Tuesday, February 28, 2017

2015 Draft Lottery Info

We will be conducting our draft lottery on Monday, March 6th and Tuesday, March 7th.....

The “Pennsylvania Daily Number Evening” lottery (http://www.palottery.state.pa.us/) on subsequent nights (7PM EST) will be used to decide who gets the #1 and #2 picks in the first round only. If the second pick yields the same result as the first night, then a third night’s lottery drawing will be used.

The remaining 10 teams will draft in reverse order of record. So, the team with the poorest record can do no worst than pick third in the first round.

2015 Lottery Drawing Chances:

000 to 249 – Minnesota (59-103)

250 to 449 – Atlanta (65-97, 4-2 vs. New York in tie-breaker)

450 to 604 – New York (65-97)

605 to 724 – Arizona (67-95)

725 to 814 – Anaheim (70-92, 5-1 vs. Washington in tie-breaker)

815 to 879 – Washington (70-92)

880 to 924 – Chicago (71-91 26-22 runs scored vs. Cleveland in tie-breaker)

925 to 954 – Cleveland (71-91)

955 to 974 – Pittsburgh (73-89)

975 to 986 – Kansas City (77-85)

987 to 994 – Houston (80-82)

995 to 999 – Miami (89-73)


(Click here for a history of previous lottery numbers selected.)


Mariners Eliminate Blue Jays in Seven Games


Seattle advanced to their sixth World Series with a four games to three semi-finals playoff win over the Toronto Blue Jays.  A summary of the series:


Game 1: TOR wins 7-1.  Nelson Cruz slammed 2 homeruns and had 3 RBI and Henderson Alvarez pitched a complete game allowing 1 run while scattering 7 hits.  Felix Hernandez took the loss as he gave up 10 hits and 5 runs over 5 innings.

Game 2: SEA wins 4-0.  Jeff Samardzija fired a six hit shutout and Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a single, double and homer while knocking in a pair.  Iwakuma takes the loss.

Game 3: TOR wins 5-2.  Garrett Richards pitched 8 strong innings by only giving up 1 earned run while fanning 9.  Justin Turner had 2 ribbies.  Seattle's Lester got knocked out in the 3rd inning as he gave up 7 hits and 4 runs over 2 2/3 innings.

Game 4: SEA wins 4-0.  Seattle's Felix Hernandez responded from his first game loss by firing a 3 hit shutout.  Pujols hit a homer, drove in 2 runs and scored 2 runs.  Blue Jays' Chris Archer takes the loss.

Game 5: SEA wins 5-3.  The Mariners take a 3-2 series lead with the win.  Jeff Samardzija won his second game of the series (3-0 1.93 ERA in the post season) by pitching 6+ strong innings.  Jose Reyes went 4 for 4.  Henderson Alvarez, who pitched a gem in game #1 of the series, got hit hard by giving up 13 hits and 5 runs.

Game 6: TOR wins 6-5 in 13 innings.  Facing elimination, Toronto's Iain Kinsler hit a dramatic walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 13th to send the series to game 7.  Seattle had a 4-1 lead going to the bottom of the 7th but their bullpen could not hold the lead.  Both teams scored a run in the 10th inning as this game was the most exciting of the series.  Toronto's strong bullpen pitched 6 innings while only giving up 1 run. 

Game 7: SEA win the final 2-1.  King Felix pitched brilliantly again as he fired a 3-hit CG while fanning 8.  Garrett Richards was the hard luck loser giving up 2 runs (1 earned) and striking out 7 over 7 2/3 innings.  The game was decided in the 8th inning.  After an out was recorded, Jose Reyes reached on an error.  One out later, Ryan Braun stepped in and he drew a walk.  Pujols then lined a single for the game winning run.         

Saturday, February 25, 2017

A's Outlast Crosstown Rival Giants in 7 Games



Oakland beats San Francisco in 7 games.  Close, low scoring series with 4 one run games.  As they did in the divisional round the A's come back from a 3-1 series deficit.  A summary of the series:


Game 1: Oakland wins 5-2.  SF jumped to an early lead on a Yasiel Puig double, but the A's scored single runs in the 4th thru 8th innings.  Austin Jackson recalled memories of past playoff glory with a pinch-hit triple.  Jake Arrieta pitched 6 ok innings before 5 OAK relievers LaRussa'd the Giant bats to close out the win.

Game 2: SF wins 1-0.  Max Scherzer and and three RP's hold the A's scoreless, Coco Crisp had an RBI double.

