Last Week In Baseball

Winners: For the past few weeks, the best team in New York has been the Yankees, hands down. The Yanks have had the best record in baseball since the break while closing quickly on first-place Boston. In that same timespan, the Metropolitans had been a pedestrian 17-13 while clinging to a fragile division lead in the National League East. But this week, the Mets (70-53, 5-1) finally got some of their footing back against some of the league's doormats, taking two of three from Pittsburgh and sweeping Washington. Most importantly, their injury-ravaged offense has finally started to come around again, particularly since Carlos Beltran's return from the disabled list Aug. 10. Beltran hit two home runs last night, and since he's been back, the Mets have been held to less than five runs just once and are averaging a hair shy of seven runs-per-game.

• It's hard to pump up any team for a good week after it lost two of three to Kansas City. But Oakland (62-64, 5-2) still won five times this week, thanks mostly to a three-game sweep of hapless Chicago. Though it might be a little late for a patented second-half surge, the Athletics have quietly won thirteen of twenty since their dismal 5-13 start coming out of the All Star break. With their next ten games against Toronto and Tampa Bay, the A's have at least a decent shot at breaking over .500 for the first time since July 7.

• San Francisco opened a hectic week last Monday by splitting a doubleheader in Pittsburgh and have played every day since. Though they lost their first two against Atlanta, the Giants dodged the sweep and moved on to South Florida, where they took three from the Marlins. That puts them at five wins for the week for the first time since the week of April 16. So even if The Barry Bonds Show is still buried deep in last place in the NL West, at least the team finally won a few games for the first time since Bonds' record-tying 755th home run. After all, the Giants have more wins since Thursday (four) then they did in their first thirteen games following that homer in San Diego (three).

Losers: These days, if you're going to talk about losing, the discussion starts and ends with the White Sox. A couple weeks ago, I was touting the Sox' three-game sweep of then-AL Central leader Detroit. But before that series, Chicago had been barely keeping itself out of the Central basement. Since then? They've finally crossed that line. The White Sox (54-69, 0-6) have only won twice in twelve games since that series, and are currently mired in an eight-game losing streak that has allowed them to supplant Kansas City as the worst team in the division, and the second-worst team in the junior circuit. And while that slide includes four one-run losses and only two defeats of more than three, eight losses is eight losses. The silver lining is that Chicago can make its stay in last place a short one -- up next are three games with the Royals.

• Speaking of misery in the Central divisions, first place in both leagues was up for grabs this week, and fumbled away by those who had been in control. Detroit (67-57, 2-5) led Cleveland by a half-game heading into the week, then proceed to lose five of seven and slip a game and a half back. Milwaukee (63-61, 1-5) was a game a half up on Chicago, then only managed one win in their six games to fall a full game back.
The Tigers are, of course, still in much better shape. They've been in a dogfight with the Indians all season, and have a strong presence in the wild card race to fall back on. There is certainly little shame in losing three of four in the Bronx these days, and the defending AL champs can jump right back into first with a couple wins over the Tribe this week.
The Brewers' situation is a bit more bleak. Unlike the Tigers, who still have one of the better records in baseball, Milwaukee is barely treading water at this point, sitting just two games over .500 after being thirteen over as recently as July 19. They had a chance to quell the hard-charging St. Louis rally early this week, and got swept. Along the way, they abdicated first to Chicago, then lost two of three to Cincinnati. In the last month alone, the Brew Crew has losing streaks of three, four and five, and no winning streak of more than two. And everyone seems to have Ned Yost's squad in the crosshairs. The Cubs made their big run toward the end of the first half, and won't go away; now the Cards have taken a stake in the final month. And don't look now, but even Houston is making a run at poor Milwaukee, closing to within just seven games of the now-second place club.

• Two other teams dropped five this week. Florida (56-68, 1-5) got knocked around out West, courtesy of Arizona, then San Francisco. Washington (56-67, 1-5) could have actually leapfrogged the Marlins out of last place in the NL East if they didn't struggle just as badly this week against Philadelphia and New York.

Movers: The Cubs (63-59, 3-2) could have done a lot better to start the week, when they lost two of three to Cincinnati. But unlike the Brewers, they responded against the streaking Cardinals, dropping them twice before yesterday's rainout. Had those two gone the other way, Milwaukee would be ahead of both Chicago and St. Louis by a game, while the Cardinals would be leading in the all-important loss column. But instead, the Cubs lead all the way around, and get top props for their two and a half-game surge past Milwaukee.

• The Reds (54-69, 4-2) shouldn't go without recognition for a fairly dominant series wins over the eventual division leader and former division leader. Yes, they're still nine and a half out, but that's two games closer than they were to start the week.

• In other first-place news, the Mets strong week allowed them to pad their lead over Philly and Atlanta by two games, while the Indians (68-55, 3-2) passed Tigers to net a two-game jump.

• In the going-the-wrong-way department, both Florida and Washington fell four games further back of New York, as if the Mets needed the extra cushion for those two teams. The White Sox fell three games further back of the Detroit/Cleveland dichotomy and into last place. And the Cubs' two-and-a-half-game jump is of course the Brewers loss.

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