1701

There’s nothing left for the Mariners, except to see if Ichiro will get 200 hits (nope), possibly play spoiler (6 games against Texas) and root, root, root for Doug Fister (yay!)

Oh, and debut former substitute teachers recovering from horrific elbow injuries, who perform magnificently.

1702

Hey Lorini/other LA people:

What the hell happened to Billingsley this year? His numbers read like he got replaced by Nick Blackburn or something (Blackburn, in turn, has been replaced by a third base coach throwing BP this year).

1703

He just hasn’t been very good. He’s a strikeout pitcher and he’s not striking many players out. He puts a lot of guys on base, his WHIP is 3.16 for the month of September and he has yet to pitch five whole innings this month.

Rick Monday can’t stand him. I think Rick is mad that Billingsley whined for his four year contract and then once he got it, underperformed. Billingsley was also reportedly not happy that he didn’t start the first game of the season, although it is very obvious now that Kershaw is a far better pitcher.

I wouldn’t start him in my fantasy league unless I was really desperate. Mattingly doesn’t have much faith in him right now.

1704

He’s not going to last to 5 innings in this start either. Got a 4-2 lead and it’s 4-3 in the third.

1705

The Mets have been a complete embarrassment the past two weeks. Before the season I thought they were a .500 club and even though they dug a hole in the beginning they crawled out of it and flirted on and off with .500. However, they went 1-8 in their past 9 (at home) and just got swept by the Nationals who started pitchers making their ML debut in each game. Cripes.

There only reason to watch this club is for Jose Reyes. Either it’s because he’s going to be gone after this year, or to see if he can win the batting title. That’s it.

1706

It looks like the Dodgers aren’t the only ones with ownership issues. The Giants ownership group have just ousted Bill Neukom as the General Managing Partner of the Giants, basically the #1 guy running the day-to-day operations. Apparently, the Executive Committee of the Giants felt Neukom went beyond his reach in regards to spending and they wanted to save that money for a “rainy day fund.” The payroll jumped 20% in the offseason from approximately $100 million to $120 million. And it has risen every year under Neukom’s tenure. It sounds to me like the ownership group is just happy with competing for the National League West and nothing more. Very disappointing if this is how they are going forward.

In other Giants news, it’s been nearly six months since the Bryan Stow attack and he is still hospitalized and making a slow recovery. Doubtful he’ll ever make a full recovery. His family has now filed a lawsuit against the McCourts for $50 million for medical costs and other compensations. It’ll won’t end up that high in the end but it’s will probably be in the millions, maybe tens of millions. It’s just sad to think it’s been so long and he’s still hospitalized and with little speech or movement all just because of a baseball game.

In brighter Giants news, they are on a mini winning streak of four games 6.5 games behind Arizona and 7 behind Atlanta. Keeping the small glimmer of hope alive. I want to believe but I know how this will end.

1707

Wow. That’s really huge news for Cardinals fans, actually.

I’ve been silently dreading it, but I’ve thought that of all the MLB teams poised to take a run at Albert Pujols in the offseason, the team with the best shot at it might’ve been the Giants. It’d be a position of need for them, and I figured they’d clearly have a ton of money to spend. This kind of puts paid to that notion.

I know there’s going to be a market for the services of Albert Pujols come the offseason, but one by one, likely suitors (Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, Mets, Cubs, Giants) have been dropping out.

1708

The coverage of this I’ve read indicates that the new CEO has already said payroll will not be dropping. And $120m is not exactly “not competing” money unless you think only the Red Sox, Yankees, and Phillies are competing. Based on this USA Today ranking, the Giants were #4 in the NL (just barely behind the Mets) this year.

1709

From 2008 to the present, the Giants payroll has increased by over forty million dollars from $72 million to $118 million. So there has been a substantial increase under Bill Neukom. Larry Baer is the new CEO and has been the #2 guy for the past 2 decades, he’s been the face of the organization for as long as I can remember. I have no doubt he’ll want to keep the Giants competitive and payroll where it’s at but I just don’t see it happening. Every year the Giants make a big mid-season trade the biggest hurdle for them has always been how to pay the new players and not who they should trade to get them. The payroll will remain constant for at least another couple of years with the Rowand, Zito, and Huff contract still on the books. Then Lincecum is entering his final year of Arbitration and the Panda his first year along with a slew of other players so it would be hard for the Giants not to maintain their current level of payroll unless they really do decide to let a lot of players go.

I never thought they were in the hunt for Albert Pujols, as much as I would’ve liked them to be. Hopefully they bring up and let the young guys play next year such as Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford and sit Huff and a lot of the older players since they have a good young core of players. My only fear is Lincecum and Cain won’t come back after next year if the Giants don’t improve their offense somehow.

