This post is for voting and discussion in the twenty-sixth round of balloting for the Circle of Greats. This round adds those players born in 1947. Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading
Here’s a full set of notes on a short slate, and then a three-day pass for your Game Notes narrator. He’s off to D.C., to play Uncle John with the next generation of Autins. See you again on Monday. Until then, keep hitting the cutoff man! Or woman.
@Royals 5, Red Sox 1 — K.C. kicked off a 4-game home series by beating Boston from start to finish, their 14th win in the last 16 games, to reach 59-53 — their best mark in 10 years at this point in the season. Bruce Chen has been Panama red-hot since stepping up to the rotation. He blanked Boston on 5 hits for 7.2 innings, improving to 5-0, 1.79 overall (65.2 IP), with a 1.14 ERA in 5 starts.
Just a few tonight; my teams needed me. Sorry if I missed a big story somewhere.
Braves 6, @Nationals 3 — With Atlanta seeking a 15-game bulge and their best win streak since 2000, Kris Medlen set aside the first 11 batters and led by 2-0. But he walked Bryce Harper, and Jayson Werth made it count with his 16th HR. Jordan Zimmermann had to leave after 4 innings, cause yet unknown. Justin Upton got the lead back with a solo in the 7th, but Medlen couldn’t hold again, and Werth scored that run after singling.
Whoops! I did it again, for the Battle of the Justins. We’ll make it the last one for this series (the outcome took the edge off), and get back to regular Game Notes next post. Once again, this is working from ESPN’s printed play-by-play, as it happened, with the video links added later. (Oh, and a few oldies tacked on at the end. I hope you’re suitably giddy if you get to the Sunday Leftovers.)
…just kidding.
Instead, how about a quick look at the effects of yesterday’s suspensions on the 2013 baseball season? Seven players who were on major league rosters as of Sunday were suspended for 50 games each. After the jump, we’ll look at those players, their year-to-date WAR (per baseball-reference), and their teams’ positions in the standings as of this morning. In ascending order of potential playoff race impact:
Two of the AL’s hottest teams kicked off a 4-game set on Monday. I didn’t get to see the game — where are you, MLB Network? — but I thought I’d try a running diary from the printed play-by-play, as it happened. With condolences to my Tribe-fan friends, who probably won’t read this anyway:
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1st/Top — Corey Kluber on the hill. He’s faced the Tigers three times this year, with mixed results (two quality starts, one crowning). Just his luck, Miguel Cabrera‘s in the lineup after 4 games out; Miggy’s 7 for 14 with 3 HRs in this matchup. But another tormentor, Jhonny Peralta (5-13, 2 doubles), will miss this game and many more.
@Tigers 3, White Sox 2 (12 inn.) — Miguel Cabrera sat out his 4th straight start, but his pinch-hit started the winning rally. Austin Jackson bunted the pinch-runner to 2nd, and Torii Hunter singled him home, then was showered with affection. Detroit has won 8 in a row, their best in 2 seasons, with a quality start each game, totaling 56 IP with a 1.12 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. Chicago’s free-fall reached 10 straight losses, as bad as any one-season streak they’ve had since 1956. (The ChiSox had 10-game skids in 1976 and 1968.)
@Rays 2, Giants 1 (10 inn.) — The first meeting of these Cy Young winners did not disappoint, only that neither David Price nor Tim Lincecum was there at the end. Reliever Jean Machi, an old rookie who’s shown great control this year, cooked his own goose with 3 walks (one intentional), putting the game on a tee with no outs for Wil Myers. The youngster delivered, lashing one past the drawn-in outfield for his first game-winning hit. Now, that’s something to celebrate.
With yet another brilliant start in a 4-1 win in Tampa Bay on Friday night, Giants’ starter Madison Bumgarner made a little bit of franchise history. The lanky lefty is currently on a nine-start streak of pitching at least seven innings while allowing two earned runs or less. That stands as the second-longest in franchise history, behind Ferdie Schupp of the then New York Giants, who had 12 such starts between the 1916 and 1917 seasons. This impressive streak has not only produced the lowest ERA of Bumgarner’s young career (2.69), but it’s also planted the 24-year-old firmly in the middle of the Cy Young race.
The Giants’ de facto ace is showing no signs of slowing down either, especially after tying his season-high in strikeouts with 11 against a baffled Rays lineup. He was clinical with the slider, throwing the pitch a season-high 53 times with an impressive 35 of those tosses going for strikes. That’s been par for the course for Bumgarner this season because no pitcher in baseball favors his slider as much as the Giants’ lefty.
@Marlins 10, Indians 0 — Unstoppable force, meet No-Way Jose Fernandez. Miami’s precocious ace prolonged his coming-of-age party — his 21st game was his first at age 21 — with a gem more brilliant than the last one, throwing a 14-K roadblock in front of Cleveland’s 8-win streak.