The Tampa Bay Rays entered the playoffs as the American League East Champions, with the second-best record in baseball.
None of that mattered once Cliff Lee took the mound for the Texas Rangers, which defeated Tampa Bay 5-1 in Game 1 of the ALDS. David Price got off to a shaky start and didn’t receive much assistance.
There is something that always seems mystical about October baseball. Be it the crisp autumn air or the rejuvenated crowd, incredible things tend to happen.
October 6, 2010 was no different. Yet at the same time, it undoubtedly was. Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay successfully tossed a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of the NLDS, becoming the first person to do so during postseason play since Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.
Halladay also became one of a handful of players to throw two no-hitters in the same season, as he tossed a perfect game against the Marlins earlier in the year.
After just one fifth-inning walk to Reds outfielder Jay Bruce, Halladay settled down and defeated a team that had not been in the playoffs since 1995. Roy kept his composure throughout, knocking out eight batters en route to his historic outing. The Phillies won the game 4-0 after RBI from Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, and even Halladay himself.
Edinson Vólquez began the contest for the Reds, but quickly exited after just 1.2 innings. He was relieved by Travis Wood.
The final play of the game occurred when second baseman Brandon Phillips lightly knocked a ball in front of catcher Carlos Ruíz, who quickly fielded the ball from his knees and fired it over to Ryan Howard for the out.
Sometimes baseball never fails to amaze. Tonight is no different.
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The San Diego Padres were without question the surprise of Major League Baseball. Starting the season with the fourth lowest payroll in baseball, they led the National League West for a good portion of the 2010 season before fading in September. Today, their season was laid to rest.
The San Francisco Giants used six pitchers to combine on a four-hit shutout, sending the San Diego Padres home with a 3-0 loss, ending their magical season and knocking them out of the playoffs.
With the Atlanta Braves beating the Philadelphia Phillies earlier in the afternoon, 8-7, the Padres needed the victory to force a two-day playoff. With the win, they would have played the Giants at home to decide the NL West Division winner, and then the loser of that game would play Atlanta for the right to be the NL Wildcard team.
Padres starting pitcher Mat Latos got into trouble in the bottom of the third.With one out, Giants starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez tripled to right field. After striking out Andres Torres, Latos gave up a single to Freddie Sanchez, scoring J. Sanchez with the game’s first run. Aubrey Huff then doubled to deep center, scoring F. Sanchez to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.
With the way the Giants bullpen has pitched over the last two weeks, those two runs would prove to be more than enough.
The Padres put runners on first and second with no outs in the top of sixth, with an Adrian Gonzalez single and walk to Ryan Ludwick. That was it for Jonathan Sanchez, who surrendered to Santiago Casilla.
Casilla induced a 5-4 double play grounder to Yorbit Torrealba, then got Scott Hairston on a fielder’s choice, Torrealba being forced out at second to get out of the inning.
The Padres threatened again in the seventh, Denorfia singling to right, and David Eckstein reaching on Casilla’s error, putting runners at first and second once again. Giants reliever Ramon Ramirez shut the door this time, getting Miguel Tejada swinging at a nasty slider for the third strike, ending the threat.
Closer Brian Wilson came on to close it out in the ninth for the Giants, giving him his 48th save of the year, tying the Giants record for saves in a season, held by Rod Beck.
The Giants will now play host to the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS, while the Philadelphia Phillies play host to the Cincinnati Reds in the other NLDS matchup.
The Padres gave a great effort this weekend, needing to win all three games of the series to force a playoff. Sunday’s effort wasn’t enough, and they’ll be watching from the sidelines, wondering to themselves what could have been.
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Doug is featured writer for Examiner.com and Green Celebrity Network.
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The Yankees fell behind the Red Sox early and could not mount a comeback as they lost to the Red Sox 8-4 in Fenway for the final game of the season.
Here are some highlights:
The loss means that the Yankees cannot win the division. Even if they end up in a tie with the Rays, they won more games head-to-head and would be awarded the AL East division.
