April 26: Mariners Mauled, Drama Angels Beat A's Dramatically, Twins Still Own Rangers, Astros Best in American League

The Mariners horror show April got even scarier with a 19-9 loss to the Tigers in Detroit, during which Felix Hernandez experienced a dead arm.

The Angels continued to not hit the ball through most of the game, but came up with enough in extra innings to beat the A's 3-1.

The disappointed A's can at least appreciate the fact they got a shutout starting pitching performance from Jesse Hahn and the fact both Sonny Gray and Kendall Graveman should return to the rotation soon.

The Rangers guaranteed a loss in the series at home against the Twins by losing their second in a row, 8-1, but look to avoid the sweep tonight with Cole Hamels on the mound.

The Astros continue to fly high above everyone else at the top of the standings, taking the first game of a three-game set against the Indians.

Astros (14-6)

The Astros have the best record in the American League. Last night,. Dallas Keuchel pitched another gem, a complete-game, low-zone clinic against a tough Indians club.  He's now 4-0 and looking Cy Young-ish again. Josh Reddick made a spectacular, home run-robbing catch. The only down note is that Jose Altuve had to leave the game after a collision in right field with Teoscar Hernandez.

Here's Reddick's play in center field.

The box.

Athletics (10-10)

Back to Even Steven for the A's, but the pitching performance from Hahn has to give them hope they have a rotation that is going to keep the club competitive. As usual, it's hard to point to any one thing about the A's, although lack of consistent offense is an issue.

Amid a series of moves, the A's put Rajai Davis on the 10-day DL and recalled Cesar Valdez.

 Here's the box. 

Angels (10-12)


J.C. Ramirez pitched a gem of his own against the A's, striking out seven in seven scoreless innings. Once again the bats were mostly silent for the Angels until the 10th, when Mike Trout (who else?) saved the game by hitting a game-tying home run. Kole Calhoun drove in the winning run in the 11th. Still, in 22 games, they've scored 2 runs or less 11 times.

Here's a recap that points out the anemic offense while also quoting (kind of) Hunter S. Thompson.

The box.

Rangers (9-12)

After a frustrating close game against the Twins on Monday, the Rangers went out and got hammered on Tuesday night. Twins starter Ervin Santana shut down the offense. Rangers starter Andrew Cashner went just four innings, giving up two earned runs, before giving way to reliever Anthony Bass, who allowed four runs and nine hits in three innings. None of that's good.

The Angels aren't alone in having an anemic offense.

The box,.

Mariners (8-13)

Starting a tough road trip, the Mariners gave up three touchdowns (minus the two-point conversion) in game one. The horror. The Tigers had 24 hits, four home runs and five doubles. They actually left 12 on base, so it could have been worse. Two more to go against the Tigers, then its the Indians. Yay.

This recap sums it up nicely. Felix Hernandez is off to the doctor. And here you can learn about love, Shakespeare and time.

The box.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

American League West Teams Ranked By Payroll 2017

If money changes everything, then how much does it affect your position where it counts - in the standings? The 2017 team payroll numbers are now available. Several sources exist, I went with the numbers from Spotrac. But before getting into what each American League West club is spending, let's look at the money vs. results for the past few years. Return On Investment In the AL West Here's what the American League West clubs spent by team last season. These numbers include the active 25-man roster, plus money wrapped up in players on the DL and money paid to players no longer on the team. The money spent on active players is in parentheses. Los Angeles Angels - $180.7 million ($89.8 million) Texas Rangers - $168.5 million ($134.7 million) Seattle Mariners - $154.7 million ($131.8 million) Houston Astros - $114.7 million ($75.4 million) Oakland Athletics - $99.9 million ($27.8 million) And the final 2016 standings: Texas Rangers: 95-67 Seattle Mariners : 86...
Read more

Weekend Long Reads: Mike Trout Is Exactly As Amazing As You Think He Is. Actually, More.

Political junkies and stat fanatics have long read the 538 site, where the famed statistician Nate Silver serves as editor-in-chief. The site has been a Mike Trout fan, but this month they laid down some startling statistics. Basically, he's the next best thing to Babe Ruth. Literally. Based on Trout's Wins Above Replacement, he's second all-time only to Ruth. They also take a look at how Trout adjusts when pitchers develop new approaches to getting him out. The short version: The new approach doesn't work very long. You can read the whole thing here . Despite rumors of its demise, baseball, as it turns out, is doing just fine, thank you. For the start of the new season, Forbes ran down the estimated value of all 30 Major League Baseball teams,.The average value of all the teams is $1.54 billion. That's almost 20 percent more than 2016. Four of The American League West teams are in the Top 14. You can probably guess the fifth. But, hey, the value of the A's in...
Read more

Thursday April 20: Astros Widen Gap, Who Will Emerge To Challenge Them? Anyone? Anyone? Hello?

The Astros continue to distance themselves from the pack. After beating the Angels on Wednesday night behind another precision performance from Dallas Keuchel, the Astros are three games ahead of the A's and already five games ahead of their bitter rival, the Rangers. They have the most wins in the American League and a fired up fan base. Which team in the sub-.500 group can emerge to challenge them? A look at each club and links below. 1. Astros (10-5) The starting rotation is really the only major concern for the Astros at the moment. Keuchel looks like Diego Velaquez out there, a controlled master painting the corners, changing speeds, keeping everyone off balance,. Lance McCuller and Charlie Morton have looked good so far, but the four and five slots are troubling. That said, they are a 10-5 ball club with this lineup. In the short term, they have earned at least a split in the four-game series with the Angels and go for the series win today with McCullers on the mound. ...
Read more