And That Happened

Braves 15, Mets 2: Brian McCann hit a three-run homer in the second inning after five runs had already scored. And guess what: THE BRAVES DIDN’T SCORE ANOTHER RUN IN THAT INNING AFTER THE HOMER. They’re rally-killers, dude. Avoid the home run at all costs. Bright side for Mets fans: Bobby Parnell didn’t get near that 85 pitch count they’re saying he’s on: he was in the showers after 71 thrown in three innings.

White Sox 4, Royals 2: Jose Contreras allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked only one. Zack Greinke only allowed six hits himself — and three of them were rally-killing home runs — but Greinke lost anyway.

Phillies 8, Diamondbacks 1: Cliff Lee (CG 2 H, 0 ER, 11K) is like a one-man army, like Charlton Heston in “Omega Man.” You ever see it? Beauty.

Pirates 3, Brewers 1: Paul Maholm is basically indestructible. In the fourth inning. Mike Cameron hit a liner off Maholm’s pitching arm and it bounced off right to the second baseman, who threw Cameron out. In the eighth inning, Alcides Escobar hit one off of Maholm’s shin, and he too was thrown out on the play. Maholm stayed in the game for another batter after that and was lifted, but it was for cause (he was tired; he gave up a single late) not injury. Final line: 7.2 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, a couple of giant bruises when he wakes up this morning.

Rays 3, Orioles 1: Three solo homers and a solid start by Jeff Niemann. You know, I don’t want to give any false hope here, but the Orioles are not out of the Bryce Harper race yet, sitting back of Washington a scant 4 games in the loss column as the bulldog goes to press.

Mariners 3, Tigers 1: Justin Verlander struck out ten and deserved a better fate, but Ian Snell + the Seattle bullpen pitched a little better. I’ve mentioned this before, but absolutely hate this kind of comment in a game story: “Verlander now has 204 strikeouts, making him the first Tigers pitcher to reach 200 since Jeremy Bonderman in 2006.” Really? All the way back to 2006? Here’s a suggestion: let’s make all such callbacks be required to stretch back at least five years. Like “Verlander is the first Tigers pitcher whose last name starts with a V since Andy Van Hekken’s September callup back in 2002.

Angels 3, Indians 5 0 [I have no idea where that 5 came from]: Jered Wever shuts down the Indians (CG SHO, 7 H). The Angels are 24-8 since the All-Star break and have won five in a row. Game story: “A light rain sent fans scurrying for cover in the seventh inning as the teams kept playing. It stopped about 15 minutes later.” If I didn’t know better, pardner, I’d say that you was callin’ Clevelanders yella!

Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 1: If, a month ago, I would have told you that would Buchholz beat Halladay in this game, you would have assumed that the Jays won, wouldn’t you have?

Giants 1, Reds 0: Barry Zito and three relievers combine to shut out the Reds. The Giants’ only run came when Wladimir Balentien tried to lay out for a diving catch on Nate Schierholtz’s hit to the outfield — missed it — which allowed Edgar Renteria to score.

Rockies 5, Nationals 4: Carlos Gonzalez won’t stop hitting home runs.

Cardinals 3, Dodgers 2: Adam Wainwright was throwing a no-hitter into the sixth inning but ended up getting a no decision. The Dodgers lead in the west is now only 3.5 games over Colorado. Yikes.

Cubs 7, Padres 1: The Cubs, behind Rich Harden’s seven innings of one-hit shutout ball, wake up to salvage one game of the series.

Yankees 3, Athletics 2: Teixeira hit a two-run homer and Derek Jeter stays hot. After a day off today, they’re in Fenway for the weekend with a chance to bury the Red Sox for good, one would think.

Astros 6, Marlins 3: Facts that are neat but kinda mean nothin’ department: The Marlins have had ten hits for fifteen straight games, which is the longest such streak in baseball since the St. Louis Browns did it in 1937. Ten hits combined with sixteen stranded runners and three errors gets you a loss, however.

Twins 5, Rangers 4: Pudge got a big ovation, then went 3 for 4 with an RBI and run scored in his first game with the Rangers. He couldn’t handle a throw in a play at the plate in the sixth, however, which allowed the winning run to score.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

23 Comments
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Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Mike: I think Omega Man kind of blows, but I had to but in the “Strange Brew” line.

lar: I don’t think it alternates anymore. I could be wrong about that, but I’m pretty sure it goes directly to the worst record now.

mike in brooklyn
14 years ago

Of the 3, I think the original version: Vincent Price in The Last Man On Earth, is actually the best.  After adjusting for the different budgets, of course.

mike in brooklyn
14 years ago

Wow!  I am so tired, I actually put the same post twice!  Not back-to-back, mind you, because of computer-related problems.  I actually forgot i had written it only 10 minutes or so earlier.

It is REALLY hard being a Met fan!

Steve A
14 years ago

Lar,

No, the draft pick is going to the worst team overall now.  I believe the alternating top pick stopped when they combined the leagues’ operations into one entity.

