the South.