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"Chicago White Sox" 25,620

"Cleveland Indians" 15,827

"Minnesota Twins" 12,913

And you thought I was disrespectin' the Twins.

Yankees 18, Rangers 7: Forget what I said yesterday about the Yankees being vexed by Texas' pitching. Jason Giambi had a granny and six RBI. Alex Rodriguez shook off all the crazy-ass rumors swirling around him over the past 48 hours and managed a nice little 2-3, HR, 3 RBI performance. Following the game he had a three-way with Lisa Bonet and Warren Beatty, thereby completing the insane love pentagon he and his soon-to-be ex-wife seem to have embarked upon. Oh, and Sidney Ponson faced -- and got rocked by -- his old team. Not that anyone cares about a fat and belligerent drunk's revenge fantasies now that the Rodriguezes have turned the Bronx into Peyton Place.

Marlins 4, Nats 2: Washington had only three hits and one walk. They must have really been in a hurry to catch that flight to Cincinnati.

Angels 7, A's 4: According to the game story, "Saunders (12-4) became the first Angels pitcher with at least 12 wins before the All-Star break since 1991, when Chuck Finley and Mark Langston did it." Two guys! But that's not all. That year, not one, not two, but three Angels' pitchers piled up wins. In addition to Finley, who finished with 18 wins, and Langston, who won 19, Jim Abbott won 18 himself. Overall, the California Angels were second in the AL in team ERA that year, so it wasn't as though they were cheap wins. Those of you too young to really remember 1991 may be asking yourself how far that ace-laden Angels got into the postseason. Sorry, bub: they finished 81-81 which that year amounted to rock solid last place in the AL West. Seventh! Fourteen games behind the eventual champion Twins.

I offer that as a little reminder to one and all what life used to be like before three divisions and wild cards and interleague play that allowed one league to beat up on another. There really wasn't anyplace to hide back then.

Orioles 5, Royals 2: Daniel Cabrera (CG, 7 H, 2 ER) proves that you can mess with DeJesus (3-4, HR) and still beat the Royals.

Phillies 7, Braves 3: The Phillies jumped out to a 5-0 lead, which the Braves closed to 5-1 in the fifth. In the sixth, the Braves loaded the bases with no one out. If you're a Braves fan you know exactly what happened next: Jeff Francoeur hit into a double play. Sure, one run scored, but the life was sucked out of the rally and the Braves didn't really threaten again. Well, in the eighth Chipper hit a homer to pull it to 5-3, and a runner made it to second. Of course then Francoeur struck out. The only possible positive you can say is that he saw seven pitches on each of those occasions, but in the end, Frenchy is still Frenchy, and he's still killing the Braves.

Pirates 9, Reds 5: Xavier Nady was Xquisite (3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI), as he and his buddies beat the livin' tar out of Darrell Thompson and the Reds. This despite John Van Benschoten getting lit up his own self (2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER). There are other guys out there who, like Van Benschoten, had potentially promising hitting careers derailed by a team who thinks he was going to make a better pitcher, but because of his unique name, I will always remember him. 2001 was eons ago in terms of online baseball analysis, but even then, in real time, everyone seemed to think that the Pirates were making a huge mistake. Everyone except for Cam Bonifay anyway. Of course, Bonifay was fired about a week after that draft, so it's not like Van B had to stay on the mound. I'll always wonder what kind of hitter he'd make.

Dodgers 4, Astros 1: For as bad a season as it has been so far for Los Angeles, they are amazingly still only one and a half games back in the West. Somebody has to win that division, and right now it could just as easily be the Dodgers -- who will have some important people come back in the second half -- as anyone else.

Rays 7, Red Sox 6: Suh-weep. These teams don't face each other again until September 8th. You can bet that the Red Sox will have a hell of a lot to think about between now and then.

Rockies 8, Padres 1: Randy Wolf (4 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 4 BB) isn't doing anything to help his trade value.

White Sox 6, Indians 5: Grady Sizemore had two homers, but A.J. Pierzynski's lone shot [I'm an idiot; A.J. homered twice too -- thanks to Sam for the correction] was better timed -- a walkoff -- leading the Sox over the Indians again.

