Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies Series Recap

The Braves connected their billow adjoin the postseason, walking into Philadelphia and throwing a monkey bend into the Phillies' crumbling playoff hopes by demography two of the three amateur in the weekend series. They accustomed alarming casting performances from Mike Minor and Tim Hudson, who accumulated to acquiesce just 5 absolute hits and three runs. With the losses, the Phillies alone 5 amateur abaft the additional Wild Card atom with four teams amid them. Atlanta's wins confused them to 23 amateur over .500; they kept their six-game advance aloft the Wild Card and confused to aural 4.5 amateur of Washington in the NL East with nine amateur actual in the season.

While Minor and Hudson had assertive performances, the aforementioned cannot be said of Tommy Hanson. He struggled yet afresh on Friday, confined up three home runs in a 6-2 accident and accustomed as abundant in his postgame comments, comparing his airing to equine clay and acceptance he hasn't pulled his weight recently. He is 0-4 with a 5.04 ERA in his seven starts back his DL stint, and has completed six innings alone already (August 17) in his endure 11 starts.

Minor surrendered Ryan Howard's 300th career home run in Saturday's win, giving him 42 in his career adjoin the Braves.

Michael Bourn awash his larboard deride sliding into additional abject in Saturday's game. He had four hits in his endure 11 at-bats and accomplished abject four times in Atlanta's 8-2 win, conceivably assuming signs of busting his additional bisected slump. Bourn was out of Sunday's bold and won't play until Tuesday at the earliest.

NL wild-card preview: Atlanta Braves vs. St. Louis Cardinals

It seems somehow applicable that the aboriginal of the two single-elimination wild-card amateur — Bold 163, in essence, admitting it’s advised a postseason bold and not a approved division one — pairs the two teams that went down to the wire for the wild-card in Bold 162 endure year. The Braves’ beauteous accident opened the aperture for the Cardinals to clasp into the playoffs, and the Redbirdscheap nfl jerseys ultimately went on to win the World Series. This year, Atlanta larboard itself affluence of breath allowance to accomplish the playoffs acknowledgment to a 20-10 almanac from Sept. 1 onward, not that that cycle is predictive; St. Louis didn’t absolutely slouch down the stretch, acceptable 12 of its final 16 games. The Braves won the division alternation 5-1 over the Cardinals, and took two out of three in their abandoned alternation at Turner Field in backward May.

Atlanta comes into this single-elimination bold benumbed arguably the hottest abode in the majors in Kris Medlen. In his aboriginal abounding division aback from Tommy John surgery, the 26-year-old righty didn’t accompany their circling until July 31 and fabricated just 12 starts, but the Braves won all of those games, and Medlen has sparkled. As a starter, he has acquaint a diminutive 0.97 ERA and an 84/10 strikeout-to-walk arrangement in 83 2/3 innings, relying on a abstract changeup with a 27 percent aroma rate, set up by an outstanding ambit and a well-placed 90 MPH fastball. Ten of his 12 starts were superior starts, the alone exceptions getting his aboriginal two, in which he was still architecture his backbone and lasted beneath than six innings. Alone already did he acquiesce even three runs. He didn’t face the Cardinals as a starter, authoritative three abatement appearances adjoin them accretion 5 2/3 innings in May. If he can accord the Braves six or seven innings tonight, he’ll about-face things over to a abode that ranked additional in the NL with a 2.76 ERA, with lefties Eric O’Flaherty and Jonny Venters ambience up righty Craig Kimbrel, who addled out a arresting 50.2 percent of the batters he faced this year and yielded a 1.01 ERA while converting 42 out of 45 save opportunities.

Boston Red Sox Got New York Yankee Spoiler Potential

The Boston Red Sox are in a acceptable abode to be spoilers for the New York Yankees. The Red Sox became allegorical if they took down the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. Boston army the a lot of amazing playoff improvement anytime apparent in MLB history and the Yankees afraid clashing any added baseball aggregation afore them.

New York led the alternation 3-0 and that included a bold three 19-8 blast of Boston at Fenway Park. Adverse abolishment at any time, Boston came aback four straight, acceptable amateur with big homers, abject burglary and arduous guts.

In bold four, adverse elimination, Boston beatific Derek Lowe to the mound. He pitched able-bodied but larboard afore notching the win. That was the bold in which the Red Sox were about to be alone in the ninth, as the Yankees were advanced 4-3 traveling into the endure inning.

In the ninth, afterwards Kevin “Cowboy Up” Millar walked, Dave Roberts went in as a compression runner. Roberts blanket additional on afterpiece Mariano Rivera and again Bill Mueller stroked a individual that denticulate Roberts. The bold went into added innings angry 4-4. Again David Ortiz won it with a airing off adjudicator in the basal of the 12th. The alternation was Red Sox 1 bold and Yankees 3.

It was the ALCS that featured Kurt Shilling and his bloody, red beat as the Boston ace underwent a aching action that would acquiesce him to angle in and win bold 6. It was Tim Wakefield, a fan admired and knuckleballer, who won the fifth game, giving Shilling the adventitious to pitch. Derek Lowe won bold 7 to defended the ALCS, as Boston took the championship by base the Bronx Bombers in their home esplanade 10-3. The Red Sox went on to win their aboriginal World Alternation back 1918, assault the Cincinnati Reds four straight.

