Nationals 1, Mets 0: New York is shutout by a guy who gave up 16 runs in his first two starts, a reliever who had an ERA around six coming in, and a closer who, while OK, ain't exactly Bruce Sutter. Then Billy Wagner goes off. You gotta love the Post's account: "There are losses, and then there are soul-crushing nightmares that send teams spiraling and get managers fired." Sounds about right actually. The Mets open up interleague play against the Yankees tonight, followed by three games against the Braves. I'd say that if they don't go 4-2 through this stretch, Willie Randolph is a goner.Rays 5, Yankees 2: I'm guessing all the highlight shows are going to lead with "Oh noes! Yankees in teh last place!" this morning. I'm also guessing that none of them will note that at the same point last season they had one fewer win than they do now and were 10.5 games out of first place. They still made the playoffs. Nuke them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 5: I guess Brandon Webb (9-0) just isn't going to lose another game.
Phillies 5, Braves 0: I guess the Braves just aren't going to win another road game. Cole Hamels pitches a four hit shutout. Chipper Jones missed the game due to a sore groin. Sore groin, sore groin, sore groin. If you say that several times in a row the words start to lose their meaning entirely.
Dodgers 7, Brewers 2: Ben Sheets gets rocked, and says after the game that there's nothing wrong physically. I'm dubious, as anyone should be when one of the home runs he gave up was to Andruw Jones on a fastball.
Indians 4, A's 2: Technically the Cleveland starters still haven't given up an earned run, but the one unearned one that came off of Aaron Laffey was due to his own throwing error, so we should probably stop counting this little streak. The starters may very well have to keep this up, though, because Rafael Betancourt has shown no signs of the pitcher he was last year. He came in to the game in the ninth to get the easy three-run-lead save, promptly loaded the bases and got yanked. Masa Kobayashi saved his bacon with only one of the inherited runners scoring, but the fact remains that the Indians still have no reliable closer.
Pirates 11, Cardinals 5: Closing wasn't working for Isringhausen. Setting up doesn't seem too kind to him either (0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 4R). Ron Villone was even worse, and a 5-4 lead turned into a laugher for Pittsburgh.
Blue Jays 3, Twins 2: Over the last couple of days Minnesota got swept by Toronto, sank to .500, and got passed by the Indians in the standings. I'd say the flirtation with contention is on its way to being over. Twelve pitchers were used in a 3-2 game. Yikes.
4 comments:
It would appear that, when healthy, Chipper Jones is just as good as he's ever been. I do wonder if he was still playing 160 games a year, whether he'd still be that good. He kills the Phillies, though. Ugh.
Well, New Yorkers can look at it this way...at least ONE of the local teams will win a game or two over this weekend.
They showed the Billy Wagner thing on Baseball Tonight last night...I can't find anything to disagree with. Why ARE they questioning the guy who did NOT play in the game? Where do the other players disappear to every single night and why are they allowed to do that?
When you blow plays or make other mistakes (like, oh, 3 or 4 baserunning blunders in one game), you should be stand-up about it and talk to the media and take your lumps. During the whole time Mussina was bad last year (which was during, well, last year), he always answered media questions after the game...even the stupid questions (i.e. most of them).
That team is just plain old broken. There needs to be some kind of shake up...something that can get them all back on the same page or something.
"Get your sports from a guy like me who knows what it's like to have a groin in-ju-ree, g-g-g-gr, g-g-g-gr, g-g-g-groin in-ju-ree" - Sam Malone
APBA Guy-
That thud you hear is the sound of the beloved A's falling back down to Earth. After going 2-12 with RISP vs. the Indians, the A's are doing what every team does, reverting to the mean. Their smoke and mirrors flirtation with first due to hitting over .300 with RISP while the team BA is only .250. The A's leadoff hitter is their catcher with a .309 OBP. The team has 22 total HR's. Even with solid pitching and good defense, this is not the profile of a winner.
The A's do have the distinction of breaking 2 long run-less streaks in a row on their road trip: 32+ IP for Texas followed by 42+ IP for Cleveland. Even a good offense would need a break after facing those pitching streaks.
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