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Adam LaRoche hit the second two-run homer for the Pirates in the bottom of the sixth to secure a 5-3 win over the Brewers. Adam is 14 for 33 in an eight game hitting streak, driving in nine runs.

Ian Snell allowed three runs in the first inning, then shut down the Brewers over the next seven, walking one and striking out five. He ends the day with a 2.93 ERA and prevents Milwaukee from extending their lead over the Cubs. Pittsburgh is now 10 games under .500, but eleven games out of the division.

Joe Kennedy doesn't get out of the first inning today as he walks four and allows four runs to the Blue Jays. One of those walks forced in a run, while the other three scored on a Stairs double and a sacrifice fly. Shane Komine replaces Joe. Komine has eight walks and one strikeout in nine innings of work, so things might not get much better for the A's.

Ryan Howard reaches the twenty home run plateau, knocking a shot into the rightfield bullen at the Juice Box. His two-run homer extends the Phillies lead to 6-1 over the Astros. Cole Hamels recovered from the rough outing in his last start. He's struck out eight in seven innings without walking a batter.

Burrell adds the fourth home run of the day for the Phillies, and they lead 7-1.

The Twins knocked out two two-run homers in the last three innings to defeat the Yankees 6-2. Santana didn't pitch his best game, but he allowed just two runs over seven innings while striking out five. He was unhittable after the fourth, as the last sixteen Yankees to bat were retired by Santana, Neshek and Nathan. With the loss, the Yankees are now twelve games behind the league leading Red Sox, who won 7-5 over the Devil Rays. With 16 games left against Tampa Bay, the Red Sox have a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way, making catching them that much more difficult.

The Giants don't have their big slugger in the lineup, but three home runs put them up 7-4 on the Reds in the sixth inning. Leftfield replacement Fred Lewis filled in well for Barry, delivering a grand slam to give San Francisco the lead. Lewis so far is 2 for 3 on the day; in seven day games this season he's now 12 for 31 with six extra-base hits and nine RBI.

Matt Cain finally gets some run support. He needs it, too, as he's allowed four runs so far.

YES just showed a nice side by side comparison of Morneau's swing with John Olerud. The finish is a bit different, but the stance and start of the swing is very similar. The Twins and Yankees are tied at two as they go to the bottom of the sixth.

After two good starts, Edwin Jackson returned to form today, allowing seven runs in five innings against the Red Sox. Boston even used their "B" lineup with Manny, Pedroia, Youkilis and Varitek out of the lineup. Edwin's ERA balloons to 7.26. Meanwhile, Wakefield allowed just one run as he pitches in the seventh, a home run by Raul Casanova.

Hideki Matsui homers off Santana in the bottom of the second to even the score at one. It's just the fourth home run hit by a left-handed batter off Santana this season, and lefties were just slugging .274 against the Twins ace coming into today. Matsui had success against Santana, and is now 6 for 14 against him during the regular season.

Dmitri Young delivers a grand slam in the fifth inning to put the National up 6-0 on the Cubs. Hill pitched well the first four innings, allowing just one run, but in the fifth the only out he's recorded was on a sacrifice by the pitcher.

Meanwhile, Matt Chico allowed just three hits through five innings while striking out three.

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No Barry "US" Bonds today as he's complaining of swollen legs due to the cross country flight and playing last night.

I just saw a very bad example of the umpire giving the second baseman the out on a double play just for being close to the bag. Fontenot took the throw from the third baseman about a foot in front of the bag. The camera work was bad and blurry, but the picture cleared as the camera came to rest on the second baseman. It was clear at that point he was no where near the bag, and there was no runner bearing down on him. You need to be a little closer than that.

All eight position starters in the Cubs lineup today come into the game with an OBA at or above the league average of .328. Only one Nationals player can say that, Dmitri Young.

Update: Zimmerman, however, provides some power as his two-out solo home run puts the Nationals up 1-0 in the bottom of the first.

There's lots of early action today as games start as early as noon today. The Cubs try to put more pressure on the Brewers as they kick off the first game of the day against the Nationals. Rich Hill takes the mound against Matt Chico. Hill posts a 2.91 ERA on the road, and struck out 60 in 58 2/3 away innings. Chcio owns an odd home/road split. His ERA is a run higher at home, but he's 0-4 on the road.

Johan Santana invades Yankee Stadium to face Mike Mussina. This is only Johan's fourth regular season appearance in the Bronx, and the first three went very well. He's given up one run in sixteen innings while walking three and striking out eighteen. Mussina is 0-2 in four day time starts this season with a 5.82 ERA. The ball seems to fly out of the park on Mike with the sun out.

Garrett Olson makes his major league debut as he'll start for the Orioles vs. Jose Contreras and the White Sox. Olson's had a fine minor league career, reaching AAA for the first time this season. His fine strikeout and walk numbered continued, but he's allowed a few more home runs. Contreras is having his best year in terms of home runs allowed, but his worst in terms of overall hits allowed. So while his slugging percentage is down from his career avereage, his OBA allowed is up.

The biggest matchup of the day takes place in San Diego where 6' 7" Josh Johnson takes on 6' 10" Chris Young. Johnson hasn't pitched well since returning to the rotation, allowing 22 hits and 12 walks in just 10 2/3 innings. Meanwhile, Young just mows down batters, allowing a .197 BA overall and a .164 BA at PETCO.

Enjoy!

Randy Wolf pitched three poor innings last night, allowing nine base runners and six runs. Ethier pinch hit for Wolf in the third, and prevented him from getting a loss as he drove in the tying run. The Braves early pitching was just as bad as the Dodgers. But the Los Angeles bullpen gave the team a stellar performance, allowing just one hit and one walk over six innings. That allowed the K-Men to win the game in the seventh with a double by Kent and a single by Kemp. The Dodgers took home a 7-6 win over the Braves. The win puts the Dodger .002 points behind the Padres in the NL West.

Hanley Ramirez sat last night after tweaking his left hamstring Monday. He couldn't run, but he could still hit, so in the seventh Fredi Gonzalez sent him up to pinch hit against Greg Maddux, Hanley representing the tying run. Ramirez lauched an 0-2 curve ball into the seats for a tie game:

''That was the first curveball he threw the whole game,'' Ramirez said of Maddux. ``He didn't throw more than three. He made a mistake.''

In this case, the injury worked to the benefit of the Marlins.

What followed was somewhat strange. After a single and a double, Cla Meredith is brought in to intentionally walk Cabrera, then is removed so Ring can pitch to Jacobs. The only reason I can think for the move is that Ring wasn't ready, so to give him more time to warm up, Black made a pitching change rather than have Maddux issue the intentional walk. Still Meredith hadn't pitched in two days, so it's not like he wasn't usable for the game. (No news stories report on why Black made the move.)

Joe Blanton pitched a complete game four hitter last night, holding the Blue Jays to one run as Oakland took the game by a score of 3-1. It was an unusual outing as Bob Geren allowed Joe to finish the game despite walking a batter with two out in the ninth as Blanton approached 120 pitches:

After a brief conference, Geren showed confidence in his bulky right-hander and allowed him one more batter. That's all Blanton needed.

Blanton (8-4) threw a four-hitter for his AL-leading third complete game and the Oakland Athletics won for the third time in four games, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 on Tuesday night.

"I told him it's my game and I wanted it," Blanton said of the mound visit. "He actually came out to ask me how I felt. If I was gassed I would have said so."

Blanton's home/road split is rather remarkable.

Blanton 2007	Home	Road
ERA	1.69	4.48
Innings	64	64.1
Strikeouts	40	44
Walks	11	13
Home Runs	5	5
Hits	39	71

As far as fielding independent stats go, Blanton is the same pitcher home and road. For some reason, however, 32 more hits landed in about the same number of innings away from Oakland. I know the Coliseum is famous for lots of foul territory, but is Joe inducing that many foul pop outs? Or is the hitting background in Oakland just bad?

Hunter Pence delivers again. He collects three hits and a walk last night in seven plate appearances, the last one a walk-off home run leading off the thirteenth inning to send the Phillies to defeat 5-4. Pence is now batting .345, and according to my calculations should be on the leader board. However, neither STATS nor MLB has him there. What am I missing? The Astros played game 84 last night. At 3.1 PA per game, Pence needs 260.4 PA to qualify, which rounds to 260. Pence as of this morning has 249 at bats, 10 walks and 1 hit by pitch, which adds up to 260. I guess the programs that calculate these ranks don't round down the required PA. He'll need 263.5 at the end of play tonight, so if he comes up four times, he'll be on the board tomorrow.

Happy Independence Day! Here's hoping you enjoy the day celebrating with family and friends (and maybe catching a ball game). The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Javier Vazquez hits the triple word score with a complete game against the Baltimore Orioles. He strikes out seven and walks none as the only Baltimore run comes on a Kevin Millar homer. Vazquez has a good ERA, tons of strikeouts and few walks. It seems the oft-traded pitcher might bring a nice price on the trade market this month. The White Sox win the game 5-1.

As you can see here, the one through six hitters kill Kevin Millwood, but he has no trouble with the seven through nine slots. Tuesday night, however, Millwood turned that around. The 1-6 six hitters were just 2 for 20 this evening against Kevin, while the 7-9 group went 3 for 9 and accounted for all two RBI the Angels would collect. Millwood went eight, walking none, and received the win as the Rangers down LAnaheim 8-3.

Yusmeiro Petit showed some promise last year in his strikeouts and walks, despite posting a 9.57 ERA. He allowed 46 hits in 26 1/3 innings, including seven home runs for the Marlins. Tonight in his second appearance of the season, now pitching for the Diamondbacks, Petit lasted 5 1/3 innings, allowing just one run. After two starts his ERA sits at 2.19 and his opposition batting average is a mere .205. The twenty two year old is off to a much better start this season.

The Diamondbacks take the game 7-1, as five of their eleven hits go for extra bases.

Jordan Ellel wrote earlier tonight:

Ryan Howard just hit a ball 433 feet to the base of the flag pole that sits on the hill in centerfield of Minute Maid Park...Pence lost it for a second, but then ran up the hill and made the catch right next to the flag pole. Phillies could've used that insurance run...and in any other park, they probably would've had it.

That turns out to be very prophetic. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Alfonseca induces a Carlos Lee to ground to shortstop. The play develops slowly, and Lee is called safe at first, although he looked out on the replay to me. That ties the game at four, with Loretta up with a chance to drive in the winning run.

Update: Mark grounds out to third to send the game into extra-innings.

Tom Mastny comes on to pitch the bottom of the tenth for the Indians with the score tied at four. With one out he loads the bases, but get Guillen to pop up and then gets I-Rod to ground back to the box. They're in the 11th in Detroit, still tied at four.

