It's been an ugly season for the Colorado Rockies. The Quadruple-A applicants for the third-base job have collectively played below replacement level. Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, normally one of the best defensive players in the game, had a one-week stretch where he played like the kid in Little League who was too horrible to bury in right field, so you made him the assistant mascot instead. Denver Post columnist Mark Kiszla recently went the nuanced route in describing the Rockies' season: "This team," he wrote, "is a joke."
If the Rockies are a joke, Thursday's 9-7 matinee loss to the Diamondbacks was the cruelest punchline of the season.
Justin Upton is struggling. A rising star and one of this year's trendy MVP picks, the 24-year-old right fielder was expected to have another amazing year for the Diamondbacks. But a lingering thumb injury has hampered his swing and hurt his production -- currently at .212 BA/.350 OBP/.273 SLG.
Upton saw a hand specialist Tuesday, and while he might avoid a trip to the disabled list, the Diamondbacks are hinting that a few days off might be in order. Still, on a recent visit to Coors Field, Upton hit the batting cage three and a half hours before game time, getting his swings in with running mates Chris Young and Ryan Roberts like he does every day.
After his cage work, Upton sat down to talk about his progression as a player, his approach at the plate, and learning defensive tricks from his talented outfield mates.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Grantland's weekly MLB Power Rankings. Every Monday we'll size up all 30 teams, evaluating each one based on a combination of recent play, overall team quality, and statistical spelunking.
The Diamondbacks finished dead last in 2009 and 2010. Then they hired Kevin Towers as new GM and Kirk Gibson as new manager. Presto, D-Backs win the West.
Well, not quite. Going by runs scored and runs allowed, the 2010 club would have been expected to win six more games than they did; the 2011 team would've been pegged to win six fewer games than they did. More importantly, the Diamondbacks got breakout seasons from players who'd been acquired by the previous regime (in some cases, even the one before that). Justin Upton, Miguel Montero, Ryan Roberts, and Ian Kennedy all had big years, making good on the potential that many prognosticators saw in the Diamondbacks even as they languished in the basement for two years.
The following is a complete list of David Freese's career accomplishments, prior to last night's game:
Lower Leg Strain
Heel Debridement
Ankle Sprain
Ankle Soreness
Ankle Surgery
Toe Fracture (dropped weights on big toe)
Ankle Surgery
Hand Surgery
Thigh Tightness
OK, that's not quite fair to Freese, who rode sky-high batting averages on balls in play to a solid line of .297/.355/.426 in the 167 games in which he played over the past two seasons. Still, Freese was something like a sixth banana in a loaded Cardinals lineup … until he saved the Cardinals' season with two gigantic hits.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Wednesday.
With a home run, a double, and 4 RBIs, David Freese emerged from his series-long slump to lead the Cardinals over the Phillies 5-3 and force a Game 5 in the NLDS. At this point, both the Yankees and Phillies will be fighting for their lives in a win-or-go-home elimination game. Hopefully the fear of losing either of these beloved clubs will finally give America something to rally behind.
Continuing our quadruple-header recap, here's what transpired in Tuesday night's late games, with a look ahead.
YANKEES 10 TIGERS 1 (Series tied 2-2)
When A.J. Burnett stared at Russell Martin's sign with the bases loaded, two outs and Don Kelly at the plate, he had to know that his season, the Yankees' season, and his legacy and career in the Bronx were all on the line.
That might seem like hyperbole, until you think about Burnett's Yankees career leading up that point. The questions about his performance started long before he took the mound for Game 4 of the ALDS against the Tigers. Walk into any sports bar, listen to any New York sports radio station, talk to anyone with a pulse and an ounce of Yankees fandom in them, and the question for the past two years would be the same: What the hell is wrong with A.J. Burnett? (in less polite company, "hell" wouldn't be the word people would use). A rational conversation might have started with Burnett's age — his fastball had lost 3 mph from Burnett's peak six years ago on the Marlins. That would often devolve into more existential talk. Can he handle the bright lights of New York? Is A.J. Burnett just Ed Whitson 2.0? If a grape fought a raspberry, who would win?
