Week 21

Record: 79-51, .608, 0 games back
Position: 1st place (10 games ahead of Cincinnati)
Runs Scored: 602 (4th in NL)
Runs Allowed: 499 (2nd in NL)
Defense: .706 (1st in NL)
Power Ranking: 101.4 (6th in ML)
Owner Mood: Ecstatic, Fan Interest: 76/100
Last Week (1-6): 1-3 vs. ATL, 0-3 vs. ARI

• 8/25: ATL 2, PIT 1 - Liriano (7 IP 2 ER) lost the pitchers duel to Kris Medlen (7 IP 0 ER) who was dominant only allowing 1 hit and striking out 8.
• 8/26: ATL 4, PIT 3 - Wandy (4 IP 2 ER) was pulled after 4 and Atlanta would win the battle of the bullpens as Todd Cunningham managed a pinch hit single off of Innoue to put the winning run across the plate in the top of the 11th.
• 8/27: ATL 3, PIT 5 - Burnett had a quality start (7 IP 3 ER) and Russell Martin had a great day at the plate (2-4 1 RS 3 RBI). Marte also chipped in (2-4 RBI RS) and Marinez recorded the final out for his 11th save of the season.
• 8/28: ATL 5, PIT 1 - Castro had a poor start (6.1 IP 5 ER) as Andrelton Simmons had a HR and 2 RBI and Brandon Beachy (7 IP 1 ER) was just to much for our hitters today.
• 8/29: PIT 1, ARI 4 - Lincecum (4.1 IP 3 ER) just couldnt find the plate today as he issued 8 walks and Tyler Skaggs was dominant (8 IP 1 ER) as we couldnt muster anything against him or Josh Collmenter who earned his 26th save of the season.
• 8/30: PIT 6, ARI 9 - Liriano had his worst start of the season (5.2 IP 7 ER) as the Dbacks offense was just to much as Cody Ross, Chris Owings and Alfredo Marte all went deep.
• 8/31: PIT 3, ARI 4 - Wandy had a quality start (6 IP 3 ER) but Chris Perez just couldn't hold on as homers from Eaton, Ross and finally Montero completed the sweep for the Dbacks.

The series loss to a Braves team that has lost 2 of its top sluggers to injury took some wind out of our sails as we know it won't get any easier if we go into a playoff series with Atlanta and their league leading starting rotation. The sweep at the hands of the Diamondbacks was just demoralizing and we really have to focus because in spite of our 10 game lead in the division if we continue to play like this we may not even be able to make it out of the first round.

Neftali Soto of AAA Indianapolis was selected as the International League player of the month for August. He finished the month with a .339 BA 10 HR 23 RBI and 23 RS.
Soto was signed as a minor league free agent back in June, and signed an extension for next year in July. He will go into spring training next season as a candidate to at the very least fill the right handed side of a platoon at 1B.

Who's Hot: Starling Marte 11-28 0 HR 1 RBI 3 RS, Brandon Crawford 9-30 2 HR 2 RBI 3 RS, Iwane Innoue 3 IP 0 ER 3 H 0 BB 1 K.
Who's Not: Pedro Alvarez 3-24 11 K's, Francisco Liriano 0-2 12.2 IP 9 ER 10 H 2 BB 11 K's, Daniel Ray Herrera 2.1 IP 2 ER 1 H 2 BB 1 K.

Next Week: 3 @ LAD, 3 vs. PHI

News from around the league:
8/26: Josh Reddick (OAK) will be out for 3 weeks with a strained oblique.

AL Player of the Week: J.D. Martinez (HOU) 11-23 2 HR 10 RBI 6 RS
NL Player of the Week: Matt Kemp (LAD) 14-30 2 HR 9 RBI 6 RS

Monthly Awards (August)

AL Batter of the Month: Evan Longoria (TB) .343 BA 10 HR 22 RBI 22 RS
NL Batter of the Month: Josh Rutledge (COL) .359 BA 8 HR 27 RBI 21 RS

AL Pitcher of the Month: Colby Lewis (TB) 5-0 2.38 ERA 45.1 IP 33 K's
NL Pitcher of the Month: Michael Wacha (STL) 4-0 1.50 ERA 30 IP 25 K's

AL Rookie of the Month: George Springer (HOU) .313 BA 8 HR 24 RBI 21 RS
NL Rookie of the Month: Nolan Arenando (COL) .381 BA 3 HR 10 RBI 14 RS