Update: Blake gets a pitch up and over the plate in the top of the 11th and sends it into the leftfield stands for a 5-4 Cleveland lead as the Tigers come up for one more chance to score.

Update: Joe Borowski pitches a perfect 11th for the save and the Indians extend their lead over the Tigers to three games. Cleveland is now 6-2 against Detroit this season.

Correction: Cleveland took the lead on Blake's home run.

Thanks to a Brandon Phillips grand slam, Pete Mackanin wins his first game as the Reds manager. Correia relieved the wild Barry Zito at the start of the sixth inning, and promptly loaded the bases. With the score tied at three, Phillips unloaded to make the final 7-3. Aaron walks six himself, but only allows three runs over six innings to push his record to 9-2.

The Cubs won a close game, taking Washington down 3-1 behind Zambrano and Soriano. Alfonso picked up two more hits tonight, bringing his total in his return to RFK to four hits in two games. He also scored two runs. Zambrano struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings, and the bullpen added four in their 2 1/3 innings of work. The win leaves the Cubs 5 1/2 game behind the Brewers, who lost earlier today. Since June 1, the Cubs are 20-11, the Brewers 18-11.

Nice outings by both Daisuke Matsuzaka and Chien-Ming Wang tonight. Dice-K pitched eight shutout innings, striking out nine as he picked up his tenth win in a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Matsuzaka's ERA in down to 3.56 as he's allowed just two earned runs in his last 29 innings while striking out 34.

Wang walked four and allowed four hits over seven shutout innings of work. He also induced two double plays. It's a nice recovery from his poor performance against the Orioles as the Yankees defeat the Twins 8-0.

Update: Devon Young raves about the major league debut of Edwar Ramirez:

So the Yanks, up by 8 runs, let this rookie pitch the 9th for them. It's his major league debut. His name is Ramirez, and he has a nasty changeup. I'm telling you. I was sitting here watching it a few minutes ago and just laughed. He struck out the side in his major league debut. He proceeds to strike out Cuddyer on 3 pitches, then gets Morneau on 4 or 5, and Ford on 4 or 5 pitches, and they all went down swinging. They were dead fooled. His fastball seems good and he can definitely paint the outside corner, but then he tosses this changeup and it's all over.

His basic stat line for the time he spent in AAA Scranton this year - 26.1 IP, 0.67 ERA, and 47 K's. I've often heard that the difference between a minor league & major league pitcher is the ability to have a good changeup. This Ramirez kid seems to be proof of that by his AAA numbers.

He threw fourteen pitches, nine for strikes. Obviously there were no two strike fouls.

Correction: Fixed typo.

I'm watching the Detroit broadcast of the Indians-Tigers game, and the announcers pointed out that Rafael Betancourt was taking about 30 seconds between pitches to Ordonez with the bases empty. You're only allowed 20 seconds with no one on. The second base umpire pulled out a stop watch and started timing him, but Ordonez was not given a ball for the violation. After Magglio flew out deep, the ump went over and warned Eric Wedge. With Guillen up, the umps finally call the violation on the third pitch, an 0-2 count. Wedge comes out to argue, but the umps have been very generous here.

Paul Byrd issues his first unintentional walk since the end of April. The Tigers push a run across, but Sheffield is thrown out at the plate on a bad call by the umpire. Detroit leads 4-3 in the sixth.

The Kansas City Royals jump on the Seattle Mariners early, scoring six runs in the bottom of the first. Ryan Feierabend came into the game with a 6.46 ERA, and that's not getting better tonight as he allows six hits and a walk, along with two home runs. The long balls came off the bats of Butler and LaRue, neither of which has shown much power this year, although Butler is just playing in the 21st game of his career.

Barry Zito hasn't allowed a hit through 3 2/3 innings, but he walks four batters in the bottom of the fourth, pushing across the run. Like Kazmir earlier, he allows a run without giving up a hit. The Giants still led 2-1 thanks to the Bonds homer.

Update: The fifth walk of the inning ties the game at two, and the bullpen is just getting started.

Update: Zito strikes out Ross to end the inning. If the walks keep coming, I'm going to start calling him Joe Cowley. He's thrown 88 pitches so far, only 48 for strikes.

Update: Phillips singles with two out in the fifth to break up the no-hit bid.

The Mets waste no time scoring tonight as Reyes reaches on a bunt single, steals second then comes around to score on a fielder's choice and error. He's now 41 for 52 stealing this season, a terrific percentage, and needs three more steals for 200 in his career.

Update: David Wright gets the ball out of the infield as he singles to drive in Gotay. The Mets match their output from last night after one inning.

Update: The Rockies score four in the bottom of the first, including two on a home run by Atkins.

Scott Kazmir faced the first eight batters without allowing a hit. He did, however, walk the bases loaded to start the second inning. He allowed a run on a groundout, struck out Pena, and then just needed to get Lugo to end the inning. Lugo, however, singles to center to drive in two, and the Red Sox lead 3-0.

Kazmir leads the league in walks, and until he gets that under control, he's not going to an ace. On top of that, he's thrown 53 pitches in two innings. It took him over 20 throws to retire the side in order in the first. Kazmir has the stuff to blow away batters, and for some reason he's just not doing it.

Barry Bonds goes deep in the first inning, giving the Giants a 2-0 lead. He fell behind 0-2 as Harang fooled him with a pitch just off the plate for strike two. He brought the next fastball in over the plate a bit, and that was enough for Barry to put it in the rightfield seats for career HR 751.

The Milwaukee Brewers made four errors this afternoon, and at least one other bad play that went for a triple as they lose to Pittsburgh 6-2. The errors led to two unearned runs. Milwaukee had opportunities to score. They loaded the bases in the second but did not score. Shane Youman gave up eight hits, a walk and a hit batter in six innings of work, but allowed just two runs. Last year, despite walking ten and striking out just five in 21 2/3 innings, he posted a 2.91 ERA. It appears this pitcher bends but he doesn't break.

Prince Fielder flied out to deep center with a man on first and none out in the third inning. He hit the ball well, but it just didn't carry. When he got back to the dugout, he paced the length a couple of times, then whaled on the Gatorade carboys, landing solid punches on both. At least he didn't punch a wall and break his hand. The Brewers lead 1-0 in the bottom of the third despite picking up five hits in three innings off Shane Youman, making his 2007 debut.

Appropriately, Mr. Irrelevant introduces Da Meat Hook All-Stars, players who made the team during the aughties simply because each team had to have one representative. This reminds me of the time Rich Gedman tried to get a better contract from the Red Sox, but was told he was an all-star by default. Maybe we should call this the Gedman all-stars.

On July 21 and 22, 2007, the Red Sox Wives are holding their 16th annual food drive at Fenway Park. From the press release:

For two hours prior to game time, The Red Sox Wives will give an autographed picture of a Red Sox player (while supplies last) to fans that bring $10 or 10 non-perishable food items. The wives will be greeting fans making donations at Fenway Park's gates. The most preferred food donations are canned tuna fish, peanut butter, canned fruits and vegetables, red and brown beans, and juice boxes.

The Boston Red Sox and their families are active participants in the fight to end hunger. Over the last fifteen years, The Red Sox Wives have raised over $140,000 in cash donations and 140,000 pounds of food. Over the two-day event at Fenway Park last year, they collected more than 2,000 pounds of non-perishable foods and received $30,196 in cash donations, the largest cash amount raised at the annual event. The Red Sox Wives hope to work with the fans to have another record-breaking year of donations for The Greater Boston Food Bank.

"We know we speak for many of the thousands of people we serve each year, when we thank the Red Sox Wives, the players and their loyal fans for playing a crucial role in getting quality food to the people who need it most," said Catherine D'Amato, President and CEO of The Greater Boston Food Bank. "Last year Karen Varitek, Kristin Mirabelli, Shonda Schilling, and Dawn Timlin were among the Red Sox Wives who collected donations and handed out autographed photos of the players. We look forward to another successful event in July."

Gates will open two hours before each game. Saturday's game (7/21) starts at 3:55 p.m. while Sunday's game (7/22) starts at 2:05 p.m.

If you have a food warehouse like Costco near you, it's real easy to buy a ton of canned food cheap (and it's all nicely shrink wrapped so it's easy to carry). Even if you're not going to the game that day, I'm sure you can come by the park and drop off your donation. And you can donate to The Greater Boston Food Bank online.

The Devil Rays and Red Sox play for the first time this season, and it's a good matchup as Scott Kazmir faces Daisuke Matsuzaka. Dice-K goes for his tenth win of the season. With the Sox right at the halfway point, it's still possible for the rookie to win twenty games this season. He's coming off a very good June in which he posted a 1.59 ERA, but managed to go just 2-2. Kazmir's handled the Red Sox well in his career, going 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA in eleven starts.

With the Indians leading the Tigers by two games (but just one in the AFILC), the Tribe makes their way to Detroit to defend their lead. The pitching matchup isn't great, but these are the two best offenses in the majors so watch for a lot of runs tonight. The teams post nearly indentical OBAs, .352 for Cleveland, .351 for Detroit. But the Tigers slugging percentage is about thirty points higher, accounting for their half run lead per game over the Indians.

Enjoy!

The no-trade demand from Mark Buehrle hasn't totally killed the deal. Ken Williams thinks they still can get something done.

Assistant general manger Rick Hahn and Buehrle's agent Jeff Berry discussed a new deal last week, but negotiations slowed when the team did not give Buehrle a full no-trade clause, according to published reports. The Chicago Sun-Times reported the sides had agreed to a four-year, $56 million deal before the no-trade stalemate. Buehrle can become a free agent after the season.

"My gut is both parties want it to happen, so I would be hopeful that it would," Williams said Monday.

Buehrle is giving them quite a deal if the money is being reported correctly. Remember what happened when Bronson Arroyo gave the Red Sox a home town discount? I'm sure that's on Buehrle's mind.

This number seems a bit low to me.

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July 2nd marked the 82nd game game for the Toronto Blue Jays, the start of the second half of the season. Vernon Wells certainly didn't live up to his new, long-term contract, posting a .303 OBA and a .409 slugging percentage in the first 81 games. Now why Gibbons puts a player like that in the leadoff spot is beyond me, but last night it paid off as Wells collect four hits and a walk in six plate appearances to help Toronto to an 11-7 win at Oakland. He also homered twice. What's odd, however, is that despite a total of sixteen hits and four walks by the team, the homers were the only runs scored and driven in by Wells. Right now, Vernon is 45 points below last year's OBA and 110 points below last year's slugging percentage. He'll need a lot more nights like Monday in the second half to catch up to his 2006 numbers.

The Padres defeated the Marlins 3-1 on Monday night, despite collecting just three hits. The Giles brothers collected all three and scored all three runs.

