And That Happened

Royals 3, White Sox 0: Zack Greinke can’t be bargained with. He can’t be reasoned with. He doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead. CG, SHO, 10 K, 0 BB.

Nationals 9, Astros 4: Not a ton has gone right for Washington this year, but that Ryan Zimmerman extension seems to agree with him (4-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI; .333/.393/.588, 22 game hitting streak). Elijah Dukes is coming around too (3-5, 3 RBI; .299/.365/.506). Between them and iron man Nick Johnson (on pace for 600 AB) and .300 hitter Adam Dunn, they might just make themselves respectable before the year is out.

Twins 7, Tigers 2: Liriano puts up his second straight strong start, this time getting the win (7.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 9K). This should be a relief to him as he’s playing to stay on my Diamondmind keeper team next season, and this will really help him keep his job.

Mets 6, Braves 4: I was following the game via three different Braves message boards, and I can tell you, consensus among those watching the game said that Vazquez looked tired when he gave up the first home run to Beltran and that he should have been sent to the showers. He looked even more tired when he gave up the single to Delgado and the homer to Wright. OK, Bobby, it’s really time to take Javier out. But no! Out he goes for the 7th and gives up yet another homer to Beltran. By the time he was yanked it was 6-3 and this Braves team is not one that comes back from anything. This loss is on Cox.

Brewers 7, Pirates 4: Matt Capps was beat up on Saturday night by the Reds but managed to hang in there and close out the win. This beating was more costly, as it meant the game. For the Brewers, Gallardo was not super human this time, but he was plenty effective (7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER), and Ryan Braun’s two-run double in the eighth was a nice surprise considering he began his day in an MRI tube in Wisconsin.

Orioles 8, Rays 4: I know everyone is saying not to worry about the Rays yet, but they are four games off of last year’s pace and are farther back in the standings too. A more specific subject of worry: Scott Kazmir, who was whupped last night (6.1 IP, 7 H. 6 ER) and now has a 6.00 ERA on the season.

Phillies 6, Cardinals 1: Classic Tony La Russa game. All of the scoring was over by the fifth inning, yet he still used seven pitchers in the game. Scary moment: Rick Ankiel crashed headfirst into the outfield fence after chasing down a line drive to the gap. X-Rays negative, but he’s still in the hospital as of this morning.

Cubs 4, Giants 2: Jonathan Sanchez caught a case of the walksies and the rest of the Giants continue to suffer from an acute offense deficit disorder.

Indians 9, Blue Jays 7: Cleveland scores three times in the seventh to take the lead . . . and couldn’t hold it. Then they scored three times in the ninth to take the lead . . . and they couldn’t hold it. Then they scored three times in the twelfth to take the lead . . . and the third time was the charm.

Marlins 3, Reds 2: Going 14 innings only to lose on a throwing error is like being sent off to war only to die of an infected ingrown toenail or something. Wasted efforts by both starters, Aaron Harang and Josh Johnson. Well, not wasted, really. You know what I mean.

Red Sox 6, Yankees 4: I had planned on watching this, but after a nearly two and a half hour rain delay, it wasn’t going to happen. Good call on my part too, as the game, in typical Yankees-Sox fashion, then went 3:48. Making things even more miserable were the injuries to Jorge Posada and Kevin Youkilis.

Dodgers 7, Dbacks 2: Either and Ramirez hit back to back homers in the first, basically ending this one before it began. The Dodgers are now 11-0 at home.

Rockies 9, Padres 6: The Padres’ skid/restoration of the natural order of things continues. That’s six in a row they dropped, this time in front of the smallest crowd in Petco Park history.

Rangers 6, Mariners 5: King Felix proves mortal against the Rangers’ potent attack (6 IP, 10 H, 6 ER). Texas has now hit 46 homers as a team.

Angels 5, Athletics 2: LAA of A have now won five of six. Mike Napoli remains hot (4-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI) and Torii Hunter continues his season long impersonation of a team-carrying slugger (2-4, 3 RBI).

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

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lar
14 years ago

That’s now 16 consecutive losses to the Brewers by the Pirates, which is pretty impressive. Somehow the Brewers are in their head, and last night’s performance (Braun coming out of nowhere to tie the game up and then blowing the lead in the ninth in spectacular fashion after re-taking the lead in the 8th) certainly isn’t going to help. And with the way the Pirates fans have already been complaining about the Brewers, I can only imagine it’s going to get worse…

J.W.
14 years ago

Are you suggesting that in a few years Zach Greinke will be governor of California? Because I’d be OK with that.

Sara K
14 years ago

Just watched the video of Ankiel’s crash.  It felt good to see how Chris Duncan handled it.

BillyBeaneismyHero
14 years ago

In my fantasy baseball draft, I got the luxury of drafting Zack Greinke—in the 11th round.  He was my fourth pitcher taken after Billingsley, Lester, and Cain.

Utpal
14 years ago

Check out the Hanley Ramirez slide that precipitated the throwing error—pretty nasty/flagrantly out of the basepath.

Jake
14 years ago

He doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear.
whatever medication he’s taking for his anxiety – it sure is working!