And That Happened

Box scores! Get your fresh hot box scores!

Cubs 5, Pirates 2: If Trey Hillman got suspended for spraying it instead of saying it, Carlos Zambrano is probably going to be tied up and sent out into the desert on the back of a donkey Thunderdome-style after his outburst yesterday. By the way, I love it when the guy who just got ejected pretends to throw the ump out of the game. Maybe someday it will work. In other news, Zambrano is probably my favorite player in the game right now.

Mariners 6, Athletics 1: Erik Bedard won his first game in five starts and Russell Branyan hit the homer that gave the Ms some breathing room. And you may want to be sitting down for this: Nomar Garciaparra went back on the DL. I know. I’m just as shocked as you are.

Marlins 6, Phillies 2: Brett Myers has allowed 17 homers so far this year. Which, in case you were wondering, is a lot.

Tigers 8, Royals 3: Remember all that talk early in the season about how Kyle Davies had figured it all out? Yeah, maybe not completely, as he gives up eight runs on ten hits and didn’t make it out of the sixth. With things out of hand, acting-manager John Gibbons allowed the Royals pupu platter of Horacio Ramirez and Kyle Farnsworth to pitch. Amazingly, they didn’t give up any runs.

Dodgers 8, Rockies 6: Everyone keeps saying that Juan Pierre is going to crater, but he continues not to. Here he went 3-5 with 2 RBI. He’s 32 for 78 (.410) with eight doubles and three triples since Manny got suspended.

Orioles 12, Blue Jays 10: Blowing an 8-3 lead after seven innings and a 10-8 lead in the eleventh is not the sort of thing that makes for a nice flight back to Toronto. Also, I’m going to go on record as saying that I wrote two (2) pieces complimentary to Cito Gaston just as this nightmare of a losing streak began for the Jays, so I’m going to take credit for instituting the ShysterBall Jinx.

Cardinals 3, Brewers 2: Last year the Cubs-Brewers race was pretty damn exciting, and this year’s Cardinals-Brewers race is shaping up to be the same. St. Louis has won seven of nine, and is getting great pitching lately. And it seems that Albert Pujols is starting to really be given the Barry Bonds treatment, as he has been walked 12 times in his last six games.

Mets 7, Nationals 4: Not the best of nights for Johan Santana — he threw 120 pitches in six innings — but he did strike 11 Nats out and got the win, so it’s all good. Daniel Murphy had a big night (3-5, 5 RBI). F-Mart effed up when he failed to run out an infield popup that was dropped. Hopefully he turns it around soon, though, because Matthew Cerrone has a great idea for what we can call his home runs.

Yankees 9, Rangers 2: I was truly going to watch this game all the way through but then, two pitches into the game, Rick Sutcliffe said that Derek Holland facing leadoff hitter Derek Jeter “could be the key at bat of the game.” Then, in the bottom of the first, he said that he hoped Josh Hamilton could get an opportunity to run first to third “so that our listeners could see just how fast he is.” My wife and I have a deal: I can’t get the Extra Innings package unless and until I get a full time baseball writing gig. Since I’m not there yet, I decided that the best course of action was to turn the game off and drink scotch, alone, in a quiet room for the rest of the evening.

Twins 4, Red Sox 2: Good to see Dice-K back in mid-season form (100+ pitches in five painfully slow innings). Joe Mauer got on base two out of four plate appearances and had an RBI. I wonder if he’s hurt?

Reds 6, Astros 1: Bronson Arroyo is like a box of chocolates (CG, 5 H, 1 ER).

Giants 6, Braves 3: Win number 299 for The Big Unit. A big assist to Bobby Cox too, as he trotted out what may have been his weakest lineup since the Jim Presley era.

Padres 8, Diamondbacks 5: Adrian Gonzales hits a homer and Jake Peavy gets the win. The Padres should probably deal both of them. The Dbacks are now farther out of first place than they’ve been at any time since 2004.

Angels 3, White Sox 1: Jered Weaver struck out eight and gave up four hits and one run in eight innings. He’s been outstanding over his last five starts and looks to finally be developing into the ace he’s long been expected to be.

Indians 12, Rays 7: After coming back huge on Memorial Day, the Indians once again make up a big deficit — this one a five run hole after the first inning — to beat the reeling Rays. This game ended after midnight, and they have a noon start today, so they probably should do what I used to do when I went out drinking the night before finals: just stay up, dude. It’ll be way easier.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

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MooseinOhio
14 years ago

I do think that over the last few years a small group of umpires have crossed the line somewhat by antagonizing or provoking players and managers to confrontations.  Additionally I think a few also want to known publically and not just be the anonymous man behind the mask and think that MLB needs to rein a few of them in.  That said, I do think it is a pretty thankless job and overall most do a really good job.

Adam
14 years ago

You must figure out a way to renegotiate the deal and get the Package.  It’s worth every penny, if only to stay up late and listen to Vin. (and I don’t even like the Dodgers). I guarantee you that in 50 years, he never once called the first hitter the “key at bat in the game.”

David
14 years ago

Zambrano is awesome!  Combine this with the time that he assaulted his own catcher for mocking his pitching performance and you’ve got video evidence that he’s the most passionate and competitive man in baseball right now.

