Astros 3, Cardinals 0: J.A. Happ beat Roy Halladay on his last outing and absolutely dominated the Cards this time out, so yeah, it’s been a good week for him. Two hits and a walk in this one, with two of those base runners erased on double plays. This says a lot about Happ’s potential and maybe a bit about what the change of scenery has done for him. It also says a lot about the awful rut in which the Cardinals find themselves. It’s not crazy to ask at this point whether St. Louis has played their way out of the playoff picture.
Reds 5, Brewers 4: And the reason it’s not crazy is that the Reds keep winning and now find themselves up six games, their largest lead since 1995.
Dodgers 3, Phillies 0:
Shane Victorino broke up Hiroki Kuroda’s no-hit bid with a one-out
single in the eighth inning, but that was all the Phillies would get. Halladay was quite hittable, but he
kept the damage to a minimum by allowing only three runs. I was talking to Chris from The Fightins yesterday and he said he was having a hard time getting his brain around following a team that gets great pitching but zero offense, because that’s really nothing the Phillies have ever done in recent years. It was all the Braves did for several years. And while it was obviously their key to success back in the day, it takes a long damn time to get used to it, and it lends itself to occasional frustration like this.
Braves 9, Mets 3: Jason Heyward led the charge by going 4 for 5 with
four RBI. And hey: an Ollie Perez sighting! He saw his first action
since (I think) the Carter Administration last night, walked a dude and gave up a dinger to Brian
McCann. So no, the rust hasn’t affected him in any material way.
Rockies 2, Giants 1: Carlos Gonzalez drove in the tying run with a broken bat triple (how does that happen?), and then came in from third to score on the play when Freddy Sanchez committed his second throwing error of the game. Tough loss for the Giants as both the Phillies and Padres lost too and thus the chance to gain some ground was squandered.
Diamondbacks 7, Padres 2: Five straight losses for San Diego. The Padres scored all the runs they would score in the first inning and gave up all the runs they would need to give up to ensure the loss in the first as well.
Rangers 3 Royals 0: C.J. Wilson continues his second half roll, winning his seventh game since the All-Star break. Two hits in just under eight innings for Wilson, though he did walk four.
Cubs 14, Pirates 2: The Pirates spent the first part of the year getting blown the hell out when they lost and squeaking by when they won. This made me think that they weren’t as bad as their run differential made them look. Know what? They probably are that bad and have been all along.
Rays 6, Blue Jays 2: Wade Davis won his sixth straight decision. Carlos Pena drove in four. The game lasted a mere two hours and fourteen minutes.
Yankees 11, Athletics 5: The Rays and Yankees seem like they’ve been tied at the top of the division forever, and tied they will remain for another day after the Bombers shelled the heretofore unshellable Trevor Cahill. Javier Vazquez gets the win in relief, though he pitched a third of an inning longer than starter Dustin Mosely did, so the pitching box score kind of looks upside down.
White Sox 10, Indians 6: Bobby Jenks blew a three-run lead sending this one to extras, but then the Cleveland pen blew up, allowing a homer, a couple of RBI doubles and an RBI single in the 11th. Sadly, with Manny showing up today most of the press will be diverted from their usual “quote Ozzie Guillen threatening to ship Jenks to Siberia and then walking it back and keeping him as the team’s closer” beat. Sad, really.
Angels 5, Mariners 3: Sixth inning homers from Bourjos, Abreu and Matsui power the Angels.
Nationals 9, Marlins 3: A three hour and ten minute rain delay followed by a three hour+ game with the last place team in town. I haven’t looked yet, but I’m willing to bet the number of people who actually stayed to watch the end of this one could fit in my Honda. And we’d still have room leftover for the dog.
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- bobr - Aug 31, 2010 at 6:43 AM
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In regards to your comments about the Pirates, I think there is some evidence that won-lost records in close games have little correlation to a team’s final record. What does correlate pretty closely is winning blowouts. Apparently over the years, it is not unusual for the best teams to have mediocre, even poor, records in one run games while poor teams are just as likely to have sparkling records in such thrillers. But it is very often the case that the best teams hammer opponents with 4+ run victories quite often.
The winning of close games provides an illusion that a team is close to becoming a contender, but the reality often is quite the opposite, that it is simply not a good team. But the story line about grit and determination makes the illusion comforting.
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- Jonny5 - Aug 31, 2010 at 8:20 AM
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Seriously though….. Well here comes September folks. It’s do or die time.
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- Chris Fiorentino - Aug 31, 2010 at 9:07 AM
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Happ had his flashes of brilliance before, and he will continue to have them throughout his career. But I still stand by my assessment that he’s no better than a #3 on a good pitching staff, and wouldn’t hesitate to make the Oswalt trade again.