The NL West leaders, who had only three hits, won for the fifth time in six games. The Padres improved to 4-2 when they have three hits or fewer.

Amazingly, that's not even the best record in the majors. The Mets are 3-0 when they collect three hits or less, and Toronto is 3-1. Those record are unusual, however. Teams combined are 17-73 when picking up three hits or less.

New York teams can't hit at Coors field this year. The Mets lost 6-2 Monday night as Jason Hirsh pitched a shutout for six innings before spraining his ankle running the bases. Hirsh singled twice and drove in two while allowing three hits to the New York offense. In four games at Coors this season, the Yankees and Mets combined to score seven runs total.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

John McLaren gets some extra work tonight as the Mariners and Royals go to the bottom of the eleventh tied at two. The Royals got a man to third with two outs in the ninth and tenth and failed to score. The Mariers put men on first and second with one out in the top of the eleventh, but Dotel struck out Beltre and Lopez to end the threat.

Update: Emil Brown hits a sacrifice fly off Morrow to win the game in the bottom of the eleventh. I wonder why he didn't bring in Putz in that situation to try to strike out the batters. Or walk Brown to set up the double play.

The Mariners win streak ends and McLaren starts his managerial career on a down note. However, they did get a good game out of Felix Hernandez, something they'll need down the stretch.

The St. Louis Cardinals singled the Diamondbacks to defeat tonight. La Russa's squad picked up thirteen hits on the night, twelve of which were for a single base. Add five walks to that, and the Cardinals were really playing station to station. The only extra base hit was a triple by Scott Rolen, his second of the season. The Cardinals took the game 11-3. Nine different players punched out a single tonight for St. Louis.

Craig Biggio knocked out two doubles this evening, raising his career total to 660. That's the same number of home runs Willie Mays hit. He needs six more to pass George Brett for fifth on the all time list. Of course, he may have a devil of a time getting there. :-)

The Astros lead the Phillies 7-3 in the top of the ninth.

Update: Dan Wheeler gives up a bases loaded double to Ruiz, but the Astros manage to hang on for a 7-5 win as Trever Miller comes on and gets the save. It seems Astros relievers like to keep fans on the edge of their seats in the ninth this year.

Fausto Carmona set a career high tonight, striking out eight in just six innings of work. He faced five batters in the seventh but didn't get an out, and left with a 3-2 lead. That shouldn't be a surprise. Teams are now batting .328 against Fausto from the seventh inning on. But the Indians offense pounded the back of the Devil Rays bullpen for seven runs in the eighth, putting the game out of reach and ensuring Carmona of his ninth victory.

Damien Miller is on a roll. He last played on 6/27 and hit a game-winning, three-run home run. Tonight he collected four hits, including two more home runs, one a grand slam. All-in-all he drove in seven of the Brewers ten runs as they easily defeated Pittsburgh by seven. Masumi Kuwata pitched well in relief up to this point, but allowed seven runs in 2/3 of an inning tonight, allowing the Brewers to break open a tie game. Milwaukee maintains their lead over Chicago, which defeated Washington 7-2 behind seven strong innings by Ted Lilly.

Roger Clemens wins the 350th game of his career, going eight innings and allowing just one run against the Minnesota Twins. It's the first time Roger completed eight innings since Aug. 23, 2005. Clemens used just 97 pitches tonight as he faced just 27 batters, allowing two hits and a walk.

Of more concern is that the Rocket just struck out four. That gives him four strikeouts in his last fourteen innings, and that's not Clemens. It may be just a bad streak, but if Clemens stops striking out batters, we'll know he's finally declining as a pitcher.

Clemens is now eleven wins behind Kid Nichols. With a great second half, Roger could catch him for seventh place on the all-time list.

Eric Hinske broke open a 4-3 game with a bases loaded triple. It's the 20th grand triple of the season, and the Red Sox lead 7-3.

The McLaren era is underway for the Seattle Mariners. It starts well with the Mariners scoring two off Gil Meche in the top of the first. A walk, a double and a two-RBI single by Guillen plated the runs. Guillen drove in both runs yesterday as well.

KC scores one in the bottom of the first, and they're still batting.

Jason Simontacchi last just three innings against the Cubs as he allows seven hits, one walk and five earned runs. The five runs in three innings raises his career ERA over five to 5.02. The Cubs lead 5-0 as Ted Lilly has not allowed a hit through three innings. He's struck out five while walking two.

The Cleveland Indians are solid offensively at every position but second base. Barfield sports a .281 OBA coming into the game. That's bad even for a middle infielder. Now, with the strength of the rest of the team, the Indians can afford to let the young Barfield develop. But if they want a little extra oomph, maybe they can make a deal for Ray Durham? He's not having a great year, so his cost shouldn't be high. And maybe the Indians can send the Giants something they need, a young position player. Plus, moving Durham makes room for Kevin Frandsen, and make the team younger.

It looks like Ian Kinsler is heading to the disabled list:

Kinsler went back to Dallas on Sunday to have an MRI exam performed on his strained left foot. The Rangers want to be sure he does not have a stress fracture.

The Rangers added infielder Desi Relaford to the roster Sunday because of the unavailability of Kinsler or Jerry Hairston Jr. Hairston suffered a flare-up of "jumpers knee" Saturday and required an anti-inflammatory injection. He could be back in the lineup today or Tuesday.

Kinsler posted a .393 OBA in 14 games before the foot sidelined him.

There was a complaint in the comments about this site being too cluttered. I'm open to suggestions on a redesign, and ideas are appreciated. What do you think of this for starters?

The Tampa Bay/Cleveland game matches up two interesting young pitchers. Andy Sonnanstine takes the hill for the Devil Rays. He's posted a pretty impressive strikeout to walk ratio so far. In 32 1/3 innings, Andy struck out 27 and walked just three. In general, I'd think someone with those numbers was having a pretty good year. But Sonnanstine allowed seven home runs, and he's getting pounded by left-handed batters. Carmona strikes out a batter only every other inning. He's given up seven of his ten home runs allowed with men on base.

The McLaren era starts in Seattle with the Mariners facing their old teammate Gil Meche in Kansas City. Gil made the All-Star team with his 3.28 ERA, due in part to his success against left-handers. Felix Hernandez is still working his way back to being a dominant starter. If McLaren can get him back on track it will have been worth the managerial move.

Lefties battle in Chicago as Erik Bedard faces Mark Buehrle in what may be his last start in a White Sox uniform. Bedard's improved his ERA for the fourth straight season and deserves better than his 6-4 record. Buehrle is coming off a June in which he posted a 2.75 ERA but only a 3-2 won-loss record. He walked just six in 36 June innings.

Finally, the Braves visit the Dodgers with John Smoltz facing Derek Lowe. The Braves are four games behind the Mets in the NL East but only three games behind the Dodgers for the Wild Card. Smoltz struck out 25 and walked just 2 in the month of June, although he never pitched past the sixth inning. Lowe is another starter tonight with a good ERA but a poor record. At home this season he sports a 2.34 ERA but just a 3-2 record in six starts. Maybe the Dodger should work the rotation so he pitches in LA a little more often.

Enjoy!

This is cool. But it would be better if they had a back page you could also print out with stats and a fun fact.

It seems the appropriate response would be to cover her up with a Jeter jersey. :-)

(Hat tip, Bleed Cubbie Blue)

Okay, I really don't understand this:

Buehrle was Boston-bound last weekend before the organization had a midweek change of heart and decided to work on a contract extension. A deal appeared just hours from being completed after assistant general manager Rick Hahn met with Buehrle's agent, Jeff Berry, on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The sides agreed on the years (four) and dollar amount ($56 million), even though it likely was less than what Buehrle could make on the free-agent market this offseason. But the Sun-Times learned late Friday that the deal was dead because the Sox would not give Buehrle a no-trade clause.

General manager Ken Williams reiterated that in a Daily Herald story Sunday, stating via e-mail: ''I cannot build a championship team if I do. The short-term and long-term ramifications are just too great.''

What? You can't build a championship team around a staff ace who is playing for at least $3 million a year below his market value? Consider that Buehrle has no injury history. His career winning percentage is close to .600. His ERA is under 4.00 despite playing in a launching pad of a ball park. He's a lefty!

What does Williams want? If Buehrle leaves in four years, Kenny gets draft compensation. It's not a perfect world. The White Sox are getting a bargain if they simply agree to give Buehrle the right to veto a trade. That seems to me like a good deal.

U.S.S Mariner looks at what it would take for Seattle to land Mark.

The main sticking point for most people is the contract. He's a free agent at years-end, and numerous reports have him stating a strong desire to pitch in St. Louis, where he grew up. Odds are pretty good that Mark Buehrle would simply be a three month rental, bolting for another team this winter. You know what? Not only am I okay with that, but I actually prefer that. As I showed a few weeks ago, the rate of return from players taken with compensatory draft picks is essentially equal to that of players traded in rent-a-player deals, while the rate of return of pitchers given long term contracts is disastrously horrible.

The Mariners wouldn't be trading a package of prospects for three months of Mark Buehrle. The Mariners would be trading a package of prospects for three months of Mark Buehrle and another package of prospects. Yes, you push the timetable for the return back a year or two, as no one the Mariners would draft next summer will be major league ready as quickly as a guy like Balentien or Feierabend. But you cannot ignore the significant value returned by the compensation picks. Deals like this are not mortgaging the future - it's more like a home equity line of credit. You're borrowing from the future, but you're paying the debt off very quickly.

Williams is making a mistake here.

Lookout Landing answers a question on my mind in light of the Hargrove resignation:

I remember back in 2005, after we DFA'd Bret Boone and subsequently dealt him to Minnesota, my brother asked me why people were getting so sentimental over losing a guy who wasn't helping the team win, and who many of us had wanted to see go away for a long time. From an outsider's perspective, he thought that people would be ecstatic, not sad and emotional.

I think some people are probably wondering the same thing right now. And while Hargrove has never meant as much to this franchise as Boone did during his peak, to me, the answer is the same. When you have a guy who's been around for so long, he becomes a part of the team, and even if you're not a big fan of his performance, you almost always become a fan of the person himself. We're all so devoted to the Mariners that the players and coaches practically feel like teammates or even decent friends, people you make fun of from time to time but who, when it comes down to it, you're always rooting for to come through in the end. We want every single Mariner to succeed, and that's why it's been a little depressing to see Boone and Hargrove leave on terms that you know weren't really their own. Boone didn't choose to get old overnight and Hargrove didn't choose to lose his passion, but once they happened there was nothing either man could do, forcing them out of the organization sooner than they ever wanted. Seeing the end is always an unfortunate realization, and the emotion is warranted.

