SweetSpot

          What we learned: Tyler Austin officially certified as a True Yankee

          1. A Yankees legend is born. According to Baseball-Reference.com, there have been 36 players with the first name "Tyler" in major league history. The first one didn't appear until Tyler Green in 1993. So Tylers are recent phenomenon. Still, a quick survey of New York Yankees fans Thursday night reveals they believe Tyler Austin is clearly the greatest Tyler of all time. Why? Because this:

          Good stuff Thursday from the Baby Bombers, continuing to chase down the Orioles and now just 2 games back for that second American League wild card. I love Joe Girardi's quote after the game: "I feel better than I did a couple weeks ago."

          2. Ivan Nova is pitching like an ace. While the Mark Melancon deadline deal has backfired for the Pirates, Nova's success since joining Pittsburgh has been huge, with his addition outweighing the loss of Melancon. After tossing a 94-pitch complete game to beat the Reds, he improved to 5-0, 2.53 with Pittsburgh, and the club is 6-1 in his starts. When he's on, he's getting ground balls with his sinker. He recorded 16 ground ball outs Thursday. The Pirates are back up to .500, and while they're just 4 games behind the Mets in the National League wild-card chase, FiveThirtyEight estimates their playoff odds at 8 percent, which is better than zero.

          3. Mets pass Cardinals in the wild-card race. Were you paying attention? The Brewers shelled the struggling Jaime Garcia in a 12-5 victory, allowing the idle Mets to pass the Cardinals for the second wild-card spot. The Cardinals are 17-17 since Aug. 1, and their staff ERA of 4.69 since that date ranks 11th in the NL, ahead of only four noncontenders. They also have a much tougher schedule the rest of the way: two series against the Cubs, a four-game series in San Francisco and season-ending series against the Pirates. The Mets have one series each against the Nationals and Marlins, but otherwise get the Braves, Phillies and Twins. The odd thing about the Cardinals' season: They're 30-38 at home but 43-28 on the road. They had won 50-plus games at home each of the past four seasons and haven't had a losing record at home since 1999, when they went 38-42.

          4. Astros won't be sending any Christmas cards to umpires this year. A day after a bad strike call in the ninth on Jose Altuve, Jim Joyce's botched call on a foul tip allowed the Indians to score two runs on what was ruled a wild pitch. A.J. Hinch tried to appeal the call, but none of the other umpires saw it either, and instant replay can't be used on foul tips. (You wonder if this incident will lead to a change in that rule in the offseason.) Here's the play. Jason Castro didn't chase after the ball, assuming it was a foul. But why did Joyce call time on what he thought was a live ball? Bad umpiring, needless to say.

          Anyway, the Astros ended up allowing 10 runs in a 10-7 loss, so that was just a small part of the defeat. David Paulino made his major league debut for the Astros as Hinch continues to piece together a rotation down the stretch. Brad Peacock had made his first start of the season earlier in the week, and Joe Musgrove, with a 5.06 ERA in six career starts, will start Friday.

          5. Clayton Kershaw is set to return. Kershaw will start Friday against the Marlins -- against Jose Fernandez, in case you're interested and care about baseball -- but he'll be on a pitch limit for this one. Welcome back, big guy.