The Pennant Race - 8/19

CC Sabathia just keeps rolling along. Another complete game victory last night for the Brewers to up his record to 8-0 since the trade to Milwaukee. You do have to be concerned though with how Ned Yost is using him. He knows Sabathia won't be in Milwaukee next season so he obviously doesn't care. Already up 9-3 over the Astros, he not only had Sabathia bat in the eighth inning, but had him go out for the ninth as well. The big lefty ended up throwing 130 pitches.

Milwaukee sits 5 back of the Cubs, who had the night off.

The Mets bullpen imploded once again. Starter John Maine struggled, but still left the game after five innings with a 2-0 lead. Brian Stokes immediately blew the lead in the sixth, and Pedro Feliciano and Duaner Sanchez got touched up for three runs in the eighth to lose it, 5-2. Maine has allowed just 1 run in the 14.1 innings he's pitched since returning from the DL, but he has walked nine hitters.

The Phillies (1.5 GB) and Marlins (4 GB) both had the night off.

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks both were off so they remained tied for first place. There were interesting development in the NL West last night, though. For one nigh,t anyway, the Giants' Barry Zito looked like a pitcher. He tossed seven scoreless innings and only walked two batters in a 5-0 win over the Braves.

Jason Bay homered twice and drove in four runs to lead the Red Sox over the Orioles 6-3. Much has been made about Manny Ramirez's offense explosion in LA, but Bay hasn't been doing too badly himself. He's hitting .348-3-16 in 16 games with a .972 OPS. He's also 3-3 in stolen bases.

The Sox couldn't gain any ground on the Rays though, as Tampa defeated the Angels 6-4. Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd went deep and Dan Wheeler picked up his second consecutive save in place of the injured Troy Percival. Hinske's home run was his 19th, the most he has hit since he belted 24 in his 2002 rookie campaign.

The White Sox pounded the Mariners 13-5. The Chisox couldn't work out a deal for Jarrod Washburn, so they blasted him for 8 runs in 4.1 innings pitched. Alexi Ramirez has quietly put together a very good rookie year. The soon-to-be 27-year old has played both middle infield positions as well as centerfield, and has driven in 51 runs in 98 games, including four last night. He's also batting .308 with 13 home runs. Carlos Quentin hit his major league-leading 35th home run in the game.

The White Sox are now in sole possession of first place in the AL Central after the A's beat the Twins 3-2. Justin Duchscherer had to leave the game in the third inning with a hip injury, but Kirk Saarloos and the A's pen did the job the rest of the way. Joe Mauer, looking to win his second batting title, moved into the AL lead at .325.

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The Pennant Race - 8/14

NL WEST

A couple of former Red Sox helped influence two National League races last night. Manny Ramirez hit another homer and Nomar Garciaparra hit the walk-off game winner when the Dodgers came from behind to beat the Phillies 7-6. It moved the Dodgers into a first place tie with Arizona in the NL West. It also allowed the Mets to move into a first place tie with the Phillies in the NL East.

Brad Hawpe's 2-run, eighth inning home run snapped a 4-4 tie and was the game winner in the Rockies 6-5 win over the Diamondbacks. Adam Dunn was 1-5 and left four men on base.


NL CENTRAL

Big day for the Cubbies as they swept a twin-bill from the Braves. They won the opener easily, 10-2 behind a combined 7 RBI from Geovany Soto and Jim Edmonds. Pitching took over the nightcap as Rich Harden and four relievers blanked the Braves 8-0.

The Cubs added a half-game to their lead since the Brewers played just one. That one game was another win for CC Sabathia, who improved to 7-0, 1.55 since being traded to Milwaukee. Corey Hart drove in 3 runs and Prince Fielder homered in the 7-1 Brewers rout.

Braden Looper pitched the Cards to a 6-4 win over the Marlins as they too dropped just a half-game in the standings. Troy Glaus was 4-4 and Jason LaRue and Adam Kennedy drove in two runs each.


