1661

Jeez, how bad did the Yankees want to get this rain-delayed game in tonight? They started the game at 11PM. Yeoow.

1662

New York was pretty angry that Baltimore made them play a late-series doubleheader instead of stacking up in the front of the series like the other teams did before the hurricane’s arrival, so now they want to stick it to them by playing as late as possible.

— Alan

1663

To continue the goofiness, the game ended at 2:15AM EST, and they play a day game less than 12 hours later Wednesday at 1PM EST. And then they go to Baltimore Thursday for another day game, making up yet another rainout.

1664

So in an absolute must-win game, in a season that is all but over, Manny Acta sends Masterson back out in the 7th inning after he’s already thrown 106 pitches. He proceeds to load the bases, and then finally gets yanked. From a 4-2 lead, Cleveland has now given up 5 runs so far, with no outs. Maddening. If I’m Masterson, I’m getting out of Cleveland as soon as possible.

The kicker is that Masterson was outpitching Verlander for 6 innings and is going to be stuck with the loss.

1665

Since when is 106 pitches some absolute rule? I have no idea what Masterson’s history is, but Acta may have felt Masterson was pitching better then the bullpen options he had or maybe the Indians need more then six innings out of their starter at this point for bullpen relief. Putting Masterson back out under the circumstances described is not automatically a bad move by Acta. It didn’t work out, but that’s an “after the fact” analysis.

1666

Cleveland has had one of the best bullpens in the AL all year; admittedly they were a bit taxed from last night’s blowout but most of the guys pitching then were the AAA call ups. This also isn’t the first time that Acta has left JM out there for an inning too long this season. Masterson has had high pitch counts in many starts this year, and for a guy who is only in his second(?) year as a full-time starter, it’s a bit worrying. I’m thinking back to 2007 when Wedge rode Sabathia and Carmona hard all season, and then they had nothing left in the tank come postseason. It seems like an unneeded risk to push the guy who has proven he can be the team’s future ace when there are perfectly good options available in the Bullpen Mafia.

1667

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ai5sjVgVX7s9F1qzXeotwA45nYcB?slug=jp-passan_bud_selig_expanded_playoffs_wild_card_090711

Interesting piece about how Selig still wants to add another wildcard team and realign Houston into the AL West. If Selig truly is on his way out, it seems like odds are good that he’ll get at least part of what he wants in the current collective bargaining discussions and there is really no reason the players would oppose expanded playoffs or realignment.

1668

The Clemens thing continues to make news as both sides cannot help but make bizarrely stupid decisions. Clemens’ defense team was caught talking to the first trial’s jury, despite extremely clear instructions from the judge that both sides were not to do so. Clemens’ team has been told to turn over all material from these interviews, but they balking.

Are both teams just fundamentally stupid?

— Alan

1669

Not really about the 2011 season, but looking back, is there a sadder story than the '86 Mets? First and Strawberry tragically kill their HoF careers with drugs. And now Len Dykstra, whose post-baseball life has been sad at best, has been charged with “exposed[ing] himself to a string of women who answered his Craigslist employment ads.”

1670

I’m not sure exposeding is an actual word.

1671

Sadder? The sad thing about the '86 Mets is '88. I think all in all they’re doing well. Darling and Hernandez are now the color guys for the club and they’re pretty great. Ojeda (who survived that horrific boat crash while with the Indians) does the post-game show, Mookie is currently a coach for the club, Backman manages the AA club, Teufel was a minor league manager but I think he moved on, Howard Johnson was the hitting coach for a while, Jesse Orsoco is probably still pitching somewhere, Kevin Mitchell has his demons but I think he made his peace with them (as per ‘The Bad Guys Won It’) and my personal favorite, Gary Carter was inducted into the hall but is battling brain cancer, which is the saddest thing right now. For all their troubles I think Straw and Doc are trying to get in a good place. All in all, pretty OK.

I heard on the radio that while Doc Gooden was in Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab Dykstra tried to raid the place and break him out thinking he was being held against his will. I googled it but didn’t see anything to confirm it, but if true Dykstra has gone off the deep end.

1672

Jose Reyes led off today’s game with a single and scored on a one out double. You could have turned the game off at that point because the Mets one it 1-0 to claw back to 1 game under .500.

I hope the Giants can make a bit of a race out west because otherwise this September sucks for races.

1673

I like your optimism but they’re thrown in the towel even if Bochy doesn’t want to admit it. Though very unlikely, I hope the Giants still call up Marc Kroon and give him one final chance to pitch in the majors.

The only race left is the AL West, for which I’m rooting for Jerome Williams and the Angels.

1674

Oooh! Kershaw vs Lincecum tomorrow night. Looking forward to it.

1675

I can already see the results, 1-0 Dodgers win, Kershaw throws a no-hitter. The Giants have a hard enough time hitting and scoring runs off of mediocre pitcher, they have no chance off somebody like Kershaw. At least the Dodgers have nearly as bad a lineup as the Giants so it should at least make for a nice pitcher’s duel.

1676

Rick Monday, the color commentator for Dodgers radio, is too funny. Billingsley has loaded the bases with walks and the catcher is going out to talk with him. Monday: “Billingsley has missed outside, inside, up, and down. What exactly is the catcher going to talk to him about?”

1677

And the Giants lose to the Dodgers, dropping another to the D-Backs, they’re now closer to the Dodgers than the D-Backs and will likely be overtaken at this rate. I would like to say Kershaw vs Lincecum lived up to it’s billing of a pitcher’s duel but neither pitcher is exactly facing a top tier lineup. Sadly I was very close to my prediction, Dodgers won 2-1 and the only score the Giants had was on a Dee Gordon error.

1678

Perhaps meaningless but nevertheless interesting stat from Verducci of SI: the Brewers have not won a series against a team with a winning record other then the Cardinals since Memorial Day. Their wins are coming against the poorer teams.

And note that the Diamondbacks are just a half a game behind the Brewers right now for the #2 playoff spot in the NL. They could end up with home field against the Braves in October while the Brewers face the Phillies.

1679

Well since the All Star break, the Dodgers are like 8 games over .500. Their offense is awesome too; there have been many games where they’ve scored at least five runs. Factors: Uribe is gone, Broxton is gone (and won’t be re-signed), Lilly’s ERA went from over 7 to under 3 after Mattingly benched his butt, and Loney went from hitting under 2.25 to hitting well over .300 after they fired the hitting coach. Barajas is far better than Navarro too although he may be the first real casualty of the bankruptcy.

The team they have now is competitive. They couldn’t get to the WS, but they could compete for the division.

1680

Hopefully the Giants can make some offseason moves that gives them some power in their lineup. The Giants-Dodgers rivalry has been dull the past few years with neither teams being competitive at the same time. Kind of boring when you have one good team and one bad team. I hope the Giants can get Lincecum signed to a long term deal, it would be great to see Lincecum vs Kershaw for the next ten years. Speaking of Kershaw, his numbers are almost just as good as Verlander and it would be a damn shame if he were to lose the Cy Young to Halladay or Lee because he’s on a non-competitive team this year.