Kuzul

Texas Rangers infielder Guilder Rodriguez shows that if you stick to something long enough, you will eventually get rewarded.

Rodriguez has played in 1,095 minor league games over 13 seasons. The 31-year-old made his MLB debut back on Sept. 9, but entering Monday night’s game against the Houston Astros, he had been 0-for-6 at the plate.

As he went to bed on Monday, he could finally say that he had a hit in the majors. In fact, he could say that he had two.

On a 1-2 count in the third inning against Astros pitcher Nick Tropeano, Rodriguez singled into left field to notch his first big league hit. Rodriguez received a nice ovation from his teammates and the crowd at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Seeing his son record his first hit brought tears to the eyes of the player’s father.

What a great moment.

Rodriguez had to wait 31 years to get his first big league hit, but he only had to wait four innings to get his second one. 

[MLB.com]

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As the MLB postseason draws near, let’s remember one of the most memorable quotes to come from the mouth of Pedro Martinez, former three-time Cy Young Award winner, member of the 2004 World Series-winning Boston Red Sox and now a studio analyst for TBS.

After a loss to the New York Yankees in September 2004, Martinez famously called his rivals “my daddies.”

In honor of the quote’s 10-year anniversary tomorrow, Bleacher Report’s Adam Lefkoe decided to play a game of “Who’s Your Daddy?” with Martinez in the video above.

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We’ve reached the final week of the 2014 MLB season, and there are still five postseason spots up for grabs heading into Tuesday’s slate of games.

The National League field is essentially set, with the Milwaukee Brewers all but eliminated at five games back in the wild-card standings. The big question is who will host the Wild Card Round game, as the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates are currently tied atop the standings.

Those teams could still conceivably catch the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals to win their division titles, but at this point it looks like they’ll be battling it out for a spot in the NLDS.

The American League picture is a bit cloudier, especially with the Cleveland Indians making a late-season push for the No. 2 wild-card spot.

The Oakland Athletics currently hold a one-game lead over the Kansas City Royals in the wild-card standings, with the Seattle Mariners (two games back) and Indians (3.5 game back) on the outside looking in for a playoff berth. The Royals are also just a game behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central standings, so a division title is well within reach.

One way or another, only three teams are going to emerge from that group of five, and these next few days are what September baseball is all about.

So to recap, there are currently seven teams, two NL and five AL, that are legitimately still in the hunt for what boils down to five postseason spots.

With that in mind, what follows is a look at the biggest X-factor for each of those clubs that will determine whether they punch their tickets to the playoffs before the week is over.

Begin Slideshow

1. Farewell to The Captain…The Other Captain

And now, the end is near, Frank Sinatra is cued up and the Captain will face his final curtain.   

No, not Derek Jeter.   

Well, him, too, which is why when that final curtain falls this Sunday in Chicago, Paul Konerko will be over there in the shadows while all eyes are on Jeter’s finale in Boston.

There will be no lump-in-the-throat Gatorade commercial bringing Konerko home, no national spotlight. But the least we can do is pause long enough to send a tip of the cap to the Derek Jeter of the White Sox, a graceful player who will have his No. 14 retired this weekend as Chicago emotionally celebrates its own retiring legend.

“They’re both smart, classy, talented guys,” says Braves hitting coach Greg Walker, Konerko’s hitting coach with the White Sox from 2003-11. “I think how Paulie represented baseball shined a light for other players on how to do it the right way.

“If your best player does it the right way, then your young players will do it the right way, too.”

For 16 seasons, Konerko has done everything the right way in Chicago. His Game 2 grand slam against the Astros in ’05 helped the Sox win their first World Series in 88 years. His five homers and 15 RBI during that ’05 postseason will be remembered vividly even when Ozzie Guillen’s great-great grandson is playing shortstop on the South Side a few decades from now.

Konerko’s 432 homers and 1,383 RBI trail only Hall of Famer Frank Thomas in White Sox history, and only Hall of Famer Luke Appling played in more games for Chicago. Only Nellie Fox and Appling had more hits for the White Sox, and Konerko is the club’s all-time leader in total bases.

“I’ll tell you this,” says former White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy. “When I played with him and he was right, he was the best fastball hitter I’ve ever played with. He didn’t miss a fastball.”

Says Walker: “One of the best fastball hitters, if not the best, of his generation.”

