And That Happened

Yankees 11, Tigers 0: The motto of the Yankees’ bullpen after seeing the Tigers’ bullpen in action: “I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.” Speaking of bullpens, Phil Hughes started and threw six shutout innings which, if I understand New York thinking, means that we should all now be agitating for him to be sent to the bullpen too, right?

White Sox 2, Mariners 1: This one was done in 1 hour, 52 minutes. It’s almost as if these guys knew they had to play two last night and wanted to get the first one out of the way early. Makes you wonder what’s in the mind of the players in those ugly four hour Yankees-Red Sox games.

Mariners 9, White Sox 1: This one wasn’t terribly long either (2:32), though the game didn’t end soon enough for White Sox batters who had to face King Felix (8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 9K) and White Sox pitchers who had to face Yuniesky Betancourt (4-5, HR, 5 RBI).

Phillies 7, Nationals 1: Cole Hamels must have gotten a hold of that taboo tiki from the Brady Bunch Hawaii episode, because nothing is going right for him. He was nailed with a line drive his last time out. Last night he was absolutely cruising, allowing four hits and two walks through 4 1/3 scoreless innings, when he tripped while trying to field a bunt in the fifth. Looks like a sprained ankle. As for the Nationals, hey, at least no one blew a save in this one.

Indians 9, Red Sox 8: And thus endeth the winning streak. After some seriously shaky pitching from both starters, things remained more or less quiet before Mark DeRosa’s homer in the seventh tied it up and Javier Lopez’s error in the ninth allowed DeRosa to score the winning run. Papelbon had pitched in three of the previous four games and thus wasn’t available, or else you’d have to figure that he would have been in there over Lopez. Oh, and my Tony Sipp crush continues, as the Indians’ rookie reliever strikes out three guys over the seventh and eighth innings.

Braves 2, Cardinals 1: I’m not sure what was more unlikely here: that the Braves staged a rally (such as it was) with two outs, or that the rally was sustained by a Jeff Francoeur walk.

Astros 8, Reds 3: Wandy Rodriguez continues to string some really nice starts together, this time giving up one run on five hits in seven innings. Nice support from Zombie-Rod, who hit a homer and an RBI double.

Angels 7, Orioles 5: Joe Saunders allowed ten hits but only two earned runs. Under union rules, I am therefore obligated to say that he “scattered” them. Adam Eaton, on the other hand, turned back into a pumpkin following his inexplicably good last start. Nick Markakis extended his hitting streak to 15 games. I’d like to see him exceed 56, simply because I’d like to see someone write a song with multiple rhymes for “Markakis.”

Marlins 7, Mets 4: In losing seven straight after winning seven straight, the Marlins reminded me of those streaky 1987 Brewers who opened the season with a 13-game winning streak that was quickly followed with a 12-game losing streak. Sue me. I’m old. Anyway, Jorge Cantu put an end to the losing by homering twice and driving in five, but if the Fish remain half as interesting as the 1987 Brewers were, it should be a fun season. At least as long as no one else pretends to be the 1987 Tigers or Blue Jays.

Rangers 5, A’s 4: The A’s lost Nomar, Mark Ellis, and Brett Anderson to injuries over the course of the game. Maybe Hamels gave the tiki to them.

Twins 4, Rays 3: For Minnesota the win was nice, but seeing Francisco Liriano pitch relatively well (6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER) was probably nicer.

Brewers 6, Pirates 5: For all of Ryan Braun’s pregame bluster, no one got plunked, and Braun let his bat do the talking after things got underway (2-4, 2B 2 RBI).

Blue Jays 8, Royals 1: Worse than Gil Meche not being particularly effective was the reason why: lower back stiffness which caused him to leave the game in the fourth. To the extent the “Royals are frisky” talk still has any life to it is based on an assumption that Gil Meche will be a solid number two starter all year. If he’s gone, forget it.

Padres 4, Rockies 3: Luis Rodriguez had a pinch hit single in the ninth to seal it.

Cubs 11, Diamondbacks 3: Carlos Zambrano was only a triple short of the cycle and, oh yeah, he pitched a little too (7 IP, 8 H, 3 ER). Geovany Soto, who is hitting only .119 and who allowed five stolen bases on Monday, sat in favor of Koyie Hill.

Dodgers 5, Giants 3: The Giants played really poorly — they walked nine guys and played bad defense, yet somehow still found themselves tied with L.A. entering the ninth inning. Then Manny hit a double and scored what would prove to be the winning run when Andre Ethier doubled two batters later. Matt Kemp added some whipped cream an RBI triple.