Cleveland and Tampa Bay Last Two Teams Fighting for Playoff Spot

Here’s your morning baseball briefing for Friday September 27, 2013:

News & Notes:  Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced his retirement effective at the end of the 2014 season.

A Los Angeles Dodgers fan was fatally stabbed outside of San Francisco’s AT&T Park on Wednesday after a confrontation with Giants fans.  The man was a son of a Dodgers security guard.

Thursday Scores:

RESULT	WIN	LOSS	SAVE
at San Diego 3, Arizona 2	Vincent (6-3)	Collmenter (5-5)
at Baltimore 3, Toronto 2	Gonzalez (11-8)	Buehrle (12-10)	Johnson (48)
Tampa Bay 4, at NY Yankees 0	Cobb (11-3)	Nova (9-6)
at Atlanta 7, Philadelphia 1	Hale (1-0)	Cloyd (2-7)
Milwaukee 4, at NY Mets 2	Figaro (3-3)	Gee (12-11)	Henderson (27)
at Texas 6, LA Angels 5	Nathan (6-2)	Kohn (1-4)
Kansas City 3, at Chicago White Sox 2	Guthrie (15-12)	Rienzo (2-3)	Holland (46)
Cleveland 6, at Minnesota 5	Shaw (7-3)	Albers (2-5)	Smith (3)
at San Francisco 3, LA Dodgers 2	Casilla (7-2)	Rodriguez (3-4)	Romo (38)

Walk-Off Win Streak:     1   The San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers each walked-off winners on Thursday.

Longest Winning Streak  -  7   Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Indians

Longest Losing Streak -      12   Houston Astros

League Leaders

American League                                          

Batting Average- .345 Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers            

Home Runs -  52 Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles

RBI -  137 Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers, and  Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles

                     

Pitching Wins – 21 Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers                                    

Strikeouts - 269 Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers                                          

E.R.A. -  2.64 Anibal Sanchez, Detroit, Bartolo Colon, Oakland                                                         

National League

Batting Average- .335  Michael Cuddyer, 1B, Colorado Rockies

Home Runs -  36 Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks

RBI  - 124 Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks

Pitching Wins – 19 Jordan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals

Strikeouts – 224 Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

E.R.A. - 1.88 Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

MVP Watch

American League:  Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels

Yesterday:      2-5 with 2 runs scored

Season:          .324, 26 HRs, and 94 RBI

On pace for:   .323, 26 HRs, and 96 RBI

National League:  Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks  

Yesterday:          1-4 with a run scored

Season:             .303, 36 HRs, 124 RBI

On pace for:      .303, 36 HRs, 127 RBI

Cy Young Watch

American League:

Yesterday:       None

National League:

Yesterday:     None   

History

1997 World Series – Cleveland Indians vs. Florida Marlins

The 1997 World Series featured the Cleveland Indians, who reached the series for the second time in three years (lost to Atlanta in 1995), against the Florida Marlins, who set a record by reaching the series in just their fifth year in the league. 

Florida had home field advantage in the series, and Game 1 was the first ever World Series game played in the state of Florida.  The Marlins won 7-4 behind back-to-back home runs from Moises Alou and Charles Johnson in the fourth.  Cleveland came back with a 6-1 victory in Game 2 as Sandy Alomar Jr. capped the scoring with a two-run home run in the sixth, and the series was tied 1-1 as it moved north to Cleveland.

In Game 3, Florida erupted for seven runs in the ninth inning to break a 7-7 tie, but Cleveland rallied for four runs of their own before succumbing to the large deficit, and the Marlins won a wild game 14-11 to take a 2-1 series lead.

Snow and freezing temperatures greeted the players for Game 4, and Cleveland felt right at home, winning 10-4 behind home runs from Manny Ramirez and Matt Williams to even the series at two.

Florida hung on for an 8-7 win in pivotal Game 5, and they headed south needing one more victory to wrap up their first ever World Series title.  Meanwhile, Cleveland needed to win both road games.

The Indians won Game 6 by a 4-1 score as pitcher Chad Ogea flourished, limiting Florida to just one run in seven solid innings.