For years, wherever Walker has traveled, hitters throughout the land have wanted to know the secrets to Konerko’s approach, mechanics and work ethic.

“Really a brilliant guy,” Walker says. “Early on when we worked together, we made an agreement: If I wanted to make any changes, it would have to be scientific.” Meaning, Konerko knew at all times exactly where his hands were during an at-bat, where his feet were placed and the general parameters of his swing path. And he was more obsessive-compulsive about all of it than an old couple insisting on an uncluttered house.

If anything—anything—was to be changed, Konerko wanted specific reasons.

But because he was so in tune with all of this, and because he was so analytical, Konerko was the master of making adjustments on the fly. And as such, he became the Man of a Million Swings.

“I used to joke with him, ‘What swing are you going to use today?’ ” Walker says. “And he’d say, ‘Number 72.’ Or, ‘Number 38.’

“I’ve seen him step out of the box, make an adjustment during the at-bat, step back in and hit a home run.”

Adds Walker: “I think that’s why he’s been such a big-game player. World Series, All-Star Games, he can make adjustments most people can’t. Or, instead of looking at it like, ‘This is the way I’ve always done it,’ he’ll say ‘Let’s come up with something else. I’m not going to keep making the same mistake over and over.'”

A lot of people are going to miss Konerko throughout the game, and it goes far beyond the White Sox simply being without one of the best middle-of-the-lineup players they’ve ever had.

“There’s not a whole lot of talk about him,” Peavy says. “Listen, Derek Jeter deserves every bit of credit. But Paul Konerko has had a wonderful career, and he’s done it the right way in a big city as well.

“It was an honor to play with such a great player and call him a friend.”

2. Atlanta Follows Brave New Path

Even more impressive than the Braves’ streak of 14 consecutive titles was their run of stability: Not since 1990 had they fired a general manager or manager.

That is, until Monday, the day after they were eliminated from the postseason, when they tomahawk-chopped GM Frank Wren.

The Braves’ second massive collapse in four seasons doomed Wren, who constructed a flawed roster with too many high-strikeout, low-on-base guys who failed to click. The Braves also fired Bruce Manno, director of player development.

At a press conference Monday, club president John Schuerholz spoke of “putting in place the finest baseball operations [staff] ever seen in Major League Baseball” to take the club to “higher and greater ground.”

Three early names to watch:

• John Coppolella, 35, the Braves’ assistant general manager, is very highly thought of and respected throughout the game.

• Kansas City GM Dayton Moore, who worked in Atlanta’s organization from 1994 to 2006 before leaving for the Royals. Schuerholz repeatedly referenced the “Braves Way” Monday, and Moore certainly knows the blueprint there. He’s worked hard to install a similar plan in Kansas City, where he has two years left on his contract.

• Former Cubs GM Jim Hendry, who built a winner for a time in Chicago and currently is Yankees GM Brian Cashman’s assistant. Hendry has a very good relationship with Schuerholz and Co., knows talent and would seem to fit in well in the Braves’ collegial atmosphere.

Beyond that, longtime baseball man John Hart, named as the Braves’ interim GM by his good pal Schuerholz, is said to be enjoying his television work at MLB Network and the flexibility that affords him too much to want to go back to being a GM full time.

However, he also would not definitively rule out the idea of him becoming Atlanta’s full-time GM. As Schuerholz quipped, “It is not a completely closed or open door, is what he meant to say.”

Several of Wren’s high-profile free-agent signings became unmitigated disasters, most notably outfielder B.J. Upton (five years, $75.25 million), Dan Uggla (five years, $62 million) and Derek Lowe (four years, $60 million). Add some internal discord—among other things, Cox and Wren clashed, something that went very public when Cox failed to mention the GM during his Hall of Fame induction speech this summer—and the door to Wren’s exit was opened wide.

As for the biggest on-field reasons, Upton and Uggla, in particular, were representative of the club’s streaky, high-strikeout lineups in recent years.

As one longtime executive told Bleacher Report, “Two contracts like that set your organization back for years.”

Added a longtime scout: “They’ve got to split up the Upton brothers.” Justin, acquired by Wren in a trade, has outperformed his brother.

