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Baseball’s best hitters have hit this season, and thousands of runs have been scored, but this has undeniably been the Year of the Pitcher. Monday night’s series opener between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays exemplified the game’s dominance from the mound, as Cy Young award contenders CC Sabathia and David Price were unflappable in a terrific battle between American League East foes.

Both offenses were baffled: innings went by quickly, double-plays or weak flyballs were induced once a threat began to brew, and strikeouts were compiled. Sabathia pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out nine.

Price matched him out for out, tossing eight strong as well, relinquishing only three hits and two walks while striking out four. Their jobs done, they left the scoreless battle for the bullpens to deal with.

Rays closer Rafael Soriano breezed through his half of the ninth while Kerry Wood showed he still has plenty left in the tank, overwhelming the heart of Tampa Bay’s order. Threats put together by both teams went by the wayside in tenth, with an overzealous Brett Gardner caught trying to steal third in the top and Brad Hawpe whiffing with runners on the corners in the bottom.

What happened in the first 10 innings is what makes baseball great. Sure high scoring games are great to watch, but I’d take a pitcher’s duel over pitchers serving batting practice. There’s so much more involved. When it’s 11-10, offenses clearly aren’t fooled by the opponent’s repertoire. But a 0-0 score entering the eleventh? Pitchers have to consistently hit their spots, and when they do the best hitters in the world look silly.

On cue, the Yankees went by quietly in the top of the eleventh as crazy Grant Balfour worked around a leadoff single by Austin Kearns by disposing of light-hitting Colin Curtis then the surprisingly horrible Derek Jeter.

Before I discuss what transpired in the bottom of the frame, a quick tangent regarding the play of Jeter. He’s had a Hall of Fame career as one of the best Yankees of all time. He’s their all time hit leader, and is currently 100 away from the ultimate milestone of 3,000. He’s a five-time World Series champion.

But as good as he has been, he’s hit a wall. At 36, he’s lost the ability to hit major league pitching. His flyout to end the top of the eleventh lowered his batting average to .261, 53 points below his career mark. It’s his contract year, But though his down season shouldn’t hurt his impending free agency much, as there is little doubt he’ll be a Yankee next year, his decline in production is hard to imagine.

Now to what ended the battle. Reid Brignac, their 24-year-old second baseman, stepped to the plate, worked the count, and socked the sixth pitch from Sergio Mitre—a changeup that did nothing—high and deep to right field. After contact, the left-handed 2004 second round pick dropped his bat, watched the ball’s flight, and admired his majestic blast.

The cheers were not as loud as they should have been as Brignac rounded the bases, leaped onto a home-plate surrounded by jubilant teammates, and gave a ecstatic interview spoken in his thick southern drawl. The Rays drew more fans than they usually do, but far too many seats were left unfilled, even though Tropicana Field is one of the most depressing stadium in baseball.

Still, despite the lack of fan support, the Rays are now in first in the toughest division in baseball behind Price’s superb performance and Brignac’s heroics.

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There is not much to say after the New York Yankees got swept right out of Texas over the weekend.

The Rangers took all three games and did so without slugger Josh Hamilton, who was out of the lineup with a sore back.

Friday night’s 13-inning battle ended on a Rangers’ walkoff home run off Nelson Cruz’s bat.

Saturday night things got even worse, with Derek Jeter getting benched. Still, at the same time I respect skipper Joe Girardi’s decision, as Jeter has hurt more than helped lately, and something had to be done.

At the bottom of the ninth inning, the Yankees were leading 6-5 and Girardi called on Mariano Rivera to close out the game.

Rivera not only allowed the tying run to score, but he loaded the bases and proceeded to hit Jeff Francoeur, resulting in the winning run.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that Rivera is not immortal, but so rarely does this happen. No reason to get alarmed or worried about Mo down the stretch just yet.

On Sunday against the Rangers and Cliff Lee, the Yankees were without the bats of Nick Swisher, Brett Gardner, and Alex Rodriguez. Lee has just come off a rough August, but you wouldn’t know it after going eight innings and the Rangers winning 4-1.

There was plenty to be concerned with regarding the Yankees before the Rangers sweep.

Now, nothing is working too its potential, and the Yankees need to figure it out or it could get really ugly fast.

Heading to Tampa Bay, Florida must have been a depressing plane ride, as the Yankees embarrassed themselves all weekend.

Tonight, the Bombers start a three-game set against the Rays, who are just a half-game back in the AL East.

