The Cubs just scored 5 runs in the 4th inning against the Rangers
…before that they had scored 5 runs in all 4th innings combined.
- WGN Radio
FACT: @Rangers are 1st team in liveball era to have at least 13 Ks in each of their 1st three games of a season.
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@MLB_PR To note, the Astros also set a record by striking out 43 times in their first three games. But PR knows how to put a positive spin on things. |
New uniforms, new leagues, new season.
“It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But it is better to be good than to be ugly.” - Oscar Wilde on the 2013 Houston Astros.
Josh Hamilton has agreed to terms on a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
That’s an interesting turn of events.
Image courtesy of fwweekly.com
Here are the most interesting pieces of info:
- If the Yankees lose and the Orioles win, one-game playoff tomorrow (Thursday). So, yes.
- If the Yankees lose the and A’s win the A’s are the number one seed. The. A’s. are. the. number. one. seed.
- If the A’s beat the Rangers they win the AL West. Only the fifth team to win a division after being back by at least 13 games (June 30) in a season. (1914 Braves, 15 games; ‘78 Yanks, 14; ‘51 Giants, 13; & ‘95 M’s, 13) Three of those four went to the World Series, two won it.
- Neither the Tigers nor the Orioles can be the number one seed.
via Wahoo Sam
Btw,
the A’s are now 3 games back of the Rangers. The A’s and Rangers have four more games against each other, including this afternoon’s contest. They finish the season with a three-game set.
In between, the A’s play three at home vs. the Mariners. The Rangers will host the Angels for three.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. (AL edition)
Schedules for the AL playoff contenders:
Yankees
12 home, 16 away - opponents’ winning % (as of 9/4): .497
Orioles
13 home, 14 away - opponents’ winning %: .512
Rays
15 home, 12 away - opponents’ winning %: .529
Tigers
12 home, 16 away - opponents’ winning %: .487
White Sox
16 home, 12 away - opponents’ winning %: .483
Rangers
13 home, 15 away - opponents’ winning %: .502
A’s
11 home, 17 away - opponents’ winning %: .546
Angels
16 home, 11 away - opponents’ winning %: .530
In one of those great baseball coincidences, the Yankees (2), Rangers (3), Tigers (7), and Angels (8) are all in the top ten in per game attendance. While the Orioles (23), White Sox (24), A’s (29), and Rays (30) are in the bottom ten.
Obit of the Day: On the Radar
It’s always fun to find the scouts at Spring Training. They’re the ones with a stopwatch in one hand and a radar gun in the other. Throw in some gut instinct - or a hefty dose of sabrmetrics - and you have someone armed and ready to find top pitching talent.
The radar gun wasn’t part of baseball scouting until Hal Keller, who worked for both incarnations of the Washington Senators as well as the Texas Rangers. Keller, who got the idea from Michigan State baseball coach Danny Litwhiler, realized that an accurate measurement of pitch speed would make the lives of scouts much easier. Before Keller, determining pitch speed involved a lot of math. Dividing the distance from the mound to home plate - 60’ 6” - by the time the pitch took to arrive in the catcher’s mitt would get you an approximate speed. (For those with an affinity for physics and formulas - v=d/t.) With the radar gun you simply write down the numbers you see.
Keller’s work as a scout earned him a reputation that led him to the general manager’s office of the Seattle Mariners for the 1984 and 1985 seasons. During his time the Mariners would win 148 games versus 176 losses for an unimpressive .457 winning percentage but he also helped sign some of the team’s earliest stars including Alvin Davis, Harold Reynolds, and Mark Langston.
Keller who received the George Genovese Lifetime Achievement Award in scouting from the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation in 2010 was also the brother of Yankee outfielder and five-time All Star Charlie “King Kong” Keller. Hal Keller died at the age of 84.
Additional source: seattletimes.com
An version of this post is also found at www.obitoftheday.com.
(Image is copyright of Doug Pensinger/Getty Images and courtesy of latino.foxsports.com. The photo was cropped.)
(Source: suntimes.com)
Josh Hamilton: The Legend Continues
It was the bottom of the 13th, no outs, two men on, and the Rangers were down by two runs. Josh Hamilton came to the plate against Blue Jays reliever Jason Frasor. Frasor had a 4.50 ERA when Hamilton stepped in the batter’s box. A few minutes later and that ERA had climbed to 5.00 as Hamilton crushed his 20th home run of the season, giving the Rangers an 8-7 win.
Hamilton is currently on pace to hit 69 home runs…and earn a heck of a lot of money in a contract season.
The Washington Nationals Lead the NL in Wins
After defeating the Miami Marlins 3-2 in 10 innings the Nationals now have 12 wins against 4 losses with a dominating 8-2 record at home. (If the Dodgers win this afternoon they will be tied with the Nats for the NL lead.)
Plenty of room on the Nationals bandwagon for those who want to jump on board.
In the AL, the Rangers won their 12th this afternoon, scoring 8 runs in the first against the Tigers. They can reach 13 if they win the night half of their doubleheader.