Cardinals; 8, Mets 7: The walkoff bug was contagious last night. This time it was Troy Glaus for the Cardinals whose second homer of the night ended it in the bottom of the ninth. In other news, David Wright -- in an effort to keep the Mets visible on the back pages of the New York tabloids -- has recently been spotted shacking up with Debbie Gibson. And in a startling turn, Wright's wife has run away to Paris with the guy from Milli Vanilli. No, the other one. I'm pretty sure Rob's dead.

Brewers 4, Diamondbacks 3: The Brewers have just owned Arizona recently -- they've taken 10 of 13 -- yet if the music ended today, Arizona would be in the playoffs and Milwaukee would not, and that just doesn't seem fair.

Mariners 4, Blue Jays 2: According to the game story, Miguel Cairo "has built an 11-year major league career out of hard work and preparation. He said if he didn't have his strong work ethic, 'I'd be home [retired] already by now.'" Well, a strong ethic and the bad judgment of Bill Bavasi anyway. But I have not come here to insult Miguel Cairo -- well, maybe just a little -- I have come here to praise him! M-Cai goes 2-4 with two doubles and three RBI as Seattle takes down Toronto yet again.

Cubs 6, Giants 5: According to the game story, this game was broadcast around the world to 176 countries and more than 200 U.S. Navy ships as part of "Salute to the Military Night" by the Giants and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. My brother was in the Navy, and once when I was 16 I got to go on his ship for what they call a "dependent's cruise" in which sailors' families get to ride around Chesapeake Bay for a few hours and watch the crew do their thing. I hung out down on my brother's rack and took a long nap. There was a TV down there. For the entire five or six hours of the cruise, it was surrounded by a half dozen swabbies watching the worst porn you could possibly imagine. I offer this as a way of saying that I question how much of the Navy was tuned in to the Giants' game.

You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.

First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Pick A Team ARI ATL BAL BOS CHA CHN CIN CLE COL DET FLA HOU KC LAA LAN MIL MIN NYA NYN OAK PHI PIT SD SEA SF STL TB TEX TOR WAS

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Los Angeles Dodgers at Houston Astros, 2:05 PM
  (R) Chad Billingsley (7-7) vs. (R) Brandon Backe (5-8)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Arizona Diamondbacks, 3:40 PM
  (L) Manny Parra (8-2) vs. (R) Brandon Webb (12-4)
 Chicago Cubs at San Francisco Giants, 7:05 PM
  (R) Sean Gallagher (3-3) vs. (R) Tim Lincecum (9-1)
 Washington Nationals at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (L) John Lannan (4-9) vs. (R) Johnny Cueto (6-8)
 Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM
  (L) Cole Hamels (8-5) vs. (R) Jair Jurrjens (8-3)
 Florida Marlins at Colorado Rockies, 8:05 PM
  (L) Andrew Miller (5-7) vs. (L) Mark Redman (2-3)
 New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM
  (R) Mike Pelfrey (5-6) vs. (R) Mitchell Boggs (3-0)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jon Lester (6-3) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (9-5)
 Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Kyle Davies (3-1) vs. (L) Garrett Olson (6-3)
 Oakland Athletics at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM
  (R) Justin Duchscherer (8-5) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (7-6)
 Detroit Tigers at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM
  (R) Justin Verlander (4-9) vs. (R) Carlos Silva (4-9)

Standings

The graphics next to each team are called "sparklines.” They depict each team’s performance over the last month. Each "up" bar is a victory and a "down" bar is a loss. There are horizontal lines for home games and red bars represent games decided by two runs or less. "PWins" is short for Projected Wins, based on each team’s Run Differential, and is often a better measure of a team’s true strength. Other team graphs and stats can be found on our Team Page.

