Courtesy of Wikimedia

Today begins the nearly week-long, year end Baseball Writers of America Awards celebration and starting tonight at 6 p.m. EST, MLB Network will be airing nightly programs to present those awards. The first honor will be for the Rookie of the Year.

American League Candidates

In the American League it’s an all-Western affair where the Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels are represented.

First up, we have Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland Athletics. Cespedes, the 27-year-old (as of October) rookie from Cuba had a stellar first year for Oakland batting .292/.356/.505/.861 with 23 home runs and 82 RBI in 129 games all while helping the A’s to a surprise AL West Division title.

Cespedes was an interesting case of a guy who started off slowly – he batted .236/.309/.418/.727 in the first two months of the season, was able to make adjustments and go on to have a great season overall.

Cespedes favored playing at home batting .319/.406/.531/.937 in Oakland compared to .268/.308/.483/.791 on the road but there was a place which houses a team in his Division where Cespedes seemed to be very comfortable playing. He had a .324/.343/.647/.990 line in the Ballpark in Arlington which just so happens to be the home of our next Rookie of the Year candidate…

» Continue reading “Looking At The Rookie Of The Year Candidates”

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has been elected president of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. She is first woman to head the organization in its 104 year history.

She succeeds Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times who was elected president at the BBWAA’s World Series last year. The vice president will usually serve one year before becoming president and the president serves a one-year term, from World Series to World Series.

Slusser has worked for the Chronicle since 1996 and has been on the A’s beat since 1999.

She didn’t always cover baseball. She has also written about the Sacramento Kings and Orlando Magic for the NBA and has covered college football.

Slusser worked for The Dallas Morning News in 1995 and 1996, covering the Texas Rangers, prior to making the move to the Chronicle.

The current NL standings via MLB.com

As of Friday, the MLB Playoffs officially begin! Last time, I went over what some of the Playoff terminology meant and how to actually get to the playoffs, but what about what’s happening right now this season? Well, here’s where we stand:

With the exception of the 2nd Wild Card team, the National League teams are all set.  We have the Washington Nationals representing the NL East (FYI…this is their very first division title as the “Nationals”).  Then we have the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central (who are tied with the Nationals for the best record in all of baseball) and the San Francisco Giants in the NL West.

» Continue reading “Baseball For Beginners: So, Who’s Going To The Playoffs?”

Author’s Note: This post was written prior to the Rangers/Angels game on Thursday night. I don’t do 9 p.m. start times. Sorry, kids…

Texas Rangers

With a little less than 2 weeks left in the regular season, the Texas Rangers are pretty much where they have been the entire season, a top the AL West standings. Overall, not much has changed with the Rangers.  Over the last couple of weeks, they have gone 11-7, winning 2 series against the Indians, another against the Royals, and another against the Mariners.  The Derek Holland we all saw the second half of the 2011 season seems to emerged over the past few weeks which would help this team close things out over the next week or so.  That said, an injury to Adrian Beltre is certainly something to watch as they wind down the season.

The Rangers’ magic number is 11.

For more on the Texas Rangers, visit Big Game Claws.

» Continue reading “AL West Recap: Going Down To The Wire”

Once in a while… you just have one of Those Days.

You know, the kind that start out beautifully and you lay out in the sun and forget you have class. They quickly turn sour when next you start walking into things like aggressive shrubberies, then forget to bring your goggles to lab. Toss in a wardrobe malfunction or two, and next you might struggle to properly pipette your chlorophyll and acetone solution, so you have to re-centrifuge all your samples. If you planned poorly, it is likely you would have to respond to a fire drill when you should have been studying for your midterms. And to top it all off, as Murphy would have it, finally during yoga you fall out of your half moon Ardha Chandrasana pose because you can’t stop thinking about how the Brewers let you down last postseason and now that they might actually make the wild card you’re afraid to get your hopes up. Right?

And you end up at your computer at eating too many baby carrots and raspberries and raw almonds and gluten-free rice crackers that are probably made with gmo corn and listening to sad folksy songs at 11pm, which really isn’t that late for a college student but really is late for a college student who wakes up at 7am every morning for 8 hours of science without baseball.

Ok. Enough. I promised no one I would not use this article to vent. I lied to no one.

Today on Throwback Thursday, the goal is to wash away the Those Day Woes with a slew of hilarious baseball bloopers from bygone and more-recently-bygone seasons, just in time and appropriately themed for storm season. That’s right, today we are haulin’ out the tarpaulin… or, more accurately, watching major league baseball stadium grounds grew folks fail at some tarp-pulling of their own.

…Remember how much fun you had in elementary school physical education class playing with a giant rainbow parachute? Well, did Mrs. Kellogg, your P.E. teacher, ever tell you what a marketable skill that could be? Yes, readers, there are some guys out there who get paid to do it, and sometimes, it looks like they have not had half the qualifying training that you or I had. Please enjoy:

It’s not quite as easy as these kids make it seem… Image via kidactivities.net

» Continue reading “Throwback Thursday: Just One Of Those Days… Made Better With Tarps”

When September comes around you often hear the term “meaningful” baseball.  A division once thought to be a weak division now has three out of the four teams in the AL West are playing baseball that matters.

Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers are still the division leaders and I am starting to sound like a broken record.

The Rangers still hold a 5.5 game lead over the Oakland Athletics.  They have won 7 out of their last 10 games and still lead the league in runs (704) and a .278/.339/.451 slash line.

