Hello,
With the Dodgers clinching the NL West and not seeming interested in going after the NL's best record, I'm going to lessen my emphasis on the Dodgers until the playoffs start.
On Friday, the Dodgers started a 3 game series with the Padres in San Diego. Don Mattingly's obvious goal was to give Dodgers' starters rest. Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez only had a pinch hit appearance. Also Hanley Ramirez and Carl Crawford didn't even play in this game. I completely agree with Mattingly's decision to rest players, especially injury prone players like Crawford, Ramirez and Kemp.
The Red Sox clinched their division on Friday, completing a remarkable turnaround going from worst to first. It's obvious the Red Sox have overcome the Bobby Valentine's season massacre. There seemed to be some indecision by Red Sox ownership whether to bring Valentine back for 2013 or not. I'm so glad wiser minds prevailed. It's also worthy to note the man that Red Sox ownership pushed out, Terry Francona, has his Indians in the playoffs as of Friday night. That being said, maybe it was time for a change in Boston anyway. Too bad that change was Bobby Valentine.
It seems that John Farrell is doing a very good job, his Red Sox have clinched the AL East after all. Although the AL East, a division I thought was going to be so tough, ended up being only good, not great.
Meanwhile the Pirates suffered a very disappointing loss, they were leading 5-2 going into the top of the 9th inning. Unfortunately they ended up losing the game 6-5. Jordy Mercer's wild throw resulted in an error. That opened the door for the Reds to score 3 runs, tie the game and force it into extra innings. The Reds then won when Joey Votto hit his 24th homer of the season in the top of the inning. Sadly the Pirates were unable to push a run across in the 9th or 10th inning.
It's looking more and more like the Pirates will go on the road to play in the one game Wild Card playoff. As of now the Cardinals rule the NL Central, they lead both the Reds and the Pirates by 2 games. The Reds and Pirates are tied for the NL Wild Card lead, it's essential the Pirates win the last two games of this series.
Also in the NL East the Braves magic number is 5. In the AL West the Rangers continue to collapse, and temporarily have been passed by the Indians. Meanwhile the A's are coasting to the AL West title, their magic number has been reduced to 2.
Five of my seven teams look like they are going to make the playoffs. That would be the Dodgers, Red Sox, A's, Braves and Pirates- hopefully on the Pirates. My two teams that aren't going to make it are the Cubs and the Orioles. I hope that at least one of those five teams make the World Series, but honestly I would love to see one of my teams win it all. I'm glad the Yankees aren't going to be in the playoffs, I'm so tired of them.
It's interesting to note that things aren't going well in Texas sports wise. The Rangers are collapsing, if the Rangers don't make the playoffs I think they need to make a managerial change. I'm not a Rangers fan, so I don't really care. But why would you keep a manager who's team has faded completely the last two years? The Cowboys continue to head towards irrelevance as they are being destroyed from inside by the shenanigans of Jerry Jones. Finally the Texas Longhorns aren't the team that everyone expects them to be. They were manhandled by BYU and Ole Miss back to back, with that second game being at home. Of course Jones has nothing to do with the Longhorns so it's likely they'll bounce back quicker than the Cowboys.
themusicaddict
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