Schuerholz says the new GM will have the ultimate decision on manager Fredi Gonzalez, who survived Monday’s bloodletting, and there is a high probability that when the Braves convene next spring in Florida, Gonzalez will remain as manager.

Asked whether he would endorse Gonzalez to the new GM, Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox said, “Yes, absolutely.”

Cox was fierce in his support.

“Fredi’s done a remarkable job since he’s taken over,” Cox said. “For me, since 2011, I think he’s been outstanding. Last year, he had a difficult time winning 96 games with the things that were taking place.”

3. Let’s Get a Move On

Anybody who’s been to a baseball game lately knows that…zzzzzz.

Sorry, dozed off there. Allow me to start again:

Anybody who’s watched a baseball game on television lately knows that…zzzzzz.

OK, let me put this another way: The top priority of incoming commissioner Rob Manfred must be to reconnect with the younger generation. That covers a lot of ground, and one key tenet is tackling the (snail’s) pace of game.

Baseball announced Monday that Bud Selig recently conducted a conference call with a new pace-of-game committee, which will be chaired by Braves president Schuerholz and also includes Manfred, Mets GM Sandy Alderson, Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner and team partner Michael Gordon, players’ union boss Tony Clark and MLB executive VP Joe Torre.

The average MLB game this year is running a whopping three hours and 13 minutes. Here are a few things the committee should be discussing:

• Enforce a rule already on the books, that pitchers have a maximum of 12 seconds to throw the ball after they receive it. Not to pick on one guy in particular, because many are guilty, but Giants reliever Jean Machi on Sunday took 41 seconds to deliver one pitch in San Diego, and 35 seconds to deliver another.

• Once hitters step into the batter’s box, they should stay there. No stepping out after every pitch to adjust batting gloves, helmets or to look for ma in the stands.

• Kill walkup songs. Just do away with them. Look, I’m into music as much as anybody, but all the walkup songs do is cause the batter to move more slowly into the box. Get in there and get to work.

• Streamline the new instant replay system. This one is obvious. Managers sloooowly walking out to an umpire while waiting to get word from a coach as to whether they should challenge a call is wasting more time than your Aunt Hattie on the telephone. This one has got to be seriously tweaked.

• Plate umpires need to call the entire strike zone, both north to south and east to west. Small strike zones drag things out. Call a big zone, it moves the game along and it encourages hitters to swing, rather than pick over every pitch as if sorting through peaches looking for the ripest.

4. Matt Kemp Rising

Maybe we were all wrong about Matt Kemp. Perhaps all he needed following major shoulder and ankle surgeries was, duh, time, sweet time to work off the rust and recalibrate his timing.

Following his four-hit, four-RBI day Sunday, Kemp entered this week leading all NL regulars after the All-Star break in slugging percentage (.594), was second in home runs (15) and fourth in OPS (.964). He ranked second to teammate Adrian Gonzalez (52) with 49 RBI. The talk of how to squeeze four outfielders into three spots has dissipated. Kemp not only has earned the right to play every day—the Dodgers need him. Especially with Hanley Ramirez in and out of the lineup and Yasiel Puig’s inconsistency this year.

And don’t underestimate the fact that since getting yanked out of center field because he was becoming a liability, Kemp has found a comfort level in right field that he did not in left. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly initially moved him to left before settling on right, the position Kemp grew up playing. Through Monday, Kemp had played 44 games in left this season for the Dodgers, 41 games in center and 54 in right.

5. Big Week for Pirates

As the Pirates and Giants jockey for NL wild-card position—so long, Brewers—logic tells you that home-field advantage in next week’s Wild Card Game will be invaluable to the Pirates.

Their 51-30 home record is tied with St. Louis for the NL’s best. And baseball fever is fully back at PNC Park, where the Pirates set a record this season with more than 2.4 million in attendance.

Now for the twist: Oddly, a Giants-Pirates Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh might also be best for…San Francisco?

The Giants have not played particularly well at home this year. They are 42-35 at AT&T Park only because they’ve won 12 of their past 15 games there. Until a 6-1 homestand last month against Colorado and Milwaukee, the Giants were stumbling badly at home in one of many odd turns to their year.

Overall, coming into this week, the Giants ranked eighth among NL teams in runs scored at home (303), eighth in home batting average (.257) and 11th in slugging percentage at home (.381).

