In recent history, the Tigers fade hard down the stretch, but 1) this year has been different so far and 2) the Twins have to play some really good ball, which they typically do in the latter part of the season.
I don’t count the Twins out, but they’ve got to start raking like crazy.
I have this theory that J.P. Ricciardi is an employee of the Boston Red Sox and is paid to be sure that the Jays aren’t a threat to the Sox in any way. He’s doing his job wonderfully! The reason Halladay didn’t end up on the Sox is simply to keep up appearances.
Now if only the Yanks would fire Cashman so we could get someone working in that clubhouse…
Well the Yanks are doing well. They are 8½ up and are healthy with a bullpen that is doing great. Even Mo being out for the weekend is not slowing them down.
Detroit seems to be pulling away in the Central and the Twinkies are playing like what they are a bad team with a few excellent players. The White Sox are suffering from poor management on the field and in the office.
Angels are going to be hard to catch 4 games up on Texas. Texas is two behind Boston for the wildcard.
Boston ironies, both exiled started are pitching great in the NL.
Cards & Phillies are locks and the Dodgers are 4½ up. The Wild card appears to be down to the Rockies and Giants.
Cross posted from here. Baseball 2009 - September & end of season Edition and Pennant Races(?)
I find myself in a pretty unusual position this weekend, rooting (sort of) against my Orioles, and rooting for the White Sox, who i hate.
But, with the Yankees having a stranglehold on th East, about the only thing i can bring myself to cheer for now is the possibility that the Red Sox might miss the postseason. That, at least, would make October baseball a little more interesting.
The White Sox helped out by defeating Boston, but the Orioles chose today to break out of a skid and came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Rangers 5-4. I’m still happy to see Baltimore win, of course, but right now seeing Boston lose would be a little more satisfying.
I just watched Andres Blanco of the Cubs make one of the most amazing plays I’ve had the pleasure of catching on live television. Diving, stretched out stop of a hard grounder, rolling over on his back and simultaneously launching a bullet to Derrek Lee from his back to nail his man at first by less than half a step.
I’m sure the play will be on Sports Center later. Worth catching.
Apparently the Yankees are so far ahead in the standings that they decided to let randomly chosen fans play defense today. Holy moly, what a terrible defensive game this has been.
Looks like the Rangers aren’t serious about making the playoffs. Losing 7-0 against the Orioles. Losing 2/3 against the Orioles doesn’t help you win the wild card. I know Hamilton and Young are hurt. Still, got to find a way to win.
I look forward to watching it.
In other fielding news, the Brewers turned a 5-4-3 triple play against the Giants today. See it here.
I went to a low minor league game last night, in a league where errors are…frequent if not downright rampant. At the end of the eighth I looked at my scorecard and realized that there had been not a single error committed by either team. I was wondering when the last time I’d seen THAT in this league had been when all of a sudden the floodgates opened. Five errors in the ninth…and had I been official scorer, I’d have ruled six…
Holy moly indeed.
The Giants had a 1.42 ERA on this road trip, and couldn’t manage a winning record.
They have easily the best pitching in the league, probably the best pitching they will have in my lifetime, and they are going to completely waste it because they also have the worst offense in the league (yes, even worse than the Padres when you take the Padres’ stadium into account).
They can’t even bunt. Since they only give up a little more than one run per game, if they just didn’t pop up bunts they could win.
My god. The Giants cleanup hitter this year has a .276 OBP.
Not AVG. OBP. (not to mention he is also the slowest runner in the league)
Welcome to being a Blue Jays fan last year.
I find wildly unbalanced teams frustrating, but interesting. How can you do such a great job putting a pitching staff together and have such comically inept batters?
Imagine where the Giants would be if Pablo Sandoval hadn’t emerged this year.
Incidentally, Ichiro got to 2000 hits today.
Ichiro for the Hall of Fame? I say hai.
Lou Gehrig played his whole career as a Yankee. As did Joe Dimaggio. And Mickey Mantle. Derek Jeter, quite possibly today, is about to have more hits in Pinstripes than any of them.
Wow, the D-backs announcers just ripped Manny. He got thrown out of the game arguing about a strike. They were saying that Manny just wanted a day off and was pissed about playing a day game after a night game.
He won’t be alone. I’m predicting at least 3 toss-outs before this game is over. Scherzer shouldn’t have pitched at Martin. He will pay for that, as will the rest of the D-backs.
I agree. He is impossible to pitch to. When we played him a week ago, he took a low inside pitch that looked perfectly unhittable and drilled a double to right center.
Shit. Madison Bumgarner has been called up to the Giants, possibly to start tonight for an injured Tim Lincecum.
Matt Holliday hits a two-runner homer off Trevor Hoffman in the top of the ninth, as the Cardinals come from behind to beat the Brewers. I almost feel sorry for the Brewers and their fans.
The Cubs have not gained any ground on the Cardinals since August 3, and that was only because the Cards had a day off. I don’t feel sorry for the Cubs, their $150 million payroll, or their fans.