Just a few tonight; my teams needed me. Sorry if I missed a big story somewhere.

Braves 6, @Nationals 3 — With Atlanta seeking a 15-game bulge and their best win streak since 2000, Kris Medlen set aside the first 11 batters and led by 2-0. But he walked Bryce Harper, and Jayson Werth made it count with his 16th HR. Jordan Zimmermann had to leave after 4 innings, cause yet unknown. Justin Upton got the lead back with a solo in the 7th, but Medlen couldn’t hold again, and Werth scored that run after singling.

Continue reading →

Whoops! I did it again, for the Battle of the Justins. We’ll make it the last one for this series (the outcome took the edge off), and get back to regular Game Notes next post. Once again, this is working from ESPN’s printed play-by-play, as it happened, with the video links added later. (Oh, and a few oldies tacked on at the end. I hope you’re suitably giddy if you get to the Sunday Leftovers.)

Continue reading →

…just kidding.

Instead, how about a quick look at the effects of yesterday’s suspensions on the 2013 baseball season?  Seven players who were on major league rosters as of Sunday were suspended for 50 games each.  After the jump, we’ll look at those players, their year-to-date WAR (per baseball-reference), and their teams’ positions in the standings as of this morning.  In ascending order of potential playoff race impact:

Continue reading →

Two of the AL’s hottest teams kicked off a 4-game set on Monday. I didn’t get to see the game — where are you, MLB Network? — but I thought I’d try a running diary from the printed play-by-play, as it happened. With condolences to my Tribe-fan friends, who probably won’t read this anyway:

__________

1st/Top — Corey Kluber on the hill. He’s faced the Tigers three times this year, with mixed results (two quality starts, one crowning). Just his luck, Miguel Cabrera‘s in the lineup after 4 games out; Miggy’s 7 for 14 with 3 HRs in this matchup. But another tormentor, Jhonny Peralta (5-13, 2 doubles), will miss this game and many more.

Continue reading →

@Tigers 3, White Sox 2 (12 inn.) — Miguel Cabrera sat out his 4th straight start, but his pinch-hit started the winning rally. Austin Jackson bunted the pinch-runner to 2nd, and Torii Hunter singled him home, then was showered with affection. Detroit has won 8 in a row, their best in 2 seasons, with a quality start each game, totaling 56 IP with a 1.12 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. Chicago’s free-fall reached 10 straight losses, as bad as any one-season streak they’ve had since 1956. (The ChiSox had 10-game skids in 1976 and 1968.)

Continue reading →

@Rays 2, Giants 1 (10 inn.) — The first meeting of these Cy Young winners did not disappoint, only that neither David Price nor Tim Lincecum was there at the end. Reliever Jean Machi, an old rookie who’s shown great control this year, cooked his own goose with 3 walks (one intentional), putting the game on a tee with no outs for Wil Myers. The youngster delivered, lashing one past the drawn-in outfield for his first game-winning hit. Now, that’s something to celebrate.

Continue reading →

With yet another brilliant start in a 4-1 win in Tampa Bay on Friday night, Giants’ starter Madison Bumgarner made a little bit of franchise history. The lanky lefty is currently on a nine-start streak of pitching at least seven innings while allowing two earned runs or less. That stands as the second-longest in franchise history, behind Ferdie Schupp of the then New York Giants, who had 12 such starts between the 1916 and 1917 seasons. This impressive streak has not only produced the lowest ERA of Bumgarner’s young career (2.69), but it’s also planted the 24-year-old firmly in the middle of the Cy Young race.

The Giants’ de facto ace is showing no signs of slowing down either, especially after tying his season-high in strikeouts with 11 against a baffled Rays lineup. He was clinical with the slider, throwing the pitch a season-high 53 times with an impressive 35 of those tosses going for strikes. That’s been par for the course for Bumgarner this season because no pitcher in baseball favors his slider as much as the Giants’ lefty.

Continue reading →

@Marlins 10, Indians 0 — Unstoppable force, meet No-Way Jose Fernandez. Miami’s precocious ace prolonged his coming-of-age party — his 21st game was his first at age 21 — with a gem more brilliant than the last one, throwing a 14-K roadblock in front of Cleveland’s 8-win streak.

Continue reading →

Smashing success and Philadelphia Phillies’ baseball are two phrases that haven’t been uttered in the same sentence very often over the 131 year history of the franchise. No professional sports team has suffered more defeats and few teams have tasted glory less often than the boys in Philadelphia. By the time the Phillies moved out of Veteran’s Stadium one magical, Steve Carlton-fueled run in 1980 was all that stood between the Phillies and an 0-for-the-century.

But with the move to shiny, new Citizens Bank Park in 2004 came a shiny, new ball club. In 2005 the team hired Charlie Manuel, who has been the most successful manager in franchise history, and gave the full-time 1st base job to Ryan Howard, who would go onto win the Rookie of the Year Award and then an MVP.  2006 saw the arrival of Cole Hamels, a future World Series MVP who fit nicely alongside a deep, talented offense chalked full of All-Stars. By 2007 the franchise had captured their first division title in 14 years, which would set off a run of 5 straight NL East crowns. And then in 2008 they finally hit pay dirt, capturing a World Series title in 5 games over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Continue reading →

Royals 7, @Twins 2 — Justin Maxwell left a team that went 11-29 in games he played this year and lent an instant hand to the hottest club around, with a hit, a walk, a run and a ribby. Two sac flies and three RBI groundouts punctuated K.C.’s 9th straight win, matching their best since 1994. This streak and that one both began on July 23, with a labor-management cloud hanging over baseball.

Continue reading →