Sonny battled and battled against the resurgent Bronx Bombers in Yankee Stadium. He didn’t get the decision, but played a major role in the A’s getting a road victory at Yankee Stadium, where my daughters and I witnessed a masterful pitching performance from an absolute stud pitcher and a gritty performance by the A’s in a 4-3 victory for the A’s in 10 innings. New York is the city that never sleeps and I was busy with my daughters. This was definitely one of the highlights.

Sonny also pitched a complete game shutout over the Indians yesterday in Cleveland winning 2-0, and David Price battled and battled to help his Tigers prevail over the Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis on Thursday, 4-2. And the Pittsburgh Pirates are flat out en fuego right now after taking three of four from the Cardinals at PNC Park in Pittsburgh over the weekend winning Saturday and Sunday in dramatic fashion. Pedro Alvarez formerly of Vanderbilt, like Gray and Price, played a key role on Saturday night with a huge game tying RBI single on a 95 MPH fastball from lefty Kevin Siegrest. Siegrest  came into the game with a 1.59 ERA, and was bringing massive heat. Pedro connected on a 95 MPH fastball in the bottom of the eighth in a game the Pirates won in the bottom of the 14th on a two run 416 foot shot to deep central by the awesome Andrew McCutchen. The Cardinals had taken a 5-4 lead in the top of the 14th on a Jhonny Peralta RBI single. It was amazing what McCutchen and the Pirates did in that 6-5 victory.  Then they topped that performance on Sunday Night Baseball last night on ESPN, as they entered the bottom of the 10th down 5-3, and scored three runs with a Gregory Polanco walk off single to drive in the winning run in a 6-5 Bucs’ victory. It was awesome.

The Bucs are now 53-35 and 2.5 back of the Cardinals in the National League Central. Honestly, the Bucs look like the best team in baseball right now, though the Royals and Nationals may have an argument there. But I love this baseball team. They have the starting pitching, the solid bullpen with a lock down closer in Mark Melancon , who’s posted  29 saves in 30 opportunities and carries an ERA of 1.47 and an 0.95 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched, an outstanding number, anything under 1.0 is exceptional). Melancon leads the majors in saves at the All-Star break. And the Pirates definitely have the defense and the bats. McCutchen is the best player in baseball not named Miguel Cabrera. He is all world. The outfield is outstanding, the fastest and most athletic in baseball. McCutchen is hitting .295 with 12 long ones and 56 RBIs and has a WAR (wins above replacement player) of 3.2, 10th in the National Leauge. But his value is so much greater than that. If he keeps this up his WAR will be one of the best in the majors by the end of the season. Bryce Harper of the Nationals leads the NL at 6.2, and leads the majors in that category. Mike Trout of the Angels is second at 5.9. Both of those guys are in that conversation for best player in the big leagues. It’s debatable between Cabrera, Trout, Harper and McCutchen. They’re all outstanding. We’ll see how the rest of the season shakes out before making that determination.

But with McCutchen in center, Starling Marte in left, and Gregory Polanco in right, the Pirates have the best outfield in the game. Alvarez struggles some with his fielding at first, but I’ve seen him make some nice plays there too. He’s getting it. He was such a good fielder at VU that I think it’ll come for him at first. He’s still very clutch with the bat. Pedro is hitting .236 with 12 homers and 41 Ribeyes. He’s playing good ball. While his average isn’t prolific, he has a knack for getting clutch hits when the team really needs him to. Manager Clint Hurdle always substitutes him late in games at first and plays Sean Rodriguez, who’s a quality utility guy, but hits .220. Hurdle is starting to really tick me off. He doesn’t let Pedro play much against left handed pitching. He’s gotta show Alvarez that he believes in him. I thought after Pedro had that clutch hit on Saturday night on the 95 MPH fastball from the lefty Siegrest, Hurdle might start him Sunday night against lefty Tim Cooney, but Hurdle devalued his hit by not starting him Sunday.

I don’t think Hurdle makes great decisions. Not totally sold on him. He’s solid, but he’s no genius. General manager Neal Huntingdon has put together a lot of talent on this team, so I hope Hurdle doesn’t mess it up. This team could go the distance if Hurdle does not implode with his decisions. He needs to believe in Pedro. Pedro is an outstanding baseball player, a great character guy in the locker room, and a total team player. I’m going to start going off on Hurdle in the second half if this continues.

OK, back to Sonny Gray  in Yankee Stadium last Tuesday. My daughters and I had a blast. We had seats on the third base side and the Yankees fans were very hospitable and welcoming. One guy, who was sitting behind me and was a huge Yanks fan, was still highly complimentary of Sonny. He loved him. Yankees fans are very knowledgeable about the game. And How could you not love Gray. Sonny went seven, gave up six hits, three earned, with three walks and five K’s. He threw 110 pitches with 64 for strikes and 46 balls. His strike:ball ratio wast great but he  really competed. There’s a story that when Sonny’s dad passed away when he was in ninth grade in a tragic car accident that a distraught Sonny played quarterback in his high school team’s game at Smyrna in Tennessee and threw three touchdown passes. Kind of Brett Favre like.

The Yanks have a good hitting lineup and he hung tough against them as did the A’s. Sonny was bringing it 94-95 and his curve was un-hittable. It was amazing to see home runs go out. Billy Butler of the A’s hit one in the top of the sixth that tied the game up at 3. I was taking a sip of my drink, then all of the sudden I heard the crack of the bat and within three seconds the ball was in the left field stands. It was pretty amazing. Then in the top of the 10th, the A’s hyper-intense, total gritty player third baseman Brett Lawrie hit a leadoff homer just inside the left field foul pole off All-Star pitcher Dellin Bentances, who came into the game with a 1.65 ERA, 13 holds and seven saves in nine opportunities. He’s almost un-hittable. Tyler Clippard finished off the job in the bottom of the 10th for the A’s in their 4-3 victory. It was Clippard’s 16th save of the season. Sonny didn’t get the decision, but was key reason his team won.

