Fake Teams readers: Welcome back Kevin Boger!!

Before getting into today's Roundup, I'd like to welcome back Kevin Boger as a fantasy baseball writer here at Fake Teams. Kevin wrote for us last season and into the offseason before life got too busy for him, but things have slowed down for him and he is back in the fold, writing for Fake Teams.

ICYMI: he wrote about Mariners first baseman, Justin Smoak, late yesterday afternoon, and you can read if here.

Fake Teams Podcast, Episode 27: Better Lucky than Good

Zack and Andrew hosted episode 27 of the Fake Teams Podcast on Sunday night where they discussed some of the recent prospects called up including Travis d'Arnaud, Kolten Wong and Matt Davidson. They also discussed Jason Heyward's in-season bounce back, and some of Zack's bold predictions from early spring.

You can listen to the podcast in two ways:

MP3

ITunes

Alex Rodriguez: Can he keep this up?

No, I am not talking about his desire to make the front page of every New York City newspaper. I am talking about his performance at the plate. I have to say I am a bit surprised he is hitting so well coming off the hip injury. Yesterday, he struggled at the plate, playing both games of the double header vs the Blue Jays, going 1-7 in the two games with a walk and 5 strikeouts.

Even after the poor performance in the double header, ARod is hitting .296-.387-.444 with 2 HRs, 7 runs, 6 RBI and a 15-6 strikeout to walk rate in 54 at bats. I know it's only 54 at bats, but I figured he'd be hitting .222 right about now. He has hit in 11 of his 15 games thus far, so he might be worth a short term waiver wire move, as he is owned in just 54% of ESPN leagues and 60% of CBS leagues.

For more on ARod, just turn on ESPN, or head on over to Pinstriped Bible, SB Nation's Yankees fan site.

Yasiel Puig: He refuses to be ignored

I took that line from Dodgers beat writer Tony Jackson, who has his own blog now, dodgerscribe, and if you are a Dodgers fan, you should follow him. He has no affiliation to any other media outlet or newspaper anymore, he is now on his own, and he travels to every game. Actually, I am not sure how he does it, but however he does it, he does a great job at it.

Anyway, back to Puig. Puig has had his name in the papers and other media outlets, including TMZ, for some late night partying in South Beach, cursing out some media in the locker room, and arriving late to Tuesday's game and being fined. Manager Don Mattingly benched him on Tuesday, but somehow Puig made his presence felt, as he entered the game in a double switch, and promptly hit the first pitch he saw over the left-center field wall to break a 4-4 tie.

I still don't think Puig is THIS good, but he keeps proving me wrong. I keep expecting him to go into a long slump, but he keeps making adjustments and is still hitting over .350 for the season.

For more on Puig, please make sure you check out True Blue LA, SB Nation's Dodgers fan site.

Round'em Up

A couple of injuries have resulted in two top hitters to the DL yesterday. First, the Blue Jays placed Jose Bautista on the 15-day DL with a hip injury. He left the first game of the double header vs the Yankees with a left hip bone bruise, and will be out at least two weeks. Kevin Pillar and Anthony Gose will replace Bautista in the Blue Jays outfield.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer was placed on the 7-day DL with a concussion resulting from taking a few foul tips to the mask on Monday night. I hope it is a short term injury and the concussion symptoms go away quick. With Justin Morneau leaving via free agency, I wonder if the Twins will play Mauer at first base more in future years to keep his bat in the lineup and eliminate these types of injuries.

Wil Myers owners have to be surprised that he is hitting so well in his first taste of big league pitching. I am shocked actually. Myers went 2-5 with 2 RBI in the Rays 7-4 win over the Orioles on Tuesday. For the season, Myers is hitting .312-.362-.490 with 9 HRs, 29 runs, 39 RBI and 5 stolen bases in 52 games. He has to be the favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year award this season. I am curious where I will rank him in my offseason outfielder rankings, as I don't see him as a future .300 hitter, but he does have 25-30 home run power, and I like power hitters.

Speaking of power hitters, there aren't many better than Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Last night, Goldschmidt broke open a 1-0 game with a grand slam home run as the Diamondbacks beat the Reds 5-2. Goldschmidt raised his triple slash line to .297-.393-.552 with 31 HRs, 82 runs, 100 RBI and 13 stolen bases after going 1-3 with the grand slam and a walk. He will probably be my #2 ranked fantasy first baseman in 2014, behind Chris Davis, but I am sure others will have Goldy ahead of Davis.

Goldschmidt's teammate Patrick Corbin is another player who I keep expecting to come back to earth, like Puig, but he doesn't. He just keeps on pitching great and winning ball games. Corbin tossed a complete game six hitter, giving up two runs and striking out 10 Reds to win his 13th game of the season. Corbin is now 13-3 with a 2.45 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and a 150-42 strikeout to walk rate in 172.1 innings this season. I ranked him too low in our midseason starting pitcher rankings, obviously.

Twins first baseman Justin Morneau had a big night at the plate last night, going 4-5 with a HR and 4 RBI in the Twins win over the TIgers. Morneau recently passed through waivers and I have a hard time believing a team like the Rays or Pirates don't try to deal for him before August 31st. Morneau is now hitting .267-.321-.431 with 15 HRs, 52 runs and 72 RBI on the season. He isn't the MVP type hitter from years ago, but he could help both of those ball clubs in their playoff/wild card hunt.

More from Fake Teams:

• Know Your Splits: Justin Smoak on Fire
• Streamer Report: Wednesday's Streamers
• Risers and Fallers: Nolan Arenado, Chris Carter and Others
• Roto Roundup: Xander Bogaerts, Jeff Samardzija and others
• 2013 MLB Prospect Review: Henry Owens, LHP, Boston Red Sox
• Injury Report: Breathe, it looks like Trout's okay

Adam Warren gets a rare start for the Yankees tonight against R.A. Dickey. Warren is a 25-year-old righty from University of North Carolina who was drafted in the fourth round of the 2009 draft. He pitched in one game last year, a start, and was pounded hard by the Chicago White Sox. This year he's been an innings eater in the bullpen and hasn't done the best of jobs in that role. His ERA sits at 3.57, while his FIP is 4.66 in 58 innings pitched.

Warren throws a fastball, sinker, curveball, changeup, and slider all over 10% of the time each with his fastballs sitting mid-90's as a reliever. His changeup looks to be his best pitch and he throws up nearly a third of the time against left-handed hitters.

Here's Warren's slider being taken deep by Yasiel Puig earlier in June:

via assets.sbnation.com

A look at the movement on his pitches shows how loopy his curveball can be and also how much run his changeup has:

Lefties are crushing Adam Warren this year, but with so many injuries the lineup I'd put out there would be:

1. Reyes SS
2. Lind 1B
3. Encarnacion DH
4. Lawrie 3B
5. Kawasaki 2B
6. Thole C
7. Gose CF
8. Pillar LF
9. Sierra RF

After sweeping the doubleheader yesterday, the Yankees send Adam Warren to the mound against last year's NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey and the Blue Jays.

#Yankees lineup vs TOR: Gardner DH, Ichiro RF, Cano 2B, Soriano LF, Granderson CF, Nunez SS, Overbay 1B, Nix 3B, Romine C, Warren P

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 21, 2013

So, that's new. Brett Gardner gets the start at DH while Alex Rodriguez sits in favor of Jayson Nix at third base. It will be the first time Gardner has started the game as the designated hitter in his career. Since Dickey is a right-hander, Lyle Overbay gets the start over Mark Reynolds at first base. The two batters with the best career numbers off Dickey are both out of the starting lineup tonight with Wells and A-Rod posting a .974 and 1.000 OPS against the Blue Jays pitcher, respectively, for their careers. Among those actually in the lineup, Gardner (.946 OPS) and Curtis Granderson (.663 OPS) have found success, but Alfonso Soriano, who has cooled down after his remarkable stretch a week ago, joins Overbay as the only Yankees to have hit a home run off the knuckleballer in their careers.

According to Ben Badler at Baseball America, the Yankees are one of two American League teams that have sent their top scouts to Japan to see pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who is widely believed to be intending to pitch in America next season. Tanaka is a 24-year-old with a 1.20 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 158 innings for Rakuten this season. He possesses a fastball that sits in the low-90s with the ability to hit 96 mph on radar guns, but scouts have concerns over the plane he throws on with his pitches being more straight, and thus hittable, than they'd like, according to Badler. Tanaka also has an above-average splitter and and slider.