American League East        Pwins  Diff
TB      52  32 .619    0.0   48     4    
BOS     50  37 .575    3.5   51    -1    
NYA     45  40 .529    7.5   46    -1    
BAL     43  40 .518    8.5   42     1    
TOR     41  45 .477   12.0   46    -5    
American League Central     
CHA     49  35 .583    0.0   52    -3    
MIN     47  38 .553    2.5   44     3    
DET     42  42 .500    7.0   42     0    
KC      38  47 .447   11.5   37     1    
CLE     37  48 .435   12.5   43    -6    
American League West        
LAA     51  34 .600    0.0   44     7    
OAK     45  39 .536    5.5   49    -4    
TEX     44  42 .512    7.5   41     3    
SEA     33  51 .393   17.5   36    -3    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     46  39 .541    0.0   51    -5    
FLA     44  40 .524    1.5   40     4    
NYN     41  43 .488    4.5   41     0    
ATL     40  45 .471    6.0   46    -6    
WAS     34  52 .395   12.5   31     3    
National League Central     
CHN     51  34 .600    0.0   52    -1    
STL     49  37 .570    2.5   46     3    
MIL     46  38 .548    4.5   42     4    
PIT     40  44 .476   10.5   38     2    
HOU     40  45 .471   11.0   39     1    
CIN     39  47 .453   12.5   37     2    
National League West        
ARI     42  43 .494    0.0   43    -1    
LAN     40  44 .476    1.5   42    -2    
SF      37  48 .435    5.0   38    -1    
COL     34  51 .400    8.0   35    -1    
SD      33  53 .384    9.5   33     0    

Game of the Day

Rays 7, Red Sox 6 - FINAL

BOSTON                 ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
J Ellsbury cf           4  0  0  0   0  0   3  .267
D Pedroia 2b            5  3  4  2   0  0   1  .311
J Drew rf               4  1  2  1   1  0   1  .302
M Ramirez dh            5  1  0  1   0  2   1  .279
M Lowell 3b             4  0  1  0   1  0   3  .298
K Youkilis 1b           2  0  0  1   2  0   2  .306
J Varitek c             4  0  0  0   1  3   5  .216
B Moss lf               4  0  2  0   0  1   0  .277
J Lugo ss               3  1  1  0   1  0   2  .270

Totals                 35  6 10  5   6  6  18   ###

TAMPA BAY              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
A Iwamura 2b            5  1  1  1   0  1   3  .275
C Crawford lf           4  1  3  0   1  0   0  .277
B Upton cf              3  2  0  0   2  0   4  .278
C Pena 1b               3  1  0  1   2  2   1  .223
E Longoria 3b           4  1  3  3   0  0   0  .275
C Floyd dh              1  0  0  0   1  0   0  .245
 ha-W Aybar ph-dh       2  0  0  0   0  0   3  .259
D Navarro c             3  0  0  0   1  2   4  .312
E Hinske rf             1  0  0  0   1  1   0  .264
 hb-J Gomes ph-rf       1  0  0  0   0  1   1  .202
 hc-G Gross ph-rf       1  0  0  0   0  1   3  .240
J Bartlett ss           4  1  2  2   0  1   1  .256

Totals                 32  7  9  7   8  9  20   ###

----------------------------------------------------
    BOSTON          - 101 020 011   --   6 10 0
    TAMPA BAY       - 100 000 60x   --   7  9 2
----------------------------------------------------

ha-fouled out to first for C Floyd in the 6th;  hb-struck out swinging for E 
Hinske in the 6th;  hc-struck out swinging for J Gomes in the 7th.

