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

Bobby Crosby is on the DL again.

Oakland Athletics shortstop Bobby Crosby went on the disabled list for the second time this season Wednesday, this time with a broken left ankle.

The Athletics resurgence pretty much coincided with Crosby's return to the lineup. It's a better team now than it was at the start of the season, so we'll see how the A's hold up to this loss. That much offense is difficult to find at shortstop.

Pedro Martinez gave up four home runs tonight as the Phillies are up 5-2 in the top of the 8th. Two of those homers came off the bat of Chase Utley, who is fast becoming a Phillies legend.

This was the type of game Pedro was hired to win. This was the game where the Mets needed Pedro to be at his best. Not only did he give up the long ball, but he walked three in seven innings as well. That's not what the Mets expected when Pedro became the center piece of their rebuilding.

On top of everything else, it's started pouring there as well. As my mom liked to say, it never rains but it pours. :-)

The Baseball Musings Radio Show is coming up at 8 PM Eastern, just a few minutes from now. I'm logged into the chat room if you'd like to leave a question.

The Braves beat the Nationals 5-3 in game 1 of their double header. Washington loses a chance for a sweep and a guaranteed gain in the wild card race.

Michael Young hit his 20th home run today, giving the four Texas infielders 20 home runs each.

The homer by Young marked the second season in a row that all four players in the Rangers starting infield hit at least 20 homers. The only other team's infield with four 20-homer hitters was the 1940 Red Sox, a group that included Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin and Bobby Doerr.

Andruw Jones drove in five runs so far today with his 43rd home run and a single. That puts him at 108 RBI for the season, 11 ahead of Derrek Lee. It's looking more like Lee won't be able to win the triple crown, but Andruw is likely to take 2/3 of the title.

Does anyone know when teams were first allowed to expand their rosters to 40 men? I can't seem to find it on the web.

The Giants lead the Rockies 4-2 this afternoon on four solo home runs. San Francisco now has 102 homers on the season, 55 of them solo shots, or about 54%. That's better than the NL average of about 57.5% solo.

I don't get to write that title too often. Despite being outhit 13-5 and outwalked 2-1, the Royals came through in the 9th inning against Guerrier and Mulholland to plate the only run of the game. The Twins earned another baserunner with a hit by pitch. That's 16 runners reaching for Minnesota, and no runs.

Since 1974, this is the 6th time that a team had at least 16 players earn their way on while getting shut out in a nine inning game. The amazing thing it, this is the second time this month. On August 13, 2005, the Rockies put 18 men on and did not score against the Nationals, the most since 1974 (that's how far back the Day by Day Database goes).

Derek Lowe earns the second low-hit game of his career, tossing a complete game one-hitter against the Cubs. This fits nicely with his no-hitter against Tampa Bay.

The Twins and Royals are scoreless in the 8th. Kyle Lohse threw a three hitter through seven vs. the Royals. What's amazing is that the Twins score is at zero despite 11 hits, 2 walks and a Kansas City error. The Royals defense helped with four double plays and a caught stealing. Still that's a lot of baserunners, and through eight innings the Twins are 0 for 9 with men in scoring position.

Derek Lowe is mowing down the Cubs today, allowing just one hit through six innings. Jose Cruz is really cruising, having hit a single, double and triple this afternoon, driving in three runs along the way. He'll lead off the eighth, going for a home run and a cycle.

Update: Cruz walks leading off the 8th. No cycle.

Rickey Weeks hit his 12th home run of the season today. Rickey's not hitting for much of an average right now, but he's showing good power for a second baseman. If you look at the list of homers as a second sacker this year, you'll see two young players in the top ten without a lot of at bats; Weeks and Jorge Cantu. Keep your eye on these two; as they enter their primes, we should see more fireworks.

I'm watching the LA broadcast of the Dodgers-Cubs game, and the announcers saying that Dodger Stadium is open for donations to the hurricane Katrina relief effort. If you're in the area, here's your chance to help out.

The weekly Baseball Musings radio show will be on TPSRadio tonight and every Wednesday at 8 PM EDT. Check out their other sports programming as well. You can listen at any one of these links:

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You can also call in at 888-985-0555 and leave a question for the show, or stop by the chat room at TPSRadio during the broadcast and leave a comment. Also, feel free to leave a question in the comments to this post and I'll be happy to answer it on the air.

With a win tonight against the Phillies, the Mets could find themselves leading the NL Wild Card race. New York will have their ace on the mound, Pedro Martinez as they host Phillies hurler Brett Myers. Brett's only had one good outing in August, a complete game victory against the Pirates. Otherwise, he's been quite hittable, allowing six home runs and a 5.01 ERA in the month.

Pedro is working on two straight six inning starts without allowing a run. He's pitched well against Philadelphia this season, winning both his starts and allowing just three runs in 13 innings.

On the west coast, Joe Blanton and John Lackey faced off as the Athletics and Angels battle for the AL West title. Blanton is on a roll, with an ERA of 1.00 over his last seven starts. With little support, however, his record is just 3-1. He's only given up 31 hits in his last 45 innings and overall the league is hitting just .237 against him. Lackey continues to stay near the top of the AL in strikeouts per nine innings. He and Johan Santana are the only qualifying starters above 9.0.

Finally, the past and the future meet in Seattle as Randy Johnson faces Felix Hernandez. It's been over six years since Johnson pitched in Seattle. His only start as an opponent in that city yielded a gem of a game. The new Seattle fireballer is already striking out better than nine per nine innings, and unlike the young Randy Johnson, this pitcher has control of the strikezone.

Enjoy!

You can purchase tickets for these and many other events at the Baseball Musings Ticket Store.

You know you have a problem at shortstop when you trade for Deivi Cruz and he actually improves your team. It seems all Bowden can get are low OBA shortstops:

To land Cruz, a .269 career hitter who rarely walks, the Nationals gave up Class A right-hander Ben Cox, a 19th-round selection in last year's draft. Cruz, who is scheduled to join the Nationals at least in time for the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader with the Braves, has a reputation for swinging at bad pitches, the origin of Guzman's problem. But while Guzman entered Tuesday's game hitting a horrific .196 with an on-base percentage of .238 -- 43 points lower than the next-worst offensive player in baseball, Pittsburgh's Jack Wilson -- Cruz's average in 81 games for the Giants was .268, his on-base percentage .301.

I guess there aren't that many Barry Larkins out there.

Two big comebacks in the eight inning last night helped make the NL Wild Card race one of the tightest I've ever seen. The Marlins blew a four run lead, but a two-run triple by Carlos Delgado made the score 6-5 in the 8th, and an Encarnacion sac fly gave Florida the margin of victory as they defeated the Cardinals 7-6.

In New York, backup catcher Ramon Castro hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 8th to turn a 4-3 deficit against the Phillies into a 6-4 victory. Castro was very popular on New York sports radio last week, with some people seeing him as a replacement for Piazza next year. He may be fine behind the plate, but his track record indicates that his 2005 is not his norm.

With Washington and Houston also winning, five teams are within 1 1/2 games of the wild card lead. Florida and Philadephia are tied for first, Houston and the Mets are half a game back, and Washington 1 1/2. I'd love to see more than two teams tie for a playoff berth. Since the wild card was instituted, a number of seasons came close. The multi-day playoffs would be a blast, especially if there are an odd number of teams.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 40th home run of the season in a losing cause last night. It's the seventh time A-Rod reached the 40 plateau, putting him in some pretty good company.

Most 40 Home Run Seasons

Player	40 HR Seasons
Ruth	11
Aaron	8
Bonds	8
Killebrew	8
Sosa	7
Griffey Jr.	7
Alex Rodriguez	7

At his young age, four more seasons of 40 is quite possible.

Barry Zito and Bartolo Colon put on a show last night. Zito pitched nine innings, allowing just 1 run on a Robb Quinlan homer. Colon did him a bit better, pitching into the 10th before he left the game for K-Rod. With a runner on third and one out, Rodriguez induced a pop out and a strikeout to keep the game tied at one.

But K-Rod fell behind Kielty 2-0 in the 11th and Bobby bopped the ball out of the park. That was all the Oakland Athletics needed to extend their lead in the AL West to two games.

K-Rod's been vulnerable lately. So far in August he's given up nine hits and three homers in eight innings pitched (over 10 appearances). His ERA is 5.62. His strikeout rate for the month was under 8, compared to over 12 for the rest of the year. I wonder if the workload is catching up with the youngster, although 49 appearances doesn't seem like a heavy burden.

A nice comeback win for the Red Sox last night. In the eighth, pinch hitters Damon and Olerud both delivered, Damon leading off the inning with a walk and Olerud driving in the tying run with a single. Trot Nixon had key hits in both the eighth and the ninth and driving in the winning run with a single.

It was another poor start for Curt Schilling. He has his control, but players appear to be making good contact against Curt. His line drive percentage is high, and the DER behind him is low. That's telling me that fielders don't really have a chance on a lot of the balls hit off Schilling.

Correction: Nixon's hit in the ninth was a single.

For those of you looking to donate to help victims of Katrina, Glenn Reynolds has links to various charities that are involved in the relief effort. My thoughts are with everyone affected by this disaster.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The Braves acquired Todd Hollandsworth from the Cubs for two minor leaguers. Hollandsworth won the Rookie of the Year award in 1996 mostly because he was with the Dodgers, and LA was on a streak of rookie awards. He was the last of five straight ROY's for the Dodgers. The only one who had a truly great career was Mike Piazza. Hollandsworth turned out to be a mediocre ballplayer, neither getting on base much nor hitting for much power. Even playing with Colorado in 2002, he only produced a .483 slugging percentage. I see him more as an insurance policy against injury for the Braves, rather than as someone who is going to make a significant contribution.

The first thing I thought when I saw that Mark Bellhorn signed with the Yankees was, "That's it for Tony Womack." Lawton is playing in the outfield, leaving no room for Tony there, and Cano and Bellhorn are likely to share 2nd, Bellhorn when they need offense, Cano when they need defense. With the Rosters expanding Thursday, they can probably keep Womack around as a pinch-runner.

Although I was unable to write for most of the day, I just read through the comments posted and they're great as usual. It's great to see a post turn into an interesting argument between people with different opinions. In my opinion, it's one of the best things about this blog.

I'd like to apologize for not getting this up sooner, but due to technical difficulties the site was down most of the day. I've been away from a computer since 12:30 Eastern Time, so this is my first chance to update.

So short and sweet, watch the Phillies at the Mets with Tejada and Seo, Nationals at Braves with Patterson and Sosa, Dodgers at Cubs with Penny and Prior, Athletics at Angels with Zito vs. Colon and Diamondbacks at Padres with Vazquez and Peavy.

Enjoy!

You can purchase tickets for these and many other events at the Baseball Musings Ticket Store.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The Diamondbacks are not having a problem with PETCO Park tonight has they've hit four home runs to get out to a 6-1 lead. They now have 10 home runs in eight games in San Diego this season.

Jason Giambi hit a home run off Ryan Franklin tonight. How do you count that? Do we wipe that off the records, or are home runs hit by a steroid hitter good if they come off a steroid pitcher?

My guess is that if you out-homer your opponent 4-1, you usually win. Not tonight in Chicago. The Cubs managed four solo shots in route to scoring six runs, but the Dodgers used seven walks and 10 hits to score nine of their own. Overall, the Cubs have out-homered the competition this year 163-158 but have been out walked 478-346. It's one reason they have a losing record.

David Wells had choice words for the commissioner and others in the MLB organization today. Much as I like someone taking shots at Selig, Wells was just blowing off steam, spouting supposition as fact.

"I've been tested three times this year, but it's obvious that there's guys getting away with doing it," Wells said during a pregame news conference. "And he's not doing a thing."

When Caminiti and Canseco first made their steroid allegations, I was willing to believe them if they named names. Canseco eventually did. If Wells is so interested in cleaning up the sport, let's hear from him who is cheating. Or his he going to be like his teammate Curt Schilling, who when put on the line said he never saw steroid abuse going on, that he was just exaggerating. If people are cheating, let's hear the evidence. If Wells is unwilling to back up his allegations, he should keep his mouth shut and let the system work.

Scott Baker is a Twins rookie, but he's fitting the starting rotation well. With tonight's seven innings, he lowered his ERA to 2.25. He's struck out 15 in 20 innings while walking four. And while the four walks are high for a Twins starter, they're not bad for your average starter. The Twins are adding to their strength.

Staying with the theme of unusual Sox defense, the Red Sox hav turned four double plays through the sixth inning. They came into today dead last in the AL in double plays turned. I wonder how much having Olerud at first helps?

One thing the Red Sox are doing much better is not grounding into double plays. They are 8th in the AL this season. When I was going to Fenway in the 1980s, it seemed the Sox were close to setting a record for GDPs every season.

The Chicago White Sox used to be near the top of the AL in errors every year. Coming into today, they had the third fewest in the AL. That's why tonight's loss to the Rangers is so unusual. Tad Iguchi made three errors and Uribe added a fourth to let in three unearned runs as the White Sox lost to the Rangers 7-5. Without the unearned runs, they win the game.

The St. Louis Cardinals score sxi runs again as they take down the Florida Marlins 6-1. Chris Carpenter goes 7 2/3 innings and is charged with the run. His ERA is now 2.29.

One thing in Carpenter's favor for the Cy Young award is that he's pitched 21 innings more than Clemens. In an age when lots of pitchers are only going between 200 and 220 innings, Carpenter may end up around 240 by the end of the season. Right now, I don't think it's enough to give him the award, but there's a month to go.