The Yankees ALDS opponent will be the Minnesota Twins. Game 1 will be in Minnesota on Wednesday.
Dustin Moseley made the start tonight and gave up four runs over five innings.
Sergio Mitre pitched again today and was impressive again today. He was about the only effective reliever for the Yankees today.
Robinson Cano picked up his 200th hit of the season.
Cano and Nick Swisher both finished with 29 home runs.
Derek Jeter went 2-for-5, raising his average to .270.
The Red Sox stole four bases off of Jorge Posada, all in the sixth inning. It’s the second time the Red Sox have stolen that many bases off in an inning Posada in as many weeks.
A lot of people seem to be happy that the Yankees are winning the Wild-Card over the division as they perceive the Twins to be an easier opponent. That is a dangerous thought. First of all, to win the World Series a team has to be good enough to beat anybody. Second, the last time Yankee fans were in this situation, in 2006 they were happy to face the Detroit Tigers in the first round, the Tigers crushed the Yankees in the ALDS.
The playoffs start on Wednesday. We’ll have lots of good stuff throughout the week leading up to the playoffs so check back often.
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The Chicago Cubs are having fun on the road.
They scored a total of eight runs in the first four innings on Saturday night as they beat the Houston Astros 8-3 in the second game of the final series of the 2010 season.
They improve the record of their current season-ending road trip to 5-1 and they will get a chance to sweep their division arch-rivals Sunday afternoon.
Aramis Ramirez produced four runs with a grand slam in the fourth inning. Marlon Byrd also had a three-RBI night.
The Cubs offense gave their starter Carlos Zambrano a two-run cushion in the first even before he (11-6) went onto the mound for his 20th start of the season.
The lead-off Jeff Baker received a walk from the Astros starting pitcher, J.A. Happ. Starlin Castro followed with a double that advanced Baker to third. Byrd drove in Baker on a groundout to shortstop.
The inning continued; Ramirez received a walk. After Xavier Nady’s strikeout, Alfonso Soriano doubled to left field to score Castro from second base.
The Cubs scored another pair of runs in the second to make it 4-0 in the following inning. Both Zambrano and Baker tallied on Byrd’s left-field single.
And in the fourth inning, the Cubs doubled their four-run lead.
Baker, who opened the inning, was save at first on Astros third baseman Chris Johnson’s throwing error. Castro then singled a ground ball to Happ and Byrd’s base hit to center field loaded the bases with no out.
The following batter, Ramirez, crushed Happ’s changeup and turned it into his 26th home run of the season which went over the left-field wall.
Putting the Astros to an eight-run deficit, Happ (6-4) was forced to exit the game early right after Ramirez’s ninth grand slam of his career. The southpaw gave up eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits in three-plus innings. He walked five of the 22 batters he faced and struck out three.
The Astros tried hard from the beginning to overcome the deficit but they chose the wrong day to do so as the red hot Zambrano was starting for the Cubs.
The right-hander, who was 7-0 in nine starts since the August 14, pitched another gem for his last start of the year. He three-hit the home side in 6.1 innings giving up three runs (two earned). He also struck out five and only walked three. In the first sixth innings, he allowed three base runners only.
Houston scored all of their runs in the seventh inning off Zambrano. But four Cubs relievers combined to blank the opponents for the rest of the game and preserved the Cubs victory.
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It’s as if the Colorado Rockies enjoy losing.
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Mets catcher of the future Josh Thole drilled a 3-1 pitch off Tyler Clippard for a walk-off homer to give the team a 2-1 victory in 10 innings tonight. The home run was Thole’s third of the season.
It was great to see Tyler Clippard get burned by the Mets. Most Met fans remember that Subway Series game a while ago now, when Clippard threw six innings of one run ball in his Major League debut. Well, we finally got you back, Tyler.
Thole seems to have a bright future for the Metropolitans. He has settled in nicely behind the dish and works well with most of the pitchers. Normally a singles hitter, he has shown shown pop over this final stretch of the season, lacing an RBI double into right center last night and crushing a homer to right field tonight.