To obtain the services of Tanaka if he does, in fact, decide to leave Japan would require the same process teams went through when Yu Darvish came over to play for the Rangers. Posting fees have seemingly scared the Yankees off of Japanese pitchers after the failure of Kei Igawa, but MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball have been working together this season on ways to revise the current posting system. According to Badler's article, the two sides are working to cap the limit of the posting fee with a goal of giving more money to the player than to the player's Japanese team. This system would allow multiple teams to "win" the posting process and MLB could count more of the money against the luxury tax. There is no certainty when or if this system would ever come into play, or what effect it would have on the Yankees' or any other team's willingness to pursue what is largely an unknown commodity for a lot of money up front.

Should the Yankees go all in on Tanaka after seeing the success of Darvish in MLB, or should they continue to play it safe in a system where so much uncertainty is involved?

More from Pinstriped Bible:

• Pinstripe Alley Top 100 Yankees: #93 Birdie Cree
• Dodgers reportedly unlikely to pursue Robinson Cano as a free agent
• Yankees prospects: Gary Sanchez off to a hot start with the Thunder
• Bean counter: How often do the Yankees get hit?
• Dreaming of Greg Bird

New York Yankees infielder Jayson Nix suffered a fractured left hand after being hit by a pitch on Wednesday, according to ESPN's Buster Olney.

Nix, who started at third base while Alex Rodriguez was given a day off, was plunked in his first at-bat by Toronto Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey. Nix was immediately replaced by Mark Reynolds, who stayed in the game at the hot corner.

The injury happened during an eventful second inning, which also saw the ejection of Jays shortstop R.A. Dickey.

Nix, who turns 31 on Aug. 26, entered Wednesday hitting .236/.305/.311 in 302 plate appearances while spending time at shortstop, third base and second base. Nix is the prototypical glove-first utility player; he has a career .218/.289/.358 line and has never finished a season with an OPS+ of more than 86.

Nix will almost certainly land on the disabled list, and with Derek Jeter set to start a rehab assignment at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, the Yankees will likely be forced to make a move that doesn't involve the star shortstop.

More from SB Nation MLB:

• A-Rod has standing 150-game ban offer

• Neyer: The meaning of Ichiro's 4,000 hits

• Pirates "have some interest" in Justin Morneau

• Video: The strongest beards in sports

• Ballgirl and infielder fight for foul ball

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter will make a five-inning rehab appearance for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, according to manager Joe Girardi (via CBS Sports' Mike Axisa).

Jeter is in the midst of his third stint on the disabled list this season; all three have been due to leg injuries. The 39-year-old star has been limited to five games this season because of ankle, quadriceps and calf ailments. Jeter is 4 for 19 at the plate with a home run and a pair of walks.

Assuming Jeter's rehab assignment is successful, he could return to the big club just in time. The Yankees will likely lose utility infielder Jayson Nix to the disabled list after he suffered a fractured left hand after being hit by a pitch thrown by Toronto Blue Jays hurler R.A. Dickey on Wednesday. Jeter is not expected to be activated in time for the start of the Yankees' series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, per Axisa, but a weekend return doesn't appear to be out of the question.

More from SB Nation MLB:

• A-Rod has standing 150-game ban offer

• Neyer: The meaning of Ichiro's 4,000 hits

• Pirates "have some interest" in Justin Morneau

• Video: The strongest beards in sports

• Ballgirl and infielder fight for foul ball

Blue Jays 2 Yankees 4

Another day, another loss. Yeah, it isn't even a surprise anymore.

R.A. Dickey pitched well, for 7 innings, but gave up a 2-run homer to Alfonso Soriano in the 8th and that was enough to get the loss. He gave up a run each of the 2nd and 3rd innings as well. In all,  he pitched an 8 inning complete game, with 6 hits allowed, 4 earned runs, 2 walks and 9 strikeouts.

On offense, we didn't do much. We scored a run in the 2nd. Anthony Gose singled and stole second and Munenori Kawasaki singled him home. In the 4th inning, Josh Thole hit his first home run as a Blue Jay.

We had 5 hits in total. 4 in 3 innings off someone named Adam Warren, getting our 2 runs. Then we were only able to get 1 hit (with 4 walks) in 5 innings against David Huff. Mariano Rivera pitched the 9th to get the save.

Rajai Davis managed a 1-out double off Rivera, but then got himself picked off second. A major league team shouldn't be getting guys picked off second when they are down by 2 in the 9th, but then Davis knows that, you know that, everyone knows that. It's hard to believe how bad this team has been.

On the reporting the positive side, Brett Lawrie made a couple of terrible plays on defense. And that's about it.

No Jay of the Day today, Thole led the way with a .040.

Suckage goes to Dickey (-.101), DeRose (-.107, 0 for 3) and to Davis for being picked off.

Also, lets give one to Jose Reyes, who got thrown out of the game for throwing his helmet back towards the umpire after arguing balls and strikes. Jose you really have to be smarter than that. Especially when you are one of the few useful offensive players we have.

Ichiro Suzuki hit his 4,000th career hit, if you combine his career in Japan with his MLB career.

In travel news, I climbed Mount Royal and enjoyed the beautiful view of the city from up top. Then, trying to find my way back, I got lost, but a nice fellow from Spain helped me figure out what bus to take to get back close to where we are staying and we pooled our change so we had enough to take the bus. I also saw people filming a movie or TV show, and I stuck around to watch for a bit and James Franco was part of the scene they were shooting. Other than the baseball game, I had a good day. Tomorrow we have tickets to the Alouettes game, thankfully saving me from watching the Jays.

The New York Yankees are finally looking like the New York Yankees.

On the day that Ichiro Suzuki picked up the 4000th hit of his professional career, the Yankees pitching duo of Adam Warren and David Huff out-dueled 2012 NL Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey (yes, you read that correctly) as the Yankees won their fourth consecutive game. The Yankees have won nine of eleven and 10 of 13 dating back to the day Alex Rodriguez made his 2013 Yankee Stadium debut.

Rodriguez had the night off tonight, but the Yankees got just enough offense and brilliant pitching out of unlikely sources, to say the least. Adam Warren got the spot start coming out of the double header, and honestly looked pretty good. Actually no, he wasn't that good, but I guess when you've been watching Phil Hughes this season it lowers your standards a bit. To Warren's credit, he got through the 3+ innings he was supposed to get through while limiting the Jays to two runs. And with this new Yankees offense, that is not insurmountable by any stretch.

The Blue Jays scored first in the top of the second. Warren got the first two outs of the inning before giving up a single to Anthony Gose. Gose proceeded to steal second and then score on a single to right by Munenori Kawasaki. Kawasaki really isn't that good at baseball, but he did this once so I like him.

The Yankees answered in the bottom of the inning, as Eduardo Nunez singled and later moved to second and then to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch, respectively. After a strikeout of Lyle Overbay, Jayson Nix reached first after getting hit by a pitch on the hand. This is also likely the last time that Nix will reach first base this season, as the HBP left him with a fractured hand. Sucks for him, and just another injury for the 2013 Yankees. See you next season, Nixy (and yes, we know he'll be here).

Mark Reynolds pinch ran for Nix at first and the Yankees had first and third with one out and Austin Romine at the plate. Austin Romine actually looks like a major league hitter right now. I don't know how long that's going to last but I'm going to enjoy it while it does. After going 3-3 last night, Romine stepped up and was a few feet away from hitting a three run home run. Instead, Kevin Pillar made a nice catch at the wall in left field and he'd have to settle for a sac fly.

The Yankees scored again in the bottom of the third to take the lead. With one out, Robinson Cano doubled to right. After Alfonso Soriano struck out, Curtis Granderson singled in Cano to make it 2-1 New York. Eduardo Nunez struck out to end the inning.

The Blue Jays got it right back at first opportunity as Warren gave up a home run to Josh Thole. Yes, Josh Thole. I don't know how that happened either. After the home run, Kevin Pillar got hit by a pitch (retaliation for Nix!), and that was it for Adam Warren. Enter David Huff.

David Huff is a man who has a career 5.41 ERA, and opponents have hit nearly .300 off of him. He's spent most of the year in the minor leagues, and in his brief stint in the majors this year he came in with an ERA over 12. So I think it's fair to say that not a lot of people would expect David Huff to come in and throw five shutout innings. Well, you can't predict baseball right? Because that's exactly what happened.

Huff relieved Adam Warren in the top of the fourth and stranded Pillar at first base. He then proceeded to throw four more shutout innings, pitching through the eighth and holding the Blue Jays to two runs. He walked a few guys, but he allowed just one hit and this was by far his best performance of the season in a game the Yankees had to have. Wins/Loss is generally a very poor way to measure a pitcher's success, but David Huff absolutely earned the win tonight.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, Dickey also managed to keep them at two until the bottom of the eighth. He started the eighth by striking out Brett Gardner and getting Ichiro to pop out. Cano then picked up his second hit of the night, which brought up Alfonso Soriano.