Game 3: SF wins 4-3.  Thanks to another Austin Jackson triple and RBI hits by Kyle Seager (the original Seager brother) and Mike Morse the A's jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but the Giants scored 1 in the 2nd and 3 in the 4th to win again.  Chris Coghlan doubled twice and drove in 2 for the Giants.

Game 4: SF wins 3-1.  Morse homered to give the A's another early lead but Adam Wainwright and 3 relievers held the A's scoreless the rest of the game.  Craig Kimbrel saved his 3rd game in a row.

Game 5: Oakland wins 3-2.  The A's again jump out to an early lead but manage to hold on this time.  Kemp and Morse homer for the A's runs, Arrieta goes 8 innings, Scott Atchison gets the final out for the save.

Game 6: Oakland wins 4-3.  The A's scored single runs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th innings, Giants had a 3 run rally in the 5th.  In the 9th the A's loaded the bases on a single, error, and walk, Craig Kimbrel then walked Matt Joyce to give the A's a literal walk-off win.

Game 7: Oakland wins the final 2-0.  Morse drove in the only runs with a double in the 3rd inning.  The Giants had baserunners on throughout the game but could not come up with a clutch hit.  Carlos Carrasco pitched 3 scoreless innings in relief for the win. 

Series MVP: Oakland - Mike Morse 10 - 26, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 5 2B.        

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Toronto Defeats St. Louis in Five Games

St. Louis (AP) - The Toronto Blue Jays eliminated the St. Louis Cardinals four games to one in a closely contested quarter-finals playoff series.  Although the series ended in just five games, the playoff match was much closer than it appeared as four of the five games were decided by one run.  And, three of the games were walk off wins.  A recap of the series:

GAME 1:  TOR 5, STL 4 (15) – Lots of tense moments in the opener as the Blue Jays finally broke through in the bottom of the 15th.  Adrian Beltre hit a walk off rbi-double after a costly Redbird error by Anthony Rendon.  Koji Uehara got the win in relief as the strong Blue Jay bullpen pitched 7 1/3 innings of scoreless relief while only allowing two hits.

GAME 2:   TOR 3, STL 2 – Another walk off win for the Jays.  In the top of the ninth, the Cardinals rallied to tie the game at 2-2 vs. Blue Jays’ closer Chapman.  But, then in the bottom of the inning, Toronto’s Justin Turner hit a 2-out walk off double against Drew Storen.  Chapman gets the win in relief while Mike Dunn takes the loss.

GAME 3:   STL 1, TOR 0  – Alcides Escobar executed a walk-off suicide squeeze play to perfection in the bottom of the 9th to give the Cardinals the win.  In another tense one run struggle, each team only managed two hits.  The win went to Kelvin Herrera who allowed no runs in 1 inning. The loss was charged to Tony Sipp in relief.

GAME 4:  TOR 6, STL 5 – Fourth straight one run ball game.  Nelson Cruz and Justin Turner hit homeruns off Francisco Liriano to jump out to an early 5-1 lead.  But, the Cardinals chipped away to reduce the deficit to just one run entering the top of the 9th.  Then, Aroldis Chapman promptly struck out the side to preserve the win. 

GAME 5:  TOR 4, STL 2 – Henderson Alvarez outpitched Jacob DeGrom as Toronto advances to the semi-finals to face Seattle.  Chapman pitched a scoreless ninth to gain his second save in the series.

Thursday, February 09, 2017

A’s / Red Sox Series Goes Seven Games Before Oakland Wins Clincher


Oakland (AP) - In a battle of division rivals, the Oakland Athletics defeated the Boston Red Sox 4 games to 3.  A recap of the series:
 


GAME 1:  BOS 10, OAK 9 - The Red Sox rallied for two runs in the top of the 10th when Charlie Blackmon walked, Justin Upton doubled, Josh Donaldson hit a sac fly and Jonathan Lucroy doubled the go-ahead run. Then, Rondon fanned the side in the bottom of the 9th to pick up the save.

GAME 2:  BOS 5, OAK 1 (10) - Boston scored four unearned runs off Jake McGee in the top of the tenth inning to grab a 2-0 series lead.  Betances picked up the victory in relief.

GAME 3:  OAK 5, BOS 4 (12) - Ender Inciarte singled home Jimmy Rollins in the top of the 12th as the A's picked up a much needed victory.  Jake McGee got the win in relief.  Oakland left 15 on base while Boston stranded just 5 runners on base.

GAME 4:  BOS 3, OAK 0 - Phil Hughes tossed 6 scoreless innings and relievers Jepsen, Betances and Rondon completed the shutout.  Alexei Ramirez drove in a pair of runs.

GAME 5:  OAK 3, BOS 1 - Jake Arietta fanned 12 over 6+ innings and D. Norris drove in two runs as the Athletics staved off elimination.