The Oakland Athletics got off to an early 2-0 lead on a Jay Payton home run and are holding the score in the 5th inning. It's their 15th home run in the last six games. They've hit eight in the four game series against Oakland so far. Payton now has 12 home runs in 153 at bats for Oakland through four innings today. He had five in 133 at bats for Boston.

Update: The A's power strikes again. The Orioles took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth, but the Athletics came right back with a 3-run homer by Dan Johnson in the top of the sixth to reclaim the lead. Gibbons hit a solo-shot in the bottom of the sixth, and teams have gone to the 7th with the A's leading 5-4.

Seth Speaks and two other bloggers did a radio broadcast from the Minnesota State Fair. Seth has details and transcripts.

Noah Lowry looks close to a lock for pitcher of the month in August. However, if Jae Seo pitches a complete game shutout tomorrow, they'll be tied in innings pitched and earned runs allowed, and wins. Noah should have him in strikeouts, Seo may have fewer walks. Two great performances by two fine young pitchers.

The Arizona Diamondbacks get a chance to gain ground on the Padres as the two teams go head-to-head in San Diego tonight. It might even be a high scoring game as Russ Ortiz faces Woody Williams, both pitchers with ERAs over five. The Diamondbacks currently trail San Diego by 5 1/2 games. Arizona leads the season series 7-6, although the Padres have outscored them 64-61.

There's an excellent pitching matchup in Florida as Chris Carpenter goes for his 19th win vs. A.J. Burnett of the Marlins. The Cardinals won the last 13 starts by Carpenter, and in 8 of those the team has allowed 1 run or less. Burnett had a personal seven game winning streak snapped by the Brewers his last time out. Marlins starters have given up 45 hits and 26 runs (20 earned) in their last six starts, 33 1/3 innings.

Enjoy!

You can purchase tickets for these and many other events at the Baseball Musings Ticket Store.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Jim Bowden let the Washington Nationals have it after the loss today.

Bowden issued a challenge to his players, noting that rosters can be expanded Thursday.

"They all know by the last game in Atlanta there's going to be enough choices for Frank that he doesn't have to play any of them if he doesn't want to," Bowden said.

"Be a man, wake up and do some damage or guess what? After that, Frank can do whatever he can do. By the time it gets to Thursday, they're not hitting, he might as well put other people in there. There's a lot of guys who can score no runs a game."

(Emphasis mine.) My roommates and I used to joke that we could play shortstop badly for a few million dollars a year. Looks like Bowden has heard that joke.

San Diego defeats the Rockies 4-3 to return to within an inch of .500. With a little over a month's worth of games left and lots of games vs. weak western teams we'll see if SD can win the division with a winning record.

Jeff Weaver just hit Craig Biggio on the elbow. The umpire, however, did not give Biggio the base because Craig did not get out of the way of the pitch. Biggio flies out and then yells at the home plate ump who throws Craig out of the game. Garner continues the argument and is thrown out as well.

It's pretty clear from the replay (they're into the late 1990's now) that Biggio moved his arm so that the ball would hit his elbow armor. Maybe they should change the hit by pitch rule so that if a player is hit on a pad, no base is awarded.

It's a great pitching duel this afternoon as the game is scoreless in the 7th, with Clemens and Weaver both pitching well.

Update: Biggio was pinch-hitting for Clemens. The Astros fail to score, meaning Roger will once again not get a win. Roger lowers his road ERA to 0.52.

Update: Choi gets a pinch double, and Robles drives in pinch runner Repko to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead after eight innings. The Astros are on the verge of losing another fine Clemens pitching performance.

It was great to hear the Hee-Seop Choi cheer after he doubled.

Update: The Dodgers win 1-0. It's the 16th time the Astros were shutout. In half of those shutouts, Roger Clemens was the starter for Houston.

The Mets manage to score a run off Noah Lowry, a rare event this month. He's pitching well again, allowing just the single score while striking out six through six. But Kris Benson is also pitching well. He's allowed just four hits through five innings, but has only one strikeout. The Mets are in a 1-0 nail biter.

Update: J.T. Snow homers in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game.

Update: The Giants have a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning. Lowry has struck out 6 while walking one. He has thrown 122 pitches, so I doubt he'll pitch the ninth.

Jason Giambi set two milestones with his three-hit, seven-rbi game. He reached 1000 RBI and 1500 hits for his career. The seven rbi doubled his total for the month. Giambi's last home run was on August 4th, also a two home-run game. In fact, his last three games with homers have all been multi-homer games.

Correction: Missed a 0 on the RBI total. It's one-thousand RBI.

Tim Hudson picked up the 18th complete game of his career, a seven-hit, 5-2 victory over the Brewers. His career started in 1999, and the 18 CG are tied for 13th since the start of that season.

Andruw Jones provided all the offense Tim needed with two home runs, bringing his ML leading total to 42. Two more home runs and he'll crack the top 10 single season Braves list. Six of those spots are occupied by Henry Aaron. Hammerin' Hank holds the Braves record with 47, also.

The nightmare scenario happened to the Angles today. Both the Yankees and Athletics won, while LAnaheim lost to Tampa Bay, putting the Angels out of a playoff slot. The Rays win the squeaker 2-1. Mark Hendrickson didn't pitch great, but he was good enough. The Angels put plenty of balls in play against the lefty as LAnaheim only walked once and struck out twice against him. But they only managed five hits off the 25 balls put in play against Mark. For the day, they only managed six hits on their 30 balls in play.

With the poor OBA's on the team, the Angels might want to be more selective about the balls they put in play.

They're having fun with the Dodger broadcast today. I believe, as the game goes on the LA station is introducing advances in broadcasting baseball games. They're in the third inning, and just put up old fashioned graphics and added a dissolve between the two cameras. They are using a high home camera and a low first base camera right now, and broadcasting in black and white.

It's actually nice to be able to concentrate on the batter/pitcher matchup without having to look at the mug of the manager between each pitch.

Ken Griffey Jr. kept his hitting streak alive today in fine fashion, belting a double and homer to help the Reds to a 7-2 victory over the Pirates. At fourteen games, he owns the longest current streak in the majors, and has 8 home runs to go with his 27 hits, good for an .898 slugging percentage over the last 14 games.

The Saint Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals two days in a row by identical 6-0 scores. The Nationals offense is on a 20 inning scoreless streak right now, and they've only amassed six hits in the two shutouts.

With so many teams ahead of them in the wild card race, it's going to tough to stay in the race with continued losses, as they're likely to lose ground to some team with every defeat.

Carlos Zambrano hit his second triple of the year in the 7th inning and came around to score to give the Cubs a 5-3 lead over the Marlins. He's now hitting .254 with a .429 slugging percentage as he has four doubles, two triples and a homer this season. He also had seven extra-base hits in 2003, his career high.

I'll be on Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club Radio tonight at 7:30 with a new feature, Pinto's Points. I hope you'll tune in.

The Cleveland Bullpen was perfect this afternoon, retiring the eight Blue Jays batters to earn Jake Westbrook his 13th win. The Jays actually out hit the Indians 8-6, but two of the Cleveland hits were home runs by Boone and Blake. That was enough for the Indians staff today as they won 4-1.

Since taking two of three from LAnaheim and looking like a contender, the Blue Jays are 2-8 and have been outscored 63-37.

Looking at the Win Shares on the Hardball Times, I'm surprised to see Gary Sheffield ahead of Alex Rodriguez. Alex is having a much better year with the bat. The players are on the same team and both are right-handed so the park factors are the same. Yet Sheffield has two more offensive win shares than Rodriguez. How is that possible?

The answer lies in the clutch adjustments to win shares. When Bill James worked on making the runs created formula more accurate for players, he found he need to make adjustments for batting average with runners in scoring position and home runs with men on base. He makes these adjustments based on comparing the situation to the player's overall averages.

When these adjustments are made for Alex Rodriguez, he loses 9.3 runs from the runs created formuala (I'm doing the calculation through yesterday). He loses 6.9 for his hitting with runners in scoring position and 2.4 for his home runs with men on.

Meanwhile, Sheffield gains from his superior battting in these situations. He gains 11.5 runs from his batting with runners in scoring position and 5.9 for his home runs with men on base (19 of his 27 have come with men on base). That's 17.4 runs in the plus column for Gary. Overall, Sheffield picks up 24.3 runs in the adjustment! It's the big reason why Rodriguez and Sheffield are almost even in RBI, despite Alex having a superior batting average and power numbers.

Bill James believes these adjustments give him the best estimates for runs created. I don't know how much of this is random luck rather than the ability of the players. But right now, Win Shares gives the AL MVP to Gary Sheffield.

With the Yankees and Red Sox once again battling for the AL East, you can follow the action at Yanksfan vs. Soxfan. Think of it as Spy vs. Spy in color! Stop by and say hi.

The LAnaheim Angels could go from first in the West to second in the wild card today. They'll face the Devil Rays, who have the best record in the AL East since the All-Star break. Mark Hendrickson throws for the Rays. Tampa Bay has won four of his last five starts, losing the best pitched game of the five. Jarrod Washburn will try to keep the Angels in first. Washburn has a 3.46 ERA over his last six starts, but the Angels have scored just 1 run in three of those.

The Oakland Athletics can knock them out of first place with a win over the Orioles, the team with the worst record in the AL East since the break. Danny Haren faces John Maine. Haren is coming off two poor starts. Even though he didn't issue any walks in the two games, he allowed 18 hits in 12 1/3 innings.

Looking to pass one or both of those teams is the New York Yankees. They'll go for the sweep of the Royals today as Al Leiter host Zach Greinke. Greinke's been inconsistent at best. A great start is often followed by a blow out. You just never know when the 21-year-old will have his good stuff. Leiter made his best start for the Yankees last time out, showing good control for once. He's been giving the Yankees five or six innings, allowing three runs, good enough for this team to win.

There are lots of great pitchers hurling today as well. Johan Santana, Roger Clemens, Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, Josh Beckett and Carlos Zambrano are all in action this afternoon. Noah Lowry faces Kris Benson as Noah goes for pitcher of the month.

Enjoy!

You can purchase tickets for these and many other events at the Baseball Musings Ticket Store.

I see Katrina's turned into a an extremely dangerous hurricane. I hope all my readers along the gulf coast stay safe. My thoughts are with you.

Kevin Millwood picked up a complete game loss yesterday, allowing two runs over eight innings. He's pitched well since the All-Star break but doesn't have much to show for it. In fact, he's just one of many pitchers having great second halves. It doesn't look like it's a shift to over all better pitching, as there are plenty of hurlers at the high end. But it does look like a group of mound men have figured out how to pitch in a high run environment.

Devon Young sends me a page with updated division standings since the All-Star break. The Devil Rays, Reds and Rockies are all at the top. It just goes to show that the first half of the season is just as important as the second half.

Note too that the standings since the break in the NL West is reversed from the overall standings in the NL West. This chart also makes it clear how far Washington has fallen, and the evenness of the NL East.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

I just spent the day on a friend's sailboat. As I sit here trying to type, I notice the computer is rocking. I don't have my land legs yet.

Let me note that just when things appear to be getting better for the Royals, they get worse. They blew a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, allowing five runs to the Yankees to give New York a victory. Five hits, one walk, and an error in the inning led to the loss. One of the hits was by Matt Lawton, picked up earlier in the day as the Yankees finally tired of Tony Womack's offense. The Royals have certainly found interesting ways to lose this season.

More tomorrow, as I'm setting sea-sick.

The Giants pitching staff is getting younger:

General manager Brian Sabean said the Cain and Taschner promotions are "signaling an effort to try to win some games. The bottom line is to try to win and develop. The young kids are ready in our estimation. For that you're going to have to change the makeup of your roster."

The Giants have perfected that, for Christiansen is the seventh player from the Opening Day roster to be dispatched. Kirk Rueter, Jim Brower and Marquis Grissom were released, while Matt Herges, Jerome Williams and Yorvit Torrealba were traded.

Furthermore, a team once derided as too old now employs seven rookies, with an eighth (Scott Munter) on the disabled list. The rotation now consists of Jason Schmidt, rookies Cain and Brad Hennessey and almost-rookies Noah Lowry and Kevin Correia.

Now, if they could just do that with the offense...

John Eisenberg laments the month of August in Orioles land.

IF CHARLES Dickens had sat in the Camden Yards press box as the Orioles' lamentable August unfolded, he would have written simply that "it was the worst of times, period."

Nick Piecoro notes that the Diamondbacks, as bad as they were last year, were never this bad:

It's hard to remember another stretch when the Diamondbacks have looked this bad. Ever. They lost 14 consecutive games last season, but at no point were the games this uncompetitive. During their six-game losing streak, opponents have outscored them 63-16. They were bad last year, but never this bad for a weeklong stretch.

All 63 of those runs are earned, by the way.

It a battle of generations in Chicago this afternoon as Dontrelle Willis faces Greg Maddux at Wrigley. The youngster goes for his 18th win and he's been nearly unbeatable in day game this season, going 5-1 with a 2.17 ERA. At 4.56, Maddux is posting his highest ERA since 1987.

The Indians try to put another nail in the Blue Jays playoff coffin today. Toronto was in a great position to lift themselves into the playoff picture, but lost seven of their last eight, with four of those losses at the hands of wild card leaders New York and Cleveland. They'll face Kevin Millwood. Kevin's received poor run support this season; the Indians have scored 66 runs with him on the mound while Kevin allowed 58. He's been especially hurt by this at home where he has a 3.24 ERA but a 2-7 record.

Enjoy!