Game 7 would provide as much excitement as the entire series up to this point, and Florida trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth with Cleveland closer Jose Mesa on the mound trying to secure three outs for an Indians World Series victory, but two singles and a sacrifice fly later, the Marlins had tied the game and Mesa had blown the save.  The score remained tied 3-3 until the bottom of the eleventh.  After Bobby Bonilla singled for Florida, Cleveland shortstop Tony Fernandez booted a would-be double play and Bonilla advanced to third on the error.  Edgar Renteria then stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out and delivered a clean single up the middle that scored the winning run and Florida won their first World Series in franchise history,becoming the first wildcard team to win the World Series.

New York Wins 4-2

          For the series Cleveland outscored Florida 44-27 and outhit them 72-68.  There were no future Hall of Famers playing in the series for the first time in all of baseball’s 92 World Series played.

Monday: 1998 World Series – New York Yankees vs. San Diego Padres

Trivia

Today’s Question:  Who managed the 1997 Florida Marlins to their World Series title?

Yesterday’s Question:  Who was named MVP of the 1996 World Series?

Answer:  New York Yankees closer John Wetteland

House Bet

Today:  Over/Under 1 putout recorded by Yankee closer Mariano Rivera this weekend that doesn’t come on the mound.   Rumor has it manager Joe Girardi might allow Rivera to play the outfield briefly against Houston.

Yesterday: Over/Under 4 runs allowed by San Francisco pitcher Tim Lincecum vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Result:  Under.  Lincecum allowed just 2 runs.

Standings

American League						National League
EAST	W	L	GB	STRK		EAST	W	L	GB	STRK
x-Boston	96	63	-	Won 1		x-Atlanta	94	65	-	Won 1
Tampa Bay	90	69	6	Won 7		Washington	84	75	10	Lost 3
Baltimore	83	76	13	Won 2		NY Mets	73	86	21	Lost 1
NY Yankees	82	77	14	Lost 4		Philadelphia	72	87	22	Lost 2
Toronto	72	87	24	Lost 2		Miami	59	100	35	Won 1
CENTRAL	W	L	GB	STRK		CENTRAL	W	L	GB	STRK
x-Detroit	93	66	-	Won 2		z-St. Louis	94	65	-	Won 3
Cleveland	89	70	4	Won 7		z-Pittsburgh	91	68	3	Lost 1
Kansas City	84	75	9	Won 1		y-Cincinnati	90	69	4	Lost 2
Minnesota	66	93	27	Lost 3		Milwaukee	72	87	22	Won 2
Chicago Sox	62	97	31	Lost 3		Chicago Cubs	66	93	28	Won 1
WEST	W	L	GB	STRK		WEST	W	L	GB	STRK
x-Oakland	94	65	-	Lost 2		x-LA Dodgers	91	68	-	Lost 2
Texas	88	71	6	Won 4		Arizona	80	79	11	Lost 2
LA Angels	78	81	16	Lost 1		San Diego	75	84	16	Won 2
Seattle	70	89	24	Won 2		San Francisco	74	85	17	Won 2
Houston	51	108	43	Lost 12		Colorado	72	87	19	Lost 1
x - clinched division
y - clinched wildcard
z - clinched playoff berth

Schedule – Friday September 27 – Sunday September 28

Probable pitchers in parentheses, with my picks to win highlighted. 

Yesterday’s Picks:  6-3   Season:  991-749

Times EST

 

