Watch Out! ~ Here Comes The Spirit of the 1948 Indians!
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Hope still floats – in spite of the “Nightmare Weekend on Oakland Street!”
While the Astros took their much needed day off Monday prior to tonight’s series opener against the Angels in Anaheim, the Cleveland Indians stayed voraciously busy, knocking off the Detroit Tigers, 11-0, at home. It was the Tribe’s 19th straight win and it increased their lead over the Astros for AL home field advantage thru the playoffs to 1.5 games.
If there’s a u-turn lane on this going-south-fast parkway, the Houston Astros better find it soon. Otherwise, it’s back to our usual Houston MLB fate of making our routine peace with the fact that, if it’s a World Series victory we Houston fans want, it isn’t going to happen again this year.
Come on, Mr. Verlander, even if we do know that you can’t do it all, please pump our hopes in your start against the Angels tonight.
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AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST STANDINGS
THRU GAMES OF MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017
| RANK | AL WEST | W | L | PCT. | GB |
| 1 | ASTROS | 86 | 57 | .601 | |
| 2 | ANGELS | 73 | 70 | .510 | 13.0 |
| 3 | RANGERS | 72 | 71 | .503 | 14.0 |
| 4 | MARINERS | 71 | 73 | .493 | 15.5 |
| 5 | ATHLETICS | 63 | 80 | .441 | 23 |
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AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST GAME SCORES
THRU GAMES OF MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017
RANGERS 5 – MARINERS 3
ASTROS (day off for general wound-licking of arms and egos)
ANGELS (day off for pre-Astros series pitcher-bash-planning)
ATHLETICS (day off for championship imagery workshop)
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AMERICAN LEAGUE BATTING AVERAGE LEADERS
THRU GAMES OF MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2017
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BA |
| 1 | JOSE ALTUVE | HOU | 538 | 189 | 38 | 4 | 23 | .351 |
| 2 | ERIC HOSMER | KC | 534 | 175 | 27 | 1 | 24 | .328 |
| 3 | AVISAIL GARCIA | CWS | 447 | 144 | 22 | 4 | 16 | .322 |
| 4 | JOSH REDDICK | HOU | 441 | 139 | 30 | 3 | 13 | .315 |
| NR* | CARLOS CORREA | HOU | 358 | 110 | 19 | 1 | 20 | .307 |
| 5 | JOSE RAMERIZ | CLE | 529 | 162 | 47 | 6 | 25 | .306 |
| 6 | JOSE ABREU | CWS | 555 | 170 | 38 | 6 | 31 | .306 |
| 7 | ELVIS ANDRUS | TEX | 572 | 175 | 41 | 4 | 20 | .306 |
| 8 | JOE MAUER | MIN | 458 | 139 | 32 | 1 | 6 | .303 |
| 9 | JONATHAN SCHOOP | BAL | 552 | 167 | 33 | 0 | 31 | .303 |
| 10 | LORENZO CAIN | KC | 527 | 158 | 25 | 5 | 14 | .300 |
| RANK | OTHER TOP 40 ASTROS | TEAM | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BA |
| 12 | MARWIN GONZALEZ | HOU | 404 | 119 | 28 | 0 | 21 | .295 |
| 14 | GEORGE SPRINGER | HOU | 482 | 141 | 25 | 0 | 31 | .293 |
| 19 | YULI GURRIEL | HOU | 473 | 136 | 36 | 1 | 17 | .288 |
| 21 T | ALEX BREGMAN | HOU | 490 | 139 | 34 | 5 | 16 | .284 |
NR * LOST TIME ON THE DL HAS TEMPORARILY REMOVED CORREA FROM AN OFFICIAL QUALIFYING PLACE IN THE RANKING OF TOP 40 HITTERS.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
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The Pecan Park Eagle 
September 12, 2017 at 3:12 pm |
That’s going to be one tough, hungry team to beat. Even when the Astros were playing well they couldn’t beat Cleveland.
September 12, 2017 at 4:13 pm |
Perhaps even more important than home field advantage for the ALCS is the fact that if Cleveland ends up with the best W-L record in the AL, the Indians would play the wild card winner ((Yankees or Twins ?) while the Astros would face the Red Sox.