Soriano, as everyone knows, was playing at an other-worldly level a week ago. Then he suddenly stopped and had been 0 for his last 17. So, as Joe Girardi said, he was "due" in a sense. Soriano launched a hanging knuckleball (is that the right term for that?) into the left field seats with two outs in the eighth to give the Yankees the 4-2 lead. Dickey struck out Granderson to end the inning, and wound up with the complete game loss.

Mariano Rivera came on to finish it off in the ninth. He struck out Mark DeRosa before allowing a double to Rajai Davis. Mo then picked off Davis at second and struck out Edwin Encarnacion to end the game.

Game Notes:

• Ichiro Suzuki picked up the 4000th hit of his professional career in the bottom of the first inning tonight. His Yankee teammates came out to congratulate him and then he bowed to the crowd. The 4000 hits are from his days in Japan, with the Seattle Mariners, and with the Yankees. Congrats to Ichiro!
• As mentioned above, Jayson Nix fractured his left hand after getting hit by a knuckleball from R.A. Dickey. The injuries just keep coming. After being the hero of last night's game it's hard not to feel sorry for Nix, who has done whatever has been asked of him all year long while having to fill in for other player's various injuries. Girardi said the Yankees will not activate Derek Jeter early to replace Nix on the roster, so look for either David Adams or Alberto Gonzalez to be recalled to replace Nix.
• Don't look now, but the Yankees are kind of in this thing. They are four out in the loss column for the second wild card after the A's lost this afternoon, and with so many games left with division rivals the AL East is not completely out of reach. Still with no margain for error, every game is very important.

More from Pinstriped Bible:

• Jayson Nix leaves game with broken left hand
• Yankees lineup vs. Blue Jays; Yankees scouting Masahiro Tanaka in Japan
• Pinstripe Alley Top 100 Yankees: #93 Birdie Cree
• Dodgers reportedly unlikely to pursue Robinson Cano as a free agent
• Yankees prospects: Gary Sanchez off to a hot start with the Thunder

So, Josh Thole hit a dinger? That's kind of neat isn't it... in all seriousness optimism just isn't on the menu this morning, we're serving exclusively links instead.

JAYS LINKS

Blue Jays’ R.A. Dickey burned by late homer in loss to Yankees | National Post
"R.A. Dickey allowed only two runs through 7 2/3 innings, but the Blue Jays offence behaved as usual, with the usual outcome..."

Davidi: Jays failing to establish winning culture - Sportsnet.ca
Gross.

GAMEREAX - Animated Sports Gifs and MLB Analysis – Lawrie Embraced The Need For Change
Lawrie is the only thing to be optimistic about right now. Please stay hot Brett.

Farrell Speaks About Toronto’s Vision | Drunk Jays Fans | Blogs | theScore.com
Shut up Farrell.

Blue Jays' logo featured on 10-acre corn maze - Sportsnet.ca
It's come to this in terms of finding positive news news.

AL EAST LINKS

State of the Bullpen - DRaysBay
"Joe Maddon has earned himself plenty of admiration during his time as manager of the Tampa Bay Rays. However, is his management of the bullpen this season really the most efficient?"

Red Sox ace Clay Buchholz expected to begin rehab assignment Sunday - Over the Monster
"It's been too long since he last pitched, but that should hopefully fix itself soon."- is something I would never in a million years say.

Orioles playoff hopes: How do the stars need to align for a second consecutive postseason berth? - Camden Chat
Not enough attention is given to the possibility of the Jays winning out and claiming the spot for themselves in this article...

Watch: Ichiro collects his 4,000th hit | The Strike Zone - SI.com
The only Yankee I don't loathe.

Alex Rodriguez tells lawyers to quit talking to press - SBNation.com
"Alex Rodriguez has asked his legal team to keep quiet so that he can go back to helping the Yankees win baseball games." How noble.

THE REST OF THE BASEBALL UNIVERSE LINKS

Joe Blogs: Judgmental Baseball Stats
Posnanski is always gold. Always.

Scott Miller - CBSSports.com Yasiel Puig needs to get a grip before Dodgers lose theirs
When you write for cbssports you shouldn't need to use such blatant click bait. So inevitable.

Matt Moore and Others Likely to Lose Velocity | FanGraphs Baseball
One hopes Moore loses something, I'm sort of tired of the Rays and their endless supply of dominant pitchers.

Clayton Kershaw’s Deception | FanGraphs Baseball
What I would do for a Clayton Kershaw type (not that there is a type, there's kind of only one)

Identifying Baseball’s Most Unhittable Pitches, So Far | FanGraphs Baseball
No Jays? Shocking. EDIT: Somehow I totally missed Aaron Loup being here. I confess to GIF skimming and trusting in Blue Jays pitchers not being effective.

NON-BASEBALL LINK OF THE DAY

BBC - Future - Health - Should you put butter on a burn?
"Burns seem to have attracted their fair share of folk remedies, but after looking through the evidence Claudia Hammond explains what you should do and why."

Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki laced a single in Wednesday night's contest against the Blue Jays, giving him career hit 2,722. Remember, though, that Ichiro played for nine seasons in Japan before coming to the majors, where he collected 1,278 hits: last night's single gave him 4,000 for his career.

It's excellent that his teammates and Major League Baseball are recognizing this milestone in any capacity, given it's been a question for a long time how, if Ichiro got to 4,000 combined hits, people would react. You've got announcers into it, though, as well as the Blue Jays on the field, and MLB put this moment in their "Must C: Classic" video collection -- he's maybe not going to be as official and in the books as Ty Cobb and Pete Rose, but at least the moment didn't simply pass by quietly.

More from SB Nation MLB:

• A-Rod has standing 150-game ban offer

• Neyer: The meaning of Ichiro's 4,000 hits

• Pirates "have some interest" in Justin Morneau

• Video: The strongest beards in sports

• Ballgirl and infielder fight for foul ball

Yankees 4, Blue Jays 2:Ichiro Suzuki notched his 4,000th professional hit and Alfonso Soriano homered for the eighth time this month to overcome an eight-inning complete game from R.A. Dickey.

Dickey struck out nine and allowed just six hits, but he also surrendered four runs and didn't get much offensive support. It certainly didn't help that Jose Reyes was ejected in the second inning for arguing balls and strikes.

Dodgers 4, Marlins 1: Behind a stellar performance from Zack Greinke, the Dodgers started a new winning streak in Miami. Greinke tossed eight innings of one-run ball, allowing six hits and racking up seven strikeouts. He owns a 1.41 ERA over his past nine starts.

Andre Ethier and Hanley Ramirez had two hits apiece. Giancarlo Stanton homered off of Greinke in the first inning for the Marlins' only run. Yasiel Puig went 0-for-5 with a run scored in his return to the Dodgers' lineup.

Braves 4, Mets 1: Chris Johnson hit a tie-breaking, three-run homer in the top of the 10th inning to salvage a split of a two-game series for the Braves. The big home run also helped the team overcome the loss of Jason Heyward, who was hit in the face with an errant fastball from Jonathan Niese:

Heyward will likely miss the remainder of the regular season after being diagnosed with a fractured jaw.

Orioles 4, Rays 2:Chris Davis hit his 46th home run of the season and Adam Jones went deep for the 26th time to power Baltimore past Tampa Bay. Wei-Yin Chen worked around a pair of solo homers to earn the win by allowing three runs on six hits in seven innings.

The series victory moved the O's to 4 ½ games behind the Rays for second place in the American League East.

Reds 10, Diamondbacks 7: Cincinnati nearly squandered an 8-0 lead before a pair of run-scoring singles in the bottom of the eighth inning put the game away. Shin-Soo Choo homered off of Brandon McCarthy in the first inning to kick-start the scoring for the Reds.

Gerardo Parra and Adam Eaton went deep for Arizona in the loss. McCarthy was roughed up for seven runs on eight hits in 2 ⅓ innings.

Red Sox 12, Giants 1:Jacoby Ellsbury and Shane Victorino had three hits apiece for Boston, which got home runs from Stephen Drew and Will Middlebrooks in a rout over San Francisco.

Felix Doubrount allowed a run on five hits in eight innings. The Sox pounded Giants starter Barry Zito to the tune of six runs on seven hits in 3 ⅔ innings. About the only thing that went wrong for Boston was the early exit of David Ortiz, who left in the fifth inning with lower back soreness.

Rangers 5, Astros 4:Elvis Andrus hit a game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Texas its 14th victory in 16 games against Houston this season.

Derek Holland went six innings and allowed two runs on four hits, but he was robbed of a win after reliever Tanner Scheppers surrendered two runs on three hits, a walk and two hit batters in the eighth inning. One of the players Scheppers hit was Max Stassi, a rookie appearing in his second big-league game, who took a 96 MPH fastball to the face and had to go to the hospital after the game for further evaluation.

