Well, the Giants lost two out of three to the Dodgers. This leaves the Giants 2 1/2 games behind the Dodgers with 6 to play. Sigh. It wasn't because of the efforts of Sisyphus, who was 3 for 7 with 2 home runs and 7 walks in the three games. Let's see. That's a .429/.714/1.286 weekend, and it's not enough. On Saturday, the only game that the Giants won, he was walked 5 times, three intentionally, including one time with the bases empty. Obviously, the Giants have to win out next weekend, or the Dodgers will be in.

But, the Giants might get in, too. Oh, what a difference one inning can make. On Saturday, I wrote that the Cubs were going to win in New York. Ah, but our old friend, LaTroy Hawkins gave up a three run home run in the ninth inning, and the Cubs lost in ten. And then, they lost again yesterday. So, with one week to play in the season, the Cubs have a 1/2 game lead over the Giants, and lo and behold, the Astronauts are still in it. Phil Garner was right. They're only 1 1/2 behind the Cubs.

The Giants have to play San Diego this week and the Cubs get four with Cincinnatti. The Cubs should win, but I'll bet they'll play the games anyway. I look (and hope) for a very tight and interesting week.

As for Our Favorite Nine, they split with the Indians this weekend. Once again, My Personal Hero Brad Radke got jobbed out of a win, this time by our once again ordinary left handed reliever, J.C. Romero. Romero has really struggled since his scoreless inning streak ended. Seth Stohs remarked [accurately] that Romero's streak wasn't all that great - he allowed 9 of 16 inherited runners to score. Now Romero has struggled, and the Twins have a big question mark in the bullpen as the playoffs start.

On Sunday, the Twins got another good performance from Carlos Silva. He pitched seven innings, allowing just one run on eight hits, two walks and just one strikeout. There can be no doubt that Carlos Silva will be the game three starter for the Twins. Five of his last seven starts have been quality starts, and in the other two, he failed to get a quality start only because he did not finish the sixth inning. In those seven starts, he has the following numbers.

  IP    H    R   ER   HR   BB   SO   WHIP   K/BB    K/9    ERA
 42.2   42   9   9    1    8    14   1.17   1.75    2.95   1.90

Carlos Silva has definitely amassed a collection of mirrors. The guy doesn't strike anybody out. He gives up hits, lots of hits. But, there it is, a 1.90 ERA over almost a quarter of his starts. What he has been doing well is that he hasn't walked anybody (1.7 walks per nine innings) and he hasn't given up home runs. While I'd prefer that he struck out more batters, he's done the two other things a pitcher needs to do to be successful. So, I for one will have a little bit of confidence that Silva can give the Twins a chance to win in the post season. Let's look at Silva against another pitcher for the entire season.

        IP    H   R  ER  HR  BB  SO  WHIP  K/BB   K/9   ERA
Silva  197.0 246  96 91  21  34  74  1.42  2.18   3.38  4.16
Milton 188.0 189 102 98  40  71 151  1.38  2.12   7.51  4.69

Look at that WHIP. Look at the HR allowed. Yes, Eric Milton has struck out a lot more guys, but Silva has otherwise outpitched him this year. What a good trade for the Twins.

I am still thinking about that Expected Wins stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love how statistics can help everyone to understand a player's contributions. I think that the explosion of statistical analysis in baseball (or at least, the increased availability of statistics to everyday fans) has made the game much more enjoyable to me. But, sometimes, I think maybe enough's enough. I'd like to hear what you have to say. Take my poll and comment about if you are so moved.

Have a good week and enjoy the final season. And go Twins! 1 1/2 game lead over Oakland!

I read this awhile ago and thought I'd comment. Peter Gammons was discussing Ichiro's AL MVP candidacy and he made this "point":

But to most who have voted over the years, there is a difference between the Most Valuable Player and the Player of the Year. Was Alex Rodriguez the POY in 2003? Absolutely. Was he the MVP? Probably not. Was he therefore punished for being on a last-place team? Yes.

In case you don't remember, Alex Rodriguez was voted AL MVP. I'm not sure exactly how he was punished.