Francisco Rodrguez broke the saves record Saturday night, in the Angels' 5-2 win over the lowly Mariners. Rodriguez picked up his 58th save, smashing the 57-saves mark that Bobby Thigpen broke with the White Sox. The person who should receive the most credit for the record are the Angels starting pitchers, who have been fantastic this season. Don't be surprised to see the Angels to rest Rodriguez a bit down the stretch in order to save him for the Angels World Series run.
Francisco Rodriguez tied Bobby Thigpen's record for 57 saves in a season last night in the Angels' 7-4 win over the Mariners. In the middle of the game, with the Angels leading 7-0, it didn't seem like Rodriguez would see any actions in the game. But then Seattle pieced together four runs over the last two innings before the soon-to-be season saves leader shut the door as he has done repeatedly throughout the season.
Because of Hurricane Ike, which is scheduled to hit the coast of Texas Friday, the first two games of the Cubs-Astros series this weekend have been postponed. This is significant because the Astros are currently one of the hottest teams in the league (maybe besides the Dodgers) and the Cubs simply aren't. This could be a huge problem for the Astros' Wild Card chances because it scrunches the games together.
Since the last post I wrote, the Phillies have seen their lead dwindle over the Astros to a meager 3.5 games. This is notable because it was less than two month ago that the Astros were in last place, but after a strong run in the NL Central, they are now within striking distance of the Wild Card. Hell, they even passed the Cardinals. Stay tuned for this, especially to the weekend series between the Phillies and Brewers.
Jim Thome's 537th home run, which put him in front of Mickey Mantle on the all-time home run list, could not have come at a better time, with the slugger ending the Sox' marathon game against the Angels, a potential foe in October. The 7-6 win was impressive because the White Sox were down 5-2 in the 6th inning, and scored their sixth run off of Francisco Rodriguez. The White Sox win stretched their lead in the AL Central to 2.5 games over the Twins, who lost against Justin Verlander and the Tigers Saturday.