Tigers 7, Twins 1: Detroit scored all seven of its runs in the seventh and eighth innings to rally from a 1-0 deficit to beat Minnesota. Twins second baseman Brian Dozier committed a pair of costly errors, leading to five unearned runs.

Austin Jackson led the Tigers with three hits while Torii Hunter, Victor Martinez and Jose Iglesias had two apiece. Miguel Cabrera had only one hit, but it was in the form of a bases-clearing double in the eighth inning.

Anibal Sanchez struck out eight batters in 6 ⅔ innings but was saddled with a no-decision.

Cardinals 8, Brewers 6: St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook wasn't all that effective on the mound, but his two-run double in the second inning helped the Cardinals jump out to a 7-0 lead. Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday and Allen Craig each did their part with home runs.

Aramis Ramirez hit a three-run homer off of Westbrook to help Milwaukee cut its deficit to 7-5 before Holliday's long ball. Logan Schafer also homered for the Brewers in the loss.

Mariners 5, Athletics 3: The A's fell to 2 ½ games behind Texas after dropping a three-game set to the Mariners, who entered the series nine games under .500. Mike Morse and Brad Miller homered for Seattle, which got another solid start out of Hisashi Iwakuma.

Brandon Moss hit his 20th homer of the year and Coco Crisp also went deep for Oakland. Brendan Ryan had a pair of hits and three RBI for the Mariners.

Padres 2, Pirates 1:Ian Kennedy ensured Pittsburgh wouldn't leave town with a sweep by tossing eight shutout innings. Kennedy struck out eight batters and allowed only four hits, outdueling Pirates starter Gerrit Cole, who gave up two runs in six innings and notched five strikeouts.

Logan Forsythe led the Padres with three hits while Yonder Alonso chipped in two knocks and drove in both of San Diego's runs.

Indians 3, Angels 1: Cleveland kept pace with Detroit in the AL Central with a sweep of the Angels, who played their third straight game without star outfielder Mike Trout. Justin Masterson worked around five walks to pitch 6 ⅔ effective innings, racking up seven strikeouts and giving up only one run.

Nick Swisher's two-run home run off of Angels starter Jerome Williams provided Masterson all the support he needed.

Nationals 11, Cubs 6: Washington blew a 6-1 lead but was bailed out by Scott Hairston, who hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the seventh inning to break a 6-6 tie. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo homered twice, including a two-run bomb onto Sheffield Avenue in the fifth inning that kick-started a five-run rally.

Jayson Werth hit a three-run homer in the third inning to get the Nats on the board. Adam LaRoche, Ryan Zimmerman and Kurt Suzuki had two hits apiece.

White Sox 5, Royals 2: Dayan Viciedo's fourth-inning grand slam propelled the White Sox to their second straight win over the fading Royals. Viciedo had three hits to pace Chicago, which tallied five runs on nine hits against Kansas City starter Jeremy Guthrie.

White Sox starter Andre Rienzo allowed two runs on five hits in six innings, becoming the first Brazilian to win a major league game.

Phillies 4, Rockies 3: Philadelphia scored twice in the bottom of the ninth, including Michael Young's walk-off single, against Colorado closer Rafael Betancourt. That wasted a go-ahead RBI hit off the bat of rookie Nolan Arenado, which put the Rockies ahead, 3-2, entering the bottom of the eighth.

Cliff Lee allowed two runs on nine hits in seven innings of work. He struck out six and allowed one home run, a solo shot off the bat of Wilin Rosario in the second inning.

Sorry, Buffalo Bisons fans, your playoff-contending team has been asked to report to the Toronto Blue Jays as shortstop Ryan Goins was called up on Thursday morning as Maicer Izturis was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left ankle sprain, according to an official tweet. Izturis was removed from the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader against the Yankees. After observing it for one day, the Blue Jays decided it would be best to rest it for 15 days. Boy, we could've used Emilio Bonifacio right about now.

Goins, a 25-year old fourth-round draft pick in 2009, is a left-handed hitting shortstop.The Texan mostly played at short stop this season with Buffalo, trying a handful of games at the other positions. He has good range at short, and overall good defense, which allows him to make plays like this:

He was batting .257/.311/.369 for the Bisons with six homers to his name. Goins strikes out about 20% of the time, walking 7% of the time. He had a great May and June at the plate, but has cooled off lately.

Goins was a R. Howard Webster Award recipient last season, having been named the Fisher Cats' MVP. He will be wearing #2 for the Blue Jays. He will be the third player to make his major league debut with the Blue Jays, after Sean Nolin and Kevin Pillar.

A.J. Jimenez and Mauro Gomez (who is injured) are the only two remaining position players on the 40-man roster who are not on the active roster. So much for September callups!

UPDATE

In other injury news, John Gibbons said that while Colby Rasmus would likely play again in 2013, Melky Cabreraprobably won't. The Blue Jays can free up room on their 40-man roster by transferring Cabrera to the 60-day disabled list. They can fill that spot with a prospect coming up or maybe they can use it to claim Jeff Francoeur!

The Yankees try to complete the four-game sweep of the Blue Jays this afternoon and draw closer to the Wild Card-leading Oakland Athletics. The Yankees currently sit four games back of Oakland, who is playing against the fellow Wild Card contender Orioles (three games back) tonight in Baltimore. A win would also help the Yankees gain half a game on the Indians (2.5 games back), who have the night off. Here's the lineup the Yanks will send out against Toronto lefty J.A. Happ:

Silver And Cold Lineup: Suzuki 9, Wells DH, Cano 4, Soriano 7, Rodriguez 5, Granderson 8, Reynolds 3, Nunez 6, Stewart 2, Pettitte 1.

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughSL) August 22, 2013

Joe Girardi is giving Brett Gardner the day off after he had a half-day off yesterday at DH. That seems kind of strange, but oh well. It's worth noting that Gardner has appeared in all but two of 126 games for the Yankees this year in a season immediately following an injury-shortened campaign, so perhaps it's for the best that he receives some rest. He's been scuffling at the plate lately at 6-for-his-last-35 and 10-for-50 since his three-hit game against Detroit on August 9th. Vernon Wells gets DH duties with the lefty on the hill and Ichiro Suzuki actually makes a start against a southpaw. Ichiro's been hitting .348/.356/.462 this year against lefties, so he really shouldn't be riding the bench when they pitch anyway.

Curtis Granderson faces Happ in his first appearance against him since the latter broke the former's arm at the start of Spring Training. Hopefully, Granderson will get some sweet revenge with some big hits. Alex Rodriguez returns to the lineup after a day off yesterday, Mark Reynolds plays first in place of the lefty-neutralized Lyle Overbay, Chris Stewart starts over Austin Romine (sigh), and Eduardo Nunez plays shortstop with no obvious backup behind him. Star Ledger writer Andy McCullough thinks that Robinson Cano would be the backup in an emergency, but hopefully it does not come to that. (Although it might be cool to thus see Alfonso Soriano possibly back at second for a brief moment before realizing how much of a butcher he was at the position. Also, Vernon Wells lobbied to be the emergency shortstop. Dwell on that for a moment.)

The reason Nunez has no real backup is that reliever Preston Claiborne was recalled to replace the injured Jayson Nix on the 25-man roster. It makes some sense since the Yankees badly needed bullpen help after burning both of their long relievers yesterday. Andy Pettitte is far from a guarantee to pitch deep in the game, so Sir Preston's services might be needed. It's unlikely that we will see Mariano Rivera today after he appeared three times in two days, so if the game is close, expect to see David Robertson as the closer. D-Rob has pitched just one inning since Sunday night, so he should be fine.

More from Pinstriped Bible:

• Chris Stewart and Jayson Nix defy the odds
• Alex Rodriguez vs. the Yankees: Implications of finding out which side is telling the truth
• Middle of the Yankees order doing their part during recent hot stretch
• Baby Bomber Recap 8/21/13: Miguel Andujar picks up for hits for GCL Yankees
• Yankees 4, Blue Jays 2: Ichiro gets 4000th, Soriano homers in Yankee win

This past Spring Training, the Toronto Blue Jays, coming off a 73-win season, were considered favorites to win the AL East. Less than a month later, things had already taken a turn for the worse. Still, it would be an overreaction to assume that lackluster play throughout the first couple months were indicative of a truly bad team. The team surged in June, winning 11 straight at one point, bringing them two games over .500. But a mid-July swoon that coincided with my honeymoon saw the Jays plummet back down. Whose fault was this disaster of a season?

