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EDWIN DIAZ

For a while, it had looked like Diaz would go 300-for-300 in saves for his career.  The last two outings, he showed us what it looks like when he has an off-day.  That being, "Tough" as opposed to "impossible."

It's part of the human condition that --- > we show our true colors in the bad times, not in the good times.  If Diaz weren't willing to hang tough when it looked like he could lose, he wouldn't deserve to be in baseball, much less deserve to close.  The last two game, my own impression was that he battled very well when things were going wrong.  If and when he starts looking like he doesn't want to compete, then you can worry.

But supposing that Diaz didn't have it all figured out yet:  a 100-MPH fastball and a wipeout slider is still going to get you some swings and misses, and get you some one-hoppers at infielders.  I'll take him for better or for worse over Joel Peralta :- ) and if you want to deal me Edwin Diaz in roto, I'll bite.

No worries here.  Diaz will blow a couple of saves down the stretch.  He will also make us a blizzard of wipeout pitches.  Go get 'em tomorrow, keed.

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RACKIN' EM UP

Since beginning their quest to win at least 15 against the weak sisters on their schedule, the M's have scored 68 runs in 14 games to go 11-3.  That's 4.9, say five, runs per night despite never having a big game - their top score is 8.  The distribution:

8 runs twice

7 runs once

6 runs three times

4 runs three times

3 runs five times

Their offense has been a machine.  It grinds out either twelve hits or three home runs, every night.  Nine more games to make hay.  Dr. D was very surprised to find out that in these 14 games, the heroes have been Boomstick (190), Kyle Seager (175) and Robinson Cano (128).   Also Mike Zunino and Shawn O'Malley have been real good, but tonight the Brewers are going to again need to present their driver's license to our MOTO.

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PENNANT RACE

The M's won 9 of 10 in convincing style, including a sweep of the Tigers in three tightly-played games.  The last one, they went into Anaheim and Felix beat the Angels, 3-2...

The last four games have been sketchy.  The M's won 2 and lost 2 in a series of sloppy games.  But!  That was with Ariel Miranda blowing a comfortable lead by walking a set of leadoff hitters, with Cody Martin starting a Johnny Bullpen game, and with Wade LeBlanc getting taken 465 feet again.  The Rainiers rotation did get us a split of the last four, and that's part of what you get when you hit a soft part of your schedule.  

The weakies donate so much blood because they give you margin for error.  The chessmaster can make two or three bad moves against a hack and still come out with a win.  It's those two or three moves that are the difference between a strong player and a weak one.  It isn't that the lower-rated player can't make good moves; he makes 35 good moves out of 40.  The Brewers closely resemble a good baseball team; it's just that they aren't one.  The same will be true the next two games.

Those AL East teams play a LOT of games against each other in September.  Just gotta stay within three or four strides goin' around the corner.  :- )

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See you at the ballpark,

Dr D