Fake Teams Podcast, Episode 24: The Lost Podcast

Lost podcast, not last podcast. I sat down with Andrew Ball and Daniel Kelley on Thursday night to discuss our recent Midseason Starting Pitcher Rankings, where we discussed Clayton Kershaw, Yu Darvish, Kris Medlen, Jose Fernandezand Mike Minor, among others. We also took the opportunity to get into some good ole Zack bashing.

But, due to technical difficulties, some of the podcast was lost, but you can listen to what was recorded in the links below. And here are some of what was lost:

• Jered Weaver│ Both Daniel and Ray think Weaver is being undervalued by the FT staff, citing that he has always outperformed his peripherals and he's finally healthy.
• Francisco Liriano│ Daniel, much like Brian Creagh, has been burned so many times by Liriano that he still can't jump on the bandwagon. Also, Liriano's increased slider usuge this year may make him at risk for an injury.
• Matt Cain and Kris Medlen │ One of the things I really support about Daniel's rankings, even if I don't do it myself, is the fact that he doesn't let a few months of data sway his opinion from the rankings we did in the preseason. Cain and Medlen are both pitchers with track records of success, granted a longer one for Cain, but he is sticking by both of them.
• Mike Minor │ All of us, myself included feel that stripping away Minor's name and simply evaluating the raw numbers makes him an easy top-20 pitcher. Kudos to Ray for the ranking at 13.
• Matt Moore│ Ray thinks Moore is the next Clayton Kershaw, while Daniel is a bit more hesitant citing that Moore is only about a year younger than Kershaw right now. I'm in the middle of the two opinions.
• Zack Smith │ Zack's rankings of David Price at 20, Hiroki Kuroda at 50, and C.C. Sabathia at 16 made all of us say, "huh?"

You can listen to the podcast in two ways:

MP3 LINK
ITUNES LINK (subscribe here)

Minor League Ball: Organization Top 20 Prospects in Review

Minor League Ball's John Sickels is in the middle of reviewing all of his preseason Top 20 Prospects and you can find all of them in the link below:

Organization Top 20 Prospects for 2013

Nathan Eovaldi: Marlins' future ace?

Marlins starter Nathan Eovaldi is owned in less than 1% of ESPN leagues, and I had thoughts about including him in my Saturday streamer article, but felt he was a risk pitching on the road in Atlanta against the hottest team in baseball. Well, Eovaldi made that decision look silly. Eovaldi pitched perhaps his best game as a big league starter last night, shutting out the hot Braves lineup on one hit, 3 walks, and a season high 8 strikeouts in 7 innings to earn his second win of the season.

Eovaldi is now 2-2 with a 2.82 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and a 41-26 K-BB rate in 60.2 innings of work this season. He has struggled with his command this season, and could stand to strike out a few more batters, as he holds his 95+ mph fastball deep into games, but has limited opposing batters to a .207 batting average in his 10 starts this season.

I took a chance on drafting Eovaldi at $1 in one of my NL only keeper leagues and he is looking like a solid buy at the moment. Right now, a case can be made that he could be the Marlins #2 starter behind Jose Fernandez, and a possible future ace in what could be a very good Marlins rotation a few years down the road with Andrew Heaney and Justin Nicolino pitching well in the minors.

Jose Bautista: Quieting this doubter

I have to admit, I was wrong on Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista. There, I said it. Back in the offseason rankings, I was down on Bautista due to his low batting average, big power ways, and the fact that he was coming off a wrist injury. On Saturday, Bautista went 3-4 with a HR, 2 runs and 2 RBI in the Blue Jays 5-4 win over the A's.

For the season, Bautista is now hitting .269-.364-.519 with 27 HR, 79 runs, 71 RBI and has chipped in with 7 stolen bases for his owners. At this rate, he is on pace for 38 HRs, 100+ runs, 100+ RBI and 10 stolen bases, which will move him up in my rankings this coming offseason.

Round'em Up

On my drive home from running errands with my 88 year old mother yesterday, I was listening to the beginning of the Dodgers-Rays game on XM Radio, and Jim Bowden was the color analyst on the game call. He was pretty insightful in his scouting analysis of Dodgers starter Zack Greinke. He said that a few weeks ago, Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt worked with Greinke on changing the grip on his cut fastball ( I think) to get more movement on it, and his recent performance show that the change in grip has worked. Greinke shut out the Rays for 6.1 innings, giving up 6 hits, walking one and striking out 7 to win his 10th game of the season. Greinke moved his record to 10-3 with a 3.21 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and a 93-33 K-BB rate in 117.2 innings this season. Yes, he is still a top 20 starter.

A's outfielder Josh Reddick appears to like hitting at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. For the second game in a row, Reddick has had multiple home run games, as he went 2-4 with 2 HRs and 3 RBI in the A's loss to the Blue Jays. Like I mentioned in yesterday's Roundup, Reddick has struggled at the plate this season, but owns solid plate discipline and has been unlucky with batted balls in play this season, so he could end the season on a high note, and be a sleeper heading into 2014 drafts.

There isn't much more one can write about Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera. After hitting a game-tying 2 run home run off of HOF closer Mariano Rivera on Friday night, where he fouled two balls off his knee and lower leg/foot, Miggy had a big game on Saturday afternoon. He went 3-4 with a HR and two runs scored, and is now hitting .363-.455-.676 with 35 HRs, 84 runs and 109 RBI. He ranks first or second in the following categories in the American League:

BA

HR

RBI

Runs

Walks

OBP

OPS

Pretty impressive. He is approaching 400 home runs in his career and he is only 30 years old.

The Padres traded for starter Tyson Ross in the offseason, and he has proved to be a pretty good starter for the team. Ross limited the Reds to just one run on 4 hits, 4 walks and 6 strikeouts on Saturday night, in the Padres 3-1 win. Ross is now 3-5 on the season with a 2.75 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and a 62-31 K-BB rate in 72 innings this season. He has given up two runs or less, and gone at least 6 innings, in each of his last four starts against the Reds, Yankees, Diamondback and Brewers, with just the starts vs the Yankees coming at home. Solid effort from the young starter who could be a sleeper in 2014 drafts.

More from Fake Teams:

• Streamer Report: Sunday's Streamers
• Minor League Review: How Are Some of This Year's Top Draftees Doing So Far? Part 2
• Around the League - AL and NL
• Low Level Prospect Review: Jesse Winker, OF, Cincinnati Reds
• Roto Roundup: Josh Reddick, Brandon Beachy, Jed Lowrie and Others
• Waiver Wire: 10 Under 10%
• Fantasy Fools: You drafted a kicker before the last round? You fool!
• Fake Teams Podcast Episode 24: The Lost Podcast

The Blue Jays affiliate teams went a combined record of 4-3 in action yesterday. It was a pretty exciting day for prospect watching as Gustavo Pierre hit for the cycle with Dunedin and Franklin Barreto hit two round trippers in GCL league action, so without further ado, lets take a look at the highlights and low-lights of yesterday's proceedings in the minor leagues.

Buffalo Bisons (62-58)

With a 6-2 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Buffalo Bisons inched closer to the lead for the wild card spot in the International League, they currently sit one game behind the Norfolk Tides for the wild card, and two and a half games back of the lead in the International League Northern division title behind the Rochester Red Wings.

• Anthony Gose - 2-4/2B/SB, Anthony is hitting .281/.330/.461 after the AAA all-star break.
• Kevin Pillar - 3-5/2B/2RBI, nice to see Kevin start to see some success in this one, hopefully he is starting to come out of his latest dry spell at the plate.
• Moises Sierra - 1-4/HR/2RBI, Moises has really started off the month of August on the right foot as he is hitting .300/.364/.750 within the month.
• Ryan Goins - 0-3/BB
• Jim Negrych - 1-4/2B
• Mike McCoy - 0-3/2BB/2SB
• Justin Germano - 8IP/5H/1ER/0BB/8K
• Jeremy Jeffress - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/2K

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (56-61)

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats lost by a final score of 7-2 in this one as they were defeated by the Richmond Flying Squirrels. This loss brings the Fisher Cats back in the standings in the Eastern League Eastern division, they currently sit five games back of the second place Trenton Thunder, if they can somehow win a whole bunch of games and leap into second place then they'll sneak into the playoffs with the second playoff spot in the Easter division.

• Andy Burns - 1-4/2B/2BB, Burns may be making the right adjustments at the plate down in New Hampshire as he's hitting .279/.340/.628 in his last ten.
• Kevin Nolan - 1-5/BB
• Gabe Jacobo - 2-4/2B
• Kevin Ahrens - 1-1
• John Tolisano - 1-5
• Alan Farina - 2IP/0H/0ER/1BB/3K

Dunedin Blue Jays (54-57)

The Dunedin Blue Jays won 7-6 over the Brevard County Manatees in DSL league action yesterday. The Dunedin Blue Jays have an automatic bye into the playoffs as they were the winners of the first half in Florida State League Northern division.