Tearful, heartfelt goodbyes are never pleasant, but if it's any consolation to Grover, he's probably going out on the highest note of any manager in Mariner history. While there are a lot of things I won't miss about his time in Seattle, and while the team may be better off without him, he was still part of the family, and it's too bad he doesn't get to ride this out until whatever end awaits. I wish him the best of luck. Mike, you'll never be ripped on a blog again for the rest of your life. Rejoice. There are upsides to everything.

If Hargrove had been fired after the six game losing streak, my guess is that Mariners fans would have reacted positively to that news. My guess is the Mariners will be better off without Mike, and they'll be better off without Bavasi, but right now what the two were doing was working. It's sad that Hargrove couldn't see if it was going to work all year.

A. J. Burnett lands on the disabled list with an injured shoulder:

A.J. Burnett is on the disabled list again and while the Jays released little information, there is serious concern with this latest problem for their hard-throwing right-hander.

Burnett's shoulder, the one that forced him to miss a start in mid-June, is acting up again.

The Jays shipped him off to Birmingham, Ala., for a visit with specialist Dr. James Andrews and would only say the measure was precautionary.

"His shoulder is still bothering him, so we had to get it checked out," Jays manager John Gibbons said.

In two years with Toronto he's started 36 games, which means he's missed about 15 starts with various injuries. In a season in which home runs are down, Burnett allowed 15 compared to allowing 14 last year in 40 more innings.

Maury Brown sits down with Mark Shapiro, GM of the Cleveland Indians. I like his approach to free agents:

All that accentuates is that we need to try to stay out of the free agent market whenever possible ... and when we do enter into the free agent market, there is hopefully a realistic desire to supplement rather than build the core talent - because I just don't see us ever being able to compete in the free agent market for core talent ... it's just the very rare, exceptional occasion when that is going to happen.

That's what the Yankees did so well in the 1990s. They had a solid core of players they developed in their farm system, and supplemented them with players from other organizations via trade and free agency.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

I guess you can call July 1, 2007 Black Sunday. Hargrove resigns, and late last night Jerry Narron loses his job with the Reds. Not only do the Reds own the worst record in the Majors, but they are underperforming their Pythagorean projection by five games. Last year, Narron had the Reds in contention, but the team could not stay on top of the NL Central very long and faded at the end of the season as Houston surged.

Pete Mackanin will manage the Reds for the rest of the year.

Scott Baker just finished the third inning, retiring all nine batters he's faced. The Tigers are putting the ball in play early tonight, as Baker has just one strikeout and has thrown just 25 pitches. Six of those were against ninth slot hitter Brandon Inge. Baker fell behind Brandon 2-0, but came back to strike him out on a 3-2 count. At this rate, Baker might wind up with the lowest pitch count complete game of the season.

Update: Baker is through the seventh, still throwing a shutout, but he's up to 73 pitches. Bonderman is matching the shutout despite giving up six hits to Baker's two. The teams are going to the bottom of the eighth.

Update: Marcus Thames hits a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. It was just the third hit of the game for Detroit.

Update: Baker only threw six pitches in that inning.

Update: Todd Jones retires the side 1-2-3, despite Morneau hitting a hard line drive. It was right at Polanco, and Jones needed just seven pitches to retire the side. The Tigers keep pace with Cleveland and hold off the charge of the Twins. Bonderman goes to 9-1 and once again reaches .500 for his career.

Didn't Proctor start enough fires on the mound?

I'll be on Sox and Pinstripes Radio tonight at 9 PM EDT.

Ryan Theriot and Derrek Lee combined for six hits and five runs today as the Cubs defeat the Brewers 5-1. Chicago gains a game in the NL Central race by taking two out of three from the Brewers. Jason Marquis gave the bullpen a rest, going seven strong innings for the win. The Cubs are 8-2 in their last ten, but only gained one game on the 7-3 Brewers.

Three NL West teams found themselves without any runs at the end of the day. The Astros made up for yesterday's loss by returning the favor and shutting out Colorado 12-0. Hunter Pence collected four more hits and his twenty first double. He's now batting .340. He's about ten plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting title race.

Today's outing was probably what the Giants are expecting from Tim Lincecum. He last seven innings, striking out twelve and walking none as San Francisco stopped the Diamondbacks 13-0. Arizona only managed three hits off Tim and five for the game. Klesko had a big day at the plate with three hits, a home run and four RBI.

The Dodgers avoided a sweep and kept the West race tight with a 5-0 shutout of the Padres. Chad Billingsley came close to matching Lincecum with seven shutout innings and three hits. While he also walked none, he "only" struck out nine. Kemp and Furcal homered for the Dodgers. San Diego leads the Dodgers by one and Arizona by 1 1/2.

Correction: The Astros shut out Colorado, not themselves.

The Texas Rangers won a close, low-scoring game, 2-1 over the Red Sox. It was only the second time this season they won a game in which they scored two runs or less. Texas is now 11-5 in their last sixteen games. They've been strong up the middle in this stretch, as Lofton, Young and Kinsler are their leading hitters.

On the pitching side, today's combination of Loe and Gagne have been stellar. In the sixteen games, Loe is now 4-0 with a 1.95 ERA, while Gagne picked up his fourth save. And while they are still a long way out of contention, the Rangers are no longer the worst team in the American League.

Jose Guillen send Mike Hargrove away with an eight-game winning streak as he drives in the Mariners second run of the game with a single in the bottom of the ninth. Beltre singled to start the inning and comes around to score the winning run. A nice going away present for the skipper.

The All-Star teams were announced this afternoon, with the big story Barry Bonds collecting enough votes to be the third starting outfielder. I guess he's not as despised as some people want us to believe. Feel free to argue selections in the comments, but I don't have a real problem with any of the voting.

Jeff Weaver and Shawn Marcum matched shutouts through six innings, but Frank Thomas ended that in the seventh with his fourteenth homer of the season leading off the inning. In Mike Hargrove's swan song, the Blue Jays lead 1-0.

Update: The homer is followed by a single and double. Note to John McLaren: If Jeff Weaver pitches six good innings, make sure you have someone ready for the seventh.

Update: Guillen homers leading off the bottom of the 8th, and the Mariners have the bases loaded with one out. They're tied at one with the Blue Jays.

Update: Bloomquist strikes out and Ichiro flies out end the inning, leaving the bases loaded.

Homer Bailey tied the all-time record for most home runs allowed by a pitcher named Homer. He joins Homer Blankenship with two allowed. (Homer Hillebrand gave up 1, and Homer Spragins never allowed any.) Bailey may not get the chance to move past Blankenship, however, as his ERA now stands at 8.10 after giving up seven runs in 3 2/3 innings today. The Cardinals won the game 11-7 as there were a total of six long balls hit between the two teams.

One of those was by Ken Griffey, who connected for this 585th dinger. He only hit one in April, but put together consecutive months of ten, and he's off to a good start in July. He needs one more to tie Frank Robinson. Griffey's averages for the year pretty closely match his career numbers; he's .291/.374/.557 for his career, .292/.387/.577 this season.

The Philadelphia Phillies salvaged the last game of their series with the Mets. Shane Victorino provided the game winning RBI with a two-out home run in the bottom of the seventh. Utley followed with a triple and scored on a Rowand single for a bit of insurance. That made the final score 5-3. Five of Victorino's nine home runs came from the seventh inning on, in which time he's hitting .313.

Atlanta scores two in the top of the ninth to take a 5-4 lead on Florida, but the Marlins score once in the bottom of the inning to send the game into extra innings. Miguel Olivo's seventh home run of the year means the All-Star selection show is going to need to wait a while longer.

Good starts by Cliff Lee have been few and far between this season, but he pitched a good game against the Devil Rays today to help Cleveland knock another game off their magic number. Lee allowed just four hits over eight innings, striking out nine and walking two. The only run off Cliff came on a Carlos Pena home run, Pena's 18th of the season. Lee's best start of the season was his complete game in his second outing, but this one was very close. It pulls his ERA under 5.00 to 4.90.

Because the Braves game was delayed, the All-Star Selection show on TBS won't start until Florida and Atlanta are finished.

Who schedules that show for 4 PM anyway? Who's going to watch the All-Star selection show instead of the end of an early game, or the start of a late game? Seven PM makes much more sense.

This is my thirty-ninth season watching baseball, and this is the strangest managerial change I've seen. Teams have fired managers who took teams to the playoffs. Managers have stepped down due to life threatening illnesses. But I've never seen one burn out during a successful season. I wish Hargrove well, it was obviously a tough decision for him, but most likely the right one. Maybe there's something going on with his family, and if so I hope that works out. And congratulations and good luck to John McLaren. He's certainly taking over at a good time for this team.

Hargrove is facing the press right now. He says there are "no dark, sinister reasons" for his decision.

Update: Hargrove praises the organization. He says that every day he asks for 100% from his players and gets it. But lately he's found he has a difficult time giving 100% himself. So he's stepping down.

Update: He brought this up two weeks ago, and Bavasi asked him to give it some time. He did, and his feelings haven't changed.

Update: He says he's very unlikely to manage again. He really sounds burned out.

Twice now he's talked about his wife, making me think there's something going on there. For example he said he talked to his wife more in the last ten days than he has in the last ten years. He said that was neat. Maybe he discovered he just missed his family.

Update: Bavasi is saying that he and the front office are not happy he's leaving. They tried to talk him out of leaving, but Hargrove made up his mind. Bill says he's happy that Hargrove is doing what he wants, but he's upset for the team.

Update: Hargrove is off to manage the game, McLaren is on to take a few questions.

Update: McLaren says he picked up ten days ago that something wasn't right with Hargrove, but Mike didn't let on. McLaren's right arm is in a sling. He underwent surgery recently. McLaren was told yesterday by Hargrove, and John tried to talk him out of it.

Update: John is doing a good job keeping it together. He's very emotional, and it looks like he might break down.

Update: McLaren says he has a lot of Lou Piniella in him.

According to Geoff Baker's blog at the Seattle Times, Hargrove is resigning. That's hard to believe. It makes me think their is some serious illness involved here. The team is doing great right now; you don't step down unless you or someone you love is dying or you're going to jail.

Update: Baker credits Larry Stone with the scoop.

Update: Looks like MLB TV is covering the press conference. You should be able to find the link here. Click on the picture of Jeff Weaver in the main news box in the upper left corner, then on the Mariner's press conference link.

Update: Here's the story at MLB.com.

In a prepared statement released by the organization, Hargrove said he was stepping aside because his "passion has begun to fade" and it would not be "fair to myself or the team" to continue.

That's the worst reason I've ever heard. John McLaren takes over for the rest of the season.