Part of the reason the Jays entered the season with such high hopes was the fact that they had entered last offseason with a top-ranked farm system. Since they sold off highly-rated prospects for established major leaguers, it was assumed that they'd be getting stars. They certainly got one star in Jose Reyes, but he spent a large part of the season sidelined. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise as the 30-year old Reyes had spent some time on the DL in three of the four previous seasons. Reyes has performed as well as you could expect him to when he's been on the field so there is that. Josh Johnson, when he's been able to pitch, has been victimized by the gopher ball and horrible sequencing to the tune of a 6.20 ERA. Maybe he hasn't been healthy all year. Given Johnson's history, (he's pitched consecutive full seasons just once) though, the assumption that he'd be in tip-top shape likely wasn't a safe one, either. Mark Buehrle is doing pretty much exactly what you'd expect. Emilio Bonfacio was worse than expected but expecting him to be able to hold down a starting role might be a bit unrealistic anwyay. R.A. Dickey has been a far cry from the Cy Young Award winner he was last season but hasn't been all that much worse than he was in 2010 and 2011. With a little bit better luck, he'd actually be a slightly above average starter. Melky Cabrera, who I'm mentioning even though he wasn't brought in via trade, was coming off steroids so there was a lot of uncertainty there. Obviously, he's performed at the very low range of expectations.

So add this all up and the best case scenario for the players the Jays brought in for 2013 has been performing up to expectations. The positive side of this is that we should be able to expect some sort of rebound for many of these players next year (except perhaps Johnson, assuming the Jays don't retain his services for 2014). The Jays were built to contend for at least a few years and it's expected that a team won't win every season within that window. So maybe we should just cut the Jays some slack since that window is still open.

Or maybe not. We bought into the idea that this team would be competitive in 2013. Even assuming that things rebound, we're now talking about a 2- (rather than 3-) year window of contention and plenty of contending teams don't end up making the playoffs. And that's assuming the Jays are able to contend next season. It's kind of hard to improve from a 90-loss team to a 90-win team. Maybe there's a whole seasons of August Brett Lawrie. Maybe Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista keep hitting and actually get some hits on flyballs that don't travel 150 metres. Maybe Brandon Morrow comes back healthy. Maybe J.P. Arencibia won't play baseball like J.P. Arencibia. Maybe the injury bug doesn't bite them quite as hard next season.

Even assuming all these things, the bottom line is that, for this team to compete for a playoff spot in 2014, they're probably going to need to win 20+ more games than in 2013. Between 2011 and 2012, the Orioles improved by 24 wins. They just had to overplay their Pythagorean record by 10 games.

So how safe should Anthopoulos be? Let's put it this way: for all of the Ricciardi hate (much of it is warranted, of course), consider that Ricciardi had the helm between 2002 and 2009. The Jays had three seasons 85 wins. Anthopoulos has had the team for four seasons and he has one 85-win season, one 81-win season, and two

Thanks to Ted Leo and the Pharmacists for today's post title.

Last night the Indians finished off a sweep of the Angels, wrapping up a successful 6-3 road trip and pulling within 2.5 games of the second Wild Card spot. It was mentioned during the broadcast that this was the Tribe's first sweep in Anaheim (excuse me, their first sweep in Los Angeles of Anaheim) since 1999. That got me wondering about when the Indians last swept other teams, in other cities. I put on my detective hat (which does not exist) and went to find out. What follows is each American League team (not counting the Astros, on account of them being new in town), with the last time the Indians swept* them at home, and on the road. With one glaring exception, the findings are good.

*in a series with at least 3 games

Orioles

Last sweep in Cleveland: April 15-17, 2011

Last sweep in Baltimore: April 17-19, 2001

Travis Hafner had a pair of homers in that 2011 series, which was part of the Indians fantastic start that season, while Marty Cordova (remember him?) hit two in the finale of the 2001 sweep, which also featured a win from Dave Burba, which makes it feel like far more than 12 years ago to me.

Red Sox

Last sweep in Cleveland: April 5-7, 2011

Last sweep in Boston: April 12-15, 1996

That 2011 series included 7 shutout innings from Roberto "Fausto" Hernandez, in the best outing he had in his last two years with the Tribe. Boston is one of just two cities on this list the Indians haven't earned a sweep in during the 2000s, but that 1996 series was a 4-gamer, and included a 14-2 drubbing in which Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel, and Albert Belle all homered, and a complete game shutout by Jack McDowell in the finale.

White Sox

Last sweep in Cleveland: July 29-August 1, 2013

Last sweep in Chicago: June 28-30, 2013

The one team the Indians have swept both at home and on the road already in 2013. If you think back all the way to three weeks ago, you may recall Jason Giambi and Carlos Santana hitting walk-off home runs in that home series, while the road one involved a doubleheader with a record 7 hours and 53 minutes of baseball without a single extra inning, on a day when Jason Kipnis reached base 8 times.

Tigers

Last sweep in Cleveland: May 22-24, 2012

Last sweep in Detroit: August 25-27, 2008

Justin Masterson out-dueled Justin Verlander in the finale of that 2012 series, which served as the high-water mark for the 2012 team, as it put them 8 games above .500 (with a 3.5 game lead in the Central). In that 2008 sweep, Grady Sizemore had a two-HR game and Cliff Lee picked up the 19th win of his Cy Young-winning campaign.

Royals

Last sweep in Cleveland: July 12-14, 2013

Last sweep in Kansas City: April 13-15, 2012

Kipnis and Santana each had 6 hits in that series last month, which also included Corey Kluber tossing 7.2 shutout innings while striking out 8 (come back soon, Corey!). The 2012 sweep featured Hafner's titanic home run to deep, deep right field at Kauffman Stadium.

Angels

Last sweep in Cleveland: August 4-6, 2000

Last sweep in "Los Angels": August 19-21, 2013

This week's sweep game at a good time, with the Tribe fighting to stay in the playoff hunt. It also included the longest game of the year for the Indians, Tuesday's 5:17, 14-inning affair. Thome and Roberto Alomar both homered twice during the 2000 sweep, while Alomar and Kenny Lofton each stole two bases.

Twins

Last sweep in Cleveland: September 15-17, 2008

Last sweep in Minnesota: September 16-18, 2011

Santana homered twice in the 2011 series and Thome hit his last ever long ball in an Indians road jersey. The 2008 sweep was part of the Tribe's late-season push that season, which already came up in the Detroit entry, and will be featured again twice more before this post ends.

Yankees

Last sweep in Cleveland: September 11-13, 1970

Last sweep in New York: April 7-9, 1989

Oof. It's hard to believe the Tribe hasn't swept even a 3-game series from them in over 24 years, meaning some of you have never been alive for such an event. The winning pitchers in 1989 were Rich Yett, Greg Swindell, and Tom Candiotti. In 1970 they were Mike Paul, Dean Chance, and Steve Hargan. If those names aren't familiar to you, ask your parents, or maybe your grandparents.

Athletics

Last sweep in Cleveland: May 6-9, 2013

Last sweep in Oakland: May 10-12, 2000

Kipnis, Nick Swisher, and Mark Reynolds each homered twice during the series this May. Jaret Wright pitched a complete game shutout in the finale of 2000's sweep, which took place during the second week of Charlie Manuel's managerial tenure.

Mariners

Last sweep in Cleveland: May 17-20, 2013

Last sweep in Seattle: April 8-10, 2011

The four-game series in May involved three walk-off victories, with the only exception being a 6-0 win in which Masterson went seven innings and the offense hit Felix Hernandez hard. The opener of that 2011 sweep included a 10-run 4th inning that saw Santana, Hafner, and Orlando Cabrera each collect two hits as the lineup batted through.

Rays

Last sweep in Cleveland: May 25-28, 2009

Last sweep in Tampa Bay: August 22-24, 2003

The Indians trailed 10-0 in the first game of the 2009 series, and were still down 10-5 with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, but a Ryan Garko home run, four consecutive walks, and a Victor Martinez single completed the comeback. The 2003 sweep included Cliff Lee going 8 innings for the first time in his career (he's since gone 8+ another 75 times).

Rangers

Last sweep in Cleveland: July 26-28, 2013

Last sweep in Texas: August 22-24, 2008

The July series had back-to-back shutouts, with Ubaldo Jimenez going 8 innings in the finale, allowing just 2 hits in his best performance as an Indian. Andy Marte had a hit in all three of the 2008 wins, at a time when most of us still had high hopes for him.

Blue Jays

Last sweep in Cleveland: June 28-July 1, 2010

Last sweep in Toronto: August 8-10, 2008

Speaking of prospects during better times, Matt LaPorta had a pair of home runs in that 2010 series, which also included Jake Westbrook's penultimate win as an Indian. Shin-Soo Choo had 7 hits in the 2008 sweep, which kicked off the Tribe's American League-best 32-17 finish that season.

In Closing...

