O-o-T-S: Pre-ASG weekend

[Frayed Knot]

A couple of interesting series as we head for the mid-season break

- Yanx @ Sawx
This looked like an afterthought for a while, but the Sox are the one AL East team playing well right now (even w/o Pedroia) and, while they can't catch the Yanx even with a sweep (-5.5), their streak combined with the collective slump elsewhere has closed up the entire division (2.5 from 2nd place to 5th) and a good series here will increase the drama.

- Nationals @ Orioles
No question where the rooting interest lies here. Nobody is announcing their pitching in advance. Be interesting to see if the Nats rearrange their rotation (had 2 straight off-days) and come back with Scherzer on Sunday, particularly if they lose the first two. Now if only the O's weren't playing like shit right now (2-8).

- Cardinals @ Pirates
This one is a 4-game series which got started Thursday night with a StL win. But the Pirates are 24-11 since June 1 and closed a 9-game gap down to 4.5 in just a 9 day span before giving one game back last night.


Braves @ Rox
Marlins hosting Cincy

[Frayed Knot]

Nats & O's tied at 2 in bottom 9 at Camden.

... and Jonathan Schoop hits wo HR off Tanner Roark!!

[Frayed Knot]

So Mets win while the rest of the NL East all lose (Yeah!)

Yanx win as do O's & Rays but not the Jays or Sox

Pirates beat Cards



But, in one of the non-hi-lighted games of the night, the Tigers get the first good start of the year out of Verlander (his 5th game): 7.2 IP, 1 run on 5 hits. He leaves with a 6-1 lead.
Tigers start the top of the 9th Single-Double but don't score. OK, no big deal, they've got a 5-run cushion. Except that the Twins SCORE SEVEN in the bottom half -- off Bruce Rondon & Joakim Soria -- to win it 8-6!!

Mauer - Infield Single
Sano - GR Double
Plouffe - K
Rosario - RBI Single
-----Out goes Rondon, in comes Soria
Rosario - SB
Hicks - Walk
Suzuki - RBI HBP
Santana - 2 RBI Single
Dozier - First pitch 3R HR

It took five pitches to go from 2-6 to 8-6

[Frayed Knot]

What a wild series in Pittsburgh!!

Pirates win 3 of 4 vs StL this week. Tonight they scored 3 in bottom 10th to overcome the 2 runs the Cards scored in top 10. All this comes one day after the Bucs scored 2 in the 8th, 1 in the 10th, then 2 in the 14th to win on Saturday.
Pitt now just 2.5 games back in NL Central. Were 9 games back on June 28th.

I think that in the interest of exciting pennant races that we owe it to MLB, no, to AMERICA, to kick the Cardinals butts next week.
Pirates are now 41-25 since May 1st vs StL's 41-27

[Frayed Knot]

Other assorted weekend stuff:

- Houston got swept by the Rays and have now lost 8 of 9 and dropped behind Anaheim and out of 1st place for the first time since mid-April.

- Tigers lost 3 of 4 to the Twins, are now at .500, are 9 games out of 1st, 4.5 out of 2nd, and just 2 games out of last. Oh yeah, and Miggy's out for a while.


Two things I found out are NOT reviewable calls.

1) foul tips at the plate. Mark Reynolds for the Cards swung at a 2-strike pitch which he missed by maybe 8 inches. But the home ump ruled it a foul so the AB continued. Reynolds hit the next pitch over the fence causing Pirate catcher Cervelli to go off and get ejected I think before Reynolds had even reached 1st base. Clint Hurdle was following him to the showers about 30 seconds later.
But while the HP ump could ask his colleagues if they had a better view, they weren't permitted to go to the replay.
Same thing happened to the Pirates later in that same game only with a less clear cut answer as to whether it was a foul tip or not and with just a single resulting from the extended AB.

2) A throw hitting a runner. Presumably because hits on the infield are categorized as non-reviewable, the thrown ball which banked off Chase Headley helmet wasn't reviewable either.
Headley hit a swinging bunt and the pitcher's throw went off his helmet and into RF. Problem was that Headley was about 3 feet inside the baseline and should have been called out. How the umps missed it in the first place is baffling. That it couldn't be overturned is even more so. That it happened to the Yanx is completely predictable.