Down the stretch they come (AL), 2013

[Edgy MD]

Best radio commercial: "Baseball's getting into the swing again here in Boston. And you know what that means --- stocking up on your favorite Little Debbie snack cakes!" "Getting into the swing"? It's September. My son's been critical of the untimeliness of that commercial since about June.

You know the radio guys are all, "Let's not suggest that they update the spot, lest it start a bigger conversation." Keep those checks coming, guys.

[Benjamin Grimm]

HahnSolo wrote: I thought the best snack for watching baseball were Wise potato chips.

I've heard that it's peanuts and Crackerjack.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Best radio commercial: "Baseball's getting into the swing again here in Boston. And you know what that means --- stocking up on your favorite Little Debbie snack cakes!" "Getting into the swing"? It's September. My son's been critical of the untimeliness of that commercial since about June. You know the radio guys are all, "Let's not suggest that they update the spot, lest it start a bigger conversation." Keep those checks coming, guys.

"Who do you call when your windshield's busted?"

[Edgy MD]

Now I want to hear a "Pop the cork, fingers snappin'" Foxwoods spot.

[Edgy MD]

And the only answer to that temptation is to give in to it.

[youtube:3r0vw8c7]8PHxnuoEpIo[/youtube:3r0vw8c7]

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: And the only answer to that temptation is to give in to it. [youtube]8PHxnuoEpIo[/youtube]

didn't need the youtube, that one triggered the memories as soon as you mentioned it.

Haven't listened as much but it seems like Foxwoods no longer sponsors the turning point of the game contest on WFAN.

[Frayed Knot]

Sucky day yesterday as not only did the Yanx win but Tampa, Texas, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Oakland all lost. Only KC won among the other contenders, and only because they were playing Cleveland so someone had to win.
Just goes to show you how much an outlook can improve or darken as the result of one day.

Royals & Indians going at it again this afternoon. 3-2 KC early on. And if Cleveland is going to beat us and suck against everyone else (4-7 recently not including the Met series and 1-7 vs the Yanx this season) then I'm rooting for the Royals to kick their asses out of there.
Pitt at Texas also a day game today.




Soriano, who hit 2 HRs last night, now has 15 HRs in just 170 ABs since the trade to the Yanx - as opposed to his [u:2g0yle8o]17 in 362[/u:2g0yle8o] for the Cubs before the deal. IOW his rate didn't just increase but has just about doubled. He also leads MLB in both HRs & RBIs since the date of the trade and only Cano has more HRs for the Yanx over the whole season.
I hate when that happens and some version of this seems to happen to them a lot.

[Lefty Specialist]

If they get into the playoffs, their season will have been saved at various points by the likes of Lyle Overbay, Mark Reynolds, Alfonso Soriano, Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner, none of which anybody would have given a dime for before the season started.

[Frayed Knot]

Lefty Specialist wrote: If they get into the playoffs, their season will have been saved at various points by the likes of Lyle Overbay, Mark Reynolds, Alfonso Soriano, Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner, none of which anybody would have given a dime for before the season started.

Those guys are 2nd (Soriano), 3rd (Overbay), 4th (Hafner) and 5th (Wells) on the team in HRs with a combined total of 52
Only Reynolds isn't among the team leaders but he's only been on the team for 20 minutes and is inexplicably hitting .300 after .215 w/Cleveland



Royals beat Indians again, so Cleveland falls into a tie w/the Yanx but KC climbs up to within a half-game

[Frayed Knot]

Same shit in the AL races today as yesterday except that Oakland was nice enough to win.

As a result, the Yanx leap over Balt & Cleveland and are just one game behind fast fading Tampa for the 2nd WC spot and three games behind Texas.
And they STILL have a negative RS/RA ratio!!

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Fucking Orioles.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Eh. They tried, and still a 4th game tomorrow. Put a run up and the tying run on vs. the great and powerful Mariano in the 9th

Key moment was a DP that saved Andy in the 6th, and an Overbay weak infield single driving in the winner.

Play that game 10 times and the O's win 8.

[Frayed Knot]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Play that game 10 times and the O's win 8.