Update: Here's the official press relase. The full quote from Hargrove:

"Over the past several weeks, I have come to the realization that to be fair to myself and the team, I can not continue to do this job if my passion has begun to fade. I want to stress how much I respect, and love, the players in the clubhouse, and the coaches and staff that we have in place here, and I can not stress enough what a tremendous place this is to work because of the people who work above me. I am very proud of the work we've done to turn this club around in three years, and I have high expectations for the team this season."

Update: This is an old story, but people are speculating that Hargrove leaving opens up the chance to sign Ichiro to an extension:

Hargrove and Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi deny a rift exists between the manager and the right fielder, but Ichiro's complaints to Japanese media about the atmosphere around the team reflect his frustration with Hargrove's leadership.

Several people with knowledge of the situation say there are philosophical differences between Ichiro and Hargrove and that Ichiro perceives Hargrove to be too laid-back, which creates an undisciplined environment. Those people say the relationship, from Ichiro's perspective, is "untenable" and "potentially irreconcilable."

Update: By the way, Hargrove will manage today.

Jack Cust picks up his second hit of the game in the second inning, a three-run homer to put the Athletics up 6-0. That brough out the boos from the Yankees fans. Chavez follows with a double that hits the top of the wall, just missing a homer. Then Johnson drops one into the right field seats down the line. Lefties are five for seven off Pettite today with three extra base hits. The A's lead 8-0.

The Mariners will hold a news conference at 11:30 PDT. No word yet on why.

Thanks to Maury Brown for the info.

The Yankees were one-hit by the Athletics second best starter yesterday, and today they face the A's best. Dan Haren brings his 1.91 ERA to the Bronx as he takes on Andy Pettitte. Haren is just the kind of pitcher who should be successful against the Yankees; a righty who mows down lefties. The A's should probably put all their lefties in against Pettitte as they are hitting .302 off Pettitte this year.

Down the road in Baltimore, there's another great pitching matchup as John Lackey faces Jeremy Guthrie. Lackey ranks fifth in the AL in ERA. Despite calling a pitcher's park home, Lackey's record is better on the road this season where he has a 2.41 ERA. In a pretty impressive month for ERAs, Guthrie ranked fourth in the majors with a 1.69 mark in June.

The Mariners are depending on Jeff Weaver to keep their winning streak alive. Despite his high ERA, Weaver's pitched well since coming off the DL, going 2-0 with a 1.82 ERA in four starts. Shaun Marcum tries to end the streak. He gives up more hits on the road, but only half the home runs.

Enjoy!

Kevin Hench examines David Ortiz's power failure:

The lousy selection of pitches to choose from has been compounded by the lousy hitting weather that has bedeviled Papi right out of the gate.

On April 6, in normally hitter-friendly Texas, Ortiz went 0-for-4 as Robinson Tejeda two-hit the Red Sox over seven innings with a gale-force wind blowing into the batters' faces. The teams combined for seven total bases. It was physically impossible to hit the ball out that day.

It was an omen.

The wind has blown in three directions at Fenway this season. In from left. In from center. And in from right. Longtime Red Sox analyst Jerry Remy who grew up in Fall River, Mass., and played for the Sox from 1978 to 1984 has remarked frequently this season that he's never seen the wind quite like this.

In a word, it blows.

Fenway is already murder on left-handed power hitters with right field darting out abruptly to 380 feet, but it's been playing to a par-7 this year for lefties. At least eight times Big Papi has hit a ball on the screws only to see it die on the warning track and disappear into an outfielder's glove

.

Ortiz only hit three home runs at Fenway this season vs. ten on the road. Note that Ortiz was a better road home run hitter in 2006, hitting 32 of his 54 away from Fenway. He's way off both those paces this season. And although the explanation of Ramirez having a bad season make a bit of sense, I think pitchers just decided that Ortiz is too dangerous. At this point, no one wants to challenge Big Papi. He's going to need to adjust to the new way pitchers treat him. He still has his plate discipline, and he's still hitting the ball hard as you can see in his doubles total. Eventually, he'll start hitting the mistakes out of the park.

Miguel Batista out-pitched his old teammate Roy Halladay last night as the Mariners won their seventh game in a row, 8-3 over the Blue Jays. Neither pitched all that well, Halladay allowing ten hits and Batista giving up five walks. But Miguel left with a 3-1 lead, and the Toronto bullpen blew up for five runs.

Seattle has outscored their opponents 44-21 during the seven game stretch. The starting pitching has done a good job, despite few strikeouts and plenty of hits allowed. The bullpen, however, performed very well, allowing just a .178 BA with a .303 OBA and a .233 slugging pecentage. On top of that, the staff as a whole kept opponents to a .185 batting average with runners in scoring position.

On the offensive side, Richie Sexson doesn't have the highest OBA or Slugging Percentage in the streak, but he's been responsible for the most runs in the streak. Richie's had a bad year; if the Mariners have come this far without him, having him back to bopping is a very good sign for the team.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

With the Padres up 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Jake Peavy faced Nomar Garciaparra. Nomar has one home run to his credit this season; Peavy's only allowed one all year. So you would think the odds of a long ball in that plate appearance would be pretty low. But Nomar hit a pitch out of the ballpark in centerfield, tying the game at one.

C.C. Sabathia won his twelfth game of the season tonight, taking the major league lead in wins as Beckett loses to the Rangers 5-4. Sabathia pitched well and the Cleveland's offense gave him plenty of support as he left with an 8-3 lead after seven innings. His control was great tonight as he struck out eight without walking a batter. The Indians bullpen was shaky, but the Tribe took the game 8-6.

The win gives Cleveland a 1 1/2 game lead in the AL Central as Detroit lost to the Twins 8-5.

The Colorado Rockies ended their losing streak tonight with a 5-0 win over the Astros. Jeff Francis issued four walks in his seven innings of work, but the Astros only managed three hits in support of those base runners. And the Rockies pen didn't blow a lead!

The 1-2-3 hitters for Colorado provided the offense, combining to go seven for fifteen with two doubles.

The Pirates got off to a 6-1 lead over the Nationals after two innings, and that might have kept fans in the park:

The Nationals' offense was about as effective against Gorzelanny (8-4) as was the planned fan protest by Pirates rooters unhappy with the club's refusal to spend money to upgrade a team stuck in a 15th consecutive losing season. Only a few thousand fans, if that, vacated their seats after the third inning and it appeared most returned quickly.

Given that the attendance was 27,000, a few thousand leaving would be a pretty big chunk. Still, it's much better to not buy tickets than to buy and walk out. Buying and walking out is a bit like divesting stocks from countries you don't like. If you sell the stock, someone else buys it, so you haven't changed anything. Boycotting products is what has a real economic effect.

Freddy Sanchez stayed hot, picking up two more hits and raising his average to .305 as the Pirates went on to a 7-2 victory. Sanchez hit .343 for the month of June.

The Red Sox decided to solve their centerfield problem by calling up Jacoby Ellsbury. The twenty-three year old has a history of high OBAs low slugging percentages. In 67 combined games in AA and AAA this season, he posted a .396 OBA. For his career through 2006, that number was .391. As the Red Sox showed with Pedroia this year, they're willing to wait for a good youngster to adjust to the majors. If he lives up to expectations, the Red Sox regular lineup will have eight players with OBA's over the league average, with five of those far superior to that. He also frees the Red Sox to use either Crisp or Pena in a trade.

Update: Ellsbury is one for two so far tonight with an infield hit. So his OBA is off to a good start!

Carlos Beltran hit two home runs for the second game in a row. It's not like CBP has been a great home run park for him. Before the second game of yesterday's double header, Carlos hit only two home runs in 26 games there. His power at that ballpark was for doubles, as he hit 14 of those. The two long balls give Carlos fourteen for the season, still way off his pace of last year when he hit 41.

Jorge Sosa tried to sacrifice in the top of the sixth, and it ended up a double loss for the Mets. The lead runner was thrown out, and Sosa limped off the field with what appeared to be a hamstring pull. Sosa had allowed three runs in five innings, including a monster home run by Ryan Howard.

The Minnesota Twins are racking up the extra base hits today. In the top of the sixth, they lead Detroit 8-2, and six of their eight hits have gone for extra bases. Cuddyer hit both a triple and a homer and drove in three runs. Ford is a base short of that with a double and homer for his three RBI. The Twins chased Miller after five inning, but Grilli comes in and allows a single and the two-run homer by Ford.

For the second day in a row, the Brewers pound the Cubs in the first inning. Nine men bat and collect four hits as Milwaukee scores four runs in the first. They scored five yesterday, but that was all they did as Chicago came back to win that game 6-5. However, the Cubs bullpen might be a bit spent today.

Update: Marshall lasts just two innings, giving up seven runs. The Brewers keep pouring it on, and it's 9-2 Milwaukee in the top of the fourth.

J.A. Happ gets off to a very poor start to his major league career as he gives up two home runs to the first four batters to put the Mets up 3-0 over the Phillies. He's now given up four hits to the first five batters. The Phillies are working with a make-shift rotation this weekend, which makes Hamels loss last night all the more frustrating. That's the game they needed to win.

Chad Gaudin pitches a very strong game against the Yankees, allowing just one hit in his seven innings of work. He walked three, but the Yankees could not turn any of those free passes into runs as the Athletics lead New York 7-0 in the bottom of the eighth. Gaudin brings his ERA below 3.00 to 2.92. Harden is one for his third relief appearance. He did not allow a hit or a walk in his first two appearance, but he's walked two so far this inning.

Joe Christensen shares his answers to Tracy Ringolsby's questionnaire. Joe's answer are aimed at the Twins.

Update: Sorry, forgot the link.

Kei Igawa home run troubles continue. Jason Kendall and Shannon Stewart go back to back in the third inning to give the Athletics a 2-0 lead. Igawa has now allowed ten home runs in 38 1/3 innings through the third today. That pace woud mean he would allow 52 homers in 200 innings.

The Twins continue to try to gain on the wild card leading Tigers as they send Kevin Slowey against Andrew Miller. Both are rookies, but so far Andrew is having the better year. In four starts he's posted a 2.70 ERA, although his K/BB/HR look worse than that. Andrew's been a killer with runners in scoring position so far, with opposing batters collecting just three hits in twenty four at bats. Slowey is a right-hander who is getting pounded by right-handed batters. Even though he's seen more lefties at the plate, seven of the nine home runs he's allowed have come off right-handed bats.

The Cubs try to make it two in a row against the Brewers as Chicago tries to fight back into contention in the NL Central. Sean Marshall hosts Ben Sheets. Marshall keeps free passes to a minimum, and he's a lefty that handles righties very well. Sheets returned to his role as ace of the staff. Like Marshall, his strengths are keeping his walks very low and handling batters with the platoon advantage very well. Righties are hitting .283 against Sheets, lefties .204.