You can purchase tickets for these and many other events at the Baseball Musings Ticket Store.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Steve Trachsel is making an impressive 2005 debut tonight. Through four innings he's walked one, but hasn't allowed a hit. The Mets are off to a 1-0 lead on a David Wright home run. That's his 6th of the month, making August his best power month of the year so far.

Update: The Giants go 1-2-3 in the fifth inning.

Update: Randy Winn gets the first hit for the Giants with two out in the sixth, a grounder up the middle. Mets still lead 1-0.

Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn combined to hit three home runs tonight, giving the duo 67 on the year. The record for a Cincinnati pair of sluggers is 87 home runs, hit by Ted Kluszewski (47) and Wally Post (40) in 1955. The 1970 Reds fell just short with 45 by Bench and 40 by Tony Perez.

Victor Martinez continues to pour on the offense. He went four for five tonight with four runs scored. His double and homer give him 18 extra-base hits since the All-Star break in 39 games. He had 23 EXBH in 76 games before the break.

The streak is over. Jermaine Dye just hit a double off Felix Hernandez, the first extra-base hit off the Seattle youngster in the majors.

Update: In the third inning, a double first. Brian Anderson of the White Sox hits his first major league home, and it's also the first major league home run allowed by Felix Hernandez.

Randy Johnson threw 104 pitches tonight, 78 for strikes. That's an impressive 75%. The Royals only manages four hits and one run against the Big Unit tonight. They did get the bat on the ball, however, as Johnson only struck out six through eight innings.

Esteban Loaiza continues to be tough to hit at home. He went seven more innings this evening, allowing the Cardinals just three hits. He's given up just 75 hits in 89 innings at home, 100 hits in 82 2/3 innings on the road. His control was poor, however. He walked four when he had only walked 15 at home all year.

Still, the Nationals kept pace in the wild card race with the 4-1 against the majors best team.

The AP is reporting that Roy Halladay won't be back this year. That's a huge blow to the Blue Jays chances of winning the wild card.

Derrek Lee struck out for the second time with men on base to end an inning. Todd Jones is going for his third 4+ out save of the year. Barrett opens the ninth with a single.

Update: Jones gets Burnitz to ground to Cabrera to end the game with a double play. Conine and Cabrera combine to go five for nine with four RBI from the 2 and 3 slots. So far, the change is working for the Marlins. They temporarily move alone into 2nd place in the wild card race, one game behind the Phillies

Jack McKeon tried to let Jason Vargas work out of trouble in the sixth inning. He got two outs, but gave up six hits and five runs to make it a 7-5 game. Messanger is on to face the tying run, Derrek Lee.

Update: On a 3-2 count, Messanger throws a perfect pitch that cuts back over the plate at the knees, on the outside corner to strike out Lee. The game goes to the seventh with the Marlins holding on to their 7-5 lead.

The Marlins are not the only team usings a new third baseman in this game. Nomar gets a start at third and makes a throwing error on a bunt by Juan Pierre. With Vargas at first (he's batting .313), Pierre bunted (looks to me as if he were going for a base hit). The shortstop, Cedeno, went the wrong way, breaking for third. The second baseman, Perez, went to cover first. Nomar was going to throw to second to get the runner (the ball was bunted firmly) but no one was there! Nomar then slung the ball in the direction of first base, to the outfield side of Derrek Lee. Nomar got the error, but Cedeno made the bad play.

Update: The official scorer called it a Sacrifice and Error. I thought he was bunting for a hit, but the defense treated it like a sac.

Update: Vargas gets his 2nd hit of the game, making him six for seventeen on the season with two doubles.

Jack McKeon moved Miguel Cabrera is replacing Mike Lowell at third for the Marlins. Jeff Conine moves to left to replace Mike in the batting order. Conine's power is pretty much gone, but he's doing an excellent job of getting on base. With Castillo injured, Conine is batting 2nd.

I like this move. Much as I like Mike Lowell, he was given ample opportunity to break out of his slump. The cost in defense if likely worth the boost in offense. Now, if they just move Pierre out of the leadoff spot when Castillo comes back...

The Washington Nationals are hanging in the wild card race with the rest of the NL East. They'll have a big test tonight as they host the St. Louis Cardinals. Jeff Suppan faces Esteban Loaiza. Loaiza is helped by RFK, but not in the home run department. He's pitched just about the same number of innings home and road, allowing 8 homers in Washington vs. seven away. The big difference is hits allowed. Twenty-eight fewer hits have fallen in at RFK against the righty. Couple that with 12 fewer walks, and you have an ERA almost two runs lower at home. Suppan is coming off three good starts in which he's allowed 3 earned runs in 20 innings. He's only allowed one home run in that time.

It's an all-Hernandez night in Seattle as the White Sox take on the Mariners. Orlando Hernandez challenges the 19-year-old fireballer Felix Hernandez. Orlando's only won one game since the All-Star Break, despite lowering his ERA. Felix is wowing the baseball world with his ability to strike out batters and his control. He's yet to allow an extra-base hit. His BA, OBA and Slugging percentage allowed are all under .200.

Enjoy!

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David Wells agrees that Palmeiro's records should be erased.

Wells also offered his take on Rafael Palmeiro, saying a lie detector test may be the best method to show when the Baltimore Orioles first baseman used steroids. He said Palmeiro's accomplishments should be removed from baseball's record books if he used them for a while.

"The best way to solve it is probably a lie detector test and put him on it and say, 'How long have you been doing it, when did you take them, for what part of your career?"' Wells said.

"If he's been doing it a while, then go ahead and erase (his accomplishments). It's a shame to do it, but you know you have to do it."

In Juicing the Game, I thought he made sense. On page 302 of the book, Bryant describes Wells as believing "steroid use in baseball represented nothing more than a kind of Darwinism." I guess that Wells changed his mind.

Soccer Dad links to an article about Rick Short, a career minor leaguer who is close to hitting .400 this year. He also has pictures of last night's Orioles game.

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With a hurricane name Katrina, how can the Weather Channel not be using this song as its theme?

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

I was on Sports Bloggers Live today discussing phenoms. You can listen at the link.

The New York Mets take all four games from the Diamondbacks by a combined score of 38-7. In three of the four games, the Mets pitching staff held the Snakes to one run. Wright, Jacobs and Diaz each added another hit tonight with Diaz blasting his 9th homer of the year for the margin of victory. The Mets stay with the Marlins as each pick up 1/2 a game on Philadelphia.

The Kansas City Royals follow up their long losing streak by taking series against the Athletics and the Red Sox, winning 2 of 3 from each. Schilling showed good control tonight in his first start since returning from the DL. He struck out five and walked one, but he was also hittable, giving up nine safeties in five innings, leading to six Royals runs. The Royals bullpen once again pitched well, allowing just one run in four innings as the Red Sox go down 7-4.

They Royals now move to New York where they can continue to try to influence the pennant and wild card races. They swept the Yankees earlier this year in Kansas City.

The Rodrigo/Javy Lopez battery supplied plenty of volts from both poles tonight. Rodrigo struck out five in shutting out the Angels for seven innings. Javy provided all the offense with a two-run homer and two singles as the Orioles win 2-0. Javy is hitting .346 in August.

Here's some video of Oil Can Boyd at Yale Field in New Haven tonight.

Broadband.

Dial up.

It was great to see someone six months older than me still pitching. His control is great. He does give up some homers in a very low independent league, so I'm not sure he could move much higher in anyone's system.

I'm off to New Haven to take in to see Oil Can Boyd pitch in an independent league game tonight with my good friend Jim Storer. With any luck, I'll have video later.

I remember sitting in centerfield at Fenway in the mid-80's cheering for Boyd. We'd use our best rusted Tin Man voice and go, "Oil can, OIL CAN!"

Bobby Jenks pitches a perfect 10th for the White Sox victory, 2-1. He struck out 2. That gives him 26 K in 19 1/3 innings. It was also the first save of his career.

The Twins end up losing ground to the White Sox after making up about 1/3 of the distance from first place.

Ken Griffey is three for four today with a homer and two runs scored as the Reds lead the Nationals 5-1. The two runs give Griffey 1400 for his career. I don't have an updated all-time list, but that should put Ken in the top 75.

The homer was his 30th, only the 2nd time he's reached that plateau with the Reds. I figured before the season that if Griffey had 30 homers Cincinnati would be in good shape. The pitching wouldn't let that happen.

The White Sox were one out away from a 1-0 victory when Mike Ryan hit a liner down the first base line. Paul Konerko was playing in fron of the bag and dove toward the line. The ball ticked off his glove and rolled down to foul territory in right. Luis Rodriguez came around to score from first to tie the game.

It looks like, however, that Konerko's glove was in foul territory when he touched the ball. The broadcast doesn't have a good angle, but the first base umpire made the call. Since the ball didn't pass first, it should be the home plate ump's call. I can't tell for sure, but from what I've seen the White Sox have a good argument.

They've gone to extra innings in Minnesota.

Update: Blum is a force in the top of the 10th. He doubled leading off the inning. Then when Ozuna tries to bunt him over, the Twins went for the play at third. Rodriguez tried to get Blum with a sweep tag, but Blum pulled his leg back until the 3rd baseman's tag passed him, then made the bag safely. Timo Perez drives him in with a single to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead.

I'm watching Gustavo Chacin today, and he's wearing reflective sun glasses so you can't see his eyes. He kept reminding me of a cartoon character, and I finally figured out who it is. Hello, nurse!

I'm watching the Toronto-Yankees game in HD. I thought a bug was flying in front of the set, but it turns out it was a bug hovering over the grass. It looked like a big dragon fly.

The Athletics are using the same game plan as yesterday, scoring early and often. They plated eight runs in the first four innings yesterday against the Tigers, and they've scored five in the first three innings today. Not a lot of fireworks, five singles, a double, and a solo home run by Ellis. It looks like their offense didn't stay dormant for long.

Update: The A's keep pouring it on. They scored in each of the first five innings and now lead the Tigers 9-0.

The first four Yankees reach base against Gustavo Chacin, with A-Rod and Sheffield hitting back-to-back homers for a 4-0 New York lead. Rodriguez leads the AL with 37 home runs. That's beats his total for last season, and the nine he's hit in the month equals his April total, his high for the season.

First Frank Robinson and now Curt Schilling are saying that Palmeiro's stats should not count.

One day after Washington Nationals manager Frank Robinson said Rafael Palmeiro's records should be erased because of his failed drug test, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling told Boston WEEI radio's Dennis & Callahan show on Wednesday he agreed.

When asked if he would just erase the statistics, Schilling said:

"Yeah. I read something the other day about his career, his career numbers and how a lot of his career numbers coincide with certain dates and he obviously sat next to me in Washington [before Congress] and lied, so I don't know there's any way to prove that anything he did was not under the influence of performance-enhancing drugs."

Of course, Schilling had to change his tune in front of Congress, too. The Congressmen asked him about his public statements on widespread steroid use:

Now Schilling is saying he grossly overstated the problem. He says he had suspicions, but he never knew that players were actually using.

What, by the way, are we erasing the statistics from? Does Palmeiro not get an Encyclopedia entry? Are they deducted from the Texas Rangers stats? Do we take wins away from the Baltimore Orioles? Do the pitchers who faced him get their ERAs lowered? The stats are there. They happened. You can't erase them. The best you can do is remove him from official lists of leaders. I wish people who said things like this actually thought about what it meant.

Sidney Ponson ran into trouble with the law again. Isn't it time somebody did an intervention? This is the fourth time he's gotten in trouble since last December? Two fights and two DUIs. Sidney has a problem, and if he doesn't deal with it soon, he may end up like Dwight Gooden.

It's a good day to take the afternoon off and watch baseball. All six daylight games have wild card and division implications.

The long awaited Chacin-Chacon matchup takes place in the Bronx this afternoon. Gustavo Chacin is coming off three straight no-decisions. He's going through a bit of a rough patch in August, as he did in may. In each month, his walks equaled his strikeouts. Shawn Chacon's slugging percentage allowed is 100 points lower since joining the Yankees.

Jon Garland faces Carlos Silva in the rubber game of the White Sox-Twins series. Garland is looking to tie Bartolo Colon, who picked up his 17th win last night. The White Sox have lost 4 of Garland's last five starts. Garland's posted a 4.41 ERA in that stretch, but pitched well in three of the games. Sliva is making the Greg Maddux of the mid-90's look like a wild man. Silva's only walked 8 batters this season.

Get to the Cardinals-Pirates game early to see the undercard. You'll also get to see the best team in the NL.

Curt Schilling returns to the lineup tonight for the rubber game of the Boston-Kansas City series. It's amazing that the Red Sox managed to lose a 11-inning squeaker 4-3 last night. The two bullpens put together eight scoreless innings before a walk, single, walk and sac fly ended the game in KC's favor. I wonder which way Bill James is rooting?

Finally, Pedro Martinez gets to see if the Mets can score 10+ runs for him as he goes for his 13th win against the Diamondbacks tonight. He'll be opposed by former New Yorker Javier Vazquez. Pedro's yet to win in August, despite leaving his last start with an 8-0 lead. In each game, either his offense or bullpen failed him. Vazquez can't find a middle ground. In his last eight starts, he's either been brilliant or terrible.

Enjoy!

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Baseball Esoterica is a new blog by Eric Orns with a statistical bent. Check out his post on triples and doubles for an example of his research. He's even publishing a boxscore of the day!

The New York Mets demolished the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second game in a row. As Adam Rubin points out, they're doing it with youth.

They're the 22-year-old anchors of the Mets' infield for years to come, the future and the present bundled together. And last night Jose Reyes and David Wright had career games even though their careers have hardly started, each flirting with the cycle as the Mets steamrolled the Diamondbacks for a second straight night.

