And That Happened

Miss me? No? Ah, well. Baseball stops for no one man. Back to the grind then:

Brewers 2, Pirates 1: The walkoff sac fly for Nyjer Morgan. Of course all guys who hit sac flies walk off the field, so whatever. Charlie Morton’s scoreless innings streak was snapped at 24. In other news, Charlie Morton had a sizable scoreless innings streak. The things you miss when you’re sitting and staring at a lake for a week.

Giants 5, Marlins 2: Two homers for Brandon Belt, so I assume he’ll be sent down to AAA now. Ryan Vogelsong ups his record to 10-2. He retired 17 straight Marlins at one point. He also got hit by a pitch and got real mad. Marlins’ manager Jack McKeon actually said this: “Guys get carried away. Vogel … Volkswagen … whatever his name is — he’s lucky he didn’t have to face Drysdale or Gibson or one of those guys. You would get a shave and a haircut real quick.”  And McKeon is basically the only guy who could get away with saying that kind of thing.

Cubs 6, Braves 5: Atlanta blows a four-run lead and Dan Uggla’s hitting streak ends at 33. Fun with line scores: Arodys Vizcaino struck out three in two-thirds of an inning. Wild pitches are the damndest things.

Dodgers 7, Astros 0: The Astros got swept. A shame too. Before the weekend began there was still a technical chance that they could finish above .500. So it goes.

Orioles 8, Tigers 5: Baltimore led 8-1 heading into the ninth and allowed the Tigers to rally for four. I’m guessing fans of most teams wouldn’t have gotten too worried, even if such events upset them. But there’s a certain brand of O’s fan — of whom I meet more and more these days — who probably figured their guys could woof this one away. Especially given that they blew a five-run lead on Saturday.

Mariners 5, Red Sox 3: The M’s take two of three from the Bosox as Charlie Furbush gave up one run over seven innings to the best offense around.

White Sox 6, Royals 2: A three-run homer for Brent Lillibridge pulls the Sox to .500 and to within four games of the Tigers.

Blue Jays 5, Angels 4: A walkoff single in the 10th for Edwin Encarnacion. And unlike Nyjer Morgan’s, this really was a walkoff. Because normally if you walk off the field right after hitting a single, they can tag you out or call you out for being out of the baseline or something. You can look it up.

Diamondbacks 5, Mets 3: A homer for Justin Upton. A couple of doubles for Paul Goldschmidt. A broken fibula for Jason Marquis. Two out of three ain’t bad. Six straight wins for the Dbacks.

Rangers 7, Athletics 6: The A’s have lost eight in a row to Texas. They really should stop scheduling those guys. Everyone complains when you beat up on some small school in August, but you rarely get penalized for it. Oh, sorry. I live in the college football belt, and sometimes this kind of talks just starts filtering in this time of year.

Padres 7, Reds 3: Dontrelle Willis had to leave early with forearm tightness. After the game he said “”This is the first time my arm felt like this. At this point in my career, it’s kind of shocking.”  More shocking: that Willis can talk about his career having any sense of normalcy or predictability to it whatsoever.

Cardinals 6, Rockies 2: With the Rockies down by only two, Octavio Dotel struck out Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton with the bases loaded in the seventh inning. Pretty clutch, eh? Dotel? Who knew? Long, long homer for Albert Pujols who now, despite such a poor start, leads the NL in bombs.

Nationals vs. Phillies: POSTPONED: I don’t begrudge the fact that, in large part, the ATH comments have been turned into a Phillies fan forum this year. You guys are passionate and committed and your team is doing well so it’s totally understandable. I must say, though, I am curious to see how you guys use a rainout as the basis to dominate the comments as usual.

Rays vs. Yankees: POSTPONED: See, if Yankee Stadium had a dome like they have down in St. Petersburg, this game would have been played. Why can’t anyone learn from the Rays’ example?

Twins v. Indians: POSTPONED: All three games that were postponed involved sure-thing playoff teams or potential playoff teams. I’m getting excited though, because we’re very close to the time of year when they cancel games and don’t bother to reschedule them in the event they involve a couple of dead-enders.


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Jim G.
12 years ago

It’s true! All last week I was reading the baseball news, asking myself “Did that really happen?”

RE: Morgan walkoff – a reminder that it’s more of a reference to the losing pitcher or team having to “walk off” the field more than the batter. Why is it always about the offense? grin

RE: McKeon – I’m sure he remembers ordering Drysdale to throw at someone’s head. (Not that DD needed ordering.)

RE: Furbush – …and at Fenway, no less. I might expect that at Outco.

Dan in Philly
12 years ago

The Phils are so awesome they pulled ahead in the NL East even during a rain out…

MikeS
12 years ago

Miss you?  For like a whole week it was as if nothing Happened.