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Three Up, Three Down: Madison Bumgarner gets grounded
San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner is on the DL due to a dirt bike accident. Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Three Up, Three Down: Madison Bumgarner gets grounded


Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Eric Thames has owned the Cincinnati Reds this season. Benny Sieu/USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to this week's edition of Three Up, Three Down — your weekly catch-up of the three best highlights (and lowlights) from around the league. We're here for all of the cheers and the jeers, because it's baseball. You can't have a winner without someone losing along the way.

This week, we're still talking about Eric Thames, the Nationals are making an early statement and the weird baseball injuries train claims its first victim of 2017.

Up: Eric Thames is still mashing like crazy

Last week, Eric Thames made the "Up" section because he's been the pleasant shock of the season with the absolute tear he was on. Well, we're now one week into the future and Eric Thames is still raking. He's got 11 home runs, eight of which are against the Reds. To put that in perspective, Ryan Zimmerman is currently second with eight home runs overall. Let's repeat that: Eric Thames has as many home runs against one single team as Ryan Zimmerman, who has the second most home runs in baseball, has overall all season.

Thames has been in such a zone that it's raised the eyebrows of many people around baseball. He has been dogged with accusations of performance-enhancing drug abuse, and he's even been tested twice already. Fortunately, he hasn't failed a test yet, and he's still got a positive attitude about it. Plus, there's reason to believe there's a very small chance he'll get dinged for using PEDs. While there's also a very small chance that he can keep this up all season, it's still extremely impressive and enjoyable to witness the run that Thames has been on to start the season.

Down: Madison Bumgarner suffers a weird baseball injury

We have our first weird baseball injury of the season, and unfortunately it claimed one of baseball's elite stars. Madison Bumgarner was placed on the disabled list after he sustained bruised ribs and a sprained left shoulder from taking a spill on a dirt bike. Yes, you read that correctly — one of the best players in the game could be out for a very long time because he crashed on a dirt bike. For what it's worth, Bumgarner has admitted that even though he's been a dirt bike enthusiast for most of his life, this wasn't "the most responsible thing" for him to be doing at this point in his career.

Still, you have to think that pretty much everybody involved with the Giants — from the fans to the front office — has to be frustrated with this turn of events. Injuries can happen at any time and any place, and Madison Bumgarner has done his fair share of winning for the Giants during his time in San Francisco, but it's still incredibly frustrating for a baseball team to lose its most talented player due to hijinks on a dirt bike.

Up: Chris Coghlan defies physics to score a run

The Blue Jays have been in need of some good news after their awful start to the 2017 season, and they may have gotten a bit of a boost from one of their birds taking flight in order to reach home plate. The Blue Jays picked up a win against the Cardinals on Tuesday, and in the process Chris Coghlan made one of the most incredible plays at home plate that you'll ever see when he jumped clear over Yadier Molina to score.

When MLB basically outlawed collisions at home plate, it took away some of the excitement that comes from runner-on-catcher confrontations. It's for the benefit of the game when it comes to player safety, but that means that you rarely see exciting moments like this at home. As such, that made Coghlan's play at the plate even more special. Plus, when you add to this the fact that a probable future Hall of Fame catcher was the one who was victimized in this play, you have a recipe for what will probably be the Play of the Year and a moment that you watch on highlight reels for years to come.

Down: MLB slaps Matt Barnes on the wrist


Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes was ejected from a game after throwing at Baltimore Orioles star Manny Machado's head. Gail Burton/Associated Press

The Red Sox and Orioles got into a minor kerfuffle this past weekend, and it all started with a bad (and accidental) slide from Manny Machado on Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia missed the rest of the series in Baltimore, and aside from a few comments on both sides, things seemed to calm down as the series came to a close on Sunday. Saturday's game came and went without incident. That wouldn't be the case on Sunday, though. That's because Matt Barnes decided to up the ante by throwing at Machado's head.

Barnes missed, but he was immediately ejected and baseball sent a strong message by suspending him. Oh wait, the leauge only suspended him for four games, so scratch that whole "strong message" thing. It would've been worse if Barnes connected with the pitch and Machado had been seriously injured, but it would've been the perfect time to be proactive and lay down the hammer on Barnes. Instead, he only missed four games, and there's a good chance that baseball won't get serious about headhunting until it's too late.

Up: The Nationals already look like contenders


Bryce Harper and the Washington Nationals have exploded out of the gates. Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

It's no surprise that the Washington Nationals are off to a good start — they're a very good team, and they're the solid favorites to win the NL East once again. However, the Nats are currently 15-6 and have won nine out of their last 10 games at the time of writing. They're doing it in style too, with their most important hitters doing some serious mashing at the moment.

It's early yet, but Bryce Harper is currently hitting .432/.548/.824 with seven home runs and 22 RBI. He'll come back to Earth soon, but Harper may indeed be back in MVP mode for the 2017 season. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Ryan Zimmerman has one more dinger than Harper to his credit this year, Daniel Murphy is also mashing and Trea Turner recently hit for the ninth cycle in Nats/Expos history. You can't make the postseason in April, but the Nats are firing a very early warning shot to the rest of the National League with the way they've come out of the gates.

Down: Potential new Marlins owners don't have the money to buy the team yet


Marlins fans aren't rid of Jeffrey Luria just yet. Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

You might be wondering why the Marlins and their potential sale is in the "Down" section here. After all, Jeffrey Loria isn't exactly the most beloved owner in baseball, and he's reportedly come to an agreement that would see a group led by Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush buy the team. That should be good news for everyone involved — Loria gets a huge windfall for selling the team, and Marlins fans no longer have to deal with Loria running the team. Sounds great, right?

Unfortunately, it seems like this deal could reach a snag. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Jeter/Bush group may not have the money to buy the team yet. Granted, the group could still find a way to raise the money, but it just seems like the poor Marlins fans are being teased at this point. They're so close to seeing Loria get away from their team and yet so far because the potential saviors don't have the money lined up just yet. We'll see what happens, but the exit parade for Jeffrey Loria is on hold for the time being.

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