And That Happened

Tigers 7, Mariners 6: A game-winning RBI single for Clete Thomas in the ninth got Jarrod Washburn off the hook after yet another dismal post-trade performance. Thomas had hit a walk-off homer earlier this season, and after game said this: “It’s not as good as the homer, but any walk-off is awesome.” Yeah, just ask Ray Chapman. Sorry. Too soon?

Braves 3, Mets 2: Johan Santana falls to 0-7 against Atlanta. He gave up nine hits and only struck out two in seven innings. Kenshin Kawakami pitched well, but man, that’s not much of a Mets lineup he faced. UPDATE: I’m told that Santana vs. the Braves record is wrong. Apologies, but I was just parroting something I saw elsewhere (I should have checked). I don’t have time to fix it now, but it’s corrected in the comments.

Dodgers 7, Cubs 2: Russell Martin has been a millstone for the Dodgers this year, but his sixth inning grand slam broke the tie and effectively won the game for big blue. Lots of fun game story stuff: “The Dodgers improved to 1,015-1,014 all-time against the Cubs.” I think it would be hilarious if either Piniella or Torre used that as a motivator in a pre-game speech, totally deadpanning how serious they were about wanting to leave this series with the all-time lead. Also: “Penny Marshall was a pregame dugout visitor with Dodgers manager Joe Torre.” What is this, 1983? We’re reporting Penny Marshall sightings? Has anyone seen Anson Williams lately? Finally: “Chicago native Jim Belushi got booed when he was spotted wearing a Cubs cap.” You sure it was the Cubs hat that set off the booing? It’s Jim Belushi. He’d probably be booed even if he was riding piggy back on Sandy Koufax while singing “Hail to the Dodgers.” (note to self: write a song called “Hail to the Dodgers”).

Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 1: J.D. Drew was 4 for 4 with two homers and three RBI. Best error of the year so far: Jason Bay is on first base. Catcher Rod Barajas throws the ball back to Brett Cecil after a pitch, who drops it. Because no pitcher would ever, ever want to throw a dirty and possibly scuffed ball, he asks for a new ball from home plate umpire Greg Gibson. He gets it, and throws the old ball into the third base dugout. Except he didn’t call time out, which allowed Bay to move to third on the play. Bay later scored on a single. Heh.

Phillies 12, Diamondbacks 3: Homers from Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth and eight good innings from Joe Blanton turn this one into a laugher (Ho-ho-ho, hee-hee-hee, ha-ha-ha . . . see how they smile like pigs in a sty . . .).

Reds 2, Giants 1: Just-called-up Drew Stubbs hit a walkoff homer in the tenth to win it. Man, one wonders what would have happened this year if he had been called up sooner.

Indians 11, Angels 3: Just-called-up Matt LaPorta hit a two-run double in the sixth that chased John Lackey and busted the game wide open. Man, one wonders what would have happened this year if he had been called up sooner.

Astros 4, Marlins 1: Wandy Rodriguez only gave up the one run — unearned — in eight innings, and added an RBI double in the fifth. The loss combined with the Braves’ win pulls the Marlins down into a tie for second in the East with Atlanta, though being 6.5 back makes it all rather academic. They’re both still four back in the wild card.

Orioles 8, Rays 7: Brian Roberts hit a grand slam and Nolan Reimold added a three-run shot. Brian Matusz only lastes five and a third, but he struck out 7 and didn’t walk anybody.

Rockies 4, Nationals 1: Fifth inning, two men on for Colorado, and Garrett Mock appears to strike out Carlos Gonzalez on a swing-and-miss. THe Nats walk to the dugout, but then Rockies manager Jim Tracy comes out to argue that the ball had been tipped, the umps agree and Gonzalez resumes his at-bat, who proceeds to hit an RBI double. When was the last time a manager actually got an ump to change his mind like this? Does Tracy possess the power to perform the Jedi mind trick?

Cardinals 5, Padres 1: It’s no reason for concern, but Albert Pujols is 4 for his last 24 with only two extra base hits. Thankfully, however, he’s getting some help from his teammates these days and the Cards really didn’t need him against the Pads last night. Joel Pineiro was strong once again, and Brendan Ryan hit a grand slam. This quote from Pineiro is troubling, however: “The big grand slam by Ryno kind of gave me a little bit of extra breathing room to settle down and go out there and work.” Cardinals players are allowed to be nicknamed “Ryno?” What if Carlos Zambrano started calling himself Old Hoot and Geovany Soto started being referred to as “The Man?”