Which has been the story with the Yanx all year - that's how they got to 8 games over .500 with a negative run differential.
Orioles out-hit the Yanx 13 - 6 last night but, after the first Yanx run came as the result of no hits, the remainder came via HR, HR, HR, and 3B+1B

I keep waiting for their fans to give back wins like these since many of them were adamant about wanting a team that hit fewer HRs, played more 'small ball', and gave 'some of the kids' a chance.
Hey shitheads:
- how well did those replacement players and all that small ball shit work out during the first 2/3 of the season? Turns out that .215 slap-hitters and bunters with no power don't create as many runs teams that hit 200+ HRs per year ... Who knew?
- how much does it bug you that ARod's return has been one of the keys to the recent surge while Jeter's return meant nothing even before it ended for the 4th and final time?
- how were those "kids" (many of them 26 years old) once you got a look at them? Did you REALLY think the next Jeter/Posada/Pettitte/Mariano/Bernie were just sitting down there in Scranton or Trenton waiting to rush to the rescue?
- and how is this desire to get younger taste considering that they guys you added this year that actually mattered are mostly over 35 and some of them are signed beyond this year as well?

[Frayed Knot]

Fuckin' Orioles! After leaving runners all over the bases in the 7th, they get a 2-out, 3R game-tying HR in the 8th ... only to blow it again in the 9th.

- After the HR, Buck brought in his closer Jim Johnson in the 9th in a tie game (OK, no problem there) but he starts it off by giving up a leadoff hit to Brendan Ryan.
WHO? Brendan Ryan, that's who; a guy the Yanx picked up for his glove about 20 minutes before the Wednesday's game after Jeter's magic was somehow unable to overcome his latest injury; Brendan Ryan, late of Seattle & St Louis, who is hitting a cumulative under .200 [u:2bafqaqd]SINCE THE BEGINNING OF 2012[/u:2bafqaqd], a span of nearly 700 ABs.
- So up comes another non-hitter in the form of catcher Chris Stewart ... who bunts it right back to pitcher Johnson ... who has tons of time to get the force and maybe even a DP it's bunted so poorly, ... if only his throw to 2nd hadn't missed the bag by about 18 feet.
- the next batter Granderson, who had HR'd earlier, also bunts, this time successfully bringing up ARod ... but it doesn't matter what ARod does because Johnson Wild Pitches the winning run home!!

So the Yanx cough up a 3-run lead in the 8th and do nothing right in the 9th except get a hit from a .180 schlub who's career in pinstripes can be measured in hours, and yet they win the fucking game anyway.



Yanx would actually be tied for a WC spot today had Tampa not decided to finally win a game last night.
As it is they sit one game behind Tampa and three in back of Texas. Indians are 1/2 in back of the Yanx with KC & Balt a full game in back of the seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians".

Yanx @ Boston this weekend.
Cleveland @ Chisox
KC @ Detroit
Baltimore @ Toronto
Oakland @ Texas (A's lead by 3.5)
TB @ Minnesota

[HahnSolo]

You didn't point out that Machado had a HR taken away from him in the 8th by noted defensive ace Alfonso Soriano.
Well if Tampa wants to avoid an epic collapse (they're almost there), they better knock the Twinkies around this weekend. Cleveland also has a White Sox team that has all but given up. And I am sure the Red Sox would love nothing more than to beat up on Yankee pitching again this weekend.

I'm still desperately clinging to the idea that we can keep the MFYs out of any sort of postseason, but I'm losing that faith each day.

[Frayed Knot]

* Sox jump ouit to a 4-run lead in the 1st but then stop scoing
* Yanx chip away and tie it by the 6th
* Saltalamacchia nails a GS to make it 8-4 Sox

[Edgy MD]

The Sox have been pretty good at that --- give people hope. Let them chip away and then come with the knockout punch.

[G-Fafif]

Rangers looking a little anxious to dip down into the scrum that was previously beneath them. Technically it still is, but when they finish getting blown out by A's tonight (most likely), they'll be only 1.5 better than Rays, 3 better than Tribe, 3.5 ahead of MFYs, 4 over O's.

Royals in peril altogether, 3.5 behind Rays. Better to be in Texas's position than KC's, but heavy are the heads that wear the cards.

[Frayed Knot]

G-Fafif wrote: Rangers looking a little anxious to dip down into the scrum that was previously beneath them. Technically it still is, but when they finish getting blown out by A's tonight (most likely), they'll be only 1.5 better than Rays, 3 better than Tribe, 3.5 ahead of MFYs, 4 over O's. .

Just barely as it turned out.
Rangers, down 9-2, scored 6 in the 8th but had tying run Alex Rios thrown out at tying to go 1st to 3rd on a single to end that inning*, and then failed to score in the 9th as well so the final was 9-8 Oakland.