And Reyes and Wright have company in the sudden youth movement. Mike Jacobs slugged two homers, giving him four in his first 13 major-league at-bats.

The result: an 18-4 rout of the Diamondbacks last night.

The Mets offense was so good last night, even Jose Reyes drew a walk! Victor Diaz is playing great in Cameron's absence, as he did earlier in the year. Diaz's play suggests to me that the Mets should have traded Mike Cameron early this season, especially when he came off the DL and showed he could play. They might have been able to get a prospect or two and saved some money to boot.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The Oakland Athletics hitters entered tonight's game in a funk, only scoring 19 runs in an 8 game stretch in which the team went 1-7. They found their groove tonight against Bonderman and Roman Colon. The team hit four home runs and banged out 15 hits to earn a 9-2 victory over the Tigers. With an Indians loss, and the Yankees losing big late, it looks like we'll have another three way tie in the AL Wild Card race.

Carlos Pena did hit another home run, accounting for both Tigers runs.

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The Cardinals use six singles and two walks to take a 5-0 first inning lead. Given that Carpenter is on the mound, he should be well on his way to nailing down his 18th victory.

Derrek Lee became the first player in the majors to reach 80 extra-base hits this season, banging out two doubles as the Cubs lost 3-1 to the Braves today. That brings Lee's total to 81. I remember being impressed when Don Mattingly achieved 80+ two seasons in a row in 1985 and 1986.

The century mark is in sight for Lee. There have been two eras where we saw a number of 100 EXBH seasons. Between 1921 and 1938 the feat was accomplished seven times. In 2000 and 2001 it was accomplished seven times. The outliers are Stan Musial, with 103 in 1948 and Albert Belle with 103 in 1995. Belle's may be the most impressive of the lot, as the season was strike shortened that year.

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MLB is running a promotion where fans can vote for a Latino Legends Team. According to the article, 29.2% of players on opening day rosters were Hispanics born outside the United States. That makes the calculation used in this post come out to 12.7% African Americans in baseball, right in line with the overall African American population.

It looks like the news isn't too bad for Zach Duke.

"They're saying I might miss one start, at the most," said Duke, who was wearing a brace on his ankle after the game. "It hurts right now, that's for sure."

A good pitching matchup this afternoon in Chicago as Jorge Sosa faces Mark Prior. There's also a good triple crown matchup between Derrek Lee and Andruw Jones. Right now, it's Jones that is in first place in two of the three categories, home runs and RBI. It's unlikely that he'll raise his .272 BA high enough to take the crown. Lee only has 2 RBI in his last 10 games and is no longer in the top five in that category.

Chris Carpenter goes for win number 18 tonight in Pittsburgh. Kip Wells will try to hand Carpenter his fifth loss. Carpenter is 9-0 on the road this year with a 1.93 ERA. I looked to see where that ranks in relation to Clemens, and Roger has an 0.56 mark on the road. Any way you slice it, Roger is ahead of Chris for the NL Cy Young Award.

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Jeff Kent and Milton Bradley are not getting along. Given the two people involved, I just surprised it didn't happen sooner. There's video at the link that's worth watching as well.

A pox on both their houses. Kent has little credibility since lying about his motorcycle accident. Bradley is very sensitive to criticism. They're not the first teammates to hate each other and they won't be the last. It really doesn't matter as long as the team wins, which the Dodgers aren't doing right now.

There is one thing I'd like to comment on, however. A quote from Bradley:

"Me being an African-American is the most important thing to me - more important than baseball," said the 27-year-old center fielder, whose voice never went beyond his normal speaking level. "White people never want to see race - with anything. But there's race involved in baseball. That's why there's less than 9 percent African-American representation in the game. I'm one of the few African-Americans that starts here."

I also don't see what wrong with 9% of ball players being African-Americans. If 25% of ballplayers are Hispanic, that means less than 75% of ball players are American of some type (non-Americans other than Hispanics make up the rest). So if 9% of all players are African American, then 12% of American born players are African American, which is very close to the US census figure of 13%. In other words, if I'm being color blind about choosing players, I'd expect to wind up with between 12 and 14% African Americans among my American players. Now, unless you believe that African Americans are inherently better ballplayers than Americans of other origins, then I don't see the problem.

If anyone should complain it's the Asian-Americans. They make up 4% of the population, meaning that there should be about 30 Asian-American in the majors. As far as I know, the majority of Asians in baseball right now are foreign citizens.

Am I saying there's no racism in baseball? Of course not. I have no doubt there are racist people in the game. I wouldn't be surprised if one of you could find patterns of salaries, trades, minor league promotions, etc. to argue your point. But it's not shown in the percentage of African Americans in the game.

Update: See this post for an update on the percentage of Hispanic players in the league and an updated calculation based on that.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Roger Clemens and Jake Peavy have their own 1-0 game going in the sixth. Peavy's allowed five base runners through six, but no runs. The Padres got to Clemens for one run in the sixth with a Roberts triple and a Giles single. Clemens has seven strikeouts. The Astros have K'd just three times and walked twice, unusual vs. Jake.

Update: Brian Giles drives in his second run of the game with his 13th home run of the year. The Padres lead the Astros 2-0 in the 7th.

Update: Peavy gets the Astros in order in the ninth for his third shutout. Clemens is unlucky again.
Update: Peavy retires the Astros 1-2-3 in the 8th. Clemens is getting the short end of the stick again.

Everyone in the Red Sox lineup tonight has an on-base average above the AL mean of .331. Nice job by Theo and Terry.

Felix Escalona drives in the game winning run with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the Yankees a 5-4 victory over the Blue Jays. That puts Toronto 6 1/2 games behind New York in the wild card race. The pressure is on the Blue Jays now to take the last two games of this series or fall out of the race for the playoffs. They've lost a great opportunity to gain ground on one of the wild card leaders.

The Indians put together a come back win of their own, and with the Athletics losing to Detroit, the Yankees and Indians are atop the AL Wild Card race. The Yankees lead by percentage points.

Don Surber looks at baseball payrolls and standings and extracts three lessons. I like this one:

Lesson No. 1 is: Spending a lot is not as big a factor as spending too little.

There are many different ways to win in baseball. Young quality players are cheaper than old quality players. That's how the Twins and Athletics keep winning, and the Indians and Blue Jays seem to be on that track as well.

(Hat tip Instapundit)

If you have MLB extra-innings, turn on the White Sox-Twins game. It's 0-0 after six inning. Freddy Garcia has a no-hitter and allowed just two walks. The Twins had a man on third in the bottom of the sixth after an error, but a ground out to third kept him there, and then Dye made a great catch against the wall to keep the no-hitter in order and save a run.

Santana's allowed two hits and a walk. He's struck out six and has thrown just 73 pitches through six innings, 53 for strikes.

Update: Both pitchers retire the side in order in the 7th. Six more outs for a Garica no-hitter, that is, if the White Sox can score.

Update: With two out in the 8th, Blum singled against Santana. Ozuna, who has the other two hits on the night, launched a rocket to deep center, where Lew Ford made a fantastic catch, crashing into the wall to save the shutout. It's the third great catch against the fence today, with Shannon Stewart being injured on the first one.

Update: Leading off the 8th, Jacque Jones hits a massive home run to center field to give the Twins a 1-0 lead and break up the no-hitter. That gets Nathan up in the Twins bullpen.

Update: Joe Nathan is on for the save.

Update: With one out, Nathan walks Everett. Everett has both walks for the White Sox tonight.

Update: Nathan strikes out Konerko for the second out.

Update: Nathan strikes out Rowand to end the game. Freddy Garcia pitches a 1-hitter and loses. The Twins beat the White Sox at their own game with the 1 run victory, 1-0. This will go down in Metrodome history with Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.

The Twins are now 9 1/2 games behind the White Sox. Cleveland won as well, and have closed to 7 games in the AL Central. That division may be a race yet.

Correction: Fixed Cleveland's games back.

All the spare parts the Yankees gathered to hold the rotation together are starting to look like a pitching staff. Aaron Small's done well, as has Shawn Chacon. Now Al Leiter is even pitching well, giving up just 2 runs in seven innings tonight. More importantly, he struck out five while walking just 1.

Coming into tonight, the Yankees starters are 8-2 with a 2.80 ERA over their last 15 games. Leiter may lose this game (Toronto leads 2-1), but the ERA is going to stay right there. It's good news for New York fans.

Update: I didn't notice that Leiter pitched to the first batter in the 8th, who reached and came around to score. Leiter gives up six hits in 7+ innings and three earned runs.

The top three hitters in the Angels lineup are having an interesting night. They are 8 for 9 so far, but none have scored a run. They have driven in four, however, as the 7-8 hitters are 5 for 6. The Angels lead Baltimore 5-1 in the sixth.

Maybe a demotion and some competition from Chris Shelton was just what Carlos Pena needed to realize his potential. He hit two more homers this evening off the team that traded him to the Tigers, giving the Tigers a 4-1 lead on the Athletics in the 7th. He now has five home runs in four games since his return.

Ty Wigginton returned to the Pirate lineup tonight and ended up at third base in both the top and bottom of the inning. He's at his familiar position defensively, and in the bottom of the inning hit a bases loaded triple in his first at bat. Zach Duke takes a 4-0 lead into the top of the 2nd.

Update: Zach Duke was injured on the bases. Duke and Duffy each singled to start the 2nd. Then McLouth hit a liner to short that was dropped by Eckstein. Duke was retreating to the bag, and Duffy was running trying not to be forced. They got the force on Duffy, and then for some reason, Duke started to third and was immediately tagged out. As soon as he got back to the dugout, a reliever started warming up in the bullpen.

They're interviewing McClendon now, and he said Duke rolled his ankle and can't pitch in this game anymore. Lloyd doesn't know the extent of the injury. He sounds like it's serious.

This post at DePodesta For President made me want to look to see just how poorly NL lead off men were doing this season.

The coasts are in poor shape. I'm surprised by both the Mets and Dodgers having production this bad at the top of the order. The Mets surprise me because Willie Randolph was the quintessential lead off man, and he has Mickey Rivers hitting first. The Dodgers surprise me because DePodesta is the GM, and you'd think he'd supply Tracy with someone who could get on base from the #1 hole.

The heartland is well represented at the top of the heap with the Reds, Brewers and Cubs all having 1 or two players near the top of the pile. However, I'd like to know what happened to players like Rickey Henderson and Wade Boggs? Or even Brett Butler? These players got on base at about a .400 clip even in a low run era. I don't know why baseball has moved away from that type of player at the top of the lineup.

We get so much negative news about players and people involved in baseball that it's nice to see a positive story once in a while:

Mike Matheny is excited about returning to St. Louis, and not because he played there for the previous five seasons.

The philanthropic catcher will be in Chesterfield, Mo., to attend the grand opening of a baseball field designed specially for disabled children. Matheny is the prime sponsor of the project, which he hatched after attending a fundraiser in November 2003 in Indianapolis by former Cardinals teammate Scott Rolen, another charity-minded player.

Good job, Mike.

It looks like the advertising industry is having it's own Moneyball vs. Scouts battle.

Zach Duke faces a tough test tonight as he faces the St. Louis Cardinals. The undefeated rookie, however, may be shelved soon. The Pirates are worrying about pushing him too much. He's already pitched more innings than in any season of his career.

It seems to me he's going to need to go 200 innings at some point. He's 22 years old; that's young, but he should be done growing. The Cubs were very careful with Mark Prior, it should be remembered, and he's wound up getting injured frequently anyway. I understand the Pirates wanting to preserve this rare resource, but it would be a shame to miss seeing him pitch the rest of the season.

The White Sox visit Minnesota this evening. Freddy Garcia faces Johan Santana in the AL pitching matchup of the day. The Twins have picked up five games over the their last 10, going 8-2 to the White Sox 3-7. They can reduce the gap between them and Chicago under double digits with a win tonight.

Santana's been back to his old self in his last two starts, striking out 19 batters and walking just 2 in 17 1/3 innings. Garcia has thrived on the road this year, posting a 9-1 record and a 2.58 ERA, third in the AL.

Power and control will be on display in San Diego as the 2005 NL ERA leader faces the 2004 NL ERA leader. Roger Clemens had his worst outing of the year last Thursday, allowing five runs in 6 1/3 innings. Still, his ERA is 1.53. Peavy is leading the majors in strikeouts per 9 and walks just over 2 per game.

Enjoy!

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Noah Lowry was just 1 out away from his first complete game of the year, but he still picked up the win as the Giants defeated the Phillies 5-0. Lowry is putting up a good bid for pitcher of the month. He's 4-0 in August with a 0.57 ERA. He hasn't allowed a home run this month after giving up 17 in the first four months of the season.

The loss knocks the Phillies out of the top wild card spot as Houston hands San Diego a 6-2 defeat. Lance Berkman was the star as he punched out two doubles and a homer. Berkman's been in a bit of a slump. He's hitting just .235 in August, and the Astros fortunes have risen and fallen with Lance's bat.

The Mets picked up 1/2 game in the wild card race as well with a 4-1 win over the Diamondbacks. Tom Glavine pitched eight fine innings, allowing five hits and striking out five.

It's anybody's wild card race in both leagues now. There's a three way tie in the AL, and five teams are within 2 1/2 games of first in the NL. I'm hoping for a three-way tie this year and two days of playoffs to decide the winner. I'm seen late season comebacks, home run records broken, pitchers win 300 games, a team come back from 0-4, but I haven't seen a three-way playoff. Maybe this is the year.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Chipper Jones breaks the tie in Chicago with his second two-run homer of the game, this time of Kerry Wood. He's driven in all four runs in the game.

