The end of August marks another one of those 'Month in Review' posts I've been doing. So, let's see how messed up this month was.
First, let's see the five predictions from last month, and see if they were apt at all.
1. The Yankees to finally reclaim their stuff and get right back in the race.' Well...sort of. Though they are still nine games back, they aren't really out of the race yet. Like, if they have an awesome month, if the players who are hot now remain hot, and if there are no more embarrassing defeats, there could be a chance.
2. The Cardinals to cool down and let the Pirates stay at the top for a while. Sort of again. The Pirates and the Cardinals are tied for first at the NL Central. So...yeah, you could say they stayed at the top.
3. No random waiver deals that screw up the Update set. Unfortunately, this one is far from apt.
4. The Dodgers to keep playing really well. The Dodgers are still very far into first, and playing extremely well. So yeah.
5. Yoenis Cespedes to keep hitting a decent amount of homers. He's hit four since July. Four isn't really a decent amount of anything, save for wives or helpings.
Now, five things that surprised me during last month:
1. Injuries for the best players. Matt Harvey and Miguel Cabrera, more specifically, who were ruling the season before having annoying little injuries. Cabrera will probably bounce back soon enough, but Harvey's out for the rest of the season, and the Mets already have Johan Santana for that. Still, very shocking, especially this far in the season.
2. Chris Davis slows down. Before the All-Star break, Chris Davis was having an unbelievable season, hitting tons of home runs and making Matt Williams in 94 look minuscule. However, since the All Star game he's only hit ten home runs. To put it into perspective, Alfonso Soriano hit more homers than that in August alone. Hopefully he'll rebound, but it's odd that it happened this quickly.
3. Standings stayed mostly the same from July to August. That almost never happens.
4. No huge rookie call up. Really. Usually in early August there's a decent sized one. Hm.
5. A-Rod started hitting right when he got off the DL. Normally I'd blame the roids, but I'm very surprised.
And, of course, five things that didn't surprise me at all during August:
1. Red Sox, Cardinals, Rangers and Braves held a firm grip on their divisions. Maybe not as much in St. Louis, but the bad guys are winning, guys.
2. Max Scherzer continued to win more games than everybody else.
3. A bunch of waiver deals continued to screw up the Topps Update set.
4. Tim Tebow blew another golden opportunity. I know that isn't baseball, but who cares.
5. Despite having a subpar season, and despite being on a third place team, Jim Johnson still has more saves than anybody in the AL. Happens every year.
Finally, five things I want to happen in September:
1. Great baseball stories, like the rise of the Pirates and Dodgers, to reach fulfillment, and not keel over and die come postseason.
2. Somebody to stick a fork in the Rangers', Red Sox' and Cardinals' seasons.
3. Mariano Rivera to finish out the regular season strong, and if his final season ends there, I hope it goes out with a bang.
4. The Phillies to at least not finish in last.
5. A setup to a playoffs that won't have me shaking my head and turning on the Eagles game.
Coming Tomorrow- A strong outfielder for St. Louis who I don't despise. And it ain't Carlos Beltran.
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