And That Happened

Red Sox 8, Marlins 2: David Ortiz continues to heat up, adding a homer and a two-run single to his increasingly improving statline. Tim Wakefield was strong too. From the game story: Wakefield is now two starts and five home wins behind Roger Clemens for the most in Red Sox history in each category. I suppose that’s something Boston fans were mostly aware of, but you could stump a decent number of Midwesterners and West Coasters with that, I imagine.

Reds 7, Braves 2: This one had a long rain delay, and when that happens, Marty Brennaman and Jeff Brantley take calls. I caught a bit of it last night. This is paraphrased, but it’s pretty close to how one call went down:

Marty: Hello, you’re on Reds radio!

Caller: Hey Marty, being from North Carolina, could you tell us who your favorite professional wrestler is?

Marty: Well, I um, er . . .

Brantley [interrupting, with extreme urgency and certainty]: No question about it, my favorite wrestler was The Million Dollar Man, Ted Di-Bi-ase. He was absolutely the best.

Marty and Caller: stunned silence.

I wish to God I was making that up.

Yankees 5, Nationals 3: Cano went 4-4 and had the tie-breaking hit in the seventh. More game story fun: “[Alex] Rodriguez greeted fans in Monument Park before the game. One spectator told A-Rod he was a Phillies fan but he liked him.” I was going to scoff at the inclusion of this, but then I realized that, yes, someone publicly admitting that they like A-Rod does probably qualify as newsworthy.

Rangers 6, Astros 1: Pudge v2.0 ties Pudge v1.0 for most games caught, but this was the Ian Kinsler show (3-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI). And Kevin Millwood (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER) is quietly putting up his best season since his he broke out all awesome-like ten years ago.

Cardinals 11, Tigers 2: Verlander proves human after all, posting his worst start since April 17th (4 IP, 8 H, 5 ER). In other news, with a 2-1 lead (1934 & 2006 to 1968) the Cardinals can put this series away with a win this week.

Twins 8, Pirates 2: Some Twins fans took me to task on the NBC blog yesterday for saying that the Tigers looked to be solidly atop a weak division. I still think the Central is fairly weak, but I think I should have waited to declare Detroit solidly atop anything. The Twins are two games back and they have a force of nature on their team. I repeat: The Superman exists, and he’s Minnesotan.

Royals 5, Diamondbacks 0: Mechetastic! (SHO, 4 H, 6K). GWRBI from Miguel Olivo. What?

Blue Jays 8, Phillies 3: Ryan Madson blew the save in the ninth, and Clay Condrey barfed the game away in the tenth, allowing five of the six batters he faced to score. Madson and Condrey? Weren’t they the original Midnight Express? I’ll have to ask Brantley . . .

Mets 6, Orioles 4: Bad defense — including a dropped popup to Aubrey Huff with which I’m guessing Luis Castillo could sympathize — doomed the O’s.

Brewers 7, Indians 5: Gallardo wasn’t efficient — he threw 61 pitches in the first two innings — but the Indians didn’t cash in on it like they could have and Yovani gutted his way to five and the win. So much enthusiasm for this Indians team in March has devolved into wondering who will trade for Mark DeRosa. Not exactly how Mark Shapiro drew things up.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Quick rundown of the late games because I’m jammed up with other stuff this morning:

Angels 8, Giants 1: Mike Napoli had a three-run homer and three other hits.

Dodgers 5, A’s 4: Torre ties Sparky Anderson on the all-time wins list. Anderson still leads Torre in guest starring spots on WKRP in Cincinnatti.

Mariners 5, Padres 0: King Felix rules: Two-hit shutout. Kevin Correia was pretty good himself (8 IP, 2 H, 2 ER), but you can’t win if your homies don’t score.

Rays 12, Rockies 4: Colorado’s winning streak ends. How much longer until the deulsion that they’re contenders does too? Transaction junkies want to know.

White Sox at Cubs: Postponed: I can only imagine that having to sit in the Wrigley Field clubhouse during a rain delay makes Ozzie want to puke even more than being in the dugout during a ballagme.


