Friday, August 03, 2012
And That Happened
Posted by Craig CalcaterraRangers 15, Angels 9: Ryan Dempster was shelled in his Rangers debut, but it didn't matter because C.J. Wilson was shelled too. Josh Hamilton drove in four. You have to wonder if Wednesday night's game was some kind of turning point in this race.
Rockies 8, Cardinals 2: Homers in four straight games for Josh Rutledge, which is kind of neat. Rockies avoid the sweep.
Braves 6, Marlins 1: A rain delay knocked out the starters early, but it didn't much matter considering the Braves had a 6-0 lead by then. Two runs knocked in apiece for Chipper Jones and Freddie Freeman.
Royals 7, Indians 6: The Royals had a 6-0 lead and blew it, and then the Indians blew the comeback when Alcides Escobar singled in the winning run in the 11th. This series seemed like it lasted for a year.
Nationals 3, Phillies 0: Ross Detwiler shuts out the Phillies for seven. Adam LaRoche drove in two and Jayson Werth finally came back and drove in one himself.
Mets 9, Giants 1: Tim Lincecum sort of seems to be back so I guess that Barry Zito has to revert to his normal self as well (4.1 IP, 6 H, 7 ER). Ronny Cedeno drove in five. The Mets took three of four from the Giants.
Twins 5, Red Sox 0: What Samuel Deduno is doing is not sustainable -- you can't walk four and strike out one and always expect success -- but it worked well enough. Ron Gardenhire:
"I know his ball-strike ratio wasn't the greatest, but sometimes that works," Gardenhire said. "He was able to make pitches when he had to and that's all you really care about."
Wow. Ron Gardenhire knows what a ball/strike ratio is.
Reds 9, Padres 4: Six runs in the second sunk the Padres. Cincy and Pittsburgh now play the most interesting series of the weekend.
Athletics 4, Blue Jays 0: Well, that was the score in the eighth when I went to bed. I'm guessing that holds up because the Blue Jays can't seem to win baseball games anymore. (Late news flash: It was 4-1.)
Craig writes the HardballTalk blog for NBC Sports.com