Friday September 27
7:05 PM	Boston	Buchholz (11-1)	@	Baltimore	Feldman (12-11)
7:07 PM	Tampa Bay	Hellickson (12-9)	@	Toronto	Dickey (13-13)
7:10 PM	Detroit	Porcello (13-8)	@	Miami	Koehler (4-10)
7:10 PM	Pittsburgh	Burnett (9-11)	@	Cincinnati	Bailey (11-11)
7:10 PM	Milwaukee	Gallardo (11-10)	@	N.Y. Mets	Torres (4-5)
7:30 PM	Philadelphia	Lee (14-7)	@	Atlanta	Medlen (14-12)
8:05 PM	L.A. Angels	Wilson (17-7)	@	Texas	Ogando (7-4)
8:10 PM	N.Y. Yankees	Pettitte (10-11)	@	Houston	Oberholtzer (4-4)
8:10 PM	Kansas City	Shields (12-9)	@	Chi. White Sox	Sale (11-13)
8:10 PM	Cleveland	Kluber (10-5)	@	Minnesota	Hernandez (3-2)
8:15 PM	Chi. Cubs	Wood (9-11)	@	St. Louis	Lynn (14-10)
9:40 PM	Washington	Strasburg (7-9)	@	Arizona	Corbin (14-7)
10:10 PM	Oakland	Colon (17-6)	@	Seattle	Hernandez (12-9)
10:10 PM	Colorado	McHugh (0-3)	@	L.A. Dodgers	Kershaw (15-9)
10:15 PM	San Diego	Smith (1-2)	@	San Francisco	Vogelsong (3-6)
Saturday September 28
1:05 PM	Pittsburgh	Locke (10-7)	@	Cincinnati	Arroyo (14-11)
1:05 PM	Cleveland	Kazmir (9-9)	@	Minnesota	De Vries (0-1)
1:07 PM	Tampa Bay	Archer (9-7)	@	Toronto	Happ (4-7)
4:05 PM	San Diego	Stults (10-13)	@	San Francisco	Petit (4-0)
4:10 PM	Oakland	Parker (12-7)	@	Seattle	Maurer (4-8)
4:10 PM	Milwaukee	Nelson (0-0)	@	N.Y. Mets	Harang (5-12)
7:05 PM	Boston	Lester (15-8)	@	Baltimore	Chen (7-7)
7:10 PM	Kansas City	Ventura (0-0)	@	Chi. White Sox	Johnson (2-2)
7:10 PM	Detroit	Sanchez (14-8)	@	Miami	Eovaldi (4-6)
7:10 PM	Philadelphia	Halladay (4-5)	@	Atlanta	Minor (13-8)
7:10 PM	N.Y. Yankees	TBD	@	Houston	Clemens (4-6)
7:15 PM	Chi. Cubs	Jackson (8-17)	@	St. Louis	Kelly (9-5)
8:05 PM	L.A. Angels	Richards (7-7)	@	Texas	Holland (10-9)
8:10 PM	Washington	Haren (9-14)	@	Arizona	McCarthy (5-10)
9:10 PM	Colorado	Nicasio (8-9)	@	L.A. Dodgers	Greinke (15-3)
Sunday September 29
1:07 PM	Tampa Bay	Moore (16-4)	@	Toronto	Redmond (4-2)
1:10 PM	Detroit	Verlander (13-12)	@	Miami	Alvarez (4-6)
1:10 PM	Pittsburgh	Morton (7-4)	@	Cincinnati	Cueto (5-2)
1:10 PM	Milwaukee	Estrada (7-4)	@	N.Y. Mets	Niese (8-8)
1:35 PM	Boston	Lackey (10-13)	@	Baltimore	Tillman (16-7)
1:35 PM	Philadelphia	Miner (0-1)	@	Atlanta	Teheran (13-8)
2:10 PM	Cleveland	Jimenez (12-9)	@	Minnesota	Diamond (6-12)
2:10 PM	N.Y. Yankees	Kuroda (11-13)	@	Houston	Bedard (4-12)
2:10 PM	Kansas City	Chen (8-4)	@	Chi. White Sox	Quintana (9-6)
2:15 PM	Chi. Cubs	Samardzija (8-12)	@	St. Louis	Wainwright (18-9)
3:05 PM	L.A. Angels	Vargas (9-7)	@	Texas	Darvish (13-9)
4:05 PM	San Diego	Ross (3-8)	@	San Francisco	Cain (8-10)
4:10 PM	Colorado	Chatwood (8-5)	@	L.A. Dodgers	Ryu (14-7)
4:10 PM	Washington	Gonzalez (11-8)	@	Arizona	Miley (10-10)
4:10 PM	Oakland	Gray (4-3)	@	Seattle	Ramirez (5-2)