And That Happened

Blue Jays 1, Red Sox 0: Brett Lawrie’s 11th inning walkoff homer was the game’s only run. This kid is fairly fantastic. And he was born, like, seven months before the first Gulf War.

White Sox 2, Twins 1, White Sox 4, Twins 0: Phil Humber pitched seven scoreless in the first game. Zach Stewart nearly threw the perfecto in the second. I don’t intend to take anything away from either of those guys in saying this, but hoo-boy, the Twins can’t hit.

Phillies 9, Braves 0:  Oh, I get it. I now know why Chipper Jones said he wasn’t afraid of the Phillies. He was out of the lineup last night and didn’t have to play against them. The rest of the Braves squad was apparently terrified of Cliff Lee. And for good reason.

Yankees 11, Orioles 10: Brian Matusz and Freddy Garcia left it in the locker room and this one turned into an offensive orgy. Rookie Jesus Montero did, um, whatever the person who can say they had the best time at the orgy does, hitting two home runs.  No, I had no idea where that analogy was going when I started it and, in hindsight, I probably should have just deleted and started over.

Brewers 4, Cardinals 1: I watched part of this. There was a lot of crowd noise, but I’m pretty sure I heard this part, referring to the NL Central race, come through loud and clear.

Royals 11, Athletics 6: Tied at six entering the ninth, the Royals erupted for five runs to win it going away. Billy Butler hit two homers. The win prevents the Royals from being mathematically eliminated. Will they keep it up and make an unprecedented run at the AL Central title?!!  No! But the suspense is terrible. I hope it’ll last.

Giants 7, Padres 2: San Francisco has a less laughable case at still being in a race, but it’s not a particularly strong one either. But they looked swell yesterday, with Madison Bumgarner striking out 13 in eight and a third. True, it came against the Padres and they couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat, but let’s let the Giants have this one.

Diamondbacks 10, Rockies 7: And we can let the Giants have that one, but we can’t make too much of it because the Diamondbacks just aren’t all that interested in losing baseball games anymore. They’ve won 12 of 13 games and maintain a seven game lead. Justin Upton homered. Paul Goldschmidt drove in three.

Rays 5, Rangers 1: I’m pretty sure James Shields was a starting pitcher in the early 1970s but was kidnapped by some evil scientist and transported to modern times to test the effects of a pitcher throwing multiple complete games on an unsuspecting populace. Results: our minds are completely blown. Shields throws his 11th CG. A four hitter, with the only run allowed scoring on a groundout in the ninth.

Angels 7, Mariners 3: And Anaheim gains a game. They’re now two and a half back of Texas.

Cubs 4, Reds 3: Matt Garza gave up one earned run in seven and two-thirds. Two unearned runs because the Cubs defense is butt, but we’ve all come to expect that. Dontrelle Willis is now 0-5 since his return to the bigs.

Tigers 4, Indians 2: Doug Fister struck out 13 and Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer in the fourth that was all the Tigers ended up needing.

Pirates 3, Astros 1: James McDonald allowed one run in seven and a third innings. Seven and a third dreary, drizzly innings. Rainy baseball on cool days late in the season between two teams that are way the hell out of the race make me very, very sad. Summer’s almost gone. Almost gone. Almost gone. Where will we be … when the summer’s gone?

Nationals 7, Dodgers 2: Two homers for Mike Morse and one a piece for  Ian Desmond and Jayson Werth. Morse has a line of .315/.369/.562 with 26 homers and 83 driven in. And no one ever really talks about him.

Marlins 9, Mets 3: It’s always fun to see the annual “Javier Vazquez makes a late season run of good starts in meaningless games, thereby fooling someone into giving him another contract” event gaining steam.