Hello,
Beware of Thursday the 13th! There were 3 hard fought extra inning games today and amazingly the right team won all three. Almost! I'm writing in order of when the games finished.
1) First up, the Cubs beat the Reds 6-5 in 14 innings. The hero was pinch hitter Julio Borbon, he had the walk off single in the bottom of that 14th inning. With the Cubs winning today, they broke the Reds 12 game winning streak at Wrigley Field. Yes, that's right Cincinnati had won 12 straight games at historic Wrigley Field. Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro are suppose to be two of the key players in the future for the Cubs. Castro was 3 for 7 and is hitting .243 on the season. Rizzo was 0 for 5 and strangely enough is also hitting .243. Their seasons are reflecting the season of the team they play for.
While this was a nice win for the Reds, in the grand scheme of the season it really doesn't mean much. The Cubs are still slowly building towards being a playoff contender in the next couple of years, if most things break right. However the Cubs are still 26-38 and last place in the NL Central. They trail first place St. Louis by 16 games. The Cubs have won 1 game in a row, 3 of 10 and have a 3.7% chance to win.
The Cubs win could have also benefited the Pirates today. If the Pirates could have finished their sweep against the Giants, they would have been all alone in 2nd place in the NL Central. Unfortunately the Giants steam rolled the Pirates 10-0. The Pirates received more bad news today. Pittsburgh's scheduled pitcher, A.J. Burnett, for Friday has gone on the 15 day DL. It now appears that Jeff Locke (5-1, 2.39 ERA) will be starting for the Pirates tomorrow. Pittsburgh starts a 3 game series against the Dodgers.
2) Oakland beat New York 3-2 in 18 innings to complete the sweep of the Evil Empire. The hero was Nate Freiman, he had the walk off hit against Mariano Rivera. I believe it's only the second time this season Rivera played a game where he did not record an out. Jesse Chavez was masterful for the A's over the final 5 2/3rds innings and earned his first win of the season. Chavez threw 71 pitches in relief and only gave up 1 hit.
My favorite stat of this game was the combined 0 for 28 put up by Mark Texeria (0-5), Travis Hafner (0-8), Kevin Youkilis (0-7) and Vernon Wells (0-8).
Oakland remains one of the hottest teams in MLB, they've now won 21 of 26 games. The A's are first in the AL West after sweeping the Yankees. (I know I wrote that already, but I enjoy writing about the Yankees getting swept.) The A's now lead the Rangers by 2 games. Oakland has won 3 games in a row, 7 of 10 and has a 75.3% chance of making the playoffs.
The A's start a 3 game series against the Mariners tomorrow in Oakland. Then Oakland travels to Texas for a huge 4 game series against the Padres. Meanwhile the Evil Empire will travel to play Anaheim in the spending a lot of money doesn't guarantee success series. It will be the 28-38 Angels vs. the 37-29 Yankees.
3) The extra-inning game that ended last today was between Baltimore and Boston. I always hate when two of my teams play each other as most of the time I don't know who to cheer for. In 13 innings the Orioles prevailed 5-4. The hero in this game was Chris Davis, he had the walk off single. Davis is hitting .338 on the season. Manny Machado, who many people think belong in the same conversation as Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, was 2 for 7. He's hitting .316 for the Orioles and should be a long time cornerstone for the Orioles.
Unlike Pittsburgh, Baltimore took advantage of their opportunity to move into second place in their division. Baltimore is now 38-29 and trail first place Boston by 2.5 games. They lead the Yankees by .5 game for second place. Baltimore has a 33.2% chance of making the playoffs.
Meanwhile for Boston, David Ortiz had his 14th home run of the season. Ortiz has 49 RBIs on the season and is hitting .306. The Red Sox, tied for the best record in the AL with Oakland, is now 41-27. Boston has a 84.8% chance of making the playoffs.
Boston and Baltimore play 3 more games against each other at Camden Yards this weekend.
themusicaddict
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