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Adrian Beltre hit three home runs as the Texas Rangers advanced to the ALCS with a 4-3 win over the Rays. Beltre's feat had previously been accomplished just six times in postseason history, by Babe Ruth (twice), Reggie Jackson, George Brett, Bob Robertson and Adam Kennedy. In a classy move after the game, Kennedy issued an apology for being on the list.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
Max Scherzer pitched six scoreless innings and Miguel Cabrera blasted a two-run homer as the Tigers evened their best-of-five series with the Yankees at 1-1 in a 5-3 win. After the game, Detroit closer Jose Valverde guaranteed a win. "This series is not coming back to New York," he said. Frustratingly, it's impossible to tell from his quotes exactly which team he expects to win.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Wednesday.
Oh. Dear. God. That was the best and craziest night ever. Where to begin? It's time to turn logic off. Logic is officially dead. Baseball killed it. The sport just unraveled thousands of years of civilization. All is wild. On this brand-new morning, the heretofore uninvented insanity scale will guide us.
Insanity Level One:Talking to an educated pine tree about politics.
Mike Napoli hit two home runs as the Rangers beat the Angels 3-1. The win clinched home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs for Texas, where they'll be facing … well, we'll get there.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Going into the final day of the season, the AL wild-card race is a dead heat. Boston nearly blew an 8-4 lead, but the first two career home runs by rookie catcher Ryan Lavarnway, who only started due to injuries, were the difference in an 8-7 win over the Orioles. Lavarnway is a graduate of Yale, where he majored in philosophy. "Who the **** is this kid?!" asked irate Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, a media darling for his Harvard pedigree. "That's my ******** turf, you *** ******* ****! **** **! *** **** ***, *** ******* *** ** * *****!"
Advanced stats are anything but unanimous on the award. FanGraphs has Ellsbury ahead of Jose Bautista and Justin Verlander. Baseball-Reference has it as Bautista by a hair over Verlander, with Ellsbury trailing both. I'm receptive to the argument that we shouldn't vote for MVP based solely on the WAR leaderboard, but for different reasons. Much of WAR's input depends on defense, and we're still refining advanced defensive metrics. Ellsbury himself has gone from a player who was lightly regarded by Ultimate Zone Rating to being rated as an elite center fielder. It's certainly possible that he's dramatically improved … but statistical noise is a more likely explanation.
Beyond that, a player can't control when he delivers a big hit or a lights-out start. But if you're stuck on three MVP candidates and have a hard time breaking the tie, I don't think it's unreasonable to consider Ellsbury's run of game-winning hits. On Sunday, he blasted three homers, including the game-winning three-run blast in the 14th inning of the nightcap that saved the Sox from falling into a tie with the Rays. Yes, Scott Proctor was pitching. Yes, if Ellsbury had hit a homer three hours earlier Boston could have won the game that way too. But we can embrace drama, even a little. In a year where you have three very worthy candidates and no irrefutable way to parse the small difference in each player's value, then, I'm OK with looking for a little pixie dust. So I'll take Ellsbury … and remain perfectly content if either Bautista or Verlander wins instead.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Monday
Mariano Rivera now has the most saves of any closer in MLB history. Rivera collected his 602nd regular season save in a 6-4 win over the Twins, passing Trevor Hoffman on the all-time list. "The save is a way of life for me," said Rivera, who has previously saved a man's life, saved his newspaper clippings, saved the date, saved a soul, saved face, saved three dollars with a coupon for cake mix, saved his skin, saved his breath, and watched every episode of "Saved By the Bell." Twice.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Detroit's Doug Fister took a perfect game into the seventh, and the Tigers eventually prevailed, 2-1, on Ramon Santiago's 10th-inning walk-off home run. Fister didn't get the win, but Tigers manager Jim Leyland gave him a nice sticker with a yellow meteor and the words "I pitched like a star today!"