• Jon Berti - 2-4/BB
• Shane Opitz - 1-5
• Michael Crouse - 1-3/2BB, Crouse is on fire in his past ten, has put a line of .286/.444/.371 in that span..
• K.C. Hobson - 1-4/2B/BB
• Marcus Knecht - 1-4/2B
• Gustavo Pierre - 4-4/2B/3B/HR/4RBI
• Derrick Chung - 1-4
• Nick Baligod - 2-3/BB
• Dayton Marze - 2IP/3H/2ER/0BB/1K/1HR
• Wil Browning - 1IP/1H/0ER/0BB/2K
• Ajay Meyer - 1IP/1H/0ER/0BB/0K
• Blake McFarland - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/3K

Lansing Lugnuts (51-67)

The Lansing Lugnuts lost in Midwest League action yesterday as they fell to the Great Lakes Loons by a final score of 2-1 on a walk off bunt. The Lugnuts currently sit in seventh Midwest League Eastern division as they are twenty-three games back of the lead, and sixteen and a half games back of second place, the Lugs' outlook ain't very hopeful.

• Dwight Smith Jr. - 0-3/BB/3SO
• Dalton Pompey - 1-4/SB, Pompey stole his 34th base in this one, he has stolen at an 82.9% clip this year, 34/41 in stolen bases attempts.
• Jordan Leyland - 1-4/2B, Leyland is currently on fire, hitting .313/.425/.531 in his last ten.
• Emilio Guerrero - 1-3/2B, Guerrero is also hitting well as of late, .308/.372/.462 in his last ten.
• Daniel Klein - 1-4
• Kellen Sweeney - 1-3
• Matt Boyd - 5IP/1H/0ER/1BB/4K, unlike other recently drafted Blue Jays players, Boyd has had no problems with his command so far to start his professional career, he has walked just one batter in fourteen innings since joining Lansing.

Vancouver Canadians (29-25)

The C's took a 9-2 loss last night to the Boise Hawks in Northwest League action, with the loss the Canadians have now lost three consecutive games and have lost six of their last ten games. Though they still hold the second place spot in the Northwest League Northern division by three games, and are just two games back of first place.

• Chaz Frank - 1-4/SB, hitting .341/.413/.537 in his last ten.
• Ian Parmley - 2-4
• Andy Fermin - 1-3/BB, Fermin is putting up some very good numbers in Vancouver, the only problem is that he's 24 years old, so he is far too old for the level..
• L.B. Dantzler - 1-3, Dantzler just continues to hit, has a line of .382/.488/.706 in his last ten and has walked more than he has struck out in that span.
• Chuck Ghysels - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/2K

GCL Blue Jays (19-25)

The GCL Blue Jays won 10-4 in GCL league action yesterday over the GCL Phillies. The GCL Blue Jays currently sit in the bottom of the Gulf Coast League Northwestern division, though it is a close division, as they are just three games out of first place.

• Franklin Barreto - 2-5/2HR/3RBI/3SO, continues to put on a hitting clinic in the GCL and he's still just a 17 years of age.
• Rowdy Tellez - 1-4/3B/2SO
• Gabriel Cenas - 1-3/2B, Cenas is really in need of a promotion, but likely won't see one until Dean and/or Nay are promoted up as Bluefield currently has a log jam with both of those two being third basemen.
• Dan Jansen - 1-4
• Sean Hurley - 1-3/BB
• Josh Almonte - 2-4
• Koby Kraemer - 1-4/2B
• Connor Greene - 3IP/8H/4ER/1BB/0K/1HR
• Jacob Brentz - 0.2IP/1H/0ER/2BB/1K
• Daniel Lietz - 3.1IP/4H/0ER/0BB/2K

DSL Blue Jays (35-23)

The Blue Jays of the Dominican Summer League defeated the DSL Braves in action yesterday by a score of 9-8 in extra innings. The game was tied at 7-7 going into the tenth inning when the Blue Jays scored two in the top of the inning to make it 9-7, the Braves came back with one run in the bottom half but their rally fell just short. The DSL Blue Jays currently sit five games back of first place in their division behind the DSL Tigers.

• Rodrigo Orozco - 1-3/2BB
• Deiferson Barreto - 0-4/2BB/CS
• Richard Urena - 1-3
• Juan Kelly - 2-5
• Ronniel Demorizi - 1-3/2BB/SB
• Eddy Alcantara - 1-5
• Dean Bell - 1-4
• Juan Fuente - 2-5/2B
• Osman Gutierrez - 1IP/2H/0ER/1BB/1K
• Manuel Cordova - 1IP/1H/0ER/2BB/0K
• Wilfri Aleton - 2IP/1H/1ER/1BB/1K

A's 6 Blue Jays 4

Add it to the list of games we should have won.

2 for 11 with RISP, 15 left on base. We took 11 walks. 11. And still lost. Every Jay that batted had at least one walk, even pinch hitter J.P. Arencibia, except for Brett Lawrie and Brett was 3 for 5. Rajai Davis walked twice. It was just a frustrating game. We had 7 hits on the day, though Brett's 3 and Jose Reyes' 2 accounted for most of them. Josh Thole and Emilio Bonifacio had the other two. We had plenty of chances. The A's tried to help by making 2 errors, but we are beyond help.

We even scored a run and loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th, against the slowest working pitcher I've ever seen. Grant Balfour works even slower than Jason Frasor. It was painful to watch, I guess he figured the longer he held onto the ball, the long nothing bad could happen. He game up a hit and 3 walks in the inning, including the walks to JP and Rajia, and you have to work to walk those two. But Reyes ground out, with the bases loaded, to end the game.

But then we loaded the bases 3 times.

R.A. Dickey had a pretty good start, 7 innings, 6 hits, 3 earned, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts. The solo home run to Brandon Moss, to dead center field hurt.

Darren Oliver was terrible, 4 hits and 3 earned in 2/3's of an inning. Emilio Bonifacio almost helped him out, tried for and just missed a catch at the wall. Then Jose Reyes dropped his throw back into the infield, costing us a good chance to cut down the runner trying to score. Brad Lincoln allowed just 1 walk while getting the last 4 outs.

Jays of the Day are Rajai (.129 for the 2 walks, at big moments) and Brett (.101, who I should take something off for his 9th inning, 3 base error, but it was his bobble head day and he did hit the ball and drove in a run).

Suckage goes to Oliver (-.424) and Bautista (.-.128, he really could have helped us out, but I suppose, after homers the last two games I shouldn't ask for too much more).

Tomorrow's another day, I guess.

The good news is Josh Reddick didn't homer.

So more roster moves.

Todd Redmond is being called back up, to start Tuesday, Esmil Rogers is going to the pen. Good move Jays.

J.A. Happ starts tomorrow, after the start he is leaving the team to go to his grandfather's funeral. Josh Johnson Wednesday, he's being held back for forearm stiffness. I'd think it was a bad case of crappy arm disease. Mark Buehrle Thursday.

Not sure who is being sent out to make room for Redmond, I'd imagine it will be Brad Lincoln. Or Happ could go on the the bereavement list.

Now I'm leaving to drink.

Last nights' events involving the Blue Jays affiliate teams in the minor leagues were not nearly as exciting as the night prior, but there still are some nice things to make note of. 2012 first round draft pick D.J. Davis had a solid game at the plate for Bluefield, hopefully this is the start of him coming out of his latest funk, in his last ten games Davis had had 40 at bats, of those 40 at bats he has struck out in 17 of them. In Buffalo, Kevin Pillar also looks to be coming out of his recent funk also as he had a tremendous game and Anthony Gose also looks pretty solid lately as he collected another hit today to push hit hit streak to four games, of those four games in which Anthony collected a hit, two have been multi-hit games. I'm gonna start from the bottom today and go from Bluefield up to Buffalo, reverse order of what I did yesterday, just to keep things fresh.

Bluefield Blue Jays (33-16)

As I pointed out earlier, the Bluefield Blue Jays took an 8-3 loss in the first of their two games yesterday against the Johnson City Cardinals as they have to make up for a game that was rained out the day before. The Blue Jays still sit atop the Appalachian League Eastern division by two games over the Pulaski Mariners.

• D.J. Davis - 1-3/2B/BB/SB
• Mitch Nay - 1-3
• Dawel Lugo - 1-3
• Matt Dean - 0-3
• Derrick Loveless - 3-3/3B/SB
• Tim Mayza - 2IP/9H/7ER/1BB/3K/1HR
• Mark Biggs - 1IP/1H/0ER/2BB/1K

Bluefield Blue Jays (33-17)

Bluefield also dropped the second game yesterday, this one by a score of 5-2 as the Johnson City Cardinals made a powerful comeback, scoring five runs in their last two half innings of play.

• D.J. Davis - 1-3
• Alexis Maldonado - 2-4
• Mitch Nay - 1-3
• Dawel Lugo - 0-3, Dawel has OPS'd .846 in his last ten, though his OBP is exactly the same as his AVG, if you didn't notice, Dawel is quite the free swinger and doesn't take very many walks.
• Matt Dean - 1-3/3B, Dean has OPS'd .902 in his last ten.
• Chase DeJong - 5.1IP/5H/3ER/1BB/6K, Chase hasn't exactly been welcomed to professional baseball very nicely as Appalachian League hitters are hitting .285 off of him so far through 43 innings.