I’m curious to see how he handles being an everyday catcher. He was lucky to learn behind two veterans in Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco. Barajas is now in LA (where he tore it up this last month), and Blanco will be a free agent come season’s end.
Rumor has it that the Mets will look to resign Hank White to maybe another one-year deal. Despite his age, he is still a serviceable back-up, especially if Thole continues to improve his game. Blanco has served as a great role model for Josh and that will continue if Hank is back with the club in 2011.
Ike Davis added his 19th bomb of the year as well. Ike has had a very promising rookie campaign, and will look to improve his consistency and plate discipline in the offseason to to make him even more of an offensive threat.
Kudos to Pat Misch, who struck out 10 batters in eight innings tonight—still not good enough for his first win of the season.
I was glad to see Thole’s late-inning heroics, even though there are only now two games left to play. This team needs some heart moving forward, and it was great to see some tonight.
Tonight’s performance may be an indicator of what we see from the Mets next year. Solid pitching, but once again a struggle offensively. But if the final result is a victory, I don’t care how they earn it, as long as it falls in the “W” column. Don’t expect too much change from the roster, Met fans, because it looks like our club will be strapped financially.
Way to go Josh! I’m looking forward to a big year from you next season.
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Since the September call-up, the Cubs rookie outfielder Brad Snyder has had the privilege of enjoying two double-RBI games in his first eight major league games. On Thursday afternoon, he reached another level of enjoyment by hitting out first game-winning RBI.
His single in the ninth inning generated the winning run for the Chicago Cubs who took the four-game series finale with a 1-0 victory over the San Diego Padres in PETCO Park. With the win, the visitors snapped their two-series losing streak and dimmed the Padres’ chance to make the playoffs.
Both teams’ pitching staffs performed creditably, especially for both starting pitchers, Tom Gorzelanny and Jon Garland who formed an outstanding pitching dual witnessed by a crowd of 28,576 in the last getaway day of the 2010 season.
Gorzelanny returned to his top form after a few disappointing recent outings. The southpaw tossed six scoreless innings scattering three hits with three strikeouts and four walks.
A couple of great defensive plays helped him to pass through those innings clean.
In the second, Yorvit Torrealba led off with a single but with one out, Gorzelanny picked him off, and threw him out at second in a base-stealing attempt. He gave up another single to Chase Headley, but stranded him at first.
In the sixth, the hurler gave up back-to-back walks to David Eckstein and Miguel Tejada. He then forced Adrian Gonzalez to hit a 6-3 double play which crossed out Tejada at second. Moving to third, Eckstein became the only Padre who reached as far as third base in the game. But he was not sent home after Ryan Ludwick hit an inning-ending fly-out to center-field.
The other game starter, Garland, pitched hard to help his team to close gap with the NL West leaders, the San Francisco Giants who procured their fourth victory in a row against the Arizona Diamondbacks on the same day.
Garland had already recorded a win against the Cubs in Wrigley Field on August 17, when he pitched seven scoreless innings. He had the similar line today but did not get the win for his team.
Since allowing a single to lead-off Blake DeWitt in the first, he retired 14 consecutive Cubs before issuing a walk to Alfonso Soriano in the fifth. He left the game after blanking the Cubs in 6.1 innings on four hits and striking out eight with a walk.
The Cubs scored the game-winning run in the ninth.
The Padres closer, Heath Bell (6-1), replaced Mike Adams and gave up a lead-off single to Aramis Ramirez who was then substituted by pinch-runner Darwin Barney. Xavier Nady followed with a sacrifice bunt which sent the potential go-ahead run to second. Having struck out twice in three previous at bats, Snyder hit a high-bound groundball that passed between shortstop and third base to left field to tally Barney.
Sean Marshall (7-5) who relieved Andrew Cashner in the eighth inning was credited with the win. Carlos Marmol retired the side in the ninth including striking out Gonzalez and Ludwick for his 37th save of the year, his 15th straight in as many save situations.
The Cubs left San Diego after the game for Houston where they will play their last series of the year against the Astros. Meanwhile, the Padres will start their do-or-die series tomorrow in San Francisco as they skid to three games behind the Giants in the NL West standings.
