It seems as though just in the last few days some of the top contenders in the National league have lost some of the best pitchers to injury. Now I’m not sure if it’s the new shorter 10-day disabled list that makes teams quicker to put players on it or if there have just been a rash of injuries. Will any of these recent injuries help decide which team will represent the National League in the World Series?
The Washington Nationals have a 14 games lead in the N.L. East heading into play today. It looked as though the Nationals where going to get their starting rotation back in order as Steven Strasburg is scheduled to come off the 10-day disabled list to start Saturday’s game against the San Diego Padres.
Then before last nights game Max Schrezer was scratched from his scheduled start and was placed on the 10-day DL with neck inflammation. If you remember back on August 1st Scherzer pitched one inning against the Miami Marlins before having to come out of the game for the same injury. Now it’s being reported that Scherzer has the same injury, but that it’s on the opposite side of his neck.
Now when the Nationals placed Scherzer on the DL they made it retroactive to August 15th; so it appears as though Scherzer’s next start will be August 24th against the New York Mets.
Now just a week ago the St, Louis Cardinals where on and 8-game winning streak and appeared to back in contention for the N.L. Central title. The Cardinals have a 2-3 record since the winning streak, but are still just 1 1/2 games out of 1st place. Now the Cardinals will have to deal with injuries to not one, but two if their key pitchers.
First in Thursday the Cardinals placed closer Trevor Rosenthal on the 10-day DL with what they described as right posterior elbow irritation. Then after some medical tests on Friday the Cardinals placed starter Adam Wainwright on the 10-day DL with a right elbow impingement.
Rosenthal recently regained the closers role with the Cardinals and had saved 7 consecutive games until August 16th when he gave up 2 runs while not recording an out in the Cardinals 5-4 loss t the Boston Red Sox.
Rosenthal is going to seek a 2nd opinion next week before it’s decided if he’ll need surgery to repair the ligament.
Adam Wainwright made his scheduled start on Thursday, but threw just 55 pitches and lasted just 3 innings while giving up 5 runs. The Cardinals are hoping that rest not surgery will allow Wainwright to recover, but there is no timetable for his return.
Thursday continued to be a bad day for pitchers as Cubs starter Jon Lester lasted just 1 2/3rds innings in his start and threw just 46pitches. At the time it was reported that Lester left the game due to tightness in his left lat. On Friday the Cubs placed Lester on the DL with left shoulder fatigue. This is another situation where the Cubs believe that Lester simply needs a rest.
The same day Lester went on the DL the Cubs also placed reliever Justin Grimm om the DL. Grimm has an infection in his right index finger.
Is it odd that we seem to be seeing more and more injuries to pitchers when they throw less and less? It’s rare that a pitcher throws 200 innings in a season and as soon as a starter gets to the 100 pitch mark in a game the announcers start talking about him coming out of the game soon. How many pitchers even male more than 30 starts in a season? Even with things like innings limits and pitch counts in place teams just can’t seem to keep their pitchers healthy. Remember when Nolan Ryan took over as President of the Texas Rangers he talked about allowing pitchers to go out and throwing innings and the new style sabermetrics community killed him for that. Was Ryan on the right track? Would pitcher being stronger and throwing more innings in the minors not less help them develop into major league pitchers that could handle the grind of a 162 season.
If you’ve played baseball or just watched enough of it you’ve probably heard someone use the term “have a day”. Well last night Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles had a day.
Machado went 3 for 5 with all three hits being home runs and he also drove in 7 runs in the Orioles 9-7 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Machado’s night started off with a ground out in the bottom of the 1st inning, but he came back in the bottom of the with a 2-run home run to centerfield off of Angels starter Andrew Heaney. Machado then led off the bottom of the 5th inning with his second home run and second off of Heaney. This one was a solo shot to leftfield. In the bottom of the 7th inning Machado made the final out of the inning as he flew out to rightfield against Angels reliever Blake Parker. Machado’s 5th and final at bat of the night came in the bottom of the 9th innings with the Orioles down by two (7-5) and the bases loaded. Of course since Machado had a 3 homer night he hit a game winning grand slam to centerfield off of Angels reliever Keynan Middleton to give the Orioles a 9-7 win in walk off fashion.
Machado has had his struggles this season, but looks to be starting to get back in his groove. Going into the All-Star break Machado was hitting just .230. Machado had such a poor first half that he failed to make the American League All-Star team after making it the previous two seasons. Now after the All-Star break Machado has really picked it up as he’s hitting .343 and it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the better Machado played the closer the Orioles got to a playoff spot.
Baltimore is still an under .500 team at 60-62, but with Machado’s resurgence the Orioles now find themselves just two games out of the final American League wild card spot. Can Machado stay hot and lead the Orioles to one of those wild card spots? Who knows; there are currently 8 teams battling for just one playoff spot. The New York Yankees have one of the wild card spots and they have a 3 1/2 game lead over the Minnesota Twins and the Angels who are currently tied for the second wild card spot. The Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Mariners are 1/2 games out of that second spot while the Texas Rangers are 1 1/2 games out of a wild card spot followed by the Orioles. Right behind Baltimore you’ll find the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay rays who are 3 games out of a wild card spot.
Can you believe there where people who didn’t want to see baseball add these wild card spots. I enjoy tradition as much as the next guy, but by adding the wild card spots baseball has found a way to keep more team in a playoff race and that has to help keep their fans engaged with football season just around the corner.
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