LOS ANGELES -- Getting the 27th out against the Dodgers this year has proved very difficult.
The 28th? Forget it.
The Dodgers managed 12 walk-off wins, tops in the National League, throughout the regular season, but none of them were as memorable as their first one in the playoffs, a jaw-dropping 3-2 victory over the Cardinals in Game 2 of their Division Series on Thursday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
They were done. The game was over. James Loney had hit a fly ball to Matt Holliday with two outs in the ninth, trailing by a run. Andre Ethier, standing in the dugout, had already began mentally planning to fly to St. Louis with the series even at a game apiece.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Cardinals have hit the skids. Well, relatively speaking. The Cardinals have lost two games in a row for the first time since July 25-26. Even worse, their loss on Saturday came after closer Ryan Franklin blew his second consecutive save opportunity, allowing the Braves to score twice in the ninth in a 7-6 defeat.
It's just a hiccup for the Cardinals, who remain 10 1/2 games up on the Cubs in the National League Central. Their magic number for clinching the division is 11. Still, any slump by Franklin is bound to raise some eyebrows, especially this close to the playoffs.
Ryan Franklin is enjoying the best year of his career as a 36-year-old, and he's being rewarded by the St. Louis Cardinals' front office with a contract extension. The deal was announced via press release and financial terms were not disclosed, but Franklin is now locked up by the Cardinals through 2011.
The Cardinals also announced they have extended the contract of left-handed relief specialist Trever Miller through 2010 with a vesting option for 2011.
"We are pleased to announce that both Ryan and Trever will remain in a Cardinals uniform for the foreseeable future," said Cardinals' Vice President/General Manager John Mozeliak.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch today is reporting that the St. Louis Cardinals are nearing a 2-year/$6.5 million extension with closer Ryan Franklin. Franklin's emergence as closer has been one of the most important developments for the division leading Cards in 2009. St. Louis entered the season with a big question mark at the position, but after Chris Perez failed to win the job in spring training and Jason Motte flamed out in the job in the first week of the season, Franklin's held down the fort. He's leading the National League with 34 saves and has a ridiculous 1.07 ERA.
The two-year deal includes the Cardinals picking up their team option in 2010 and adding one year on top of it. It will take Franklin through his 38th birthday. He makes it clear in the story that he'd like to stay in St. Louis and as long as he's pitching well, I'm sure the Cardinals are happy to oblige him (especially if he shaves his stupid beard, which I hope was part of negotiations).
An interesting statistic just flew by me. Over the last two weeks three pitchers have blown two saves. While that's not earth shattering stuff, it is odd that two of these three pitchers play for the Seattle Mariners.
In addition to David Aardsma and Mark Lowe's inability to close out games over the last two weeks, they've also seen spikes in ERA. Aardsma hasn't had a month yet where his ERA was above 2.25. But, in August he's exploded for a 7.36 ERA. And, his 2.16 WHIP is approaching those low ERA's he enjoyed earlier. Lowe's high ERA of 4.34 from April to June has now risen to touchdown status as his post-June ERA is 6.84. These aren't the trends you want in your late inning pitchers.
You see, when it comes to marquee names like Pedro, the expectations are always a bit unrealistic. It would be nice if legends could harness the same stuff at age 37, but that's just not the way it goes. In fact, the Martinez we saw in his season debut Wednesday wasn't all that impressive from a fantasy perspective.
MLB Power Rankings:Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
So, quick apology on my part: the Power Rankings were supposed to go live Wednesday, but things happened, I'm a jerkstore, excuses, etc., and here we are. It's not Wednesday! So please note that the records reflect Wednesday -- not Thursday, not Friday, not Saturday. Don't freak out in the comments and call me names. Please. I can't take that in my fragile emotional state right now. I might turn into Raul Ibanez, at which point I would yell at you and then strain my groin. And that wouldn't be good for anyone.
It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. The Closer Report will give you that info. And if that wasn't good enough, we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.
As you'll see, Heath Bell has taken over the top spot on this edition of The Closer Report. A few big-name, top-of-the-charts closers from years past have fallen off quite a bit. How weird is it to see Brad Lidge near the bottom of the closer rankings and Joe Nathan stuck in the middle?
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
You couldn't have scripted all of the twists and turns the first 20% of the season has taken thus far. And if you could have, would anybody really watch?
Who had Frank Francisco and Ryan Franklin as two of the closers tied for the major league lead with nine saves at this point in the season? And we all knew Zack Greinke had talent and could blow up at any time. But, a 5-1 record with a 0.51 ERA and a league-leading 59 strikeouts. Seriously?
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
He's only 21 years old. He's only 21 years old. Whenever you get frustrated that your future fantasy stud is struggling, it's important to take a breather and repeat those words. When I was 21, I think I spent my Wednesday nights playing Counter-Strike and eating bad pizza. Justin Upton, on the other hand, has to deal with expectations that he's the next Willie Mays. Whatever happened to the 27-year-old "breakout" rule? Suddenly it's six years younger?
LOS ANGELES -- Getting the 27th out against the Dodgers this year has proved very difficult.
Ryan Franklin is enjoying the best year of his career as a 36-year-old, and he's being rewarded by the 
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch today is reporting that the 
An interesting statistic just flew by me. Over the last two weeks three pitchers have blown two saves. While that's not earth shattering stuff, it is odd that two of these three pitchers play for the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
MLB Power Rankings
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