Jones now has 13 homers for the season. The lowest number he's had in a full season is 21 in 1997.

The AL action is over for the night, with the Yankees and Indians both winning. That puts the Athletics, Yankees and Indians in a virtual tie for the AL Wild Card lead. The Indians have played two more games, so they are one game down in the AFILC. Both the Yankees and Indians have three games left with Oakland, but New York and Cleveland do not play each other down the stretch.

Mark Mulder blew through the Pittsburgh lineup tonight, allowing just three hits in eight innings pitched. Isringhausen finished them off with a perfect ninth for a 3-1 St. Louis victory. The game took just 2:19.

There were 15 hits in the game, all but one of them singles.

One big reason the Indians got off to a slow start this season was the poor hitting of Victor Martinez. Before the All-Star break, Martinez was hitting just .236 with a .312 OBA and a poor .380 slugging percentage. About all he was doing well was drawing walks. Since the break, however, he's recovered well. With his two for four so far tonight he's hitting .375 since the break with an OBA over .440 and a slugging percentage around .575. His season averages are now very close to last year's numbers.

Jaret Wright recovered from his wild first inning and has pitched a great ball game since. Over the last six innings he's thrown just 72 pitches, striking out five and walking none. At 99 pitches he's probably done, but he leaves with a 2-0 lead and gave the Yankees staff a real boost.

Hudson and Carlos Zambrano are locked in a perfect pitcher's duel in Chicago as both retired the first nine men they faced.

Update: Atlanta gets three hits and two runs in the fourth.

Jaret Wright walks three in the first inning but does not allow a hit or a run to the Blue Jays. He threw 27 pitches, only 14 for strikes. With Johnson's complete game yesterday, the bullpen should be rested for action tonight.

Dave Campbell of the AP reflects on Carl Pohlad's 90th birthday tomorrow.

But Pohlad, a billionaire who built his fortune in banking and bought the club in 1984, has always believed in the people he pays to run the front office, scout for talent, make decisions in the dugout and take the field.

"He's never been one to micromanage," Ryan said. "Yet he's about as competitive a guy as I've seen."

Pohlad seems to be the anti-Gene Autry. Gene spent lots of money trying to win with the Angels, but his baseball people were never able to deliver a winner. Part of it was Autry's insistence on getting stars. The problem was that the stars were usually past their prime. Pohlad has good baseball people running his club. It seems that an extra $10 million dollars could go a long way to making the Twins a winner. At some point, maybe Pohlad decides he wants another championship before he dies and opens up the purse strings.

I'll be a guest on Sports Bloggers Live tonight at 7:40.

The Marlins pen picks up a struggling Dontrelle Willis. They pitch four 1 hit innings, allowing no runs, no walks and Mota struck out five. Dontrelle gets his 17th win of the season 5-2.

Bob McManaman sums up the Diamondbacks pretty well in the View From the Press Box section of yesterday's game story:

They just aren't that good. They're an average team with some pretty good players, but they have plenty of deficiencies. If they ever got in sync, they could go on a nice little roll, but don't hold your breath with this bunch. They're unpredictably predictable.

Luckily for them, their in a division of not that good teams. A nice little roll might give them the division.

Through five innings today, Dontrelle Willis has walked five and struck out 2. Coming into this game, Willis had a 3.4 strikout to walk ratio. This is the first game this season in which he's walked more than he's struck out.

He's worked hard today, throwing 105 pitches through five innings, but has a 3-2 lead. It's not clear if he'll come out for the sixth inning. But the bullpen is well rested, so McKeon may go there early.

Update: Antonio Alfonseca enters in the 6th. The Marlins still have a 3-2 lead.

I find this article disturbing.

Jason Giambi has learned to live without having his personal trainer, Bobby Alejo, at the ballpark. Now he has to get by without him altogether.

Alejo, who left his job as the Athletics' strength coach to join Giambi in New York after the 2001 season, is taking a job as the head strength coach for all 18 sports at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He ended his final trip with the Yankees on Sunday, and he starts his new job Sept. 1.

Now, if I were a parent, would I want someone who was involved so closely with steroid using players (McGwire, Giambi) to be responsible for my 18-year-old's conditioning? Alejo was strength coach for the Athletics from 1993 until Giambi left for New York, then followed Jason east. Did he really not know what was going on under his nose? If steroid abuse happens at UC Santa Barbara, is he going to ignore it?

One of the big reasons sited for being tough on steroid abuse is to protect young people. I suppose Alejo has plausible deniability when it comes to the players he coached, but I would not want Bobby Alejo in charge of my child's conditioning, and I would write a letter to the UCSB athletic department telling them so.

For those looking for a little afternoon delight, the Dodgers and Marlins finish up their series as Dontrelle Willis goes for his 17th win. But since my Aunt Frances' birthday, Dontrelle has posted a 0.49 ERA, although his record is just 3-2.

The Toronto Blue Jays open an important four game series with the Yankees tonight. Toronto was in the thick of the wild card race when they were swept by the Tigers. With the Athletics losing two of three to the Royals over the weekend, the Blue Jays are still just five games back from first, 4 1/2 from the Yankees. Scott Downs takes the hill for the Blue Jays. Since moving to a starting role, Downs strikeouts have gone up. He struck out 15 in 25 innings as a reliever, but 24 in 24 2/3 innings as a starter. Jaret Wright makes his 2nd start since coming off the DL. He struck out two in 6 1/3 innings in his first outing. When his K level approach those of his 2004 season, I'll be willing to believe Wright is back.

Enjoy!

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Paul Snyder became the newest member of the Braves Hall of Fame over the weekend. He's he scout that's most responsible for the talent that kept the Braves on top of their divisions for so many years. Of course, the article has to mention Moneyball.

In this “Moneyball” era, where some clubs have begun to place statistical analysis over the word of scouts in the field, Snyder describes the traditionalist value of the trained and experienced eye. He took part in some seminal moments that redirected the Braves.

Here's an example:

Snyder went to Curacao to watch a 15-year-old Andruw Jones and experienced a transcendent moment, when the kid sprinted around first before skidding to halt. Snyder could not rid himself of the image — “Oh, my God, that looks like Roberto Clemente!” — jamming his spikes to the same abrupt stop.

Both Snyder and statistical analysis GMs are trying to solve pattern recognition problems. They analyze data, compare it to data from the past, and based on those comparisons try to predict the future. There are situations where people do this just as well if not better than a computer. There's a passage in Juicing the Game describing how Barry Bonds wowed his all-star teammates one year by calling the type of each pitch as it left the pitcher's hand. Wayne Gretsky could stand behind his team's net, see how the players were arranged on the ice and know where to skate and where to pass to score a goal. People can be very good at these problems.

What we don't know about Snyder, however, is his failure rate. Gretsky and Bonds reside at the pinnacles of their sports. We can measure their pattern recognition success. What this article doesn't tell us is how many time he saw someone who looked like Clemente that turned out to be a dud. I'm willing to bet, however, that John Schuerholz does know the answer, and that's why Snyder received this honor.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Tony Graffanino just made what could be a game-saving catch for the Red Sox. The Sox lead 5-1 in the 9th, and Curt Schilling is in for his last relief appearance before he starts. With men on 2nd and 3rd, a fly is hit to no-man's land in right center. Graffanino ran back, fighting the sun, put his glove up, and the ball hit the heel. It rolled down his arm and Tony snatched it out of the air. Schilling gets a fly to center to finish the game and give the Red Sox the victory.

Kenny Rogers got out of his punishment by Major League Baseball, but his opponents have taken up the slack. In his third start since returning from his suspension, Rogers was beaten again as the Devil Rays scored six runs in six innings. Since his return, the one time AL ERA leader is 0-3 with an 8.50 ERA. He's allowed 17 runs in 18 innings.

Eric Milton appears to have found a way to limit the long ball. The first three months of the season Eric allowed 27 home runs in 17 starts. Since July 1st, however, he's made 10 starts allowing just 8 home runs. He went six today and did not allow a long ball as the Reds romped to a 13-6 victory over the Diamondbacks.

Brad Halsey continues to have a tough August. After posting a 2.20 ERA in five July appearances, he has a 7.97 mark this month.

Jason Vargas pitched the 13th complete game for the Marlins this afternoon as they treated themselves to a 7-1 victory at the expense of the Dodgers. That's the most in the majors as the Cardinals are next with 11. No team had 13 complete games last year, although four teams reached or exceeded that total in 2003. No team has reached 20 complete games since the 1998 season, when the Braves, Yankees and Phillies topped that mark.

The Chicago White Sox banged four home runs off Randy Johnson today enroute to a 6-2 victory and the end of their losing streak. That brings the Big Unit's total of long balls allowed to 29, one below his career high of 30 set in his first year with the Diamondbacks. Johnson still managed to complete the game, but homers have hurt him on the road this season where he's allowed 17 in just 77 innings for a 5.26 ERA.

Scott Rolen decided on surgery for his shoulder, ending his season. The good news is he should be ready for spring training in 2006.

I'm home from the beach. Blogging will resume full time again.

The Toronto Blue Jays were in a great position to make a run at the wild card with a number of upcoming series vs. teams ahead of them. I don't know what they expected from the Tigers, but Detroit finished off a sweep of the Blue Jays in grand fashion, beating the lone Canandian team 17-6. For the series, the Jays were outscored 29-13. Rather than gaining on the Athletics, Toronto is now just 2 1/2 games ahead of Detroit.

It was a good weekend for the Tigers where Alan Trammell is under fire.

The Detroit Tigers have an even better first inning than the Mets, scoring seven runs off the Blue Jays. Carlos Pena delivers the big blow, a three run homer. He returned to the lineup against Toronto on Friday and now has three homers and six RBI in the series.

The first three hits off Kris Benson today are all doubles, leading to two runs for Washington. Castilla gets the first single for the Nationals, making the score 3-0 with the Nats still batting in the top of the first.

Update: Benson does not last through the first inning. The Nationals collect eight hits (four doubles) against the righty, and so far have scored six runs.

According to Evan Brunell, there are calls to fire Terry Francona. I find that amazing. Evan breaks down the arguments and believes Terry should be praised, not fired.

My guess is that as long as Terry sticks with upper management's game plan, he's not going to be fired. That, after all, was Grady Little's biggest flaw. Francona handled the Manny situation well. The Red Sox are in first place. They're playing better than their Pythagorean projection. The idea that they would be better with someone else has little validity.

My wife had CBS Sunday Morning on this morning, and I watched a piece on the Washington Nationals. You can read the transcript here, but the video does not appear to be on-line. As I watched, I couldn't believe one shot in particular. Here's the voice over.

Frank Robinson is more than just the biggest name on this ball club. He's part of baseball history. Thirty years ago, he became the first African American to manage a big league club, which means he's in a unique position – not just to help rekindle baseball's relationship with an entire city but a specific part of the community that has grown ever more distant from baseball altogether.

A mural next to a weed-covered baseball field a few blocks from the Nats' stadium says it all. "Play ball?" Sure. Every kind but baseball.

The shot is looking from behind a backstop across a baseball field to a building where a mural depicts a number of sports but no baseball. A good point. But the weed-covered baseball field is just baloney. The weeds are behind the backstop, and from the angle of the camera they looked like they were well behind the backstop. The actual playing surface of the diamond looked fine. There was grass on the infield and the outfield. The grass was mowed. The dirt looked smooth. It was a perfectly usable baseball field, as nice as the ones in the park two blocks from my house. It's a small thing, but it makes me wonder about the rest of the piece.

The Mets can pass the Nationals today and move Washington into last place in the tight NL East with a win this afternoon. Kris Benson hosts Esteban Loaiza. The Nationals have scored four runs or less in each of Loaiza's last six starts. They've only allowed 5 runs in one of those, but have a 1-5 record in those games. Benson uses Shea to cover his weakness with the long ball. He's allowed 11 home runs in 50 2/3 innings on the road, just three dingers in 78 1/3 innings at Shea.

The Yankees send Randy Johnson to the mound to try to extend the White Sox losing streak to eight games. New York also sits 1/2 game behind the Athletics in the wild card chase, so a win this afternoon could put them back in front. Former Yankee Jose Contreras takes the hill for Chicago. Contreras shut the Yankees down for seven innings on August 9th, propelling Chicago to their penultimate victory 2-1. Johnson is making his 2nd start since skipping a turn in the rotation. The rest paid off against the Devil Rays; we'll see if it continues against the reeling White Sox.

Enjoy!

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Alex Belth was kind enough to send along a copy of Juicing the Game by Howard Bryant. I spent many hours on the beach this week with this book, and the read is well worth it. Bryant presents a fairly up-to-date history of latest offensive era and the possible causes; smaller stadiums, tighter baseballs, tiny strike zones and steroids. No one comes out looking very good in the end.

First, what I didn't like about the book. While an important story, it's a difficult read. Not only could I put this book down, there were a number of times I had to put it down. Parts captured my attention, and parts were just rehashing old stories that I've heard 100 times. The book could have been shorter and more effective.

I also found it somewhat disjointed. One chapter ends with Jeter talking to the press about steroids, denying that he uses them. The press turns to Giambi who is sitting nearby, and Jason also denies using them. It's a powerful moment in the story, given what we've learned in the last year. Instead of following up on this, Bryant totally switches gears and spends a chapter on the strike zone and implosion of the umpires union.

