True, I guess the Dodgers want a wild card spot. 
You know what the worst thing about the Indians losing 8 in a row is? It’s not that I can’t believe this is happening, it’s that I absolutely fucking can believe it! The starting pitching has been shaky all season, the lineup has no RH bats, and we were basically sold a team that has no margin for error and has to scrap for every win. That they hung around near the top of the division for as long as they did was almost totally based on a good bullpen and luck. That they’re melting down now at the worst possible time, against division foes, is about what we should have expected. If I could wish for one thing, aside from the Dolans selling the team (maybe to Randy Lerner?), it’s that the national media would apologize for slagging the fans for not showing up to the games. Whaddya know, assholes, looks like the fans did know better.
Ugh. Ugh, I say.
The Orioles continue to defy their pythagorean and remain in second place in the East.
They took the series against the Rays 2-1, and won today’s game 1-0 in the 10th inning, making them 11-2 in extra-inning games and 21-6 in 1-run games. They’re now 9 games over their X W-L.
There were a total of 7 runs scored over the three games between Baltimore and Tampa this weekend, and all three games were won in shutouts.
Yeah, that warning to the Pirates was total horseshit and Hurdle was right to protest it. The same umpire horrifically blew a call against the Bucs at third base today. (but that’s unrelated)
Hurdle and GM Huntington are going to talk to the league office about the propriety of getting a warning when your team didn’t do anything wrong.
Hit Batsmen this weekend:
Reds 4, Pirates 0.
And you posted this before today’s…well, whatever that was. The Indians at this point were certainly not likely to go anywhere, but today’s game sort of sealed the season.
For those who missed it, the Indians scored three runs in the top of the 10th against Detroit to have a 8-5 lead. Closer Chris Perez got the first two outs with ease, and then proceeded to give up the tying runs, followed quickly by a two-run walk-off by Miguel Cabrera.
Have I mentioned yet how much I approve of the Hanley Ramirez aquisition?
Well, at least the Buccos avoided the sweep, but they leave Cincinnati worse off than they were before, so there’s that.
I don’t think anyone expected Josh Hamilton to keep up his torrid early pace, but he has really been on a downhill slide since the middle of May.
On May 11, Hamilton’s line read .407/.463/.873 with 17 HR.
Since then, he’s gone .226/.296/.428 with 12 HR, and since the All-Star Break his numbers are .184/.217/.303 with 2 HR.
And 5-1 in the intersection of those sets, so they’re 27-7 in one-run and extra-inning games combined.
20 games above .500 in the close ones, 14 below in games decided by 2+ runs in regulation.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any team have a season quite like it.
It’s over, MODALIZE. I was at tonight’s game. A cold calm came over me. It’s time to stop worrying about playoff chances and start just enjoying baseball.
And this is a contract year for Hamilton, right? It wold be awfully hard to justify Pujols money on him. Too hot/cold with the bat and some off-the-field concerns.
The Nats almost gave away their game against the lowly Astros last night, but pulled it back from the edge just in time.
They’re 23 games above .500 now. The last time a Washington, DC MLB team was 23 games above .500 was 1933, the last time the Senators won the AL pennant.
The Nats have won 13 out of their last 17, but still can’t shake the Braves, who’ve won 21 of their last 28. The Braves will play the Nats in DC in two weeks, and we’ve got tickets for the Wednesday game in the series. It’ll be the Firebug’s first baseball game. My wife’s a Braves fan, so one of us will go home happy!
Looking at this play (which is hilarious), I don’t think the Nats “pulled it back from the edge”; I think the Astros handed the Nats the game, saying “Here, we insist!”
That play is comedy gold. It’s like baseball with the Three Stooges.
- an awful attempt at a bunt
- pitcher and first baseman colliding as they go for the ball
- third baseman getting in the way
- first baseman throwing wide and sending the ball into right field
- lead runner running through the stop sign at third (with no outs)
- throw home going well over the catcher’s leaping attempt at a catch
If Bernadina had been thrown out at home, he probably would have been in quite a bit of trouble. There were no outs, and the third base coach held up the stop sign, which would have given him two at-bat opportunities to score on a hit, a sacrifice, or a wild pitch/passed ball.
In case you didn’t catch it, Vin Scully’s translation of Jim Tracy’s rant in last night’s ballgame was priceless.
I think the translation itself starts at 2:20.
I guarantee the Nats will not repeat that feat.
I particularly love the third baseman’s random flying leap into the play. I am not sure what he was trying to do, but he forced the throw into rightfield. The TV call is really bad, though. That play called for a Jon Miller-on-Juan Rivera style torrent of abuse and they did not convey how terrible that sequence was. It was Little League quality.
RUBEN Rivera! The Dodgers have enough problems these days, thanks.
My favorite part was when Vin puts on a British accent and says “He caught the bloody ball”
I also like his point about video replay.
Personally, I was a fan of – and intend to start using – “That was blinkin’ fertilizer!”
“And that was the worst baserunning in the history of the game!”
The Astros play was a team effort, though. the third baseman looked like a Secret Service agent hurling himself into the path of an assassin’s bullet, except in this case the bullet got by, went by another agent, and then it somehow came back and missed another agent. It sounded like all 34 Astros fans in attendance were pretty upset by it.