Yankees SP CC Sabathia will take the mound, which couldn’t be more needed.

Sabathia struggled and lost in his last start, a first for CC in a year at Yankee Stadium. He was also trying to win No. 20 on the season for the first time in his career.

In 2009, Sabathia had the same opportunity to reach 20 wins at Tropicana Field against the Rays. Sabathia imploded, but the team could afford it back then.

Minus his last outing, Sabathia is the team’s, if not the league’s ace. Expect his mentality to follow, as the team needs a win and CC will be solely focused on getting that.

Sabathia is not a one-man team, and the Yankee bats will have to bring their A-game facing the Rays’ David Price.

Price is the other frontrunner with Sabathia for the AL Cy Young award. Price has a 2.87 ERA with 163 strikeouts, walking 71 and giving up 13 home runs. In 27 starts, Price has a 17-6 record.

A-Rod, Swisher, and Cano have the most success against Price at the plate, so hopefully the day off will get the first two back in the lineup.

Derek Jeter has done well against Price too. Hopefully Jeter’s success against Cliff Lee on Sunday will continue and get the Captain hitting like himself again. Jeter needs to figure himself out ASAP.

Prediction

Yankees will win 6-2 and Sabathia will get the win. There is no way the Yankees can lose another game at this point, after winning just one of their last seven.

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The Giants are once again tied with the Padres for first place in the NL West after beating them to win the series finale.

Tim Lincecum pitched well for the third time this month, allowing just one earned run in seven innings while striking out nine.

Buster Posey hit a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Giants an early lead, and they added on later: Jose Guillen hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning, and Lincecum hit a two-run single in the fourth inning.

Mat Latos, who had gone a major-league record 15 consecutive games with five-plus IP and two ER or fewer, lasted just four innings, giving up five runs.

The Giants went on to win the game 6-1, as they finished their road trip with a 7-3 record.

The key factor in the Giants’ success against the Padres was their ability to contain Adrian Gonzalez. He was just 3-for-15 in the series without a single RBI or run.

Notes

• Andres Torres is likely out for the season due to appendicitis. This will undoubtedly be a big blow to the Giants’ offense (in spite of his recent struggles) but will be an even bigger blow to their defense. Pat Burrell, Aaron Rowand, and Guillen might very well be the worst outfield defense in the majors. Hopefully, Nate Schierholtz and Cody Ross will get a lot of playing time. In a lineup with Ross in center, it’d be interesting to see who leads off…possibly Freddy Sanchez? Torres will be missed sorely…
• Lincecum reached the 200-K plateau for the third consecutive year, becoming the fourth Giant in history to do so and the first Giant since Juan Marichal did it in four straight seasons from 1963-1966. He also took the NL lead in strikeouts with 208. He could become the third pitcher in the post-World War II era to lead the NL in strikeouts in three consecutive years, joining Warren Spahn and Randy Johnson. 
• The Giants rotation is on a serious roll: 11 quality starts in their last 14 games. On a similar note, the Giants’ ERA this month is 1.84.
• Four Giants (Burrell, Posey, Aubrey Huff, and Juan Uribe) had a multi-hit game on Sunday…nice to see after the Giants had batted .207 over the first nine games of this road trip.
• The Giants are 8-3 in September. The Padres, meanwhile, have posted a 4-7 record this month.
• After going four consecutive seasons (’05-’08) with records below .500, the Giants have clinched their second consecutive .500-plus season.

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The Yankees were swept today by the Texas Rangers and now have lost six of their last seven games as Cliff Lee was brilliant tonight holding them to one run on two hits over eight innings. Dustin Moseley was impressive, but ultimately not good enough as he allowed four runs over 6.2 innings as the Yankees lost 4-1.

Here are some highlights:

Probably the biggest positive to come out of this game was Jonathan Albaladejo who pitched 1.1 innings and didn’t allow a run. His ERA this season is down to 1.59.

Other than that there wasn’t much as only Derek Jeter and Eduardo Nunez got hits, one each. Jeter also had two walks.

The Yankees managed three walks off Lee. It’s the most walks he’s allowed since September 2009.

The Rangers were aggressive on the bases, swiping three bags off of Jorge Posada. That could be a problem in the playoffs.

Alex Rodriguez got the day off for normal rest.

Nick Swisher was originally in the lineup, but was a late scratch because of his knee.

Brett Gardner sat with pain in his wrist, he’ll have an MRI on it this week. He’s currently day-to-day.

