Now that the Nats are out of it, my interest in MLB is likely to fade. Nevertheless, here is the current top 10 in the Power Rankings issued by CBS Sports. Props to the Yankees, who were supposed to be terrible this year. They're like the Reverse-Nats. But, of course, the Yankees have been the Reverse-Nats for decades. Also, how cool would it be to have an all-Ohio World Series?
1. St. Louis Cardinals: 29-16
2. Texas Rangers: 29-17
3. New York Yankees: 28-17
4. Cincinnati Reds: 28-18
5. Cleveland Indians: 26-18
6. Detroit Tigers: 24-19
7. San Francisco Giants: 26-20
8. Arizona Diamondbacks: 26-20
9. Atlanta Braves: 27-18
10. Pittsburgh Pirates: 27-18
Natstown is about to wrap up a 10-game road trip to the West Coast. So far, they've gone 3-6 on the trip, and it's clear that their hitting is just too bad for them to seriously contend for the NL East. They are now 17th in the power rankings. The Swingin' A's had a good week, and they have moved up to 13th place.
Rangers, sensing their America League West lead slip away, fire off three runs in the top of the first in Oakland ...
ReplyDeleteHP women's golf desk is working feverishly to confirm whether this game is scheduled to go a full nine innings ...
DeleteTHIS JUST IN! The HP women's golf desk is reporting (perhaps exclusively) that today's A's-Rangers game is being played in Texas!
DeleteIt's 3-0, Rangers, through two and a half innings.
In the fourth, Yoenis Céspedes has doubled Coco Crisp to third, and now Brandon Moss is up with two outs ...
ReplyDeleteOne out!
Delete#GreenCollar! Moss sacrifice flies Crisp home and Céspedes to third. Jake/Josh Donaldson now up with ... stand by ... two out ...
DeleteOut ... 3-1, Texas, through three and a half innings ...
DeleteAfter allowing a single and two home runs among the first four batters he's faced, A's starter Jarrod Parker has given up no more hits since. It remains 3-1, Rangers. Now in the top of the fifth, Oakland has second and third with two out ...
ReplyDelete2 LOB.
DeleteStill 3-1 in top of the sixth ... A's put runners on first and second with no out, and now the Rangers have brought in a 33-year-old lefthander who had previously pitched one inning this season ...
ReplyDeleteNeil Cotts (the lefty) strikes out the Oakland side.
Delete2 more LOB.
COME ON, OAKLAND!
ReplyDeleteStill 3-1, top of seventh ... Derek Norris leads off Oakland half with a double ... COME ON, OAKLAND! ...
ReplyDeleteEric Sogard ground out moves Norris to third ...
DeleteLine out ... Urgh! ...
DeleteCome on, Coco! COME ON!
DeleteARGH!
Delete1 more LOB!
The Braves have already completed their sweep of the Twins, so Natstown will be 5 1/2 games out of first after the Giants complete their sweep this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger issue for Natstown is will they manage to finish with 80-85 wins, or will they completely collapse and finish below the Phillies and maybe even the Mets? That's hard to say; I could see it going either way.
So Jarrod Parker, who got off to such a ratty start in this game, has now made it to the eighth inning. Better starting pitching seems to me to be the big key in this five-game win streak, as Bob Melvin has had to go to his bullpen for only 12 innings (all scoreless) in the stretch. Anyway, good for Jarrod Parker to rally to get this far. Of course, we've still got to rally from 3-1 down with only one more at-bat to go.
ReplyDeleteA's go to reliever Jerry Blevins for eighth, and Texas goes down scoreless.
DeleteGot to find two runs. COME ON, OAKLAND! COME ON!!!
Dang. One, two, three ... Joe Nathan. That guy has been killing Oakland, it feels like, since about 1980. Well, dang. Texas salvages the last game of the series, and the Rangers' division lead is back out to 5.5 games.
DeleteJoe Nathan has 312 career saves--all of them since coming over from San Francisco to the American League in 2004. I can't find definitive statistics, but I'm estimating that about 305 of those career saves have come against the A's.
DeleteThe only A with more than five career at-bats against Nathan before today was Coco Crisp, and he was batting .182 against Nathan all-time.
