With two out in the ninth, trailing 5-2, Dan Uggla singles to keep things alive for the Marlins. Willingham follow with a single to put runners on first and second, then Jacobs follows with an infield single as no one covers first. But Uggla rounds third too much, and is thrown out trying to get back to the base, ending the game and dropping the Marlins another 1/2 game behind San Diego.
It was a good night for the teams a little farther back in the race as Houston and San Francisco both win. They both leap frog the Marlins who now sit in sixth place instead of fourth. Those six teams are within three games of each other.

In a 1-1 game, Brandon Looper loads the bases on two walks and a single in the top of the eighth inning. Girardi sends Olivo to hit for Treanor, and Olivo tops one slowly to third. He beats it out for the infield hit and Willingham scores, giving the Marlins a 2-1 lead.
Dontrelle Willis found his control tonight, walking just one in seven innings while striking out four. This is exactly the type of pitching the Marlins need from their star down the stretch. He’s the one under-performing star on the team that can make a real difference with a great September.
Update: Chris Duncan pinch hits leading off the bottom of the eighth and ties the game with his 15th home run of the season. Mitre gives up the bomb, his seventh allowed in 41 innings.
Update: Mitre walked Pujols, then had him dead to rights on a pickoff but threw the ball down the rightfield line. Albert winds up at third with none out, and Rolen delivers an RBI single. The Marlins waste a great start by Dontrelle Willis.

Brian Schneider comes in to catch after Harper is removed for a pinch hitter and picks up two hits, including the game tying single in the tenth. The hit put Marlon Anderson at third. Fultz throws a sinker than makes Church swing, but it bounces off Lieberthal back toward the mound. Lieberthal thinks it went by him, and turns his back to the pitcher. Anderson races home, and Fultz can’t make a throw because Lieberthal is out of position. The Nationals win 6-5, and fail to tie the Padres for first in the wild card race. They fall one game back instead.

Alex Cora hits his first home run of the year at a very opportune time as it gives the Red Sox a 6-4 lead and eventually a 6-4 victory. Alex game into the day fourth in the majors in most plate appearances without a home run, 197. Joey Gathright was first with 321. Joey did not play this afternoon.

Felipe Lopez singles in two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the Phillies at four. Arthur Rhodes blows the save on two unearned runs, but his error was the culprit.
In the top of the 10th, the Phillies retake the lead when Jimmny Rollins appears to strike out to end the inning, but the ball gets by the catcher to the back stop. Rollins is safe at first and the runner scores from third. It’s scored a passed ball, and an unearned run helps Philadelphia.

The Twins pitchers were in control of the Royals hitters for most of the game. Santana made one mistake all day, allowing a sixth inning homer to German to tie the game. But Minnesota came back with single runs in the bottom of the sixth and eighth to take the 3-1 victory and gain a game on the Tigers.
Santana struck out eleven and walked just one in his seven innings. The Twins pen then pitched two perfect innings, striking out three more. The team now has a K/BB of 3.46 on the season. That’s good for an individual pitcher, superb for a team. Minnesota know how to construct a pitching staff.

Johan Santana is carving up the Royals this afternoon. He’s struck out nine through five innings, perserving a 1-0 Minnesota lead. He doing it fairly efficiently for that number of Ks, averaging 15 pitches per inning. That gives Johan 205 K on the season with only 39 walks.

Rondell White gave the Twins a 1-0 lead in the second with his fourth home run of the year. That raises White’s slugging percentage to .310, 150 points below his career numbers. He’s been injured this year, but you wonder if he might have been taking a drug that has the opposite effect of steroids. 🙂

