“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up!”
Powerful words. Words to live by. Maybe not so much words to run your professional baseball team by, Drayton.
3 UP:
1. Brewers – so the Astros took 2 of 3… the real key here was going into St. Louis and sweeping a 4 game set. There’s just no better way to break the spirits of the BFiB, and that is something I will always support, especially where the Brew Crew is involved; after all, has a player ever been so aesthetically matched to his city as Prince Fielder in Milwaukee? (Oh, right… John Rocker in Atlanta.)
2. New York – on both sides. Yankees ran off 8 straight to pull within 3 of the Rays at one point; the Mets charged to the top of the East; and the Yankees took advantage of Pittsburgh’s annual Dropping of the Soap to acquire Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte (both under club control for next year, by the way) without giving up any of their top prospects. (Jose Tabata, you say? He would have ever been mentioned in any publication if he weren’t in the Yankees’ system.)
3. Colorado – 5-1 last week, 9 of their last 10, still 10 under .500 but within 6 games of the lead. Cancel those Matt Holiday trade rumors, guys. Oh, and Troy Tulowitzki looks like he’s remembered how to hit a baseball, too: he’s 12 of 23 since the ASB.
3 DOWN:
1. Pirates – screw the sweep in Houston. See above. Apparently their GM position comes with a frontal lobotomy.
2. A’s – always nice to set up the fire sale when you’re 4 games out of the Wild Card. 2-4 week, and not much hope for the remainder of the season.
3. Co-Ards – that sweep probably convinced ownership to not be buyers at the deadline. For those of you who are stat-oriented, BP’s Playoff Odds reported a 26% drop in the Jakes’ playoff chances over the last 7 days. Schaudenfreude: the refuge of the all-but-eliminated team’s fan.
FEELIN’ HOT, HOT HOT:
Ryan Braun may not be able to field a lick, but the man sure can hit a baseball. 13 for his last 23 with 4 jacks; since the All-Star Break, he is slugging an even 1.000 over 10 games. That’s good.
CLARK OF THE WEEK:
Nick Punto is making Twins fans wish for AE. At the plate. 2 for 19, no XBH, no BB, that equals .105/.105/.105.
CHOCOLATE STARFISH OF THE WEEK:
Manny being Manny. Please, please, PRETTY PLEASE, just shut up and play baseball. Nobody cares if Boston is “disrespecting” you by not picking up your $20M option. Seriously.
PET PEEVE OF THE WEEK:
It’s a rundown, guys. Little leaguers can do this. Stuff like this, and the Wigginton FUBAR in the 8th on Saturday, are moving this team from “boringly mediocre” to “comically bad”.
SnS THREAD OF THE WEEK:
Starting with idle rumors, moving through analysis of the team’s expectations vs. performance, and then to the actual trade and accompanying overreactions (my bad), this thread had it all.
COMING UP:
Rumors. Lots of ’em. I recommend www.mlbtraderumors.com as a pretty useful collection of all of the national and local media chatter; just ignore any actual opinions presented with the information.
What I expect to happen:
– Mark Loretta wearing a non-Astro uni
– Rays landing another bullpen arm
– Manny staying put
– Mark Texeira ending up in Arizona
– Surprisingly little else.