And That Happened

Reds 4, Pirates 3; Reds 6, Pirates 3: Darnell McDonald scored on a wild pitch by Jesse Chavez with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to win the first game of the doubleheader. There was no one there. Like, 2000 people. Which is a crime considering how nice a day it was in Ohio yesterday. Sure, it was just a makeup game and sure it was the Pirates, but if there aren’t at least a couple thousand more office drones, college students, and other assorted knuckleheads that can make it to a walkable ballpark on a glorious afternoon then our civilization is circling the damn drain.

Diamondbacks 5, Dodgers 3: It had to be kind of hard to play this game while this is looming beyond left field. Arizona managed, however, getting two runs off of James McDonald in the 10th. The Dodgers finish August with a record of 14-15, but hey, they’ve got reinforcements now. You excited Jim Thome? “I just want to be honest with you. I’d love to come. I want to help you guys any way I can. But playing first base is not something I’m going to be able to do — maybe in an emergency situation, perhaps.” Fear the Dodgers.

Braves 5, Marlins 2: Life comes at you fast. Josh Johnson didn’t give up a hit until Matt Diaz singled in the 6th, but he wouldn’t survive the seventh inning following a couple of hits from Chipper Jones and Yunel Escobar followed by an Omar Infante triple and a David Ross RBI single.

Blue Jays 18, Rangers 10: Toronto led this game 11-0 at one point but thought it wasn’t sporting to embarrass their host in their very home and thus allowed them to make a go of it, watching the lead shrink down to a single run before scoring seven in the ninth. Adam Lind had eight (8) (VIII) RBI in this game. I’m assuming Nolan Ryan had people killed after it was over.

Yankees 5, Orioles 1: Without looking, I’m going to assume that this was Andy Pettitte’s best start of the year (8 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 8K) [time passes] OK, I looked, and yes it was his best start of the year. In fact, if you go by game score, it was Pettitte’s best start since June 30, 2002, when he threw a three-hit shutout against the Mets.

Rays 11, Tigers 7: If the best trade deadline pickup was Cliff Lee or Adam LaRoche, then the worst is no doubt Jarrod Washburn (5.2 IP, 9 H, 8 ER). Harkins says it best: “Tigers fans must feel like they got hoodwinked.”

Twins 4, White Sox 1: The White Sox: sinking like whale fall. Not only did Joe Mauer hit a homer, but he stole a base. What’s more, as he slid into second, he caught the errant throw after it deflected off of Jayson Nix’s glove. Mauer doesn’t always drink beer, when he does, he prefers Dos Equis.

Astros 5, Cubs 3: Carlos Lee was 2-4 with a homer and 4 RBI. Rich Harden, who had a busy day of not being traded and everything, gave up five runs on five hits and walked six in five innings.

Angels 10, Mariners 0: Two homers for Vlad, who went 3 for 4 with 4 RBI. Joe Saunders and Trevor Bell allow only three hits which, after what happened to against Zack Greinke on Sunday, was a veritable breakout performance by the M’s bats.

Padres 3, Nationals 1: Livan Hernandez does what he was hired to do: pitch a bunch of innings, save the bullpen, and still lose so as not to mess up the whole Bryce Harper thing. OK, maybe that’s not the real intention — Hernandez actually pitched well last night — but it’s a nice little byproduct of his Livanness, no?

Athletics 8, Royals 5: Oakland trailed 4-0 after two innings, but scored five runs in the third and then added three more in the sixth. One of those runs came after when Luke Hochevar allowed Rajai Davis to advance to third while Hochevar was wiping his brow, mistakenly believing that play was dead. Oops.


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HP3
14 years ago

Joe Mauer – The most interesting MVP in the world.  Very funny.

Bill @ the daily something
14 years ago

I would be surprised if they didn’t put Thome at first a handful of times (if he’s willing), at least in the playoffs. Loney is just such a bad hitter that it’s hard to imagine Thome hurting them with the glove more than he’d help them with the bat. He’s been ~14 runs better than Loney on offense, and the worst 1B in he majors has only cost his team 6 runs (by UZR).

Not that they need to risk it, at least for the rest of the regular season.

Grant
14 years ago

Thome hasn’t played first at all since 2007, though. He, Travis Hafner, and David Ortiz are perhaps the three poster boys for the true no-field DH. And even those other two pick up a handful of games in the field. I dunno, man. In the playoffs #### gets magnified. I guess you can live with him out there until the 7th or so, then send Loney in. But man, you’re gonna get killed if he makes a big error to lose a game.

Greg Simons
14 years ago

I love that heads-up play by Rajai Davis.  Sometimes gritty, hustling, get-their-uniform-dirty players are held in higher esteem than their overall skills warrant, but sometimes plays like that win ballgames.

Jeff V.
14 years ago

Did you watch any of the Yanks-O’s game?  Sidney Ponson could have had a 3 hit shutout with the strike zone Pettitte was working with.

TG in Louisville
14 years ago

Regarding the lack of attendance at the Reds-Pirates DH…Yeah, let’s make this a day/night DH so that we can charge our fans twice. What a bunch of maroons… Start at 5:00 and I might drive my sorry butt over there for 18 innings of AAAA baseball.  Charge me twice and no thanks.

lar
14 years ago

I think the biggest problem with the Jarrod Washburn deadline-deal – and why he’s the worst deadline pickup – is that, you know, they were trading for Jarrod Washburn. Maybe they should’ve considered that before pulling the trigger…

APBA Guy
14 years ago

The Rajai Davis play was actually more excruciating than described.