I also found the theme of the book difficult to discern. At times it seemed to be an indictment of the long ball era in general. If the same stats had happened without a steroid scandal, Bryant still would have written this book. At times, it's a screed about racism in baseball. Bryant at one point comes very close to blaming racism for Barry Bonds alleged steroid use. But the theme that covers this book the best is that everyone (owners, MLBPA, fans, umpires and the media) wanted offense, and that need forced the game to spin out of control.

In the final analysis, however, Bryant gets every angle of the era covered. He documents Bud Selig's ability to take credit for successes and blame everyone else for failures. He shows how the union's insistence on privacy rights ignored the desires of much of the MLBPA membership to fight steroids. He exposes the hypocrisy of Tony La Russa. The manager changed his story on what he knew about steroids to fit the situation.

He teaches us that baseball had the ability to test players by invoking a probable cause element of the collective bargaining agreement and never did. La Russa knew Canseco was using steroids and never told his bosses. Even if he had, it's not clear that Sandy Alderson (or any GM or owner) would ask for the test. Baseball hands weren't as tied as they liked to say publicly. He explains to us that the union could have tested players internally, keeping the results totally secret to determine the extent of the problem. The union could even penalize offenders by kicking them out of the MLBPA. They did nothing. He exposes the lack of education on steroids of the men who covered the sport and how people who did try to move the story forward were treated as pariahs.

The only people who get treated with kid gloves are the "crusaders," the scientists who are fighting for more testing and harsher penalties. Their views are accepted without the rigorous inspection everyone else receives.

Juicing the Game is worth the difficult read. The issues brought forth by Bryant deserve a long discussion. I'll be posting about points of agreement and disagreement with the book in the future. I hope you'll read the book and join the dialog.

The Kansas City Royals broke their losing streak last night, nipping the Oakland Athletics 2-1. It's difficult to assign credit for this win. The offense only scored two runs. The pitching staff allowed one, but a dozen Athletics reached base. You can almost credit this win to the Oakland offense, which was 0 for 13 with men in scoring position last night.

Joe Posnanski looks at the positives in this game for the Royals, including Ambiorix Burgos:

Burgos is a 21-year-old kid from the Dominican Republic who throws a 99-mph fastball and a devastating split-fingered fastball. Now, he does not always throw them for strikes. And he has, a bit too frequently, grooved a pitch and given up home runs. But he’s got some kind of stuff. Like so many of the Royals, he’s learning in the big leagues rather than in the minors. Results are mixed.

He came into face Oakland’s Nick Swisher, a hot-hitting rookie, who is part of an amazing statistic. The A’s are 63-35 when he’s in the lineup. They are 5-19 when he is not. Anyway, Swisher was up, Burgos got ahead one ball and two strikes, and then he threw two balls. The count was 3-2, the bases were loaded, the Royals had lost 19 games in a row. And then, Burgos looked in at the catcher. And he shook his head.

He wound up. Swisher readied himself for a fastball at about 100 mph.

Instead, this kid threw a splitter. An 88-mph split-fingered fastball. Swisher was so far ahead of it, he could have swung twice. But it only took one swing. He struck out.

“Unbelievable,” Jose Lima said.

“I just fell back and said, ‘Wow,’ ” Buddy Bell said.

“Take that,” Royals catcher Paul Phillips said.

Joe also defends Baird's record. It's a column well worth reading.

The Day by Day Database is up to date. It's also working again. My hosts had to move the site to a new server, which fixed the problem. I apologize if you tried to use the database for research over the weekend.

The Mets made a wise move in removing Pedro Martinez after six innings and 78 pitches. The problem is that the bullpen gave back six runs in the 7th. The Mets still lead by two, but Pedro would still be in if that was his lead.

Maybe the Nationals are starting to get their late inning mojo back. They've now outscored their opponents 185-162 from the 7th on.

Update: Pulling Martinez proves to be the wrong move. The Nationals score two off Looper in the top of the ninth to tie the game. It's gone to the tenth tied at 8.

Update: Chris Woodward singles in the winning run for the Mets in the bottom of the 10th. The early lifting of Pedro proves not to be fatal.

Hee Seop Choi has the single, double and triple in his first three at bats. He just needs the homer for the cycle. Cabrera and Delgado have homered for the Marlins, and Flordia leads Los Angeles 6-5 in the sixth.

Update: Choi was hit by the pitch his next time up. He should get one more chance. The Dodgers scored three in the seventh to take an 8-6 lead.

Update: Choi hits a sac fly in the 8th. No cycle tonight.

I'm told the server issues that are keeping the Day by Day Database from working will be resolved around 10 PM tonight. If I'm awake at that point, I'll let you know when it's been repaired. Thanks for your patience.

Xavier Nady broke a 2-2 tie in the 13th inning with a grand slam to give the Padres a 7-2 victory over the Braves. The Padres move back to the .500 mark with the win.

The Padres bullpen outlasted the Braves in this game. The Padres were in there for seven innings and did not allow a run. The Braves pen entered in the ninth, and after four one hit innings got bombed in the 13th. The Padres bullpen lowers their ERA to 3.48.

Shawn Chacon continues to be one of the best deadline pickups in baseball. Shawn pitched eight scoreless innings enroute to a 5-0 Yankees victory over the White Sox. Chacon lowered his ERA with the Yankees to 1.64, and he's allowed a .221 BA as a New Yorker.

The White Sox losing streak goes to seven games. They've been outscored 42-20. There great pitching staff is not keeping the games close.

The Red Sox announced this afternoon that Curt Schilling will return to the rotation on Thursday. He's getting an easy first assignment, pitching against the Kansas City Royals.

Schilling will remain in the bullpen for the final two games of this four-game series in Anaheim. Mike Timlin is expected to serve as the primary closer, beginning Tuesday, until Foulke returns. Schilling is 5-5 with a 6.37 ERA in 23 appearances this season.

I don't know how well Schilling will pitch. Schilling has a high ERA as a reliever, mostly based on the five home runs he's allowed in 23 1/3 innings. On the positive side, he's struck out 27 in those innings.

One big question mark will be Curt's in-game stamina. Can he go more than five innings? Early in the season he used a lot of pitches to get through a few innings. He's tough bird, and we'll see if his ankle is equal to that toughness

Two pitchers with good ERAs but poor records face off in Florida today. Brad Penny pitches for the Dodgers against Brian Moehler of the Marlins. Moehler is now the sometimes fifth starter as McKeon is using days off to get more starts out of his big three. Moehler is just 1-6 at home despite a 3.01 ERA. Penny beat the Mets 2-1 his last time out, but he only allowed 1 run over seven innings in his previous start and a poor bullpen performance cost him the game.

The Twins have picked up six games on the White Sox as the two clubs have opposite six game streaks. Minnesota will be challenged tonight as Kyle Lohse host Felix Hernandez. The young strikeout king is going longer in games than most seasoned veterans. He's able to do it by being efficient. In his last two starts he's pitched 16 innings while throwing just 193 pitches, just 12 per inning. That's Maddux like.

Enjoy!

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The man with one of the biggest collection of Expos memorabilia is putting it on sale.

Pearo is part of a forgotten baseball subculture that took root in upstate New York and parts of northern New England after the Expos were created in 1969. Whether because of geography -- Montreal was hundreds of miles closer than big-league stadiums in Boston and New York -- or a simple love of the underdog, some fans adopted the new Canadian team.

He's looking for someone from the Washington area to buy it, but has gotten no takers:

Now, Pearo said he would like to sell the collection to somebody in Washington -- lock, stock and bobble-head. He would like to see it put on display, but he's a little doubtful, having heard from a friend in the D.C. area that Nationals fans aren't interested in the team's past.

"I guess they feel like it's a brand-new baby," he said. "And not an adopted child."

The Royals lost to Oakland 4-0 last night in a game that reflects poorly on both teams. The Royals pitching had the game backwards last night as they walked 7 and struck out just 1. The Royals batters managed five walks and five hits, but with ten men on base could not score a run. Whatever magic Buddy Bell spun when he took over is gone, and the Royals appear to be a totally dysfunctional team.

The Athletics aren't all that much better, however. Their pitchers issued five walks to a team with the second lowest walk total in the majors. The offense put 16 men on base, but only brought around four of them. The Royals were 0 for 11 with men in scoring position, the Athletics 3 for 12.

The Royals become the first team to be guaranteed to finish under .500 with their 82nd loss.

The Giants blew a four run lead in the bottom of the ninth, losing to the Cardinals 5-4. It seems the San Francisco bullpen is worn out.

"We have some guys here who have been overworked," Alou said, "whose arms are tired."

Christiansen didn't take the comment lightly.

"Really?" he asked. "He's just now figuring it out?"

Alou has gone to the bullpen 389 times this year, tops in the majors. Scott Eyre appeared in his 65th game, also tops in the majors. Afterward, Alou said he's going to give Tyler Walker a few days off because the closer seemed drained.

According to the article, Alou was trying to rest the bullpen last night.

It's nothing new. But Alou intended to give the bullpen a break on Friday, and he let starter Brad Hennessey extend to 120 pitches, more than anyone on the staff this year except for Jason Schmidt. Hennessey made it through 7 1/3 innings, tossing all zeroes and continuing a dominant run against the Cardinals that began in his July 9 start.

That's great, but how about letting one reliever finish the game? When the Cardinals got a man on with one out in the 8th, Alou started playing the lefty-righty game. Why not just go to Scott Eyre for five outs? Eyre is equally effective vs. lefties and righties this season. He had a day off after pitching three days in a row, and only threw 8 pitches in his previous outing. Bringing in Eyre (or anyone) with the intention of finishing the game still rests the rest of the pen. Instead, we get Hawkins for one batter, Eyre for one batter, then Walker is expected to get four to finish the game.

But Walker had to bat in the ninth:

In the top of the ninth, the Giants scored two runs, chased Chris Carpenter (the majors' first 17-game winner) and pushed their lead to 4-0. But the long rally forced a Walker at-bat. Walker extended the count to 3-2 before hitting an inning-ending comebacker.

Walker admitted the long at-bat, with the temperature at 93 degrees, affected him in the bottom of the ninth.

Walker was due up 7th in the inning. A double switch wasn't in order because that meant taking out Vizquel, and you want Omar's defense in the game with a lead. If Eyre had started and finished the 8th, Alou could have pinch hit in that situation, then gone to Walker.

Alou was trying to win a close game, but if he had adopted a strategy of really resting the bullpen, allowing a reliever to try to finish the game, things could have turned out better for the Giants.

The Day by Day Database is up to date, however, my Python scripts are still not executing on the Hosting Matters server. I'll post when the problem is resolved.

Jay Payton continues to be a power force for the Oakland Athletics. He hit his 10th home runs for that team in his 114th at bat. He's not getting on base, but here's one case where the player's power is going a long way toward making the outs worth it. The A's lead the hapless Royals 3-0 in the third.

A.J. Burnett pitched a great game tonight to raise his record to 12-6. A.J. allowed just six hits while striking out nine through eight innings.

Beckett, Burnett and Willis now all have .667 winning percentages. The are a combined 40-20. It shows where lack of depth hurts. If the rest of the staff could be close to .500, the Marlins would be in first place in the east. Instead, the rest of the staff is 24-37, and Florida is chasing the wild card.

The Red Sox designated Mark Bellhorn for assignment this evening. The Sox are getting a good OBA without the strikeouts from Graffanino, making Bellhorn expendable. Long term, I still believe that Bellhorn would get on base better than Tony.

Jae Seo pitched eight shutout innings, getting the win against the Nationals 1-0. Given that his ERA is 0.39 in his three starts since his return to the bigs, and he pitched pretty well before he was sent down, you have to wonder if the biggest mistake the Mets made was not have Seo on the major league roster for the entire season.

Detroit set a season high tonight with five home runs against the Blue Jays. Brandon "Big" League allowed three of them in relief, giving him six in 20 1/3 innings pitched. The Tigers lead 9-5 in the eighth.

Mark Prior figured out the Rockies tonight, striking out 10 in six innings of work to help the Cubs to a 5-3 victory. Kerry Wood pitched another strong inning of relief, striking out 2. He now has 14 strikeouts in 8 innings as a relief pitcher. He's only allowed 1 hit.

The Day by Database is not currently working. My hosting service is working on the problem. I don't have an estimate as to when it will be fixed.

Scott Rolen needs surgery on his shoulder, and the sooner he has it the more likely he'll be ready to play next season. The question for Rolen is should he try to finish this season to help the Cardinals win.

"I have a chance of being part of something pretty special, or walk around in a sling," Rolen said. "One of the questions is, what's my best chance to win a ring as a St. Louis Cardinal?

"It might be not to play, and that's not an easy decision to say: 'I can't help this team, I can hurt this team - so my best shot at winning a World Series is not to play."'

What might make the decision easier for Rolen is that Abraham Nunez is having his career year. His OBA is 50 points higher than his average and his slugging percentage is 70 points higher. (There just seems to be something magical about moving to the Cardinals.) Rolen is probably better than the career average Nunez, but he's probably not better than the Nunez playing for the Cardinals right now.

The early game in Colorado should be an interesting pitching matchup. Mark Prior spins for the Cubs against Byung-Hyun Kim. Kim is a pitcher who can strike batters out at Coors. His record there this year is 3-5 with a 4.62 ERA, but better than his road mark. Prior has pitched poorly on the road this season, posting a 5.59 ERA and allowing many more hits. This could be a tough game for the Cubs.

Division leaders meet in Atlanta as Chan Ho Park and the Padres face Mike Hampton and the Braves. The Padres returned to 2 games under .500 with their loss last night but still have a three game lead in their division. They're trying to give away the division but no other team seems willing to take it.