Although they're not facing each other, Sabathia and Beckett each go for their twelfth win tonight. Given that they're facing last place teams (Tampa Bay and Texas), they should have a good shot at the W.

Finally, stay up late to watch two of the top three leaders in ERA battle in Los Angeles. Brad Penny leads the NL with a 2.04 ERA. Jake Peavy trails his teammate Chris Young 2.1414 to 2.1429, good for third in the NL ERA race. Penny and Peavy each garnered eleven decisions, Brad picking up ten wins to Peavy's nine. The differ by 2/3 on an inning pitched. Peavy in general looks like a slightly better pitcher. He strikes out more batters. He's walked two more batters than Penny, but has given up just one home run to Penny's two. It should be a tremendous battle, especially with the Dodgers trailing San Diego by one game.

Enjoy!

Aubrey Huff hit for the cycle last night, and the two of the hits held extra special meaning:

"Obviously for me, that's probably one of the most special days of my baseball career," Huff said. "The triple was my 1,000th hit, the double was my 200th double. The homer, we were lucky enough to get that back from a fan. And the single, I got it back. So I got all four balls. That's going to be a pretty good memento."

The last Oriole to accomplish the feat was Cal Ripken in 1984. The only other Oriole to do it was Brooks Robinson in 1960; Huff is the first Baltimore player to hit for the cycle at home.

Mike Hargrove continues to go to J.J. Putz early, and the Mariners are now ten games over .500. Last night he came into the game with the bases loaded, one out, and the score 5-2 in the top of the eighth. He did allow an infield single for a run, but he got Alex Rios to end the inning.

Putz's battle with Alex Rios to end the eighth was something to behold. Putz attacked with high heat, Rios swung, and Rios missed. After that, Rios took his bat and snapped it over his leg in frustration.

"I didn't see that," Putz said.

Most of the rest of the 41,862 on hand did, however. And more than a few will see replays. Putz can frustrate hitters, yes he can.

Putz is getting a lot of work for a closer. He ranks ninth in the AL in relief innings, the highest among regular closers. The only other closer in the top 20 is Chris Ray. I don't know if he's being over used at this point; he's on paced for about 81 innings. That's more than a lot of closers throw these days, but nothing drastic. I like this strategy of using the best pitcher in a real save situation, and I hope Hargrove keeps going to Putz in the eighth when the situation calls for the closer.

Royals Authority wonders if the Royals winning record in June (15-11 so far) is a fluke or a trend. The offense score a lot of runs despite not hitting all that well. Not surprisingly, they put up very good situational numbers, hitting .305 with runners in scoring position for the month and going 9 for 16 with the bases loaded. The batting stats say fluke, but RA points out that the good hitters in the month for the team are the youngsters. That is indeed a positive.

It's Bob Walk bobblehead night in Pittsburgh (worst name ever for a pitcher), and fans are planning to walk out of the game after the third inning. Pat Lackey is concerned that the club is trying to keep the protest from being televised:

The Pirates are actively attempting to crush dissent. The thing is, because the walkout is scheduled to be between innings, Fox Sports Pittsburgh and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (the Nats' channel) cameras will be off, meaning that the Pirates plan might actually work. Local network KDKA does have a camera situated outside the park that can capture most of the images and pass them along to ESPN and other national outlets, but it's not particularly close to the park and won't be able to provide very high quality pictures. I suppose all Pirate fans can hope is that this plan somehow backfires on the Pirate owners and word gets out to bigger outlets that not only are fans protesting, but the Pirates are doing everything possible to make sure no one finds out about it.

Well, it would be fairly easy to walk out after the station comes back from commercial, which would make a lot more sense. And if ESPN really wanted to cover this, it's easy enough for them to send a camera man and producer to the game to film the walkout and interview protesters. Of course, given that the Pirates have the second lowest home attendance in the NL, most of the Pirates fans are protesting already by staying away.

Barry Bonds led off the eighth inning last night with the Giants trailing 3-2. Hernandez pitched him well, but Bonds worked the count to 3-2. Pitch four had nice movement over inside corner; Barry swung and pulled it foul. Pitch five just missed the low outside corner. It was close enough that a player without Barry's reputation for selectivity might have been called out. But after five good pitches, number six was a curve ball that hung in the strike zone. Bonds' eyes lit up. His swing was so perfect you knew it was gone as soon as the ball left the bat. The ball landed back in the right-center seats, and the crowd went wild. No matter how fans feel in other parts of the country, it sure looked like unanimous support at AT & T park. Six more to pass Aaron.

Livan through three strikes in that at bat. The two tough ones Bonds fouled off. The phat one Bonds crushed. It was an impressive piece of hitting, and a great example of why Barry is the greatest hitter of his generation; he swings at strikes and takes the balls better than anyone.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Vin Scully made a good point tonight. With Chris Young on the mound, the Dodgers are running wild. They've stolen four bases tonight, and on the season base stealers are 24 for 24 with Young on the mound. But has it made a difference? Yes, the Dodgers scored two runs, both after steals. But Young has only allowed three hits, and the steals did not produce big innings. But a Kouzmanoff three-run homer has the Padres up 5-2.

Young is doing nothing to shut down the running game, but his ERA after three innings today is 2.21. The opposition is hitting just .193 against him. There's no real reason for Young to care about the running game. If the people behind the base stealers don't get hits, there's little chance of the them scoring. It's interesting that runners are doing so well against Young, but it's more interesting that it doesn't seem to matter.

The Rockies lost their 8th in a row tonight. With two out in the bottom of the ninth, Lee walked and Lorreta homered to left field, allowing Houston to walk off with a 9-8 victory. The Rockies, looking like contenders after sweeping the Yankees, haven't won a game since. They've scored 45 runs in the eight games, so runs aren't the problem. The staff that held New York to five runs in three games appears to have disappeared.

The Yankees must be asking, "Why us?"

If the Phillies are the team to beat in the NL East, the Mets showed the league how it's done today. They waited on Cole Hamels, forcing him to throw 110 pitches in five innings, drawing five walks. Carlos Beltran hit two home runs off him (both solos) and the Mets scored three runs. They added two more off the bullpen on an Easley long ball.

In the meantime, Maine pitched eight efficient innings, allowing just one run while throwing 101 pitches. He didn't issue a walk while striking out six, picking up the win as the Mets took the game 5-2. On the day, the Mets hit five home runs, and the starting pitching allowed just three runs in fourteen innings. The Phillies fall to five games behind the Mets, and also lose 1 1/2 games to the Braves who defeated the Marlins 12-3.

With the score tied at two in the bottom of the ninth, Ronny Paulino leads off the Pittsburgh half with a single against the Nationals. He reaches third on a sacrifice and a wild pitch, at which point Castillo comes in to pinch run and McLouth steps up, having pinch hit for the pitcher earlier in the game. Now McLouth strikes out in about one quarter of his plate at bats and has a .294 career OBA. The Nationals decide to walk him to set up the double play. In his career with a man on third and less than two out, he's 3 for 15 with two sac flies and nine strikeouts. Why not take a chance striking him out? It seems the odds are a lot higher than his driving in the run.

But he walks, Doumit walks on a full count, then Bautista hits a sacrifice fly to win the game anyway. So the IBB led to a better player getting a chance to hit and drive in the winning run. I can't call the IBB wrong; it just seems that McLouth is a bad enough hitter that it's worth the risk to pitch to him in that situation.

The Athletics-Yankees game ended in a 2-1 New York victory. It's one of three tonight in the American League. The Indians took down the Devil Rays 2-1, and the Red Sox just finished off the Rangers 2-1. Edwin Jackson pitched his second fine game in a row for Tampa Bay, going six innings, allowing one run. Jake Westbrook also allowed just one run, but managed to pitch seven frames. It all came down to Ben Francisco leading off the ninth. Playing in his fifth game, he gets his first extra-base hit, a walk off home run to put the Indians back into first place. (The Tigers lost 11-1 to the Twins.)

Tim Wakefield didn't pitch all that well tonight, giving up seven hits and four walks in 6 2/3 innings, including three doubles. His defense helped him out with two double plays, but Tim was lucky to have the Rangers go 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Papelbon got into a little trouble with two out in the 9th as Lofton beat out an infield hit that looked like a tie as Jon covered first (he almost was thrown out arguing the play). After hitting a batter, Papelbon struck out Michael Young looking at a pretty knee high pitch. The Red Sox will at least maintain their lead in the AL East tonight.

After Mussina pitched seven very strong innings, allowing one run, Farnsworth gets two outs in the eighth but allows two hits. So with Jack Cust due up, Torre goes to Rivera for a four out save. Rivera struck out Cust and two others, and only allows a hit batter to reach. The Yankees win the game 2-1.

I remember at the start of the season hearing that Rivera wasn't going to be used before the ninth this year. That's obviously gone out the window. Since May 23rd, he's pitched like the Mariano Yankees fans know and love. He's picked up seven saves, four of them going four outs or more. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Correction: Farnsworth allowed two hits, not one.

The Washington-Pittsburgh game is 1-0 in the top of the seventh, and looking at the two lineups, I'm surprised even one run is scored. The only person on either team having a great year is Dmitri Young. The first three hitters in the Washington lineup have 2007 OBAs of .292, .330 and .293. The highest OBA in the Pittsburgh lineup is .353. Too pitiful clubs.

The Nationals lead 1-0 on a home run by Ryan Langerhans.

Joe Mauer comes to the plate in the top of the fifth with the bases loaded and hits a grand slam to put the Twins up 6-0. Verlander is wild tonight. All three of the base runners walked, and Justin allowed five in total but only three hits. Through four innings of work, Santana struck out three and walked none.

Verlander just gave up his fourth hit of the game, and it looks like he's not long for this game.

With the score 5-3 and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Soriano and Fontenot single to put runners on first and third for Derrek Lee.

Update: Lee hits a sacrifice fly to make it a one-run game, the kind the Cubs have been losing all year. It's up to Ramirez.

Update: Aramis Ramirez hits the first pitch from Cordero into the left-center bleachers for a 6-5 Cubs win. Chicago climbs to .500 and 6 1/2 games behind the Brewers.

Update: The Cubs bullpen did an outstanding job today. Hill was lifted for a pinch-hitter after three innings, so the relievers threw six shutout innings against the Brewers. They allowed three hits and two walks while striking out seven. Of course, it will help if Marshall can go deep in the game tomorrow.

Yovani Gallardo last six inning in his third major league start and once again pitches well. He walked two and struck out seven, allowing just two runs and leaving with a 5-2 lead. Gallardo's ERA now sits at a low 2.79. He's turning out to be a very nice mid-year addition to the rotation. He now has 19 strikeouts and 7 walks in 19 1/3 innings.

