Diamondbacks 9, Padres 6:
Whenever you see a game this long — 18 innings in case you missed it
— there are always some fun stat lines that shake out. An 0-6 (Giles);
a 1-8 with five strikeouts (Headley). Then there’s the “so long,
suckers” line, which belongs to David Eckstein. Herr Scrappy
sits on his kiester for nearly nine full innings, then comes in and, on
the very first pitch he sees, hits the pinch hit home run that sends
this thing on to its second nine, during all of which he sat on his
kiester. At some point over the last, oh, three hours of this game you
have to think that there were even some Padres who wished he hadn’t
done that. Especially if he was back in the clubhouse playing Wii or
taking a nap or having a schvitz or something. In other news, sources
say that the Dbacks and Padres were going to petition to have this game
partitioned so that they could simply apply the second half of it to a
future rainout, thus saving everyone time and money. The plan was
scrapped, however, when someone remembered that it doesn’t rain in
Phoenix or San Diego.
Cubs 6, Reds 3:
In yet another long game, Dusty Baker shows that he’s a more
experienced manager than either A.J. Hinch or Bud Black. Knowing that
anything beyond 14 innings could kill his pitching staff for the next
week, Dusty decides to cut his losses and calls Mike Lincoln into the
game to give up the three deciding runs. I mean, I assume that’s what
Dusty was doing anyway, because it’s not like Mike Lincoln has any
other uses.
Braves 8, Brewers 7: My comrade tHeMARksMiTh watched Tommy Hanson’s inauspicious debut and is somewhat less worried about the young man than those of us who only saw the line score are. Take it away, Mark:
I was very impressed. Adrenaline was obviously present at the start.
He hit 97 several times at the beginning but sat around 93-94 for most
of the game . . . he was hitting his spots pretty well, especially with
his breaking pitches . . .
. . . For the troubling part, he threw too many fastballs . . . With
an 0-2 count on Braun and just after Braun chased a slider. Hanson
throws a high fastball that Braun deposits out of the park. Then 1-2 on
Fielder, high fastball laced for a single. Then 0-1 on Cameron after
just getting a fastball fouled back, fastball for a home run . . .
fastballs made no sense in any of those situations, especially because
Hanson had been throwing his breaking balls very well. There may be
games that Hanson needs to go to his fastball, but today was not it.
Not in a game against a bunch of good fastball hitters. Not against a
good lineup. Not against a powerful lineup. If the breaking pitches are
there, you have to use them. He, or [David] Ross, didn’t, and he gave
up some runs.
I’m not particularly worried. For one thing, since everyone’s talking about Tom Glavine lately, let us all remember Tom Glavine’s first big league line
(3.2 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 1K). For another, you can handle a woofer of
an outing like this when Chipper Jones has your back (4-4, 2 HR, 3B, 5
RBI).
Tigers 9, Angels 6: Clete Thomas hits the first grand slam by a man named “Clete” since August 29, 1967. Oh, come on. It’s not like the little stat factoids they run on SportsCenter are any less random.
Yankees 4, Rays 3:
Hideki Matsui beat out a potential double-play grounder, transforming
it into a fielder’s choice for the game-winning run. Based on how he
has hobbled around every time I’ve seen him play this year I can only
assume that the grounder was to deep left field or something.
Blue Jays 4, Royals 0: Roy Halladay shuts out the Royals on 97 pitches. Rany wants Jeff Francoeur to come to Kansas City. Based on the offensive game plan these guys employ , Frenchy would fit in just find with the Royals.
Rangers 6, Red Sox 3: The Rangers win their first series at Fenway since 1997. David Ortiz looked like this
then. I might have given the 1997 David Ortiz the steal sign. I would
not have given the 2009 version the steal sign, and I’m not sure why
Terry Francona did yesterday either, but he did and he was predictably
nailed. Maybe it’s just been so long since Ortiz was on base that no
one knew what the signs were supposed to be.
Mets 7, Nationals 0: Guys with worse ERAs than Livan Hernandez: Jake Peavy, Aaron Harang, Ryan Dempster, and Cole Hamels.
Indians 8, White Sox 4:
Ozzie Guillen after the game “Maybe if I go crazy with the media and
[rip] my team . . . I might wake them up. But it’s wasting my time.”
Wait, if it might wake them up, how would that be a waste of his time?
They’re in slumberland right now. This ain’t the Hum-Baby Giants. It’s
the Ozzie Guillen-led White Sox. If Ozzie’s going to refuse to bring
the crazy during a losing streak, what’s the point of having him
around?
Astros 6, Pirates 4:
Russ Ortiz throws four and a third innings of scoreless relief after
Felipe Paulino hurt his groin slipping on the mound in the second. The
game story then runs with this whole “this strong outing should get
Russ Ortiz out of long-relief land and back into the rotation” angle.
And I guess if Paulino is really hurt it might. But really, didn’t
Ortiz just do what a good long man is supposed to do? Come in, pitch
long, and pitch well? Indeed, he’s pitching better out of the bullpen
then he had for the past several years as a starter. The guy’s probably
finally found his freakin’ niche in life, and here the AP writer and
Ortiz want him to be something he’s not. This is how liberal arts
majors wind up in law school. Why can’t we just let people be who they
are?
A’s 3, Orioles 0:
I’ve got underwear older than most of the A’s starters, but these guys
have won six in a row, and that’s more exciting than anything my
underwear has been involved with recently.
Rockies 7, Cardinals 2:
Albert Pujols is such a badass that he hit a two-run sac fly in the
first inning, no doubt because the outfielders were gripped by fear. I
fully expect Pujols to go 5 for 3 tomorrow night. Apart from Pujols,
though, it was the Ubaldo Jimenez show (8 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 9K).
Mariners 4, Twins 2:
Ichiro’s hitting streak was snapped on Friday night, but he bounced
back to go 5 for 8 on Saturday and Sunday, and is now hitting .356 on
the season. I’ve been predicting that he would crater for a couple of
years now, but I think I should get out of that end of the predictions
business altogether because he’s clearly the kind of guy who’s gonna
hit .300 until he’s about 42 or so. There’s one of those guys every
generation or so, and he’s ours.
Giants 3, Marlins 2:
Tim Lincecum held a shutout into the eighth, though he walked as many
as he struck out (4), so it’s not like he had his best stuff working.
Phillies 7, Dodgers 2:
My first thought was that no one would be paying attention to the
Dodgers given that the Finals are going on, but then I remembered that
Los Angeles is a town that accommodates disparate interests. There are
skinny pretty people crawling all over the city, yet seemingly every
corner has a donut shop or a joint that sells comically large fattening
hamburgers. I suppose they can make room for the Lakers and the Dodgers
at the same time.
