And That Happened

Angels 5, Rangers 4: Howie Kendrick with two homers, including the walkoff in the 11th. Kendrick after the game:

“It’s a great feeling to know that you can leave the other team on the field”

I hope someone brings the Rangers some food overnight. Maybe go back to their hotel, get guys a change of clothes or something.

Cardinals 2, Nationals 0: Adam Wainwright threw eight and a third scoreless innings striking out nine, and improved to 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA on the season. The Nats have lost eight of 11.

Pirates 2, Phillies 0: Jeff Locke and four relievers combine to shut out the Phillies. Michael Young kept his hitting streak alive—it’s now at four games—but an otherwise forgettable offensive night.

Twins 4, Marlins 3; Marlins 8, Twins 5: Oswaldo Arcia hit a massive homer in the first game. Right before he did it. Bert Blyleven speculated on-air as to whether Ron Gardenhire would have him bunt. Methinks that with that guy’s power that, no, Gardenhire is not gonna have him bunt. The Marlins take the nightcap with 16 hits. Which is probably their month’s supply of hits. Royals lead the division by a game with the Twins right on their tail. This is kinda fun while it’s lasting.

Athletics 13, Red Sox 0: Rain-shortened game or mercy rule invoked? NO MAN CAN SAY. Everyone will talk about how putrid Alfredo Aceves was—and after the game he had the nerve to ask why his teammates didn’t hit—but how about seven, three-hit shutout innings from Bartolo Colon?

Orioles 4, Blue Jays 3: It’s kinda early in the morning so my critical thinking skills aren’t totally sharp yet today, but when I see this in the game story:

It was the 100th consecutive game the Orioles have won when leading after seven innings

My b.s. detector starts to go off. Not because it’s not true—it is, in fact, a fact—but because it sounds too superficially impressive a feat for a team that, while good last year, hasn’t been dominant or anything. Someone can check it and tell me I’m wrong, but this smells like “a triple short of the cycle!” Meaning: a fact that sounds kind of impressive but actually describes something that happens quite a lot.

Yankees 4, Rays 3: Ichiro had a two-run, RBI single in the ninth and, though he did not get the win, I think it’s fair to say that Phil Hughes out-dueled David Price. Has a lower ERA on the season than Price does, too, if you care about such things (5.14 vs. 5.52).

Braves 4, Rockies 3; Braves 10, Rockies 2 : Atlanta takes the first chilly one thanks to homers from Justin Upton, Evan Gattis and Dan Uggla. The Braves take the second one thanks to homers from Justin Upton, B.J. Upton and Juan Francisco. It’s almost like this team hits a lot of homers or something.

Cubs 4, Reds 2: Carlos Marmol blew the save but got the win. He now leads the Cubs in wins. That’s fun. I’m sure no one else on the team thinks that’s fun but him, but it is fun.

Dodgers 7, Mets 2: Two homers for Mark Ellis. Clayton Kershaw was no great shakes, but after Jon Niese left in the third with a leg contusion, it was too much to ask for five Mets relievers to hold on.

Brewers 6, Padres 3: Nine in a row. Clayton Richard was a disaster in the first two innings and after that it was academic.

Astros 3, Mariners 2: Astros and Marlins win on the same day. Bet that doesn’t happen a lot this summer. Sadly, what proved to be the winning run came at the expense of Justin Maxwell’s broken hand on a HBP in the third.

Diamondbacks 6, Giants 4: J.J. Putz blew a two-run lead in the ninth—and a four-run lead overall—but the D-backs gritted this one out and won in 11, thanks to some heads-up base running by Didi Gregorius. He took second base on what should have only been a single after Andres Torres lollygagged his way to the ball, then scored the tying run on a wild pitch.  And if you think I’m beating this grit thing into the ground, well, I’ll stop when Diamondbacks players stop saying stuff like this after the game:

“That’s the spirit of this team,” [Brad] Ziegler said. “We’d prefer to jump out to a big lead early and kind of coast to the victory, but when that doesn’t happen, we know we have a lot of guys on this team that are going to fight to the last out.”

Indians vs. White Sox: POSTPONED: April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing  Memory and desire, stirring  Dull roots with spring rain.

Royals vs. Tigers: POSTPONED: For the seven lakes, and by no man these verses. Rain; empty river; a voyage. Fire from frozen cloud, heavy rain in the twilight. Under the cabin roof was one lantern. The reeds are heavy; bent; and the bamboos speak as if weeping.


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Jim Diffley
10 years ago

Thomas Stearns Eliot and The Waste Land…..very impressive!!  Let’s go with Willie Boy (Shakespeare) next, in honor of his birth and death month!!

Jim C.
10 years ago

On last night’s Orioles telecast, they showed the list of teams with the most consecutive wins when leading after 7.  I didn’t memorize it, but it is in fact a short list, and what the Orioles have done doesn’t happen often.

The question is whether it really means much, and I don’t think it does.  A team that wins 100 straight is only 1% better than a team that wins 50 straight, loses one, and then wins 49 straight.  It’s nice in a gee whiz kind of way, but it doesn’t make the Orioles an all-time great team.