And That Happened

Dodgers 1, Padres 0: The Dodgers sweep the West-leading Padres despite being two-hit. Maybe I’m being overly pessimistic, but I’m starting to get the feeling that you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark — that place where the Padres’ wave finally broke and rolled back.

Reds 7, Cardinals 2: “Their hitters were on, their pitcher was on. They just beat us,” Tony La Russa said after the game, declining to offer some lame, hair-splitting excuse or citation to some obscure rule or custom following a loss for the first time since anyone can recall. The Reds win for the eighth time in ten games and are now in first place in the NL Central. It’s the first time a team other than the Cardinals has held that slot since last July.

Giants 4, Astros 3: According to the game story, several Astros’ players walked the two miles from their team hotel to AT&T Park when taxis refused to drive around the hubub caused by the annual Bay to Breakers foot race. He’ll deny it until the cows come home, but I have it on pretty good authority that Brett Myers joined in with the runners for three-quarters of a mile wearing buttless leather pants, as is the custom for many of the race’s participants.

Twins 6, Yankees 3: You don’t see the Yankees suffer a bullpen implosion like this very often, as Joba loaded the bases and Rivera walked one in and then allowed a grand slam to Jason Kubel. Thank God Javier Vazquez is being sent down to the pen to help those amateurs out.

Tigers 5, Red Sox 1: Neither John Lackey nor the Boston bats were very sharp yesterday, with the former allowing nine hits and walking four, and the latter mustering only seven hits of their own. A two-run homer for Ramon Santiago may be even more rare than that Yankees bullpen implosion.

Angels 4, Athletics 0: Remember over the winter when everyone was not signing Joel Piniero because, um, well, I can’t really remember why, but I’m sure they were very good reasons (CG, SHO, 1 BB, 5K).

Rockies 2, Nationals 1: Jeff Francis didn’t get the win but he was the man of the day, allowing one run on seven hits over seven. Most of the seven hits weren’t all that hard, either. If Colorado is going to shake off the cobwebs and jump into this race, Francis’ return to form will be necessary.

Royals 5, White Sox 3: Brian Bannister after his win: “It was a good enough outing, not a great outing. I was savvy. I always try to be savvy.”  I can’t decide if that quote is awesome or lame.

Cubs 4, Pirates 3: The Pirates bullpen has actually done a pretty spiffy job of protecting the late leads they have had, but they didn’t do it yesterday, walking dudes and throwing pitches in the dirt and stuff. Xavier Nady had the game winning hit.

Rays 2, Mariners 1: Cliff Lee took a 1-0 lead into the seventh having allowed only two hits, but then doubles by B.J. Upton and Sean Rodriguez tied it and an eighth inning Carl Crawford triple + sac fly gave the Rays the win. Tough luck loss for Lee, who struck out ten.

Braves 13, Diamondbacks 1: Martin Prado went crazy, going 4 for 6 with two homers, as the Braves offense continues to wake up from its season-long slumber. Nice day for Tim Hudson who, while he’s been doing OK, hadn’t been striking out too many fellas. I’ll take six Ks in eight innings against one walk, though.

Indians 5, Orioles 1: Jake Westbrook has won two in a row, allowing only two runs in fifteen innings. Sure, those were against the Royals and Orioles, but you figure a couple of the GMs to whom the Indians will be offering Westbrook this summer will fail to realize that.

Marlins 10, Mets 8: A day on which good fundamental baseball laid down and died for the Mets results in their fifth straight loss and seventh of eight. Chris Coghlan pinch hit in the seventh inning and fouled off six two-strike pitches before hitting a three-run jack which is always fun. Jonathan Niese hurt his hamstring, which is scary considering he needed surgery on it last year. 

Blue Jays 5, Rangers 2: Brandon Morrow on the mechanical flaw he fixed prior to this game: “When I’m really bad mechanically, like I was in Boston, I have a tendency to break down on my back side and become really rotational and spin open.”  I hate it when that happens.

Phillies 4, Brewers 2: Six straight losses at home for the Brew Crew. On the bright side, this is the only one of those six losses that was even remotely close.


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DonCoburleone
13 years ago

“As a Met fan, the best I can say is that the Jets had a good off-season.”

Hahaha, what happened guys?  I listen to Mad Dog sometimes and it was no more than about 10 days ago when every “MikeInBrooklyn” was calling up praising the Mets cuz they were like 18-14 & right there with the Phils… “Yeah I think Francoeur could still get better, he’s young! And Mad Dog what do you think Mike Pelfrey’s chances are for the Cy Young? Oh and my favorite – if only Olly Perez can turn it around we’ll have the best rotation in the NL East!” 

I swear New York fans get waaaaay too much credit for their supposed “sports knowledge”.  The Mets stink & that ain’t changin until 2+ years after Minaya is booted out of town… And the Jets great offseason?  They get a washed up LT, a washed up Jason Taylor and 2 total freaking knuckleheads in Holmes and Cromartie and that is a “great offseason”?  God the hype machine in New York is just unbearable at times…

Will
13 years ago

DonCoburleone: If you don’t like the NY hype machine, don’t pay so much attention to it. You know what they say: jealousy breeds contempt.

mikeinbrooklyn
13 years ago

1.  i never called anyone anytime ever.
2.  when the mets were winning, i was actually out of town and had no idea of their success
3.  if i had been here, i still would have doubted that success would continue
4.  i was upset when the mets got francoeur and even when he was hitting well, i knew it would end quickly
5.  pelfrey has definitely improved and i expect him to one of the few bright spots this year (this does not mean cy young good)
6.  my comment re the jets was facetious and meant more as a reflection of how bad the mets are
7.  you are an effin douche

boobie
13 years ago

nice hunter thompson ref in the pad’s bit, craig.  selah…

DonCoburleone
13 years ago

Yeah you’re right Will, I am just soooo jealous of New York……. fans? teams? the media? the city? What exactly am I jealous of? You happen to be geographically closer to Bristol, Connecticut than most of the rest of the country which means 90% of ESPN employees are either from New York or Boston. On top of that Sirius/XM headquarters are in New York and because of that they somehow think the rest of the country wants to hear a local HACK like Mad Dog scream & cry like a doosh… With that comes the inevitable homerism and over-coverage of everything New York. In other words, being the big time sports fan that I am, the NY Hype Machine is impossible to “not pay attention to”.

mikeinbrooklyn
13 years ago

As a Met fan, the best I can say is that the Jets had a good off-season.