The first-place Cleveland Indians strode into Fenway Park on Thursday night to face the Boston Red Sox, which normally wouldn't be significant but the return of Tribe skipper Francona to the place he managed to two World Series titles in his eight-year stint made it so.
OK, let's stir up some arguing and yelling again. Yesterday, I ranked the top five pitching duos. Today, let's do the majors' best hitting duos. Ranking the pitchers was difficult because there were so many excellent pairs to choose.
One reader called it "epic." I don't know about that, but it was a two-and-a-half hour marathon chat session
Major league baseball is so deep in quality starting pitching that you could probably make the case for nine or 10 different combinations as the best pair going right now. Here are my top five: 1. Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners This may surprise you, but Hernandez and Iwakuma have the highest WAR (wins above replacement) of any pair of pitchers in the majors.
San Francisco Giants ace Matt Cain struggled again on Thursday in Colorado, giving up six runs, including three home runs, although he managed to get the win as the Giants won 8-6. Cain's ERA rose to 5.
Four of the AL East teams will be facing off head-to-head this mid-May weekend, with the Tampa Bay Rays traveling to Baltimore and the mighty Vernon Wells-led New York Yankees hosting the last-place-but-hot Toronto Blue Jays.
The San Francisco Giants are built around their starting rotation. That would seem more a statement of fact than an assertion of opinion. After all, conventional wisdom tells us the rotation carried the Giants to a World Series title in 2010 and then another in 2012.
In April, Jose Bautista had turned into a three true outcomes type of player: home run, walk or strikeout. He hit seven home runs and had a slugging percentage over .500, but was hitting just .200. Was he just finding his stroke as he returned from last year's injury problems?
The hottest team in baseball is those Cleveland Indians, and we don't need instant replay to prove it. The Tribe has won 10 of 11 with terrific pitching and more than a few home runs. Mark Reynolds leaves nothing to chance with 500-foot blasts.
Thoughts on Sunday's games ... A brutal weekend for the suddenly disintegrating Dodgers. Swept by the Giants, including two on walk-off home runs. Hanley Ramirez, just activated from the DL earlier in the weekend, landed back on it after straining a hamstring on Friday.
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