Bottom 2: Miguel Olivo struck out swinging against Ivan Nova

Bottom 4: struck out swinging against Nova

Bottom 7: struck out swinging against Jamey Wright

Bottom 9: flew out to center against Rafael Soriano

Bottom 11: struck out swinging against Corey Wade

Final Line: 0-for-5, 4 K

Notes: Olivo recorded his third golden sombrero of the season in Wednesday night’s extra-inning game against the Yankees.  In his first sombrero, Olivo accomplished the feat while hitting cleanup for the Mariners.  This time around, the aging backstop did it out of the six-hole.  His second sombrero also came against the Yankees in late July, and he’s now tied with Adam Dunn, Kelly Johnson, Jayson Werth and Grady Sizemore for the league lead. And I wouldn’t rule out it happening again this season considering that his strikeout rate sits at 28%, which is above his career strikeout rate of 26.4%, and he’s already made the most plate appearances of his career.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 115

Recently we received a comment from a reader regarding our predictions, and I think the topic he brought up is probably worth its own piece.  The reader felt like I unfairly predicted that the Yankees would finish the year third in the AL East behind Boston and Tampa, who I predicted would both finish 2011 in the playoffs.  Before I continue, I would like to mention that I think the AL East will be a very tight division, particularly in the battle for second place.  The Yankees are one of the best offensive teams in baseball, and they certainly deserve a great deal of respect for that, but everything else they do is far from representative of a playoff-caliber team.

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