Well the Astros beat the Angels, of which you can read about in the Masked Marvel's Game Recap here. The Yankees beat the Rays by a score of...wait that can't be right...JEEBUS...yes, 21-5. The Yankees scored 21 unanswered runs after the Rangers put up a 5-spot in the 1st. The Diamondbacks beat the Mariners, and the A's beat the Dodgers. So once again the Angels and Astros are tied for the lead in the AL West. FanGraphs gives the Astros a 43.7% chance of winning the division, and an 84% chance of making the postseason.
Game Links
*C.J. Wilson: Any time the team scores five runs for me, I feel really good about my chances, but I just sort of dropped that one right in the toilet...I didn't have anything tonight. I could have lost to the (Triple-A affiliate) Salt Lake Bees, the way I was throwing the ball.
*Collin McHugh: That was probably the ugliest pitchers' win you'll see and one of the prettiest team wins you're going to be able to witness. Everything besides what I did today we did extraordinarily well. It was fun to watch and I was fortunate enough to be on the right side of it.
*Jeff Luhnow: I don't know how much more (the Angels series is worth) more than a normal game, but they're worth a lot. This is the team that we need to beat if we want to win this division. Every game here, our team's going to be very focused on winning these games.
*An MRI showed no structural damage in Mike Trout's wrist, and he could be back in the Angels' lineup tonight. This guy is straight panicked.
*Hank Conger has worked on his hitting mechanics: Just from the beginning of the season to literally now, the transition is just working with Zinter and Hudgens on plate discipline. Whether it is taking borderline pitches or not, it's really just seeing strikes is what has helped me out this year.
Trade Deadline Links
*Jim Crane: "Hopefully we might add another guy or two before the deadline on Friday."
*The Astros plan with the Phillies remains to "negotiate and worry about approval later."
*(Previous link) The Padres and Phillies both had scouts at the Astros and Rangers' Double-A games over the weekend.
*Ken Rosenthal has additional confirmation that the Astros are making a "strong push" for Cole Hamels, but how open Hamels is to waiving that no-trade clause is unknown.
*Sirius/XM's Mike Ferrin says that if Hamels "is serious about wanting to win over the life of his contract, then waiving a no-trade to Houston is a no brainer."
*The Rangers and Dodgers are "in a better position" to land Hamels.
*The Rangers are talking to the Padres about Andrew Cashner and/or Tyson Ross "as much as they are" the Phillies about Cole Hamels.
Other Links
*Billy Beane, who has traded away Scott Kazmir and Tyler Clippard in the last week, credited the Astros' rebuilding plan for his actions: (The Astros created) a dynamic farm system, and they're now starting to reap the rewards. If we're ever going to compete, we're going to have to take a somewhat similar approach and at least make sure we've got young players who are coming through the system who'll be here for a few years.
*Kaz Matsui joined Japan's 2000-hit club.
Non-Astros Link of the Day: As many of you know, Die Hard 3 is my favorite movie of all time. ("The One I Love" with Mark Duplass and Elizabeth Moss is a very close 2nd): Here's Uproxx on How Die Hard With a Vengeance caused the FBI to rethink Federal Reserve security.