NL EAST

The Mets drew 11 walks in a 12-0 blowout of the Nationals. More importantly, John Maine is back from the DL and threw 5 innings of 1-hit ball for the win. Rookie Dan Murphy continued to make a big impact with a home run and 3 RBI. He's hitting .467 with 8 RBI in 11 games.


AL EAST

The Rays and Red Sox both were winners and put themselves a game further away from the Yankees. Ben Zobrist's RBI double in the seventh inning snapped a 2-2 tie and gave the Rays a 3-2 win over the A's. Troy Percival walked two hitters in the ninth but escaped unscathed for the save.

The Red Sox pounded the Rangers 8-4 behind Jon Lester with a couple of RBIs each for Kevin Youkilis, Jason Bay, and Jed Lowrie.


AL CENTRAL

The White Sox blanked the Royals for the second straight game, winning 4-0 as Mark Buehrle won his 10th game. The win kept them one-half game ahead of the Twins.


AL WEST

The Angels' bullpen had a rare meltdown as they fell to the Mariners, 10-7. Francisco Rodriguez blew his 5th save of the season when he allowed 3 runs in the ninth inning. Mark Teixeira temporarily got him off the hook with his second home run of the game, but the M's tagged Justin Speier for three more in the twelfth. The Angels still maintain a 15 game lead over second place Texas.

Jarrod Washburn and Raul Ibanez were both claimed on waivers yesterday and the Mariners will try to work out a deal for both.

The Padres put pitcher Chris Young on the DL with a strained forearm.

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Around the Horn - 7/29

The Cubs and Brewers started their big 3-game series last night with left-handers Ted Lilly and CC Sabathia facing off. The lead seesawed back and forth with the Brewers' Russell Branyan hitting a game tying home run in the 8th. The Cubs prevailed in the 9th when Derek Lee doubled in a run and Mark DeRosa followed with an RBI single. The Cubs now lead the Brewers by 2 games in the NL Central.

The Mets have to be concerned after John Maine left yesterday's game with the Marlins with shoulder stiffness. They have to be even more concerned with a bullpen that flat out stinks. They blew 2-0 and 3-2 leads before losing 7-3 to the Marlins.

Greg Maddux's winless streak finally ended at 14 games when the Padres topped the 1st place Diamondbacks last night, 8-5. It was career win number 351.

Neither the Dodgers or Rockies could gain ground on the Dbacks as they both lost as well. The Dodgers nearly rallied from a 7-0 deficit to the Giants, but lost 7-6. But Joe Torre has a new fan. The Rockies had an early 3-0 lead but fell to the Pirates 8-4.

The Angels put a six spot on the board against Dice-K and hung on to beat the Red Sox 7-5. The Angels are 4-0 against the Sox this month.

The Blue Jays beat the Rays 3-1 behind 7 stellar innings from A.J. Burnett. The right-hander, who struck out 10, will not be dealt before the trade deadline, according to GM J.P. Ricciardi.

The Twins got back to a 1.5 games of the White Sox behind a complete game shutout by Kevin Slowey. The 4-game series continues tonight with rookies Clayton Richard and Glen Perkins squaring off.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Braves right-hander Tim Hudson may have to undergo season ending Tommy John surgery.

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Around the Horn - 7/1

Look out AL Central, here come the Detroit Tigers. In case you haven't noticed, the Tigers, after last night's come from behind 5-4 win over the Twins, are now two games over .500 (42-40). The Tigers were 19-8 in June, and have won 7 straight, moving them to within 5 games of the White Sox for the AL Central lead.

The Tigers will be tested now though. Magglio Ordonez went on the DL after straining an oblique muscle on Sunday and Miguel Cabrera may be joining him after suffering from a hip flexor last night.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit (42-40) «	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	5	12	3
Minnesota (45-38)	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	4	13	0

W: C. Fossum (1-0) L: M. Guerrier (4-3) S: J. Zumaya (1) HR: DET - M. Thames (15) MIN - None

Recap/Box

The Mets just can't build off of anything. They had a big win on Sunday against the Yankees after losing two straight. So what did they do last night? Go out and get clobbered 7-1 by the Cardinals. John Maine had a rough outing and the Mets offense fell flat. And Kyle Lohse is 10-2!