The Phillies score in the sixth, seventh and eighth to make it a one-run ballgame as they trail the Mets 6-5. Coste and Helms homered to help the comeback.

Update: Billy Wagner strikes out all three Phillies he faces. The 6-5 win means the Mets will come out of the weekend ahead of Philadelphia.

Correction: The above update was originally in the wrong post.

Carlos Delgado just picked up his third hit of the afternoon, a single to go along with a homer and a double. He hasn't hit a triple all year, so a cycle doesn't look like a good bet at this point.

Jose Reyes' home run this afternoon was his seventh at Citizen's Bank Park, tying Mike Lowell and Adam Dunn for most by a visitor at that yard. Jose has over twice as many at bats there as Dunn, however, and quite a bit more than Lowell.

The Brewers pick up just three hits in the first inning, but use a walk, hit batter and a three run homer to put five runs on the board. Hill threw 45 pitches in the first inning. Meanwhile, Gallardo retires the side in order.

The Cubs could really use a sweep this weekend to make the NL Central close again. They're off to a bad start.

Hot Dogs and Beer is keeping a watch on the Phillies as they approach 10,000 franchise losses.

The Mets are up 3-1 in the top of the third as balls are flying out of CBP again today. Delgado and Reyes homered for the Mets, with Carlos driving in two of the three runs. Rowand hit his eleventh for the Phillies, one short of his total from last year.

Charlie Manuel tries to upset El Duque by having the umpires examine Hernandez's hat for a foreign substance. There's a spot of rosin on the hat, and the umps give it back. We'll see if the mind game works.

J.D. Durbin gets off to a good start in this game, striking out the first three batters on fourteen pitches. That brings his ERA down to 37.80.

The Mets and Phillies open a four game series with a double header this afternoon and this evening. It's not every day a pitcher with a 94.50 ERA gets included in Games of the Day, but J.D. Durbin gets the start for the Phillies vs. Orlando Hernandez this afternoon. Durbin allowed seven runs in 2/3 of an inning in his only appearance this season. Durbin's had a long minor career, not bad but not great. But in his very short time in the majors he's simply been wild and hit hard, never a good combination.

The night cap might be the best matchup of the day as John Maine takes on Cole Hamels. Maine faced the Phillies twice this season, both times in New York, and came away with a 3.09 ERA. He did not get a decision in either outing as the Mets spilt the games with the Phillies. Hamels is tied for most HR in the NL with Woody Williams, and he's pretty evenly split the long balls home and road. With his low OBA allowed, however, most of those home runs have been solo shots.

The other candidate for best pitching matchup of the day goes to Minnesota at Detroit where Johan Santana faces Justin Verlander. I suspect there will be a few strikeouts in this game. The Twins are six games behind the first place Tigers, so this is a chance to gain some ground before the second half of the season starts. Johan walks fewer and strikeouts more per nine innings, but Verlander gives up fewer long balls, and hence the better ERA. Johan is 10-3 in his career against the Tigers, although for most of that career the Tigers weren't very good. He's 3-2 since the start of 2006.

And a big series starts on the west coast as the Padres visit the Dodgers. The team are separate by just .001 in the standings, with the Padres in first place. Tonight's matchup appears to favor San Diego as Chris Young visits Hong-Chih Kuo. Kuo's 6.33 ERA appears high for his stats. That's because opponents are hitting .400 against him with runners in scoring position. Young is tough to hit in any situation. Since joining the Padres at the start of the 2006 season, Chris has allowed a .201 batting average overall, and .180 with runners in scoring position.

Enjoy!

There's a great round up on the Biggio milestone at the Houston Chronicle. They provide plenty of links to stats and photos as well.

Chris Carpenter threw without pain the other day.

Now Milton Bradley is headed to San Diego. I guess the oblique healed. I suppose it's possible that by the end of the year Milton will have played for all five California teams. After all, how can he not get along with Mike Scioscia and Barry Bonds?

MLB Fanhouse is already handicapping the action in the Padres clubhouse:

It's the second great trade in the last couple of weeks for the Padres, as they acquired Michael Barrett earlier in the week to also help an anemic lineup. Now the challenge for the Padres is keeping these two men who have, shall we say, "tempers", in opposite ends of the locker room so they don't rip each other's hearts out. After all, Michael Barrett has had heavyweight bouts with A.J. Pierzynski and Carlos Zambrano, while Bradley has had verbal spats with Eric Wedge and Jeff Kent. So are these two in the same clubhouse a recipe for disaster?

Given the recent poor reporting on trades, I'll believe this one when it's announced.

Rays Index notes how the Devil Rays are a frustrating team to watch:

But as good as the Rays have looked this season, would you be surprised that after 76 games the Rays have the exact same record in 2007 that they had last year? They do.

We can see the greatness coming. But it is not here yet. And that folks is frustrating as hell.

They're good players are very good, but their bad players are very bad. The Rays need to get their bad players to mediocre so they have a chance of not undermining the strengths of the team.

Dejan Kovacevic wonders what's going on with Zach Duke. The Pirates lefty was lit up yesterday, and now holds a 5.79 ERA.

The Marlins lead Major League Baseball in strikeouts and, as they showed in losing the first two games of this series, see precious few pitches they do not like. Duke got ahead of five of those first seven batters and had a two-strike count to four of them. Of the latter, Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera and Brett Carroll got hits.

"I didn't give them a chance to chase anything," Duke said. "Especially when you're facing a young team and they swing like they do, I didn't expand the zone at all."

But even that, somehow, seems insufficient in explaining not only this outing but all 17 that have contributed to Duke's 3-7 record, 5.79 ERA, his 141 hits that are the most in Major League Baseball and that outrageous .364 opponents' batting average.

Duke is right about not expanding the strike zone. He's picked up just 33 strikeouts in 93 1/3 innings this season, 3.2 per 9 innings. No wonder his opponent's batting average is so high. Given Oliver Perez's similar success and decline with Pittsburgh (and his revival with the Mets), I have to wonder what the problem is with the Pirates coaching staff? Is it just a bad pitching coach? Who is calling the pitches for Duke? I'm interested in hearing Pirates fans take on this.

The Indians offense is doing a much better job this season of turning defeats into victories.

A huge difference between the Indians this year and last year is the ability to rally. Thursday marked their 23rd comeback victory in 78 games (46-32); they managed just 27 comebacks en route to a 78-84 finish in 2006.

The Tribe has a .369 OBA and a .497 slugging percentage when trailing in a game this season. Those are pretty good numbers for an every day player, let alone a team. In 2006 those numbers were .336 and .447.

It looks like the Yankees are not going to trade the future for a win this year:

The Yankees went 1-7 on the trip, and their record remains three games under .500, at 36-39. They have slipped so suddenly, and lost so soundly, they have begun to question the wisdom of seeking major help through a trade.

More and more, to Torre and the front office, there is a sense that the season cannot be saved unless the existing players produce as expected. They are not seeking to make any significant trades, even one for first baseman Mark Teixeira of the Texas Rangers.

The Yankees are no longer interested in trading for Teixeira, who is on the disabled list and will command a better offer than they will be willing to make.

The Yankees are leery of dipping into the depth they have built in their farm system to make a trade for short-term help. That explains their reluctance to jump at Los Angeles Angels first baseman Shea Hillenbrand, who was told he would be designated for assignment on Friday.

Well, that and Hillenbrand isn't a very good ballplayer. But this is the right move for the organization. Sometimes a team needs to take a step back in order to insure long term success. So they keep the prospects today for success tomorrow. And if the current team can come out of their offensive funk, they can still figure in the wild card race.

Yesterday, my good friend Jim Storer and I were discussing what the Yankees needed to do to make the playoffs. We figure at a minimum they need to reach 92 wins, a 56-29 record the rest of the way. That's a .644 winning percentage. I checked the last 50 season using the Day by Day Database, and from July 1 to the end of the season, there are 46 teams that played .644 or better. (That's 3.7% of the team seasons in that time.) Two of those were the 2002 and 2005 Yankees. The 2005 team is the best comparison, since they were just one game over .500 at the end of June (39-38) whereas the 2002 team played great all year.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

With the Rockies leading 5-4 in the bottom of the eleventh, Hunter Pence legs out the strangest double I've ever seen. With Biggio on first after his fifth hit of the game (3002 for this career), Pence hits a medium roller up the middle. Fuentes, the pitcher, reaches down to grab it, but it rolls under this glove. The second baseman and shortstop are confused by this, and each think the other one is going for the ball as it rolls by both into the outfield. Meanwhile, Pence is running hard all the way and reaches second for a double.

After a hit batter, Carlos Lee hits a high pop up that lands over the leftfield wall for a walk off grand slam. All this with two outs. An amazing finish and a nice end to Biggio's milestone game.

The Yankees-Orioles game was suspended with the Yankees batting in the top of the eighth with an 8-6 lead. No word yet on when it will be resumed.

Aaron Cook ends June on an up note, holding the Houston Astros to one run over seven innings. Roy Oswalt matched that, but the Houston bullpen came in and allowed three runs in the 8th. Cook came into the game with a 6.93 ERA in June, and allowed at least five runs in three of his four starts. He went a fine 4-1 in May, hasn't won in June. It's now up to the bullpen to get him the W.

Update: Hawkins gives up three runs on two homers, so Cook won't get the win. The game is tied at four in the top of the ninth.

Jimmy Rollins tied the game with a triple earlier, then in the tenth singles in the winning run to give the Phillies an 8-7 victory over the Reds. Philadelphia moves into sole possesion of second place in the NL East, three games behind the postponed Mets. The two NL East leaders meet tomorrow.

Craig Biggio picks up his third hit of the night to reach 3000 for his career. Two big milestones on the same day, much like August 4, 1985, when Tom Seaver reached 300 wins and Rod Carew reached 3000 hits. Congratulations to Craig on the milestone and an outstanding Hall of Fame career!

Now however, it's time to hang up the spikes. He's a shell of the hitter he used to be, with an OBA under .300. He's not helping the club, and it's time to go out on a high note and take a coaching or front office job.

The Reds and Phillies are going to the tenth tied at six, and the rain is really coming down in Philadelphia. Down I-95 in Baltimore, it's raining even harder, and the Yankees just took an 8-6 lead as Jeter drives in two with a single. They're putting the tarp on the field in Baltimore. Both games are in the situation where they would be suspended if they can't resume play.

Alex Gonzalez rediscovered the power he showed with the Marlins in 2003 and 2004. He just hit his thirteenth home run of the season to give the Reds a 7-6 lead over the Phillies as the teams go to the bottom of the 8th. It's the fifth home run of the game and the third for Cincinnati.

Update: It's starting to pour at CBP, and some guy sitting behind home plate is on his cell phone waving. An usher ran over and told him to stop. It's not like there's a ton of fans being bothered by the guy at this point.