BATTING: 2B - D Pedroia 2 (25, S Kazmir, G Glover); J Bartlett (8, M 
Delcarmen); E Longoria (21, C Hansen). 3B - D Pedroia (1, S Kazmir); J Drew (3, 
S Kazmir). HR - D Pedroia (9, 1st inning off S Kazmir 0 on, 1 Out). SF - K 
Youkilis. RBI - D Pedroia 2 (39), M Ramirez (53), J Drew (51), K Youkilis (51), 
E Longoria 3 (50), A Iwamura (24), C Pena (38), J Bartlett 2 (20). 2-out RBI - 
D Pedroia, E Longoria, J Bartlett 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - 
J Varitek 2, M Lowell 1, J Drew 1, J Lugo 2, C Pena 1, D Navarro 2, B Upton 2, 
A Iwamura 1. GIDP - B Upton. Team LOB - BOSTON 10, TAMPA BAY 9. BASERUNNING: SB 
- B Upton 2 (25, 2nd base off D Matsuzaka/J Varitek 2), C Crawford (21, 2nd 
base off D Matsuzaka/J Varitek), J Bartlett (18, 3rd base off M Delcarmen/J 
Varitek). CS - M Lowell (2, 2nd base by D Wheeler/D Navarro). FIELDING: E - A 
Iwamura (2, throw); J Bartlett (11, throw). DP:  (D Pedroia-K Youkilis, A 
Iwamura-J Bartlett-C Pena). 

BOSTON                       ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
D Matsuzaka                   5       2   1   1   5   5   0   3.12
H Okajima (H, 15)             1       1   0   0   0   2   0   3.06
M Delcarmen                   0       3   3   3   0   0   0   4.72
C Hansen (L, 1-3; B, 2)       0       1   3   3   2   0   0   5.84
D Aardsma                       1/3   0   0   0   1   0   0   2.89
J Lopez                       1 2/3   2   0   0   0   2   0   2.20

TAMPA BAY                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
S Kazmir                      5       7   4   4   4   3   1   2.62
T Miller                      1       1   0   0   0   0   0   3.74
G Glover (W, 1-2)             1 2/3   1   1   1   2   2   0   3.45
D Wheeler (S, 3)              1 1/3   1   1   0   0   1   0   1.82

T Miller pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.
M Delcarmen pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.
C Hansen pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.

WP - S Kazmir, G Glover. IBB - K Youkilis 2 (by S Kazmir, G Glover), D 
Navarro (by D Aardsma). HBP - J Ellsbury (by T Miller). Pitches-strikes: D 
Matsuzaka 101-55; H Okajima 19-13; M Delcarmen 17-9; C Hansen 13-4; D Aardsma 
9-3; J Lopez 24-15; S Kazmir 107-62; T Miller 14-10; G Glover 33-19; D Wheeler 
23-14. Ground balls-fly balls: D Matsuzaka 4-6; H Okajima 0-1; M Delcarmen 0-0; 
C Hansen 0-0; D Aardsma 1-0; J Lopez 3-0; S Kazmir 7-4; T Miller 0-3; G Glover 
1-2; D Wheeler 0-2. Batters faced: D Matsuzaka 22; H Okajima 4; M Delcarmen 3; 
C Hansen 3; D Aardsma 2; J Lopez 6; S Kazmir 25; T Miller 5; G Glover 8; D 
Wheeler 5. IRS - J Lopez 2, C Hansen 2. UMPIRES: HP--Gerry Davis. 1B--Bruce 
Dreckman. 2B--Sam Holbrook. 3B--Brian Gorman.   T--3:55. Att--36,048. Weather: 
INDOORS

The following graph tracks the game's Win Probability, courtesy of Fan Graphs. You can also view live WPA graphs at Fangraphs during any ballgame all season long.

Yesterday’s Home Runs

The following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected “true” distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its "standard" distance, which is corrected for weather conditions. Each homer is also categorized into one of three types: Just Enough (JE) for homers that cleared the fence by ten feet or less, Plenty (PL) for those that were sure home runs but not “blasts,” and No Doubt (ND) for true “blasts”—homers that cleared the fence by at least 20 feet and landed at least 50 feet beyond the fence.