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
N.Y. Mets (40-42)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	7	3
St. Louis (48-36) «	2	1	1	1	2	0	0	0	x	7	10	2

W: K. Lohse (10-2) L: J. Maine (8-6) HR: NYM - None STL - C. Duncan (5)

Recap/Box

Tampa Bay has its first big Summer series...EVER. They got off on the right foot last night, holding off the Red Sox 5-4 despite Troy Percival being forced from the game in the 9th inning. The Rays closer apparently re-aggravated a hamstring problem. Back up closer Dan Wheeler had already pitched, so J.P. Howell closed things out. And the Red Sox still haven't, and won't, taken any disciplinary action against Manny Ramirez.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston (50-35)	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	4	8	1
Tampa Bay (50-32) «	1	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	x	5	6	0

W: J. Shields (6-5) L: J. Masterson (4-2) S: J. Howell (2) HR: BOS - J. Drew (16) TB - B. Upton (6), G. Gross (6)

Recap/Box

Jr. still has some pop in that bat. Ken Griffey Jr. came off the bench to hit a walk off 2-run home run to give the Reds a 4-3 win over the Pirates in the 9th. It was career home run number 603. Before the game, Jr. playfully asked manager Dusty Baker's 9-yr old son Darren why he wasn't playing. "You can't hit lefties, and you're old!", responded Darren. Take that kid.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh (38-44)	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	9	0
Cincinnati (39-45) «	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	4	8	0

W: F. Cordero (3-1) L: M. Capps (1-3) HR: PIT - A. LaRoche (8) CIN - J. Hairston (2), K. Griffey (10)

Recap/Box

The Marlins walked one off too against the Nationals. After the fish tied the game in the 9th, Josh Willingham hit his second home run of the game in the bottom of the 10th. These fish know how to hit home runs.

Final 10th	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Washington (33-51)	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	5	10	0
Florida (43-39) «	0	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	6	11	0

W: K. Gregg (6-2) L: J. Rauch (4-2) HR: WAS - E. Dukes (4), D. Young (4) FLA - J. Willingham (7), H. Ramirez (19), J. Willingham (8)

Recap/Box

The White Sox know how to hit home runs too. Nick Swisher hit a pair last night, including his second grand slam in a week, as the White Sox out lasted the Indians 9-7. Jim Thome also went deep as the Pale Hose increased their lead over the Twins to 2.5 games in the AL Central.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cleveland (37-46)	1	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	3	7	14	0
Chi. White Sox (47-35) «	3	0	5	0	0	1	0	0	x	9	9	2

W: G. Floyd (9-4) L: J. Sowers (0-4) S: M. Thornton (1) HR: CLE - J. Peralta (12) CHW - J. Thome (16), N. Swisher (10), N. Swisher (11)

Recap/Box

Good and Bad news for the Astros last night. Roy Oswalt struck out 9 to lead the 'stros to a 4-1 win over the Dodgers. The bad news? Oswalt left the game in the 7th inning with a strained hip. Lance Berkman belted his 22nd home run.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
L.A. Dodgers (38-44)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	11	0
Houston (40-43) «	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	x	4	6	0

W: R. Oswalt (7-8) L: E. Stults (2-1) S: J. Valverde (22) HR: LA - None HOU - L. Berkman (22)

Recap/Box

Talk about a change in fortune. The Rockies lead the Padres 8-3. Final score- Padres 15 Rockies 8 with a 7-run 9th inning. The Pads hit 4 home runs, including a pair by Edgar Gonzalez. Jody Gerut also had one and knocked in 4.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
San Diego (33-51) «	1	0	2	0	0	5	0	0	7	15	22	0
Colorado (32-51)	3	0	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	8	9	0

W: H. Bell (6-3) L: B. Fuentes (1-4) HR: SD - E. Gonzalez (2), K. Kouzmanoff (11), J. Gerut (4), E. Gonzalez (3) COL - B. Hawpe (11)