Vancouver Canadians (29-26)

The Vancouver Canadians lost the game of their double header yesterday to the Boise Hawks by a score of 3-1. With the loss, the Canadians have now dropped their last four games, but still hold the second place spot in the Northwest League Northern division by two and a half games, which is also the same gap set between Vancouver and the first place Everett AquaSox.

• Ian Parmley - 1-5/SB
• Andy Fermin - 2-3/BB
• L.B. Dantzler - 0-3/BB, this is the first game in awhile for Dantzler in which he hasn't collected a hit, in his previous nine he collected one and it likely goes even farther than that.
• Justin Atkinson - 1-4
• Christian Vazquez - 2-4
• Dan Jansen - 0-4/2SO
• Shane Dawson - 5IP/6H/1ER/0BB/4K
• Scott Silverstein - 3IP/4H/1ER/2BB/4K

Vancouver Canadians (30-26)

The Vancouver Canadians won the second game of their double header today by a final score of 6-5. The Great One's son was playing yesterday in the second game of the double header, he went 3-4 and is currently hitting .256/.281/.291 for the Boise Hawks.

• Chaz Frank - 1-3/2B/2BB/SB
• Ian Parmley - 1-4
• L.B. Dantzler - 2-5
• Justin Atkinson - 0-3/2BB
• Michael Reeves - 1-5/2B
• Brenden Kalfus - 1-4/BB
• Dan Arcila - 1-3/3B
• David Harris - 2-4/2 2B
• Christian Vazquez - 1-4
• Jeremy Gabryszwski - 4IP/11H/5ER/1BB/2K
• Matt Dermody - 2.2IP/4H/0ER/1BB/2K
• Garrett Pickens - 1.1IP/0H/0ER/1BB/2K
• Chuck Ghysels - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/2K

Lansing Lugnuts (51-68)

The Lansing Lugnuts drop their second straight game in walk off fashion last night as they lost by a final score of 3-2. Offense was a real rarity in this one as both teams combined collected just eight hits. Not much really needs to be said about the Lugs and their playoff chances because they're almost non-existent.

• Dwight Smith Jr. - 1-4/SB
• Emilio Guerrero - 1-4/SB, also had two errors in the field, which were his 30th and 31st on the year, yeesh..
• Dalton Pompey - 0-3/BB/CS
• Christian Lopes - 0-3/BB
• Kevin Patterson - 1-4
• Santiago Nessy - 1-3/HR/2RBI
• Kendall Graveman - 4IP/2H/1ER/2BB/3K
• Kramer Champlin - 4IP/2H/1ER/0BB/3K

Dunedin Blue Jays (55-57)

The Dunedin Blue Jays won 4-2 over the Brevard County Manatees (awesome team name, by the way) in FSL league play. Though Dunedin has just a .491 winning percentage, they're still automatically into the playoffs in the Florida State League thanks to their strong efforts in the first half which gave them the honors of being the first half division winners.
• Mike Crouse - 1-4/HR/SB
• K.C. Hobson - 1-4
• Marcus Knecht - 2-4/2B
• Jesse Hernandez - 6.2IP/3H/0ER/1BB/2K
• Tyler Ybarra - 1.1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/0K
• Blake McFarland - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/0K

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (56-62)

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats fell today to the Richmond Flying Squirrels by a score of 5-1. After losing in this one, New Hampshire falls behind in the standings as they now sit six games back of second place in the Eastern League Eastern division, second place would get the F-Cats into the playoffs.

• Kenny Wilson - 1-4/2B
• Andy Burns - 1-4/2SB
• Brad Glenn - 1-4/HR
• Adam Loewen - 1-3/2B/BB
• Gabe Jacobo - 2-4
• John Tolisano - 1-3
• Marcus Stroman - 6.1IP/11H/5ER/1BB/4K/2HR
• Chad Jenkins - 1.2IP/2H/0ER/1BB/1K
• Ryan Tepera - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/1K

Buffalo Bisons (63-58)

The Buffalo Bisons won last night's game by a score of 8-5 over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, although it looked like the bullpen was doing it's best job in attempt to blow the lead as they yielded five runs to the RailRiders in the final three innings of play. With Buffalo's win last night, they now just sit a half a game back of the International League wild card spot behind the Norfolk Tides.

• Mike McCoy - 1-3/2B/2BB
• Anthony Gose - 1-5/SB
• Kevin Pillar - 3-5/2 2B/3B/4RBI
• Clint Robinson - 1-5
• Moises Sierra - 0-4
• Andy LaRoche - 2-5
• Jim Negrych - 1-3/BB
• Sean Ochinko - 1-3/2B/BB
• Ryan Goins - 1-4
• Chien-Ming Wang - 6IP/5H/0ER/3BB/5K
• John Stilson - 2IP/5H/3ER/1BB/1K/1HR
• Scott Gracey - 1IP/3H/2ER/0BB/2K, this was Gracey's first appearance with the Bisons this year as he is most likely up to fill in for Mickey Storey who was recently promoted to the Blue Jays.

Yesterday, the Giants looked like they were going to win against the Orioles only to completely melt down over the last two innings. Also, a tumultuous ninth inning between the Tigers and the Yankees featured three home runs and two Meltdowns! And Clayton Kershaw continued his case for the National League Cy Young and MVP awards with his bat and his pitching against the Rays.

The Smallest Sample Size -- Game Results for 8/11/13

Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports

Tigers 4, Yankees 5

Justin Verlander looked like he's starting to get back on track but stumbled yesterday, giving up four runs and two homers in seven innings. Andy Pettitte continued to allow a ton of baserunners but only gave up one earned run in his four and a third. But the real excitement of this game came in the ninth inning. Mariano Rivera (-28% WPA) melted down again, this time giving up homeruns to Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. Even after Miggy's dinger, the Yankees win expectancy was still 83.5%. Prince Fielder lined out to third and then V-Mart changed the game with a clutch homer to tie the game (34.9% WPA). With the game tied and all the momentum seemingly with the Tigers, the Yankees still had a 56% win expectancy. And, of course, they won it on a Brett Gardner walk-off home run with one out to go. Jose Veras (-36% WPA) registered his first Meltdown since May 28th as a result.

Angels 5, Indians 6

The Angels had a 96.8% win expectancy with a five run lead in the sixth until Jerome Williams gave up a pair of two-run dingers (26.7% WPA). Then, unfortunately, the game had to be handed over to the Anaheim bullpen. Carlos Santana started the seventh with a home run off J.C. Gutierrez (-29% WPA) and Nick Maronde (-18% WPA) allowed an inherited runner to score by giving up a single to Michael Bourn. Justin Masterson wasn't at his best, allowing four runs on seven hits and four walks in just over four innings but the Indians were able to fight back against Williams and the miserable Angels bullpen.

Athletics 6, Blue Jays 4

A.J. Griffin clearly didn't have his best control yesterday, giving up three runs (two earned) over five and two-thirds with six walks and five hits but the Athletics were able to fight back. First, they were finally able to get to R.A. Dickey in the sixth, tagging him for three runs on three hits, one of which was a two-run dinger off the bat of Brandon Moss. Dickey was able to have perfect inning in the seventh but gave way to Darren Oliver. Oliver melted down and ended up giving three runs back to Oakland with one out left in the eighth (-42% WPA). Alberto Callaspo was able to provide some clutch hitting from the eight-hole in Oakland's lineup, contributing 36% to their win expectancy. Grant Balfour made things interesting in the ninth by allowing a run on three walks and a double but was able to keep the win intact.

Padres 2, Reds 3

Yesterday's 13-inning affair between the Padres and the Reds featured a back and forth tug-of-war in win expectancy. The Padres were in line for the win thanks to some dominant pitching from Ian Kennedy. But he faltered in the eighth and gave up a two-run pinch-hit homer to Xavier Paul (40% WPA) that tied the game up. Mike Leake was in line for the loss (#killthewin), despite only giving up one earned run over seven innings and nine baserunners. Once Paul hit the game-changing home run in the eighth, the Padres had multiple opportunities where they were projected to win but couldn't capitalize. They were even able to advance runners to third and second on a balk! Yet all of the baserunners that the Padres had in extra innings were stranded. Then, Tim Stauffer came into the game and loaded the bases with a walk, double and hit batter. Obviously struggling with command, San Diego had already used four other relievers and instead chose to roll with Stauffer (-37% WPA) against Joey Votto, who hit a game winning sacrifice fly to left.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Marlins 4, Braves 9

The Braves hiccuped Saturday and saw their win streak snapped by those pesky Miami Marlins but they quickly started a new one on Sunday. Mike Minor gave up four runs on seven baserunners over seven innings but was bailed out by a late inning surge against Dan Jennings and A.J. Ramos. Freddie Freeman provided 44% of the Braves win expectancy thanks to a clutch three-run dinger, another hit and two walks in five plate appearances.

