And That Happened

Angels 13, Cubs 2: It’s almost as if Josh Hamilton hadn’t totally forgotten how to play baseball or something. Go figure. Two homers and five RBI in this romp. One of his homers was back-to-back with a Pujols home run. First time that’s happened this year.

Nationals 5, Phillies 1: The Nats hit four homers off Cliff Lee: back-to-back in the fifth, back-to-back in the sixth. Otherwise Lee was fine and Mrs. Lincoln enjoyed the play.

Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks 5: The sweep, as A.J. Ellis ties it up in the ninth and then homers in the 14th. The Dodgers were 12 games under .500 and nine and a half games out of first on June 22. Now they are back to .500 and one and a half back of the Diamondbacks after winning 15 of 18. I do a lot of radio spots around the country each week. A lot of the same stations over and over. It’s cute how the hosts and I talk about the surging Dodgers without acknowledging that we both talked about Don Mattingly’s imminent firing just a few weeks ago. We totally pretend we never said that stuff.

Blue Jays 5, Indians 4: They Jays rallied for three in the ninth and then held the Tribe’s own ninth inning rally to two runs. Terry Francona explains the ninth inning:

“Smitty had faced Arencibia four times and struck him out four times,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “That’s the match-up we wanted. With Kawasaki, he just left the ball over the plate and Bourny mishandled it for the unearned run.”

It takes a real pro to be obviously angry and disappointed but STILL use silly, childish nicknames for your players. That’s why Tito is Tito. Or maybe he should be Titoy or something.

Mets 7, Giants 2: Zack Wheeler was in the Giants organization once. They decided that a rental of Carlos Beltran was more valuable to them than keeping Wheeler. Probably not feeling that way this morning. Wheeler gave up one run in seven innings and had an RBI. Matt Cain lasted only two-thirds. The Mets sweep. The Giants are a disaster.

Marlins 6, Braves 2: A four-run first inning included a Giancarlo Stanton RBI double, which helped break his slump and the Marlins’ five-game losing streak.

Orioles 6, Rangers 1: Wei-Yin Chen finally returns from the DL and gives the O’s exactly what they needed: Seven innings, three hits and one run.

Reds 6, Brewers 2: Mike Leake helped stop the Reds’ bleeding — they’ve dropped five games behind the Cardinals — by pitching into the ninth inning, allowing only two runs.

Yankees 8, Royals 1: Ivan Nova allowed one run in eight innings while Robinson Cano and Lyle Overbay homered. Overbay’s was a slam. Both Brett Gardner and Travis Hafner left the game with contusions of one kind or another.

Pirates 5, Athletics 0: A’s beat writers were tweeting pics of ominous skies before this game started, remarking how strange it looked to them and how in California you simply don’t see that sort of thing. Maybe it threw the A’s off too. Maybe a three-hour rain delay did. Either way, Francisco Liriano stymied Oakland batters.

Tigers 8, White Sox 5: Three hits apiece for Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, who added a home run. Joaquin Benoit walked two in the ninth but he did manage to convert his eighth save opportunity of the year so perhaps there is finally some stability at the end of the Tigers bullpen.

Rays 4, Twins 3: Thirteen innings played, 35 strikeouts between the teams. Bet this one was riveting to watch. Ben Zobrist with the game winning single. The Twins have dropped 10 of 11. The Rays are on fire.

Red Sox 11, Mariners 4: David Ortiz doubled, homered and drove in three. Felix Doubront allowed one run in seven. Ortiz’s double put him past Harold Baines for the most hits from a DH all-time.

Cardinals 5, Astros 4: Matt Carpenter hit a two-run homer in the seventh — off a lefty — to put the Cards past Houston. Take that, platoon splits.

Rockies 5, Padres 4: Jorge De La Rosa took a one-hit shutout into the sixth inning. It was his sixth straight win against the Padres.


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matt w
10 years ago

Noteworthy: That was the first time the Pirates had beat the A’s. They were the last current franchise to be winless against another current franchise.