And That Happened: Bonus Weekend Edition

Why? Hell, I dunno.

Cardinals 3, Nationals 2: Pujols gets a walkoff homer, but the bigger story is that John Smoltz was strong again, giving up one run and striking out six over six innings. Yes, it was again against a weak team, but unlike San Diego, Washington can actually hit and are sixth in the NL in runs per game.

Giants 2, Rockies 0: Eight shutout innings for Lincecum, and the Rockies wild card lead is down to two games.

Angels 11, Athletics 7: The A’s led this one 6-1 at one point, but then Anaheim turned on the afterburners, mostly due to Kendry Morales, who was 5-5 with a homer and six RBI. All seven of the Angels’ runs in the seventh were unearned.

Reds 4, Dodgers 2: It’s tempting to say that Homer Bailey has finally turned the corner after a couple of strong starts (and this one was strong: 8 IP, 0 ER, 7K), but he’s done this kind of thing before only to revert back to, well, being Homer Bailey. The difference now is that the Reds have no business messing with him anymore, and should start next season with him in the rotation to either sink or swim for good.

Yankees 5, White Sox 2: Three-run walkoff job for Robinson Cano in the 10th. The Golden Sombrero for Jim Thome (0-4, 4 Ks). Not trying to slam Thome here. I like him. I just like to say “Golden Sombrero.”

Phillies 4, Braves 2: Stupid rain. Due to a 45 minute rain delay early in the game the Braves lost Tommy Hanson which, all due respect to Pedro Martinez, is a bigger loss to them than losing Pedro was to Philly. Moyer and Chen mop up for the Phillies, and Ryan Howard went 3 for 3 with two homers. I won’t say the Braves are quite done yet, but if you took them off the fire and let them rest covered on the counter for a little while they’ll probably be nice and medium rare in a few minutes.

Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 5: Josh Beckett continues to struggle and give up long balls, but the Sox rallied.

Diamondbacks 14, Astros 7: Just like a 68 degree day in August gives you a refreshing but premature taste of fall, a 14-7 game before labor day between two non-contenders gives you a depressing but premature taste of just-playing-out-the-string season.

Tigers 6, Rays 2: From the “You have GOT to be kidding me” department, Brandon Inge: “There’s a kid named Noah that I’ve visited a couple times in the hospital, and he’s at home right now, and I spent a couple hours with him today. He asked me the dreaded question — could I hit a home run for him in the game, and I told him I’d do the best I could.” And he did.

Cubs 5, Mets 2: A three-run homer by Alfonso Soriano breaks a tie in the eighth and wins the game. It was his first homer in a month. Milton Bradley had three hits, but don’t think for a second he enjoyed any of them.

Orioles 13, Indians 4: Matt Wieters was 3-4 with 4 RBI. Fausto Carmona, who looked so damn good his last time out, got shelled.

Brewers 8, Pirates 6: Braun, Fielder and Jason Bourgeois hit homers. John Russell benched Ryan Doumit in the middle of the game and the two of them had a closed-door meeting after the game. Neither of them are talking to the media, so until we hear anything further, I’m going to assume that they were arguing over whether Pitt the Elder or Lord Palmerston was England’s greatest Prime Minister.

Padres 9, Marlins 5: Chris Volstad was lit up like a Christmas tree. The Braves fan in me likes to see that San Diego is effectively ending Florida’s shot at the wild card on the same road trip that they killed the Braves’ chances.

Twins 3, Rangers 2: Brian Duensing is no fireballer, but he struck out eight in seven innings. The Rangers’ Tommy Hunter looked good too. He’s also tough: Justin Morneau lined one off his chest, but Hunter stayed in the game.

Mariners 6, Royals 3: Mike Sweeney is 112 years old and really hasn’t been able to run since he was in grade school, but he scored from third on a comebacker to the mound in the second, belly-flopping past Olivo as he tried to apply the tag. Calling hours for Sweeney will be held for Sweeney at the Ranier Funeral Home this Tuesday. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Harold Baines Home for the Aged and Decrepit.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

15 Comments
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Dr Paisley
14 years ago

On August 14, 2002, I (along with 26382 other people) saw Mike Sweeney steal home on Andy Pettitte. Even in real time, it looked like slow motion.