The Indians have swept every other AL team (not counting Houston) at least once during the last five years, with the Yankees as the lone holdout (and good gravy is that ever a long holdout). More impressively, the Tribe has swept a series from four AL West teams in 2013 (and six AL teams altogether), with the only exception being the lowly Astros (if you must know, the Indians have never swept Houston in the seven series they've played over the years). That's tough to do, given that they play those teams just twice a year now. The Indians hadn't swept all four of those teams in the same season since 1980, when there were only 12 AL teams and they played one another more frequently. That's the only time it ever happened before.

The Indians first ever sweep of the Astros and first sweep of the Yankees since 1989 are the big things to keep an eye out for, and we can all hope they update their most-recent sweep against some of the teams they play again in 2013.

Not surprising news, but news anyway. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons told the media assemblage before Thursday's afternoon game against the Yankees that starting pitcher Brandon Morrow and Melky Cabrera, who stands in left field, are both done for the 2013 season.

Morrow, 29,  was transferred onto the 60-day disabled list on August 1 with an entrapped radial nerve, but he hadn't played a major league game since May 28. Gibbons mused briefly that Morrow might come back for the last week of the season, but most of us knew that wasn't going to happen. Morrow has had a disappointing season to say the least, going 2-3 with a 5.63 ERA in just 10 starts for the Blue Jays. His strikeout rate has dropped precipitously from 28.3% to 26.1% to 21.4% to 17.4% over the past four seasons. Morrow was owed $8 million this season, and the same next season. The Blue Jays will have to decide after next season whether to pick up a $10 million club option for 2015.

Cabrera, who is owed the same amount for 2013 and 2014 as Morrow (no club option for 2015 though), has been in and out of the lineup the whole year with general running suckage. At the plate he went from .346/.390/.516 in 2012 to .279/.332/.360 this season in 88 games played, the fewest in his career (save his cup of coffee in 2005). Surprisingly, he just turned 29 years old a week and a half ago, so there's still hope in him yet if he rests up and gets into shape for spring, especially with the Blue Jays' recent luck with 29-year old Dominicans.

If Cabrera is indeed done, the Jays can create room on the 40-man roster by transferring him to the 60-day disabled list.

One piece of good news is that Colby Rasmus is set to resume "baseball activities" on Monday. He'd be a nice addition to the Bisons outfield for their final week of the season.

UPDATE: I missed this tweet from Barry Davis. Thanks to Andrew Stoeten for pointing it out:

Gibbons doesn't expect Morrow or Cabrera to play again this yr. Delabar, McGowan, Bautista, Rasmus and Izturis are expected back. #bluejays

— Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) August 22, 2013

The 2012 MLB Draft: Where are they now?

It has been more than a year since the 2012 draft. Here's an update on how the early picks have performed.

1) Astros: Carlos Correa, SS: From high school in Puerto Rico, Correa has been excellent with Low-A Quad Cities in the Midwest League, hitting .324/.406/.472 with 10 steals and 31 doubles, showing good plate discipline, and playing very well on defense. He's a complete prospect and doesn't even turn 19 until next month. He's lived up to everything expected and more and is a clear Grade A prospect.

2) Twins: Byron Buxton, OF: From high school in Georgia, Buxton is a Five Tool player who has actually exceeded expectations, hitting .330/.416/.522 on the season with 67 walks and 52 stolen bases between Low-A Cedar Rapids and High-A Fort Myers. His combination of speed, power, on-base ability, and stellar defensive play makes him the top prospect in baseball.

3) Mariners: Mike Zunino, C: From the University of Florida, Zunino showed power in Triple-A with 11 homers in 47 games but hit just .238. He struggled in the major leagues before going down with injury, hitting .242/.315/.343 in 29 games, and while it seems clear he was rushed, he still has to rank among the premier catching prospects in baseball.

4) Orioles: Kevin Gausman, RHP: The former Louisiana State star has been effective in Double-A and Triple-A (3.65 ERA, excellent 78/14 K/BB in 79 innings) but got knocked around a bit after being rushed to the majors (6.21 ERA in 33 innings). Scouts still love him and still see him as a future ace starter; he just needs a bit more experience.

5) Royals: Kyle Zimmer, RHP: From the University of San Francisco, Zimmer had problems early on with High-A Wilmington but turned things around in June, then earned a promotion to Double-A where he was overpowering in four starts before being shut down with a tired arm. His outstanding 140/36 K/BB ratio in 108 innings this season is more indicative of his talent than his 4.32 ERA, which was elevated by some rough games early. Like Gausman, he still projects as a top-of-the-rotation arm.

6) Cubs: Albert Almora, OF: From high school in Florida, Almora has been hampered with injuries but played well for Low-A Kane County when healthy, hitting .329/.376/.466 in 61 games. He's expected to continue hitting for average and power as he moves up the ladder.

7) Padres: Max Fried, LHP: A high school pitcher from California, Fried has been reasonably solid for Low-A Fort Wayne in the Midwest League, posting a 3.58 ERA with a 94/55 K/BB in 106 innings. He could stand to improve his command, but at 19 he's got plenty of time to do that. Athletic lefties with 90+ fastballs get lots of slack.

8) Pirates: Mark Appel, RHP: Stanford ace Appel didn't sign with the Pirates, a move which paid off in 2013 when he was drafted first-overall by the Houston Astros. He's looked good thus far down at Quad Cities in the Midwest League, with a somewhat misleading 4.18 ERA in 28 innings but a solid 24/6 K/BB, a strong ground ball tendency, and enthusiastic scouting reports.

9) Marlins: Andrew Heaney, LHP: Drafted out of Oklahoma State, lefty Heaney has had an excellent season but little fanfare, posting a 1.42 ERA with an 80/23 K/BB in 82 innings between High-A Jupiter and Double-A Jacksonville. He has a 90+ fastball, a good slider and changeup, throws strikes, and has adapted rapidly to pro ball.

10) Rockies: David Dahl, OF: Drafted from high school in Alabama, Dahl had a spring disciplinary run-in with the Rockies, then tore his hamstring early in the season, leading to a lost campaign. He hit .275/.310/.425 in 10 games in Low-A before going down.

11) Athletics: Addison Russell, SS: This Florida high schooler kept his head above water despite being the youngest regular in the High-A California League, hitting .279/.370/.520 with 16 homers and 15 steals, unusual production for a shortstop. He'll reach Double-A next year at age 20 and is clearly one of the top infield prospects in the minors.

12) Mets: Gavin Cecchini, SS: From high school in Louisiana, he's hitting .286/.318/.333 in 39 games in the short-season New York-Penn League, drawing praise for his glovework and instincts. It is an open question if he'll hit enough at higher levels, but at age 19 he has time to develop.

13) White Sox: Courtney Hawkins, OF: A high school slugger from Texas, Hawkins was given a very aggressive assignment to High-A at age 19 and has suffered for it, hitting just .187 with 145 strikeouts in 342 at-bats. He's also slammed 19 homers. Most scouts felt Hawkins was too raw for this level and that judgment has been proven correct. His power remains impressive and he's quite young, but we'll have to see how the Sox handle him going forward.

14) Reds: Nick Travieso, RHP: From high school in Florida, Travieso has been somewhat disappointing for Low-A Dayton in the Midwest League, posting a 5.22 ERA with a 56/22 K/BB in 71 innings, allowing 76 hits. He's not throwing quite as hard as he did in high school and his secondary pitches need more refinement, but at age 19 he has time.

15) Indians: Tyler Naquin, OF: Rated as a polished hitter coming out of Texas A&M, Naquin has unexpectedly struck out 121 times in 481 at-bats this year over 116 games between High-A and Double-A, with an overall .279/.345/.426 line. He's hit 10 homers and stolen 15 bases. Ultimately he may profile best as a fourth outfielder.

16) Nationals: Lucas Giolito, RHP: From high school in California, Giolito would have gone 10-15 spots higher if not for an elbow injury which required Tommy John surgery. He recovered quickly and has looked good since retaking the mound in July, posting a 2.28 ERA in 28 innings thus far with a 29/10 K/BB between rookie ball and the New York-Penn League. His stuff is first class and if his command (and health) remains strong he could be a top ten prospect a year from now.

17) Blue Jays: D.J. Davis, OF: This toolsy outfielder from high school in Mississippi is hitting .253/.332/.455 with 10 steals for Bluefield in the Appalachian League. He's got some contact issues (62 whiffs in 198 at-bats) but his combination of speed and power potential is rare and the Jays will be patient.

18) Dodgers: Corey Seager, SS: From high school in North Carolina, Seager was excellent in the Low-A Midwest League (.309/.389/.529 in 74 games) which earned him a promotion to the High-A Cal League. The going is tougher there (.194/.296/.435), but overall this has been a very successful season. He combines pure hitting skills with good power, and has at least a chance to stay at shortstop.

