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

If you take just a quick glance at the standings, you will see the Oakland Athletics in third place in the AL West behind the Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros. However, if you take a look at their record and compare it to the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians, you'll see something interesting there. Oakland's record is actually on par with Cleveland's, which means that the third-place team in the West is playing just as well (if not better) than the team that's currently leading the Central.

A big reason for that has been the emergence of Matt Chapman as a star for the A's. He proved that his effort over half a season in 2017 was no fluke, as he's matched or exceeded what he did last year as we've gotten through the first half of 2018. He can hit reliably (as can the rest of the A's lineup), and his glove is outstanding.

Meanwhile, Blake Treinen has begun to stake his claim as an elite reliever in baseball. The former Nationals reliever is in the midst of a breakout season as Oakland's closer, and while he's not perfect (as you'll see later), he's doing his best to make sure that at least the back of the A's bullpen is stout. As a result, the Athletics have been hanging in there with their AL West rivals, and if this keeps up, the West could end up being the most intriguing pennant race in baseball this season.

Something extremely rare happened at Coors Field

I was debating as to whether or not this should be in the "Up" section or the "Down" section. After spending about seven minutes of intense internal discussion with myself, I decided to include it in the "Up" section because it's just so wacky and one of the reasons why this odd sport is so good.

Things got so bad for the Diamondbacks on Wednesday night that they had to resort to using a position player as a pitcher by the fourth inning. Daniel Descalso ended up being one of two sacrificial positional lambs for Arizona, and even though you have to give him credit for lasting nearly three whole innings, the Rockies clobbered him like they did Arizona's actual pitchers.

This included German Marquez hitting a three-run dinger off of Descalso. Marquez himself was the starting pitcher for the Rockies, which means that Colorado and the Diamondbacks blessed us with the shining golden unicorn that is a pitcher hitting a home run off of a position player. Make sure you remember exactly where you were when you witnessed this. I'm actually jealous of the 33,919 fans who were in attendance to observe what was clearly a miracle.

Two teams explode for nearly 20 runs each on Wednesday

Speaking of the Rockies, they ended up putting up 19 runs in that game. I know that you're probably thinking, "Who cares? It's Coors Field; the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp could score 20 there if they really wanted to," but if we're being totally honest here, putting up 19 runs in any ballpark is serious business. The Diamondbacks may have been dealing with a shorthanded pitching staff that forced them to turn to position players, but the Rockies did the most damage on Shelby Miller and Jorge De La Rosa, who are pitchers by trade. Colorado's offense was locked in, and Arizona ended up being the victim.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Indians also put up that ugly number 19 on the scoreboard Wednesday, as the poor Cincinnati Reds ended up being the ones who got destroyed on the day. There weren't really any extenuating circumstances in this one — the Tribe just pounded Cincy from the start. They scored two runs in the first inning, then exploded for 15 runs over the third and fourth innings before slacking off and scoring just two runs for the rest of the game. It's an example of what Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Jason Kipnis and the rest of that lineup can do when they're truly locked in.

Three Down 

The A's literally throw away a game

Remember at the top of this article when I was lavishing all sorts of praise upon the Oakland A's? Oakland will be going into Thursday afternoon with a chance to pick up a series win against the Astros, but you could easily make the argument that they should be in position to actually sweep Houston. That's because the A's basically threw away a win on Tuesday night.

This game went into extras tied 4-4, but the A's pushed ahead in the 11th inning with a Stephen Piscotty home run. However, the Astros tied the game up in the bottom half with their backs against the wall. Then they proceeded to take the win with a play that only Little Leaguers could be proud of.

Alex Bregman hit a little dribbler that barely made it past home plate, much less into the infield. Jonathan Lucroy managed to pick it up, drop it, fail to tag Bregman, then throw it into the outfield, which allowed Kyle Tucker to easily score the winning run for Houston. Cherish this moment of pure tomfoolery, because you will never see it again.

Trevor Bauer had himself an absurd week

Let's talk about Trevor Bauer for a bit. First off, we have to acknowledge that he is absolutely killing it on the mound this year. He's got a 2.30 ERA, and his FIP is actually lower than that at 2.15, which means that he is pitching out of his mind. He continues what is starting to turn into a proud tradition of starting pitching over there in Cleveland. Still, the guy has run into some issues, both on and off the field.

Bauer recently joined the "Archie Bradley Club" of admitting to crazy stuff while on a Yahoo Sports podcast. He recently admitted that once he hits free agency, he will only sign one-year deals. He's not doing this for any sort of financial gain; he's only doing this because he has a bet going with a friend where if Bauer gives in to signing a multi-year deal, one of his friends will get to shoot him in the beans at close range with a paintball gun. Considering Bauer's history of being one of the game's characters, that's not a shock.

What was shocking is how he received such a lack of support from his bullpen during his most recent start. He went eight innings, struck out 12 while only walking three Reds batters and giving up a grand total of zero runs. Cleveland was up 4-0 when Bauer exited the game. By the time the ninth inning was over, Cleveland lost after the bullpen gave up seven runs in the top of the ninth and scored none in the bottom. This also included a bullpen phone communication snafu where the wrong pitcher ended up warming up and entering. The Tribe made up for this embarrassment by dropping 19 runs on Cincy's head by the fourth inning on Wednesday, but that didn't help Bauer on Tuesday.

Willson Contreras took a foul ball to the worst place possible

This final bit is a reminder that baseball is a dangerous sport and that some of your most precious jewels are at stake any time you take the field. Nobody knows this better than catchers, and for now, Willson Contreras is the latest to see just how dangerous things get get.

I dare you to watch that gif and not feel some sort of pain or sympathy for what Contreras had to experience for a brief moment. The good news is that he shook it off quickly and was able to continue the game without much of an issue. You better believe that he'll be investing in the finest cup technology that there is, though. Or, he'll at least contact Gary Sanchez on how to deal with that sort of thing. He would know.