70-61, one half game ahead of Florida, one and a half games ahead of the Mets and Astros in the Wild Card, 4.5 behind Atlanta in the NL East
After taking two of three from the Giants and kidnapping Michael Tucker and bringing him to Arizona on the team plane, things looked good for the Phillies at the start of a three game series in Phoenix. Bobby Abreu hit another (his third of the year) grand slam in Friday’s win and the D’backs were continuing a month long trend of sucking.
Then the Phillies managed to lose the final two games of the series as Rheal Cormier continued to bathe in kerosene before every appearance. Woof. So it’s bad enough that they add the lefty hitting Tucker (who can’t really hit) so he can sit on the bench next to Kenny Lofton and Ryan Harvey against lefthanded starters, but yesterday the four teams immediately behind them in the Wild Card all lost, and the Phillies didn’t pick up a game. Not good.
They are off today with a big series in Flushing starting tomorrow. The Mets have crawled into the thick of the Wild Card race and like a bad rash they not only seem to be hanging in there, but they are spreading. This has to be stopped.
On a related note, last night’s game was the Sunday night game on ESPN TV and radio. I decided to watch “Rome” on HBO instead, and then kept tabs on the game on XM where I got to listen to Dan Shulman and Dave Campbell, and was reminded that they might just be the best announcing pair going. At one point they went through every contending team in both leagues and made insightful and sometimes funny observations, while Joe Morgan was on TV saying that you need three things to make the playoffs, 1) pitching, 2) hitting and 3) leadership. I know what Joe needs and it’s a Louisville Slugger to his simplistic forehead.
73-56, .5 ahead of the Angels in the AL West
The A’s have won five in a row and can finish off a four game sweep of the Orioles this afternoon. Those Orioles are a fun bunch. Rafael Palmeiro is in seclusion after publicly flunking a drug test and Sammy’s back on the DL with a sore toe. You spend enough time in the Cubs’ organization and you too can develop mental toughness like this.
I’m more jealous of the A’s now than I was before. Check out the Mark Kotsay bobblehead they’re giving away on the next homestand:
How sweet is that with the sunglasses? I have an idea for the Cubs. They could make a mint if they produced a Corey Patterson one that shows him botching a flyball in the sun and they can put his sunglasses on top of his hat. See, I should have John McDonough’s job.
The recent surgence (surgence?) of the A’s has everything to do with an offense that went to sleep during that 2-8 run they went on after passing the Angels for first place last time. Since getting pantsed by Nate Robertson and the Tigers on Tuesday, the A’s have scored 9, 11, 4, 12 and 10 runs in their five game win streak.
Mark Ellis has hit four homers in the last five games, Jay Payton’s hitting .462 over that time span and Eric Chavez is hitting .333 with a couple of bombs. Nick Swisher is still reeling from the Carlos Pena home run that he misjudged by about 40 feet on Tuesday night (if you didn’t see it, he set up barely on the warning track to catch the ball only to see it land about 12 rows back and a good 40 feet to his left, oops), and he’s 1 for his last 17, though he has walked four times.
After today’s tilt with the Orioles (Kirk Saarloos v. Eric Bedard, 2:05 CDT, MLB Radio and TV), the A’s are off to Anaheim for a hUgE series with the Angels.
73-58, one game behind the Yankees and one half game behind the second-place Angels in the AL Wild Card, eight behind the White Sox in the AL Central
I will admit I’ve watched more Indians’ baseball over the past week than I have the Cubs. I can’t help it, they’re just fun to watch. Even if you do have to put up with Rick Manning (though he told the now famous story about getting booed out of County Stadium after getting a base hit to win an extra innings game, because Paul Molitor was on deck and his 39 game hit streak ended with the winning run scoring). The Tribe weathered a mildly challenging road trip by taking three of four in Tampa Bay (no small feat since the Angels got swept in the three after Cleveland left) and two of three in Toronto.
Yesterday they were carried by homers from their eighth and ninth place hitters, Aaron Boone and Casey Blake. Boone’s homer was so unexpected that the Blue Jays feared it was sign of the apocalypse and had the tarp pulled onto the field as they tried to close the SkyDome roof before the inevitable blood rain. But the skies stayed cleared and there weren’t even any reports of locust activity. Though this will probably bring back SARS.
Cleveland finishes the month with three home games against the Tigers and then head out on a six game roady to Minnesota and Detroit. Tonight it’s Jeremy Bonderman against Scott Elarton.
Elarton? Better get the bats tuned up.
