Steroids are back and Cleveland is faltering. Baseball never changes.
Good Week – Those who wake up Monday feeling pretty damn good.
Yasiel Puig (Los Angeles Dodgers Right Fielder #66)
Welcome to the Big League. It is really easy.
He hit 4 homeruns in his first 5 games. He played his first game Monday and already has 5 multi-hit games. He has an OPS of 1.458. The numbers are crazy. He is crazy. Also great name.
Free Baseball
You like paying for one game and getting two? How about a game tying grand slam in the bottom of 14th inning?
This week you got it all. On Saturday, the Rangers and Blue Jays went 18 innings, while a few hundred miles south the Mets and Marlins went 20 innings. These games featured long, long relief pitchers throwing 105, 94, and 85 pitchers respectively. Ice those arms fellas. Toronto and Miami were victorious, but those marathons do not compare to the free baseball that happened in Seattle on Tuesday.
A day game on the west coast seemed over when the visiting White Sox scored 5 runs in the top of the 14th, only to be tied up in the bottom with 5 runs, capped by a Kyle Seager grand slam. The White Sox went on to win, but the Mariners became the first team to hit a grand slam tying homerun in extra innings.
That’s 15 yards. The receiver was unable to protect himself.
AL East Pennant Race
In games not against each other, they went 15-8 against the rest of baseball.
This included the Yankees rebounding and winning six out of seven this week. The top four teams in AL East are only separated by four games and the Blue Jays are one hell of a cellar team.
None them are on the verge of faltering soon. Yankees get healthy, Baltimore’s lineup is dynamite, the Red Sox pitching is top notch, and the Rays are just starting to play good baseball. Gonna be fun the rest of the way
Kansas City Royals
So you know how I dismissed Kansas City last week by saying they were done. Well, they must have been reading BALLGAME and I sparked the fire.
They are on a five game winning streak and only gave uo 11 runs total this week. Only 6.5 games back in the Central, the Royals are still alive. Until they realize that Detroit is leading the division, but let just stick to this week. KC is back on track.
Please Leave – Those looking for the exit signs
Steroids
They are back. To make a long story short Biogenesis Tony Bosch is coming clean of his malpractice and is giving up the names of players who came to him. This is just an abbreviated recap of a long process that has no end in sight. Most players will appeal and the union will keep the trails on the low burner. Big names like Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun are rumored to be on the list, both of which have been linked to cheating before. Don’t waste your time reading the rumors of suspensions; just wait until the MLB finally decides something, which could be awhile.
Texas Rangers
They lost in 18 innings.
They lost 17-5.
The A’s caught the Rangers this week, which was 7.5 game advantage in Mid-May.
Give Oakland credit, they are playing great baseball, but the Rangers are coming back to earth after their hot start. The struggle is headed by Elvis Andrus who went 4-21 this week and only drew three walks in the leadoff spot. Also 24 year old starting Pitcher Justin Grimm gave up 12 runs this week on only seven and third innings.
Contending in Cleveland
Last week it was the Royals that were given this spot and now they are in the Good Week portion of the column.
I hope Cleveland can make the same turnaround, but seven straight losses put them in the cellar.
The staff’s ace suffered two losses this week (he was 8-3 before week started) and gave up 11 total runs.
Nick Swisher went 1 for 23 including a hitless trip back to New York. Mark Reynolds went 1 for 21 with ten strikeouts!! For the sake of the sad Cleveland sports history, BALLGAME is rooting for the Tribe.
This Team – Just a team I feel like writing about.
As mid-June approaches and the gap between the good and bad teams widen, we ask the question, is this team a buyer or seller in the trade market?
The Angels were World Series contenders and if all went bad, they would be buyers looking to bolster a team that was struggling a bit or had a few guys injured.
Unfortunately everything has gone wrong and it is quite possible the Angels might be selling at 27-36 and 10.5 games back in the AL West. The only problem about selling is that no one wants to pay Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, or C.J. Wilson.
Hamilton is hitting .212 with only 18 RBIs. Pujols’ OBP is an awful .313 and Wilson has 4.02 ERA and has given up 12 runs in his last three starts. Despite the struggle it still feels like a winning is the only option in Los Angeles, but not much winning is not going on.
He Dominated Twice – (The pitcher who threw two great games last week)
Jordan Zimmermann (Washington Nationals Starting Pitcher #27)
The 27-year-old Righty is having his breakout year. The Nats have struggled, but Zimmermann has been stellar.
His nine wins are first in the NL and his 2.00 ERA is fourth in the league. This week might have been his best.
Tuesday, he gave up only four hits and would have had a shutout if it weren’t for an error in the 4th inning that led to two unearned runs.
Sunday, he went seven innings without giving up a run, holding the Twins to two hits and fanned eight.
He pitched 15 innings and only gave up six hits on no earned runs!!! This is domination.
Please Walk Him – (The hitter who should walk)
Dominic Brown (Philadelphia Phillies Left Fielder #9)
BALLGAME meet your NL homerun leader.
The guy only had 12 homers in his entire career (430 At-Bats) and this year he has 19 HRs (228 At-Bats).
His homerun on Wednesday capped a ten game stretch that saw him go yard nine times. He drove in seven of his 47 RBI’s this week. Don’t pitch to him for your sake.
If the Playoffs Started Tonight
| AL | NL | |
| East | Boston | Atlanta |
| Central | Detroit | St. Louis |
| West | Texas | Arizona |
| WC #1 | New York | Cincinnati |
| WC #2 | Oakland | Pittsburgh |
Furthest West team gets the tiebreaker.
Playoff Match-Up I Can’t Wait to See
Pittsburgh v. Cincinnati – The pure fact that Pittsburgh would be playing their first playoff game since 1992, makes this match-up awesome.
TV Games this Week
Monday: 7pm Red Sox @ Rays on ESPN
Wednesday: 7pm Indians @ Rangers on ESPN
Saturday: 7:15pm MLB on FOX, check you local listing
Sunday: 1:35pm Dodgers @ Pirates on TBS; 8pm Giants @ Braves on ESPN