19) Cardinals: Michael Wacha, RHP: This right-hander from Texas A&M has had a strong campaign, thriving with Triple-A Memphis (2.65 ERA, 73/19 K/BB in 85 innings) and holding his own in major league action (4.73 ERA but a solid 26/7 K/BB in 27 innings). He should be ready to take a larger role in the Cardinals staff next year as a workhorse starter, providing a very rapid return on the first round investment.

20) Giants: Chris Stratton, RHP: From Mississippi State University, Stratton has been effective for Low-A Augusta, with a 3.08 ERA and a 117/41 K/BB in 120 innings. He's performed well and in many organizations he would have been promoted by now, but the Giants have enough arm depth to avoid rushing people.

21) Braves: Lucas Sims, RHP: This home state high school pitcher from Georgia has been terrific for Low-A Rome, with a 2.78 ERA and a 121/44 K/BB in 107 innings, allowing a mere 74 hits. He's been particularly effective in August; don't be surprised if he ranks very highly on prospect lists entering 2014, despite not receiving quite as much hype as he likely deserves.

22) Blue Jays: Marcus Stroman, RHP: He may be just 5-9 but the right-hander from Duke has a great arm, posting a 3.22 ERA with an excellent 109/22 K/BB ratio in 95 innings for Double-A New Hampshire. At this rate we should see him in Toronto some time in 2014, although opinions remain mixed on his long-term role as starter or reliever.

23) Cardinals: James Ramsey, OF: The senior from the University of Florida had a fast start in High-A (.361/481/.557 in 18 games) but Double-A has been tougher, with a .245/.346/.427 line for Springfield. He's hit 15 homers but also fanned 101 times in 323 at-bats at that level. He can take a walk and profiles as a productive platoon player.

24) Red Sox: Deven Marrero, SS: A slick fielder from Arizona State, Marrero has hit .253/.333/.324 on the season between High-A and Double-A, with 22 steals in 24 attempts. His lack of power is a significant hindrance, but his defense and speed will get him to the majors in at least a utility role, and it's not impossible that he'll hit enough to start.

25) Rays: Richie Shaffer, 3B: The former Clemson star hasn't hit with the expected authority in High-A, batting .252/.309/.402 with 11 homers, 34 walks, and 102 strikeouts in 433 at-bats for Charlotte in the Florida State League. His glove has been decent but he has to improve his hitting to make it as a corner infielder.

26) Diamondbacks: Stryker Trahan, C: The high schooler from Louisiana is hitting .259/.338/.466 for Missoula, which isn't great by Pioneer League standards.  He's also given up 15 passed balls and 11 errors in 35 games behind the plate. He still has the potential to be an impressive hitter with power and patience, but it remains to be seen where he winds up on defense.

27) Brewers: Clint Coulter, C: A high schooler from Washington state, Coulter got off to a slow start in Low-A (.207/.299/.345 in 33 games) but has hit more effectively since being sent to rookie ball, hitting .350/.409/.617 in 17 games in the Arizona League and .333/.375/.444 in 10 games in the Pioneer League. Like Trahan, his defense is very raw and he may not stick behind the plate long-term.

28) Brewers: Victor Roache, OF: Drafted out of Georgia Southern, Roache had to shake off the effects of a serious wrist injury and hit just .209/.303/.341 in his first 50 games this year. He turned that around in his next 57, hitting .263/.325/.504. Overall he's hit 20 homers on the season and excites the Brewers with his power, but will have to watch his strikeout rate at higher levels.

29) Rangers: Lewis Brinson, OF: From high school in Florida, super-toolsy Brinson is hitting .236/.320/.431 in the Low-A Sally League, showing power and speed with 20 homers and 20 steals, but also a serious contact problem with 179 strikeouts in just 415 at-bats. His defense draws raves and he's very athletic, drawing comparisons to Mike Cameron, Chris Young, Drew Stubbs, and Devon White. Such outcomes are plausible if the strikeouts don't eat him up in the minors.

30) Yankees: Ty Hensley, RHP: This hard-throwing Oklahoma prep right-hander missed the entire season following spring hip surgery.

31) Red Sox: Brian Johnson, LHP: An advanced lefty from the University of Florida, Johnson has a 2.87 ERA with a 69/28 K/BB in 69 innings for Greenville in the Low-A Sally League. He's performed well, but a pitcher with his polish should be expected to at this level. He missed all of June with mild shoulder trouble but has pitched well since his return.

OTHER SUCCESS STORIES: Three players who were not first round picks have already reached the major leagues.

Paco Rodriguez, LHP, Dodgers: Drafted in the second round from the University of Florida, Rodriguez has had an outstanding season in the major league pen, with a 1.94 ERA and a 54/13 K/BB ratio in 46 innings, allowing only 22 hits. He's picked up two saves and looks like a key component of the Dodgers bullpen going forward.

Michael Roth, LHP, Angels: A ninth round pick from the University of South Carolina, Roth has spent most of 2013 with Double-A Arkansas (4.43 ERA, 43/33 K/BB in 69 innings) but did make 15 relief appearances with the Angels, posting a 7.20 ERA. The soft-tosser projects as an 11^th man on most pitching staffs.

Alex Wood, LHP, Braves: This second round pick from the University of Georgia has been outstanding in 58 major league innings, used as both a starter and reliever, posting a 2.50 ERA with a 61/16 K/BB ratio and a .221 average against. Like Wacha with the Cardinals ,Wood provided a quick return on investment by the Braves and should be in the rotation for 2014.

More from Minor League Ball:

• The 2012 MLB Draft: Where are they now?
• Prospect of the Day: Chad Bettis, RHP, Colorado Rockies
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 21
• Astros sign Mexican slugger Japhet Amador
• Prospect of the Day: Ethan Martin, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies
• Prospect Retrospective: Jeff Kent
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 20
• Prospect Note: Leury Garcia, INF, Chicago White Sox

Curtis Granderson gave the best kick-start to the offense that he could give in the bottom of the fifth. His solo shot put the Yankees on the board after falling behind on a J.P. Arencibia solo-homer off of Andy Pettitte in the top of the inning. It was one of only four hits on the night for the Yankees.

Vernon Wells followed Granderson's homerun up with a confusing 7-5 sacrifice forceout. With the bases loaded and one out in the inning, Wells lined a ball to Blue Jays center-fielder Rajai Davis. The umpire said it was trapped by Davis and Eduardo Nunez scored from third, while Chris Stewart got thrown out at third. Replays showed that the ball seemed to have been caught, but the umpires missed a should-have-been triple play. (They missed a lot this game, both ways.)

After another scoreless inning by Pettitte, Nunez took advantage of three walks to Alex Rodriguez, Granderson and Mark Reynolds. He took J.A. Happ's 1-1 pitch back up the middle for a two-run single, scoring A-Rod and Granderson. Reynolds scored a batter later on Chris Stewart's groundout. The Yankees gave it up to their bullpen with a 5-1 lead heading to the seventh.

Shawn Kelley did not have a great outing. He was the first arm to relieve Pettitte, and came in to face the 7-8-9 hitters of Toronto. One walk and three singles later, the Blue Jays got back a run and had the bases loaded with nobody out. Kelly got a shallow fly out from Rajai Davis and forced Edwin Encarnacion into a fielder's choice. Boone Logan was brought in and struck out Adam Lind to limit the damage to just two runs.

Andy Pettitte came through with his second straight quality outing against a division opponent, throwing six innings while giving up just one run on four hits and striking out three. Preston Claiborne, who was added back to the roster with Jayson Nix going to the DL, pitched a short eighth inning. David Robertson came in to give Mariano Rivera the night off and pitched a perfect ninth for his second save of the season.

The Yankees' production came from the bottom of the lineup. The 6-9 hitters went 3-11 with a homer, three walks and four runs, while the 1-5 hitters went 1-14 with five strikeouts and nine runners left on base. With the completed sweep, the Yankees won their fifth straight game overall, and their tenth straight against the Blue Jays. The Bombers are now just 3.5 games out of the wild card and, for those who set higher goals, seven games back of the Red Sox.

More from Pinstriped Bible:

• Yankees Offense 2.0: Is this new offense for real?
• Yankees make like early birds in day games after night
• Alex Rodriguez vs. the Yankees: Implications of finding out which side is telling the truth
• Middle of the Yankees order doing their part during recent hot stretch
• Chris Stewart and Jayson Nix defy the odds

Well, at least there was some creativity in this loss. The Blue Jays and Yankees were scheduled for an early afternoon game on this getaway day, but since the Yankees could not afford to build a roof over their ballpark (poor guys) everyone had to wait three hours and 32 minutes for a particularly large and slow rain cloud (I think it's known in the meterological circles as a "cumulomelky") to pass by. This long delay was just five minutes shorter than the longest rain delay in Blue Jays history, which occurred on April 10, 2009 in Progressive Field. It was just two minutes shorter than the longest rain delay to start a game in Blue Jays history, which happened at Exhibition Stadium--also against the Indians--on August 2, 1987. In both of those games, the Blue Jays won, so I guess the Jays did set a franchise record for the longest rain delay in a loss (old record was a there-hour and 18 minute delay at Exhibition Stadium versus the Red Sox on September 26, 1985). Yay!

