Seton Hall
This week in baseball (Week of June 23)
Date: June 24, 2019By: Joe Cammarota
This past week in baseball has been one of ups and downs. In the AL, the Yankees have won eight of their last nine, while the Astros have lost seven of their last eight games. In the National League, the Dodgers have won six of their last seven, while the Phillies have lost four of six games this week. The Phillies had one game postponed earlier in the week due to inclement weather.
The Yankees probably had the best week of all the teams mentioned, as they swept the second place Rays to extend their lead in the division and took three of four from the slumping, yet dangerous Astros.
The Yankees are finally getting healthy again, Aaron Judge came back from injury against the Astros and Giancarlo Stanton returned from his rehab assignment against the Rays. These returns have lifted the team’s spirit mightily and with getting back to full form, the Yankees are a team to watch down the stretch if they can stay healthy.
The Yankees regaining some of their best bats should allow them to continue their winning ways against the stumbling Blue Jays and good but underperforming Red Sox this week.
The Astros had the exact opposite week of the Bronx Bombers. The ‘Stros dropped the three to the mediocre Reds and only salvaged one game from the series against the hot Yankees. The Astros did not play terrible in their games, as their largest margin of defeat came at four runs to the Yankees on Thursday night. Many of their loses were one run loses, which just happens as the result of a long season.
The Astros should be able to get back on track this week as they play two last place teams, the Pirates and Mariners at home in Houston.
Moving on to the NL, the Dodgers were red hot this week, extending their division lead to 13 games. They did this, winning six straight games after a loss Monday to rival San Francisco Giants. After this loss, they began to start tearing the cover off the ball, scoring no less than four runs the rest of the week and driving in nine runs, three times.
After that, they went and played the second place Rockies, whom they promptly swept in three games. This series was slightly closer, but their hot offense provided the run support needed to win those games.
The Dodgers continue their slate of divisional games, playing the Arizona Diamondbacks and Rockies next week. Expect their hot streak to continue as their opponents are not nearly as talented as the Dodgers.
The opposite of the Dodgers in the National League is the Phillies, who lost their last four contests they have played in and have only won-one game out of their last nine. Despite this, they have been able to maintain second place in the NL East.
They lost three to the Nationals and were swept by the last place Marlins. The issue for them is that they have not had the best run support. This can be a greater issue if this continues, as the NL is very competitive, and the Phillies cannot afford to drop any more games in their division. This week can be a rebound week for them though, as they play the middle of the pack Mets and get a chance at revenge against the Marlins.
Joe Cammarota can be reached at joseph.cammarota@student.shu.edu.