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Catching the baseball.
Many consider this the basic feature of America’s pastime. However, knowing our beloved Mets, they usually seem to screw it up.
Tonight in the Mets 9-2 loss to the Brew Crew, Jose Reyes dropped a pop up with two outs in the fifth inning. Dillon Gee had only given up two runs up to that point, with the Mets trailing 2-1.
Naturally, the next batter, Lorenzo Cain, stroked a two-run double to put the game out of reach by Mets standards. Through five starts, Gee will finish at 2-2 with a 2.18 ERA. Very impressive for the young righty.
Now back to Reyes. If you look at his numbers this year, you would think that he has had a productive year. He’s hitting .285 with 11 HR, 54 RBI (not bad for a leadoff man), and 30 SB. Though his .325 OBP is slightly low for a leadoff man, Reyes was considered the catalyst of this team.
However, Reyes still lacks the discipline and maturity needed to be a successful ballplayer. It seems like we’ve been saying this for some time now, but we always relented claiming that Reyes was still young.
Well, Reyes is now 27. It’s hard to believe, but he’s been in the league for eight years. When will we as fans stop giving him the benefit of the doubt for being young and start getting on his case?
With the error still fresh on everyone’s minds, the fans at Cit Field (albeit very few) let Reyes have it in the bottom of the seventh.
With Ruben Tejada on first, Reyes swung at a ball in the dirt for strike three (a familiar site), but the ball got away from the catcher. Rather than bust it down the line, Reyes casually dropped his bat and took a couple of steps towards first base.
What a disgrace! Here’s a guy who is a veteran player, is supposed to be a leader on this team, and makes a ton of money; yet he insists on not hustling or dropping easy pop-ups. His lack of focus is so apparent that his talent is wasted.
This Reyes rant is by no means a call to have him traded. He has a club option for 2011 which the Mets should pick up. I believe he still factors into the Mets future at shortstop and at the top of the lineup. There’s no question that the talent is there. But where’s his head at?
Even though these games don’t count anymore, we still saw guys like David Wright and Josh Thole give their best efforts to try to mount a comeback late in the game. Thole did make an error in the ninth, but it was on a hustle play. It’s obvious to spot the guys who care and those who don’t.
When Reyes is playing well and focused, there is no better sight in my mind than watching him having fun playing baseball. “As Reyes goes, so goes the Mets.”
But when Reyes’ lackadaisical play takes over, the only place the Mets go is down.
The Mets will get a taste of October baseball this year, although it will merely be a three-game series with the Nationals to close out the season rather than postseason baseball.
By the way, with the loss tonight, the Mets officially cannot finish at .500. Another side note, there couldn’t have been more than 5,000 people at the game tonight even though the listed attendance was 25,000. What a shame.
Here’s to a focused Reyes in 2011 and a return to playing fundamental baseball.
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It wasn’t exactly the b-squad starting for the Yankees, but they did rest a few of their regulars as Javier Vazquez got bombed by the Blue Jays en route to a 8-4 loss the day after they clinched a playoff spot.
Here are some highlights:
Vazquez got the start over Andy Pettitte, who is being rested for the playoffs. Javy couldn’t even make it out of the fifth inning while giving up seven runs on 10 hits with three homers.
The bullpen went 3.2 innings and allowed no runs.
Alex Rodriguez homered in the sixth inning. It is his 30th of the season. A-Rod has hit at least 30 homers with 100 RBI in 13 consecutive seasons and 14 seasons overall (the most in major league history).
Brett Cecil beat the Yankees for the fourth time this year. He joins Roy Halladay as the only Blue Jays starter to beat them four times in a year.
Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, and Francisco Cervelli all had multi-hit games, Cervelli had 3 hits.
With Vazquez’s pathetic performance, you have to think that he might have thrown his last pitch as a Yankee. He won’t be offered arbitration this offseason and they won’t attempt to resign him. There are only three games left in the season and it’s hard to imagine him pitch in the playoffs.
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