Red Sox 3, Royals 4

This game looks a lot closer in the box score than it actually does in the win expectancy chart. James Shields spun seven innings of three run ball (two earned) on ten baserunners and five strikeouts. The Kansas City bullpen was able to nail down the remaining six outs with Shutdowns from Aaron Crow and Greg Holland. John Lackey was bested by Shields but still had a pretty good game himself. The core of the Boston lineup just couldn't seem to get anything going as Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Daniel Nava amassed -23% WPA in 11 plate appearances.

Greg Holland has a 1.18 FIP/1.45 xFIP/1.4 SIERA while striking out over 42% of the batters he's faced in 46 innings. Absolutely incredible. Who do you think has had the better season for a reliever this year: Holland or Craig Kimbrel?

Twins 5, White Sox 2

Jose Quintana (-19% WPA) fell apart in the fifth inning of yesterday's game and completely gave it away on two home runs to Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer. Kevin Correia (31% WPA) didn't have much trouble throughout the game (.79 pLI), shutting out the White Sox over seven innings with seven strikeouts. Although they would eventually score two runs off of Casey Fien, the White Sox lineup only had one better that provided a positive amount of winning probability.

Rangers 6, Astros 1

Dallas Keuchel was looking to be a hard luck loser yesterday, having only allowed two runs over eight innings against the re-energized Rangers offense. But he unraveled in the ninth and gave up four more runs (three earned) on back-to-back singles from Jurickson Profar and Leonys Martin. Despite scoring six runs, the Texas offense only had three batters contribute a positive amount of winning probability. Martin Perez (51% WPA) was downright dominant, hurling a complete game with eight strikeouts and six baserunners. The lone run came from a Chris Carter homer with one out to go in the ninth.

Cubs 4, Cardinals 8

The Cardinals were in control throughout most of this game, only hiccuping in the sixth as Joe Kelly ran out of gas and Seth Maness (-23% WPA) gave up inconvenient singles to Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney that scored two runs and tied the game up at four. Edwin Jackson (-21% WPA) showed signs of having a much improved second half but has fallen apart over his last couple starts. Yesterday, he gave up four runs on six hits and three walks in just five innings. After Pete Kozma put St. Louis back on top in the bottom of the sixth, the Cardinals were never in doubt of winning the game as their lowest win expectancy was 69.6% from there on out.

Orioles 10, Giants 2

Despite the box score, San Francisco actually was in control for most of this game. Going into the seventh inning, the Giants had a 72.3% win expectancy with a 2-1 lead. Chris Davis led off with a double off of Matt Cain. Then, after a Matt Wieters flyout, J.J. Hardy homered to take the lead, plummeting the Giants' win expectancy to 29.7% after just three batters. In the eighth, Jose Mijares and Sandy Rosario struggled and combined to give up four more runs. Barry Zito, now a full-time reliever, gave up a three-run dinger to Adam Jones in the ninth to make it 10-2. Matt Cain only gave up three of the ten runs and allowed just six baserunners over seven innings but was handed the loss.

Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports

Brewers 0, Mariners 2

Most of the time that Felix Hernandez is on the mound, all he needs is one run to grab the win for the Mariners -- and he did just that yesterday. Hurling eight shutout innings while only allowing four hits and a walk with nine strikeouts, King Felix (41% WPA) added another dominant outing to his Cy Young case while lowering his ERA to 2.28, FIP to 2.50 and xFIP to 2.63. Milwaukee didn't stand a chance the entire game as they only threatened in the second with Juan Francisco's double. Wily Peralta was the hard-luck loser yesterday, as he only gave up two runs on four hits over eight innings.

Mets 9, Diamondbacks 5

Jon Niese returned from the disabled list and allowed four runs on eight baserunners across six innings. Zeke Spruill (-31% WPA) was chased after giving up five runs (one earned) over three innings that included eight baserunners. The Diamondbacks were able to climb back into this game but just couldn't get over the hump. At one point, they had their win expectancy up to 46.7% in the sixth, but their hopes were doused by back-to-back strikeouts with two men on base. Will Harris (-20% WPA) melted down shortly thereafter and the Mets quickly ran away with the game.

Pirates 2, Rockies 3

Chad Bettis and Jeff Locke were engaged in a battle during the first six innings of yesterday's game. Locke bowed out after five and two thirds, having given up two runs (one earned) on four walks and three hits. Bettis fared a little better, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks over six innings. After Bettis was removed, all three relievers were able to record Shutdowns whereas Bryan Morris gave up three hits and the game-winning run over two innings for the Pirates. Nolan Arenado had a clutch double (19.6% WPA) in the seventh inning that put the Rockies on top. Rex Brothers (20% WPA) had the bases loaded in the ninth but was able to escape the ninth unscathed and preserve the win.

Phillies 0, Nationals 6

Stephen Strasburg's first complete game and first shutout came courtesy of the anemic Phillies offense! Best of all, he did it with under 100 pitches, aka a "Maddux."Kyle Kendrick had some terrible BABIP luck yesterday, allowing four earned runs on 11 hits in four and a third. With a dominant pitcher on the mound, the Nationals didn't really need much offense to run away with the win ... but they hit anyway. Strasburg (28% WPA) was incredibly efficient and practically untouchable, only allowing four hits and a walk with ten strikeouts over nine incredible innings.

Rays 2, Dodgers 8

Clayton Kershaw does it all. He shuts down offenses and triggers his own. Kershaw's two-RBI single in the second proved to be the biggest swing in win expectancy (19.7% WPA) throughout yesterday's showdown between the Rays and the Dodgers. Also, it's all he really needed to seize the win for the Dodgers. Tossing eight innings and allowing two runs (one earned), Kershaw struck out eight and only allowed five baserunners. It'll be interesting to see who wins the National League Cy Young this year as Kershaw, Matt Harvey and Adam Wainwright are all very deserving. Meanwhile, Jeremy Hellickson (-28% WPA) struggled again as he was chased after three innings and four runs.

. . .

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs.

Mike Mulvenna is a writer at Beyond The Box Score. You can follow him on Twitter at @mkmulv.

More from Beyond the Box Score:

• Regression spells trouble for certain contenders
• Prince Fielder's hitting woes
• The Smallest Sample Size 8/11/2013: Hidden Ball Trick!
• Lineouts! 08/10/13: Chase Utley, Jake Peavy and the Mets are running
• Is it worth it to lose now, and win later?

This is the point in the season where things start to get messy. Doing this the standard way is ugly, doing it with percentages is ugly. The short season players really mess with things this time of year, so I am doing a rating by league and seperating hitters and pitchers.

It's interesting to look at some of these players and compare players from past seasons to players this year. It's amazing how many similar players to Addison Russell have failed. I'll be working on this a lot more this off season. I'm just not sure how to best present it and what other info you guys would like. Let me know in the comments what you would like to see, whether it be comps to other players, MLB projections, odds of reaching MLB, projected length of career, etc..

AAA Hitters

AA Hitters

High A Ball Hitters

A Ball Hitters

Short Season A Ball Hitters

Rookie Ball Hitters (Including DSL/VSL)

AAA Pitchers

Rank Name Team Level Value

AA Pitchers

High A Pitchers

A Ball Pitchers

Short Season A Pitchers

Rookie Pitchers (Including DSL/VSL)

The Chicago White Sox have signed shortstop Tommy Manzella to a minor league contract, a source has confirmed to MLB Daily Dish. The 30-year old will report to Double-A Birmingham after being released by the Blue Jays earlier in the week.

2013 MLB August Waiver Tracker

Bookmark this page as your source for the latest on waiver-wire movement in the majors this August.

After signing with the Rockies last offseason, Manzella appeared in 32 games for Triple-A Colorado Springs to start the season, and hit .190 with 10 RBI before being released in late May.

He signed with the Blue Jays on June 4th, and reported to Double-A New Hampshire. In 53 games between Colorado Springs and New Hampshire this season, Manzella has hit .220 with 20 RBI in 173 at-bats.

Manzella appeared in 90 big league games with the Astros in 2009 and 2010, hitting .224 with 1 RBI.

He spent the last two months of his 2012 season in the White Sox' system with Triple-A Charlotte after seeing time in the Brewers and Diamondbacks organizations to begin the year.

A's 5 Blue Jays 1

That was painful.

Game tied, at home, in the bottom of the 9th. The right move was to bring in Casey Janssen. It didn't work. Casey gave up 4 hits and 4 runs. I'm glad to have a manager that will use his closer in non-save spots.

J.A. Happ was terrific. He gave up a lead off home run in the first, after that he went 7 scoreless innings, allowing just 2 more hits and 2 walks, with 6 strikeouts. He deserved better.

Once against the Jays couldn't score. We finally scored the tying run in the 8th. A 1-out single by Jose Reyes, followed by a hit and run single from Maicer Izturis, that worked perfectly, a ground ball right at short, but the shortstop moved to cover the bag. Then Jose Bautista hit a hard shot that glanced of third baseman Alberto Callaspo's glove and we were tied for a moment. Edwin Encarnacion followed with a line drive that second baseman Eric Sogard caught, then stepped on 2nd to double off Maicer. We seem to get doubled off a lot.

Other than the 8th, we did nothing with the bat. In total 7 hits and 3 walks. 2 hits for Brett Lawrie. 1 each for Reyes, Izturis, Encarnacion, Adam Lind and Emilio Bonifacio. All singles. Didn't we get some extra base hits earlier in the season?