* Close call but it looked to be wrong. Was definitely the type of call we'll see reviewed and probably overturned next season.

[ashie62]

The A's are a scoring machine of late, go figure..

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Boston, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, and Baltimore all did their jobs last night and the Sox are off to a good start again today.

Yankees postseason probability is down to 11.9% and their elimination number is 14.

[G-Fafif]

Frayed Knot wrote: G-Fafif wrote: Rangers looking a little anxious to dip down into the scrum that was previously beneath them. Technically it still is, but when they finish getting blown out by A's tonight (most likely), they'll be only 1.5 better than Rays, 3 better than Tribe, 3.5 ahead of MFYs, 4 over O's. . Just barely as it turned out. Rangers, down 9-2, scored 6 in the 8th but had tying run Alex Rios thrown out at tying to go 1st to 3rd on a single to end that inning*, and then failed to score in the 9th as well so the final was 9-8 Oakland. * Close call but it looked to be wrong. Was definitely the type of call we'll see reviewed and probably overturned next season.

Visions of David Freese, vis-a-vis assuming the fate of Rangers games, danced in my head as soon as I typed "blown out" danced through my head, which is why I amended it with "most likely". Thought this might become bulletin board material for Ron Washington...if he's lurking late in games versus Oakland, that is.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

As an ESPN commentator might say, "Baltimore just doesn't want it enough." Among the other players in Team Yankees Elimination, the Red Sox cruised to a 5-1 win, Cleveland won 8-1, and Tampa Bay is up 6-0 after a lengthy delay. The Yankees magic elimination number is 13.

[G-Fafif]

Rays, Tribe and Royals (plus Bosox) are true American heroes for Saturday.

TEX --
TBR --
CLE 1.5
MFY 3.0
KCR 3.5
BAL 3.5

[HahnSolo]

Rangers are in an '07 Mets-esque freefall. They could easily fall out of this, giving the MFYs another glimmer (albeit a small one) of hope.

[Frayed Knot]

TEX ---
TBR ---
CLE -1/2
BAL -2-1/2
NYY -3
KCR -3-1/2


Weekend wrap-up

- Boston sweeps the Yanx, outscoring them 22-7 in the process.
The real surprise is that the three games managed to take a total of "just" 9:02. Those teams often have trouble getting two games complete in nine hours.

- Oakland swept the Rangers and have essentially sewn up the AL West (+6.5)

- Indians sweep the ChiSox and, in doing so, put themselves in the lead challenger position with probably the easiest schedule coming down the stretch (KC, HOU, CHW, MIN)

- KC loses two of three in a tough series with Detroit.
Tigers won 3-2 on Sunday via an 8th inning HR after losing 1-0 on Saturday when Prince was thrown out at the plate for the game's final out.

- Tampa took two of three from Minnesota, which sounds decent except that they already had the first two games in the bag and were up 3-0 in the 7th with David Price on the mound yet somehow managed to lose 6-4. [MAD-DOG]You can't be doin' that Mikey, you can't be doin' that![/MAD-DOG]

- Orioles took 2 of 3 from Toronto



Upcoming:

- Free-falling Texas goes to Tampa for some WC-on-WC action
Chasing teams probably want to see a sweep here. They won't care which way as long as one of the teams becomes easier to reach.

- Indians @ KC
Royals probably need all three for themselves, but would do the other contenders a huge favor by taking two

- Yanx @ Blue Jays (starting Tuesday)
Yanx are 13-3 vs Toron'o (remember, don't pronounce the last T when at Baghdad airport) this season

- Orioles at Boston
You've done your job Red Sox nation and you've done it well. So how's about taking the next couple of days off?

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Frayed Knot wrote: - Orioles at Boston You've done your job Red Sox nation and you've done it well. So how's about taking the next couple of days off?

My son and I have tickets to the Sep. 22 game at Fenway so I'm selfishly hoping they'll hold off clinching the AL East until then, but it's seems unlikely.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

MFYs were eliminated from the division crown last night as though that were any mystery. But eally, terrific job by the Sawx to take, what 6 of 7 vs. these frauds in September.

[Edgy MD]

When the Yankees finally bow out, just remember... the 2013 Mets made the difference.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Edgy MD wrote: When the Yankees finally bow out, just remember... the 2013 Mets made the difference.

If they finish 3 games out of playoff contention that will be especially sweet.