Then Sonny pitched a complete game shutout  yesterday in Cleveland beating the Tribe, 2-0. He gave up two hits, 0 runs, with one walk and six K’s. He’s now 10-3 with a 2.04 ERA and a WHIP of 0.96. Stephen Vogt, who at 30 years old and making $500,000 a year, gave Sonny the only two runs he needed. Vogt looked like he hit it out in the first inning off tough right hander Corey Kluber, who is only 4-10, but has a 3.38 ERA and is the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the American League, but David Murphy reached over the eight foot wall in right field and robbed Vogt of long one. But in the fourth, Vogt, who was voted to his first All-Star team along with Sonny, hit a no-doubter to right, his 14th of the season and Ribeyes 55 and 56. He’s hitting .287 and has been superb at catcher for the A’s. He’s a heckuva guy as well. Great sense of humor and so humble. He’s kind of a rock star in Oakland now. He and Sonny are the A’s reps in the All-Star game. Sonny will not pitch in the All-Star game because he threw yesterday, but it’s a thrill to be selected and he very much deserved it. Sonny goes again Friday at home vs. Ervin Santana and a very good Minnesota Twins team in O.co Coliseum. David Price will pitch in the All-Star game and is slated to pitch Saturday night vs the Orioles at Comerica Park in the Motor City.

Oakland is now 41-50 and 8.5 back of the division leading LA Angels. They haven’t played great, but I see signs of them waking up. They’ve got good starting pitching, the bullpen is shaping up, their defense, which has always been a strength but has struggled some this year, is shoring up. They committed no errors this weekend at Cleveland, and their bats which have been erratic, can also be pretty darn good. They have some good hitters in their lineup.

I picked the A’s over the Cardinals in my World Series prediction  the day before the season started and I have to stick with that, but will make playoff predictions accordingly when they commence in October. Liking the Pirates and Royals a lot now.

David Price really, really gutted out a victory over the Twins on Thursday, 4-2. David struggled a little in the first three innings, but settled down and was David Price in the last five frames. Dave went eight, gave up only five hits to a very good Minnesota Twins team that took the next three games from the Tigers, with  two unearned runs, walked three and K’d 8. He threw 117 pitches with 78 for strikes and 39 four balls. His fastball was clocking at 95-96, but his change up was kind of his go to pitch against the Twins. He was throwing it 85-86 and really throwing the Twins hitters off. It was a masterpiece overall. David moved to 9-2 on the season. He has a 2.38 ERA with a 1.12 WHIP, 25 walks and 115 strikeouts. It may have been one of his top performances as a pitcher in his career. How he battled was outrageously good.

He got a homer in the first from Ian Kinsler, the Tigers’ stud second baseman, and Kinsler drove in the go ahead run in the top of the eighth with a double that just caught the top of the left field wall and almost went out for a two run shot. Yoenis Cespedes, who is having a killer year for the Tigers, drove in Kinsler with a double to right. It’s a shame the Tigers left fielder didn’t make the All-Star team. Yoenis is a superb hitter batting .297 with 13 homers and 51 RBIs and he’s an exceptional defensive left fielder. He rarely commits an error; he has five on the season on 181 total chances, and he has eight assists. He can gun ’em down on the base paths or at the plate. He has a cannon for an arm. It’s a travesty he didn’t make the All Star team. Joakim Soria picked up his 20th save in 23 attempts.

In the 17 games Price has started for the Tigers this season, they have won 15 times. That’s impressive. The Tigers have struggled recently and are at 44-44, nine back of the KC Royals, which are at 52-34. The Twins are playing very good baseball at 49-40 and are 4.5 back of KC. The Tigers need to get it together quickly in the second half. Missing first baseman Miggie Cabrera is tough. He’ll be out till the end of July at least with a calf strain. He’s superb hitting .351 and playing stellar first and they need him. They still have good bats. The starting pitching outside of Price has been the issue for them. They really need Justin Verlander to step up and back up Price and get some more starters like Anabel Sanchez to step up as well. The bullpen is pretty decent though Joba Chamberlin was a disaster in middle relief and he got sent down to the minors. He’s got talent, but just hasn’t realized it this year. There are some other good arms out of the Tigers’ pen and Soria is an excellent closer. It’s the starting pitching that HAS to improve for the Tigers to be playing relevant ball in September. And, of course, they need Miggie back.

Spieth

Finally, Jordan Spieth is just phenomal. I like him in the British as well as anybody. I think he can get the third leg of the Grand Slam. He’s got a very good shot Down by two shots at the John Deere Classic yesterday in Illinois, he chips in on 16 for birdie, birdies from four feet on 17, and pars 18 to force a playoff and wins on the second playoff hole over 46 year old Tom Gillis. Jordan is setting himself up well for the Open Championship. The thing I love about it is Jordan made a commitment to the John Deere that he would play there,  and instead of blowing it off and going across the Atlantic and playing in the Scottish Open, which Rickie Fowler won with a birdie on 18, he kept his commitment to the Deere and amazingly won it. Nothing he does surprises me. He’s spectacular. Will have full coverage of the 144th Open Championship with predictions on Wednesday.

SEC Football

SEC Media Days in full throttle. Will have plenty on that this week as well.