Alex Rodriguez popped out to the first baseman with the bases loaded and one out. And this is what is really bothering fans, I believe. They’ve been seeing a lot of double plays and popouts in these types of situations from Rodriguez lately. He’s hit into six GDP this month, (four batters have 7). He’s already set a career high in GDP. I don’t have pop out data, but he’s certainly not driving the ball like he has in the past.
Of course, the Yankees failing to score in that inning isn’t just his fault. Abreu popped out with a man on third and no outs, and Cano struck out with the bases loaded and two outs. But those two are playing much better overall.
The Tigers take advantage of the three men left on as Ordonez leads off the second inning with a home run, giving Detroit a 1-0 lead.
Update: Alex comes through in his second at bat. He hits something between a pop up and a line drive that falls between the charging left fielder and the retreating shortstop, scoring Abreu from second. Bobby took a chance running on the hit, as there was a non-zero probability someone could have made a great catch.
Update: Bobby Abreu makes up for his first inning pop out as well with a bases loaded single to put the Yankees up 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth.
Update and Correction: A-Rod leads off the fifth with a line drive double down the leftfield line. The replay showed him with his head right on the ball as the bat made contact. In three at bats. He’s brought the ball down in from his pop out in the first (it was to the first baseman, not the catcher), to his fliner to his line drive. At least in this game, his swing is headed in the right direction. Bernie Williams singles Alex home to make the score 4-1 New York after five innings.
Update: Alex homers leading off the seventh. He’s gotten better in every at bat this game.
Between innings, Jim Leyland got tossed. He was arguing with the home plate ump about the strike zone. He started arguing, then “God Bless America” started playing. Jim took off his hat, stood at attention for 30 second, then as soon as the song was over started arguing even more vehemently. Great theater from the Tigers’ skipper.
Update: The Yankees win 6-4. Johnson pitches into the ninth, but gives up a walk and homer to start the inning, turning an otherwise excellent performance into a 4.50 ERA day. He struck out 8 and walked one, the two homers allowed being the big blemish on the day. By taking two of three from the Tigers, New York is three games behind Detroit for the best record, two in the loss column.

The White Sox pulled off a huge comeback win last night, scoring three runs in the eighth inning for a 5-4 win over Tampa Bay. Tim Corcoran gave the Rays 5 1/3 strong innings, striking out 7. But Brian Meadows couldn’t get the job done in the seventh. Tadahito Iguchi launched a two-run homer to tie the game. Then Jermaine Dye singled and stole his second base of the game, setting up Jim Thome’s go-ahead single. Jenks pitched the ninth for the save.
With the Twins losing 4-3 and the Tigers splitting with the Yankees, the White Sox gain on both their central opponents, extending their wild card lead to 1 1/2 games, and cutting the Tigers lead to 4 1/2.

He shocked the Yankees fans at least. Scott Proctor walks two in ninth, and faces Craig Monroe with two out. He launches the first pitch into the net over monument park to bring the Tigers back from the brink of a sweep and give Detroit a 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. His 23rd home run of the season matches his career high, and 13 of the 23 have come with men on base.
Update: Todd Jones get the Yankees in order in the ninth, and the Tigers complete the 5-3 win. With both Chicago and Minnesota trailing in their games, the Tigers have a chance to extend their AL Central lead by 1/2 game over both with the split.

Dave Roberts is doing a great job as a lead off man for San Diego this season. He reached base four times via a hit tonight, scoring a run and driving in two as the Padres take a 4-1 victory over the Diamondbacks to remain in first place in the wild card race by 1/2 game. With a .382 OBA this season, Roberts is 35 points aboves his career mark.
A nice job by the San Diego bullpen as well as they pitch 3 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out five.

Jaret Wright pitched more than six innings for the first time this year, allowing just two runs while striking out five. Having the spector of being replaced by a pitcher with two broken ribs over him seems to have done the job. The Yankees starters did what was needed today, combining for 14 innings, leaving the bullpen in good shape for the rest of the week.
Alex Rodriguez drove in the go ahead run with a ground out, to the cheers of Yankees fans. New York leads 3-2 in the eighth.
Update: Robinson Cano just saved a run. He ranged to his left to snare a ball hit by Casey and just nab him at first. Guiel had to go to the outfield side of the bag to take the throw and was bowled over by Sean, but hung on for the out.

It’s sad to watch the Red Sox go through this. The Oakland Athletics just went up 7-1 in the seventh inning. They’ve collected 14 hits, six for extra-bases. The Sox fielding cost them at lead one run. They’ve collected 8 hits, but they’re spread out and short. A fine offense, riddled by injury, is reduced to 2 runs in a three game series.
Update: They Red Sox push across a run in the 8th to make the score 7-2. That bring their three game average in runs per game to 1.0.
Update: It’s a final, 7-2. The Red Sox fall 8 1/2 behind the Yankees, and it could be nine by the end of the night. They’re also 6 1/2 back in the wild card race. They have three games with both Chicago and Minnesota, and it looks like they’ll need to win all of those.