Strange third inning in tonight’s Yankees vs Detroit game.
Jacoby Ellsbury, who was batting lead-off, opened the inning with a single off David Price. Then every other batter 2 through 9 had a hit. I’m sure it’s happened before but it was pretty cool.
After winning 12 of 13, the Nats play like a last place team against the Phillies and get swept. Six and a half games is not looking so comfortable with a west coast trip to LA and Seattle coming up. The way they hit against Burnett King Felix could be flirting with a no hitter on Friday.
And if Hiroki Kuroda can beat Detroit tomorrow, he’ll have at least one victory against all 30 MLB teams. Not bad for 7 years in the Majors.
This really is a “what if” year for the Yanks. A healthy rotation with some combination of Pineda, Tanaka, Sabathia, Nova, Kuroda, McCarthy, and Shane Greene for a whole season might have been pretty damned good.
Giants pitcher Yusmeiro Petit made a bit of history today, setting an all-time Major League record by retiring his 46th consecutive batter. That’s 15.1 perfect innings…stretched out over an 8-game span in his case.
Two years ago (or was it last year?) he was an out away from a perfect game. In between then and now, he’s been decidedly mediocre. Weird.
Blank Slate:
Sadly, it looks like he’ll need another shot at them.
Here’s an interesting oddity. The Astros are second in the AL in home runs, but last in the AL in BA. But they’ve got Jose Altuve, who is leading the league in batting and has only 6 HR. So if somebody else was playing second base, they would have even more HRs, and an even lower BA.
The only thing I care about at this point is that it’s August 29, and the Seattle Mariners are 12 games over .500.
30 games left to play, and they’ll have to go 8-22 to finish with a losing season. I don’t see that happening. Can they make the playoffs? Possibly. I’ll just be happy to see them finish over .500.
Narionals have hit 4 home runs off King Feliix in the first 4 innings. Didn’t expect that; I thought it might be over when the Mariners scored two. Zimmermann’s not looking great either, and will have a hard time going 5 with his pitch count.
The Orioles, 8 games up, have the biggest division lead of any team in MLB. They made a couple of late trades today, getting Alejandro de Aza from the White Sox, and Kelly Johnson from the Red Sox. Neither of these guys is especially inspiring, but De Aza should represent an upgrade over David Lough in the outfield.
In the NL West, things are suddenly looking a bit tight again, as the Giants are on a 5-game win streak, and the Padres just beat the Dodgers in extra innings for the second night in a row.
Detroit’s back on top of the AL Central, tied with KC, and there are only two games separating the top three teams in the NL Central.
As August winds to a close…the Angels, trying for a four-game sweep of Oakland, hang a six-spot on the A’s in the bottom of the second. Wonder if Adam Dunn will be able to help Oakland score a few runs.
Cubs choked away a 5 run lead to split a series with the Cardinals. Giving serious thought to going to tomorrow’s game at Wrigley against the Brewers.
Go, by all means!
And cheer loudly for the Cubs!
I gave Kansas City no real chance at the start of the season, despite all the media picks that looked merely “trendy” at the time.
But they’re doing it. Good on yer, lads!
But if Oakland still had Cespedes … 
Cespedes was batting .260 this morning for Boston. Sam Fuld, picked up by Oakland from the Twins just after the Cespedes trade, is also batting .260 . The A’s are a better team for those trades (obtaining Lester and Fuld). Also, they were slumping offensively before those trades.
Samardzija goes out Saturday and throws a 4 hit complete game but looses 2 - 0 to the Angels.
Manager Bob Melvin went ballistic in a closed door meeting after today’s (Sunday) loss to the Angels.
The Adam Dunn trade looks interesting though he strikes out ~ 50% of his at bats.
I think you’re right that Oakland is a better team for the trade, especially given that Lester’s done a good job since he arrived, but batting averages don’t tell the whole story.
Here are their offensive lines since the trade:
Cespedes .263/.317/.470
Fuld .253/.298./354
As you can see, Cespedes has been getting on base more than Fuld, and he has considerably more power. And those differences reflect the long-term batting numbers of the two players. I’d definitely prefer Cespedes in my batting lineup.
Giants just swept the Brewers in a 3 game series by a combined score of 31-8. Does this mean the Giants are good again? Who the hell knows?