Something New

I wanted to try something new with my baseball posts by looking at the Western teams. In my opinion, the AL and NL West seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to coverage since so many media organizations are based on the East Coast. That part of the reason I really despise the Re Sox and Yankees, and even the when the Mets are having a horrible season they get more media coverage than any of the West Coast teams. Even when the World Series was between the AL West and the NL West last year.

My idea is to bypass the fact that my entire Angels team has been injured all year and to take a look at the entirety of the AL and NL West and what’s going on in the two divisions.

AL West

There has been a huge swing of power in the AL West in the last few weeks as the Athletics Have come outta nowhere to challenge the World Series Champion Astros for supremacy. Not too long ago 10 games separated the teams…today it’s a single game. And not only did they climb dramatically but they won yesterday in grand style, with a walk off home run in the 10th. A 4-3 victory that sets up a showdown today to see if Oakland can climb all the way into 1st place.

The other game in the AL West could not compare though the Rangers took out the Angels 6–4 as Anaheim tries to figure out a solution to their pitching injuries.

Then there’s the interleague game that featured the Mariners and Dodgers. 5 dingers and 11 total runs drove the Dodgers to an 11–1 victory that they hope will break them outta their recent struggles. Manny Machado smacked 2 of the homers and drove in 3 in an effort to get the team back into the race for the NL West.

NL West

After winning 2 in a row, the Diamondbacks continued their dominance of the Padres by taking the 2nd game of the 4 game series 9-4. Paul Goldschmidt went 2 for 2 with an HR and 2 RBIs in the effort and while Robbie Ray had trouble getting past the 5th inning their bullpen held on for the win.

San Francisco had to be driven into the 11th inning before they gave in to the Reds. Andrew McCutchen gave his all, going 3 for 5 with the Giants’ only RBI in the losing effort as his team fell further behind first place Arizona.

In the last game in the West, Colorado took on Atlanta in Georgia and Kyle Freeland drove the Rockies to an 11–5 victory. Incredibly, he’s one of the few Colorodo starters to carry an ERA under 3 this far into a season.

Players of the Day

Since I’ve covered 10 teams I figured I have a pitcher and better of the day…

Kyle Freeland gets the pitching honors with his 6 innings of 1 run, 3 hit ball. He struck out 9 and drove his record to 11–7 with an ERA of 2.96.

On the offensive side of things, shortstop Manny Machado grabs my Player of the Day with his 2 home runs and 3 RBIs. He’s batting .307 on the year and smacked 28 home runs to help the 3rd place Dodgers.

We’ll see if this format holds up over the next few days…

Sports – MLB – Something New