This was a very tough loss for the Yankees because of the playoff implications. Luckily, Tampa Bay lost today, so they are still in first place. But that is their next opponent, so if they don’t turn around their recent losing ways, they are at risk of falling into second place.

Things to keep in mind though, Chad Gaudin was a big reason for two of the losses and he isn’t likely to be on the playoff roster. And Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte weren’t in the rotation this week. Hughes will be back Wednesday and Pettitte Sunday.

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The Colorado Rockies continued their climb to the top of the standings on Saturday night, but it didn’t come the way most probably thought it would. The result, however, is the same for the Rockies, who came from behind in the late innings to win 2-1.

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Saturday’s game was characterized by dominant pitching and poor umpiring behind the plate. Madison Bumgarner pitched a beautiful game, allowing only one earned run on three hits through seven innings. The lone blemish was a third inning solo shot off of the bat of Yorvit Torrealba. Bumgarner only needed 79 pitches to get through seven innings, as he pitched extremely efficiently.

His counterpart, Tim Stauffer, also pitched very efficiently, going six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits. The bullpen trio of Gregerson, Adams, and Bell came in and shut the Giants down, to secure the 1-0 victory, but more importantly, to reclaim first place as their own.

Jerry Crawford, the umpire behind the plate, just called a bad game overall. His strike zone was too wide, expanded on the outer half of the plate, forcing the Giants to protect pitches outside. The effect it had on them was noticeable: Buster Posey, for example, struck out twice and grounded into a double play, not the kind of game one would expect out of him after a day of rest.

This is not the first time that this umpiring crew has given the Giants troubles. Earlier in the second half of the season, Travis Ishikawa had scored the game-winning run in a home game against the Mets, but umpire Phil Cuzzi called him out. From the video replay, it was pretty obvious Ishikawa was safe.

It’s unfortunate that the Giants had to face this problem in such a critical game—any game against the Padres is critical at this point. The Giants are now one game back in the NL West, and will need to win the series finale in order to once again pull into a tie for first place.

Notes:

Madison Bumgarner has had a very decent rookie campaign, but one of the most impressive numbers he has put up is his road ERA. After Saturday’s quality start, he now has an ERA of 2.14 in nine road starts. 

The Giants rotation is finally dazzling. Ten of their last 13 starts have been quality. Andres Torres has put up impressive offensive numbers this year. His 64 extra-base hits, for example, are among the top 10 in the National League. He is struggling mightily of late, though. He’s 8 for his last 60 (.133 avg). This has taken away a large part of the Giants’ running game, too, as Torres is now rarely on base. 

Pablo Sandoval seemed to have altered his batting stance during his pinch-hit at bat on Saturday. It will be interesting to note if he does this again on Sunday…

Are the Giants turning into the Padres? The Padres are characterized by three main factors: low scoring, dominant rotation and bullpen, and speed on the basepaths. The Giants are scoring very few runs, and their rotation and bullpen have been lights-out for the most part.

Without many runs coming by virtue of the longball, they’re trying to steal more—like Huff’s steal on Friday, or Ford’s attempted steal, which ended Saturday’s game.

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Just when you thought there was at least one reason to watch the Red Sox for the remainder of the 2010 season, Clay Buchholz reminded Sox fans that the final Sunday can’t come soon enough.

Buchholz hardly had enough time to realize how bad his start was Friday night against the Oakland Athletics, only lasting into the second inning. After allowing five earned runs on four walks and five hits, Francona had seen enough and handed the ball over to Dustin Richardson.

Dustin Richardson, Michael Bowden, Robert Coello, and Robert Manuel managed to stop the bleeding and shut out the Athletics through the next seven innings. However the Red Sox offense was too busy being rocked by Trevor Cahill (now 16-6 on the season) to be bothered with supplying any runs.

Whomever was on duty to hide all calendars from Buchholz this month fell asleep at the switch. Clay had forced himself into the discussion for the Cy Young Award by pitching out of his skull in August (4-0, 1.03 ERA, .195 BAA). Buchholz had even pitched well in his first start of September. Despite only lasting five innings against the Chicago White Sox, Clay only allowed two earned runs.

(Originally posted on 5 Yard Face Mask)

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May 6. 

That is the last day the Giants were in 1st place. Four months later, the Giants stand atop the NL West, tied with the San Diego Padres.

They won 1-0 on Friday thanks to yet another strong pitching effort. Jonathan Sanchez went five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, but walking eight (one intentionally). Despite his lack of control, he did his job. He kept the Giants in the game, and gave them the opportunity to win.