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- Jonny5 - Aug 31, 2010 at 9:34 AM
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Chris,
But tell me you wouldn’t have had him over Kendrick? I think they could have let Kendrick go instead. I would rather have seen Kendrick go. And i think they could have swung that deal too.
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- Kevin S. - Aug 31, 2010 at 10:00 AM
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What are you talking about? Kyle Kendrick isn’t a “Cliff Lee type.” /wade’d
It wasn’t just that Happ is better, it’s that Houston overvalued him on top of that.
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- Jonny5 - Aug 31, 2010 at 10:52 AM
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What? I never mentioned Lee. Most Philly fans just don’t get it. Lee is history, not part of this season period. I was saying the Phillies should have traded Kendrick instead, because Houston would have taken him. But the Phills were to nervous to hang their hat on a “just off the DL Happ”. I really wish they’d have taken the chance by keeping Happ. It’s over now but it’s tougher for me to see Happ in Houston than it would have been if it were Kendrick.
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- matt - Aug 31, 2010 at 11:32 AM
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Jonny, are you actually serious?? You think they would have taken Kendrick over Happ?? As bad as Ed Wade is, even he isn’t that dumb. Everyone knows Kendrick isn’t anythign but a triple A roster filler/Journeyman MLB pitcher on any staff. As far as Happ and Houston getting him, Im reminded of a Winston Wolf line from Pulp Fiction…” lets not start sucking eachothers **** just yet”. Happ can have these games and he can also burn through 120 pitches through 5 innings in most starts and give up 4 runs. The theory behind the deal has actually totally played out. You have a stopper in Oswalt who can help you possibly win it all this year or next while the philies window is still open and Oswalt has been everything the phils have asked for. Happ meanwhile is just what Chris said..possibly a good # 3 if he keeps up the good work and keeps progressing. When you have a world series caliber team you need that top 3 rotation that all the good teams have. Happ wouldnt have given that to the phillies. Will we miss Happ in 5 years?? Its likely, but when the window is there you either go for it or not. I’ll take going for it every time.
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- Kevin S. - Aug 31, 2010 at 11:53 AM
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I was mocking Ed Wade, who, upon acquiring Happ, called him a Cliff Lee-type. Hence the /wade’d.
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- Jonny5 - Aug 31, 2010 at 12:01 PM
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I do think they would have taken Kendrick. Simply because Happ was more of a “?”. Remember he didn’t pitch a major league game after his injury, and wasn’t lighting up the minors during rehab either. I’m not bitching about the trade, I support it. I just think that houston would have taken kendrick and we could still have Happ. I know all about the do it now attitude, but you can’t hang your future out to dry either. We may be missing Happ sooner than 5 years, I’m pretty sure of that. Obtaining Oswalt was a big plus, and the sacrifice was worth it, i just feel the Phills should have tried to deal Kendrick ,i think Houston would have taken. And that doesn’t mean take Kendrick over Happ either, it would be more like “Happ isn’t going anywhere, wanna unload Oswalt for Kendrick?” We get to save a ton of $$$$ still.” Sure, do it.” I honestly think It was the Phillies that decided who would go.
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- Utley's hair - Aug 31, 2010 at 12:24 PM
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Okay. This was the second time the Phightins have been almost no-hit this season with Doc on the mound. That is ridiculous.
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But it also brings up a question that maybe Craig or someone can uncover: when was the last time a pitcher who hurled a no-no (I think the perfect game subset is too finite, but maybe also applicable) was on the mound for a no-no on the other side in the same season? Or twice? Or ever?
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And I would much rather have seen KK sent off than Happ. But in the same vein as Lee, Happ is no longer here. Rube buttered his bread, no he has to lie in it…or something.
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- Old Gator - Aug 31, 2010 at 12:38 PM
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I would love to participate in debates about the relative virtues and demerits of recent trades but when your rooting interest is owned by a corrupt lying miser and theoretically run by his pet chihuahua, there aren’t many trades like that to argue about in the first place, being that so many of those ballplayers are coming from teams where they’ve been paid something like their actual market value if not more. Ah well.
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Last night was a typical Feesh game when they’ve entered the gravitational field of the strange attractor for the twenty second time this season. Splatt!!
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- APBA Guy - Aug 31, 2010 at 12:55 PM
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Big excitement for Trevor Cahill last night. He got to see The Donald, O’Reilly and Olbermann, probably a bunch of Wall Street guys who only pay 15% marginal tax rate, and oh yeah, a number of objects leave the yard in the proverbial hurry. Seriously. Tex and Cano hit 4 balls, two each, that were so squared up they must now have one flat side. You could tell that Cahill was just awed by the Yankee Stadium experience. And while the A’s announcers began the show talking about Cahill being in the “Cy Young conversation”, eight runs later that chatter was mercifully silenced.
