Now with infinitely more Shanty Hogan mentions!

Astros 3, @Cubs 0: Houston’s last back-to-back shutouts of 4 hits or less came 2 years ago. Their

last-but-one came in brighter days, a fun streak with a memorable capper.

• Lucas Harrell finished the 2nd half with a 2.87 ERA in 15 starts.

Phillies 2, @Nationals 0: The Phils clinched a 10th straight year without a losing a record, matching the franchise record set from 1975-84.

• Darin Ruf drove in the game’s only runs with his first big-league triple, and the next time up was honored with his first IBB (and not in front of the pitcher). Ruf is hitting .333/.937 in his 10 games so far. He spent most of the year at AA Reading, nearly lapping the Eastern League with 38 HRs (next was 21), also tops with 303 total bases (237) and a 1.028 OPS. He was a 20th-round pick out of college in 2009, and they’ve moved him up at a very deliberate pace, but he’s hit at every stop, and the power blew up this summer.

Tigers 6, @Royals 3: In modern MLB history, only 47 catchers have attained 400+ PAs through age 22. The leaders in OPS+: (1) Brian McCann, 129; (2) Johnny Bench, 125; (3) Salvador Perez, 122; (4) Shanty Hogan, 120. (Because you just can’t mention Shanty Hogan too often.)

• Perez also leads the AL in CS% at 42%. He’s allowed 25 SB in 73 starts; other KC catchers have surrendered 84 SB in 87 starts, while throwing out just 28%.
• Alex Gordon has 6.1 WAR this year after 7.1 last year. Two years ago, what were the odds of him being anywhere near this productive? I looked at it two ways: (1) Gordon is the 84th modern player with 5+ WAR at ages 27 and 28. Of that group, only the classically mishandled Edgar Martinez had less career WAR through age 26 than Gordon’s 3.8, and all but Edgar and Alex had at least one 3-WAR season before their breakout. (2) Through 26, Gordon had 1,642 PAs and a 95 OPS+. So I looked at the 187 modern players through age 26 with 1,500+ PAs and an OPS+ from 90 to 99. For ages 27 and 28 combined, only 2 of them topped Gordon’s 131 OPS+: Brooks Robinson (135) and Bob Bailey (134). Besides Gordon, only 21 of 186 had even one qualifying year at 120+, and only Brooksie and Chief Wilson had two such years.
• The Royals don’t have any problems that wouldn’t be solved by instantly acquiring 3 or 4 decent starting pitchers (well, that and benching Frenchy). But I have a sinking feeling that their first move will be signing Lucky Lohse.

Angels 8, @Mariners 4: Felix Hernandez is 6-12, 4.07, in 30 career starts against the Halos. Mike Trout is 9 for 17 off Felix this year, with a HR and 7 RBI.

@Dodgers 3, Giants 2: Buster Posey‘s 171 OPS+ would be the 3rd-best ever for a qualified catcher. Mike Piazza holds the top 2 marks (185, 172), and Joe Mauer also had a 171. He’s also the 3rd Giants catcher ever with 100+ RBI.

ORIGINAL POST

Too much to watch; not enough time to write about it.

@A’s 4, Rangers 3: Grant Balfour blew down the side, and Oakland clinched the final playoff berth. The Rays and Angels are out, though each may finish with 90+ wins. The West is still wide open; the A’s can take the crown with two more wins at home. Scheduled for Tuesday, Harrison @ Blackley.

@Yankees 10, Red Sox 2 / @Rays 5, Orioles 3: Things to pack for a trip to the top: Eight sharp from CC — check. Massive demonstration of power, including Teix‘s first in 6 weeks — check. Help from the backs-to-the-wall Rays — check. New York grabs a 1-game lead … but they and/or the Rangers — the teams most widely considered the class of the AL — could still wind up in the do-or-die game.

Tigers 6, @Royals 3: Back in game #146, Detroit blew a pair of leads and lost their final contest with Chicago to fall 3 games out with 16 left. Fourteen games and 10 wins later — with the help of a soft schedule and the 4-10 collapse of the ChiSox — the Tigers clinched a 2nd straight playoff berth for the first time since 1935. And on the far-off chance that this is your only baseball news outlet, we’ll note that Miguel Cabrera‘s 4 hits and 44th HR moved him closer to the … oh, you know.

• Billy Butler‘s double ended Al Alburquerque‘s no-extra-base-hit streak at 38 games, 42.2 IP and 176 batters. It’s the longest no-XBH streak by innings since 1990, when Larry Andersen went 45.1 IP over 29 games from July into September, including most of his famous tenure with Boston after they traded Jeff Bagwell to get him. (Obviously I don’t mean to defend the Bagwell-Andersen trade, but I think it’s a shame that Andersen is remembered now mainly for Boston’s mistake. He was outstanding that year — particularly with Boston, 3 R in 22 IP — and in several others; in fact, WAR rates him 6th among RPs in 1989-90 combined, just ahead of Dennis Eckersley.)
• “What-if?” Triple Crown controversy: In 1967, Carl Yastrzemski actually tied for the HR lead with Harmon Killebrew. They faced off in Fenway on the final weekend — with the pennant on the line, but never mind that — each connecting on Saturday but not on Sunday. In that final game, Killebrew’s last AB came in the 8th, after Yaz’s last, with Boston up by 3; a home run would not have created another Yaz AB, and thus would have denied Yaz the Triple Crown. The point is: Had that happened, we might today still be arguing about the fact that Killebrew had the benefit of two extra games — tie games — in which he hit 3 HRs.

@Pirates 2, Braves 1: Starling Marte homered and doubled, Atlanta’s bats took a night off, and the Nats “backed into” the division crown; they’re not crying about it.

@Cards 4, Reds 2 / @Dodgers 3, Giants 2: St. Louis finished early and kept the pressure on, but LA was able to walk it off and stay alive. Only two Dodger wins and two Cardinal losses will keep the Redbirds from clinching their 9th postseason appearance since 2000. Scheduled for Tuesday: Zito @ Capuano, Latos @ Carpenter.

Meaningless stuff:

Mets @Marlins: In his first start, Mets rookie Jeurys Familia issued 6 walks in 4 IP, but allowed just 1 hit and no runs. The 1st inning went walk, CS, single, CS, walk, SO. He walked another in the 2nd, two in the 3rd and one in the 4th, and departed after notching his 3rd K with his 75th pitch and 33rd strike. It’s the 19th scoreless start by a Met with 6+ walks; the club record is 8, in 6 IP, by Nolan Ryan (of course).