GAME 6:  OAK 9, BOS 3 - Oakland's bats came alive as they scored 6 runs off loser Jordan Zimmerman.  Collin McHugh pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings while fanning nine batters.  Kemp, Morse and Seager all hit homers for Oakland.

GAME 7:  OAK 5, BOS 3 - Oakland scored four first inning runs off Anibal Sanchez and their pitching made the runs hold up as Oakland advances to the semi-finals to face their crosstown opponent San Franciso Giants.  Michael Morse hit a homer and drove in 3 runs for the A's.

Giants Eliminate Phillies


The San Francisco Giants used strong pitching and timely hitting to knock off the second seeded Philadelphia Philies in five games.  A recap of the series:

GAME 1:  SF 3, PHIL 1 (10) - The Giants got to Phillies reliever Mark Melancon in the 10th as Chisenhall and Coughlan hit RBI singles.  Zach Duke got the win in relief and Craig Kimbrel pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 10th to preserve the victory.

GAME 2:   PHIL 2, SF 1 (11) – Another extra inning contest as (after two were out) Kevin Kiermaier tripled and then Eric Hosmer got the walk off game winning hit.  Good pitching matchup in this one as Philadelphia’s Cory Kluber faced the Giants’ Zack Greinke but both pitchers were long gone by the time the game finished in the 11th.  Melancon gets the “W” and Kimbrel records the loss.

GAME 3:   SF 4, PHIL 2  – Giants’ catcher Robinson Chirinos hit a two-run homer off R. A. Dickey in the bottom of the eighth to break a 2-2 tie.  Kimbrel gets his second save in the series by pitching a scoreless ninth.

GAME 4:  SF 7, PHIL 1  – Very strange line score for the Giants as they score 7 runs off just 2 hits.  But, the Phils gave up seven walks, an error and a hit batsman which allowed San Francisco to get the win.  Tanner Roark pitched 6+ shutout innings to defeat Phillies pitcher Scott Feldman.  Giants are now up 3 games to 1.

GAME 5:  SF 6, PHIL 5 – San Francisco’s Adam Wainwright outpitched Michael Wacha as the Giants eliminate the Phillies.  Puig, Castro and Dozier all hit homers off Wacha to pave the way for the series clinching win.  Craig Kimbrel earned his third save in the series by pitching another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 9th.  San Francisco now faces the winner of the Oakland Boston series.

Seattle Defeats Los Angeles in Six Games


 
Fourth seeded Seattle eliminated fifth seeded Los Angeles in a quarter-finals playoff series.  A recap of the games: 

GAME 1:  LA 5, SEA 1  - Matt Garza didn't allow a hit until the 8th inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Seattle Mariners 5-1.  Garza (1-0) gave up just 2 hits and 1 walk in 7+ innings.  The right-handed Garza lost a no-hitter when Albert Pujols doubled with one out in the 8th inning.   The loss was charged to Felix Hernandez (0-1).  He gave up 5 runs and 10 hits in 8+ innings.  Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run homer for LA. 

GAME 2:   SEA 5, LA 4 – Seattle’s Ryan Braun hit two homers including a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth which proved to be the game winner.  Darren O'Day got the win in relief and Francisco Rodriguez recorded another postseason save for the Mariners.

GAME 3:   LA 7, SEA 0 – Teams travel to LA for the next three games.  Andrew Cashner fired seven shutout innings as the Dodgers cruised 7-0.  Cashner fanned nine in his seven innings of work.  David Peralta hit a pinch-hit grand slam homerun off Sergio Romo in the bottom of the seventh to break the game wide open. 

GAME 4:  SEA 1, LA 0 – King Felix fired a dominating one-hitter while fanning 12 as the Mariners evened the series.  The lone run was scored in top of the sixth as Albert Pujols knocked in Jose Reyes for the game winner. 

GAME 5:  SEA 4, LA 2 – Jeff Samardzija outdueled Matt Garza as the Mariners pushed the Dodgers to the brink of elimination with a 4-2 win.  Francisco Rodriguez, who gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth as LA tried to mount a comeback, got his second save of the series. 

GAME 6:  SEA 7, LA 6 (12) – Jose Reyes hit a walk off double in the bottom of the twelveth  scoring Peter Bourjos as Seattle eliminated Los Angeles.  The Dodgers had tied the game up at 6-6 in the 8th as they scored two runs off Romo.  Both teams used eight pitchers in the game.  The Mariners, who were eliminated in last season’s semi-finals to the eventual champs Indians, will now face the winner of the Toronto-St. Louis playoff series.