Hitter                Team    Pitcher              Team   True   Stnd.  # Type
Alfredo Amezaga       FLA     Charlie Manning      WAS     369    370   2  PL
Garrett Atkins        COL     Randy Wolf           SD      456    411  11  PL
Erick Aybar           LAA     Santiago Casilla     OAK     399    392   3  PL
Jose Bautista         PIT     Bill Bray            CIN     420    414  10  PL
Milton Bradley        TEX     Sidney Ponson        NYY     370    367  17  PL
Jay Bruce             CIN     John Van Benschoten  PIT     397    384   6  JE
Jay Bruce             CIN     John Van Benschoten  PIT     380    380   5  PL
Pat Burrell           PHI     Jorge Campillo       ATL     392    383  21  PL
Chris Davis           TEX     Sidney Ponson        NYY     412    408   3  PL
Adam Dunn             CIN     John Van Benschoten  PIT     435    435  21  ND
Jermaine Dye          CWS     C.C. Sabathia        CLE     398    386  19  PL
Andre Ethier          LAD     Runelvys Hernandez   HOU     464    454   8  ND
Jason Giambi          NYY     Luis Mendoza         TEX     380    364  18  ND
Ruben Gotay           ATL     Adam Eaton           PHI     360    352   2  JE/L
Chase Headley         SD      Ubaldo Jimenez       COL     385    353   4  PL
Ryan Howard           PHI     Jorge Campillo       ATL     409    397  21  PL
Chipper Jones         ATL     J.C. Romero          PHI     425    417  17  PL
Carlos Lee            HOU     Cory Wade            LAD     445    435  19  ND
Xavier Nady           PIT     Daryl Thompson       CIN     378    375  12  PL
Xavier Nady           PIT     Daryl Thompson       CIN     368    359  11  PL
Dustin Pedroia        BOS     Scott Kazmir         TB      366    365   9  JE
A.J. Pierzynski       CWS     C.C. Sabathia        CLE     400    388   6  ND
Juan Rivera           LAA     Keith Foulke         OAK     425    411   1  ND
Alex Rodriguez        NYY     Warner Madrigal      TEX     351    348  17  JE
Grady Sizemore        CLE     Jose Contreras       CWS     421    410  21  ND
Grady Sizemore        CLE     Scott Linebrink      CWS     376    369  20  PL
Yorvit Torrealba      COL     Carlos Guevara       SD      435    434   4  PL
Troy Tulowitzki       COL     Randy Wolf           SD      414    378   3  ND

Top Minor League Games

The following list, provided by First Inning, includes the top minor league batting (based on Runs Created) and pitching (based on Game Score) performances from yesterday, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.

ORG LVL PLAYER            AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes
ARI A-  Collin Cowgill.... 6  4  0  0  3  0  1  5 RBI !
TB  AAA Justin Ruggiano... 4  3  0  0  2  0  1  3 R
LA  A+  Carlos Santana.... 7  3  1  0  1  0  2  4 R
COL AAA Ian Stewart....... 5  2  1  0  1  0  2  
ATL AAA Scott Thorman..... 4  2  1  0  1  0  1  
FLA AA  John Raynor....... 3  3  1  0  0  1  0  
ATL A+  Travis Jones...... 4  2  1  0  1  0  1  
CHC A   Marquez Smith..... 4  2  1  0  1  0  1  
FLA A+  Scott Cousins..... 3  2  0  0  1  2  0  
SD  AAA Nick Hundley...... 4  2  2  0  0  0  1  
TB  AAA Dan Johnson....... 3  2  0  0  1  1  0  3 R
PHI AA  Jason Donald...... 4  2  0  0  1  1  1  5 RBI !

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
TB  AAA Jeff Niemann...... 9  7  1  1 12  1  0  
SF  A   Daryl Maday....... 6  3  0  0  7  1  0  
ATL AA  K. Medlen......... 6  2  1  1  5  1  0  
NYM A   Scott Moviel...... 6  9  3  2  7  0  0  13 GB
TEX A   Neftali Feliz..... 3  0  0  0  5  0  0  
MIN A+  Tyler Robertson... 5  0  0  0  5  2  0  
WAN A+  Jhonny Nunez...... 5  5  5  4  9  2  1  
CIN AAA Homer Bailey...... 6  5  3  2  7  4  0  11 GB
ARI AAA Matthew Torra..... 6  7  1  1  5  1  0  
ARI A+  Wes Roemer........ 7  5  3  3  5  0  2  12 GB
BAL AA  David Hernandez... 6  4  0  0  4  3  0  
TOR AA  Ricky Romero...... 6  10  4  4  5  1  0  

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