Pennant Race Fever: Sept. 24, Previews and Notes

AL East

The Yankees and Red Sox both won yesterday, keeping the magic number for the Yankees to clinch the AL East title at five. The Yankees are idle today while the Red Sox could move to within 5.5 games of the Yankees with a win over the Royals.

The two teams play each other, starting on Friday, in a three-game series in Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox need a sweep to close the gap to 2.5 games assuming they win today. If the Red Sox lose today and tomorrow they will be 7.5 games behind the Yankees with the New York team having only eight games left in the season.

 

AL Central

The Tigers and Twins both won as the magic number for the Tigers to clinch remains at nine with a 2.5 game lead over the Twins.

Today, Justin Verlander (16-9, 3.44 ERA) should have an easy win over Carlos Carrasco (0-2, 9.64 ERA) who starts for the Indians while the Twins are idle. The Tigers could be three games ahead of the Twins by the end of the day. However, that is why they play the games so anything can happen. A Tigers loss today could reduce their lead to two games.

The Tigers travel to Chicago to play the White Sox tomorrow and will face Jake Peavy; they will be watching the scoreboard as the Twins face the Royals and Robinson Tejada who has allowed only two runs in 22 innings since becoming a starter.

White Sox are on the brink of elimination—being behind two teams may be too much to overcome. If the Tigers win today the White Sox will be 9.5 games behind with ten games left to play.

 

AL West

The Angels, who lost yesterday to the Yankees by a 3-2 score, are having problems clinching the AL West as the pesky Rangers won’t go away, but time is running out on the team that has surprised everyone this season.

The Angels have a 6.5-game lead with 10 games remaining and host the red hot Athletics on Friday. Meanwhile, the Rangers will play the Athletics again today hoping to close the gap between them and the idle Angels to six games. The Rangers host the Rays starting Friday.

 

NL East

The Marlins, in control of their own destiny, defeated the first-place Phillies by a 7-6 score in an exciting come-from-behind victory and the second place Braves won their third game in a row to defeat the Mets 5-2 in NL East action.

The Phillies could regain a half game of their lead with a win over the Brewers today. The idle Braves and Marlins play again on Friday against the Nationals and Mets respectively.

The Phillies blew a 6.5 game lead with 12 games to go in 1964 and today hold a 6.5 game lead with 11 games left to play this season. The Phillies will be playing the Brewers in a four-game series starting today.

 

NL Central

The Cardinals could back into the NL Central title with a Cubs loss to the Giants. The only way the Cubs could win the NL Central now is for them to win the rest of their games and the Cardinals to lose all of their remaining games.

 

NL West

The Dodgers and Rockies both lost leaving the Rockies five games behind the NL West leader. The Dodgers' magic number to eliminate the Rockies remains at six.

The Nationals defeated the Dodgers 5-4 and avoided losing their 100th game of the season. The Rockies lost to the Padres 6-3. Both teams play the same teams again today.

The Rockies host the Cardinals tomorrow and will be facing Chris Carpenter (16-4, 2.34), while Aaron Cook (10-6, 4.47) will go to the mound for the Rockies. It will be the first start for Cook since Aug. 21.

Wild Card Races

AL: The Red Sox and Rangers both won yesterday leaving the Red Sox seven games ahead in the AL wild card race. The magic number is still five for the Red Sox to eliminate the Rangers.

NL: The Braves, Giants, and Marlins all gained a game on the NL wild-card-leading Rockies. The Braves and Giants are each four games behind the Rockies while the Marlins are four and-a-half behind them.

The Cubs are still in the wild card race and are trailing the Rockies by 7.5 games, but time is running out on them fast.

 

Looking at the 2009 Sporting News MLB Predictions

There are only 10 days left in the 2009 baseball season, so it is a good time to see how many teams in the Sporting News predictions still have a chance of winning.

They picked four of the six current division leaders correctly with a chance of being right in the AL Central having picked the Twins. Unless there is a miracle, they will have also missed with their NL Central picks since they had the Cubs as the division winners.

Sporting News picked the AL East teams in exact order. None of the AL Central picks predicted the correct positions of any team. I don’t see how they could have predicted the Indians and Royals ahead of the White Sox.

The only correct position predicted in the AL West is the first place Angels and they predicted the current last place Athletics would finish second in the division.

Can’t really complain about their NL East picks since nobody could envision the catastrophic injuries that befell the Mets. If the Mets were picked ahead of the Nationals, that division would be exactly as it is today.

Switch the Cubs and Cardinals in the NL Central predictions and that division would be as predicted.

The Dodgers and Giants were the only teams in their current position in the predictions in the NL West.

The Cubs-Yankees World Series prediction will almost certainly be incorrect. If their prediction had been correct, the Cubs would have been World Series champions for the first time since 1908.

If the Twins win the AL Central they would have picked five of six division winners correctly which is impressive, but the season isn’t over and no team has clinched their division as of today.

The Cubs, White Sox, and Giants could all be eliminated by the end of play tomorrow, but the Giants and Cubs would still be alive in the NL wild card race.

 

Brad Lidge Meltdown Continues

If there was an award for player who played the worst after a great 2008 season, Brad Lidge would be an easy winner.

Last night was the last sorry episode of his 2009 season when the Phillies took a 6-5 lead into the ninth inning only to allow the Marlins to win on Brett Carroll’s walkoff single.

The same pitcher who was 41-for-41 in save opportunities with a 2-0 record and 1.95 ERA in 2008 has converted 31 out of 42 save opportunities in 2009.

This season Lidge is 0-8 with a 7.48 ERA. He allowed two homers in 69 innings last season but has given up 11 homers in 55 innings this season. He gave up 15 runs in 69 innings in 2008 and 46 runs in 55 innings this season.

Lidge struck out 92 in 69 innings last season but only 59 in 55 innings this season. Batters hit .198 against Lidge in 2008 but are hitting .305 against him this season.

The Phillies may have a 6.5 game lead but as long as Lidge remains the closer, their chances of winning the NL East are in jeopardy.

His 10.80 ERA in September has to be a major concern along with him giving up runs in each of his last four appearances. In those appearances he gave up six runs and eight hits in three and two-thirds innings.

Lidge’s 11 blown saves are three short of the NL record 14 saves recorded by Bruce Sutter in 1978.

If Charlie Manuel doesn’t remove him as closer soon, we may be seeing the reincarnation of the 1964 Phillies mentioned earlier in this article.