Levi Stahl
14 years ago

Mike Shannon’s call of Pujols’s homer was great: “Pujols swings—and good night, folks! Cardinals win it on a walk-off by Pujols! He murdered that ball! Woo-hoo!”

Oh, and doesn’t Churchill have to enter the discussion between Doumit and Russell?

Jacob
14 years ago

I have to go with Doumit on this one.  Pitt the Elder all the way.

Chipmaker
14 years ago

Lord Palmerston!

Sure, Pitt the Elder has better stats, but Lord Palmerston had more heart and knew how to win in Parliament.

YankeesfanLen
14 years ago

Hope this weekend edition works better than it did for the WSJ, but wait, you didn’t just put out Friday’s stuff separately, did you?
The week in review:
Make fun of Blue Network comments about Pete Rose
In depth discussion of variations within corned beef around the globe
Various discussions about ramifications of who played where with intermixed scenarios.
One of the crew gets on Jeopardy, hilarity ensues.
What a great blog this is!.
But, as always, suggestions for improvement:
Secret handshake, nothing Dan Brown-ish, something like pinkies sticking out of first baseman’s mitt.
New masthead:
Baseball.Blogging.WHATEVER.

Alex
14 years ago

I’m going to assume that they were arguing over whether Pitt the Elder or Lord Palmerston was England’s greatest Prime Minister.

You can never have enough Simpsons references.  Especially when it’s a Simpsons + baseball reference to boot.

Daniel
14 years ago

Fully intending to quibble, Kendry Morales hit two homeruns in this game.  One was off a guy who’d given up exactly three homeruns in 115 innings prior to last night.

Also notable – Kendry hit a double that had to be reviewed because it hit off the very top of the wall, as well as another double that hit the upper half of the wall in right field.

In any stadium except Anaheim (and maybe Oakland), Kendry Morales would have hit 4 home runs last night.

The Rabbit
14 years ago

Re: Doumit
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune, the closed door meeting after the game was between Russell and general manager Neal Huntington. Huntington would probably argue for Benjamin “Change is inevitable” Disraeli.
BTW: Mariner/Royal recap is hilarious. If I ever hit the lottery, I promise to become your patron so you can write full time.

mike in brooklyn
14 years ago

At one point during the Mets-Cubs game yesterday I started thinking that maybe Brdley might not be such a bad fit for the Mets next year…only 2 years left on his contract…I’m sure he can control himself for 2 years…some offense from a corner OF…

Then I changed the channel and watched Rick Steves in southern France.

Connecticut Mike
14 years ago

You asked for it Boggs!

APBA Guy
14 years ago

Saw all the painful Angels game. The A’s bullpen coughs it up this time, with some help from bad defense (3 errors) and a missed call at first that would have been the third out.

Daniel, the two doubles are outs in San Diego and Seattle, BTW.

Still, Morales looks like an MVP right now. He’s on everything.

Craig-weekend ATH-love it.

Daniel
14 years ago

APBA – You’re right about San Diego, Seattle would have been close, but they might have gotten out.

But the missed call at first was only the second out of the inning.  Of course, Torii Hunter grounded out in the next at bat, but the play itself wouldn’t have ended the inning.

Jack Marshall
14 years ago

Craig—-thanks for the Weekend Edition. Now I’m hoping you have the guts to take on the much and justifiedly-revered Joe Posnanski, who wrote an argument for the reinstatement of Pete Rose that not only is a crock and beneath him, but also uses some of my all-time least favorite rationalizations for bad conduct (such as the despicable “it’s not the worst thing”). A useful lesson on how smart people can come to really dumb conclusions…

George
14 years ago

RE: Brandon Inge…I think baseball players promise kids that they’re gonna hit homers every day.  We just hear about it when they hit homers.

And thanks for the weekend ATH

Chris Simonds
14 years ago

Maybe Ryan was showing John his Wonder Bat…..