Rangers 11, Twins 1: Marlon Byrd had two homers and had a slick diving catch in left. Nelson Cruz returned from the DL with a homer of his own. Cruz’s replacement, Julio Borbon, went 3-for-5 with three RBI, and is hitting .536 (15-for-28) in seven starts since being called up. Someone had better check and see if Neftali Feliz is OK, though, as he only struck out one dude in 1.2 innings instead of the three or four we’ve come to expect.


18 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Mark—Sorry. That’s how the AP game story wrote it up and I was just passing it along.  I’ll obviously defer to someone who was there in person.

lar
14 years ago

You might want to think about hanging up the spikes after today, Craig. That’s three mighty whiffs today, assuming Jick, Chuck, and Mark are right.

You may be approaching Andruw Jones/Jeff Francouer territory…

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Guess I’m just not seeing the ball too good today.  But hey, if Pujols can go 4 for 24, what chance do the rest of us have in ever avoiding a slump?

But to be on the safe side, I’m not shaving until I start to hit better.

lar
14 years ago

Oh, and you might want to add the Brewers score to the list. They didn’t play yesterday or anything, but I’m sure the pitching staff managed to give up 3 home runs anyway. And then they probably managed to lose 4 games in the standings while in the buffet line.

Things are not going well for the Crew…

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

lars – I’ll give Craig one more inning to work things out but I do have Jason @ IIATMS and Jorge Say No warming up in the pen just in case.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

I never managed to get away for a vacation this summer, but the next time I do, I’m totally going to set up guest ATHs.  I don’t hate any other bloggers enough to ask that they endure a whole week of them, but I’d really be curious to see how other people do with them, maybe on a one-a-night basis, Sunday-Thursday.  Hell, maybe I should do that anyway one week soon just to give myself a break.

The Ol Goaler
14 years ago

Sadly, Brendan Ryan has a perfectly good nickname already (given him by his father and brother)… Boog!

Yes, Dear Old Dad wanted a beefy first baseman (Brendan weighed 10+ pounds at birth); he got a lanky shortstop instead…

Josh
14 years ago

Gardenhire got a call flipped earlier this season.

Chip
14 years ago

“one wonders what would have happened this year if [LaPorta] had been called up sooner.”

The Indians would probably still be 13th in the AL in runs allowed, which wouldn’t make the slightest difference in the big picture, but who would want to stop Craig from beating this dead horse.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Are you sure the horse is dead? It may have moved a bit. THERE! Wait, forget it, that was the wind.

Trieu
14 years ago

Here’s a link tot he Cecil error.  Worth watching.  At first, everyone thinks it’s a balk call, including Bay.

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=6207669

Ron
14 years ago

Trieu is correct. It wasn’t a balk. For a balk to be called, the pitcher has to be on the mound with the ball.

This is the same thing as Bradley throwing the ball into the stands with 2 outs. It’s not a balk, just an error.

Jason B
14 years ago

Have the Dodgers and Cubs really played 2,000+ times?!?  That utterly boggled my mind.

Consider me thoroughly boggled.

Jick
14 years ago

Santana 0-7 against Atlanta? Baseball-Reference has him at 1-4 before last night, with a 1.96 ERA.

Chuck
14 years ago

Trieu, thanks for the Cecil link. That’s Pat Tabler doing the colour commentary (yes “colour”, I’m Canadian). He’s absolutely brutal as you can tell from the clip. Sadly, he’s the Blue Jays main colour man. Rance Mulliniks and Darren Fletcher sub in periodically during the season and do a much better job, each in their own way.

But Pat Tabler is white bread, mayonaise, milquetoast… blech.

Chuck
14 years ago

“Catcher Rod Barajas throws the ball back to Brett Cecil after a pitch, who drops it. Because no pitcher would ever, ever want to throw a dirty and possibly scuffed ball, he asks for a new ball from home plate umpire Greg Gibson. He gets it, and throws the old ball into the third base dugout. Except he didn’t call time out, which allowed Bay to move to third on the play.”

The sequence of events was slightly different. Barajas threw Cecil the ball. Cecil dropped it, retrieved it and without calling time or getting the umpire’s attention, just threw the ball out of play, into the Jays’ dugout. Two-base error.

Mark
14 years ago

I was at the Washington-Colorado game, and your account of what happened in the fifth inning is fiction. Tracy never left the dugout and, as far as anyone could see, didn’t protest the original strikeout call. The reversal of the call was made independently by the second base umpire. Jim Riggleman was the one who came out to argue, but to no avail. Tracy didn’t get anyone to change his mind. Didn’t happen.

Dennis Koziel
14 years ago

Albert Pujols 4 for his last 24?  How can that be?  Doesn’t he now have Matt Holliday “protecting him,” as John Kruk, etc. on Baseball Tonight like to point out?