Disclaimer: The Dodgers are winning this game 9-3, Kersh has only given up 1 ER, and he is going into the 9th inning with a pitch count of only 89.
FWIW <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>BREAKING: Ron Washington left the Rangers due to impending legal issues, alleged sexual assault. More <a href="https://twitter.com/TweetTheScoop">@TweetTheScoop</a> <a href="http://t.co/JelUeeTo87">http://t.co/JelUeeTo87</a></p>— Jamie Kelly (@JamieSportsTalk) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamieSportsTalk/status/509891023632621568">September 11, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Beltway Series anyone? Nationals, Orioles clinch respective divisions http://www.si.com/mlb/2014/09/16/washington-nationals-baltimore-orioles-clinch-respective-divisions-pose-potential-world-series-match
I saw the Angels had clinched the AL West, and felt surprise. I knew they had been hot, but didn't realize how bad the A's have been. A's were 72-44 on August 9th. Since, they are 9-24. Seattle is only 2 games behind them for what could be the 2nd WC spot.
Their offense has been wretched since the trade of Cespedes - he and Donaldson were the centerpieces of that lineup. I heard somewhere that in the last 2 or 3 years since they've been on this current run, they didn't have a single month under 0.500 until August. It was pretty obviously a bad trade, but it's kind of crazy how quickly and dramatically everything fell apart.
Cespedes isn't a great offensive player (a good one though), so it is surprising how large the dropoff has been.
It is a bit crazy - I expected them to regret the trade, but more in the playoffs when their offense would struggle against good pitching. I didn't expect this deep a collapse. But that offense was functioning better than the sum of its parts. Cespedes was the #3 hitter and was top 2 or 3 in all the major offensive categories. And he was great with people on base (0.672 OPS with no one one; 0.837 with men on; 0.889 with RISP), so he contributed in actual production more than his baseline stats would indicate. When you take him out, you move your #4 hitter to #3, #5 to #4, etc. Basically, every spot in the order is worse and players are being asked to do things they weren't originally asked to do, etc. Oddly, Cespedes is *still* 3rd on the team in RBIs, HRs, doubles, and total bases, despite having been traded 50 days ago.
Judging from A's fans I follow on Twitter, they seem to anticipate this is the last year this bunch of players will be there...that their team will be broken up and massively overhauled in the offseason.
I'm glad we got away with highway robbery in the Shark/Hammel trade. Russell still has to prove it in the majors, but he's so highly touted, I just feel like Theo really fleeced Beane there. Hammel is also an FA, I can see him coming back for a year to the Cubs since he did well with the team.
The Kansas City Royals ended their 29-year playoff drought with their 3-1 win over the White Sox. This makes them the last team from the 4 major North American sports leagues to appear in the playoffs during my lifetime. The last time the Blue Jays appeared in the playoffs, I was 1 year old!!!!
It must be nice to have Rendon. He's a stud. Nationals sure have taken advantage of guys falling in the draft due to injury (Rendon, Giolito, Fedde). Rizzo is a sharp gm in all aspects.
Jordan Zimmerman with the Nationals' first ever no hitter on the last game of the season. A rookie, Stephen Souza Jr., made a diving catch in left field for the last out of the game. Talk about giving your fans a little something extra when there's nothing even left to play for. I am officially hyped! <iframe class="vine-embed" src="https://vine.co/v/OZPZPq9TZmX/embed/simple" width="480" height="480" frameborder="0"></iframe><script async src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