6. Nationals Treasure: Should He or Shouldn’t He?

The biggest question as Stephen Strasburg prepares to participate in the first postseason of his career is whether he should start Game 1 next week for the Nationals.

During a wide-ranging discussion on MLB Network Radio last week, I said I’d go with Jordan Zimmermann. A very well-reasoned caller made a case for Doug Fister.

Now, indications are that manager Matt Williams may choose Strasburg. So, please allow me to do what managers who are preparing for the postseason all over are doing: re-evaluate and study daily. And the more I do, the more I’m thinking Strasburg.

For one thing, the man who would be the Nats’ ace has pitched as if he is in his most recent outings. Over his past five starts, Strasburg has produced a 1.35 ERA with 33 strikeouts and just two walks. For another, the Nats will open the Division Series at home, and Strasburg, for whatever reason, has been much more comfortable there this season.

In 17 home games at Nationals Park, Strasburg is 8-3 with a 2.70 ERA and a 1.055 WHIP.

In 16 road games, the right-hander is 5-8 with a 3.82 ERA and a 1.232 WHIP.

If the Nationals are going to go as far as they hope, Strasburg is going to have to win on the road in October. But given his current run and his home credentials, as well as the fact that the Nationals have treated him as an ace all along, he’s earned Game 1.

7. Jerome Williams, Athletics Killer

If Oakland misses the playoffs by a game, you can blame veteran right-hander Jerome Williams, who over the weekend became the first pitcher in history to beat a team three times in a season while pitching for three different clubs.

Working for the Phillies, Williams beat the A’s on Saturday.

Working for the Rangers, Williams beat the A’s on July 25.

Working for the Astros, Williams beat the A’s on April 26.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only one pitcher since 1900 has even had a chance to beat the same club three times in a season for three different teams: Willis Hudlin, who beat the Philadelphia Athletics (yes, the A’s again) pitching for Cleveland and the Washington Senators in 1940. He faced them again later that season while pitching for the St. Louis Browns, but, alas, the Browns lost.

8. Award-Winning Short

Have you seen Gatorade’s spot on Derek Jeter’s farewell? If you haven’t, you absolutely should. It is terrific:

9. This Guy Once Ate Vicks VapoRub

Bumped into the inimitable, legendary Kevin Mitchell at the park the other day. Mitch always was a favorite. He was fun to watch, always had a smile and often some crazy story that made you wonder if he really was a native of, say, Pluto. Like the Vicks story. He used to say when he had a cold he would eat a bit of the stuff.

Anyway, Mitch looks pretty good. No heavier than when he was playing. Still rocking the gold front tooth. But he’s due for right hip replacement surgery within the next couple of weeks, which will temporarily sideline him from his work as a hitting instructor for kids from seven or eight years old all the way up through college age at the Brick Yard in San Diego.

He asked whether I thought the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton or the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw would win the NL MVP award. You can guess who he’s rooting for.

“I’m a hitter,” said Mitchell, who added that he doesn’t attend many MLB games anymore, but he made it a point to come to Petco Park earlier this season to see Stanton.

“Unbelievable,” Mitchell said. “Love him. I’ve never seen the kid play. Only on TV. I wanted to see how big he is. He makes the game seem easy.”

And?

“These kids are unbelievably big.”

About that time, Padres broadcaster Mark Grant, who once was traded for Mitchell, came over to say hello and asked Mitchell if he remembered the time he came to the park all depressed because he had lost his snake.

“Yes,” Mitchell said. “He was gone for two-and-a-half months.”

Two-and-a-half months? Turned out, the snake was hiding in Mitchell’s house all that time. Then one day, just as quickly as the snake disappeared, he reappeared.

“Came out hungry,” Mitchell said.

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

Ah, you slumping Athletics, Brewers and Braves…

“Now you’re lookin’ at a man that’s gettin’ kinda mad

“I had a lot of luck but it’s all been bad

“No matter how I struggle and strive

“I’ll never get out of this world a-live

“My fishin’ pole’s broke, the creek is full of sand

“My woman run away with another man

“No matter how I struggle and strive

“I’ll never get out of this world alive

“Ev’rything’s agin’ me and it’s got me down

“If I jumped in the river I would prob’ly drown

“No matter how I struggle and strive

“I’ll never get out of this world alive

—Steve Earle, “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. He has over two decades of experience covering MLB, including 14 years as a national baseball columnist at CBSSports.com.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball @ScottMillerBbl.