11 Comments
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Kelly
14 years ago

Minnesota will find a way.  Traditionally, their ‘way’ includes playing .900 ball during interleague games.  Having Superman doesn’t hurt.

Lots of commenters feel Mauer can’t hit .400 because he’s a catcher.  And .400 is unreal.  But the man just gets hits.  And I like to believe it’s possible.  And I like to start way too many sentences with “and” against my English teaching mother’s wishes.

Hizouse
14 years ago

Everybody’s got a price….

J.W.
14 years ago

I was going to comment on the Baker piece, but I was stopped by the presence of one moron and one confusing condescender (I don’t care if that’s not really a word, I want the alliteration). I’ve been afraid for a while now of NBC-style commenting finding it’s way over here, but I was definitely not expecting disgruntled reporters to show up. As I said before, not that it matters, I’m sure that Mr. Baker is a nice and talented guy (or I hope he is anyway). But he continues not to represent himself well in this debate. Let’s leave aside his sort of illegible and strange explication of the difference between his (and other MSMers’) actions and the actions of “bloggers.” One section really stands out.

“Life’s really not always a conspiracy (Who said anything about a conspiracy?? Well Baker seems willing to believe that things written by other people in the comments section are attributable to you so maybe this part has something to do with testosterone levels…). You can be a funny writer when you stick to things you know (Um, thanks? I’m sure you’re ecstatic to be told you can be funny by the Almighty Geoff Baker, Keeper of the Canon of Comedy. And what exactly is it that you’re supposed to know? Clearly not baseball; baseball is the purview of the Bakers of the world.) If in doubt, just write and ask beforehand (Appreciate the kindergarten teacher attitude, Geoff-o.) I’m usually very receptive to bloggers asking me questions in good faith. (Hey, I’m usually very receptive to reporters writing in good faith; wish we saw that more often.)”
At least Baker was engaging and all that. Like I said, he’s probably a talented and cool dude, but this argument seems maybe to be too personal for him to do his best work on? Oh well, regardless of its flaws, Baker’s comment is the kind you want to see on a blog. Which is more than can be said for some.

J.W.
14 years ago

Oh, and Ted DiBiase? That’s like saying Don Mattingly is your all time favorite Yankee. Sure, there’s tons to like about him, but favorite? Really?

Moondog K.P.
14 years ago

One little note on the Brantley thing that might make a small difference. He lives in Clinton, Miss., and I believe Dibiase does as well. Seeing that Clinton’s a smaller suburb of the capitol, it’s not hard to think that they could be neighbors on the same street. Not many other millionaires building down that way these days.

Jason B
14 years ago

Koko B. Ware continues to light up the phone lines…hoping someone, someday, will say *he* was their favorite.

Alas, the losing streak continues…

Daniel
14 years ago

Craig, do you need someone to help you with the Angels’ writeups?  I know they’re out here in a different country and all that, but, you know, they did have a kid throw 7 innings of one-run ball in his major league debut.  It was against the Giants, but still…worth a mention?

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Definitely worth a mention, Daniel, and normally I would have. I just had to motor through the west coast games even more quickly than I usually do this morning because of other parts of my life interrupting.

I’ve given thought to pushing ATH back a bit to give me more time to absorb the late games, but there’s a large number of people who want to read the thing the moment they wake up or the moment they get to work, and that requires an early posting. With me being in the Eastern time zone, something has to give.

Ron
14 years ago

132 pitches for Meche. You just have to wonder if he was thinking he needed to suck it up and take one for the team due to Farnsworth being unavailable?

After all, that is Hillman’s preferred time to use Hong Kong Phooey.

RickyB
14 years ago

I believe Sparky also leads Torre in plaid sport jackets worn on TV …

Greg Simons
14 years ago

Hulk Hogan is, by acclimation, the greatest wrestler of all time.  How many Rocky movies did DiBiase appear in?  How many reality shows did he have?

And I used to like A-Rod, and as a matter of fact, I still might.