3 Up/3 Down: Three Things I Liked — And Didn't Like — in Baseball Last Week
Another week of baseball is in the books as we hit mid-May and there's a lot going on around both leagues. Here's my weekly Monday morning chatter on three things I liked, and three I didn't.
First off, let me say kudos to Major League Baseball for doing Mother's Day right. There were a lot of cool moments across the country on Sunday. All very fun, and it's nice to even see a player or two shed a team over how much their moms meant to them.
So here we go with my three up/three down
3 Things I Liked
1. Dodgers getting it together
You just knew it had to happen eventually. And now it has. Once again, it looks like the Los Angeles Dodgers are the best team in the National League.
They had a great week, sweeping arch-rival San Diego over the weekend, wrapping it up with a 4-0 shutout thanks to Tony Gonsolin and the bullpen allowing just three hits. They outscored the Padres 12-4 in the three-game set and now have won five of six against them over the past two weekends. The Dodgers now have a seven-game lead on the Padres — and they're up three games on Arizona in the National League West.
For a team that started 13-13, they are on fire now. The bullpen has been much better in this two-week stretch where they've gone 13-2, and they've scored runs in bunches at times. They've done it through a tough part of the schedule, too, with six games vs. San Diego, and series with Milwaukee and Philadelphia.
They're hot now, and plan on them staying hot.
Los Angelespitcher Brusdar Graterol (48) reacts following the top of the eighth inning after third baseman Manny Machado (13) grounds out at Dodger Stadium. (Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)
2. Yankees-Rays are entertaining
For the second weekend in a row, the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees tangled with each other, this time in the Bronx. They split this series, and every game was entertaining. The 31-11 Rays went 4-3 against their biggest rival over the two weeks, and lead the fourth-place Yankees by eight games.
Six of the seven games were one-run affairs, and there were all sorts of wild comebacks and long home runs by both teams. It was all about as entertaining as it could get in mid-May.
I've said often that I'm a big fan of the new balanced schedule, but I do have to admit that it's kind of a shame that we have to wait until the end of July for these two teams to hook up again. Mark your calendars for July 31 to Aug. 2 in New York for the rematch. Their final meeting is in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Aug. 25-27. Yes, you're reading that right. No September games between these two.
3. Nathan Eovaldi saving the Rangers
It was Jacob deGrom who grabbed all the headlines during the offseason when the Texas Rangers were aggressively rebuilding their starting rotation. But it's the other signing — getting former Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi — that's made the biggest difference.
deGrom, who's had an injury-riddled career, is out again with an elbow issue and hasn't pitched since April 28. In his absence, all Eovaldi has done is making three straight scoreless starts, with all three going eight innings or more.
He went 8 2/3 innings on Thursday at Oakland, allowing just three hits and striking out 12, a career-high. He beat the Angels on May 6, going eight innings and giving up just five hits. On April 29, the night after deGrom left with an injury, he beat the Yankees with a complete-game three-hit shutout.
“I just think he found something and he’s sticking to it,” Texas catcher Jonah Heim said. “He’s executing every single pitch he throws. He might make a mistake here or there, but he comes back. That’s what makes him special.”
Throwing three straight scoreless starts of eight innings or more has only happened twice before in Texas history, done by Martin Perez in 2014 and Charlie Hough in 1983. He's a big reason why the Rangers are 25-15 and have a four-game lead over Houston in the American League West.
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (17) and catcher Jonah Heim (28) celebrate after defeating the New York Yankees at Globe Life Field. (Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports)
3 Things I Didn't Like
1. Kenley Jansen's struggles
Just when the Boston Red Sox looked like contenders again after a 16-6 run, they had a brutal weekend at Fenway Park, getting swept by the horrible St. Louis Cardinals. They got clobbered 9-1 on Sunday night, but even worse, they blew two games on Friday and Saturday.
Kenley Jansen has to take a lot of heat for both losses. The veteran closer came on in the ninth of Friday night nursing a 6-5 lead and gave up three runs before recording an out in the Cardinals' 8-6 win. And then on Saturday, the Red Sox were leading 3-1 heading into the ninth and Jansen gave up three more runs in a 4-3 loss.
He clearly didn't have it, walking three batters. His defense let him down too with an error in the inning, but that was back-to-back brutal nights — and that just can't happen if the Red Sox are serious about chasing a playoff spot. They're back in last place now, 8.5 games behind the Rays with their 23-19 record.
Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Kenley Jansen (74) reacts with manager Alex Cora (13) after recording his 400th career save against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. (Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports)
2. Rays' Drew Rasmussen goes down
I was stunned when I saw the news Friday morning that Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen was placed on the 60-day injured list with an elbow injury. I watched him throw every pitch the night before, throwing seven scoreless innings and allowing just two hits in the 8-2 win over the Yankees.
I don't mind saying that Drew is one of my favorite players in baseball. When I covered the Rays in 2022, he was kind enough to sit down with me for two long interviews to take me through every little thing that goes on from the end of one start to the first pitch of another. It was one of the most-read stories of the season. He's a great kid, a new father with a great family.
He's been pitching great this year — he has five starts of five-plus innings or more without allowing a run, which leads the majors — and he's a key piece of a very beat-up Tampa Bay rotation that still leads MLB in ERA despite all the injuries.
He's a big loss. Rasmussen has had two Tommy John surgeries before, and he said this felt different and he wasn't in pain. We'll know more in the next few days, but he's hoping the flexor injury will improve with time and treatment and another surgery won't be necessary. I'm rooting for him, without question. Fellow starter Jeffrey Springs has already by lost for the year with an elbow injury, and Tyler Glasnow still hasn't pitched in the majors this year, working his way back from an oblique injury.
It's amazing, really, that the Rays are 31-11 with all they've gone through.
3. Bryce Harper losing his cool
Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Bryce Harper fans and it'll be a rare day when the Philadelphia Phillies star is on my ''Didn't Like'' list, but he had a huge mistake on Sunday. He's the last guy you want in the middle of a fracas right now.
Harper got upset when Colorado reliever Jake Bird got a little too fired up in celebrating the final out of the seventh inning, taunting toward the Phillies' dugout. Harper didn't like it and charged after him as we went to the dugout. Benches cleared and nothing got out of hand, but Harper had to be restrained several times.
“I get emotional," Harper said. "I understand getting fired up for an inning and stuff like that, but once you make it about a team or make it about yourself and the other team, that’s when I’ve kind of got a problem with it.”
That's all good as well, but Harper is the face of this franchise and he's done amazing work to come back from Tommy John surgery so soon. The Phillies need him in the lineup, and if he would have gotten hurt in a melee, that would have been bad.
I love that he was sticking up for his teammates, but a little common sense might have been better there. The Phillies, who are 20-20 and starting to play good baseball, really need him.