Other than the 8th inning, we only had 2 base runners make it to second base. Once on a Brett Lawrie sac bunt. A stupid sac bunt because J.P. Arencibia and Rajai Davis follow him in the batting order and they are both in slumps. Neither one has a hit in the past week. Between them they have 3 hits this month, all by Rajai, all the same game. I'm guessing that Brett decided to bunt on his own. I hate that. The manager should be making the strategy decisions.

Jays of the Day are Happ (.269 WPA), Bautista (.147, all on Callaspo's error) and Izturis (.099, from the hit and run single).

Suckage: Janssen (-.483), Davis (-.137), Encarnacion (-.117) and Arencibia (-.097).

Another day, another loss. Another game we should have won. Games are getting harder and harder to watch.

We start a series with the Red Sox tomorrow.

Forgot to add, Happ is going on the bereavement list, to attend his grandfather's funeral. Todd Redmond is being called up to take his roster spot and to make tomorrow's start. Sort of working the system a bit.

All's well that ends well.  The A's fanbase was on pins and needles for nearly the entire game, as the A's clung to a 1-0 lead on Chris Young's leadoff home run crushed to the second deck.  The series-long struggles with runners in scoring position for both teams continued.  Following the third inning, both starters settled down.  Straily started mowing through the Blue Jays' lineup, and props are due to J.A. Happ for his stellar comeback after the scary line drive to the face.

The score remained 1-0 until the 8th inning, when Alberto Callaspo olé-d a probable double play ball and the Blue Jays tied it up.  It seemed the familiar recent pattern of failures with men on base plus defensive ineptitude was going to do in Straily and the Green & Gold.  However, thanks to a bit of luck, i.e., a lined shot double play to Eric Sogard off the bat of Edwin Encarnacion, the A's managed to escape with a 1-1 tie going into the ninth inning.

The A's proceeded to find that mojo they had been missing since the All-Star break.  Josh Donaldson led off with a solid base hit.  Yoenis Cespedes managed yet another unproductive out, fouling out on the second pitch he saw.  Bob Melvin then followed his mad scientist platoon strategy and it paid off.  Brandon Moss, hitting for Nate Freiman (who himself had a base hit earlier) blooped a double just inside the right field line.  With the tie game and first base open, Jays closer Casey Janssen walked Josh Reddick to load the bases and preserve the force out/double play possibilities.

And then Callaspo totally redeemed himself.  Just as Ray Fosse was chiding him for not taking the first pitch breaking ball for the team to score the run, he lined a two run double batting left handed, smashing the A's out of their offensive doldrums. Stephen Vogt continued his solid play, lining a single and driving in another run.  Eric Sogard capped off the scoring with a sacrifice fly, and Sean Doolittle picked up the save.

This was far from the cleanest series on either side.  The A's left 31 runners on base in the four games.  Still, they were a very respectable 12/45 with runners in scoring position (.267 average).  From a batting standpoint, it seems that the frustration comes from a good place, i.e. getting so many runners on base.  When the A's actually convert on those opportunities, as they did in game 1 (6-11 with RISP), they put up some football numbers.

The infield also committed 8 errors (counting two passed balls), plus they messed up a few other balls that weren't ruled as errors but should have been fielded.  Without these miscues we may have been looking at a sweep running away.  C'est la vie.

On the flip side, look at a team that is really struggling with runners in scoring position.  The four games for the Blue Jays saw a whopping 33 runners left on base, and a paltry .161 average with RISP (5/31).  That is with their torrid lineup. Shows you how fluky RISP numbers can be.  Thus, while the frustration naturally mounts with every failure, small-sample RISP numbers are extremely volatile and ultimately meaningless.

Dan Straily was very much a bright spot.  He kept his pitch count low and worked a career-high 7 1/3 innings (after failing to get through 5 innings in 3 straight starts).  That was encouraging to see.  His and Griffin's recent performances are starting to validate the decision to keep them in the rotation over Tommy Milone.

The Astros are probably not going to beat Yu Darvish, but at least we can take solace in the fact that the A's are keeping pace and get the Astros for three games at home this week.  All we need is to weather August and keep it close.  45 games left, and each one is going to be intense.

The Yankees managed to win last night against the Tigers even after Mariano Rivera blew his third consecutive save, thanks to a Brett Gardner walk off home run. They won their first series of the second half and their first since the beginning of July against the Orioles. Tonight the goal is to win consecutive games for the first time since the last game of the Royals series and the first game of the Twins series before the break. Their lineup against the Angels includes:

Tonight's lineup: Gardner 8 ichiro DH Cano 4 ARod 5 Overbay 3 Soriano 7 granderson 9 Nunez 6 Stewart 2 Kuroda 1

— Erik Boland (@eboland11) August 12, 2013

Brett Gardner and the DHing Ichiro Suzuki lead off the offense with Robinson Cano hitting third and Alex Rodriguez back in the lineup hitting clean up and at third base. Lyle Overbay follows and then corner outfielders Alfonso Soriano and Curtis Granderson bat further down in the order than usual. Eduardo Nunez and Chris Stewart round out the lineup as Austin Romine goes back to his mandatory place on the bench.

The big reinforcements, Soriano and Granderson, are hitting a measly .204/.232/.389 and .179/.361/.286, respectively, over the last month. Stewart has been the worst hitter in this lineup over the last month, hitting only .143/.222/.184 while Romine has hit .333/.438/.556. It would be nice to see if Romine can sustain that over regular playing time, but that doesn't look likely to happen.

Derek Jeter will continue to throw while he's with the team over this home stand, however, the plan is for him to return to Tampa to rehab his calf injury when the Yankees go on the road. Jeter has stated that he needs to begin running on a bike before he starts sprints on the field and return to baseball activity. He'll probably also get into a game or two in Tampa before he's activated from the disabled list.

The team will be in New York for the next for games against Los Angeles and then will travel to Boston to to face the Red Sox for three games. After that they have that Monday off and return home to face the Blue Jays in a four-game series (with a doubleheader scheduled for Tuesday). If he's on the fast track like last time, he could be back with the Yankees around then or could wait until they come to him for the series with the Tampa Bay Rays.

More from Pinstriped Bible:

• The Yankees cannot win
• Eduardo Nunez vs. Chris Stewart: Battle of the one-tool players
• The officially unofficial 2013 Yankees drinking game
• Jose Abreu defects Cuba; should the Yankees pursue him?
• Mariano Rivera: No such thing as a perfect ending

The wonderfully talented Cashew Mirman has recently published his newest Blue Jays video: "Space Jays 2: The Wrath of Zaun". Check it out below and look for a Sportsnet Graph!

Of course, be sure to check out his other videos:

• Space Jays (the original)
• Angry Bretts
• Tat Tig-Rs: Toronto Sports Hero Robots
• Blue Jays Adventure

And of course, his Write-In Kawasaki ads:

• Jhonny Peralta Attack Ad
• Washington Nationals Coordination of Campaigns

One year ago yesterday, this happened:

It was a pretty amazing game for Rajai Davis. The Yankees would go on to score 3 runs that inning, off of Brad Lincoln, to turn a 10-4 game into a 10-7 game, but without that catch, who knows what might have happened. Rajai was the hero with the bat too, getting 2 hits, both doubles and drove in 5 runs, leading us to a 10 to 7 win over the Yankees.  Edwin Encarnacion hit a 2-run homer as well.

It really amazes me that this lineup:

Rajai Davis, LF

Mike McCoy, 2B

Edwin Encarnacion, DH

David Cooper, 1B

Moises Sierra, RF

Jeff Mathis, C

Yan Gomes, 3B

Anthony Gose, CF

Adeiny Hechavarria, SS

could score 10 runs in a game. I'd be surprised if they got 10 runs in a week. But they managed 7 runs, in 4 innings, off Phil Hughes and 3 more runs off reliever Ryota Igarashi. If Igarashi's name looks familiar, he pitched in 2 games for the Blue Jays earlier in the season, totaling 1 inning, allowing 4 runs. He was picked up by the Yankees, from us, off waivers. This game was the 2nd and last time he pitched for the Yankees, bringing his season ERA to 18.00.

Yesterday featured some dazzling pitching performances from Yu Darvish, Mat Latos, Hiroki Kuroda, Cole Hamels, Andrew Albers and Chris Sale in which they carried their teams to victory. Meanwhile, the Orioles and Diamondbacks were playing hot potato with win expectancy for the final three innings of their matchup. And the Rockies barraged the Padres in Colorado. All being said, there were eleven games on Monday, most of which featured some amazing performances!

The Smallest Sample Size -- Game Results for 8/12/13

Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports

Rangers 2, Astros 1

Yu Darvish was pitching against the Astros yesterday so we were predictably treated to a dominant, high strikeout performance. Only allowing one hit, a homer off the bat of Carlos Corporan, and one walk, Darvish struck out a career-high 15 batters in eight innings (42% WPA). The Rangers were able to get two runs early in the first, which proved to be the only offense they could muster. Brett Oberholtzer was a hard luck loser, throwing six and two-thirds while striking out six and allowing two runs on nine baserunners. Joe Nathan took over for Darvish and entered a high leverage situation (2.52 pLI) but locked in a Shutdown to preserve the win for Texas. The score suggests the game was rather close but Darvish was practically untouchable throughout his entire outing.

