:arrow: Dodgers get a 3-run Belly-bomb in the 8th to beat Minnesota. Chris Taylor had three more hits and is batting nearly .600 since the All-Star break... Verlander would like to go to the Dodgers. His fiancé is Kate Upton and they live in Beverly Hills. He and his salary would fit in nicely here. The Dodgers are also after Yu Darvish... Bartolo Colon pitched for the Twins tonight. I'm in better shape than that guy... The winning pitcher for the Dodgers tonight was 30 year old Edward Parades, who was making his MLB debut. He spent 12 years in the minors and never thought he would get a chance at the Show. When he was told yesterday that he had been called up to the Dodgers he laughed and accused them of making a joke...
That puts Cleveland 3 games ahead of Minny. Beat 'em again tonight for us. Now we have red hot KC (6 wins in a row) breathing down our back.
Altuve closing in on hitting over .500 for the month of July, last person to do that was Chipper Jones in 2006.
:shock: Dodgers win their 70th game. Chris Taylor is now eligible for the batting title. He's currently around .320 with a triple and double tonight. He has 9 multiple hit games in his last 11... When this season began, the team had a losing record until late April: so what changed? At the start of the season: - Chris Taylor was in the minors. (AAA) - Cody Bellinger was in the minors. (AA) - Relief pitchers Grant Dayton, Josh Fields, Brandon Morrow, Brock Stewart, and Ross Stripling were in the minors. - Pitcher Josh Ravin had been in the minors for 9 1/2 years. - Pitcher Edward Paredes had been in the minors for 12 1/2 years. Since these players were brought up and given a chance, they've been one of the hottest teams in baseball history. I've never seen anything like it. - Starting pitcher Alex Wood was in the bullpen. re: Cleveland and the Cubs These two teams have tons of talent. They're beginning to pull away and I expect them to make the playoffs easily. -re: Astros The only thing about Houston that has surprised me is their depth. I knew about guys like Altuve, but their team has suffered injuries and yet they keep on rolling...
Fairy tales can come true, it could happen to you... The Dodgers swept the Twins out of town in another walk-off, come-back miracle. Down 5-0, they came back to win for the 29th time this year. No one has done that to them in almost three years. The coaching was a real mismatch in this series. Twins manager Paul Molitor appeared dazed and confused in every game. Last night, he screwed up a double-switch so bad that it took the umpires 20 minutes to straighten it out. Tonight he seemed lost when his centerfielder threw a ball in the dugout rather than to one of the bases where the runners were. His solution was to appeal every runner at every base, which was a pathetic attempt to cover up the fact that his players didn't know what to do in that situation... Compare that with the coaches in the Dodgers dugout. After Yasiel Puig hit another HR, he ran into the dugout and kissed batting coach Turner Ward... That's win #71, and 42 out of 50. The team is undefeated since Kershaw went down... re: trade deadline rumors Yu Darvish was the Dodgers #1 target, but after tonight, he may have dropped off the board. He gave up 10 runs in three innings and has lost 7 of his last 8 starts. No thanks. This has refocused the front office on Gray and Verlander...
Dallas Keuchel will start Friday night in Detroit. I hope he's in the same form as before the trip to the DL. We need him.
:idea: I hope Keuchel takes his time. The Stros don't need him right this second, but they will in the playoffs.
I agree, his highest pitch count in his 2 rehab starts was 62, so no need to try to stretch him out in his first game back. Speaking of pitchers....looks like Sonny Gray and the A's are in a good spot a lot of contenders are interested in him. Astros GM has said they will consider deals but won't overpay for a pitcher. Yankees historically will overpay so I won't be surprised if that is where he lands.
:idea: :arrow: It's the same here. The Dodgers will not overpay with players. The price in players for Sonny Gray will be steep...
