I knew I could count on the moral support from the group here!
Cleveland must have heard some rumor that Detroit was bankrupt so they game them four games.
Unfortunately, I think it’s time for somebody to stick a fork in the Indians.
What I like about the Pirates chances is pitching, pitching, and more pitching. Grilli will be back. Wandy and James McDonald could be ready to go in September if any of the starters falter. And then there is Brandon Cumpton to come up from the minors, as he has done. A lot of options for unforeseen circumstances.
You know, you hear that all the time “pitching, pitching, pitching”. I guess this is why I get so frustrated when the 2013 Reds lose all these pitchers duels with other teams. The Reds in recent history haven’t had much of an issue putting the bat on the ball and scoring runs. Guys that have passed through here like Dunn, Griffey, Greg Vaughn and many others could lay the wood, but the teams those guys played on had abysmal pitching. So up until really the beginning of last season, the Reds pitching has never been very good. Now it is extremely good, both in the rotation and the bullpen (and without Cueto!) and now we have problems scoring runs.
I want my cake and I wanna eat it too! Wah!
Except above posts show the Reds don’t have problems scoring runs. They are 3rd in the NL. 4th in the NL in team ERA, tied for 2nd in WHIP.
I am specifically referencing the month of July when the Reds started to struggle to keep pace with the other two division leaders St Louis and Pittsburgh. If you look at their losses over the course of that entire month, it’s something like eleven or twelve of their losses where they failed to score more than two runs, while keeping the other team within two runs. THOSE are the kinds of games I am talking about, and there were a lot of them last month…against some really good teams, too.
Looks like the Reds were 4th in the NL in runs scored in July. They are 8th in August.
They were 2nd in ERA in July. They are dead last in ERA for August.
I don’t know how that can be, maybe it is, but anyway…
They’ve played five games in August so far and are 3-2 and scored 22 runs, for an average of 4.4 rpg.
In their 13 losses in July, they scored only ONE more run, 23 runs total in 13 games, for an average of 1.76 rpg.
I guess I’ll stop complaining, the month is over. Hopefully they can figure out a way to catch up to the Pirates and still win this thing. There’s still a lot of baseball left.
Very true, I should have mentioned that he was a closer not a starter. Still, it’s impressive I think, even if less so than if he was a starter. He pretty much only pitches a cutter, he is walking no one and is striking out people like crazy.
The downside of so many NL players making such a big splash this year is that some of the less well known players don’t get the recognition they might otherwise get. I was reading an article earlier today about Dodger’s starter Ryu. The article essentially said, in any other year he would be a strong ROY candidate but with Jose Fernandez, Shelby Miller, Yasiell Puig, Tony Cingrani, Julio Teheran and Trevor Rosenthal also making their rookie debuts this year he essentially doesn’t stand a chance. This goes double since Kershaw, Greinke, Ramirez and Puig are sucking up just about all of the Dodger press.
It’s a good year to be a fan of NL baseball.
Speaking of which, it’s (pratically) mid-August. Are there any clear front-runners for ROY in either league? I assume Cabrera will take MVP again in the AL, but what are people thinking in both categories right now?
While you’re all contemplating the answer to my last question, here’s a story about another former major leaguer trying to make himself relevant again by pointing a finger at others: Jack Clark.
My top three would probably be 1) Fernandez, 2) Puig, 3) Miller, but I can see a case for any of them. They have all been nuts.
Ahem. Braves streak at 14 now. Starting pitcher for the Marlins had given up 3 homers in 80+ innings so far this year. He gave up 3 in the first 4 innings tonight.
I have decided that any time the Dodgers look like they are in for a certain loss I have to go to bed, because that seems to be a guarantee for a remarkable comeback victory. It would be nice not to sleep through a comeback at some point, but right now I am just happy that they won. :D:cool:
Also, no one seems to really be talking about it much, but Puig has been walking a lot since the All Star break. According to Tony Jackson (formerly of ESPN, on his brand new blog) on the last road trip Puig:
So some of that plate discipline that was missing when he was first called up is starting to show. He’s adjusting to the league really well, and still playing blazing hot baseball.
Interestingly, Fangraphs says that once again Mike Trout is more valuable than Miguel Cabrera.
I voted for Trout last year but this year, no, I don’t buy it. I think it’s Cabrera. WAR placing Trout over Cabrera is entirely based on an extremely negative view of Cabrera’s defense, which is fair in one way (it’s true) but not in another (Cabrera is basically filling a spot fr which the Tigers have no alternative.) And Trout’s defense is not exceptional as it was last year. I also think playing for a winner has to count for at least a small consideration of “maybe the stats are a bit off” and that puts Cabrera over the top, IMHO.
In the NL nobody is talking about Andrew McCutchen but he’s the best player on the surprise team of the year. He’s a really good defensive center fielder who does everything well. He’s my pick.
I can do you one better, sadly. We LEFT THE GAME after the fifth inning. In our defense, neither of us was feeling great, but we weren’t dying or anything. We came home and went to sleep. I am waking up to the rather shocking news about the comeback. Still, more important that they won than for me to have seen it!
It was nice that they paid a little tribute to James Loney last night. Despite his detractors, he was one of my favorite players when he was with the team, and I appreciated that they acknowledged him. And then, of course, he went on to go 3-4 against them — would have been sweet revenge for him had the Rays managed to win.
I feel as though even in mid-August, commentators are still reluctant to take the Pirates seriously, so I’m not surprised there’s silence on McCutchen. Maybe by September, he and his team will get appropriate recognition?
You too? 
I’ve missed a couple of those by going to bed early. I look at it as “doing my part for the team.”
Well the Tigers got 4 ten game winners now. A really good shot for all 5, with Porcello sitting at 8. However,I am having no luck googling for common of a thing 5 ten game winners is.
I would think this not terribly uncommon among good teams. Look up teams with a lot of wins and you find many with 5 10-game winners.
Just last year Washington and San Francisco had five 10-game winners. The year before, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Texas all had five.
The 1998 Yankees had six.
Another Dodgers win, another D-backs loss. LA is now 66-50 with 46 games left, up 6.5 games. If they play .500 ball from here on out, they end with 89 wins. To match that Ariz would need to finish 30-16. Shaping up pretty good…