Athletics 5, Blue Jays 1

J.A. Happ and Dan Straily were excellent yesterday. Happ (26% WPA) hurled seven innings of one-run ball with his only mistake being a leadoff homer to Chris Young to start the game. From there on, he only allowed two more hits and two walks while striking out six. Straily wasn't as efficient but was able to get one more out than Happ while allowing nine baserunners and five strikeouts (33% WPA). Ryan Cook came in as relief and the tying run crossed the plate on an error. Starting the eighth, Toronto had a 24.9% chance of winning the game since they were down 1-0, but once they scored and tied the game, their win expectancy bounced up to 67.2%, which was short lived. Casey Janssen came into the game and melted down by giving up four runs on four hits and an ill-advised intentional walk (-48% WPA).

Angels 1, Yankees 2

Hiroki Kuroda (54% WPA) pitched another gem last night with eight shutout innings that only included four baserunners while striking out seven. But the Yankees nearly blew another game in the ninth. With Mariano Rivera unavailable, Boone Logan came in to close out the game and gave up a leadoff single but bounced back to strikeout Kole Calhoun. Joe Giradi had seen enough though, yanking Logan out of the game in favor of David Robertson. Robertson came into the game and walked Mike Trout and then gave up a double to Josh Hamilton that scored a run. With only a one run cushion and men on second and third, the Yankees chose to intentionally walk Erick Aybar to get to Mark Trumbo. Luckily, it worked out as Robertson was able to bounce back and strike him and Chris Nelson out to preserve the win. Easily, Robertson was thrown into the most intense situation of the day (5.51 pLI) but was able to record a Shutdown despite walking two and allowing a hit.

On the other hand, Garrett Richards (12% WPA) was handed a loss despite only allowing two runs over eight innings. His offense just couldn't back him up as they amassed a terrible -62% WPA. Nelson and Trumbo combined for four strikeouts in eight plate appearances, two of which were in an extremely important, game winning situation in the ninth.

Phillies 5, Braves 1

Cole Hamels (39% WPA) continued his bounceback second half with nine innings of one-run ball to preserve Charlie Manuel's 1,000th win. Quieting one of the hottest offenses in the league, Hamels struck out nine and only allowed seven hits in his compete game. Lowering his FIP to 3.43, we should continue to see his ERA to drop from the 3.65 that it currently sits at as long as he continues to regress towards his career average with runners on base.

Opposing starter Julio Teheran (-12% WPA) pitched pretty well but gave up a deflating three run homer to Cody Asche in the sixth that sank the Braves' win expectancy from 29% to 7.7%. Scott Downs and Luis Ayala were able to keep the game from getting further out of reach but Anthony Varvaro allowed a run in the ninth. It didn't really matter as Hamels was excellent and the Atlanta offense simply couldn't figure him out.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Reds 2, Cubs 0

The matchup between the Reds and Cubs also featured another amazing pitching performance. Mat Latos (51% WPA) pitched eight shut out innings while striking out nine and only giving up six hits. Travis Wood (8% WPA) only allowed five baserunners in eight innings but gave up a two-run dinger to Brandon Phillips that proved to be the difference maker. Although Latos had only thrown 94 pitches, Dusty Baker decided to throw in Aroldis Chapman (9% WPA) to handle the ninth. As expected, Chapman struck out the side and recorded his 27th Shutdown. Clearly the Cubs offense couldn't figure out either Latos or Chapman and only Donnie Murphy was able provide any positive winning probability.

Indians 0, Twins 3

Andrew Albers (43% WPA) couldn't complete a complete game shutout in his first start but he was able to do it last night. Only striking out two and allowing two hits, Albers had a 2.60 FIP in a super small sample size. The Twins were able to pounce on Danny Salazar (-13% WPA) quickly and chased him after just four innings. He only allowed three hits but two of them were homers by Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe that did all of the damage. They weren't striking out but the Indians just couldn't get any luck with their batted balls as evident by a cruel team BABIP of .074.

Tigers 2, White Sox 6

Chris Sale (29% WPA) put the White Sox in an early hole by giving up a first inning homerun to the red-hot Miguel Cabrera and a run scoring double to Brayan Pena in second but he quickly settled down thereafter. He gave up nine hits in his complete game while only allowing the two early runs and striking out six. The White Sox were able to rally and come back into the game during the fifth inning thanks to back-to-back-to-back singles from Josh Phegley, Alejandro De Aza and Gordon Beckham. Doug Fister (-19 WPA) couldn't miss many bats and gave up four runs on eight hits and three walks over six innings

Marlins 2, Royals 6

Tom Koehler (-29% WPA) struggled last night and barely got through five and a third by allowing five runs on nine hits and two walks while only striking out one. Wade Davis (6% WPA) was able to complete six and gave up two runs on six hits and two walks. Justin Maxwell tripled home a run (15.1% WPA) and scored on a single (9.4% WPA) from Chris Getz to put the Royals up 2-0 in the fourth. The Marlins fought back and tied the game in the sixth and it looked like it could be anyone's game until another Kansas City triple (21.8% WPA), this time off the bat of Alcides Escobar, scored another run. From there on out, the Royals were able to pile on a couple more runs off of Koehler and Ryan Webb and conceivably ran away with a win.

Padres 2, Rockies 14

There was a complete blowout in Colorado last night. Edinson Volquez (-24% WPA) allowed eight runs on 12 baserunners while only recording just 13 outs. By the end of the second, the Rockies were already up 5-0 and had an 86.8% win expectancy. Jhoulys Chacin (24% WPA) was able to complete eight innings and gave up just seven baserunners and one run while striking out six. As you can imagine, the game never threatened to be close and Chacin didn't really face anything more than low leverage situations (.59 pLI). In the eighth, Colt Hynes gave up six more runs to make this game look even more lopsided than it did before.

Orioles 6, Diamondbacks 7

This game was back and forth for most of its duration, even after the Orioles had started to pull away with a 4-2 lead that continued into the seventh. Wade Miley (-10% WPA) threw seven innings but gave up four runs on eight baserunners and Scott Feldman (14%) struck out eight while only allowing one run on four hits and two walks. The Orioles bullpen netted four negative WPA appearances that included three Meltdowns from Troy Patton, Tommy Hunter and Darren O'Day. With a 4-2 lead, Tommy Hunter (-49% WPA) gave up three runs (two earned, one charged to Brian Matusz) on three hits and a walk. Now with the lead, J.J. Putz (10% WPA) came out and got Manny Machado and Adam Jones to fly out to right. Apparently Kirk Gibson didn't trust him to get a third consecutive out and pulled him for Joe Thatcher (-25% WPA), who promptly gave up a homer to Chris Davis that tied the game back up. To start off the eighth, Troy Patton (-17% WPA) gave up a homer to Will Nieves that put Baltimore back into the hole. Continuing the pattern of disappointing relief appearances, Brad Ziegler (-19% WPA) melted down and gave up the tying run in the ninth only for the Diamondbacks to win it on an Adam Eaton walk-off homer against Darren O'Day (-36% WPA).

Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports

Mets 2, Dodgers 4

The Mets ran out to a quick 2-0 lead against Ricky Nolasco and the Dodgers last night but blew it in the sixth. Nolasco (-12% WPA) lasted six and a third with two earned runs and nine baserunners while Jenrry Mejia finished six innings but allowed three runs (two earned). An Adrian Gonzalez single that scored Carl Crawford and Mark Ellis thanks to an error on Juan Lagares proved to be the game changing play with a 36.2% swing in win expectancy. With a 3-2 lead, the Dodgers were able to get an insurance run from a Nick Punto homer off Carlos Torres in the seventh. In relief, Paco Rodriguez (14% WPA) and Kenley Jansen (12% WPA) were able to record shutdowns and struck out five of the nine batters they faced.

. . .

All statistics courtesy of Fangraphs.

Mike Mulvenna is a writer at Beyond The Box Score. You can follow him on Twitter at @mkmulv.

More from Beyond the Box Score:

• PITCHf/x profile: Jhoulys Chacin
• The hidden cost of the sinker
• Site Update: The (updated) Analytics Toolbox!
• Lineouts! 08/12/13: Puig vs. Myers, Rivera and Griffey
• The Smallest Sample Size 8/12/13: Giant meltdowns

Rangers 2, Astros 1: For the second time this season, Yu Darvish flirted with a no-hitter against the poor Astros, and for the second time this season, he fell short. Darvish allowed a one-out solo home run to Carlos Corporan in the bottom of the eighth inning. That came more than four months after he surrendered a two-out single to Marwin Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth to end his no-hit bid in his first start of the season.

The Rangers picked up both of their runs in the first inning on run-scoring hits by Adrian Beltre and A.J. Pierzynski, who was thrown out of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Ron Kulpa after Darvish's attempt at a perfect game ended with a walk to Jonathan Villar.