:twisted: For the 30th time this year, the Dodgers came back late to win on Corey Seager's 2nd HR of the game. Frisco didn't look too happy all night and the distance between the two teams is now greater than any season since 1902... BTW- Dodgers vs. Giants is the 4th most games played between rivals in baseball history. The most played rivalry is Cubs vs. Pirates... Alex Wood is now 12-1. Kenley Jansen got another save. Dodgers added a third catcher so that they can play Barnes every day. He's batting over .300 too. I'm rooting for the team to pick up Verlander. I've admired his pitching for years and it's not my money......heh...heh...
Tribe wins 8th in a row...can't shake the Royals (9 in a row). Frustrating...but gotta be frustrating for them as well.
Yankees back in first but Aaron Judge has little to do with it. In fact, he may be exhibiting symptoms of "HR Derbyitis". Since that spectacle played out his batting average has dropped 25 points, he has hit three home runs and has eight RBIs. He is coming out of his shoes swinging he has expanded his strike zone at least six inches off the plate and in his eyes. I hope I'm wrong but the Ks are stacking up at an alarming rate.
:? :shock: :arrow: Another day; another miracle... This time, even I thought they were dead ducks. I mean, what are the odds? They have to run out of fairy dust and lucky charms sometime...don't they? With two out in the bottom of the 11th inning and trailing 2-1, Frisco intentionally walked Turner (the potential winning run) to pitch to a guy who was making his major league debut. Kyle Farmer was brought up from the minors as a third catcher to allow both Barnes and Grandal to play without running out of catchers. There was never a plan for him to actually play, except in emergencies... Kyle Farmer, in his MLB debut; in the nationally televised game; doubled down the right-field line to score Seager and Turner to walk-off against the Giants of all people. This was the most unlikely miracle of them all. Farmer will be 27 next month. He was Alex Wood's roommate at the University of Georgia and has wandered around the minors for years...until tonight. The Dodgers are off tomorrow as they travel to Atlanta. Kyle Farmer will have his entire family waiting for him...and his 1.000 batting average to celebrate in his hometown. As they sang in Cinderella: "Impossible things are happening every day."
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zQWBccPFwO8" frameborder="0"></iframe> The view from the right field pavilion... <iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GLJxBUk4BWM" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Astros limp out of Detroit, they were clearly the better team this weekend. Yesterday was our worst loss of the year. To complicate things we were counting on Will Harris to come off of DL and help the BullPen but instead he's headed back to the DL for more rehab. But the rest of our division is pretty mediocre so we'll be fine, it's just the Indians, Yankee's, Red Sox, Royals that I'm worried about. Currently we'd likely lose the Division series. That's be a kick'n the nuts, one of our greatest seasons ...done quickly. Sort of like the year we had Randy Johnson and went against San Diego and he lost 2 games to some guy named Kevin Brown. We were a great team that year with 3 future HOF, but didn't make the NL Championship game.
That's the beauty of the game of baseball. The best team each year is going to lose around 50 games. The Detroit series is a blip on what is shaping up to be a great season. The playoffs are all about matchups. Sometimes the "best" team doesn't always win.
Well the Yankee's got Sonny Gray, and really didn't give up a bunch. They now have 5 solid starters and a bullpen that is looking very good right now. Kudo's to Cashman for making this deal. Might have set the Yankee's up for a WS run.
Tribe didn't land any blockbuster deal but picked up Joe Smith from the Blue Jays. Didn't give up any of their top minor league prospects for him. They needed a left hander to replace injured Boone Logan but couldn't get one...nonetheless Smith should help take some pressure off Miller, Shaw, and Allen in the late innings. I liked Smith before when he used to pitch for us. Only worry is he had some shoulder issues earlier this year.
The Brewers were supposedly in the hunt for Darvish and Grey but indicated that the asking price involved top prospects which they were unwilling to surrender. Brewers have a lot of talent in the minors. But, it looks like the Yankees and Dodgers did not have to cough up their top prospects to make a deal. Thought the Brewers had an outside change of challenging the Rockies for a Wild Card spot if they could get an elite arm. Well...guess it's time for me to shift my attention to the Harbaugh show coming this fall.