Recap/Box

Greg Smith pitched the A's to a big 6-1 win over the Angels. Smith threw the first complete game of his career, limiting the Angels to just 4 hits. The win moved the A's to within 3.5 games of the Angels in the AL West.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oakland (45-37) «	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	1	6	13	0
L.A. Angels (49-34)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	4	2

W: G. Smith (5-6) L: J. Garland (7-5) HR: OAK - None ANA - M. Napoli (12)

Recap/Box

Complete games are nothing out of the ordinary for Roy Halladay, who went the distance in the Blue Jays 2-0 blanking of the Mariners last night. It was the 10th career shutout for the big right-hander.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Toronto (41-43) «	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	2	10	1
Seattle (31-51)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0

W: R. Halladay (9-6) L: R. Dickey (2-4) HR: TOR - None SEA - None

Recap/Box

Mark DeRosa homered twice, including a grand slam, and drove in 6 as the Cubs pounded the Giants 9-2. Ted Lilly won his 9th while Barry Zito, unfortunately for Giants fans, went back to pitching like Barry Zito.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chi. Cubs (50-33) «	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	4	0	9	10	0
San Francisco (36-47)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	8	2

W: T. Lilly (9-5) L: B. Zito (3-12) HR: CHC - M. DeRosa (9), M. DeRosa (10) SF - None

Recap/Box

Good to see Doug Davis out on the mound and competing. In fact he picked up the win against his old club for the Diamondbacks last night.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Milwaukee (44-38)	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	7	1
Arizona (42-41) «	2	0	0	0	3	0	1	0	x	6	11	0

W: D. Davis (3-3) L: D. Bush (4-8) S: B. Lyon (17) HR: MIL - None ARI - M. Reynolds (17)

Recap/Box

O's closer George Sherrill blew a save in the 9th for the second straight game. This time it was the Royals coming from behind to tie things up on a Miguel Olivo home run. Jose Guillen knocked in the game winner in the 11th. Joakim Soria, the best unknown closer, picked up his 22nd save.

Final 11th	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Kansas City (38-45) «	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	1	6	14	0
Baltimore (41-40)	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	10	1

W: R. Mahay (4-0) L: C. Bradford (3-3) S: J. Soria (22) HR: KC - M. Olivo (9) BAL - R. Hernandez (7)

Recap/Box

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Subway Series 2008

We're so desperate to hear some good Yankees baseball were listening to the Tampa Yankees play the Ft. Myers Miracle. Eric Hacker is on the hill for the Yanks and has allowed 1 unearned run through 6 innings.

The big boys go at it tonight, though the heavy rains we're experiencing may cause a day-night doubleheader tomorrow or Sunday. The Yankees probably wouldn't mind that or maybe it's just us fans who wouldn't mind that.

Darrell Rasner has the task of going up against Johan Santana tonight in the opener on my9. Andy Pettitte faces Oliver Perez tomorrow afternoon, and the series concludes in a nationially televised game on Sunday night as Chien-Ming Wang faces John Maine. The best pitching match up for last.

The Mets come in at 20-19 and underachieving. Willie Randolph's days could be numbered if the Mets current play continues. Everyone is saying the team is lacking a spark and the overall attitude is not good. That usually means a manager is going to get chopped. This series could be crucial to Willie's future.

The Yankees aren't hitting at all and to make matters worse they have to face two left-handers in this series. One of which is arguably the best left-hander in baseball.

Johan Santana has heard some boo birds in his first season in Shea, which of course, is absolutely absurd behavior. The lefty is 4-2, 3.10 with 52 K's in 52.1 innings. He's got a 4:1 K/BB ratio, and a 3-game winning streak.

Some Yankees have had success against Santana including left-handed hitters Hideki Matsui (6-15 1 HR 1 RBI) and Robinson Cano (4-9). Derek Jeter has also hit .294 in 17 at-bats.

Rasner was facing the Mets last season when he suffered a broken finger on a come-backer. Hopefully he'll have better results this time around.

