And That Happened

Phillies 12, Cubs 5: Pedro Martinez wasn’t spectacular in his 2009 debut, but he was effective enough and showed that he still belonged on a Major League mound (5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 5K). I was most impressed by his first inning strikeout of Jake Fox where, after consistently hitting 88 on the gun with his fastball to start off the game, he ratcheted it up to 92 on strike three. That’s useful. One wonders if it wouldn’t be more useful in the pen, but that’s something we’ll figure out over the next couple of weeks. Jeff Samardzija made his first start and it wasn’t pretty, as he gave up seven runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings. Oh, and some dumb rich kid showered Shane Victorino with beer as he caught a fly ball. No word on whether Victorino picked up a rock and made a nice-sized dent in the fan’s life-sized Hot Wheels car after the game. So what else do you want to hear, I’m out of stories.

Braves 6, Nationals 2: It’s a lot of fun for me to watch the Braves win like this. Now if only Philly and Colorado will cooperate by losing a bit.

Rockies 8, Pirates 0: That’s not what I mean when I ask for cooperation. Ubaldo Jimenez makes short work of the Pirates (8IP, 3 H, 0 ER).

Twins 7, Royals 1: Brian Bannister gets shelled (6 IP, 9 H, 7 ER) and Francisco Liriano had his best start in, like, forever (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 8K). Most of the damage against Bannister came in the first, when the Twins hit four straight singles off of him, followed by a home run. Bannister tried to explain to the Twins that all but the homer was the result of an unusual run of BABIP luck, but they insisted on celebrating anyway. Ignoramuses.

Giants 4, Dodgers 2: Juan Uribe wins it on a walkoff homer in the 10th, though if it wasn’t for a bad call at first base that led to a Dodger run, it would have ended in the ninth. There was some pushing and shoving early in this one, but no Youkilis-Porcello moments. Which is sad, because the inside pitch that caused the ire was to Pablo Sandoval, and I would have liked to see his kung-fu in action.

Mets 6, Diamondbacks 4: Jon Rauch got pissed at the ump over what he felt to be a shrinking strike zone in the eighth and charged in to argue with him. Manager A.J. Hinch came out to protect his pitcher and Rauch shoved him aside. “He really didn’t hold me back too much, and I went and apologized for manhandling him.” You just can’t buy that kind of respect from your subordinates. It has to be earned.

Red Sox 8, Tigers 2: Despite a fairly big series against the Rangers this weekend, Youkilis began serving his suspension, and thus sat this one out. Probably a good idea, though, because (a) the Sox have approximately 347 guys who play first or third; and (b) who’s to say the Tigers wouldn’t have thrown at him again? Josh Beckett goes seven innings giving up two runs and notching his 14th win. I’m getting this funny feeling that they’re going to give him the Cy Young award this year despite the fact that there are several starting pitchers more deserving. It just feels like a “look at the wins!” kind of year.

Rangers 5, Indians 0: Strike that — reverse it. Tommy Hunter continues to impress (7.2 IP, 6 H. 0 ER 5K) and Josh Hamilton goes 3-4 with a couple of doubles as the Rangers replicate the Indians 5-0 win from the previous night.

Cardinals 5, Reds 2: Chris Carpenter (7 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 10K) shuts down the Reds. A line drive off of Homer Bailey’s foot shuts down Homer Bailey after throwing only 12 pitches. Pujols hit his 38th homer. Matt Holliday goes 3 for 4.

Angels 10, Rays 5: Not a lot of pitching to be found here, as the teams combine for 24 hits. From the Angels side it had to do with the fact that Trevor Bell was making his major league debut. Rob wasn’t as impressed as the Angels’ announcers. Bell wasn’t all that impressed with the majesty of the Major Leagues: “But just talking to the veteran guys, they said the game is no different up here. Just more people and better speakers.”

Athletics 6, Orioles 3: The A’s finish up their 28-games-in-28-days stretch with a victory, resulting in a 14-14 record. In August 1990 I worked 28 straight days at the radio station without a day off. All 11pm-6am shifts. I was pretty whipped by the end of that stretch, and it was all I could do to read the station ID at the top of the hour without slurring my speech or falling asleep. I guess what I’m saying is that the A’s can declare victory with that 14-14.

Astros 14, Marlins 6: Hunter Pence had two homers — both of them three-run jobs — and Ricky Nolasco continues to make people wonder why he was such a hot fantasy property back in March (3.1 IP, 8 H, 10 ER).

Yankees 4, Blue Jays 3: A costly victory for the Yankees as Jeter, Rodriguez and Posada all got beaten up by hit or pitched balls, and Mariano Rivera didn’t even hang around for the game due to a “cranky arm,” whatever the hell that means. They got a bit of a cushion now, though, so they can give some guys a day off here or there.

Mariners 1, White Sox 0: Ken Griffey Jr. has had a rather poor (presumably) final year in the majors, but he get a nice near-the-end highlight here, singling home the game’s only run in the bottom of the 14th. I mentioned Josh Beckett’s Cy Young chances before. Among the guys with better cases but who likely won’t get near the support are Felix Hernandez, who threw seven shutout innings with ten strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.72. Mark Buehrle had a good game too — his first since the perfecto — shutting Seattle out over eight.

Padres 6, Brewers 5: The new-look Brewers lose to a Padres team that has won 5 of 6. After the game, Doug Melvin demoted Prince Fielder, released Ryan Braun, fired Ken Macha and had three of every five stadium vendors killed. Dude doesn’t mess around.