And DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME! One more week till October

[stevejrogers]

Shaping up to be an intriguing week in MLB:

Chasing C Notes:
Detroit has stormed back and overtaken the best record in MLB at 94-62 but have a very slim margin to get to 100, granted that includes a weekend against the Royals but still.

Mets and Yankees both have 93 with 7 to play. Seems having a 100 win season is very unlikely, and it will be the majors first since 2000

Going the other way we have Tampa Bay needing 5, but since they just beat the Yanks 2 in a row this weekend its possible they'll strive to stave it off. The Royals need just 3 more to ensure the Major's 5th straight season of a team losing 100 or more ballgames.

Now to the races

The AL is heating up on the Central, Wild Card and even jockeying for position seed wise.

Tigers hold a slim 1 game lead over the Yanks for home field throughout (and won't that be an interesting time for NYC baseball with two LCS games same day) with the A's at 90 wins close behind.

The AL West race is all but over. Angels staved off elimination again today, but here is how their week looks:

9/25-9/27 vs Rangers
9/28-10/1 vs Oakland

The A's have
9/25-9/27 at Mariners
9/28-10/1 at Angels

Magic number for A's is down to 2

I found it a bit odd that the Tigers had a champange celebration for their "playoff birth" today. They still have work to do as they have a slim 1.5 game lead over the Twinkies

Tigers 94-62
9/26-9/28 vs Bluejays
9/29-10/1 vs Royals

Twins 92-63
9/25-9/28 vs Royals
9/29-10/1 vs White Sox

The AL Wild Card race, such as it is, is all but over. The White Sox at 87-69 have a tragic number of 2 and will face the Indians and Twins on the road this week

NL:
The Mets at 93-92 have wrapped up the Home Field througout the NL postseason, Padres/Dodgers are ahead of the 80-73 Cardinals (man the 1999 to 2000 Yanks didn't have THIS bad of a drop)

NL Central
Such as it is, the Cards magic number against the Reds 76-79 is 4 and 5 against the Astros 76-79. After tonight in Houston the Red Birds face the Padres and Brewers at home The Astros have at Philly, Pittsburgh and Atlanta left while the Reds have vs the Cubs, then at Florida and Pittsburgh

NL West
Padres 83-72 "opened" up a 1.5 game lead, magic number is now 6 against the Dodgers 82-74

Pads
9/25-9/27 at Cardinals
9/28-10/1 at Diamondbacks

Dodgers
9/26-9/28 at Rockies
9/29-10/1 at Giants

And the Wacky Wild Card is getting even more wacky
Philadelphia 82-73 has a .5 game lead over the Dodgers with a 7 magic number, Houston with a tragic number of 3 and Cincy with a tragic number of 2 are fading. Giants and Marlins have a tragic number of 1

Philly has:
9/25 Makup game at CBP against the Astros
9/26-9/28 at Washington
9/29-10/1 at Florida

Edited September 24, 2006 by Guest

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

The Link?

[stevejrogers]

Fixed. The one drawback with all the new stadiums going up is that you now have to keep track of which stadiums go with which teams!

Lincoln Financial = Eagles
Citizens Bank = Phillies

Oi VEY!

[Frayed Knot]

* As of right now, the Mets 1st round opponent is StL. They're about the only one we weren't considering but they're playing like crap these days and have been getting the crap kicked out of them by Houston this weekend. I kinda like them as our initial test - even though it means facing Pujols and that Philly wins the WC. Cards also have to face the Padres for 3 games this week who obviously need the games themselves.

* Philly, meanwhile, has won 5 straight and 10 of their last 12. They're also just behind SD for the 2nd best record in the NL (so much for the weak NL East) and ahve virtually the same record as the Red Sox.

* Giants got the crap kicked out of them this weekend by Milwaukee despite 2 HRs from Bonds (passed Aaron for the all-time NL record) and about 10 RBIs, plus Moises Alou's 2,000th career hit. Their pitching just died.

* Dodgers took 2 of 3 and won on another walk-off HR from Nomar on Sunday.

* Padres had a big weekend sweeping Pittsburgh. Trevor Hoffman tied then broke Lee Smith's all-time saves record.

* Houston refuses to die even though it's probably too little, too late for them. Clemens is just now taking his bows in his annual "last ever" home game.

Edited September 24, 2006 by Guest

[stevejrogers]

Begs the question, would Phillies be this hot if they ended up keeping Lidle and Abreu?

And so much for that being a "White Flag" deal.

[metirish]

As remarkable as the Marlins season has been for me the Phillies has been a better story,I mean did the GM think that trading those two guys would make the team better.....amazing really.

[Willets Point]

I like Mets v. Cards in the first round and Mets v. Phils in the NLCS. Means no late nights. Well, no late late nights.

[Gwreck]

Willets Point wrote: I like Mets v. Cards in the first round and Mets v. Phils in the NLCS. Means no late nights. Well, no late late nights.