At this point in the season I would be surprised if the Rangers did not take the division, they have an AL best record (82-55) and even though both the Angels and A’s have come close to catching them, it seems to be an impossible feat.

The Rangers will head to Tampa Bay this weekend to face the Rays, who are also in the playoff race, and then head home to take on the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners.

For more on the Texas Rangers, visit Big Game Claws.

» Continue reading “AL West Recap: September Baseball”

Since we last caught up with the AL West, a lot as changed, yet it’s stayed mostly the same …

Texas Rangers

Well, the Rangers seem to be chugging along, currently holding the AL’s best record.  Their offensive struggles seem to be a thing of the past as Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton have started to heat back up and David Murphy continues on his tear.  Despite that, starting pitching remains a question mark.  With a Yu Darvish quad injury, it looks like Roy Oswalt will be back in the line up for a bit longer.

For more on the Texas Rangers, visit Big Game Claws.

Oakland Athletics

Strong offensive performances and solid starting pitching have certainly been the story of this unexpected playoff contender.  However, the Bartolo Colon PED suspension is definitely a big blow for this wild card hopeful.  Over the past 2 weeks, the A’s have played .500 ball, but have still been able to hang in there in the Wild Card standings, currently tied with Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Detroit.  With a series coming up against the Rays this weekend, they’ll be looking to get a few games up in the WC standings.

For more on the Oakland Athletics, visit The Oaktown Breakdown. 

Los Angeles Angels

This team just can’t seem to get things together.  Despite an MVP-esque season from rookie Mike Trout, the Angels just can seem to find their stride, and a Pujols injury (who left early during Wednesday’s game) certainly won’t help things.  The Angels are currently sitting 9 games behing the Rangers and 3 games back in the wild card.  With a weekend series against the Tigers, they’ll be hoping to gain some ground in the WC.

For more on the Los Angeles Angels, visit Light Up The Halo. 

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners have definitely the story of the past week or so, topped off with Felix Hernandez’s perfect game against the Rays on Aug. 15.  Oh and over the past 2 weeks, they’ve only won 10 of 12.  They are definitely a long shot to make the post season, currently 6.5 games back in the Wild Card, but if they can keep up their winning ways, maybe they can make a run.

For more on the Seattle Mariners, visit Needle Ball. 

Pitch counts.  Innings pitched.  And what can be done to save pitchers from the disabled list?  Is there an eye test for issues with the arm?

Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals is going to be shut down this season.  Before the end of the regular season, and well before the playoffs begin.  After having Tommy John surgery in 2010, he pitched 24 innings at the tail-end of last season.  Soon, he is to be exiled to the dugout, with somewhere between 160 and 180 innings pitched.

Nolan Ryan and the Texas Rangers give their starters the ball and expect them to go deep into games, only giving it up when it’s ripped from their hands.  That’s old school.  New school is all about pitch count, and now about innings pitched.

In actuality, there is no true study out there regarding major leaguers and pitch counts and innings pitched that is definitive regarding injury.  At youth league levels, there are studies that appear conclusive:  over-use leads to injury.  But not so with the big boys.

» Continue reading “Ask The Coach: What About Pitch Counts?”

AL West Stands via MLB.com

The Texas Rangers still remain on top in the division, but the Angels AND the A’s are now both making some noise within the division and in the wild card race.

Texas Rangers

Although the Angels and A’s have been on their tail recently, the Rangers still hold a tight grasp around first place in the division.  The A’s got within 4 games of them, but a couple of losses put them back to 5.5 games.

The Rangers were tied to many players before the trade deadline and eventually acquired both catcher Geovany Soto and starting pitcher Ryan Dempster from the Chicago Cubs. Dempster’s first outing was pretty poor against the Angels, but he collected his first win in a Rangers uniform against the Boston Red Sox earlier this week.

The offense is what is keeping this team on top, even with Josh Hamilton and Michael Young slumping, they still currently have the most runs scored in baseball with 566.  The pitching has been just okay for them, taking 2 big losses losing both RHP Neftali Feliz (Tommy John surgery) and RHP Colby Lewis (torn flexor tendon) for the remainder of the season.

The Rangers will face off against the Detroit Tigers this weekend and then head to New York for a 4-game series against the Yankees.

For more on the Texas Rangers, visit Big Game Claws.

» Continue reading “AL West Recap: The Same, Except Only Different”

Raise your hand if you had the A’s as buyers and not sellers at the trade deadline …  Liar.

Honestly, did anyone really think that the AL West could potentially field THREE teams in the playoffs this year?  I guess people were too concerned about the AL East, huh?

Texas Rangers

Since the All-Star break, the Rangers have won series against the Mariners and the Red Sox, but lost 2 of 3 to the Angels.  Not a lot seems to be going right for the Rangers, whose pitching staff has been bit by the injury bug and offense is just puttering along.  Well, not a lot except that they some how seem to keep a 5+ game lead in their division.

The Rangers’ pitching staff also just recently took a big blow when their Opening Day starter, Colby Lewis, would be returning to the DL with a forearm injury that would require season ending surgery.  Roy Oswalt, who was signed with the Rangers back in May, was skipped from his most recent scheduled start due to lower back stiffness.  However, Derek Holland, in his 4th outing since returning from the DL, had a great night against the Red Sox, pitching 7 2/3 innings and striking out 7.  If Holland can somehow replicated his 2011 2nd half numbers, it would greatly help out this depleted pitching staff.

» Continue reading “AL West Recap: WHAT Is Going On?”