"I'm a married man, Jose, stop tempting me to switch-hit."
Phillies 8, Mets 6: The Mets were cruising along, ready to take sole posession of first place, until the unthinkable happened. And by unthinkable, I mean inevitable. Without closer Billy Wagner, New York went through relievers like A-Rod does spray-on tan, sending four to the hill in the ninth. The outcome was not pretty. Philadelphia proceeded to score six runs in the last frame to come back from a 5-2 deficit and hand Johan Santana another no-decision. He has just one win in his last nine starts. Closer Brad Lidge was the least bad pitcher in the ninth, giving up only one run to secure the victory. Joe Smith got the loss, and was one of two Mets relievers not able to record an out.
Marlins 4, Braves 0: Rick VandenHurk threw five no-hit innings in his first start since being re-called from Double-A, striking out seven in the process. Though he struggled with his control, VandenHurk stifled Atlanta with what Jeff Francoeur termed, "effective wildness," or Rick Ankiel circa 2000. A trio of relievers held the Braves to just one hit the rest of the way, preserving the shutout. It was the best Marlin pitching performance since Anibal Sanchez's no-hitter in 2006.
Yankees 8, Twins 2: The second-half surge is on in the Bronx, as the Yankees won their ninth straight at the Stadium and fifth consecutive overall. Robinson Cano made up for an early fielding mishap with two RBI and Bobby Abreu homered as New York rolled. They now sit at 10 games over .500 and are within striking distance of the first-place Rays, who lost last night. Derek Jeter was a clutch 1-5.
Tigers 7, Royals 1: If Detroit played in the NL West, they'd be in first right now, after last night's win put them two games over .500. The Tigers rain-soaked victory gave them 27 wins in their last 40 games, the most in the Majors. Placido Polanco and Magglio Ordonez both had 2 RBI as cameraman assaulter Kenny Rogers cruised through six, giving up just one run. Mark Grudzielanek had three hits for and only used his LifeGuardian twice for Kansas City.
Brewers 4, Cardinals 3: Bill Hall did it for the second consecutive night, homering in the ninth inning to break a three-all tie and give Milwaukee the first two games of the series. Tied after eight strong innings from Kyle Lohse, the Cards' bullpen decided they would not be shown up by the Mets and, much like they did on Monday, promptly gave away the game. The Brewers extended their hold on second place in the NL Central to two game and will go for the sweep with CC Sabathia on the mound tonight.
1 comments:
Joe Smith may have got the loss but he did his job... he forced the ground ball but Jose Reyes botched the play and was not able to record one out when there was a possible double play.
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