The road games against West Coast teams would probably be day games (and certainly not later than 8:00 EDT starts) as they're on Saturday and Sunday.

[Frayed Knot]

[u:34c09128de]Monday's Games that Matter[/u:34c09128de]:

* Cubs (Miller) @ Cincy (Arroyo) {Day Game} -- the Reds are closer to the division crown than to the WC at this point

* Astros (Albers?) @ Philly (Wolf) -- A one-game series (rain make-up) Houston is in same boat as Reds, though can make up grounds on both races with a win

* Padres (Wells) @ St Loo (Suppan) -- One division leader loses ground while the other gains

* D'Backs (Gonzalez) @ San Fran (Schmidt) -- Gints still alive in theory only


* ChiSox (Garland) @ Cleveland (Lee) -- the King is dead, long live the king (unless it turns out to be the MFYs)

* Royals (De La Rosa) @ Twinkies (Bonser) -- Minny is in the playoffs in one form or another unless their starter totally 'Boofs' up

[MFS62]

Who names their kid Boof?
Yeah I know, the Bonsers

Later

[Frayed Knot]

[u:5d588c8aa2]Monday's Outcomes[/u:5d588c8aa2]:

* Padres beat Cards despite Wells being scratched from his start.
Cards have now lost 6 straight and their Central lead is down to 2-1/2
Pads lead the West by 2 games
Jim Edmonds' first AB in a month was a PH 3R HR

* Reds stay alive and are 3-1/2 out in the Central (5 out of the WC) by beating the Cubs
Ken Griffey's first AB in over 3 weeks was a PH 3R HR

* Houston beats the Phils in a make-up game
The Astros have now [u:5d588c8aa2]won[/u:5d588c8aa2] 6 straight going from 8-1/2 out to 2-1/2 is less than a week.
They're 4 out of the WC

* Phils & Dodgers tied for the WC lead.

* San Fran lost their 5th straight and have now been eliminated from both the NLWest & the WC



* Twins in - ChiSox out
Twins clinched a playoff spot by beating the Royals as the Sox were getting crushed by Cleveland (seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" getting payback for last year).
Twins are 1 game behind Detroit in the Central

* Angels beats Texas to stay alive.
Their tragic number is 2 - although they finish with 4 against Oakland

* Oakland gives up 3 in the 9th, then 1 in the 10th to lose to Seattle



[u:5d588c8aa2]Tuesday[/u:5d588c8aa2]:

Philly @ Washington (Myers v Oritz)

Houston @ Pittsburgh (Pettitte v Snell)

Cincy @ Florida (Belisle v Willis)

SD @ StL (Williams v Carpenter)

Dodgers @ Colorado (Maddux v Jennings)


Texas @ Anaheim (Tejada v Escobar)

Oakland @ Seattle (Harden v Woods)

Toronto @ Detroit (McGowen v Bonderman)

KC @ Minnesota (Perez v Santana)

[metirish]

The Cards are falling apart,I hope they make it because I would rather not have to play the Astros.

[MFS62]

]San Fran lost their 5th straight and have now been eliminated from both the NLWest & the WC

This is going to deprive all those who care about Barry (one way or another) of the opportunity to see him in what might have been his last post season.

Later

[HahnSolo]

I predict that Florida, who already had to see the Mets celebrate on the field, will be pretty feisty against the Phillies this weekend.

[Frayed Knot]

Tuesday's NL results are all in:

* Sandy Eggo & Los Angeles both win, keeping the NLWest at the same 2-Game lead for the Spanish Fathers

* But Philly loses, handing the Dojers a 1-game WC lead

* In the Central, Houston wins its 7th straight while the Cards were losing their 7th! - cutting the lead down to 1-1/2
Cards not even winning when their ace Carpenter pitches. I bet "the faction" is having a field day over this collapse.

* Also Cincy beats Florida, moving them to just 2-1/2 behind StL

[TransMonk]

The AL playoff teams are set: Detroit, New York, Minneapolis and Oakland.

The seeding is still a mess as everyone is technically still alive to capture the best record.

[Frayed Knot]

[u:0cc34a104a]Wednesday[/u:0cc34a104a]

Philly @ Washington -- Hamels v Astacio

Houston @ Pittsburgh -- Hirsch v Chacon

Cincy @ Florida -- Michalak v Sanchez

SC @ StL -- Young v Reyes

Dodgers @ Colorado -- Lowe v Cook

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Padres looking much less likely to be the Mets first round opponent.

[MFS62]

I never thought I'd be rooting for that team from LA to win. But I am, for them to win just enough to bounce both Houston and Philly from the playoffs.
The prospect of facing either of those two teams scares the crap out of me.
I'd rather take my chances facing either LA or the Padres.

Later

[TransMonk]

There are 10 teams still alive for playoff spots/seedings: Philadelphia, St. Louis, Houston, Cincinnati, San Diego, LA Dodgers, MFY, Oakland, Detroit and Minnesota.