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The big-money stars just might be coming on at the right time.

For nearly the entire season, the Los Angeles Dodgers could not get health or consistent, steady production from the bulk of their highly priced core, especially the men whose primary job is hitting.

But as the final week of the regular season begins and the postseason starts to yawn and stretch as it wakes, the Dodgers appear to be hitting full sprinting speed despite a 13-inning loss Monday night that kept their magic number to win the National League West at three.

From Aug. 31 through the start of Monday’s game, the Dodgers had one of the most devastating offenses in the majors with a .308/.369/.478 slash line and an .847 OPS. As a team this month, the Dodgers are second in the majors with 120 runs scored (three behind the leading Los Angeles Angels), leading with 27 home runs, second with 341 total bases and second with an .820 OPS.

That is monstrous production, and it’s the stars leading the way:

• Since the All-Star break, Matt Kemp, one of the game’s best all-around players in 2011 and part of 2012 before a shoulder injury sapped him, has hit .304/.363/.580 with a .943 OPS, 15 homers and 49 RBIs. In September, he has hit a major league-leading seven home runs and went into the week with a 1.044 OPS.

“He’s been great,” manager Don Mattingly told Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. “It seems like a lot of our guys have been stepping up. He’s certainly one of those guys.”

• Since Sept. 5 and going into Monday, Hanley Ramirez has been red hot. He hit .451/.509/.588 with a 1.097 OPS, seven doubles and 11 RBIs in 15 games. He was also hitting .511 on balls he put into play.

• Adrian Gonzalez has joined the romp since the break. He went into Monday hitting .326/.378/.561 with a .939 OPS, 11 home runs and 52 RBIs in his previous 59 games.

• Yasiel Puig, the most polarizing player in the sport, had been going through a prolonged slump since Aug. 4. In 31 games from that date, Puig hit .186/.289/.212 without a home run and five RBIs. But from Sept. 13 to the start of Monday’s contest, Puig was 17-for-40 (.425) with a 1.152 OPS and two home runs in nine games.

• Finally, since Aug. 10 and entering the week, Carl Crawford was hitting .411/.449/.579 with a 1.029 OPS, seven doubles, three homers, 20 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 34 games. He also homered Monday.

Dodgers offense exploding at the right time. pic.twitter.com/yJqudqX8P6

— Angel Gonzalez (@angel_G96) September 20, 2014

Those five players have contracts worth a combined $568 million, although the Dodgers haven’t paid all of that money since Gonzalez, Crawford and Ramirez were acquired through trades after those deals had been finalized. Also, the bargain that is Dee Gordon has been back on track lately, hitting .312/.318/.385 in his previous 22 games before Monday.

“Hanley’s swinging better, Yasiel’s swinging better, Dee’s getting his hits, Adrian’s been the same all year,” Mattingly told J.P. Hoornstra of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on Sunday. “Our guys know what’s at stake.” 

Right now, that’s a second consecutive NL West title. After this week: the franchise’s first World Series title in 26 years. That is why this team was built the way it was once the Guggenheim Baseball Management group took over ownership from the despised Frank McCourt in 2012.

This was the blueprint. This was what things were supposed to look like, how they were supposed to work. The Dodgers broke payroll records this year to field a team that trotted out expensive superstars at nearly every position. They spent so there would be no real breaks in the lineup for opposing pitchers, and they spent for pitching so that they could still walk away with victories even when the offense wasn’t running at optimal levels.

On that pitching front, Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu—they make a combined $398 million—have done their jobs. Dan Haren, on the other hand, has been a liability for a good portion of the season, but even the 34-year old veteran has learned to pitch with his declining tools. Over his last nine starts, including Monday, Haren has allowed 14 earned runs in 54 1/3 innings for a 2.32 ERA, making him another guy getting his act together at the right time. His start Monday kicked in a vesting option for 2015 that would pay him $10 million, the same as his salary from this season.

This Dodger club has no excuses. It’s relatively healthy—Ryu’s status for the postseason is still up in the air—and could gain home-field advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs if things fall right.

And for maybe the first time since Guggenheim got its receipt for the team, everything seems to be moving as planned. All that’s left is another month of production, and this could be the team that breaks the championship dry spell for one of the game’s storied franchises.

