April 28: Angels Move Into Second, Rangers Avoid Sweep, Mariners and Astros Both Even In Their Series On The Road

The A's held second place the longest of any team so far this season, but got knocked out (by a couple percentage points) by the Angels last night in a game where Sean Manaea had low velocity and left with shoulder tightness after just two innings.

The Mariner's got more bad news - Mitch Haniger is joining Felix Hernandez on the DL - but they evened the series against the Tigers behind a stellar performance by starter James Paxton.

The Angels beat the A's in a more-or-less normal way, no late inning fireworks, to grab second place.

The Rangers finally solved the Twins behind Cole Hamels, a solid bullpen (!)  and an offensive explosion.

In the week's battle of first place teams, the Indians evened up the series with the Astros.

Astros (14-7)

The Indians jumped out early on the Astros, scoring three off starter Lance McCullers in the first inning. From then on it was a seesaw affair, with the Astros getting two-run homers from both Evan Gattis and Brian McCann, but the Indians held on for the 7-6 win. The rubber match - with the edge in early-season confidence on the line - happens today with Mike Fiers on the mound against the Indians Corey Kluber.

Indians starter Trevor Bauer extended his perfect record against the Astros. McCullers road vs. home performance is pretty drastic.

The box.

Angels (11-12)

Welcome back to being King of the sub-.500s, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim! Behind yet another solid starting pitching performance, this time from Matt Shoemaker, the Angels beat the A's, 8-5. Note the number of runs - the Angels bats finally came alive, with everyone getting a hit except leadoff man Yunel Escobar. Bud Norris also got his third save (nice pickup by Angels GM Billy Eppler). The Halos go for the sweep tonight with Ricky Nolasco on the mound against the A's Kendall Graveman. 

David Hernandez hasn't given up a run since Eppler brought him in to shore up the bullpen. Baseball god Mike Trout collected his latest award.

The box.

Athletics (10-11)

Weird game from the A's side of the field. A loss is a loss and slipping back below .500 is not great, obviously, but the bigger concern is the shoulder of Manaea. He left after just two innings with left shoulder tightness and he barely hit 90 mph on his fastball. A bright spot: Mike Joyce hit well last night, including a homer. Also, the return of Graveman, who will attempt to help the A's avoid a sweep tonight.

Here's a good breakdown of the good and bad for the A's so far this year.

The box.

Rangers (10-12)

Geez Louise, man. The Rangers exploded for 14 runs last night, including homes runs from Ryan Rua and Shin-Soo Choo. Hamels gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings, and the bullpen finished out the game without giving up a run. The Rangers have a day off and then play a series against the Angels in the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. That could be the series that gives everyone an indication who will emerge from the sub.500 pack.

The Rangers lost the series against the Twins, but at least they finally beat them.

The box.

Mariners (9-13)

Paxton returned to his bat-missing ways, striking out nine over seven scoreless innings. Nelson Cruz homered, so did Guillermo Heredia, Jean Segura is back n the lineup and drove in two runs. All in all it was a solid, convincing 8-0 victory - in another words, a freakish event sop far in the Mariners 2017 season. They have a chance to win the series today in Detroit. A chance to win the series in Detroit. 

 Hope is alive in Seattle.

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