Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 19, 2008
Tighter Races

The AL East and AL Central tightened a bit Thursday night. It actually looked like the opposite was going to happen. Mike Mussina got off to a rough start, allowing two hits, two walks and a run in the first inning. But that was it as he lasted six innings and the Yankees bats came to life for a 9-1 win. Bobby Abreu hit two home runs and Derek Jeter banged out two more hits. The two stars are finishing strong to bring their averages up to snuff for the season, and Mussina still has a shot at twenty wins.

While the White Sox were suffering a blow out, Evan Longoria found his home run stroke. He last went deep on August fifth, and made up for lost time with three home runs against the Twins. The Rays took an 8-6 lead into the ninth, but the wheels fell off as Dan Wheeler could not get an out. He gave up a two-run homer to Alexi Casilla which tied the game, and put two more Twins on who eventually came around to score. A five run ninth gave the Twins an 11-8 victory.

That brings leads in both the AL East and AL Central down to 1 1/2 games. Chicago travels to Minnesota next Tuesday for a three-game showdown.

Note: There was a trivia question in the Twins broadcast, and I believe the answer they gave was incorrect. The question, "What was the earliest a franchise won a major award (MVP, CY Young, Rookie of the Year)?" Their answer was Alfredo Griffin, but not only did they get the year wrong (1979, not 1978), Lou Piniella won ROY for the Royals in 1969, their first year of existence.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:17 AM | Division Races | TrackBack (0)
Comments

You are correct on the ROY question

Maddon switched Percival to the 8th and went with Wheeler in the 9th - see what he does from here on in.

Posted by: Bandit at September 19, 2008 09:33 AM

How about them Rays ! they took 2 out of 3 from the BoSox. I didn't think they had it in them. They are a fun story, but can the fans in St.Pete and Tampa get in gear and go root for the home team !! sheesh!

Posted by: Leco at September 19, 2008 07:02 PM
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