And That Happened

Marlins 6, Cubs 2: One wonders if the Cubs did much due diligence on Aaron Heilman prior to bringing him onboard. I mean, I watch a lot of baseball, so I certainly knew from Mets games of the past couple of years that he was not to be trusted in tight spots like extra innings, but maybe the Cubs don’t watch as many as me since they’re playing all of the time. Perhaps his tendency to blow up was simply unknown to them? Yeah, that’s gotta be it. And the Cubs certainly need to DL somebody, because you can’t win a division using Carlos Zambrano as your primary pinch hitter and playing Koyie Hill at third. Hey wait! If they had a really versatile guy — a Mark DeRosa type — and a good relief pitcher — say, a Kerry Wood type — maybe BOTH of these problems are solved!

Royals 8, Blue Jays 6: On Wednesday it was Bengie Molina hitting a triple. Yesterday it was John Buck, only he did it twice. Let’s hear it for the portly among us! Six double plays by the Royals as well as they take three of four from the previously hot Jays.

Athletics 4, Rangers 2: Ryan Sweeney’s robbery of Ian Kinsler at the wall was pretty freakin’ sweet. Andruw Jones hit a home run. It was his third, which is the same number he hit all last year. It ain’t exactly Babe Zaharias returning from colon cancer surgery to win the 1954 U.S. Open, but he is at .344/.523 /.781 and has to be the early leader for Comeback Player of the Year, right? I mean, he got fat and everything, which is practically dead, isn’t it?

Yankees 7, Angels 4: Behold! A bullpen worse than the Yankees! In fact, it’s the worst in baseball, and helped New York pull away in the eighth. Every Yankee starter got a hit, which is kind of fun to look at in a box score.

Cardinals 9, Nats 4: I guess that Julian Tavarez in the ninth inning thing didn’t work out as well this time, did it? Here Tavarez entered the game, walked a guy, gave up a double, hit a guy, walked another guy, and gave up a single before Acta brought out the hook and brought in Hanrahan. Only two possible reasons for that: (1) Hanrahan wasn’t warmed up and couldn’t come in until the game was out of control; or (b) Acta actually thought Tavarez could get out of this jam once he was in it. If it was the latter, Acta isn’t all that familiar with Julian Tavarez’s body of work. Otherwise, it also strikes me that if the Nats are going to with a Frankenbullpen made up of guys like Tavarez, that they should always have two guys warmed up at the start of an inning.

Rays 13, Red Sox 0: The Rays basically ripped off the Red Sox’ legs and beat them with ’em. Not much more you can say about that.

Brewers 4, Diamondbacks 1: Max Scherzer probably didn’t buy Tom Gordon any beers after this one. Scherzer handed Gordon a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning and Flash did this: walk-wild pitch-single-fielder’s choice-wild pitch-single-walk. Four runs charged to Gordon.

Dodgers 8, Padres 5: Rookie James McDonald didn’t have it, but luckily Jeff Weaver was around (how many people have ever said that before?). He came in and pitched four scoreless innings to keep the Padres at bay long enough for the offense to come and bail Big Blue out. The Dodgers are now 7-0 at home.


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Ron
14 years ago

I propose a trade. Manny Acta straight up for Trey Hillman.

The Royals would finally come out on the plus side of a transaction.

handwasher
14 years ago

tad, ever watched Bronson Arroyo?  Dude has serious saliva-game.

Ross
14 years ago

People act like Zambrano pinch-hitting is a new thing.  It happens several times a year under Lou.

smsetnor
14 years ago

On the Cubs: Preach on brotha.  Amen!

tadthebad
14 years ago

Still with the crush on the Rays?  Why?  Matt Garza might be their best pitcher (at least against the Sox) but he also might be the most disgusting person playing baseball today.  He averages at least a loogee/second.  What’s really nice is when we get to see him strenuaously suck all the mucus from his sinuses into his mouth, then huck a good one.  Enough of Matt Garza, for both competitive and aesthetic reasons.

Doracle
14 years ago

It’s funny that I still associate Tavarez with his first full season in the majors, when he was an integral part of the ‘95 Indians’ dominating bullpen.  Fourteen years as a journeyman middle reliever certainly isn’t anything to sneeze at, but being that ‘95 was the first year that I followed baseball with any passion, I have a certain unrealistic snapshot burned into my head of a young kid nicknamed “Hawk” who won ten games in relief with an ERA in the mid-twos.  As such, Real Life Tavarez has always seemed like a mediocre forgery to me.

On a side note, one of the last images that I have of the ‘95 season is Tavarez crying on the bench after the Braves wrapped up the series in Game Six.  When the Red Sox came back against the Indians in the ALCS two years ago, then went on to beat up on the Rockies for four games, I did take some solace in seeing him finally get a ring, even if he wasn’t on the Red Sox actual postseason roster.

But don’t mind my reminiscing.  These days, it is easy for an Indians fan to get a bit weepy at the memories of Plunk, Assenmacher, the ‘95 model of Jose Mesa, et al.

On a side note, DeRosa and Wood haven’t exactly turned the Indians around so far this year.  Not that either of them has been the problem.

APBA Guy
14 years ago

Whoa-Ryan Sweeney, who knew? And I watch the A’s all the time. Probably why he didn’t get traded this offseason and Gonzalez did.

Andruw Jones swing is much calmer, much steadier, and he played first base, which is an option for him along with corner outfield.

Still, it’s all about Evan Longoria. Every time I watch BBTN, he’s knocking in 3 against Boston.

Sav
14 years ago

As a Cubs fan, I would love nothing more than to have Wood and DeRosa still on the team. However, they were both let go basically for salary purposes. If the ownership deal were already done, perhaps they remain Cubs. Then again, I think Hendry was reluctant to give Wood the multi-year deal he was due and block Marmol for years in the process.

Matt Aux
14 years ago

I almost lost my coffee this morning reading the Cubs summary.  How has Jim Hendry never heard of “baseball-reference.com”?