Notice that I spent most of the first paragraph not talking about the game. That seems to be the theme in the past few game recaps. But I guess that I should go and actually do talk about the game in order to continue doing my job and cashing my cheques.

In the "good news" category, the Blue Jays scored the first run of the game on a J.P. Arencibia solo shot in the fifth. Toronto had struck first in all four losses this series in Yankee Stadium, which is just fantastic. Arencibia had not homered for six games, but to be fair he only struck out eight times in that span. The Blue Jays loaded the bases but, predictably, finished the inning without scoring another run. See, Arencibia's homer quashed the Jays' rally before it even got a chance to begin.

However, the lead was short lived. (The previous sentence is just cut-and-pasted from another game recap from this year.) In the bottom of the inning, Curtis Granderson homered off starter J.A. Happ, completing the circle of bad karma around Happ since he broke Granderson's hand in spring training. Don't worry--the bad karma around the Blue Jays will continue since R.A. Dickey broke Jayson Nix's hand on Wednesday.

Later that inning, first base umpire Scott Barry made a mistake that cost the Blue Jays a couple of runs. With one out in the inning, the bases were loaded with Yankees: Eduardo Nunez on third, Chris Stewart on second, and Ichiro Suzuki at first, with our old friend Vernon Wells at bat. Wells hit a shallow fly ball that centre fielder Rajai Davis dove to catch, then Davis threw it to second base where Munenori Kawasaki tagged Chris Stewart to complete the inning-ending double play, then Kawasaki tagged Ichiro Suzuki (who was also at second) just in case.

Rajai Davis, in his Kaenon sunglasses, looks on in disbelief. It's kind of funny that he stayed shocked for at least the next half inning.

The problem for the Blue Jays was that Scott Barry didn't see it that way. He thought that Davis had trapped the ball even though it was clear to me that it was caught above the ground. Then Alfonso Marquez, the second base umpire, missed that Kawasaki had tagged Ichiro too. If there were no outs that would've been a triple play. Perhaps the Jays would've gotten out of the inning if John Farrell had let Jon Rauch eat Marquez.

In any case that was ruled a an 8-4 force out for Wells, and Nunez came into score. John Gibbons, was understandably angry, kept on yelling "he caught the f___in' ball!" and got tossed--not very gentlemanly. If this had happened next year, Gibbons (or his successor) would have calmly walked out onto the ball field and presented the umpires with a request for a replay. Interestingly, Ted Barrett the crew chief, also tossed Mark Buehrle--the Blue Jays pitcher who, according to some sports radio callers, doesn't care about the team because of Ontario's bulldog ban--for his sass. But hey, you must admit that this was a pretty creative way to lose the game.

GIF by Shermanator91

In the bottom of the sixth, Happ walked a couple of batters, then reliever Brad Lincoln walked another before Nunez singled in two runs. Then acting manager DeMarlo Hale called for Aaron Loup. Loup induced a ground out, but it brought another one of the walks in to score to make it 5-1.

Happ didn't look great, but he did put together a few solid innings before the walks in the fifth and sixth. He threw 97 pitches, 60 of them for strikes and struck out four while only allowing three hits, but he walked five Yankees.

With Shawn Kelley coming in for the ageless Andy Pettitte in the seventh, Toronto mounted a little comeback attempt. Moises Sierra walked, Kevin Pillar singled, then Kawasaki brought a speedy Sierra in on a single. The bases were loaded again with a Jose Reyes single. A batter later, Edwin Encarnacion hit an RBI grounder to shortstop Eduardo Nunez, who smartly went to get the force out at third. With the bases loaded and a righty on the mound, Hale relaced Mark DeRosa with pinch hitter Adam Lind, and Joe Girardi immediately called for southpaw Boone Logan who promptly struck out Adam Lind on a 1-2 slider.

So the Jays had an early lead then made it interesting by making it 5-3. But a loss is a loss. The club is now 14 games below the .500 mark and are 17.5 games back of the Red Sox. Their elimination number is now 17. The Astros' elimination is just 4 so with the Rangers' help, the Jays could eliminate the Astros this weekend.

Other brief notes:

• Brett Lawrie made some sensational defensive plays at third base, making the YES network commentators ponder why the Jays tried to make him a second baseman.
• Jose Reyes scared some pigeons (GIF by Shermanator91):

• The Blue Jays fall to 16-28 all time in Andy Pettitte starts.
• Toronto finishes the season 0-10 at Yankee Stadium. Now we know how the Orioles fans felt three years ago when they lost every game at the Rogers Centre (remember when the Orioles sucked?).

Jays of the Day! Jose Reyes (+.106 WPA) for some fine pigeon shooing. Brett Lawrie (-.049) didn't have the numbers at the plate, but he made some pretty plays at third again.

Suckage Jays: Brad Lincoln (-.162), Rajai Davis (-.147), Edwin Encarnacion (-.141).

Here's something fun to finish off this dreary game recap: Kevin Pillar talks to MLB Fan Cave's April Whitzman about himself!

Yesterday on Pinstriped Bible

• Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3: Bombers win fifth straight in sweep
• Yankees Offense 2.0: Is this new offense for real?
• Yankees make like early birds in day games after night
• Yankees lineup vs. Blue Jays, Preston Claiborne returns
• Chris Stewart and Jayson Nix defy the odds
• Alex Rodriguez vs. the Yankees: Implications of finding out which side is telling the truth
• Middle of the Yankees order doing their part during recent hot stretch
• Baby Bomber Recap 8/21/13: Miguel Andujar picks up for hits for GCL Yankees

Around the Internet

• It's About the Money | Brad Vietrogoski:Robinson Cano is on fire and this is the absolute perfect time for him to heat up.
• USA Today | Jorge L. Ortiz:David Ortiz didn't like Ryan Dempster hitting Alex Rodriguez.
• NoMaas | Martin Riggs:David Robertson has been ridiculously effective because of his unhittable curveball.
• Baseball Nation | Grant Brisbee: What if Ichiro Suzuki came to MLB in 1992 instead of 2001?
• YES Network | Jack Curry:Alfonso Soriano never wanted to leave the Yankees in the first place, so he's taking advantage of a second chance.
• NotGraphs | David G. Temple: How are we supposed to appreciate Ichiro Suzuki?
• Yahoo! Sports | Jeff Passan: How do you defend someone like Alex Rodriguez in court?
• MLB Trade Rumors | Steve Adams:Andy Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda have some of the highest ground ball rates among 2014 free agent pitchers.
• Hardball Talk | Craig Calcaterra: Could Metallica play Enter Sandman for Mariano Rivera live?

Quick Hits

• Ichiro Suzuki has the most hits ever over a 13-year span.
• Jose Abreu is establishing his residency in Haiti and will look to sign in the offseason.
• When asked about the Yankees middle infield depth, Joe Girardi mentioned that Alfonso Soriano was a shortstop in the minors and that Vernon Wells wants to be the Yankees backup shortstop.

Questions of the Day

• Who has provided the most value on the Yankees in the last month?
• Who is the biggest threat to the Yankees at this point in the season?
• Do you hold a fork in your right hand or left hand?
• Do you have any scars?

Coming Up Today

• Baby Bomber Recap 8/21/13 @ 8 am
• Ichiro Suzuki's impact: A legend's legacy in pinstripes @ 10 am
• Will Joe Girardi want to return in 2014? @ 11 am
• Looking Ahead: What stands between the Yankees and the Playoffs? @ 1 pm
• New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays at 7:10 pm (Game Thread at 6:30 pm)

Rajai Davis made a pretty routine catch against the Yankees in the eighth inning of the Blue Jays loss on Thursday. Well, it was mostly routine, if not for the fact that his hat fell off, he kicked it, hit himself in the head with it, and caught the baseball anyway.

Seeing it in real-time is fine and all, but it doesn't paint the picture you need. Zoom and enhance!

Does he not even flinch when the hat flies up in front of his face? I don't think he even flinches. There's only one way to find out, and that's with a slow-motion, kicking-yourself-in-the-head-with-your-hat GIF:

Is he not aware that it's happening? Is he just that zoned in on the ball? About the only thing that could have improved this is if his hat had caught the ball, and then he caught his own hat. What's the ruling on that one, blue?

More from SB Nation MLB:

• David Ortiz comes to A-Rod's defense

• Watch Ichiro collect his 4,000th hit

• Neyer: The meaning of Ichiro's 4,000 hits

• MLB, NPB mull changes to posting system

• Pirates "have some interest" in Justin Morneau