Newsletter for games through 8-23-2015

COMMENTARY:  Miami picked up 3.5 games in the NL East and is now only 4 back…the NL central has become a dogfight; St. Louis gained 2 games and is now only a half game behind the Reds…Colorado went 5-1 but only gained a half game on the Giants, who still have a comfortable lead…congrats to Arizona (6-1) and Milwaukee (4-2), who had great weeks…Milwaukee may have been the most important team in the NL East this week; they swept the Nationals and lost 2 of 3 to Miami…Arizona took 3 of 4 from the Reds, greatly contributing to the St. Louis cause…all games matter…Colorado, Cincinnati, and San Francisco are within 3 games of the WOR championship…the AL East is less a race than a seesaw contest; this week’s big gainer was the Yankees at 6-1 (Toronto and Baltimore combined to go 3-9), with Boston stepping up at 5-2…top three teams in the division are separated by 2 games…Tigers gained 2 more games in the AL central and are now only 3.5 back…the Chisox rampaged through the AL West and went 6-1…Houston and Oakland each had 5 wins; the Mariners held to first by playing .500…those Phillies are dangerous; they scored 8 runs twice last week and never fewer than 4…Goldschmidt and Harper — both still on their original teams — are in a dead tie for the batting title, each hitting .331…Dee Gordon is .329 with about 80 more AB than either…and Gordon has 50 stolen bases…Billy Hamilton leads the ASFBL with 70…Those guys are also 1-2 in the actual majors…Greinke leads the ASFBL and the MLB in ERA…Arizona fielders have robbed 224 hits, tops in the league…Baltimore has only 74 bad plays or errors, lowest in the league…In the “different styles” category, the Dodgers are tied with Boston for the most walks received at 471, while Colorado has the fewest at 275…and the Dodgers also lead the ASFBL in HR at 176…five divisions have races that are 4 games or closer…AL wildcard has 4 teams that are within 1 game of the 2 playoff spots…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Wilmer Flores of BOS had 6 RBI against CLE on 8/17/2015
Edwin Encarnacion of TOR had 5 hits against PHI on 8/18/2015
Sonny Gray of OAK had 12 strikeouts against LAD on 8/18/2015
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 16 strikeouts against OAK on 8/18/2015
Matt Harvey of NYM had 14 strikeouts against BAL on 8/18/2015
Chris Davis of BAL struck out 4 times against NYM on 8/18/2015
J.D. Martinez of DET had 6 RBI against CHC on 8/19/2015
Alejandro De Aza of BAL struck out 4 times against NYM on 8/19/2015
Max Scherzer of WAS had 11 strikeouts against COL on 8/19/2015
Lonnie Chisenhall of MIA robbed 3 hits against PHI on 8/20/2015
Josh Tomlin of CLE had 10 strikeouts against NYY on 8/21/2015
James Shields of BOS had 10 strikeouts against KCR on 8/21/2015
Ender Inciarte of ARI robbed 3 hits against CIN on 8/21/2015
Josh Donaldson of TOR had 6 RBI against LAA on 8/22/2015
Chris Sale of BOS had 16 strikeouts against KCR on 8/22/2015
Jose Abreu of KCR struck out 4 times against BOS on 8/22/2015
Michael Conforto of CWS had 6 RBI against SEA on 8/22/2015
Luis Severino of NYY had 10 strikeouts against CLE on 8/22/2015
J.D. Martinez of DET struck out 4 times against TEX on 8/22/2015
Brandon Crawford of SFG hit 3 home runs against PIT on 8/23/2015
Brandon Crawford of SFG had 6 RBI against PIT on 8/23/2015
Matt Harvey of NYM had 14 strikeouts against COL on 8/23/2015

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Newsletter for games through 8-16-2015

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: Apologies for the site down time today; the IT folk “upgraded” the server without telling me — which is standard procedures — and then it broke — which is also standard procedure.  Should be good to go now, and sorry for the hassles.

BIG SERIES: The Giants and Dodgers took on the cream of the NL east; the Dodgers swept and the Giants took 3 of 4…the Yankees took 2 of 3 from Toronto…Detroit swept KC in three…Seattle (leading the AL west) took 2 of 3 from Baltimore (leading the AL East)…

