Winding Down the Season

The days left in the season are winding down and the teams atop the divisions are playing like they are ready for the playoffs to start. Houston and the Dodgers showed on Tuesday why they’re leading their divisions and also why they were in the World Series last year while Oakland and Colorado both faltered. But even as the top teams of the division are settling in for the final weeks of the season and their push, teams lower down still want to win, if not to play spoiler, then to try to finish in a respectable fashion.

In Anaheim, Mike Trout picked up his 35th home run of the season and Kaleb Cowart, who’s batting a stellar .143, smacked the Angels first grand slam of the year to power the team to a 9–7 victory over the Athletics. The loss coupled with Houston’s 7–0 win over Seattle dropped the A’s to 5 games behind Houston for the AL West lead and with less than 2 weeks left in the season it looks as though the Astros are gonna win the division. With the win, Houston crushes Seattle’s hopes for a playoff spot as they are eliminated from the division race and remain 5.5 games back of Oakland for the 2nd wild card spot. Rookie Josh James threw 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball with 7 strike outs against the Mariners and Marwin Gonzalez picked up his 16th HR of the season in the effort.

In the basement of the AL West, Texas was shutout by Tampa Bay 4–0.

AL West Standings:
Houston 95–56
Oakland 90–61, 5 games back, 2.5 back of New York for the top wild card spot
Seattle 83–68, Eliminated from the division race, 7 games behind Oakland for the 2nd wild card spot

Will there be a Repeat of Last Year’s World Series?

Freddy Glavis went 4 for 5 with a couple of doubles for the Padres as they tried to ensure they stayed away from a 100 loss season. It was a vain effort though as Hunter Pence powered the Giants to a 5–4 win with a 2 for 4 night with a HR and 3 RBI.

Arizona is quickly becoming another team just playing out the season as they were eat up by Chicago again, this time 9–1. The D-Backs only managed 4 hits with Ketel Marte’s the only one that counted as it went over the fence and the team may finally be looking at next year more than October.

At the top of the NL West, the Dodgers took down the Rockies to extend their lead. Clayton Kershaw dueled Kyle Freeland to a draw as both pitchers gave up 2 runs (though only one of Kershaw’s was earned) but then LA’s bullpen proved superior as Chris Taylor smashed a walk-off home run in the 10th. The win puts the Dodgers in the driver’s seat for the division and bumps them to 4–1 against the Rockies in September.

NL West Standings:
LA Dodgers 84–68
Colorado 82–69, 1.5 back, 1.5 behind St. Louis for the 2nd wild card spot
Arizona 78–74, 6 games back, 6 games behind St. Louis for the 2nd wild card spot

Pitcher of the Day: John James, HOU – 5.1 INN, 0 ER, 7 K
Player of the Day: Kaleb Cowart, LAA – 2–4, HR, 3B, 5 RBI, Grand Slam

Sports – West Coast Baseball – Winding Down the Season