Aubrey Huff was hit by a pitch to start the seventh inning, at which point Clayton Richard was removed from the game and replaced with Luke Gregerson. While Pat Burrell was swinging at strike three to make the first out, Aubrey Huff took a bold steal of second base. Jose Guillen reached on a fielder’s choice, and Nate Schierholtz was put in to pinch run for him.

With one out and runners on the corners, Uribe hit a chopper to shortstop. Cabrera flipped the ball to Eckstein, who threw to first, but the inning-ending double play couldn’t be completed as Uribe was safe by half a step. Nate Schierholtz slid with all of his force into Eckstein to break up the double play, and it probably made the difference, allowing the Giants to take the lead.

With a 1-0 lead, the Giants’ bullpen was able to shut the Padres down with a spectacular effort. They combined for four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits.

The Giants won this game the way they were expected to win and supposed to win ballgames this year—by shutting down the opposition. The rotation of Lincecum, Cain, Zito, Sanchez, and Bumgarner has always the had the potential to perform at an elite level, but it’s finally coming to fruition.

They’re pitching like they’re the best rotation in baseball…and perhaps they are—or at least they could be if they can be consistent.  The bullpen, too, is pitching incredibly. On this road trip so far, the bullpen ERA has been 0.43. In 21 innings of pitching, the bullpen has allowed just one earned run. The rotation, meanwhile, sports an impressive 2.82 ERA on the road trip.

Every play matters: Huff’s stolen base, Schierholtz’s hard slide into second, Jonathan Sanchez’s ability to induce a double play with one out and runners on first and second against Adrian Gonzalez.  They played hard, executed in certain key moments, and walked away with the victory.

Quite possibly the most impressive part of this game is that they did this without any assistance from Buster Posey, whose absence weakens the Giants’ offense significantly (not to mention what he brings to this team defensively…).

Notes:

Brian Wilson has allowed just one earned run in his last 18.2 innings of work. He’s the best closer in the National League at this point, an established all-star closer whose kept the ball in the park, struck out 82 batters in 65 innings, and had an ERA of 1.80—nearly one lower than his previous career best. 

Freddy Sanchez, who was 2-for-4, has had multiple hits in 11 of his last 23 games. He’s made it harder to notice Andres Torres’ struggles at the plate, as he’s been getting hits at inconceivable rates—he’s batting .414 since August 12. 

Jonathan Sanchez is starting to find his rhythm, showing a bit of consistency at the moment: he’s allowed just one earned run over his last three starts (20 innings). While tonight’s start wasn’t flawless (the seven walks were certainly noticeable…), he did only give up one hit. 

The Giants are 8-2 in September, performing well now that their pitching is prospering. 

The Rockies are starting to become a serious issue. They’ve won eight in a row, and stand just 2.5 games behind the Giants. Troy Tulowitzki has hit seven home runs in his last nine games. 

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The Philadelphia Phillies have shown resilience, heart, and very solid pitching in somehow amassing the best record in the National League during a strange season that could have derailed a lesser group.

At Citi Field—a mausoleum of a stadium that has not been kind to the Fightins in 2010—they rode three hits by Carlos Ruiz and solo shots by Ryan Howard and Chase Utley to defeat the hapless New York Mets, 8-4.

The box score will reflect that their ace, Roy Halladay, was not at his sharpest, scattering eight hits and four earned runs over seven and two-thirds innings. Doc did however bring his bat, bouncing a seeing-eye, two run single up the middle with two outs in the fourth inning to break a 3-3 tie.

On a day that Halladay did not have his very best stuff, he collected the game-winning RBI(s), and tied Ubaldo Jimenez and Adam Wainwright for the league lead at 18 wins.  With the win, the Phils retained their one game lead over the Atlanta Braves—who scored 6 in the 6th to defeat 6’6″ Cardinals co-ace Chris Carpenter. Call it a devilish comeback if you will.

The Phillies also remained two games clear of the next team behind Atlanta in the wild card hunt, the San Francisco Giants, who hours later defeated the San Diego Padres in a 1-0 slugfest.

So, what of the Phillies’ offense that has not been as dynamic as in past seasons? Coming into tonight’s contest, they had scored exactly seven runs in six games in Queens this year.

Have they solved their Citi Field jinx? Maybe so, but more importantly they seemed to have found their offense. It did not hurt that Mr. September, Ryan Howard, stayed back on a pitch and casually lifted an opposite field shot to left center to tie the game at three.