COMMENTARY: Miami took advantage of an off week by the Nationals to gain 2 games; 7.5 is a ways to go, but they could make a race out of it…congrats to the Phils, who won 3 games this week…Cincinnati swept the Dodgers and would have gone 7-0 had not the Padres beat them 1-0 in 10, with Jake Odorizzi going to the distance….San Fran gained another game in the west, and tops the league with 83 wins…only two other teams have as many as 70…Dbacks went 5-1 and are within 1.5 of the actual team…Baltimore tacked another 2 games onto the lead; Tampa had the best record in the division at 4-1…Detroit only picked up a half game in the AL central but are now only 5.5 back and look like a real threat…the Indians went 4-2 and moved into positive WOR territory….Seattle had the only winning record in the AL west and moved in front by 2…Cardinals have the best real ERA in the ASFBL….Royals have the top real batting average…Toronto has the most real HR…toughest ASFBL bullpen is Miami, who has allowed only 10% of inherited runners to score…Baltimore is not only in first, their team ERA is due to adjust down .20…Toronto is due to go down .26….Dave Ortiz had 5 HR and 12 RBI for Seattle…Pollock stole 3 bases for Arizona…Boagerts hit .438 for Colorado…Grienke allowed 1 run in 17 innings for the Dodgers…

FEATS AND FAILURES;

Jake Odorizzi of SDP had 12 strikeouts against CIN on 8/10/2015
Anthony DeSclafani of CIN struck out 4 times against SDP on 8/10/2015
David Peralta of ARI had 5 hits against PHI on 8/10/2015
Carl Crawford of LAD had 5 hits against WAS on 8/11/2015
Jace Peterson of OAK robbed 3 hits against TOR on 8/11/2015
Jake Odorizzi of SDP had 12 strikeouts against CIN on 8/10/2015
Anthony DeSclafani of CIN struck out 4 times against SDP on 8/10/2015
David Peralta of ARI had 5 hits against PHI on 8/10/2015
Carl Crawford of LAD had 5 hits against WAS on 8/11/2015
Jace Peterson of OAK robbed 3 hits against TOR on 8/11/2015
David Peralta of ARI had 6 RBI against PHI on 8/12/2015
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 12 strikeouts against WAS on 8/12/2015
Josh Hamilton of TEX had 6 RBI against MIN on 8/13/2015
Madison Bumgarner of SFG had 11 strikeouts against WAS on 8/13/2015
Francisco Lindor of CLE had 5 hits against MIN on 8/14/2015
Elian Herrera of ATL hit 3 home runs against ARI on 8/14/2015
Chris Davis of BAL struck out 4 times against OAK on 8/15/2015
J.J. Hardy of BAL struck out 4 times against OAK on 8/15/2015
Zack Greinke of LAD had 11 strikeouts against CIN on 8/15/2015
A.J. Pollock of ARI had 5 hits against ATL on 8/15/2015
Travis d’Arnaud of NYM hit 3 home runs against PIT on 8/15/2015
Neil Walker of PIT had 6 RBI against NYM on 8/15/2015
Chris Bassitt of OAK had 10 strikeouts against BAL on 8/16/2015
Adeiny Hechavarria of MIA robbed 3 hits against STL on 8/16/2015
Brandon Guyer of TBR robbed 3 hits against TEX on 8/16/2015

Newsletter for games through 8-9-15

Three divisions had lead changes this week…

COMMENTARY: The Rockies ran the table to go 6-0 last week…they gained on the Giants despite a 5-2 week by San Francisco, who still holds a double-digit lead…but the Rocks did push their way into the 1st wildcard spot…The Cardinals gained a game on the Reds, forcing a dead tie in the NL central…the Padres posted an impressive 5-2 record, winning the games they had to win…Miami went 5-2 but the Nationals held reasonably well at 4-3, and as long as they keep posting winning weeks the Nats are a division front-runner…the AL east is a serious dogfight; Hugh Brown’s Blue Jays went 7-0 to launch themselves into first place, although both the Orioles and Yankees are within 2 games, and Boston also had a 4-2 week…the Royals inched out a little farther in the central, gaining 2 more games on the week…Houston turned a 5-2 week into first place and the Angels went 4-2 to stay within 6 games…if you’re a hitter, do what you can to get traded out of the NL West; the Giants lead the ASFBL in team ERA with 2.73, which is all of .01 ahead of the Rockies at 2.74…and if you pitch, stay out of the AL east, where the Blue Jays are first in the ASFBL in runs scores and the Yankees are 4th…Boston is 7th…Shin-Soo Choo of Miami had 10 RBI last week; Bryce Harper had 11 for the Nationals….Adonis Garcia hit 4 HR for Atlanta…Edison Volquez pitched 17.33 shutout innings for Anaheim…Lance Lynne had 18 strikeouts for the Cardinals in 14.33 innings last week…Dee Gordon stole 7 bases last week for Miami…

POST-TRADE DEADLINE REGRETS:  According to my old email, on May 13 Leo made me this offer: “Carlos Gonzalez and Colome for Gee and your choice of an everyday outfielder.”  I turned him down.  Carlos Gonzales now has 26 homers.  Gee has a 5.60 ERA in AAA.  Note to self: Take all the offers Leo makes to you….

