You wouldn’t have guessed it by looking at the standings, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are 4-1 against the San Diego Padres and 24-8 against the entire National League West this season. But bragging rights don’t mean a thing if you are not winning the division, and the Dodgers are still six games behind the Padres, a team they will play tonight in the opening game of a pivotal three-game series at PETCO Park.
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Tonight, one of the most awaited meetings of this season will take place in Washington, DC. Two rookie phenoms who have been surrounded by a mountain of media hype will face each other for the first time. The Nationals pitching rookie Stephen Strasburg and the Braves 5 tool rookie Jason Heyward. The hype machine will most likely suffer a massive internal meltdown before this one is over.
Strasburg has taken DC by storm. He has the fans coming out to the games. He has people buying Nationals merchandise. He is covered incessantly by the sports media. The hype has been crushing and yet he continues to amaze everyone. Strasburg struck out 14 in his MLB debut. Every time I see him pitch I am astounded by his breaking ball. He can throw almost 100 pitches in a game and still throw many of them at the 100 mph mark. But it’s that breaking ball that makes batters go weak.
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Regardless of how many no-hitters get thrown before the year is out, don’t try telling the Kansas City Royals that this is the Year of the Pitcher.
While Matt Garza was throwing his gem last night, the Royals sent their 2009 Cy Young Award winner Zach Greinke to the mound against the Minnesota Twins. The good news was that Greinke struck out seven. The bad news was that he also got pounded for eight runs in four innings.
photo credit: andyphelan45
Don’t try to tell the Kansas City Royals that it’s the Year of the Pitcher.
The bullpen threw gasoline on the fire, and the final tally was a whopping 19-1 trouncing by the Twins. Only a ninth-inning run prevented it from being the most lopsided shutout in three decade of Royals baseball.
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Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Matt Garza just tossed the fifth no-hitter of the year, a 5-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Garza had one walk and pitched to the minimum number of batters. Garza joins Dallas Braden who on May 9th, pitched a perfect game in a 4-0 win over Tampa Bay. Edwin Jackson had a no no on June 26th, as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Rays 1-0. Before that the Phillies’ Roy Halladay pitched a 1-0 perfect game over the Marlins on May 29th. Early in the year, on April 17th the Rockies, Ubaldo Jimenez started the entire process off with a 4-0 no-hitter of the Braves. . (Well actually this would have been the sixth no-hitter of the season, if it wasn’t for one of the worse calls in baseball history. But I digress.)
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It has almost gotten to a point where “The Year of The Pitcher” has turned into some kind of untold Greek myth, where steroid-crushing hitting gods have been unceremoniously usurped of their thrones by the rival pitching gods. But there are actual classical myths that would resonate with a higher degree of validity to the casual baseball observer who is completely unaware of the pitching dominance that has occurred in 2010. And even if you buy the notion that all major leaguers are off the juice, the out-of-this-world pitching that has been going around as of late makes Zeus’ overtaking of the Titans seem elementary.
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Others have weighed in on the trade of Dan Haren to the Angels, so I’ll pass on that topic. Instead, let’s take a look at who else might be on the move before the August 1 deadline.
photo credit: John-Morgan
With time counting down to the trading deadline, there could be more action than usual.
ESPN reports that Jorge Cantu might be en route from Florida to Texas. Cantu is hitting .260 with 10 HRs and 54 RBI this year, and you can bet those numbers would go up in Arlington if he plays regularly. Who would Cantu displace in the lineup? Not Ian Kinsler at 2B or Michael Young at 3B. Not Vladimir Guerrero at DH. Maybe he would take over for Chris Davis at 1B if the young slugger is still not ready for prime time pitching. Since his recall on July 9, Davis is hitting just .213 and striking out about once every four at bats.
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Pulling off a trade that caught everybody off guard, Angles General Manager Tony Reagins announced to the rest of the baseball world that he is not about to let his team concede the AL West to the Texas Rangers. Working in typical Angels covert fashion, Monday’s acquisition of ace Dan Haren was a huge shock to everyone, especially the New York Yankees, who many considered to be the front-runners in the Dan Haren sweepstakes. But once again proving that he is not one of those GMs that relies on that tired excuse of “looking forward to rebuilding next season,” Reagins dealt left-hander Joe Saunders and a couple of minor league arms in an attempt to match Texas’ recent pickup of ace Cliff Lee. Forget 2011––the Angels still want a shot at 2010.
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Most post professional athletes can’t comeback from one knee surgery, but if you are “The Hawk,” then what’s eleven more? Andre Dawson received the greatest honor in professional baseball yesterday when he became just the 203rd player to have his name inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Dawson, who played 21 seasons split primarily between the Montreal Expos and the Chicago Cubs and then finished out with the Boston Red Sox and Florida Marlins, was truly in a class of his own. An eight-time All-Star and an eight-time Gold Glove winner, The Hawk also won the National League Rookie of The Year Award in 1977 and was honored with the NL MVP Award in 1987. Upon his retirement, his NL totals of 409 home runs and 962 extra base hits both ranked tenth in league history and he ranked seventh in NL history in games as an outfielder (2,303).
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The Arizona Diamondbacks have given up. They have assumed the position of capitulation. In this position, they have traded away their ace Dan Haren for the Angels Joe Saunders and 3 pitching prospects. Capitulation.
Look, I know the season is lost for the D-Backs but you don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. What I ask you does this trade do to serve the D-Backs interests? What? Besides the D-Backs saving Haren’s salary, what? They have given away their very building block plus some prospects as well. In my opinion, the D-Backs have capitulated this season and their future as well.
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I’ve been a Mets fan since 1968. I have seen some good baseball and a lot of bad baseball. Heck, I sat through the Vince Coleman era. But these Mets this road trip was if not the worst trip in Mets history it certainly is in the conversation for worst trip.
The Mets went 2-9 that’s two wins and nine losses. Two of the teams the Mets lost too The Arizona Diamond Backs and the Los Angeles Dodgers were slumping before the Mets came to their town. Right now playing the Mets is like taking Red Bull for the opposing teams it really gives them wings. Over the course of this road trip the Mets have scored: 0, 0, 4, 4, 2, 2, 3, 0, 6 (wow), 2 and 0 runs in their games. They have stolen six bases and been caught stealing seven times. They are hitting under .200. They have fallen to 50 and 49, in third place 7.5 games behind the Braves and two behind the Phillies.
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