One roster move for the Blue Jays before tonight's game. With Scott Downs nursing a tender ankle, Brian Tallet has been activated off the DL. Scott Richmond has been optioned back to Syracuse. (Fixed the link!)
Oh, did somebody's head just explode? Cool.
The Jays also confirmed what has long been apparent - Aaron Hill is done for the year.
The Rays continue to cruise, even without Longoria and Crawford. Boston, just 3.5 back, is obviously still within striking distance. The Red Sox have the comfort of knowing they've got the Wild Card to fall back on. However it's possible that the mysterious Minnesota Twins may have made the biggest upgrade for the stretch of any team in the majors. If that's the same Francisco Liriano that terrorized AL hitters two years ago back in their rotation, they will be a handful.
It's looking more and more like Yankee Stadium is not going to get the glorious send-off many of us had expected. It's looking more and more likely that the Bombers will close out their home schedule against the Orioles on September 21, and then the House That Ruth Built will sit silent and empty as the Yankees head off for one last road trip, and play out the string. Probably not the way they drew it up, but things have changed. Last night they lost to Kansas City when Mariano Rivera threw a wild pitch in the ninth inning. It's a brave new world we live in.
The Twins are currently in a dead heat atop the Central with the White Sox. It's a curious team. Only the Blue Jays have hit fewer homers than the Twins. The main difference between the two offenses is that the Twins hit singles, the Blue Jays draw walks. Twins have hit 7 more doubles, 6 more triples, 3 more home runs - that's enough to account for a few more runs, not a lot. The Twins have hit 77 more singles than the Blue Jays, while drawing 63 fewer walks. And so the two teams have basically identical OBPs, and the Twins have an edge in SLG (.416 to .384).
The Twins, of course, are the best team in the AL at hitting with runners in scoring position (the Jays are 13th); they're essentially tied with the Red Sox for having the best offense in "Close and Late" situations (Toronto is down around 11th place.) It helps to account for how they can be 10th in the league in SLG, 8th in OBP and still be sixth (and essentially tied for fourth) in actual runs scored.
Oh, did somebody's head just explode? Cool.
The Jays also confirmed what has long been apparent - Aaron Hill is done for the year.
The Rays continue to cruise, even without Longoria and Crawford. Boston, just 3.5 back, is obviously still within striking distance. The Red Sox have the comfort of knowing they've got the Wild Card to fall back on. However it's possible that the mysterious Minnesota Twins may have made the biggest upgrade for the stretch of any team in the majors. If that's the same Francisco Liriano that terrorized AL hitters two years ago back in their rotation, they will be a handful.
It's looking more and more like Yankee Stadium is not going to get the glorious send-off many of us had expected. It's looking more and more likely that the Bombers will close out their home schedule against the Orioles on September 21, and then the House That Ruth Built will sit silent and empty as the Yankees head off for one last road trip, and play out the string. Probably not the way they drew it up, but things have changed. Last night they lost to Kansas City when Mariano Rivera threw a wild pitch in the ninth inning. It's a brave new world we live in.
The Twins are currently in a dead heat atop the Central with the White Sox. It's a curious team. Only the Blue Jays have hit fewer homers than the Twins. The main difference between the two offenses is that the Twins hit singles, the Blue Jays draw walks. Twins have hit 7 more doubles, 6 more triples, 3 more home runs - that's enough to account for a few more runs, not a lot. The Twins have hit 77 more singles than the Blue Jays, while drawing 63 fewer walks. And so the two teams have basically identical OBPs, and the Twins have an edge in SLG (.416 to .384).
The Twins, of course, are the best team in the AL at hitting with runners in scoring position (the Jays are 13th); they're essentially tied with the Red Sox for having the best offense in "Close and Late" situations (Toronto is down around 11th place.) It helps to account for how they can be 10th in the league in SLG, 8th in OBP and still be sixth (and essentially tied for fourth) in actual runs scored.