Darvish allowed just the one run on one hit and struck out 15 batters.

Dodgers 4, Mets 2: The Dodgers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to improve to 38-8 since June 22, setting a new modern-era record for the franchise's best-ever 46-game run.

Ricky Nolasco got past a rocky second inning to earn his fourth victory in a Dodgers uniform. He allowed two runs on seven hits in 6 ⅓ innings. Adrian Gonzalez had three hits, including one that scored a pair of runs with the help of a throwing error by Mets center fielder Juan Lagares in the bottom of the sixth. Nick Punto added a solo home run.

Reds 2, Cubs 0:Brandon Phillips hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning to break a scoreless tie and preserve Mat Latos' shot at a win. Latos tossed eight shutout innings, allowing six hits and racking up nine strikeouts. He outdueled former teammate Travis Wood, who gave up just two runs on four hits in eight innings of work.

Cubs third baseman Donnie Murphy was the only player to register more than one hit in the game. He went 2-for-3 with a double.

Yankees 2, Angels 1: Not too long after Mike Trout took to the sports radio airwaves to bash PED users, Alex Rodriguez's Yankees picked up a much-needed win thanks to a stellar effort from starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda tossed eight shutout innings, notching seven strikeouts and giving up just three hits.

Mariano Rivera was left in the bullpen after blowing three consecutive saves. Yankees manager Joe Girardi instead called upon David Robertson, who surrendered a hit and two walks but held on to earn his first save of the year.

Twins 3, Indians 0: Twins rookie starter Andrew Albers followed up his impressive big-league debut with an even better outing. Albers tossed a complete-game shutout, holding the Tribe to just two hits. Albers is now 17 ⅓ innings into his big league career and still hasn't allowed a run. He's given up just six hits, but has only managed to strike out four batters.

Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe each hit a solo home run off Indians' starter Danny Salazar, giving Albers all the support he would need.

White Sox 6, Tigers 2:Chris Sale got off to a rough start, giving up runs in each of the first two innings, including one on Miguel Cabrera's 37th home run of the season. However, Chicago's ace settled in and wound up pitching a complete game, scattering nine hits and registering six strikeouts.

Gordon Beckham and Jeff Keppinger had three hits apiece for the White Sox, who were able to shrug off an 0-for-4, seven-LOB performance from former Tiger Avisail Garcia, as well as this tremendous play by Jose Iglesias, who was involved in the same trade that sent Garcia to Chicago:

Athletics 5, Blue Jays 1: The A's scored four times against Jays closer Casey Janssen to break a tie and earn a victory in the first game of the day. That came after J.A. Happ and Dan Straily went toe-to-toe for seven-plus innings. Each hurler allowed just one run during their time on the hill.

Recently acquired Alberto Callaspo led the A's with a pair of hits and two runs batted in.

Phillies 5, Braves 1:Cole Hamels allowed a run on six hits en route to hurling his first complete game of the year and 13th of his career. Hamels struck out nine batters and issued just one walk to help improve his record to 5-13.

Cody Asche hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning off Braves' starter Julio Teheran to give the Phillies a four-run cushion. Asche finished with two hits, three RBI and a pair of runs scored.

Royals 6, Marlins 2: Kansas City won for the 17th time in its last 20 games and moved ahead of Cleveland for second place in the American League Central. Chris Getz finished with three hits, Billy Butler hit a solo home run and Wade Davis allowed two runs on six hits in six innings to earn the victory.

Rockies 14, Padres 2: Colorado piled on with six runs in the eighth inning after a 1:03 rain delay to turn an 8-1 blowout into a 14-2 slaughter. The Rockies pounded out 17 hits and took advantage of four errors -- and numerous others that weren't scored as such -- by San Diego to notch their first four-game winning streak since April.

Jhoulys Chacin surrendered one run in eight innings, marking the fifth straight start in which he has lasted seven or more innings and allowed three or fewer runs. Padres outfielder Jaff Decker's solo home run, which was also his first big-league hit, represented the only damage against Chacin.

Diamondbacks 7, Orioles 6: Adam Eaton's first home run of the season was of the walk-off variety. The 24-year-old outfielder took Darren O'Day deep on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the ninth inning to help Arizona overcome a solid-but-short start by Baltimore starter Scott Feldman, as well as O's slugger Chris Davis' 43rd home run of the season.

More from SB Nation:

• Where Delmon Young goes from here

• Video: Alfonso Soriano's 2000th hit was a HR | A-Rod passes Stan the Man

• Neyer: On being a fan (or not)

• Rays get Juan Uribe with the hidden ball trick.

• Longform: The death of a ballplayer

J.A. Happ was really good yesterday. Everything else is a quagmire of pain.

JAYS LINKS

Blue Jays lose 5-1 to Oakland A’s despite strong outing from J.A. Happ | Toronto Star
"Happ gave up one run on just three hits over seven innings but the Jays couldn’t come up with the win."

Q&A: Daniel Norris, Blue Jays Pitching Prospect | FanGraphs Baseball
In case you've been wondering what's on Daniel's mind lately

Campaign aims to restore 'SkyDome' to Blue Jays home
"A social media campaign is seeking to revive a stadium name that was synonymous with the Toronto Blue JaysWorld Series winning years." Count me in

Stoeten Answers Griffin’s Mail Bag – 08/12/13 | Drunk Jays Fans | Blogs | theScore.com

Same old, same old. In a good way.

Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Stroman is merely Human

The kid is good but the HR against are unnerving. Enough of that around here.

AL EAST LINKS

Nick Markakis’ Stunted Power | FanGraphs Baseball
Proof that not everything can go right for the Orioles.

Jose Dariel Abreu defects, should the Red Sox be interested? - Over the Monster
Based on what one hears one hopes not.

Mariano Rivera’s Week of New Things | FanGraphs Baseball
AKA Miguel Cabrera happened

A-Rod is still kind of a dork - SBNation.com
"Alex Rodriguez has bigger problems than not knowing how to celebrate walk-off. But he does have some problems celebrating this walk-off."

Rays Acquire Wesley Wright - DRaysBay
"The Rays acquired another reliever this season, claiming southpaw Wesley Wright off waivers."

THE REST OF THE BASEBALL UNIVERSE LINKS

Signing Mike Trout long-term will be troublesome for the Los Angeles Angels - MLB News | FOX Sports on MSN
"Signing Mike Trout long-term will be troublesome for the Los Angeles Angels, Ken Rosenthal writes." If you're his agent what do you even file for in arbitration?

Scorching-hot Dodgers equal best stretch of wild-card era with eye on more | The Strike Zone - SI.com
High-ish?

The decline of smallball and its impact on the game - MLB - Joe Lemire - SI.com
Goood gooood.

The Unsung Heroes of the Dodgers Crazy Run | FanGraphs Baseball
This team would be nuts if they could get Kemp healthy and effective.

Mike Trout supports 'one strike you're out' policy for PED users - CBSSports.com
"Angels phenom Mike Trout is the latest player to come out in support for harsher penalties against those who test positive for PED use." Worst soundbite ever if Trout were to wind up getting caught with PED's at some point.

NON-BASEBALL LINK OF THE DAY

The Kids Are Alright: Goats That Double as Lawnmowers
"Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., recently rented 58 goats to eat invasive plant species."

That road trip was hardly what any Rays player, coach or fan of the team could have wanted.

But the five-game losing streak hasn't defeated the players, just yet:

"We've just hit a little rough patch for 10 days," Price said. "But the 40 days before that we were really, really good. It's going to happen. There's no team in baseball able to run out guys just as dominant and as good as we were for an entire year without hitting that rough spot. And that's what we've done. ...

"But we're still a very confident group and we're getting back some key factors (Alex Cobb, Moore) that will help us get back to the point we had been."

The offense certainly hasn't given anyone anything to cheer about, as the bats have seemingly gone silent since the team returned from the All-Star Break:

"The whole first half of the season we did a really good job with runners in scoring position, runners at third with less than two outs," Shelton said. "We've gone through a little bit of a, I don't know if lull is the right word, but where if we had five of those (opportunities) a night we were getting four in and now we're getting one or two in.

"That's kind of all cyclical, and it's just that we're going through one of those stretches and on top of it facing the pitching we faced."

The past nine games have been just as bad as they've looked, as provided by Marc Topkin:

Today the team opens up a six-game home stand against the Mariners and Blue Jays, which hopefully guarantees some wins considering the two teams seasons. Unfortunately, the Rays have gone 1-8 this year after scheduled off days...let's hope to add one more win to that record.

The Rays trip to L.A. wasn't a total wash:

Dodgers&src=hash">#Dodgers#Rays on @ESPN Sunday Night Baseball was highest-rated MLB game on ESPN in LA since at least 1999 (5.5 rtg in LA).

— MLB Public Relations (@MLB_PR) August 12, 2013

ICYMI:

Yesterday the Rays acquired lefthanded pitcher Wesley Wright from the Astros. For the history on Wright's numbers these past few years, plus his reaction to the news, scope Danny's announcement.

Links:

- Really great interview with Gabe Kapler. From us, yes, but thorough and great insight.