Senor Octobre, Carlos Ruiz, also continued his torrid hitting, boosting his average to .296 with a 3-3 night, while also drawing two free passes. And Chase Utley, their Mr. Everything who seems to be finding his stroke again, pulled a ball into the right field seats to provide a seventh-inning insurance run.

Another part of the Phillies’ winning formula was the good fortune of coming to the plate versus a horrific looking Mets middle reliever Sean Green. Green, who looked even less polished than his surname would suggest, pitched just one-third of an inning, but packed in an intentional base-on-balls, another walk, and a hit batsman—plunking Wilson Valdez on a 3-0 offering with the bases loaded. 

After not finding the area code one  pitch to Halladay, and almost hitting him on another, Mets skipper Jerry Manuel pulled Mr. Green. Both Halladay and Green looked relieved when the shaky reliever was sent to the showers. How do you spell relief?

Then again, the above scenario is the Mets problem, who learned before the game that their ace, Johan Santana, would miss the remainder of the season. Despite a fine 2.98 ERA, the Mets had only given Santana 11 wins in his 29 starts this year.

It’s almost enough to make one feel sorry for the Metropolitans. Almost…

But this is Philly, and the Fightins did what they had to do in beating back a sub .500 team on the road. And if it takes hit batters and two runs batted in by their starting pitcher to get a win, the Phils won’t complain.

With 20 games left to play, the Phillies are not yet a lock for the playoffs. But with a resurgent Howard, the best starting pitching in the National League (arguably), and the experience of taking it to the wire the last few years, would anyone be accused of being a homer if they identified them as the team to beat in the NL?

No, I didn’t think so.

‘

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Carlos Zambrano continues his hot streak. Before tonight’s contest, he had a 4-0, 1.98 ERA record since his return to the rotation after going through an anger management program in June. 

He had another stellar performance tonight, pitching deep into the ninth to blank the Brewers and limit them to three hits and three walks to give the Cubs a 4-0 victory in a three-game series opener in Miller Park.

He contributed offensively; hitting three singles and producing a Cubs’ run in the sixth inning.

The right-hander (8-6) got into trouble in the second inning allowing back-to-back walks to lead-off Prince Fielder and Casey McGehee. But the Cubs got out of the inning without any damage; Chris Dickerson lined out back to the pitcher and Alcides Escobar grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The Cubs scored their first two runs of the game in the third inning. Blake DeWitt led off with a strikeout. Darwin Barney followed with a single off David Bush (7-12) and Zambrano helped himself with another single. 

Kosuke Fukudome drove the ball towards second base and was safe on Rickie Weeks’ throwing error. Barney scored on the play. Zambrano moved to third and Fukudome reached second. 

Starlin Castro hit a sacrifice fly to left field that tallied Zambrano.

The Cubs missed the chance to add more runs in the fourth by stranding two runners.  After Micah Hoffpauir and Geovany Soto were retired by strikeouts, Alfonso Soriano and Blake DeWitt walked back-to-back. But Darwin Barney lined out to right field to end the threat.

The Cubs put themselves three runs ahead of the Brewers in the fifth. A two-out walk to DeWitt became vital for Dave Bush and the Brewers. Zambrano followed Barney’s base hit with a line-drive RBI single to score DeWitt. Bush got pulled out after the run and was replaced by reliever Brandon Kintzler. 

Bush finished the night giving up three runs (two earned) with five hits in 5.2 innings. He struck out six and walked three.

The Brewers’ two-error woe cost them another run in the eighth. Kameron Loe easily retired Soriano and DeWitt; but his off-line throwing error made Barney safe at second.  Zambrano singled to shortstop Alcides Escobar who made another error that scored Barney.

Zambrano almost got his first shutout of the season, but his teammate Castro’s two-out error in the ninth broke the hope.

The Brewers rallied in the ninth. With two out, Ryan Braun singled to left field. He moved to second on defensive indifference.  Prince Fielder hit a routine grounder to shortstop, but Castro’s fielding error by shortstop Castro enabled Fielder to reach first and Braun third.

Manager Mike Quade decided to take the ball from Zambrano and handed it to their closer Carlos Marmol.

Marmol only needed one pitch to fly out Casey McGehee for his 29th save of the season.

Note: Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez missed his fourth game in a row because of his sore right quad injury. 

This article is also featured on www.sportshaze.com. 

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