The Yankees visit the south side of Chicago to face the White Sox. Last week, the two teams hooked up in a very low scoring series in which the White Sox took two of three. Chicago outscore New York 6-5 in the three games. Tonight should be a good duel as Mike Mussina takes on Jon Garland. Mussina's been a crap shoot this season. You'll get great starts like the one against the White Sox on the 8th, or poor ones like his start in Cleveland on August 3. Garland's making his 2nd try for his 17th win. His big improvement this season is the reduction of home runs allowed. He gave up 34 in 2004, only 17 so far this season.

Finally, some team's losing streak will end in Oakland tonight. They Athletics send Rich Harden to the mound to stop their four game streak, while the Royals counter with Mike Wood in an effort to end their 18 game skid. This is Wood's third start of the season. The good news is that he's only walked one batter in his two other starts. The bad news is that he's allowed 16 hits in 11 2/3 innings. Oakland lost the last three games Harden started, although he pitched well enough to win two of them. He's coming off a particularly tough loss against the Twins in which he allowed just one run over eight innings.

Enjoy!

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The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Tangotiger is once again calling for the baseball community to contribute to the 2005 Scouting Report.

What I would like to do now is tap that pool of talent. I want you to tell me what your eyes see. I want you to tell me how good or bad a fielder is. Go down, and start selecting the team(s) that you watch all the time. For any player that you've seen play in at least 10 games in 2005, I want you to judge his performance in 7 specific fielding categories.

I love this idea, using the great baseball knowledge of the public to turn subjective judgements into objective data. I hope everyone will participate.

The Milwaukee Brewers got to Roger Clemens tonight, scoring four runs off him in the 7th for five on the game. That's more than Roger allowed in his previous five starts. It raises his ERA to a still incredible 1.53.

Zach Duke put up more zeros tonight as the Pirates defeat the Mets 5-0. Duke allowed just two hits over seven innings and lowered his ERA to 1.87

If Oliver Perez can straighten himself out next year, the Pirates can have their best starting duo since Drabek and Smiley.

The San Diego Padres failed to score for the second straight game. That's 18 innings without scoring a run for San Diego. They've now been held scoreless 12 times, second only to the Astros offense at 14.

The Washington Nationals had their good and bad luck cancel out today. The good luck was Tony Armas Jr. allowing five hits and six walks in five innings, but the Phillies were only able to score 2 runs. The bad luck was that despite that performance and a shutout by the bullpen, the Nationals still lost 2-1. They were once the kings of the one run win, but now the Nats are 25-24, about where they should be in those games.

The Phillies take the wild card lead, pending the outcome of tonight's contests.

The Baseball Crank looks at the longevity of young phenoms.

A huge double header in Philadelphia today as the Nationals and Phillies make up the rain out from the other day. Armas and Padilla are scheduled to face each other in game 1 with Drese and Lidle taking the mound in game two. If either team sweeps they'll be guaranteed at least a share of the wild card lead. The Nationals have out-homered the Phillies in their head-to-head matchups 13-4. Despite that, the Phillies lead the season series 6-5.

The Padres and Marlins compete in the pitching matchup of the day as Jake Peavy faces Josh Beckett. Peavy never seems to tire. If you look at his splits by pitch count, he never goes through a bad stretch. Beckett is a different pitching at home. Opponents are slugging just .296 against him at Dolphin Stadium vs. .400 on the road.

The Red Sox face the Angles in a possible post-season preview. Tim Wakefield faces Bartolo Colon. The real stars of this game are the power hitters, Vlad, Manny and Ortiz. It's tough to determine who is the best hitter among the three. Ortiz and Manny are more selective, but Vlad makes up for the lack of walks with hits. Their slugging percentages are within 5 points of each other. The difference in RBI is bases on the Red Sox putting on lots more base runners for Manny and Ortiz.

Don't forget that Roger Clemens and Zach Duke are pitching tonight, trying to continue their great seasons.

Enjoy!

Correction: Fixed the Phillies record against the Nationals.

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The Blue Jays won again last night, defeating the LAnaheim Angels 4-1. Along with Minnesota, they picked up a game on the field last night and are just four out of the wild card. With better luck, they should be winning the division.

A good case can be made for Toronto being the best team in the AL East. With 591 runs scored and 505 allowed, the Jays record should be six games better than 63-57. In fact, they should be leading the Red Sox by two games.

The Jays have not been able to win the close games this season. If they had played .500 in one-run games, they would be four games better than they are now and tied for the wild card lead. As we saw with the Nationals, luck in close games can turn quickly. If it does for Toronto, they can continue to surge in the race for best of the rest.

One big part of the Blue Jays success this season is their defense. They have an above average DER, and they've allowed just 33 unearned runs, tied with the Angles for fewest. Their DIPS ERA is higher than their actual ERA, indicating a lucky staff, or in this case, a very good defense behind the pitchers.

I'm still not crazy about the offense. When I look at the aggregate lineup for the season and see the #2 and #3 hitters with OBAs below .320 I wonder how they score many runs at all. But Riccardi found the pitching and defense, and his offense is good enough to win with that.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Dontrelle Willis picked up his fifth shutout of the year tonight, downing the Padres 6-0. He passes Chris Carpenter for the NL lead in shutouts. With the complete game going the way of the dinosaur, getting five complete games in a season is pretty impressive, let alone five shutouts.

The top three teams in the AL Wild card race all lost today, with Oakland, New York and Cleveland all going down to defeat. The Athletics have cooled off, losing four in a row. The Yankees are now 4-9 vs. Tampa Bay. Cleveland was shut out by one of the worst pitching staffs in the AL.

It's good news for Minnesota and Toronto. Johan Santana appears to have found his groove again as the Twins are shutting out Chicago 5-0 in the 9th. Santana has 10 K and just 1 walk through eight innings. The Blue Jays scored first vs. the Angels and have a 1-0 lead in the middle of the first. Both those teams can pull within 3 1/2 games of the wild card lead with a victory.

In the NL, Carlos Zambrano out-pitched Roy Oswalt and Jon Lieber picked up a win for Philadelphia to put the Astros and Phillies in a tie for the wild card lead. Washington is just 1/2 game back. Florida and the Mets also gained with wins, meaning 2 1/2 games separate the top five teams. It's shaping up to be an exciting last six weeks of the season.

Texas breaks its eight game losing streak with a 3-0 win over the Cleveland Indians. Chris Young pitched eight shutout innings while Mike Young provided a first inning, two-run homer. The Rangers allowed 75 runs in the eight losses.

My family and I just got back from game 1 of the double header at Norwich. The Navigators were hosting the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the AA affiliate of the Blue Jays. Norwich starter Anthony Moreno was hit hard. He gave up 3 runs in the third and four more in the fourth before Norwich manager Bob Stanley pulled him with 2 out and 2 on. Oscar Montero entered the game and gave up a three run homer to make the score 10-5 in favor of the cats. Montero got out of the inning. We were sitting behind home plate, and Stanley walked over to where we were sitting to retrieve the pitching chart from one of his players. After getting the chart, he looks right at me and says, "Can you pitch?"

I replied that I wished I could. In the middle of the seventh, after Montero pitched effectively, Stanley came by and told me he wouldn't need me for the 2nd game. Given that I can't get the ball to the plate, I was quite relieved. :-)

We're off to see the Norwich Navigators game this evening. They're the Giants AA affiliate. It's Don King night, and if we're among the first 1000 through the gates, we'll get a Don King wig! And I'd be willing to go just for the baseball. :-)

D.J. Carrasco gives up a grand slam to Adrian Beltre in the first inning to put the Royals well on their way to their 18th loss in a row. The Mariners lead 4-0 in the bottom of the first. Beltre now has seven homers since the All-Star break after hitting just nine in the first half of the season.

Miguel Tejada doubled and scored in the second inning today to help the Orioles to a 2-0 lead early. It's Miguel's 41st double of the season, one away from his career high set in 2003 with the Athletics. Tejada hit between 30 and 33 doubles from 1999 through 2002. He's been right around 40 since then. He's increased his doubles power without increasing his home run power.

Chris Shelton continues to be everything the Tigers hoped Carlos Pena would be. He has two more hits today, including a solo home run. Through six innings today, his OBA stands at .399 and he's slugging .550. A righty batter, he's hitting equally as well vs. pitchers of either handedness.

The Seattle Mariners extended the Royals losing streak to 17 games last night, but Kansas City won't get much time to think about it as they come back this afternoon to try to break the losing streak. D.J. Carrasco will attempt to spin a win vs. ageless lefty Jamie Moyer. The two sport nearly identical ERAs, but Moyer is 9-4 while Carrasco has won 5 and lost 6. Carrasco has walked almost as many as he's struck out, 40 BB to 41 K. Moyer's been unbeatable at home, posting a 6-0 record and a 2.87 ERA at Safeco.

Two great pitching matchups come up under the lights. In Houston, Zambrano of the year runner-up Carlos faces the Astros' Roy Oswalt. Zambrano is posting a 1.06 ERA in August and has not allowed a home run in three starts in the month. Oswalt is 10-1 at home with an ERA about .7 runs lower than on the road.

The other matchup pits Johan Santana vs. Mark Buehrle. The Twins took the first two games of this series and are now just five games out of the wild card. In his last four starts, Santana faced the Athletics, Red Sox and Yankees and the Twins took away three wins. The White Sox are just 3-5 in Buehrle's last eight starts, including a loss to the Royals. Buehrle's ERA in that period is 4.33, and he's only striking out 4.0 per 9.

Enjoy!

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The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Nate Robetson pitched eight great innings against the Red Sox tonight, allowing just 2 hits and 2 runs. For some reason, 90 pitches was enough for Nate, as Rodney came in to pitch the ninth. He blew the save and sent the game into extra innings. Three different pitchers then allowed seven runs in the 10th inning. The Red Sox are one out away now from a 10-3 victory. If anyone saw the game, was there any reason Robetson came out after eight?

Eduardo Perez has a good story to tell his grandchildren. He hit home runs in the same game off Randy Johnson and Mariano Rivera. The second one tied the game and gave Mariano another blown save. The Yankees and Devil Rays are tied at 3 in the tenth.

Randy Winn is starting on another cycle. Through four he's 2 for 3 with a single and a double.

Fangraphs is a new site that compiles 21 different graphs for each major league player each day. Take a look, you may find some useful information there.

Randy Johnson returns to the mound after a nine-day layoff to face the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Johnson pitched two poor games before being given a short vacation. Randy's been knocked around by the DRays this year, giving up 12 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings while striking out 11. While walking just one, he's allowed five homers to the bay side bombers.

I'm not sure how to call the Royals-Mariners game tonight. Given the ERAs of Greinke and Pineiro, you might think it will be a slugfest. But given the the two poor offenses involved, it could easily be a pitching duel. Greinke is just giving up a ton of hits, which is not surprising given that the Royals have the worst defensive efficiency rating in the AL. He's probably a better pitcher than his ERA indicates. Pineiro's main problem is the 20 home runs he's allowed.

Enjoy!

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Congratulations to Randy Winn on hitting for the cycle last night.

The Giants turned a 4-3 lead into a 7-3 comfort zone with three more runs in the sixth, and Winn started it all with a cycle-completing triple. His first three hits off Harang came left-handed, and he turned around and batted right-handed against reliever Randy Keisler, tripling to right-center.

"I knew I needed a triple, but a triple is so hard to hit," Winn said. "You hit very few in a year. To hit one in a game when you need it for a cycle, it's impossible to try to do it. If you need a single, you could bunt or do some other things. To hit a triple, usually something funky has to happen, the ball kicking past an outfielder or somebody falling down. It's hard. If you could hit one in the gap every time, you'd be a great hitter. It's a lot of luck to hit for a cycle."

Has anyone seen any data on how many switch hitters got hits from both sides of the plate in hitting for the cycle?

Felix Hernandez continued the great career start last night, striking out 11 Royals to pick up his second win. He gave up a run to raise his ERA to 0.86. He's now struck out 21 in 21 innings. He's allowed no home runs and just three walks. He's giving Seattle fans lots of reasons to be excited about the future of the team.

His win was the Royals 16th straight loss.

The 16-game skid extends a club record for futility and ranks as baseball’s longest since Baltimore opened the 1988 season with 21 consecutive losses.

Matt Stairs and Chip Ambres are the only Royals producing any offense. Five hitters are in double digits in strikeouts during the streak. Maybe it's time for some of them to choke up on the bat.

The Athletics lost two in a row for the first time in over a month. They lost two in a row to Toronto back on July 6-7. Since taking two of three from the Angels, Oakland's gone 1-3, scoring just 8 runs in the four games.

I thought the Athletics run was over when a real skeptic turned and started betting on Oakland to win a lot of games. We'll see if I was too early with that prediction.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The Tigers came back from a 6-3 deficit to beat the Red Sox in the bottom of the ninth. One of the big hits was a triple by Dmitri Young, his third of the year. With 27 triples for his career, I wonder if Dmitri is the heaviest player to have that many three-baggers in his career.

Schilling ends up giving up four hits and three runs in an inning of work. His relief ERA is now 5.48. That's still better than Foulke's 6.23

The solo shot is the preferred method of scoring tonight in Cincinnati. The Reds lead the Giants 3-2, and all five runs came on solo shots by Winn, Linden, Griffey, Dunn and Kearns.

If you told me at the beginning of the year that Griffey would be hitting this well, I would have assumed the Reds would be a winning team. The quality of their pitching just can't match their offense.