St. Louis plays San Diego today. Other than that game, none of these 10 teams will play one another over the next 5 days.

With 72 games left on the MLB schedule for this year, 49 of them still have meaning.

Usually it seems that are one or two key matchups during the last few days of a season. This year due to the schedule, everyone who has a chance to be in it is playing someone out of it over the last few days. It makes for a lot of scoreboard wathcing, but I'll miss these teams duking it out against each other.

[Frayed Knot]

In-Progress Games:

* Philly leads the Nats 5-4 in the 9th ... but closer Gordon has walked the bases-loaded with just one out (and that was a sac bunt). The final walk was intentional to Soriano in order to load the bases and face Ryan Zimmerman.
And now the count is full to Zimmerman who already has one HR tonight .... AND HE WALKS HIM AND THE GAME IS TIED!!!! (anyone wanna complain about Wagner right about now?)
So the winning run is on 3rd w/Robert Fick up (and a LOT of Philly fans in the stands in DC). Strike one, foul strike two, POPPED UP IN THE INFIELD!!!
Now 2 outs and Austin Kearns PH-ing in his first appearance since his collision w/Nick Johnson. Kearns is Frank's last position player available. Ball one almost hits him, Ball 2, foul strike 1, foul strike 2, high Ball 3, ... AND MY CABLE SYSTEM SWITCHES TO A FUCKING COMMERCIAL?!?!?!?!? WTF?

[Frayed Knot]

Well, the Phils got Kearns out so they're going to the 10th but I didn't see how!!!


* Houston & Pitt tied headed for the 11th



* Marlins 7 - Reds 2, that's a final


* Padres & Cards tied at 1 in the 8th


* Dodgers get 2 in the 7th and lead Colorado 5-4 in the 7th

[metirish]

Can baseball get any better than that...seems like all the important games are close.

[Frayed Knot]

'Twas a late night for many of these games last night:

* Cards were headed for their 8th straight loss when they got a 3R-HR from Uncle Albert in the 8th to down Sandy Eggo

* Houston got a run in the 9th to tie Pittsburgh before finally winning it in the 15th. Astros needed 12 IPs of 2R ball from their bullpen.

* Phils took a 1 run lead into the 9th against Washington ... and then gave it back.
They then took another 1 run lead in the 10th ... and then gave it back
They then took a 2 run lead in the 14th before letting the Nats load the bases w/none out ... before escaping on a Sac Fly and a GiDP

* Dodgers were down 4-1 to Colorado but got 2 in the 7th and 3 in the 8th to win it.


So the Padres have a 1-game lead on the Dodgers in the west
The Dodgers have a 1-game lead on the Phils in the WC
The Cards have a 1-1/2 game lead on the Astros (and 3-1/2 on the Reds) in the Central
The Astros can, at best, only tie for the WC if they fail to win the division.

[Frayed Knot]

AL "Race" (for best record).
All team have 4 games remaining.

Yanx = 96 wins (1 v Balt, 3 v Tampa)
Tiggers = 95 (1 v Toronto, 3 v KC)
Twins = 94 (1 v KC, 3 v ChiSox)
A's = 92 (4 @ LAA)


Detroit owns the head-to-hed tie-breaker with the Twins, meaning they'd be the division winner and Minnesota the WC if they should tie.

[Frayed Knot]

Thursday's Sked:


Toronto @ Detroit -- Burnett v Rogers -- 1:00
- 2-0 Jays, top 1st
4:20 -- 8-6 Jays win

Houston @ Pittsburgh -- Oswalt v Gorzelanny -- 1:00
- (Rain Delay)
4:20 just now in the 2nd inning after a 3+ hour delay, still scoreless
4:50 -- Scoreless w/Pitt batting in bottom 4
7:00 -- Astros get just 3 hits but win their 9th straight by shutting out Pitt 3-0 behind Oswalt & Lidge

Dodgers @ Colorado -- Penny v Kim -- 3:00
4:20 -- Rox get 3 in the 1st, then LA answers with 4 in the 2nd & 4 in the 3rd
4:50 -- Rox get 5 (and counting) in the 4th tying it at 8. This has all the making of a (pre-humidor) Coors special written all over it.
7:00 -- Dodgers win 19-11 thanks in part to a franchise record 9 RBIs from James Loney (tying a 1950 Gil Hodges mark)

Cincy @ Florida -- Lohse v Nolasco -- 7:00

Philly @ Washington -- Lieber v O'Connor -- 7:00

Milwaukee @ StLouis -- Davis v Marquis -- 8:00

KC @ Minnesota -- Hudson v Radke -- 8:00

San Diego @ Arizona -- Peavy v Batista -- 9:40

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Dodgers magic number for the wild card is down to 3.

Raining in Washington. If the Phillies don't get that game in, I guess they'll have to play it on Monday, if necessary.

[metirish]

Brewers leading St.Louis 4 - 0.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Are the Astros really looking at making up eight games in ten days in September?

Amazin'.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Can we take Pratt with us when we leave?