DeleteThird 10th of the season is kaput. A's are projecting to 84 wins. Rangers are best team in the American League. Yankees and Indians also lead their divisions. A's are 1.5 out of second wild-card slot, behind Red Sox, Tigers, Orioles (1.0 back) and Rays (1.0 back).
ReplyDeleteThe Nats are 20-3 in games where they have scored 3 or more runs.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, they have scored fewer than three runs on 23 different occasions. They are 3-20 in those games.
That's a pretty remarkable split stat.
DeleteToday's game is 1-1 in the 10th, so I'm not very hopeful.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I'm almost at the point where I'm so angry at the team that I start doing on purpose the stuff that normally jinxes them. (This can be an effective strategy -- it helped to get rid of Billy Gillespie back in 2009.)
OK, here's Bryce Harper, who is pretty much the entire Natstown offense. So far today he has accounted for all one of the Nats runs, as he homered to left back in the sixth inning.
ReplyDeleteStrike one.
Ball one.
Double to right.
Unfortunately, we needed another homer there, as no one on the team can knock Harper in. But Bryce is now 2 for 5, and I don't remember the last time he had two hits in a game.
Hold the phone! Ian Desmond singles to right! HARPER COMES HOME! THE NATS HAVE SCORED THEIR SECOND RUN OF THE GAME, AND THEIR FOURTH RUN IN THE 29 INNINGS THEY HAVE PLAYED IN SAN FRANCISCO!
ReplyDeleteNATS LEAD 2-1 IN THE TENTH!
GO CRAZY, FOLKS! GO CRAZY!
With two outs and runners on second and third, the Nats send up Roger Bernadina, who started in left field today. He is batting -- and I swear I'm not making this up -- .117 for the year. He has only 7 hits in 60 at-bats.
ReplyDeleteHe's batting sixth in our lineup.
Bernadina strikes out.
ReplyDeleteNats as a team were batting .226 coming into this game. They are literally the worst offensive team I have ever seen.
Going into the bottom of the 10th with a 2-1 lead, Nats turn to Rafael Soriano, who had his third blown save of the year yesterday.
ReplyDeleteNATS WIN!!! NATS WIN!!!
ReplyDeleteSoriano shuts down the Giants 1-2-3 in the 10th to pick up his 13th save.
Nats run their record to 24-23, and they remain 4 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves.
I hate, hate, hate, those West Coast road trips. Nats went 4-6 on this one, and I'm glad it's over.
#NATTITUDE!
DeleteMy first choice to play the A's in the World Series is the Nationals. My second choice is Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is my second choice to win the National League pennant.
DeleteI've always liked the Pirates. I love the city of Pittsburgh (big Evansville), and I've always liked the Pirates. One time when I was a kid, there was one summer day when I was certain that I saw John Candelaria in our Cairo Road neighborhood. (Mom told me later that she felt it was unlikely.)
DeletePer Wikipedia: "Candelaria currently lives in Davidson, North Carolina, and is an avid world traveler."
DeleteGood for John Candelaria! Also, this makes me think that maybe it was Candelaria in my neighborhood--sounds like he might be the kind of guy who would take off driving to little towns in Kentucky in the gap between his starts.
#GreenCollar, baby! A's give up five two-out runs in the fifth but rally from down 5-3 in the ninth on Chris Young's three-run homer to beat the Astros in the first game of a series in Houston! This game was huge because I watched almost all of the MLB.com animation with the 4-year-old daughter, who was very excited to root for the Oakland starter, Tommy Milone, who she thinks looks a fair amount like Imagination Movers Rich.
ReplyDelete11-5, A's over Astros!
ReplyDelete6-2, A's over Astros!
ReplyDelete28-23, three-game sweep of Houston, 8-2 in the last 10 ... and still 4.5 back of the Rangers. Vs. the Giants tomorrow. #GREENCOLLAR!
DeleteCouple of wins in a row against the Giants in Oakland, and now the A's (30-23) are back within 2.5 of the Rangers in the A.L. West. Four-game Bay Bridge series shifts to San Francisco tonight.
ReplyDelete