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News, and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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With playoff positioning and the top spot in the NL West still up for grabs, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Yasiel Puig kept the San Francisco Giants from scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th inning during Monday night’s game.

He maintained the 2-2 tie by gunning down Brandon Belt at the plate after a Brandon Crawford single with a perfect throw from center field, thrilling the fans along the way.

Ultimately, Puig’s heroics weren’t enough, as the Giants won 5-2. 

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Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, 24, is having a fantastic season and leads Major League Baseball in batting average by a wide margin at .345 (Detroit’s Victor Martinez is second at .336). He’s also first in the majors in hits (221) and third in steals (54).

During a hit-and-run attempt in the top of the eighth inning with the Texas Rangers leading 4-3 and left fielder Robbie Grossman at first and no one out, Altuve swung at a very high 93 mph fastball from Texas’ Roman Mendez on the first pitch. Even after leaving his feet, the 5’5″ hitter was somehow able to make contact, fouling the offering back at the unlucky catcher, Robinson Chirinos, who understandably wasn’t able to react in time.

Despite Altuve‘s best efforts, the 69-88 Astros fell 4-3 to the 63-93 Rangers. He went 1-for-4 in Monday’s game with a double and an RBI. Altuve ended up lining out to center field in the at-bat seen above.

[MLB.com]

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On Tuesday night, the Baltimore Orioles are going to be partying like it’s 1997.

With an 8-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, Buck Showalter‘s squad captured its ninth victory in 10 games and moved 13.5 games in front of Toronto in the AL East, effectively locking up the division.

The team’s Twitter feed celebrated:

Here’s a look at the final out and ensuing moments of ecstasy in Baltimore:

As ESPN Stats & Info noted, this is the first time the O’s have won the East since the days of Cal Ripken Jr., Roberto Alomar, Brady Anderson and Mike Mussina, nearly two decades ago:

According to MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko, Orioles Executive VP of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette went a little further back:

Both the O’s players and the Baltimore faithful have reason to celebrate, and it appears they plan on doing just that.

Comcast SportsNet’s Daniel Martin provided a glimpse of the scene from Camden Yards, while CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora noted the fireworks weren’t just limited to the ballpark:

ESPN’s Jamison Hensley noticed a nice touch from Showalter, who won previous division titles with both the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks:

The Baltimore Sun‘s Dan Connolly caught a picture of Nick Markakis, who didn’t seem to mind that there was pie in his face:

Unsurprisingly, the champagne was on ice and ready to flow once the players returned to the locker room.

The team’s Twitter feed and Connolly offered a look at some of the partying in the locker room as well as back on the field, where the team returned to celebrate with the fans: 

Of course, while Tuesday night—and Wednesday morning—will be a time for celebration, the O’s still have a much bigger goal: making a deep run in October.

Though they haven’t been in such a position in a while—their 2012 wild-card berth marked their only postseason appearance since ’97—they are certainly built for such a run.

Despite losing Matt Wieters and Manny Machado to injury and watching Chris Davis struggle with a serious regression, they are fifth in the majors in OPS. Although they don’t have any superstars on the pitching staff, they are also seventh in ERA. 

Don’t let the lack of recent success fool you. This team is a legitimate contender to win the World Series.

Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs.

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For the second time in three seasons, the Washington Nationals are champions of the National League East. 

Tanner Roark pitched seven innings of shutout ball, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen closed up shop, and Ian Desmond sent a home run deep into the Turner Field seats Tuesday night as Washington became the first team in baseball to clinch a division with a 3-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.

(The Baltimore Orioles likewise wrapped up their East championship in the American League within mere minutes of Washington’s victory.)

Roark struck out four, walked none and scattered only five hits over his seven innings of work. The win brought him to 14-10 on the season and lowered his ERA to a very solid 2.85. He’s turned in a quality start in five of his past six appearances, helping the Nationals open up a massive lead over their scuffling division.

Coming into Tuesday night, Washington clinching the NL East was a matter of when, not if. The Nationals boasted an 11.5-game lead over the Braves with 13 games remaining. Atlanta expedited the process by dropping each of its last five games and getting off to a 3-11 start in the month of September.

