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Nick Castellanos was the difference maker as the Phillies took three out of four in their showdown series against the Braves,  Sunday night, his two-run double tied things in the 6th; his two-out RBI single in the 11th walked off the NL East leaders as they stretched their division lead to seven games with 25 to go.  Tack that onto his two-run 7th inning homer that gave the Phils the lead in Thursday night's series opener and you've got a big reason why Philadelphia is a big step closer to its first division title in 13 years.
(Below:)  Austin Wells picked a good time for the first two homer game of his career.  Friday night, the Yankees rookie catcher drove in four in a 6-3 victory over the Cardinals in the Bronx. 
(This image is from the Yanks' 4th of July home game against the Reds.)  

Let's zoom in on a couple of players promoted as September began:  Duke Ellis, the gifted base stealer but a marginal hitter, quickly passed through the Mets organization in June after being cut by the White Sox.  (I caught him during one of his two games with the AA Binghamton Rumble Ponies.)  His 2024 journey also included some minor league time with the Mariners.  I was surprised when the Yankees recently picked him up -- even more when he was announced as a September call up, instead of highly touted prospect Jasson Dominguez.

(Below:)  After being released by the the Red Sox earlier this season, Pablo Reyes did a great job turning around his reputation after signing with the Mets organization.  Hitting in the .280s with 10 home runs for AAA Syracuse earned the veteran infielder a promotion to the majors as the Mets roster expanded to 28 on Sunday.

Talk about an embarrassment of riches, the Orioles, who already feature baseball's best young catcher in Adley Rutschman, have another budding backstop in Samuel Basallo.  After crushing 16 homers and batting near .290 at AA Bowie (where I saw him in action on August 1st), he was just bumped up to Baltimore's top farm club Norfolk.

Winding the Time Machine back a decade:  Johnny Cueto, facing the Mets at Citi Field in 2014.  En route to his only 20-win season, the Dominican native also led the league in strikeouts (242) and was the runner up for the Cy Young Award.  But he never reached that peak again.  Since 2017, plagued by injury and ineffectiveness, he 's failed to reach double digits in victories.  And after being hit hard in a pair of starts for the Angels, L.A. just let him go, likely bringing an end to his 17-season career.  He can proudly look back on 144 career wins, eight of them shutouts.
Also from ten years ago this summer:  Jason Heyward swings against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.  Seen here in his Braves days, the lefty outfielder just joined the Astros after being cut by the Dodgers.  Houston is the fifth major league club for the 15 year veteran

(Below:) Reid Brignac in the batting cage before a 2014 Phillies/Mets game in New York.  These days, he's the manager of the Mets AA farm club in Binghamton, where he's overseeing several good prospects including shortstop Jett Williams.



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