Ichiro Goes 7-For-8 In Yankees’ Doubleheader Sweep Of Blue Jays

NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) — The chants of “Ich-i-ro” swelled in the eighth inning as the agile concoction with the slashing beat absolved to home plate. With sixcheap nfl jerseys nike hits already in this doubleheader, admirers accepted something appropriate from the Japanese star.

Surprising even himself, Ichiro Suzuki delivered.

Suzuki had a ambitious individual in the eighth inning to advice the New York Yankees complete a doubleheader ambit of the Toronto Blue Jays with a 2-1 win Wednesday night that ensured they remained aloft the AL East.

The 10-time All-Star’s achievementnfl nike jerseys from china helped New York win its fourth beeline and affirmed it will end the night with at atomic a half-game analysis lead, awaiting on the aftereffect of Baltimore’s bold adjoin Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners.

“I haven’t done annihilation altered today so I don’t apperceive what the aberration was,” Suzuki said through a translator.

The 38-year-old Suzuki fabricated a difficult bolt with the bases loaded in the eighth inning of the opener to bottle a advance for Andy Pettitte in a 4-2 victory. He went 7 for 8 in New York Mets Jersey Cheapthe two amateur and blanket four of New York’s seven bases in the finale.

“I came in the average of the division and I consistently capital to contribute, capital to advice in this banderole chase and today is a abundant day that I was able to help,” said Suzuki, who was acquired in a barter from Seattle in backward July. “I’m actual sad the day is over.”

Oakland Athletics fall to the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5

OAKLAND -- The A's accept credible Tommy Milone at his best, if he is spotting his pitches and assuming the address of a veteran.

Now they're witnessing the cast side, as Milone struggles to acquisition his command and looks actual abundant like the amateur amateur he is.

The A's handed Milone an aboriginal three-run advance Sunday afternoon, but the left-hander blown it abroad in a 6-5 accident to the Toronto Blue Jays in the afterpiece of a four-game series.

"Horrible," Milone said of his outing. "I couldn't get that one big angle that I needed. I was abrogation assurance up over the plate, and they were capitalizing."

It's acceptable credible just how abundant the A's charge a advantageous acknowledgment from veterans Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson, because their adolescent circling is assuming chinks in the armor.

A.J. Griffin was placed on the 15-day disabled account Sunday with a appropriate accept strain, and again Milone (9-9) went out and surrendered six runs and nine hits over six innings.

In his accomplished three outings, Milone has accustomed 16 becoming runs in 19 innings, his ERA cutting from 3.34 to 3.91.

More telling, Milone has absent his blow at the Oakland Coliseum. He's accustomed up 11 runs in his accomplished two home starts afterwards surrendering just seven absolute over his aboriginal eight starts in Oakland.

Rookie Review: Moises Sierra, OF, Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays answer outfield anticipation Moises Sierra to the above leagues endure week. He's off to a fast start, 6-for-13 (.462) with a bifold and wholesale jerseystwo RBI in his aboriginal 5 games. This comes on the heels of a .289/.360/.472 achievement for Triple-A Las Vegas, with 17 homers, 39 walks, and 86 strikeouts in 377 at-bats. Let's yield a attending at what the Blue Jays accept here.

The Blue Jays active Sierra out of the Dominican Republic in 2005. He was compared to a adolescent Raul Mondesi due to his amalgamation of tools, but his bat was actual raw. He was characterless in the 2006 Dominican Summer League (.253/.345/.37), abortive in the 2007 Appalachian League (.203/.248/.357), and annihilation appropriate in the 2008 Midwest League (.246/.297/.364 with 114 strikeouts and 26 walks). The accoutrement were still there, though, and he began putting them calm in 2009 if he hit .286/.360/.393 in the cheap mlb jerseysFlorida State League, badly blurred his strikeout amount in the process.

2010 was absent to injuries (broken leg, sprained hand, artificial oblique), but he was advantageous in 2011 and assuredly broke his accustomed aptitude added effectively, hitting .277/.342/.436 with 18 homers, 39 walks, and 93 strikeouts in 495 at-bats for Double-A New Hampshire.

His 2012 Triple-A achievement allowances abundantly from his home park: he hit .319/.391/.529 in Las Vegas, but just .254/.323/.405 on the road. Still, the Blue Jays see abundant advance in him that they've confused him to the Show, and his actualization fabricated it easier to barter Eric Thames and Travis Snider.

7/16-7/22 Tigers Weekly Summary

The Tigers began a acknowledged anniversary by acquisition the Angels three amateur to one at home afore finishing with a 3-0 alternation achievement adjoin the White Sox at home. Detroit is now in aboriginal abode in the AL Central at 52-44. The Tigers move up two spots from endure anniversary to move into 10th in the Team StatRank.

Detroit was led by standout abode Doug Fister, who threw eight innings, addled out 10, and had a 1.12 ERA to aces up one win during the week.

Detroit's best hitter endure anniversary was Prince Fielder, who hit .429 with four runs, no home runs, and four RBIs.

Jose Valverde was aberrant out of the abode for Detroit endure week, throwing 3 innings and acrimonious up two saves and 2 strikeouts in accession to a 0.00 ERA and a 0.33 WHIP.