- Wil Myersleads the American League in OPS since the All-Star Game. Baseball Prospectus broke it down.

- J.D. Martin got some, "Take a look at him" love in the comments section yesterday, and then received stand-in to stalwartpraise.

- This Jose Iglesias barehanded scoop and throw mid-dive is among the craziest things you'll see all year.

- Oh, Pete Rose. Really?

- The Twins aren't winning, so they're brawling.

One year ago yesterday, this happened:

It was a pretty amazing game for Rajai Davis. The Yankees would go on to score 3 runs that inning, off of Brad Lincoln, to turn a 10-4 game into a 10-7 game, but without that catch, who knows what might have happened. Rajai was the hero with the bat too, getting 2 hits, both doubles and drove in 5 runs, leading us to a 10 to 7 win over the Yankees. Edwin Encarnacion hit a 2-run homer as well.

It really amazes me that this lineup:

Rajai Davis, LF

Mike McCoy, 2B

Edwin Encarnacion, DH

David Cooper, 1B

Moises Sierra, RF

Jeff Mathis, C

Yan Gomes, 3B

Anthony Gose, CF

Adeiny Hechavarria, SS

could score 10 runs in a game. I'd be surprised if they got 10 runs in a week. But they managed 7 runs, in 4 innings, off Phil Hughes and 3 more runs off reliever Ryota Igarashi. If Igarashi's name looks familiar, he pitched in 2 games for the Blue Jays earlier in the season, totaling 1 inning, allowing 4 runs. He was picked up by the Yankees, from us, off waivers. This game was the 2nd and last time he pitched for the Yankees, bringing his season ERA to 18.00.

In looking for writing inspiration today I searched around for Blue Jays articles on the web and came across this Richard Griffin piece about John Farrell getting the last laugh. Aside from making me have another bout of frustration over this season, it also made me wonder why the Red Sox were in first place and the Blue Jays were in last as they prepare to meet for a three game set this week. The answer is certainly not John Farrell if you were wondering.

Even though the Blue Jays have just under $120 million invested in this year's team, good enough for 10th in the league, Boston has just under $160 million tied up in the 2013 edition of the Red Sox, which puts them 4th in the league. This advantage is made worse by the fact that the Blue Jays have been torn apart by injuries, while the Red Sox have cruised fairly comfortably especially on the starting pitching front. Aside from losing Clay Buchholz for longer than they expected, the Red Sox have had a solid year from their rotation, which has kept them in games much more often than Toronto.

To make the comparison easy, the Red Sox have four starters with over 100 innings pitched this season (Lester, Dempster, Lackey and Doubront) not to mention the fact that Jake Peavy has thrown 92 innings this year although only 12 of them have been post-trade from the White Sox. The 2013 Blue Jays have just two starters over 100 innings this season in R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle, while the fifth most used pitcher on the staff is actually a reliever in Aaron Loup. The lack of starter depth for the Blue Jays compared to the Red Sox plus the fact that Boston has avoided injury this year goes a long way towards explaining why one team is fighting for the playoffs, while the other is in the basement.

Just staying healthy isn't the only important thing for the starters either, performing well is just as key and once again the Red Sox are head and shoulders above the Blue Jays in that regard. There are five starters with at least 10 starts on the Red Sox and four of them have an ERA safely below 4.50. On the Blue Jays there are also five starters with at least 10 starts and there are only two pitchers who have a sub 4.50 ERA and they are Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey who both have ERA's in the 4.40's.

You may think that the strength of the Blue Jays in their bullpen would make up the pitching difference between the teams, but the Red Sox have equally as strong of a bullpen on the front end with Koji Uehara, Junichi Tazawa, and Craig Breslow. As a whole the Blue Jays' bullpen has been slightly better (3.41 ERA vs. 3.74 ERA), but not enough to make a significant difference with such poor starting pitching performances this year.

As you're all likely aware, a lot of the problems with this year's Blue Jays team begins and ends with poor starting pitching. The Red Sox are a good team to look at when wondering what might have been if the rotation had performed to expectations. Boston is sitting at the top of a playoff chase with an offense not that much better than the Blue Jays due to a rather unexpected year of great starting pitching from multiple guys who stayed healthy and excelled. A look at the differences in the two teams' offenses will come tomorrow after the first game of the series.

It's about time we took a look at how the players on our Bluebird Banter Top 40 Prospects list are faring this season. This is just a review, not a reorder, we'll save that for the off-season. The original list was posted back in February, you can read the posts starting back here. Tomorrow we'll look at the next 10 on the list.

1. Aaron Sanchez: Sanchez has missed time this season with a couple of injuries. He missed time with a shoulder injury suffered back on May 18th, came back in late June, and, in just his last start, he came out of the game, apparently with a blister problem. He's been pretty good when he has been pitching. 3.63 ERA in 19 games, 17 starts. 49 hits, 4 home runs, 34 walks and 62 strikeouts in 71.2 innings, all for Dunedin. He's walking too many, Though he has brought down the walks some from last year, he gave up 4.3 walks/9 innings last year, 4.3 this year, but his strikeouts are down too, 7.8 per 9 this year, 9.7 last year. He is just 21 and number 35 on MLB's prospect list and 65th on Baseball America's. He gets a lot of ground balls, 2.32 per fly out.

2: Roberto Osuna: Injuries seems to be the theme of the day, torn ulnar collateral ligament and now Tommy John surgery. Won't be pitching again till next year. No surprise he wasn't pitching well before hitting the DL. 5.53 ERA in 10 starts, 43 innings, 39 hits, 11 walks, 51 k for Lansing. He's young, won't be 19 until next February, so, if he has to have Tommy John, now is the time.

3: D.J. Davis: A first round pick in 2012 is having a pretty good season in Bluefield, hitting .254/.346/.411 in 43 games, with 6 doubles, 7 triples and 4 homers, 19 walks, 56 strikeouts, 10 steals. Way too many strikeouts, but he's just 19, and more power than we figured on. Playing center field, has good range. He's a long ways off, but has a lot of tools.

4: Sean Nolin: Sean is doing great in New Hampshire. 2.84 ERA in 16 starts. 80 hits, 4 home runs, 24 walks, 99 strikeouts in 85.2 innings. He is a fly ball pitcher, .71 ground balls per fly ball. His 1 start with the Jays didn't go great, but next time should go better. He'll be 24 in December. Maybe we'll see him in September. He should be in the competition for a job next year.

5. Marcus Stroman: another first round pick from 2012, Marcus has had a really good time of it in New Hampshire. 16 starts, a 3.22 ERA, 89.1 innings, 79 hits, 12 home runs, 22 walks and 103 k. Home runs are a little high, not a great sign for someone that's going to be pitching in Rogers Centre someday soon, but the rest looks really good. I'm torn, I'd love to see him pitch, but I'm not sure there is a point to bringing him up for September. Turned 22 in May, he should be completing for a job in spring training, whether it is the bullpen or the rotation. Who would you rather see in the rotation next year, him or Josh Johnson?

6. Matt Smoral: yet another first round draft pick from 2012. Things aren't going that well. He has a 9.82 ERA, in 14.2 innings in the GCL. He's allowed 14 hits, 20 walks, with 15 strikeouts. He's 19 and a long, long way off of the majors. I wouldn't let 15 innings cloud my view of him, but then the 20 walks aren't a good sign.

7. Daniel Norris: 2nd round pick from 2011, he's not been great in Lansing. 1-7 (yeah I know, who cares about his record), 4.84 ERA, in 20 games, 19 starts. 70.2 innings, 75 hits, 5 home runs, 41 walks and 83 strikeouts. Fangraphs has an interview with him here. He has a 2.97 ERA in his last 10 appearances, but still 20 walks in 36.1 innings. He's a hard throwing lefty, hits mid-90s, so he'll get time to work on his command. He turned 20 in April.

8. A.J. Jimenez: A.J. has made the recovery from Tommy John, started the season in Dunedin, hitting .429/.448/.643 in 9 games and then moved up to New Hampshire. In 46 games there he is hitting .274/.320/.387 with 3 home runs, 13 walks and 32 strikeouts. He's thrown out 53% of base stealers in NH, so I'd say his elbow is better. He had a great June, hitting .400/.420/.507, but July was bad, .182/.26/.260 and August has been worse, .206/.229/.412. In his last 10 games he has a .163 BA, but he's had 2 home runs in his past 3 games. I wish he was hitting better, I'd be calling for him to replace JP. He's said to be great on defense, but would be nice if he had a bit of a bat. He's 23.

9: Alberto Tirado: Alberto has a 1.78 ERA in 9 games, 6 starts at Bluefield. 35.1 innings, 33 hits, 0 home runs, 14 walks and 31 strikeouts. He's 18, an international free agent signing. He throws hard, has to work on the other pitches, he's got a long way to go before we see him in Toronto but he could turn out to be good.

10: Christian Lopes: Lansing's second baseman, he's not hitting as well as I'd like to see, .255/.310/.354, 5 home runs, 33 walks and 68 strikeouts. He is just 20 so he's got time to improve, but I think we had him a little high on the list.