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Kole Calhoun of NYM struck out 5 times against MIA on 8/3/2015
Noah Syndergaard of MIL had 11 strikeouts against SDP on 8/4/2015
Lance Lynn of STL had 13 strikeouts against CIN on 8/4/2015
Alex Rodriguez of NYY hit 3 home runs against BOS on 8/4/2015
Alex Rodriguez of NYY had 6 RBI against BOS on 8/4/2015
Hector Santiago of LAA had 11 strikeouts against CLE on 8/5/2015
Scott Kazmir of COL had 11 strikeouts against WAS on 8/7/2015
Jose Fernandez of MIA had 12 strikeouts against ATL on 8/7/2015
Cameron Rupp of PHI struck out 4 times against SDP on 8/8/2015
Danny Salazar of CLE had 11 strikeouts against MIN on 8/8/2015
Noah Syndergaard of MIL had 11 strikeouts against STL on 8/9/2015

Newsletter for games through 8-2-2015

TRADE FRENZY: Since last week there were a total of 31 trades involving 109 players…Burke Badenhop, Chris Sale, Reymond Fuentes, and Everett Teaford were all traded twice…both Colby and Corey Rasmus were traded….six players named “Matt” were traded (Boyd, Cain, Garza, McBride, Sczuzr and Thornton)…so were both Brian Bogusevic and Brian Broderick (say that 4 times fast)…and some big-name pitchers (Cole, Sale, Syndergaard, Lincecum, Kazmir)…

COMMENTARY: Nobody in the NL had more than 4 wins…in the wildcard dogfight the Cardinals gained precious ground and the Rockies lurk a single game behind the Dodgers…Colorado would lead 2 other divisions…Reds and the Cardinals were each 4-3 and are still separated by only a game in the NL central…Milwaukee pulled off 2 big moves and went 4-3…They are also +4 WOR…Philadelphia went 4-2, mirroring the actual club’s unexpected winning run…Best record of the week went to the Yankees who ran the table in a 7-game schedule to rush into first…Boston pulled off 2 of the last 3 trades last night and went 5-2…Baltimore and Toronto are each within 4…Royals and Detroit locked up at 4-3 atop the AL central…Oakland and Anaheim each had winning weeks and are each 5 back; the AL West is a 4-team race…mistaking a baseball game for a marathon, the Royals and Indians played 20 innings on 7/29….Cleveland won it with a HR by Preston Tucker, probably on 7/30…on the 30th Houston missed an extra point and dropped to Anaheim 14-13…the score the day before was 1-0…Kershaw leads the ASFBL in strikeouts; he’s 5 ahead of Scherzer in 30 fewer innings…with the trade dust settling, the power rankings put the Nationals and Cardinals tied at the top of the league….Washington hits better, the Cardinals pitch better…Baltimore is the top-rated team in the AL East…Giants lead the ASFBL with a team ERA of 2.70…Toronto and the Giants are tied with 478 runs scored…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Andrew McCutchen of SFG robbed 3 hits against MIL on 7/27/2015
Scott Kazmir of COL had 10 strikeouts against CHC on 7/27/2015
Tyler Flowers of KCR struck out 4 times against CLE on 7/28/2015
Sonny Gray of OAK had 10 strikeouts against LAD on 7/28/2015
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 12 strikeouts against OAK on 7/28/2015
Jose Fernandez of MIA had 14 strikeouts against WAS on 7/28/2015
Jung Ho Kang of WAS struck out 4 times against MIA on 7/28/2015
Michael Brantley of CLE robbed 4 hits against KCR on 7/29/2015
Jose Ramirez of CLE robbed 3 hits against KCR on 7/29/2015
Alcides Escobar of KCR robbed 3 hits against CLE on 7/29/2015
Mike Zunino of SEA struck out 4 times against ARI on 7/29/2015
Jhonny Peralta of STL struck out 4 times against COL on 7/30/2015
Miguel Rojas of CHC robbed 3 hits against MIL on 7/30/2015
Felix Hernandez of WAS had 11 strikeouts against NYM on 7/31/2015
James Shields of BOS had 11 strikeouts against TBR on 8/1/2015
Scott Kazmir of COL had 12 strikeouts against STL on 8/1/2015
Jose Fernandez of MIA had 12 strikeouts against SDP on 8/2/2015
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 16 strikeouts against LAA on 8/2/2015
Brock Holt of LAA struck out 4 times against LAD on 8/2/2015
Danny Salazar of CLE had 11 strikeouts against OAK on 8/2/2015