While expected, the Nationals’ playoff-clinching win is only further proof of a lasting culture change that’s happened in recent seasons. The franchise, which came to the nation’s capital in 2005 after years of futility in Montreal, did not have a winning season for the first seven years in its new home.

Washington has now compiled three straight winning campaigns for just the third time (including the Montreal seasons), while making the playoffs for the third time in franchise history. 

“I guess you could say that we kind of expect it a little more now,” Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche told Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post. “Two years ago, it was almost like—I don’t know if you’d call it a shock. But it was like, ‘Wow, we must be pretty good.’ Now, I think we’re a pretty established team.”

The Nationals spent most of 2014 trying to keep Atlanta at arm’s length. The Braves, who outpaced Washington last season to earn the NL East crown, came into the season as co-favorites, having built what looked like one of baseball’s best all-around teams. 

Tuesday night proved an interesting microcosm of the ills that have derailed Atlanta’s season. Neither team could hit for the first five innings. No baserunner touched third base, and just a few were even able to get into scoring position. Weak singles were only filler between can-of-corn fly-ball outs and cleanly fielded dribblers.

But unlike Atlanta, which sits near the bottom of every major offensive category, Washington has shown a penchant for getting hits when it matters most. Desmond took Aaron Harang deep two batters after an otherwise innocuous Jayson Werth walk in the top of the sixth. The Nationals shortstop plated the team’s final run before the postgame champagne bath as well, taking advantage of a David Carpenter wild pitch to score in the ninth.

Storen needed only seven pitches to close it out, with each Atlanta hitter meekly grounding out. Justin Upton, one of the few Atlanta hitters who has not totally gone off the rails in 2014, jogged out his grounder to second as Nationals players were already descending on the infield to celebrate.

At that point, this happened:

Then this:

And I hope people were wearing their safety goggles for this:

That does not seem like an environment conducive to children:

It does seem like a fun one, though: 

It’s a good time to be a Nationals fan. Actually, check that. With the Orioles clinching, it’s a great time to merely be a beltway baseball fan. Those closest to the heart of the nation may soon be seeing a series between two teams within a drive of the White House.

We’ll see come October whether they can keep this momentum going.

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(Credit to Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post and the Nationals’ Twitter feed for setting the scene.)

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Slugger Chris Davis can’t help the Baltimore Orioles on the field right now, but he is doing things that are more important than hitting home runs.

Last week, Davis was suspended 25 games after testing positive for amphetamines. That means that his 2014 regular season is over, and the Orioles will have to advance past the American League Division Series for him to have a chance to play again this season.

Davis is known for having great power, and he was able to put his strength to good use recently.

Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com exchanged emails with Mike Soukup, who had a great Davis story from Monday to share.

Davis was reportedly on his way to the airport to pick up some buddies when an accident happened right in front of him. A truck’s tire apparently blew out on the freeway and sent the vehicle into a wall. One man was ejected from the truck, and another man was then pinned under the truck. Doing the right thing, Soukup and the first baseman got out of their cars to try to help out. 

Here are some more details on the situation from Soukup, per Kubatko: 

He was bleeding pretty badly and gasoline was dripping out of the truck. The first man waved me over, and he, and I, and a woman started trying to lift the truck off of the pinned man. It was too heavy for the three of us—it was an old, large model pick-up and was VERY heavy. However, within a half-a-minute, another five to six folks had jumped out and started helping. We were able to pick the truck back up onto its wheels—unpinning the man.

When I turned to look at the first man, I instantly noticed a VERY strong resemblance to Chris Davis. He didn’t have any Orioles gear on (so I wasn’t sure … there was no big ’19’ on him anywhere!), except his tennis shoes were black and orange. We glanced at each other with a “good job” look and I said, “Chris?” He said, “Yeah?” “Chris Davis?” “Yeah?” I said, “One hell of a way to meet Chris Davis … and by the way, I think they screwed you over big-time and I support you 100 percent.” He said “Thanks, it really means a lot to hear that,” and was very sincere about it. 

It looks like Davis and others were in the right place at the right time to help someone in need.

Some fans might have tried to get an autograph or a picture with a celebrity or athlete after meeting him. That crossed Soukup’s mind, but he decided against the move, thinking it might seem “tacky.” Given the situation, Soukup probably did the right thing. 

It was never a secret that Davis is a strong man. Now, we know that he is strong enough to help lift a truck off of a man.

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