Series Preview: August 22-24

Picture Wedge miming the act of choking.

He owes us this one.

I was thinking we had to be one game up. We lose to Verlander on the final day of the season, but we split the other two and hope the coin flip has gone in our favor and the one game playoff is in Cleveland, where Fausto can pitch the game.

Masterson @ Verlander for all the marbles would be fun, in a stressful kinda way.

I’m thinking at least 2 games, because the schedule is tougher in September. The Indians aboslutely have to make hay the rest of this month, especially with the Tigers on a semi-difficult 7-game road trip.

I thought our offense was the one that just got shut down by Scherzer and Fister.

I disagree with thinking of run scoring as something totally independent of the pitching contributions—our massive deficit seemed to motivate the fundamental approaches of our hitters, and a huge lead can induce a lull in the opposing pitching and defense—but I share in the disappointment.

We need to treat the rest of the season like we treated that 7-0 deficit. It’s that dire.

It is true, strength of schedule is not as significant. Otherwise, the best teams would be over .600 and the worst under .400.

Not likely. While they’re technically still in this race, I can’t imagine them paying the price for even a decent replacement, especially if that player is a) a rental or b) has an unfavorable contract.

Both Thome and Kubel are being put through waivers, per Rosenthal on twitter.

Santana as DH is pretty limiting if Marson were to go down and need to be PH for in a game.

Duncan will likely receive quite a bit of playing time the next couple of weeks.

so is Judy just here for tonight and tomorrow afternoon, to be replaced by tomorrow night’s starter

ooof.

Damn!

That Brad Pitt is no fun trying to cut a deal with.

Jayson Stark’s explanation of August waivers:

Virtually every player in the major leagues will be placed on waivers this month, whether a team intends to trade that player or not. If nothing else, the sheer volume of names can at least disguise players whom clubs do want to sneak through so they can be dealt.

If a player isn’t claimed by any team in either league, he can be traded until the end of the month to anyone.

If a player is claimed, but only by one team, the player can be traded only to the team that claims him.

If a player is claimed by more than one team, the club with the worst record in that player’s league gets priority — and the player can be traded only to that team.

If a player is claimed only by teams in the other league, the club with the worst record in the other league gets priority — and the player can be traded just to that team.

If a deal can’t be worked out or the team doesn’t want to trade that player, he can be pulled back off waivers once in August. If he is placed on waivers again before September, he can’t be recalled a second time.

Or, if a team is just hoping to dump a player’s salary, it can simply allow a team which claimed that player to have him for a small waiver fee. If that happens, the team that gets the player has to pay his entire salary. That’s how the Yankees were stuck with Jose Canseco and the Padres were stuck with Randy Myers in recent years: They claimed those players, thinking they were just blocking other teams from getting them. Instead, their old clubs said: “You claimed him. You got him.”

In the past, many teams claimed players just to keep them from being traded to contenders with a better record. This year, that isn’t expected to happen as often, because most teams can’t afford to get stuck with a big contract if they’re awarded a player they really didn’t want.

Hopefully this lineup can beat Seattle:

Brantley LF, Donald 2B, Cabrera SS, Santana 1B, Fukudome RF, LaPorta DH, Hanrahan 3B, Marson C, Carrera CF