Tuesday, August 28, 2012
And That Happened
Posted by Craig CalcaterraRangers 6, Rays 5: Adrian Beltre was last week's player of the week after hitting for the cycle one night and hitting three bombs on another. He's off to a good start for that award again, going 3 for 3 with a homer a double and four RBI. David Price had one of his worst outings of the season (4 IP, 10 H, 6 ER).
Cardinals 4, Pirates 3: Also continuing his hot streak: Matt Holliday. He hit his 24th homer, breaking a 2-2 tie in the sixth. The Pirates have dropped six of their last seven. Are we allowed to talk about them playing to break the streak of sub-.500 seasons yet, or do we still have to act like they're in the wild card hunt?
Mariners 1, Twins 0: Felix Hernandez is ridiculously good (CG SHO, 5 H, 5K). Later this morning we'll hear more about how the Yankees should trade for him. His fifth shutout of the year, by the way. Tough luck loss for Liam Hendricks, who allowed one run over nine innings.
Athletics 3, Indians 0: Brett Anderson's return continues to be stellar. He shut the Tribe out over seven, allowing only two hits. Oakland has won nine of 11.
Padres 3, Braves 0: Casey Kelly's major league debut: fantasitc (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER). He also hit a single. I think it's now officially safe to say, if it wasn't already, that the Padres won the first Adrian Gonzalez trade. Yasmani Grandal accounted for all of the Padres' runs, with a homer and a single. San Diego has won eight straight.
Blue Jays 8, Yankees 7: Colby Rasmus put his hair in some seriously stupid looking cornrows recently. He took them out before this game, however, and hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth to put the Blue Jays in front. There's a lesson in there for you kids. Of course, Derek Jeter tied it in the bottom half, so there's a lesson in there too. Basically, just don't be a total douche and instead be a professional and good things will happen. In extras, Derek Lowe threw a ball away, putting the go-ahead run on third, which eventually scored. Darren Oliver beats Derek Lowe, because it's 1999 or something. Oh, and Mark Teixeira left with a calf strain and he's gonna miss a couple of weeks.
Orioles 4, White Sox 3: Baltimore wins another one-run game, its 13th straight. And Nate McLouth hit a two-run homer. They should be called the Batlimore Oh Reallys?
Red Sox 5, Royals 1: Dice-K with his first win since the Cold War or thereabouts. Forgive me if I assume this had more to do with the Royals bats than Matsuzaka's skillz.
Rockies 10, Dodgers 0: Josh Beckett's debut for the Dodgers looked a lot like most of his starts for the Red Sox. Inefficient, deliberate and, while not a total disaster, not particularly effective either. Didn't matter much, though, given that Jeff Francis and the bullpen didn't allow a run. And even if they had, the Dodgers' pen got violated for seven runs in the eighth.
Brewers 15, Cubs 4: Five homers for the Brewers including two from Aramis Ramirez. Ryan Braun had four hits and drove in five.
Reds 3, Diamondbacks 2: Bronson Arroyo pitched well and hit a home run to put the Reds ahead. Sometimes you gotta do everything yourself.
Craig writes the HardballTalk blog for NBC Sports.com