Jacob
14 years ago

Bob and Doug McKenzie FTW

Jeff V.
14 years ago

Would have been real hard for the Rays to get the #1 pick in back to back drafts if it still rotated.

lar
14 years ago

Makes sense. I hadn’t heard anything either way, so I figured I’d ask.

I didn’t remember that about the Rays, Jeff. I wouldn’t’ve put it past MLB to switch it up randomly one year though. They did it with the All Star Game (not that the ASG is as important as the draft).

Jeff Mathews
14 years ago

Two bowls of split plea soup, eh!

Man, I must have seen that movie like 100 times.

Dennis Koziel
14 years ago

I’m always hearing broadcastes reciting the “conventional wisdom” that left-handed hitters like the ball low and inside ( their wheelhouse.”  Is this crap, like so much other conventional wisdom, or is there something that explains why people would believe this?  Does anyone have any theories?  Thanks.

krustylew
14 years ago

The whole world had been destroyed, like U.S. blew up Russia and Russia blew up U.S. Fortunately, I had been offworld at the time. There wasn’t much to do. All the bowling alleys had been wrecked. So’s I spent most of my time looking for beer.

Travis M. Nelson
14 years ago

Yeah, Cliff lee struck out 11, but look who they were.  Augie Ojeda?  Chris Snyder? Rusty Ryal?  Trent Oeltjen?  Who the hell are these guys?  He fanned mark Reynolds four times, which is like 1.5 strikeouts of anybody else. 

Poor, miserable bastards.

themarksmith
14 years ago

I don’t think the Orioles can afford to get Bryce Harper. Not that money is the issue. Religion is the issue. If they proclaim Matt Wieters to be God, then what is Harper? You can’t advocate having two gods can they. Can you be monotheistic and then change to polytheistic? Is that allowed? They should just let someone else (the Nats) have him so that we can still have the typical religious battles (Washington, D.C. becomes Palestine) because the ramifications of this selection could be catastrophic.

Brian
14 years ago

Speaking of the “way back in Aught Six” stuff, can we also have a moratorium on how long it’s been since one team swept another out of division team?  If the Cubs haven’t swept the Giants in San Francisco since 2006 (random teams, I obviously don’t have any hard facts on me), I don’t think that qualifies as news or interesting.

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

@ themarksmith – I’m not sure that B-more has completed it’s 40 years in the Angelos wilderness yet.  Of course, Moses had to deal with big issues during his time as to whether life was better under Egyptian rule, several attempts to worship a false god (perhaps Weiter is such an entity) and a real fear of entering the promise land as it was ruled by giants (Yanks/Sox). 

Maybe it’s time for a baseball version of Joseph Smith or Mary Baker Eddy to arise and lead the team and fandom to a new promised land.

themarksmith
14 years ago

Maybe Felix Pie is the Chosen One, and we just haven’t figured it out yet.

APBA Guy
14 years ago

Boy, I’m still on the Conspiracy of Evil thing from yesterday, with sightings of Angelos and Ted Lerner rushing to attend the monthly meeting, and you guys are off on a new tangent. News travels slowly out here to the West Coast.

Anyway, Geren was back at it yesterday, with a lineup featuring Mark Ellis batting 3rd (.746 OPS) and Kurt Suzuki cleanup (.725). Lower down he had Landon Powell, Jack Cust, and Tommy Everidge back-to-back, a group that might lose a relay race to the Molina Bros.

Amazing the Yanks only won by 1, except A-Rod was distracted by the presence of Kate Hudson, who spent the game at the Mausoleum without actually touching anything.

gohare
14 years ago

That was the first thing I thought of when watching the Braves v Mets game. Is Francoeur just misunderstood in his own time? Maybe OBP isn’t important and everyone should swing at the first pitch. We’re through the looking glass here people.

Bill
14 years ago

Craig check your Indian’s, Angel’s score….

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Thanks, Bill. I have no idea what I was smoking when I typed the 5.

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

If Buchholz keeps pitching as he has over the last few outing then Theo made a wise move in keeping him.  I think the Red Sox should consider trying to extend Beckett (3 yrs) in the off-season to keep him in the fold for four more year and through his prime pitching. 

The starting rotation for the next four years would be Beckett, Lester, Buchholz, DiceK and a mix of names that include FA projects (e.g. Penny) and minor league prospects (e.g. Bowden).

mike in brooklyn
14 years ago

I know this is going to be controversial.  But, of the 3 different versions, I actually think the original, Vincent Price in The Last Man On Earth, was the best.  After adjusting for the various budgets, of course.  (I think that makes 3 posts in a row for me which have nothing to do with baseball!)

lar
14 years ago

Does the top pick in the draft not rotate between the leagues anymore? Like, Seattle draft Griffey #1 overall even though they didn’t have the worst record the year before, but it was the AL’s year to draft first…

Kahuna Tuna
14 years ago

Record of the ‘37 Browns in those 15 consecutive games where they had 10+ hits:  Six wins, nine losses.  As Vin Scully likes to say, that’s not where the payoff window is.