Davis had singled and gone to second on a bad throw by RF Bloomquist. The throw got past the catcher and Hochevar, who went to the backstop to retrieve it.

The high angle camera following the play showed Davis with a big lead off second while Hochevar walked slowly back to the mound, crowd noise building as Davis crow hopped a little further from second with each Hochevar step.

Finally, as Hochevar raised his arm to wipe his brow, Davis took off towards third to the delight of the more than 2,000 assembled guests in the Mausoleum.

Close-up replays showed that Hochevar never asked for time, and that Davis never took his eyes off Hochevar.

The real clincher came later, though. After tying the game at 5-5 KC brought in Bale to relieve Hochevar in the bottom of the 6th with two on.

Bale walked the bases loaded, then induced a hard grounder back to the box that spun him around as he made the catch.

For whatever reason, he flinched on the throw to second, tossing the ball into right field and allowing two runs to score. Tejeda relieved Bale, but Davis produced another run scoring single for the ultimate score.

Great examples in this game of why KC’s franchise is in the condition it’s in.

The Rabbit
14 years ago

One of the games I watched yesterday was Tampa Bay/Detroit.  Bottom of the 7th, the score is 11-3 and Carlos Guillen hits his 2nd HR to make the score 11-5.  Leyland then pinch hits for Miguel Cabrera to end the inning and sends out the second string.
This raised a question in my feeble little brain: When is a game officially a “blowout”?
I realize the odds against winning when you are down 6; however, there have been games this year when teams have come back more than that. There were a few that scored 7 in an inning last night. It seems like the Angels can score 6 in an inning or two with regularity.
I have the utmost respect for Jim Leyland so I’m not disputing what he did….just trying to understand it.  I’m speculating since the Tigers were in first by 4.5 in a weak division, winning every game is not that important?

Kelly
14 years ago

Watched the entire Twins game.  When Mauer stole the base and then handed the ball back to Nix, it looked for a second like, “Wait…Did he catch that while he slid in?”

The replay clarified, but whatever.

The Twins have some spunkiness right now.  I don’t know if it’s enough but even if they finish, like 1 or 2 games back, we can kill the whole “MVP must come from a playoff contender so Mauer doesn’t count” right?  They’re in this in September.  What else do idiot writers need?

DonCoburleone
14 years ago

“Bale walked the bases loaded, then induced a hard grounder back to the box that spun him around as he made the catch.

For whatever reason, he flinched on the throw to second, tossing the ball into right field and allowing two runs to score. Tejeda relieved Bale, but Davis produced another run scoring single for the ultimate score.

Great examples in this game of why KC’s franchise is in the condition it’s in.”

Yeah and on top of that horrible throw by Bale (I laughed so hard when he did it I scared my wife) the bases were loaded!  There was ZERO reason to turn and throw to 2nd on that play, it was basically the most perfectly set up 1-2-3 Double Play any pitcher could ask for.  And it looked like in the replay that just before he let go of the ball he realized “oh crap, the bases were loaded I have a force at home!”  And yes, a great great example of what the Royals have been over the last 2 decades.

DonCoburleone
14 years ago

And does anyone else watch the Angels regularly?  I say from TOP TO BOTTOM, that lineup is better than the Yankees.  They hit everbody and its a perfect balance of speed (Figgins, Aybar, Izturis, Hunter, Abreu) power(Morales, Vlad, Rivera, Hunter) and L/R balance (Aybar, Izturis, Figgins, Morales all switch hit; Vlad, Rivera, Hunter & kendrick righties and Abreu a lefty).  And on top of all that, the biggest thing IMO is that they’re almost all extreme contact hitters. Really only Rivera would be considered a high strikeout guy.  Anybody agree with me there?

indy ralph
14 years ago

DonCoburleone: Don’t get to see the Angels often – they’re never on in the Midwest.  Maybe top to bottom they are better than the Yankees, but not on average. Angels line .290/.353/.452.  Yankees’ line .281/.359/.480.  So they do make more contact.  But they make more outs because they don’t hit the ball as hard or walk as much.  That’s not to say they couldn’t take the Yanks in a series.  Those numbers are pretty close.

The Rabbit
14 years ago

@DonCoburleone
I referenced the Angels earlier today. I watch almost every team regularly and the Angels are amazing. Last week, they had a starting lineup where everyone was hitting over .300 and they were regulars. …not someone just called up with a few hits.
I was curious as to whether the scouting was just that good or coaching was exceptional, although I’ll guess it’s some combination.
I hate getting into team comparisons but from top to bottom, I think the Angels lineup has fewer holes than the Yankees. The Yankees have individual players who have proved over time that they are the “real deal”. A few of the Angels are having career-type years. 
I still took Jeter and Tex over Itzuris and Morales when it was time to draft fantasy teams, but I also have Vlad and Rivera.

Grant
14 years ago

How do you acquire Jim Thome to be solely a bench player/potential World Series DH? That’s gotta be the best full-time pinch hitter in history. Terry Crowley, eat your heart out.