The offense showed again that a lot of the time it lives by the long ball. That being said it was a good win to open the series and the Toronto loss made it a really good night.
Great job by Sevey, good things from that man this season, good to see Bird knock one. Only bad thing about his game was Longoria getting another bomb. Need to drop some inside magic on that guy, get tired of sportscasters talking about how he has burned the Yankees.
Baltimore & Toronto play each other 6 more times, could be interesting, those teams had some major issues earlier in the season especially Bautista & Adam Jones.
Mess, it kinda looks like Houston and Toronto also does alot of living with the long ball. Toronto clearly has better consistent hitting - # 1 ba w/risp .292, Houston is 11th.(Yanks 6th) Also - Toronto, Houston and Yanks have hit the most HRs from the 7th inn on but the thing which grabs your attention regarding those two "playoff" teams is their good pitching both SP and bullpen. Toronto is 4th in the league in SP ERA and surprisingly 4th in bullpen ERA. Houston is 3rd in SP ERA and 2nd in bullpen ERA. Not too shabby and to be honest, on paper, it's a bit of a surprise the Yanks are merely 1/2 game behind Toronto - thankfully the games aren't played on paper. However, Toronto and Houston have losing records on the road and in 1 run games.....Toronto is also .500 on grass- there is a chip in the armour..lol. KC - obviously doesn't "rely" on the HR but unlike last year's WS team, this year they're a GOOD run scoring team # 4 in the league and 3rd in BA w/risp to go along with the best bullpen 2.36 ERA - tough team.
The potential is there for a very interesting playoffs. When you look at the AL I think anything could happen.
Yep- the Central is the only division secured as we still don't know how things will shake out with Yanks/Toronto, Houston, Texas and possibly another WC entry. Having the home field is as good a place to start as any as Toronto and Houston aren't the "same" teams on the road as home. Who knows? Can never tell who or what team rises to the occasion. KC seems to be the most balanced consistent team in most of the components you want in post season play...bullpen, scoring, BA w/risp, winning at home AND on the road.