Alex K: The video evidence is totally clear: the umpire bumped into Zambrano and Zambrano pushed him away with his elbow.  Not only does Zambrano not deserve a suspension, but the umpire definitely has to have one.  (I highly doubt that the ump had any aggressive intent – although he should’ve simply turned his back and walked away – but the fact remains that he bumped into a player.) 

Watching the Tigers a lot, Rick Porcello appears to be similar to Kevin Brown or Roy Halladay.  You can’t necessarily see how he’s getting all those easy outs (although the movement on Halladay’s pitches, to my eyes, comes across well on TV), but he just cruises through the game.  I’ll call it now: the Tigers have the Central wrapped up.

David
14 years ago

Moose:

I agree with your uneasiness about some of the undercurrents in umpiring behavior.  Many of them are becoming way too demonstrative and provocative when dealing with players.  They need to make their calls, apologize when they screw up, and, when a competitive athlete is upset because he failed or because he think the ump screwed up, they need to just walk the hell away.  The umps aren’t competing out there, so there’s no damn reason at all for their tempers or behavior to be remotely as hot as the athletes’ are.

Last year, there was an incident (I think it was in Baltimore?) where some ump apparently provoked a player very flagrantly (although I never saw it myself).  Believe it or not, somebody in the usually-reverent-to-authorities world of sports radio had a great quote on the matter.  He said, “Stand down, Blue!  Nobody’s paying any money to watch YOU!”

lar
14 years ago

Am I out of it? Who is F-Mart? Is he a Met or a National? And why are you, Craig, of all people, using that nickname? I thought we were against that trend…

David
14 years ago

Iar,

I was wondering who C-Cal was talking about there, too.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Fernando Martinez. I’d like to say my use of “F-Mart” was ironic or something, but it wasn’t. I was just being lazy.

lar
14 years ago

I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, Craig, but it seemed a little too subtle to be irony. Lazy rules the day (not that there’s anything wrong with that!).

Hizouse
14 years ago

Don’t sell yourself short, Craig—the F-Bomb joke is funnier if you know his nickname is F-Mart, which isn’t included in the link.  So nice setup.

Sam
14 years ago

I was planning to call his homers fmart bombs.

morineko
14 years ago

Kyle Farnsworth, believe it or not, has had thirteen straight scoreless appearances. All of them except for one 2/3 inning game have been an inning or more, too.

RoyceTheBaseballHack
14 years ago

I might just be suffering from Post-Home-Team-Loss Syndrome, and I understand that there are 162 games in the season, and no one team can win them all. But I have a strong feeling that if my Rangers have a prayer of making a dent in the AL this season, they are going to have to learn how to either 1) not let games get out of hand like that (8-0 in the 7th), or, B) right the boat when it does get out of hand like that.  With the acknowledgment that the Yankees are actually a damned fine baseball team, it just strikes me that games just like last night are the very ones they have to Cowboy Up and win.

Kelly
14 years ago

Extra Innings isn’t that expensive.  You should set up a Paypal to “raise” the money next year in March.  I’d chip in for your content to get you the access you so richly deserve.

Unless it’s a marriage thing.  Then I’m bound by law as a female to agree with your wife.

Adam
14 years ago

I’m with Kelly. I think we should chip in to have a “buy Craig some Extra Innings” fundraiser.  Think how much better ATH would be if he actually saw the games?  And since you would be watching baseball 8 hours a day, that would count as “full time” so I think you’re good there, too.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

You guys gonna pay for my divorce lawyer too?

Drew
14 years ago

I can’t blame Martinez for not running out the pop-up; it was the team’s fault for not properly preparing him for the game.  He probably figured that since he was on the big-league club, there’d be major league competition and guys would do things like actually catch pop flies.  What he didn’t realize is that they were playing the Nationals, which could actually be the lowest level of competition he’s faced in years.

APBA Guy
14 years ago

Extra innings is worth it unless you are watching an A’s snoozefest, like yesterday. They are so vulnerable to lefties, that must be why Beane wants to corner the market on young lefty pitching. Still, can’t forget that Bedard is very, very good when healthy, as he appears to be now.

As for Nomar, it would probably be easier to start counting the days he’s off the DL.

Daniel
14 years ago

Maybe I’m crazy, but I watched the replay of the Zambrano ejection and it appeared to me that contact wasn’t made until Zambrano moved his arm to kind of shove the ump away.  It didn’t look like the ump initiated.  Maybe I missed something.

Alex K
14 years ago

To me it looked like the ump bumped him, and then he shrugged him off. He should be fined, but I think a suspension would be unfair.

Jason Rosenberg
14 years ago

re: the Yankees/Rangers game.

Not only did the announcer call the leadoff at-bat “maybe the key at bat of the entire game,” which was AWESOME, but he was literally in mid-sentence, praising Texas’ starting pitching when, two batters later, Texeira hit an absolute rocket of a homerun. And, he didn’t even have the decency to laugh at himself. It was a game that made me wish that “Fire Joe Morgan” was still alive.

Alex K
14 years ago

The real question about Zambrano is this: should he be suspended for the contact with the umpire? While watching the replay it looked a lot like the ump was the one who initiated the contact, not Zambrano.