Three Up, Three Down: The MLB hot/cold report

It's been a wacky week for Milwaukee

If you're a Brewers fan, then this past week has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for you. Over the weekend, the Brewers hosted the Pirates and the first game of that series was one of the wackier games that you will see all season. The long and short of it is that the game went 15 innings, and it seemed like the Buccos had it won after they took what appeared to be a comfortable lead in the top of the 15th.

Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, the Brewers did not roll over and die. Instead, the Brewers mounted a bases-loaded rally and eventually won the game in the bottom of the 15th. If that wasn't enough of a donnybrook, then the Brewers found themselves in the middle of another chaotic game. This time, they got into a classic slugfest at the Great American Ball Park against the Reds.

What made this game special (other than the fact that it ended with a crazy scoreline of 13-12) is that Christian Yelich went wild and hit for the second cycle of the 2018 MLB season. The Brewers also needed both of those games to keep pace in what has turned into an interesting NL Central race with the Cubs and Cardinals now involved as well. If this is a taste of what's to come in September for the Brewers, then you Brewers fans may want to keep the Maalox nearby.

Cole Hamels is heating up for the Cubs

Even though the Brewers have picked up those entertaining wins, the Cubs have still managed to put a tad bit of breathing room between themselves and the other two contenders in the Central. One of the reasons behind their recent success (other than the fact that they're probably the best team in the National League from top to bottom at the moment) is the fact that Cole Hamels has been lights-out since joining the Cubs.

Chicago's prized trade deadline acquisition has reached back and pulled out a vein of form that has been reminiscent of his halcyon days with the Phillies. It's been only five starts, but Hamels is currently sporting an ERA and FIP of 0.79 and 2.36, respectively. He's hitting the right form at exactly the right time, and the Cubs have to be thrilled with how this trade is going for them — especially if it leads to another special run once October rolls around.

The Rays are the world's best third-place team

At first glance, you probably wouldn't pay too much attention to what the Tampa Bay Rays are doing. After all, they are far in the rearview mirror of the Boston Red Sox when it comes to the AL East standings, and they're firmly rooted in third place in that division. However, a lot of teams are learning that the Rays are no pushover — with the Red Sox themselves being one of those teams that had to learn that lesson.

The Rays have won nine out of their last 10 games, with an eight-game winning streak happening during that span. That includes four victories over Boston, and if you're taking it to the Red Sox like that, then you have confirmed yourselves as being a threat.

The most impressive part of this is the fact that their "wacky" strategy of going with a short-term "opener" instead of a traditional starting pitcher has actually been working. The main question now is whether or not this approach will catch on across the rest of baseball or if this is just the case of the Rays making the best of a bad (or cheap) situation. Either way, it's an intriguing story to follow!

Three Down

The Phillies drop a game in incredible fashion

The Phillies have hit a rough patch as of late. The past couple of weeks have seen their bullpen let the team down in multiple disappointing ways, which has been one of the root causes of their lead in the division turning into a deficit that at one point had them closer to the third-place Nationals than the first-place Braves. However, their loss on Tuesday night to Washington was absolutely maddening on multiple levels.

It not only included yet another late-game bullpen implosion, but there was also a base-running gaffe for the ages. After giving up three runs in the ninth and finding themselves trailing in the home half of the inning, the Phillies found themselves in a tight spot that saw Gabe Kapler basically forced to give pinch-running duties to Vince Velasquez.

Velasquez is a pitcher, so it's understandable that he wouldn't have much experience in timing his run for a potential sacrifice fly. Sure enough, he left early on a sacrifice attempt and cost the Phillies an out. That was the 27th out, and what made it even worse is that he was trying to advance to third base. Kapler placed the blame squarely at Velasquez's feet, and the Phillies had to spend that night stewing over how they basically threw that game away.

The lights can't stop going off at Dodger Stadium

Back on July 30, the Dodgers were hosting the Brewers at Dodger Stadium. Everything at Chavez Ravine was going on as usual until the second inning when the lights went out and caused a 15-minute delay until they could come back on. You'd think this would be the only time we'd see something like that happen at one stadium in one season, right?

Well, you thought wrong. Back on Saturday, the Dodgers and Padres were in the 12th inning of an enthralling game when it happened again. For the second time this season at Dodger Stadium, there was a power outage. This time it happened during the black of night, which meant that things got really dramatic once everything cut off.

Following the brief interference from The Undertaker himself, the game got back underway and the fans at Dodger Stadium got to see only one more pitch before the game ended. Fortunately they went home happy, as the Dodgers won via walk-off. But can we get a more reliable power source over there in L.A.?

Hard times for Homer Bailey

The Reds were the victims of one team's success in the "Three Up" part of this column, and now one of their pitchers is the subject of a segment in "Three Down." I'm talking about Homer Bailey, who obviously has the most unfortunate name that a pitcher could possibly have, and he's also going through one of the saddest stretches of pitching that you will ever see.

The Pitcher Win/Loss statistic has proved to be one of the least reliable ways to measure the effectiveness of a pitcher, so you'd rather look at what a team's record is whenever that pitcher is going. In games that Bailey has started this season, the Reds are 1-17. In fact, poor Bailey hasn't even left a game with the lead since mid-September of last year.

With that being said, this isn't exactly a hard-luck case. Bailey's ERA and FIP are at a sky-high 6.17 and 5.62, respectively. According to FanGraphs' version of WAR, he's on track for the worst season of his career. So you have to imagine that the Reds are just thrilled that they're going to be paying him $21 million for this season and $23 million for 2019. At least there's a team option for 2020, and who knows? Maybe he will have participated in at least one win for the Reds by then?