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Around the Horn - 4/22

Short schedule in the AL with just 2 games being played. The Red Sox completed a 4-game sweep of the Rangers with an 8-3 Patriots Day win. Former Red Sox Kason Gabbard threw 2 scoreless frames for the Rangers, but had to leave with back spasms and the Sox lineup jumped all over the Rangers pen. David Ortiz continued to come out of his slump with a pair of doubles and RBI. Clay Buchholz tossed 6 shutout innings for his first win of the year.

Armando Galaraga improved to 2-0 in the Tigers 5-1 win over the Blue Jays and Shaun Marcum. Hot hitting Edgar Renteria homered.

Big series at Wrigley in the NL, Mets vs. Cubs. It started out with a good pitching match up as well, John Maine against Carlos Zambrano. Z's Cubs lead 2-1 in the 8th when the North siders blew the game open against a struggling Aaron Heilmann. Felix Pie capped the inning off with his first major league home run off of Jorge Sosa. Harry Caray would have been yelling CUBS WIN...7-1.

The Marlins still sit atop the NL East after a 10-4 win over the Pirates. The fish banged out 16 hits, including 2 by light hitting pitcher (redundant?) Mark Hendrickson. Hanley Ramirez, Josh Willingham, and Dan Uggla each went deep.

The Dodgers pounded the Reds 9-3. Rafael Furcal lead the game off with a home run and LA rolled from there. Nomar Garciaparra and James Loney knocked in 3 runs each.

The Braves won again, their fifth straight, 7-3 over the struggling Nationals. Tim Hudson picked up the win and drove in 2 runs.

The Cardinals blew 2-0 and 3-2 leads, but Skip Shumaker's single in the 9th gave them a 4-3 win over the Brewers.

The Astros pounded the Padres 10-3. Miguel Tejada may be older, but he's also heating up. A 4-hit, 3 RBI, 3 run scored game put him at .342.

Micah Owings joined teammate Brandon Webb at 4-0 when the Diamondbacks topped the Giants 4-2. Orlando Hudson, Eric Byrnes, and Mark Reynolds each homered.

Chase Utley homered for the 5th straight game and also thwarted a Rockies rally with his glove in the Phillies 9-5 win. Pat Burrell and Jayson Werth also went deep for Philly.

News and Notes - UPDATED 2:05 p.m. EDT

ESPN the Magazine has an intriguing story on a big time family feud between Edgar Renteria and Orlando Cabrera. (Gracias to the The Big Lead for that one)

The Indians placed Jake Westbrook on the 15-day DL with a strained intercostal muscle (that has nothing to do with the Panama Canal) and called up outfielder Ben Francisco.

Mark Mulder's rehab process is getting slower than expected, pushing the Cards' left-hander timetable back further.

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Short Stops - 4/18 Night Time Edition

The Mariners have to be worried after "The King", Felix Hernandez had to leave tonight's game in the 1st inning with elbow stiffness. Hernandez retired just 1 hitter, while allowing 2 hits and 2 walks. 3 of those runners came into score. Hernandez had allowed just 1 run in his 1st two starts.

The Phillies are spiraling out of control and are 2-10 after losing to Washington tonight. Manager Charlie Manuel nearly came to blows with Phils radio man Howard Eskin last night. With a struggling rotation, Brett Myers was moved to the bullpen. Early panic move? You bet! John Lieber will take his place.

David Wright extended his hitting streak to 25 games in the Mets win over the D-Train and the Marlins. John Maine tossed 6 no-hit innings for the Mets.

Things keep getting worse for the Angels. They lost Chone Figgins in spring training to 2 broken fingers. Vlad Guerrero has a badly bruised wrist after being plunked by Josh Beckett on Monday, and now Howie Kendrick is on the DL with a broken finger (I have both Figgins and Kendrick on my roto team - is this a bad trend?). On top of that, they were blanked by the A's 3-0 today to extend their losing streak to 6 games. They've scored just 6 runs in those 6 games, and have scored just 44 runs in 15 games to date.

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