The Preston Wilson trade is paying dividends to the Nationals tonight as he's hit two home runs to help Washington to a 5-2 lead in the fifth. Despite the move from Coors to RFK, Wilson is managing to his home runs at about the same rate he did with Colorado this year. He's hit two at RFK and four on the road since joining the Nationals.

For the third game in a row, Alex Rodriguez gave the Yankees the early lead. After singling in runs in the first the last two days, Alex waited for the fourth inning to put New York on the scoreboard tonight. He hit his 36th home run of th year, equalling his mark from the 2004 season. He's hit 8 this month, and the most he's hit in a month this season is 9.

The Nationals and Phillies face off in a wild card showdown this evening. Philadelphia trails the Astros by 1/2 game, and Washington is 1/2 game behind Philadelphia. Iron man Livan Hernandez takes the hill for the Nationals. After pitching in hard luck for most of July, Hernandez deserved his last two losses, giving up 9 earned runs in 11 2/3 innings on 22 hits and six walks. Brett Myers throws for Philadelphia. He has an interesting record at home where he's 7-1 despite a 4.14 ERA. On the road, he's just 3-4 with a great 2.67 ERA.

Toronto is still holding on to wild card hopes. They're six games behind the Athletics, and face the LAnaheim Angels tonight in the start of three game series. Gustavo Chacin continues to have a fine season, posting a 3.39 ERA. He's kept the ball in the park on the road, allowing just 3 of his 13 homers away from Skydome. He'll face Ervin Santana. Ervin's been magic since the break, posting a 3-1 record and a 2.59 ERA. It's not clear why he's been better since the break, except that many fewer hits are dropping in against him.

Enjoy!

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The Red Sox are beating the Yankees on the web:

The Boston Red Sox's recent edge over the New York Yankees appears to extend to the digital domain. And George Steinbrenner probably can't do anything about it. Last week, the sports publisher Street & Smith's released its ranking of professional sports Web sites, and in the baseball category the Red Sox led the major leagues while the Yankees were near the cellar - in 27th place among 30 teams.

I've noticed I get more traffic when the Red Sox or Cubs do well than when the Yankees do well. It could just be that the fans of those two clubs are more internet savvy.

There was an interesting reaction to Rafael Palmeiro yesterday:

When Rafael Palmeiro strode to the plate yesterday for his first plate appearance since he was suspended for a positive steroid test, the boos showered down on him like rain. Then, just when you thought that there would be no ambivalence from the sweat-soaked crowd at Camden Yards, a cheer rose up to drown out the righteous multitude.

The scene would be played out at a lower volume the next time Palmeiro was introduced.

First boos. Then cheers.

It even seems some fans came to the game just to boo him:

It was a strange scene that got stranger when a surprisingly large number of fans got up after the first inning and left the ballpark, apparently braving the 106-degree heat index just to register their disapproval at the first sight of their fallen hero.

They could have stayed home in protest, but I guess they didn't want to give David Steele the satisfaction, so they came, they booed and then they miraculously morphed into golf fans.

I would say a mixed reaction like that from home town fans is bad for Palmeiro. Wade Boggs got a standing ovation from Fenway when he appeared after the Margo scandal. It sounds to me like Palmeiro is going to get much worse treatment on the road.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Matt Morris is on the mound for the Cardinals tonight, but Mike Mahoney is doing the catching. The 32-year-old former Cub (who got two cups of coffee with the team) hits the first home run of his career against his old team to give the Cards a 1-0 lead. It doesn't last long as Patterson hits a two-run shot in the bottom of the second off the other half of the MM battery.

Kansas City was only outscored by two runs in the double header today. However, that was enough to lose both games, 8-7 and 1-0. They celebrate the 1985 championship by getting swept by Detroit and extending their losing streak to 15 games.

Maybe the Nationals pitching staff is as good as they look at RFK. The team went into Colorado and not only swept the Rockies, but shut them down offensively. The Washington pitching staff yielded just four runs in the three games and even managed to pitch a shutout in game 2.

More importantly, they gain two games on the Astros, and are tied with the victorious Phillies, one game back of Houston. Tomorrow, the Nats head to the city of brotherly love for another wild card showdown.

Pedro Martinez is pitching a no-hitter through six innings. The Mets, of course, have never had a no hit game in their 40+ year history. Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden never pulled off the feat (at least, not with the Mets). Can Pedro succeed where others failed?

Update: Pedro set the Dodgers down 1-2-3 in the 7th. He's only struck out four and walked one.

Update: The Mets broadcast is reporting that the last no-hitter at Dodger Stadium was in 1995 by Ramon Martinez and the catcher was Mike Piazza. Pedro strikes out Ledee to start the 8th.

Update: Antonio Perez triples off the left centerfield wall for the first hit of the game for the Dodgers. With the score 1-0 Mets, Pedro needs to get the next two batters to preserve his chance for the win.

Update: Jason Werth hits a home run deep into the left field bleachers to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Pedro's gone from no-hitter to a loss in 4 pitches.

The Royals lost game one of their double header with the Detroit Tigers, running their losing streak to 14. The Royals did at least make it a game, as they fought back from a 5-1 lead to tie the game at 7 in the 7th. They'll get another chance to break the streak in the night cap.

Cliff Lee did his best to prevent the Tampa Bay Devil Rays from sweeping the Cleveland Indians. Cliff allowed just six hits through 8 shutout innings. But he wasn't to be the winning Lee. Tied at zero in the ninth, Bob Wickman came in to pitch and Travis Lee pinch-hit. Travis won the matchup, hitting a home run to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. Danys Baez pitched the ninth for his 25th save.

With the sweep, the Indians fall three games behind the Yankees in the loss column pending the outcome of the Texas-New York game.

Javier Vazquez is really giving up the long ball in the second half of the season. Before the All-Star break, Javy allowed 15 home runs in 119 innings. With the three he allowed today, he's given up 10 in 40 2/3 innings since the break. He's posted a 5.75 ERA in that time.

It's a tough choice for best pitching matchup of the day, but I'm going with Minnesota at Oakland. Carlos Silva pitched well over his last five starts but has no wins to show for it. The Twins only managed one in those starts. He's given up a home run in each start and 21 on the season to go with his 8 walks allowed. The A's lost Harden's last two starts. Although Rich gave up 8 earned runs in his last 12 2/3 innings, he's struck out 16. That indicated to me the last two games are just bad luck.

Pedro Martinez returns to where it all started, Los Angeles to face the Dodgers and Brad Penny. Pedro is coming off a rough start in San Diego after two tough luck losses. In five starts since the All-Star break he has a 4.09 ERA, mostly due to that last start. Penny is pitching better than his 5-7 record indicates. He's allowed 53 runs while his team has scored 72 while he's been in the game. Poor bullpen support?

Finally, the Cardinals and Cubs finish up their four game series with Matt Morris facing Mark Prior. Derrek Lee's done a good job in this series holding off the advance of Albert Pujols as both are in triple crown contention. Lee now has a 10 point lead in the batting race on Albert, and Pujols has a 4 RBI lead on Derrek. Lee trails Andruw Jones by two home runs, Pujols trails by four.

Enjoy!

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The Day by Day Database is up to date.

For the second day in a row, the Detroit-Kansas City game was rained out. With a 13-game losing streak, this has to be a moral victory for the Royals. :-)

The Pittsburgh Pirates were no match for Roger Clemens this evening. All they could manage against the Rocket were two singles, while Clemens set down nine on strikes. Rogers threw 88 pitches over eight innings, and Garner lifted Clemens.

Which would be fine if Roger had a lead. But all too often this season, the Astros haven't scored enough. Kip Wells and Salomon shutout the Astros through eight innings, leaving Clemens without a decision.

Lidge entered the ninth and immediately allowed a home run to Jack Wilson. The Astros now face a loss in what should have been an easy win.

The deal that brought Jay Witasick to the Oakland Athletics may go down as one of those brilliant Beane trades. He has a win, a save, and more importantly a 1.69 ERA. In 10 2/3 innings, Jay's given up six hits while striking out 17 and walking four. With Calero, Street and Witasick all with high strikeout rates, the Athletics have the type of bull pen that should be good at pitching out of trouble.

I'm on vacation. Blogging will be light, but I do have wireless internet access, so it won't be non-existent. I will be taking it easy this week, however. Be sure to visit the many insightful blogs on the blogroll.

The White Sox and Red Sox continue their series at Fenway Park this evening. Jon Garland goes for his 17th win, and Tim Wakefield vies for number 12. Garland is equally good this year vs. lefties and righties, at least allowing them to reach base. The few home runs he's allowed have mostly come from lefties. Wakefield has an amazing left/right split for a right-handed pitcher. Lefties are hitting just .192 against Tim, while righties check in with a .292 BA. The averages for OBA and slugging show similar differences.

It's really unfair to throw a pitcher like Roger Clemens against a team like the Pirates. Then again, it's unfair to throw Clemens against any club at this point. Consider that Clemens had just one bad outing this season, a game against the Cardinals in which he gave up four runs in five innings. That start occurred right in the middle of his 23 starts. In the eleven starts before that he was 3-3 with a 1.30 ERA. In the eleven starts since he's 7-1 with a 1.08 ERA! Roger's allowed so few extra base hits that his slugging percentage allowed in just eleven points higher than his OBA allowed! It's a season for the ages.

Enjoy!

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Last night's performance against the Oakland Athletics seems to have answered the question posed after his last start. Santana pitched a complete game shutout last night, using 110 pitches (80 strikes) to shut down the Athletics on 3 hits. More importantly, he struck out 9. Over his six previous starts, Santana's K per 9 was just 5.4, way down from his normal lofty values.

Last night's performance is what we expect from the Cy Young winner, but this year those great games are rare.

Haren also pitched a three-hit complete game for the A's. He walked two instead of one, however, and the walk to Ford led to the only run of the game on a stolen base and a single.

The complete game percentage continues to be higher than last year. Through this point in the season in 2004, 2.9% of starts were completed. This season, that number is at 3.9% Complete game shutouts are up slightly, 1.3% of starts vs. 1.5% of starts.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Vlad Guerrero just hit another amazing home runs. At firs I thought the ball was up in his eyes, but on the replay it looked more like it was at his shoulders. Despite the fact that the ball was way out of the strike zone, Guerrero found a way not only to meet the ball, but knock it 430 feet into the left field stands. Normally, pitchers can exploit a hitter who fishes for balls that far out of the zone. But Vlad, with those long arms and great bat speed doesn't seem to have a spot he can't reach with power.

The Toronto Blue Jays scored 12 runs tonight, picking up the second shutout of the night as they out hit, out walked, and out slugged the Orioles. Josh Towers evened his record at 9-9 with his first complete game since 2003 and only the third of his career. He needed just 96 pitches to finish off the orange birds. The first three hitters in the Blue Jays lineup did not get a hit (although each drew a walk). The 4-9 hitters banged out twelve, including three doubles and four home runs.

Curt Schilling did his best Keith Foulke impression tonight. He enters the game with a four run lead in the ninth and gives up two homers and three runs, but pitches well enough for Boston to get the win. The number three hitters had big nights as Ortiz had four hits, two homers and six RBI while ex-Red Sox Carl Everett went 3 for 5 with a homer and three RBI. Boston wins 9-8.

If you hit the leadoff batter and he immediately gets caught stealing, should that still count as a perfect game? Noah Lowry is testing that case tonight as he's faced the minimum through four innings, the only blemish being the Juan Pierre hit by pitch leading off the first. He's struck out four and thrown just 44 pitches so far. Dontrelle Willis is not matching the no-hitter, but he is matching the shutout.

Update: Conine gets a solid single leading off the 5th. Dueling shutouts continue.

Update: Lowry, Accardo and Walker combine to shutout the Marlins on a four hitter. Dontrelle Willis was the only pitcher to make a mistake tonight, giving up a home run to Randy Winn to take the loss in the 1-0 game. Dontrelle lowered his ERA to 2.79.

The Cubs took the second game of their series with the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1. It's too little too late in the division race, but it's good for the Cubs fans to see the home town team beat their arch rivals.

Derrek Lee continues to hold up his league leading batting average. He hit two doubles today to raise his average to .350 and added another RBI in his hunt for the triple crown. Pujols kept pace in the batting average race, going 2 for 4 himself.

A possible playoff preview in Boston this evening as the White Sox send Mark Buehrle to face David Wells. The White Sox just shut down the Yankees for three game and will try to do the same to the Red Sox. By allowing very few walks, Buehrle reduces a team's OBA to its batting average. In the case of the Red Sox, that's still very good. Boston is batting .313 in the month of August and .283 overall. Wells reduces an offense to its batting average as well. However, the balls put in play against David seem to be better at finding holes and fly farther.

The Pirates visit the Astros and send their pitching phenom, Zach Duke to the mound vs. Roy Oswalt in the duel of the night. The Astros took two out of three from Washington to put the Nationals three games back in the wild card race, and playing Pittsburgh this weekend gives them a chance to further solidify the lead. Duke had a relatively poor outing vs. the Dodgers his last time out, giving up four runs in 7 1/3 innings. But he still managed to strike out six while walking just two. The Astros lost Oswalt's last two starts. Roy's strikeouts were low in those two games, just seven in thirteen innings.

Philadelphia, just 2 1/2 games behind the Astros, travels to San Diego to face the rejuvenated Padres. Jon Lieber hurls for the Phillies. Since his 5-1 start, he's 5-9 with a 6.25 ERA. He's really been hurt by the long ball, giving up 19 home runs in his last 95 innings, 1.8 per 9. Jake Peavy takes the mound f