So I didn't have anything specific that I wanted to write about today, but there's a lot of small things going on around the league.
The Indians lost the night cap of Tuesday's double header, and Wednesday's matinee game. The series wasn't one that will be remembered around Cleveland. The Indians offense had a few good moments, but wasn't impressive, and the pitching staff underperformed, giving up runs at an embarrassing rate to the league's worst offense.
With the Mariner's offensive outburst in Cleveland this week, they've now scored more runs that the Giants have this season. The Giants actually have the worst run differential in their division, but their bullpen is good enough that they manage to win most of their close games, but with Brian Wilson and Sergio Romo on the disabled list, I'm not sure if that can continue.
The Blue Jays traded John McDonald and Aaron Hill to the Diamondbacks for Kelly Johnson. This trade appears to make sense for both teams. I think that the Blue Jays got the best player in the deal, but Arizona got what they needed to help them compete now. For the Diamondbacks, Aaron Hill will replace Johnson as the team's everyday second baseman, while John McDonald will help with the void at shortstop left by Stephen Drew. The Blue Jays added Kelly Johnson, who seems to fit the profile that the Blue Jays have been collecting recently; above average power, decent speed, and good on base skills. It will be interesting to see if the they retain him next year, and if so, it seems like Edwin Encarnacion could be the odd man out.
The Diamondbacks now have the same infield as he Blue Jays did in 2007. Seriously, they do; http://sbn.to/rjsN7g
Carlos Pena and Heath Bell were both claimed off waivers, but neither are likely to move. Bell was claimed by the Giants, mostly as a blocking move for the other playoff teams. The Yankees would probably have to give the Cubs something of note to get Pena, because Pena will return a draft pick at the end of the season. Seeing as how Pena would likely be a bench piece for the Yankees, I doubt that they'll do it.
The Giants could have possibly been blocking Bell form going to the Diamondbacks, who could use another bullpen arm. One with closer experience would be welcomed as insurance for Putz, who has been injury prone throughout his career. The Diamondbacks still have a player in the minors that they could bring up in Trevor Bauer. He was drafter this past July, but signed immediately, and has a month of minor league experience. He's a polished college starter from UCLA. Bauer could be a right handed power reliever for the Diamondbacks for the remainder of the season, and into the postseason.
Both NL West Contenders won tonight, and both got good pitching performances. Daniel Hudson was going fot the complete game shutout, but gave up two solo home runs in the ninth, and ended up only going 8.2 innings. Lincecum went eight innings for the Giants, only giving up one run to the Padres.
Wandy Rodriguez was claimed off waivers by the Rockies, but probably won't be moved either. He actually pitched against the Rockies Wednesday, but failed his audition giving up 14 base runners and four runs over six innings. The Rockies willingness to give up Ubaldo Jimenez and want to pick up Wandy makes me think that they know something about Ubaldo, unless they now view themselves as contenders again. They've been playing well, and are only 8.5 games out, with both teams in front of them playing poorly of late. I wouldn't mind if the Rockies came back to win the division. Before the season I chose them to win the division, and thought Troy Tulowitzki would be the NL MVP.
Logan Morrison returned to the Marlins after the minimum stay in the minors. I don't know what they were trying to prove by sending him down. He didn't "force their hand," he was hitting .167 with an OPS below .600. He's still twittering upa storm. Jeffrey Loria is a fickle man. Morrison hit a homerun in his return to the big club.
Wily Mo Pena seems to have found a home in Seattle. It's an ideal spot for him, because he's got enough light tower power to hit it out of Safeco Field, and if they would give him 500 at bats over a year, he'd almost have to run into 30 home runs. I think much the same about Brandon Allen. He doesn't have quite the power Pena has, but the A's could use any type of offense that they can get their hands on.
Speaking of power, Torii Hunter hit another homerun Thursday night. He only has 18 on the season, but he's been hitting .400 in August, and doing his best to keep the Angels in the hunt for the Al West.
The Tigers lost tonight, on one of the strangest endings I've ever seen. It was a walk off fielders choice. The bases were loaded with two outs. Brandon Inge got a ground ball to third base, and instead of going to first to end the inning, he trie to go the short way to second. Ramon Santiago, the second baseman, was late to cover, and the runner beat the force, and the winning run came into score.
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