Update: Rollins triples in the bottom of the eighth to drive in Nunez, and the Phillies tie the game at seven. It's the eleveth extra-base hit of the game.

Update: The broadcast just pointed out this is the fifth season that Rollins is in double figures in doubles, triples,home runs and stolen bases.

Scott Kazmir left tonight's game against the White Sox after 5 1/3 innings. He struck out nine batters, but used 114 pitches. In ten of his seventeen starts, Kazmir failed to pitch past the sixth inning. It's great to strike out tons of batters, but Kazmir won't become an ace until he can do it more efficiently and last though the seventh. He also allowed six hits and four runs, so the White Sox were 6 for 13 when they put the ball in play. He's a tough pitcher to make contact against, but he's easy to hit when a batter does make contact. Chicago leads 4-1. Konkerko and Iguchi both homered.

The balls are flying out of Citizens Bank Park tonight. Four long balls, two by Phillies and two by the Reds accounted for seven of the nine runs tonight. Dunn hit his 23rd, while Utley launched a pair, bringing his season total to 15. There have now been 114 home runs hit in the Phillies home park, passing GAB for the most in the majors. (They have played two more games in Philadelphia.)

Randy Johnson doesn't last long in his first start off the DL. He allows six hits and two walks as the Dodgers score four runs against him. Nippert doesn't do much better as he comes in and allows two more and the Dodgers are up 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth.

Daniel Cabrera retires the first eight Yankees to bring up Andy Phillips, playing first base tonight. Phillips hits like a first baseman, depositing a hanging pitch into the leftfield stands for a 1-0 Yankees lead. I still can't figure out why any team would play Cairo over Phillips at first base.

Update: Brian Roberts makes Wang pay for issuing a walk with a two run homer to put the Orioles on top 2-1 in the bottom of the third.

Sorry, I missed Frank Thomas' 500th home run earlier today. Congratulations to the Big Hurt on that milestone!

Update: Peter Schmuck notes that milestones aren't what they used to be.

The great hunt for round numbers has been going on since the game's Golden Age, and there was a time when fans from all over the major leagues would stop and express their collective awe at a 300th victory or a 500th home run.

That, of course, was before it happened every day.

Russ Martin hits a two run homer in the first inning to put the Dodgers up 2-0 on the DBacks. It was the seventh home run Randy Johnson allowed this season, all at Chase Field. So far, Johnson's not locating his pitches well in his first start off the DL.

Maury Brown looks at the groups in line to buy the Cubs.

The Marlins defeated the Pirates 9-7 this afternoon. It marks the 13th time this season Florida scored nine runs or more, the most times in the NL and tied for second in the majors with a number of American League teams. The Marlins rank third in the NL in Runs/Game at 4.86. Not bad for a team that was sold off a year and a half ago. They've developed a very good 1-5 lineup, and were smart enough to bunch their good hitters together. Now they need to get mature and heal their young pitchers.

The Twins offense put a win on Carlos Silva's stat sheet today. Silva allowed Toronto to get out to a 5-1 lead after the top of the third, but the Twins stormed back against A.J. Burnett to take a 7-5 lead after five innings. Gave up singles to the first two batters in the fifth, then Fasor came on to make sure those two and two more Twins scored. Silva held the Jays scoreless over his last four innings of work, and Minnesota took the game 8-5. The Blue Jays fail to gain on the idle Red Sox, while Minnesota keeps pace with Cleveland.

Kenny Rogers gives up the first run since the end of the 2006 regular season in the top of the sixth inning. Lofton doubled and moved up a base on two line drive outs. Still, Rogers is pitching another great game, keeping Texas off balance and inducing a high number of ground balls. The Tigers lead 3-1.

Update: Scott Feldman throws a ball behind Gary Sheffield's back, and a couple of pitches later Sheffield puts one over the left field fence for a 5-1 Tigers lead. That's the best way to get revenge for almost getting hit.

The Cleveland Indians take three out of four from the Oakland Athletics, hurting Oakland's wild card chances. The big blow was a Jason Michaels home run in the bottom of the seventh that turned a 3-1 Oakland lead into a 4-3 deficit. In the series, the Oakland bullpen allowed five home runs while facing only fifty batters. A home run every ten plate appearance will go a long way toward defeat.

Scott Olsen struck out the first five Pirates he faced today, with LaRoche ending the streak with a single. The Marlins are all over Duke, using an error and five hits in the first inning to take a 4-0 lead.

Some praise for Mike Hargrove's use of the bullpen at U.S.S. Mariner. The Mariners have a poor GM and not the greatest manager, but they are doing well this season. It's a short term team, but if your goal is to get to the playoffs now, that's okay.

This is the rare day when I'm not crazy about any of the games. My Rangers-Tigers comment holds up from yesterday, but the most important game of the day has to be Los Angeles at Arizona. The Diamondbacks need the game to earn a split of the four game series and stay ahead of the Dodgers. Randy Johnson comes off the DL to pitch. He's pitched well but not often. He's only averaging six inning per game, which means he's going to put pressure on the bullpen. He's also allowed all six of his home runs this season in Arizona. On the bright side, his strikeouts and walks are back to their former levels.

He'll face Randy Wolf. Wolf is interesting in that his high strikeout rate hasn't led to a low opposition batting average. That's especially true away from Dodger stadium. On the road in 2007, Wolf allowed 17 extra base hits versus 16 at home. That may not seem like a big difference, but there have been 100 fewer at bats against him on the road this season. We could have a bit of a slugfest on our hands this afternoon.

Enjoy!

The Indians are really doing a job on the Athletics pitching staff. The A's lead the American League with a 3.56 ERA, but over the last three games the Indians scored 20 runs. Oakland managed to get off to a 9-0 lead, but Cleveland managed to bring the score back to 11-7 after seven innings, a grand slam away from tying the game. Oakland won 13-7, but you get the feeling they need to score in double digits to have a chance against the Tribe. Cleveland has the second best offense in the majors. Here's a case where good pitching is not stopping good hitting.

Jacob Jackson makes a good case for some team hiring Paul DePodesta as their next GM. While I agree with that sentiment, I have two criticisms of the article:

1. Jacob gives Paul too much credit for being able to see into the future:

   The opt-out clause in Drew's contract was probably more calculated and smart than anyone gave DePodesta credit for at the time. Critics howled when Drew's off-season opt-out left the Dodgers devoid of a starting right fielder last winter. Given the condition of Drew's shoulder, the Dodgers should feel relieved to be freed from the final three years of their commitment to him. Who's to say that DePodesta didn't forsee milking two productive years out of Drew during his peak, after which Scott Boras could be assured of leading Drew out of the contract and onto another team's hands during his post-age-30 decline?

   He's not that smart.



2. DePodesta carries a huge negative, and that's his inability to deal with the press. LIke it or not, talking to the press is an important part of of the job. Paul needs to learn how to talk to reporters, or else he's going to be the guy in the background, coming up with great players to sign or acquire, but not the guy running things.

If a team can live with the bad press, DePodesta's your man. Most teams, however, want their organization portrayed in a positive light in a local newspaper. He'd have to go to a city with more sabermetrically oriented sports writers.

Wednesday's 2-0 Diamondbacks win over the Dodgers was a poorly pitched shutout. Webb allowed seven hits and walked five in his seven innings of work, and the bullpen gave up two hits and a walk as well. But the defense helped out a lot:

Defensively, there was Tracy's nifty double play in the fifth. There was Byrnes' recovery play in right field, when he misplayed a line drive but threw out Luis Gonzalez trying to turn it into a double. And there was Snyder's throw to third to cut down the lead runner on a Juan Pierre bunt in the seventh, a play Melvin called "enormous."

The Dodgers, too, showed some leather, nipping Drew at third base as he went for a triple on a Pierre to Furcal to Garciappara relay. However, the Dodgers were 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position, which doomed them to a shutout. Two hits in those situations and they probably win the game.

The Twins came up in the bottom of the ninth inning last night trailing 5-4 with Joe Mauer leading off the inning. Joe smacked a hard grounder up the middle, and off the bat I thought, "There's a hit." But as the camera turned to show the field, Royce Clayton was crouching in front of the ball, and made an easy play for an out. Clayton played Mauer perfectly, and what would be a single in many cases started a 1-2-3 inning for a Toronto victory.

The Blue Jays obviously did their homework. And of course, it's so easy to do today. Mauer seldom hits ground balls to the right of where Clayton was stationed. By positioning himself correctly, Royce Clayton is increasing his range without having to move a long distance for a ball. That's why, at some point, I'd love to get positioning information for players, so we can separate those player who can move long distances to get to balls vs. players who know where to stand before a ball is put in play.

With the win, the Blue Jays move over .500 and to 9 games behind Boston.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The Braves are taking out all their offensive frustrations on the poor Nationals. After scoring ten runs in the first two games of the series combined, Atlanta just let loose tonight, scoring thirteen so far through seven innings. They only failed to score in the second. Escobar is four for five in the leadoff spot with four runs scored. Chipper picked up three hits and four RBI before being lifted. Francoeur and McCann combined for five hits and five RBI. Even John Smoltz collected a hit. And the Braves pitchers are tossing a shutout, combining for nine strikeouts so far.

Dobbs hits a long fly ball to right in the bottom of the eighth with the Reds leading 7-6. Griffey starts back for the ball, and he looks like he'll have it easily. But a thunderstorm is on the way, and the ball keeps getting blown back. It hits at the top of the wall at the top of the scoreboard, and Utley ends up with a triple. Then the heavens open and the game is being delayed. They are in the situation where the game would be suspended rather than called, since the Reds broke the tie in the top of the inning, and Philadelphia gets a chance to come back.

Correction: It was Dobbs, not Utley who tripled. Dobbs was left at third and the Reds won 9-6.

Derek Lowe walks two batters and is the victim of an error as the Diamondbacks take an early 1-0 lead without the benefit of a hit. After the two walks, Loney's error loaded the bases and a sacrifice fly plated the run. The Diamondbacks need the win to jump ahead of the Dodgers.

The Reds are such a free swinging team, even Jamie Moyer can strike them out. He downed nine Reds on strikes tonight. It's only the twelfth time in his career Moyer reached the nine strikeout mark, and the first time since 7/28/2004.

However, Moyer might have worn himself out as he loaded the bases to start the sixth. The bullpen couldn't get the job done as the Reds score six runs in the inning to take a 6-3 lead over the Phillies. The Phillies chase Harang with a run in the bottom of the inning, and they're still batting trailing 6-4.

Update: The Phillies come back to tie it in the bottom of the sixth, and they're still batting.

If you missed tonight's show, you can hear the recorded version here. It's also available on demand at TPSRadio.