1710

While I know this isn’t mathematically true, I think realistically, with their loss to the Red Sox last night, the clock has just about run out on the Rays. If they leave Boston 4 back with 10 to go (with 7 against the Yankees while Boston has 7 left against the O’s), I don’t think they can pull it off, so they’re going to need to beat Boston today and tomorrow to stay in it. (Lucky for them, they’re clinging to a 3-2 lead in the 5th right now.)

Meanwhile, if the Yankees don’t get it in gear, the Tigers could end up with the top playoff seed in the AL. They’re just 2 games back and the Yankees finish the season with 10 games against the Rays and Red Sox. It won’t really matter in terms of matchups – the Tigers would end up playing the AL wild card whether they finish 1st or 2nd – but that could be significant come the ALCS.

Of course, the Tigers could just as easily end up with the 3 seed if they finish behind the Rangers, which I’m personally rooting for. Not that I want to play the Tigers – getting Verlander 2x in 5 games is scary – but I don’t like the way the Yankees match up with the Rangers. And of course, the Angels and Rangers play each other the final three games of the season, so if the Angels can stay close, who knows what will happen there.

All things considered, I’m really looking forward to the AL playoffs. Whoever makes it, there should be a lot of good matchups and send a solid representative to the World Series.

1711

I have to say, the Tigers are scary hot right now. Verlander is hands down aces yes, but Detroit has a really good offense going for it as well. No team has had hotter bats in the last 30 days.

1712

Don’t forget about Fister, who is 6-1 with a 2.12 ERA since he was traded to the Tigers. Yeah, he doesn’t have any post-season experience, but Verlander’s career 5.82 post-season ERA doesn’t exactly mean he will carry this over either. If they are both good the Tigers should have a long run.

1713

See, this is what I’m talking about. The Angels’ Santana has given up 5 earned runs to the worst team in baseball in the first inning.

1714

Ouch, with a 3-0 lead, David Price just had a line drive blast off his right (non throwing) shoulder, one of those shots where the whole crowd gasps in unison. But at least for now, it seems like he’s going to try and throw it off.

1715

The Rangers are now the first AL team since 1977 to have five pitchers with at least 13 wins each. Considering some of the really good well-pitched teams in the AL in the last 20 years, that’s pretty incredible.

— Alan

1716

That is pretty impressive, as you rarely see teams with a 5th starter who’ll win that much. Who was the last team? Baltimore?

1717

The Yankees are playing the Twins in an early makeup game today, and Minnesota is fielding a lineup with 7 players who’ve been in the minors at some point this year. So for the Yankees, it’s been batting practice, as they held a 5-0 lead in the 3rd.

But the problem is: AJ Burnett. If there was ever a game that he could get his head on straight and stake a claim to a postseason roster slot, this would be it. But here he is, in the top of the 4th, giving up a leadoff HR and then 2 singles with no outs, and you start to wonder if he can even get through 5 innings against a minor league lineup.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox are playing a doubleheader against the O’s, who you’d think they’d be able to get a few wins against, but they’re trailing 6-2 in the 5th.

Edit: And Burnett gets yanked in the 5th after giving up a 2-run HR followed by a double. Jeez.

1718

Hmm I dunno, the article didn’t actually mention that. It did say 3 NL teams had achieved the same thing during that time, however…

— Alan

1719

A quick check at Baseball Reference says my guess was right. Here’s a look at Baltimore’s 1977 staff, which boggles the mind when you think about how much baseball has changed in 30+ years:

Jim Palmer: 20-11, 2.91, 22 CG
Rudy May: 18-14, 3.61, 11 CG
Mike Flanagan: 15-10, 3.64, 15 CG
Ross Grimsley: 14-10, 3.96, 11 CG
Dennis Martinez: 14-7, 4.10, 5CG

Martinez worked out of the pen a lot that year, in what was really his first full season, before taking a proper place in the starting rotation the following year.

Palmer had 22 complete games and it was his 7th 20-win season in 8 years. Flanny had 15 complete games and only 15 wins.

Something else crazy to think about: that season, both the O’s and Red Sox won 97 games, and neither made the playoffs, as the Yankees won the AL East with 100 wins. And even under today’s alignment, one of them still wouldn’t have made it, as the Royals and Rangers would have taken the other two division spots.

1720

And Boston falls to the O’s in game 1, 6-5, cutting their wild card lead to 1.5.

With a 6-4 lead, Mo is warming up and getting ready to take the mound for save #602. There was some talk about how it would be nice to let Posada put on the gear and catch the record, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen.