Nothing seems to be going right for the Cleveland Indians this season. Playing their cross-state rivals the Reds, the Indians led 7-0 after 7 1/2 innings. Paul Byrd pitched six strong innings. Hollandsworth had a double and a homer. Sizemore had two doubles. It was a night that the offense and pitching were on the same page.

Until the bottom of the eighth. Betancourt gave up four hits and two homers to the first four batters he faced. Still the Indians were up 7-4 and Carmona entered the game and retired the side with no more runs allowed. The Indians even picked up a run in the top of the 9th to make it 8-4!

Bob Wickman came in for the ninth. The closer. The man with no home runs allowed in 2006. He got two outs with two men on base, and one score on the second out. He just needed one more out. He walked two batters. He fell behind Dunn 1-0, and then Wickman and the Indians were done as Adam homered to right field for a 9-8 Reds victory.

Dunn had been 1 for 6 with the bases loaded this season. But his 2 for 7 (double, homer) and 2 sacrifice flys plated nine runs this season. His 26th homer of the year ties Albert Pujols for second place in the NL.

Lyle Overbay found a very good home in the stadium formerly known as Skydome. With his two home runs tonight, Overbay now has eleven home runs at home, three on the road. He's slugging .577 at home; that for a career .458 slugger. His road numbers are pretty close to his career averages.

I remember something similar happening to Devon White. He didn't seem like much of a hitter when he played for the Angels, but got a lot better with the Blue Jays. His road number didn't change. He just went from a park that was poor for him to a park that was great for his abilities. Overbay is seeing the same effect with his power hitting.

Mike Mussina held the Mets hitless through four innings when rain delayed the game between the New York teams. Mussina did not return after the delay. Ron Villone continued the no-hitter in the fifth, but the best Mike can hope for now is the combined no-no.

The Yankees lead 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth. Giambi hit his 24th homer of the year, a solo shot. That give Jason 11 home runs and 23 RBI in 21 June games.

Update: Endy Chavez singles to break up the no-hitter in the sixth.

Update: That's the only hit the Mets get as five Yankees pitcher combine to throw a 2-0 one hitter.

Rocco Baldelli is two for four with a homer and three RBI so far tonight as the Devil Rays are off to a 7-0 lead over the Nationals. Baldelli is off to a great start, now sporting a .410 OBA and a .653 slugging percentage. Along with Carl Crawford coming into his own (two home runs tonight) the Devil Rays are finally seeing their young dynamic duo play up to their potential. Since Baldelli returned, the Devil Rays are 10-10. A .500 season for the Devil Rays would be a huge leap forward.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Rays Index notes that the Devil Rays first pick in the June draft already received a promotion.

He is being moved to the high-A Visalia Oaks, in the process, bypassing the low-A Southwest Michigan Devil Rays (The Devil Rays tend to send hiting prospects to the hitter-friendly California League and pitching prospects to SW Michigan). At Hudson Valley, Longoria batted .424 (14-33) with 4 home runs and 11 RBI in only 8 games. Is Longoria on the fast track to the major leagues?

Longoria is 20 years old; baseball history is full of 20-year-olds who reached the majors quickly and became long term stars. He'll rise to a level where he can learn something new, and if that's the major leagues, so much better for Rays fans.

Dodger Thoughts has news that Jeff Weaver is going to be designated for assignment to make room on the Angels roster for his brother, Jered. A very good move by the Angels. Someone should pick him up as a long reliever/spot starter.

As for the East of Eden angle, there don't seem to be too many long, lanky actors any more. Chuck Connors would be perfect, and Jimmy Stewart could pull it off. Maybe the best you could do if they made him look taller.

It's the last weekend of interleague play, and there's a number of city and state rivalries taking place. It all starts with the White Sox heading north to visit the Cubs. The big story here is the return of Michael Barrett. He's not fanning the flames, however:

"We don't have much to say at this point," Barrett said. "We're both mature and professional enough to put it behind us and play the game.

"There will be a time when things settle down for both of us to sit down and talk about it and hang out. That's down the road. I think the last thing on their mind right now is that incident. I think they're more concerned about the Cubs, not Michael Barrett."

The Mets travel to the Bronx for a three game set with the Yankees. It's a good pitching matchup this evening as Orlando Hernandez faces his former team and Mike Mussina. Although El-Duque's ERA hasn't improved much moving from the DBacks to the Mets, he's walking fewer batters than he did with Arizona. Mussina is finishing up a poor June in which he's posted a 5.58 ERA. Opponents hit .407 against Mike with runners in scoring position during the month so far.

Kansas City visits St. Louis with the teams going in opposite directions. The Royals won 7 of their last 9 games, out scoring their opponents 63- 48. The Cardinals are 1-8 in their last 9, having been outscored 72-33.

Finally, the real Los Angeles visits LAnaheim as Brad Penny of the Dodgers takes on Bartolo Colon of the Angels. Penny could be the Dodger ace, but his lack of stamina hurts him. He's averaging less that six inning per start. Of course, the Dodger would rather have Brad pitch five innings than spend time on the DL. Colon's return from the DL hasn't given the Angels staff the boost they sought. While he's struck out 9 in 12 2/3 innings since healing, he's also allowed 17 hits.

Enjoy!

Due to technical difficulties, the Day by Day Database will not be updated until later this afternoon.

Greg Anderson is refusing to testify against Barry Bonds:

Geragos argued early in the day that his client shouldn't have to testify because the government had illegally obtained evidence that it failed to provide the defense.

The Los Angeles lawyer was referring to a secretly recorded tape in which Anderson allegedly said Bonds used undetectable steroids. The defense claimed, without offering proof, that the material was obtained by an illegal wiretap.

"I believe the proceedings may be tainted by the material," Geragos told the judge.

Later, the lawyer told reporters he planned to fight the contempt motion. He cited three major reasons Anderson should not have to testify: leaks of investigative material, illegal wire intercepts and violations of Anderson's plea agreement.

When Geragos made similar arguments Thursday, to try to prevent Anderson from having to testify, the judge rejected them.

The Baltimore Sun has more on the recording, which didn't appear to be illegal at all:

The details of the recording were first reported in October 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle, which obtained a copy from a confidential news source.

Prosecutor Jeff Nedrow revealed yesterday that his office had obtained a copy of the recording last summer.

Alsup ruled that the recording was "not a wiretap, but a privately recorded conversation with a witness," and that there was no legal reason for Anderson not to testify.

Basically, Anderson doesn't want to give up Bonds. We'll see if he pulls a Susan McDougal and goes to jail rather than testify.

Anderson has enlisted a lawyer familiar with such disputes. In 1998, Geragos represented Whitewater figure Susan McDougal, who was indicted for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury convened by special prosecutor Ken Starr.

Ron Musselman pens a story about Marcus Thames and his disabled mother. It's a great story about how families pull together during adversity.

FishStripes notes the TV ratings for the Marlins are up, even if the fans aren't attending games. I've noticed that the Tampa Bay broadcasts often get back from a between innings break just as the pitcher is delivering the first pitch of the inning. Many local broadcasts return in plenty of time. That says to me Tampa is selling it's full advertising slate, meaning people are watching. That's good news for the Florida teams, since the fan base is probably stronger than the attendance indicates. When the teams start winning, fans are going to know.

The Arizona Diamondbacks will end June with their 2nd or 4th worst month of their existence. They're currently 7-20 in June after a last at bat, 3-2 win by the Mariners last night. Jorge Julio could not make an outstanding performance by Enrique Gonzalez stand up. The DBacks worst month was July of 2004 when they went 5-23.

Arizona's been outscored in the month 180-106, an average of 2.7 runs per game! Not surprisingly, they've lost eight games by five runs or more, and allowed ten runs or more seven times. On the other side, they've been held to 3 runs or less 15 times, winning just one of those contests.

I just received a press release from Golden League Baseball, an Independent League in California.

The Golden Baseball League announced today that former American League Rookie of the Year, MVP, and Home Run Champion Jose Canseco has agreed to contract terms with the league. He will join the San Diego Surf Dawgs beginning Monday, July 3rd and will play in the game that night at 7:05 PM versus the Chico Outlaws in Chico, CA.

A press conference is scheduled for Monday, July 3rd at 2:00 PM at Nettleton Stadium, located on the Chico State Campus in Chico, California.

Canseco will have a dual role with the Surf Dawgs as he will become an every day Designated Hitter for the team, and will showcase his knuckleball as member of the team's pitching staff.

I suspect the fans will not treat Jose kindly. The press release does address cheating:

A longtime sports and pop culture icon, Canseco's notoriety raised to record heights in 2005 with the publication of his autobiographical best seller "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big" that detailed steroid use in professional baseball. Now weighing a sleek 230 pounds, down almost 30 pounds from his playing days, he has agreed to be subjected to the GBL's tough drug testing policy that immediately expels any players found using steroids or illegal drugs.

Last season nine players, out of over 200 tested, were terminated from the league for illegal drug use. "Jose will be treated consistent with all of our players regarding drug testing," added Outcalt.

Of course, Jose would never use HGH, or anything else that's not detectable.

David Ortiz reached the 200 home run mark with a solo shot to center field in the 8th inning to put the Red Sox up 4-2. He's hit 142 in three and a half years with the Red Sox. He never hit more than 20 in a season with the Twins. It's just amazing that team didn't realize what it had in Ortiz.

Update: Papelbon comes on and picks up his 24th save of the season. As I watched him pitch to Julio Franco, I wondered if Jon was born after Julio premiered. Not so, but in checking the database, there have been 122 players this year in the majors who were born after 4/23/1982, the day Franco came up with the Phillies. Felix Hernandez remains the youngest player in the majors, born 4/8/1986, nearly four years after Julio came into the NL.

Ryan Madson stepped into Brett Myers spot in the rotation tonight and spun a gem. One out away from a complete game shutout, he walked a batter and gave up a single. Tom Gordon came on to get the last out and give help the Phillies to a 4-0 win. Madson gave up just five hits while striking out seven. That's a great way to end a terrible June. He came into the game with a 7.62 ERA in five June starts.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 552nd home run tonight, helping put the Reds up 5-2 in the sixth. He's likely at this point to end the season less than 200 behind Aaron. He's 36; it doesn't seem likely he can catch Hank, but how high can he go? Six hundred seems very reachable, but we saw how quickly McGwire and Sosa went from highly likely to reach that number to out of baseball. How high can Griffey go? Six hundred? Catching Mays? Catching Ruth? My guess is that he comes very close to Mays, and hangs around until he passes Willie.

Curt Schilling is finally tagged for a home run at Fenway as Carlos Beltran takes him into the stands in straight-away center to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Beltran is now six ahead of his home run total for all of last year and only 16 RBI behind his 2005 mark of 78.

Ron Flores picked up the first win of his major league career today as he goes four innings in extra frames as the Athletics take a 6-5 victory from the Padres. In two seasons with Oakland, Flores averaged less than an inning per appearance. But today he allowed just one hit while striking out two and keeping San Diego scoreless. He kept his pitch count low, throwing just 35 in total, 25 for strikes.

The comments aren't working at Walk Like a Sabermetrician so I'll leave the answer to the trivia question there in my extended entry, in case you want to try it before it's revealed.

Alex Rios is suffering from an infected leg:

Rios fouled a ball off his leg during Tuesday's 6-0 victory over the Washington Nationals. He sat out Wednesday's game as a precaution, but the pain in his leg got worse Thursday, so the team sent him to the hospital.

I assume the foul ball must have broken the skin somehow. It seems an odd way to get an infection. Maybe someone from the medical community would like to comment?

Omar Vizquel drove in the go-ahead run for the Giants this afternoon as they defeat the Texas Rangers 2-1 in San Francisco. Vizquel is having his best year offensively since 2000. That's the last time his OBA was in the high .300s. With his 2 for 4 today, his OBA stands at .388. He's also equaled his totals from last year in triples and home runs. At 39, it's nice to see this great shortstop finishing his career on a strong note.

My daughter turned sixteen yesterday, so we spend the afternoon at the Registry of Motor Vehicles getting her permit. Since the Cubs lost again, it doesn't look like I missed much. :-)

Mark Prior gave up a too many runs again, but he's showing signs of improvement as well. He struck out nine in his 5 2/3 innings. However, 8 of 14 batters who put the ball in play against him earned hits. That sounds like more than just bad defense. Carlos won the battle of the Lees today, going 3 for 3 with a double, a run, an RBI and a walk. Derrek picked up three walks and two runs, but did no damage.

The Pirates get to Jose Contreras for six runs in 5 1/3 innings to take a 6-4 lead on the White Sox. Chicago needs to score two over the final two innings to keep Jose's winning streak alive.

It hasn't been a day for the pitchers as the two side have combined for 24 hits and four walks with two out in the bottom of the seventh. All but five of the hits went for singles.

Pregame Stats is a new blog with a number of tools to help you analyze a matchup between two teams. Stop by and check it out.

If you like good, old pitchers, today's your luck day. It's starts out with Jose Contreras trying to extend the Pirates losing streak vs. Zach Duke. Contreras last lost a game on 8/15/2005, when he gave up four runs vs. the Twins. Since that time, he's gone 16-0 with a 2.73 ERA. He's been very effective in this time at limiting the heart of the opposition's order, shutting down the 4-5 hitters and giving up very little power to the #3 hitters. Duke is going through a bad stretch with his team. In his last three starts, he's allowed 14 earned runs 15 1/3 innings.

The Red Sox go for a sweep of the Mets tonight as Curt Schilling host Tom Glavine. Schilling's been nearly perfect at Fenway this season, going 5-0 while allowing 0 home runs and just two walks in 42 innings. While the slugging percentage against Glavine goes up 150 points away from Shea, only four of his fourteen home runs came with men on base this season. The opposition only managed seven extra-base hits with men on base this year against Tom, meaning he's not letting runners advance very far once they're on base.

Enjoy!

Keith Langlois writes an optimistic article on the Detroit Tigers and the city of Detroit:

On a sparkling summer day in a city that's known too few for too long, amid a baseball season a generation has yet to know, signs of renaissance were everywhere.

In Detroit's skyline, where cranes considered an everyday sight in American cities elsewhere but absent here now stood poised to swing another beam into place just a few blocks north of Comerica Park.

In the American League standings, where the Tigers continued the feel-good story of baseball's summer, sweeping the Houston Astros for their sixth straight win and 17th in the last 20 games.

In the city's newspaper boxes, where one headline screamed news of the announced $180 million project to restore the once-grand but long-shuttered Book Cadillac Hotel as a world-class inn.

And on the pitcher's mound at Comerica, where perhaps the brightest of the Tigers' season of a thousand points of light shined brilliantly, Justin Verlander pitching eight masterful innings in the 5-0 victory as the 2006 Tigers moved within a Friday win at Pittsburgh of equaling the 1984 Tigers' 55-25 start.

And it's good to see Tiger fans supporting this team:

"This was a big game for us," Verlander said of the Tigers' last home game until July 13, when play resumes after the All-Star break. "The city had a big turnout this whole homestand. What better way to show them what we can do than to sweep the series?"

Indeed. This team may still go the way of the 2005 Nationals. Unlike the 1984 Tigers, there is a World Championship team breathing now their necks, and another playing just as well waiting for a fall. But the pitching looks good, the hitters look good so it's time to be optimistic!

Sell the Phillies is a new blog devoted to getting new ownership and management for the Phillies. Stop by and say hi.

Scott Palmer, the Public Affairs point man for the Phillies gives a very frank interview on the Brett Myers situation.

"Generally, were there mistakes made?" Palmer said. "Any time you have an issue like this in which a decision has to be made as quickly as this one, and with as many parties as were involved - the agent, the lawyer, court system, the Phillies, Brett, Kim - with that many parties involved in a decision of this magnitude... were mistakes made in that entire group? In my opinion, yes."

Myers, 25, was arrested early Friday morning. He pitched the next day at Fenway Park and received a verbal flogging from fans, who booed every time he walked to the mound. Since then, the pitcher has taken a leave of absence, but both he and the organization continue to be vilified, Myers for his alleged actions, the team for not benching him immediately.

"We were forced to make a very serious decision in a limited amount of time without as many facts that came out 48 hours later," Palmer said. "We had to take into account a number of things, including Brett's wishes [to continue pitching].

"As far as the criticism that started Monday [after Myers pitched], I understand. Eyewitness accounts came out. There was access to new information that we didn't have at first.

"If we knew as much at the beginning, we certainly would have recommended he not pitch. Once we understood the magnitude, we did everything we could to address the matter and help Brett put his life back in order."

Update: I have to disagree with the Phillies on the T-Shirt issue, however:

From about 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. yesterday, readers of the Web site could buy merchandise that included T-shirts, thongs and even shirts for their dogs that had "wife beater" and "39" written on them.

Myers wears No. 39 for the Phillies.

"The Phillies find it extremely offensive that any person or business would make fun of the very serious issue of domestic abuse, much less attempt to make money from it," the Phillies said in a statement.

Maybe if more wife beaters were publicly humiliated there might be fewer of them. They're not making fun of domestic abuse, they're just abusing the abuser non-violently.

The Cardinals allowed the Indians to come back last night as the Tribe scored three in the eighth to take a 4-3 lead. But two errors in the bottom of the ninth led to Bob Wickman allowing two unearned runs, and the Cardinals take the game 5-4. That makes the AL record in interleague one-run games 30-15. The American League ended up winning 10 of fifteen interleague games played yesterday.

The West coast games fared better for the NL for the second night in a row. The Rockies received good pitching up and down the staff last night, while Shields shielded nothing for the Angels as the Rockies took the game 6-2. The Rockies bullpen ERA is now 3.95.

Former Mike Mets Cameron and Piazza each homered for the Padres last night, and Greene drove in three as the Padres blew out the Athletics 8-1. With Texas falling to San Francisco 5-1 on a grand slam by Ray Durham, the Mariners crept to within two games of first place as they continued Arizona's misery with a 10-3 thrashing of Arizona. Adrian Beltre picked up a double and a triple, and his slugging percentage is starting to approach .400. For the month of June, Beltre has 17 extra-base hits and scored 26 runs in 24 games.

Update: One thing I didn't mention in the post last night (but I did on the radio program) was the expected level of competition in each league. Basically, for most of this decade, if you want to win in the AL you have to be better than New York and Boston. Those two teams don't let up. On top of that, you have Oakland and Minnesota winning from the low end, so teams in the AL are forced to try to put together great teams just to compete.

In the NL, the Cardinals are always good, but they never try to put together a thirteen star team. Same for the Braves. Despite St. Louis running away with the division the last two years, I don't think that was ever a foregone conclusion. So there's never the push to become a great team, because there are no great teams in the league.

To their credit, the Mets did take this route in 2006. But no one else in the NL seems to be doing it. Why, for example, would an NL West team try to get 10 or 15 games better when it only takes a couple of more win to finish first in the division?

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The American League dominance over the National League continues. With nine of the fourteen interleague games decided so far, eight went to the AL team, with only the Reds beating the Royals. Why is this?

If you take the pitchers out of the equation, here's how the NL and AL stack up average wise:

Non Pitchers, 2006	AL	NL
Batting Average	.274	.270
On-Base Average	.341	.341
Slugging Percentage	.437	.437

The AL contributes more hits to it's OBA than the NL, but it's a pretty small difference. The non-pitchers in the leagues have exactly the same OBA and slugging percentage! Why should these NL teams do so poorly when they should be so evenly matched? Is it just that the matchups this year happened to really favor the AL? I'm open to explanations.

Luck is still a good one. The AL is 30-14 in one run games vs the NL this year.

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

The Baseball Musings Radio Show is coming up in a little while at 8 PM EDT. You can leave questions during the show in the TPSRadio Chat Room.

Jim Storer is at the Mets/Red Sox game tonight and sends this picture of the fans cheering Pedro as he walks in from the bullpen. Click for a larger image.

Update: The Red Sox get four runs off Pedro in the bottom of the first, two due to Milledge's error. He had a tough time in left field yesterday as well.

Cole Hammels is looking like a pitcher who needs to go back to the minor leagues. He was smacked around by the Orioles this afternoon, giving up nine hits and seven runs in game one of the double header. With the Orioles taking the game 7-4, the day is starting off perfect for the AL with four wins in four tries.

Derrek Lee showed why the Cubs need him, hitting a two run homer in the bottom of the eighth to tie the Brewers at three. The rest of the team followed his lead and picked up three more extra-base hits in the inning to push three more across the plate and beat the Brewers 6-3. With five runs last night, the Cubs offense is showing a glimmer of life. David Bush had an outstanding outing (7 K in 6 2/3 innings) ruined by Dan Kolb.

Joe Mauer went 2 for 3 today to raise his batting average to .392. People are asking can a catcher win a batting title. Maybe we should be asking if a catcher can hit .400.

One advantage Mauer will have in going for .400 is that as a catcher, he gets days off. This lowers his number of plate appearances, making it easier for him to get lucky and hit .400. It's easier to hit .400 in 500 at bats than in 600. There's a 1.1% chance of a .350 hitter achieveing a .400 batting average in 500 at bats, a 0.6% chance of it happening in 600 at bats.

The Twins win again, defeating the Dodgers 6-3. Santana threw up seven shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out nine. Liriano and Santana are turning into quite a 1-2 punch.

Alex Rodriguez comes through for the Yankees in extra-innings. Down 3-2 after a Giles home run in the top of the 12th, Giambi walks with one out and Alex goes deep to left to win the game. That's all he needs to change the minds of New Yorkers, a big home run like that. A-Rod drove in 3 of the 4 Yankees runs today.

The Tigers hold the Houston Astros scoreless over the last 20 innings of their three game series as Detorit wins today 5-0. Justin Verlander threw an efficient eight innings, striking out seven, walking none and allowing just three hits on 99 pitches. The Astros were outscored 19-4 in the series. The Tigers lower their league leading ERA to 3.45.

The Baseball Musings radio show will be on TPSRadio tonight at 8 PM EDT. Check out their other sports programming as well.

You can 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 two outs in the first inning Odalis Perez gave up five consecutive hits, the fourth being a grand slam by Torii Hunter. Hitters are now 2 for 3 with two home runs against Perez with the bases loaded this season. The Twins lead 4-0 in the bottom of the second.

Peter's wife issued a statement today.

"Peter is resting comfortably after surgical repair of a brain aneurysm," his wife, Gloria, said in a statement. "We appreciate all of your good wishes and ask that you keep Peter in your thoughts and prayers. Please understand that we are asking for our privacy at this time as we focus on Peter's recovery."

ESPN set up a page where you can leave get well wishes.

Brett Myers asked for and was granted a leave of absence by the Philadelphia Phillies in the wake of his arrest in Boston:

"First, while I dispute that the facts are as alleged, I recognize that my behavior was inappropriate and for that I apologize," Myers said in a statement. "Second, I recognize that the incident created an embarrassing situation for many people, including my wife and family, my teammates, the Phillies organization, and fans, and I am very sorry for that."

He'll be out through the All-Star Game.

Here's my All-Star ballot, fell free to criticize or disagree. It's based mostly on stats up to this point in the season:

AL

Catcher: Mauer.

First base: Giambi. It was tough not to pick Ortiz, but David's not a first baseman.

Second base: Cano. I dislike voting for a player on the disabled list, but he's by far the best offensive second baseman in the AL this year. Iguchi should start in his place.

Third base: A-Rod. Lowell was my sentimental choice, but Alex's numbers are better.

Shortstop: Jeter. Tough to argue with his OBA.

Outfield: Manny Ramirez, Vernon Wells, Jermaine Dye. I went with power here. If I were actually building real team, I'd substitute Ichiro for one of the them.

NL

Catcher: Lo Duca. Michael Barrett is the best offensive catcher this year, but he loses lots of point for lack of playing time due to a ten game suspension. Lo Duca, among the better offensive catcher in the NL, has the most playing time.

First base: Pujols.

Second base: Dan Uggla. I almost voted for Kent, but I really kent stand the guy.

Third base: Miguel Cabrera. It's a tough choice among Rolen, Wright and Cabrera, but Miguel's having a great year for a bad team.

Shortstop: Edgar Renteria. I almost voted for Eckstein just because he's one of my favorite players and his OBA is really good, but Edgar's having the better year. Omar Vizquel is also a good choice. Reyes was on my radar. If he keeps playing like he is now he'll get the vote in 2007.

Outfield: Bay, Beltran, Abreu. Three guys with power and patience. I would have voted for Bonds if he played more. My guess is he'll be the DH.

Correction: I forgot the game was in Pittsburgh. No DH. I still wouldn't vote for Bonds this year. However, there's something to be said for voting in the all-time greats that are still around.

I haven't voted for the All-Star team yet, but I think I'm going to go pull the lever for Jason Bay.

Helped by a feverish campaign orchestrated by the team, Jason Bay is the leading vote-getter among NL outfielders for the July 11 game at PNC Park. Jack Wilson is second among shortstops, Jose Castillo is third among second basemen and Freddy Sanchez is fourth among third basemen -- even though all of Sanchez's 597,249 votes are write-ins.

The Pirates, with an NL-worst 26-52 record, have been running vote-for-the-Bucs ads during their televised games for several weeks. The drive designated to assure that Bay made the NL starting lineup was later expanded to include the other players.

Bay's ahead not just due to the ballot stuffing, but because fans around the country recognize he's one of the top outfielders in the game. For the Pirates to own an MVP quality player and not build a decent team around him is a shame. This is one instance where ballot stuffing is putting a deserving player in the game.

There is one mistake, I believe, in the article:

Still, considering that the small-market Pirates haven't had a player voted into the NL starting lineup since outfielder Andy Van Slyke in 1993, Bay is surprised by the persistence and tenacity of the Pirates fans. Each is allowed to vote online 25 times per day, and Bay acknowledges making a few clicks beside his own name.

It's my understanding that you can vote 25 times in total, since that's equal to attending 25 games and voting at each one.

Pedro Martinez makes his return to the Fenway mound this evening as the Mets and Red Sox square off in game 2 of their three-game set. He'll face Josh Beckett, Fenway pitcher extraordinaire. Pedro's never faced the Red Sox before. He was pretty unstoppable at Fenway, however, going 58-18 with a 2.67 ERA during his tenure with the Red Sox. At 34, Pedro still does everything right. He's striking out better than a batter per inning, not walking many, and giving up a reasonable number of home runs.

Pedro received a much warmer welcome than Johnny Damon. Last night, he popped his head out of the dugout to wave to the fans and the gave him a standing ovation.

Josh Beckett adjusted to his new ballpark quickly. He just hasn't figured out how to pitch in other AL parks. In his six starts at Fenway, Beckett's allowed just two home runs vs. 16 on the road. That's led to a difference of four runs between his home and road ERAs. He's been particulary effective against left-handed batters at Fenway. They're hitting just .150 against him with a .282 OBA and a .250 slugging percentage.

Enjoy!

Matt Morris pitched his fourth good start in a row last night, allowing just one unearned run in eight innings agains tht Texas Rangers. The big change for Matt since his rough start is his strikeout rate. It's 7.0 per nine over this hot stretch vs. 4.4 earlier. Morris hasn't had a great strikeout rate since 2002, his last superlative year. Have Giants fans noticed a change in Matt's mechanics or approach to hitters?

Chris Young continues to be tough to hit as shutdown the Athletics last night for six innings, allowng jus two hits. The Padres bullpen helped out with three shutout innings of their own to give San Diego a 3-0 victory. Young is now third in the majors in batting average allowed. He's given up just 17 hits in his last 38 2/3 innings, good for a .132 batting average. Notice how good he's been against lefties in that stretch.

It took Kenji Johjima a couple of months, but in June figured out how to hit for power in the United States. He smacked two home runs last night and drove in five as the Mariners took Arizona 11-7. Johjima has eight doubles and five homers in the month. That's more extra-base hits than he had in April and May combined. All five homers came during his eight-game hitting streak. He's 16 for 32 during that stretch with a 1.094 slugging percentage. He's helped Seattle to become the hottest team in the AL West. The Mariners are back to .500 after winning three in a row and eight of their last ten. They trail Oakland by just three games.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

This is getting depressing. Every day it's the same thing. At least with the Brewers winning, they move ahead of Houston into third place in the NL Central and now trail the Cardinals by just four games. Milwaukee is the only team in the division with a winning record over their last ten games, and they're back in the race for the division crown.

The Twins pounded the Dodgers 9-2 tonight. The Minnesota offense raised Derek Lowe's ERA from 2.90 to 3.49 as they scored all nine runs off him in 5 1/3 innings.

On the other side of the mound, Francisco Liriano allowed just two runs over seven innings while striking out eight and walking none. With 73 1/3 innings pitched, he's just a few innings short of qualifying for the ERA title. With a 2.21 ERA, he would lead his teammate Johan Santana by over 1/2 a run.

Halfway through the season, he should be able to accumulate another 100 innings. With an 8-1 record and a miniscule ERA and a 4 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio, we may be looking at the next Cy Young award winner here.

The Boston Red Sox keep tearing through the National League. In their tenth consecutive game against the an NL East team, the Red Sox picked up their 10th straight win. Including their three games at Philadelphia earlier this year, the Red Sox are 12-1 in interleague play.

Boston used it's power tonight, belting out seven extra-base hits out of a total of fifteen. Every starter reached via a hit, and six of them collected two. Lester picked up his third win. He gave the Mets opportunities, but twice ended innings by striking out a batter with the bases loaded. The Red Sox move to 3 1/2 games over the Yankees. The came into the night leading the the AL and the Yankees by .001 in OBA, but that gap should get bigger after both team's performances tonight.

The Royals take a 9-8 victory from the Cincinnati Reds this evening. That makes them 11-7 since Dayton Moore took over, and 7-1 over their last eight games. Down 5-1, the Royals came back with six runs over three innings to take a 2 run lead, but gave that back in the bottom of the eighth. The offense responded once again with two in the 9th, and a solo shot by Hatteberg in the bottom of the inning pulled Cincinnati within one. But DeJesus ran a long way into left center to make an outstretched catch of a Phillips fly ball, a close play to end a close game. The Royals are now just 1/2 game in front of the Pirates, no longer last in the majors.

Correction: My math was off last night. The Royals passed the Pirates with the win. Both have the same winning percentage, but the Royals played three fewer games.

Horacio Ramirez pitched another great game tonight, holding the Yankees to one run over eight innings as the Braves go on to a 5-2 win. Ramirez pitched well in five of his seven starts. His first start was just three bad innings, but he ended up on the DL after that one. On 6/11, he allowed 6 in 1 2/3 innings against Houston. So 11 of his 17 earned runs came in 4 1/3 of his 41 1/3 innings pitched. He's walking a bit too many, but overall he's doing somewhat better than his ERA indicates.

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost their 12th game in a row tonight, a 4-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox. The done it every way imaginable. They lost blowouts. They given up ten runs or more three times. They've scored over five runs in a game and lost. They've been shutout. They've lost by two runs or less six times. It doesn't matter. The Pirates just find a way to lose.

Whatever they did to rehabilitate A.J. Burnett's elbow certainly worked. He threw a complete game shutout tonight, his first of the year and the ninth of his career. His coming off the DL, Burnett's given up two runs and eleven hits in 15 innings of work while striking out 14. He struck out seven tonight while walking none, and finished the game with just 92 pitches thrown. His success took a while, but it appears to be worth the wait.

Roger Clemens runs out of gas in the seventh inning. With one out, he walked consecutive batters. Wheeler came in to allow a double and a run, then two errors lead to two more runs. The Tigers are up 3-0 in the top of the eighth.

The Marlins are hitting on all cylinders tonight. They've scored eight runs, six of them off Scott Kazmir despite his eight strikeouts in five innings of work. Olivo went deep twice, and Cabrera hit his 12th of the season. Ricky Nolasco lasted into the seventh, but gave up three solo shots to the first four batters he faced before being lifted for a reliever. The Fish lead 8-3 in the bottom of the seventh.

Roger Clemens isn't going to strike out 20 tonight. He's K'd 2 through five innings, but only allowed two hits. A double play means he's only faced one batter over the minimum as he's shutout the Tigers so far.

Typical of a Clemens start for the Astros, Houston has not scored either. Robertson's given up five hits and three walks, but all the hits were singles and two double plays helped keep the game scoreless in the middle of the sixth.

Thanks to Josh for sending me this link:

ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons, 61, is undergoing surgery this afternoon for an aneurysm in his brain.

Gammons was stricken earlier today and was taken to a Boston-area hospital. He is expected to be in intensive care for the next 10 to 12 days.

I was lucky enough to work with Peter for 10 years on Baseball Tonight. Peter's a good friend and a great supporter of this site. The first game I brought my daughter to at Fenway was courtesy Peter, who gave us his seats behind home plate. I hope you all keep him in your thoughts and wish him a very speedy recovery.

Update: Gammons is out of surgery and in intensive care.

Pedro Martinez is holding a news conference in Boston as he returns to pitch against the Red Sox. He's saying all the right things. He blames himself for the Red Sox not signing him. He should have made it clearer to the team that he wanted to stay, and he regrets that.

In the previous post, I took a more positive view of acquiring Mark Hendrickson than Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts. The deal is done, and it's a pitcher and a catcher for a pitcher and a catcher. The Dodgers send Navarro and Seo to Tampa for Hendrickson and Hall. I thought Seo for Hendrickson straight up would be worth it. Seo didn't live up to his 2005 season, and if the Dodgers can carry Hendrickson's luck forward, they'd be better off. Navarro hit well when he was up, but Martin hit better. Dioner suffered a wrist injury that inhibited his hitting, but he'll get over that soon enough.

So the Dodgers get an older but decent pitcher and an older backup catcher, neither with great long-term upside for a catcher with great long term potential and a pitcher who showed flashes of brilliance. Seems like a pretty good deal for the Devil Rays.

Trade rumors are circulating about Mark Hendrickson, but a Yankees blogger doesn't want him and neither does a Dodger blogger. Jon Weisman makes a good point:

In 2006, Hendrickson's ERA is down to 3.81. This career-defying performance through 90 innings is predicated on a BABIP (batting average on balls in play) allowed of .258 - the 12th-lowest of any pitcher in baseball with more than 70 innings. He's had just about as many balls in play, striking out 5.1 batters per nine innings, but thanks to more balls finding gloves, Hendrickson has reduced his baserunners per nine innings to 12.

But let's ask why so many balls are finding gloves. It turns out, his line drive percentage is way down. His slugging percentage against is down without his home runs going down that much. His defense is catching more balls, because the balls in play against him are easier to catch. And because they're not being rocketed around the park, they're also resulting in fewer doubles and triples. It's possible Hendrickson is better rather than luckier, and more importantly, you can probably trade for him without giving up the farm. If you can get him cheaply, he's well worth the risk.

This is one of those great days where almost any contest holds some interest. The Mets travel to Boston to celebrate the 1986 World Series, one that was Shakesperian in it's tragedy and Capraesque in it's optimism. Two rookies get the call in game one as John Lester faces Alay Soler. Lester's most impressive ability so far is to limit the power of his opponents. They have a lower slugging percentage (.283) than OBA (.310) against the lefty. Soler's been great away from Shea, allowing just one run in 16 innings on the road.

Meanwhile, the pitcher who started game 6 of the 1986 World Series takes the mound in Detroit. Note that it's the city of Roger's second 20 K, 0 BB game. Since he has one of those every ten years, why not tonight! :-) He'll face Nate Robertson, who's already equaled his 2005 win total. Robertson is benefiting from two changes from last year; he's allowing a much lower batting average with men in scoring position (.202 vs. .266) and much better run support (5.61 vs. 3.66 per 9 innings).

Tampa Bay and Florida continue to show off their good, young pitchers as Scott Kazmir face Ricky Nolasco. Nolasco is having an excellent June, posting a 2.25 ERA while averaging one walk per start. Kazmir leads the AL in strikeouts per nine with a 9.44 mark, just ahead of Johan Santana.

A superb pitching matchup in Minnesota pits Derek Lowe against Francisco Liriano. Lowe's low ERA comes from matching up well with lefties this season, allowing them a paltry .204 batting average and a .311 OBA. Liriano manages to dominate righties, allowing them a .218 BA and a .287 OBA.

Anthony Reyes tries to stop the Cardinals losing streak. He's coming off the best pitched loss of the year (Game Score 82) against the White Sox. He'll face C.C. Sabathia, who is sporting a 10.24 ERA in June.

Update: Reyes game score of 82 just tops Eric Milton's 81 loss against the Diamondbacks on 5/26.

Finally, the Atheltics and Padres meet as two of the top teams in the Western division battle. Barry Zito faces Chris Young. Zito has the reverse lefty mojo working for him, as he's pitched much better against right-handed batters this season. Young's allowed just five runs in June while striking out 28 in 24 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

Major League Baseball disputes John Rocker's story. Sort of:

Levin said that MLB received confirmation from Rocker's then-agent that the pitcher donated $500 to charity, in accordance with an arbitrator's ruling.

In response to Rocker's contention that he spent 15 minutes in sensitivity training before leaving the room, Levin said the Braves' employee assistance program informed MLB that Rocker fulfilled the requirements necessary to complete the training.

"What actually happened in those sensitivity classes, we don't know," Levin said. "He might have slept through the whole thing, but at the end of it, we did receive verification that he attended [the meetings]."

And it looks like many times the player does not pay the fine:

As to whether players actually pay their fines, both the executive and agent said that's the generally accepted practice in baseball. But they said clubs sometimes draw distinctions depending on the nature of the offense.

"Over the years, some clubs have paid for players if they felt like they wanted to back their players," the agent said. "An example of a club paying might be on the fine for a retaliation pitch. An example of where a club wouldn't pay would be if a player were disciplined for off-field activities."

So Rocker was exaggerating, but from a basis of truth. My guess is Rocker's agent paid the fine and didn't bother telling John.

Remember when the Angels let Bengie Molina go to make room for their young catcher Jeff Mathis? Jeff lasted all of 12 games before returning to AAA. Luckily for the Angels, that boy wasn't their last hope. Mike Napoli burst on the scene and is now the biggest catching sensation in LA since Mike Piazza.

Fans were begging, "Na-po-lee, Na-po-lee, Na-po-lee." But, then, there has been a lot of pleading at Angel Stadium this season -- mostly from Angels pitchers who crave run support.

This time Mike Napoli, the Angels' fireplug of a catcher, answered the call.

He drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth, and scored the eventualy game winner as the Angels scored five that inning to defeat Colorado 5-4. In 105 at bats, Napoli has shown he can hit for average (.295 BA), take a walk (24 so far) and hit for power (.581 slugging percentage). It's always good to have another plan.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Jason Marquis started for the second time against an AL team tonight and was crushed once again. The Indians used four home runs, three against Jason to take the Cardinals 10-4. In eleven innings against the White Sox and Indians, Marquis allowed 23 hits, 20 runs and seven homers. He's given up 12 homers to a all the NL teams he's faced.

The Minnesota Twins keep rolling along, defeating the Dodgers tonight 8-2. The first four hitters in the Twins lineup smacked out 10 hits and drew four walks in 20 plate appearances. Joe Mauer continued his quest for the batting title, collecting four more hits to raise his batting average to .377. He missed the cycle by a home run and knocked in five.

The other impressive performance came from Carlos Silva, who entered the game with a 6.87 ERA. He held the Dodgers to just 2 runs over 8 innings, walking none. He's given up many more hits than innings pitched this season, but tonight he held Los Angeles to just six, only one for extra bases.

The Twins are now on a 15-2 run, and outscored their opponents 26-5 in their last four games.

The Milwaukee Brewers took advantage of the light-hitting Cubs tonight, shutting them out for the 9th time this season. That's the most in the majors. Prince Fielder knocked out two home runs to help the Brew Crew to a 6-0 victory. It was his third multi-homer game of the year and his career.

The Cubs now have 3 runs scored in their last four games. This despite Pierre, Perez and Lee knocking out six hits from the first three spots. They were all singles, however, and two Brewers double plays hurt as well. The five through nine hitters picked up nothing but two walks. I'm starting to think they might do better by replacing most of the hitters with folks from AAA.

Randy Johnson put together his third good start in a row as he shutout the Braves for seven innings while striking out seven. Over his last 20 1/3 innings he's allowed 13 hits, 2 walks while striking out 21. That seems to be more like the Johnson the Yankees were expecting from the trade.

The Tigers continue to roll through the National League, taking the opening game of their series with the Astros 10-4. Curtis Granderson drove in three from the leadoff spot with a 2 for 5 night. He's now hitting .298 with a .388 OBA. As a part time player last season, his batting average and slugging averages were there, but he just didn't get on base. Jim Leyland saw something, and the walks came this season, and Granderson turned into a fine leadoff hitter. Granderson came into today third in the majors in OBA among leadoff hitters with 200 plate appearances.

The Marlins knocked out six doubles tonight, part of an eleven hit attack that put them ahead of the DRays 7-3 in the seventh. The Marlins came into the game with 34 doubles in the month of June, the second fewest total in the National League.

Mark Mulder's rotator cuff is less than healthy:

St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Mark Mulder has rotator cuff inflammation and irritation in his left shoulder, an MRI revealed.

The Cardinals plan to re-examine Mulder's shoulder in about a week, and haven't set a timetable on his return. Mulder was supposed to start Sunday, but Sidney Ponson took his spot in the rotation against the Tigers.

It sounds like the Cardinals shut him down before a tear happened.

The YES announcers, Michael Kay, Jim Kaat and Al Leiter are carrying on a very interesting discussion on wasting pitches. It started when Randy Johnson got ahead of a hitter 0-2, then threw a pitch nowhere near the strike zone. Kay asked why if pitch counts are so important today do pitchers still waste one on 0-2. Jim Kaat thinks 0-2 is a great count to get hitters, and noted Greg Maddux was great at doing that (he was the most efficient pitcher of the 1990s). Leiter brought in that if you go after a hitter on 0-2 and a hit results, managers go after you. Kaat explained that his coaches (one of them Johnny Sain) would get more upset if you walked a batter after going 0-2. Kay pointed out that Mussina seems to get ahead 0-2, then wastes a pitch and seems to end up 3-2.

If you're recording the game, check out the discussion in the top of the fifth. My first reaction is to agree with Kay and Kaat, but I'd love to hear your reaction.

Rocco Baldelli continues his successful return from the disabled list. He's driven in all three Tampa Bay runs tonight and gathered the tough half of the cycle, the homer and triple. He's batting .377 and slugging .705 since his return, including the two for three tonight.

Jason Giambi came up twice so far with runners on base and delivered a home run each time off Tim Hudson. That gives Jason nine for the month of June and twenty two on the season. He's driven in all the runs as the Yankees lead 5-0 in the bottom of the second. Hudson's given up five his and three walks among the fourteen batters he's faced.

Mondesi's House is a new blog about the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stop by and say hi.

Jimmy Rollins gets his second hit and third RBI of the day as he drives hom Victorino with a double off Hansen in the 12th inning. The Phillies take a one run lead to the bottom of the inning. He also hit a triple today. Hits triples are down this year (it was his second), but his home runs are up, and I'm sure the Phillies will take the trade off.

Update: Crisp doubles, and Youkilis singles him in. Kevin is at second, advancing on the throw with two out.

Update: Loretta walks to bring up Ortiz.

Update: Ortiz lines one to the right of the centerfielder to win the game for the Red Sox. Jerry Remy was surprised they didn't walk Ortiz with a righty on the mound, and I can't disagree. If you give Ortiz enough chances, he's going to beat you. He had two today, and one intentional walk.

The Phillies fight back from a 6-0 deficit with five in the seventh off Wakefield and Seanez. The Phillies threaten again in the 8th but Papelbon got the last out of the inning. He didn't get the first out of the ninth, however, as Utley hits the first home run of the year off the closer, a ball that hit the foul pole to tie the game. Abreu follows with a walk, and the Red Sox have the bullpen warming up in case Jon falters more.

Update: Papelbon strikes out Burrell to end the inning, leaving the game tied at six. The Red Sox send Ortiz up to start the bottom of the ninth.

Update: Oritz hits what looks like a single by the first baseman, but Utley is shifted into the outfield and throws Papi out. They've gone to the 10th.

After Lidle and Wakefield kept the offenses scoreless for 5 1/2 innings, the Red Sox break through with three runs so far in the bottom of the sixth. Off-season acquistions Mike Lowell and Coco Crips drive in the first two runs with a single and a double. Ortiz and Manny served their role as table setters in the inning, getting on with a walk and a single respectively. That's the nice thing about having players with great OBAs in the middle of the order. They can finish an offensive sequence with power or start one by getting on base.

Alex Gonzalez, another off-season pickup, drives in the fourth run of the inning with a single. Lidle is gone, but Geary isn't getting anyone out.

I complain about Derek Jeter's defense a lot, but on the 32nd anniversary of his birth, I'd like to extol his virtues as a hitter. Jeter debuted on 5/29/1995, a month short of his 21st birthday. In that time, no one has more hits than Derek Jeter. (Interestingly, four of the top seven currently play for the Yankees.) He doesn't lead the majors in any average categories, but his BA, OBA and slugging percentages are all very good, especially for a shortstop. Look at his stat line, and there's not a weakness there. He gets on base. He has excellent doubles and triples power, and can still pop a home run. He's a high percentage base stealer. He can lay down a sacrifice bunt.

And he's consistently good. His worst year was probably 1997, and he still hit .291 with a .370 OBA, but with no power. In 2004 he posted a .352 OBA but still managed 44 doubles and 23 homers. There are strong feelings on both sides of aisle about Jeter, but he's truly an exceptional offensive shortstop and we should appreciate watching baseball in an era when someone as good as Derek isn't even the best hitter at his position.

Via The Hardball Times, Bob Klapisch remembers his run in with Bobby Bonilla and discusses why baseball players don't say interesting things anymore.

The Baseball Crank documents the Mets success avoiding the loss of base runners.

The Astros are following in the Cardinals footsteps. After barely avoiding a humiliating sweep at the hands of the White Sox, Houston enters "A terrain so rugged, so treacherous, no country will claim it." Detroit. The Tigers and White Sox dominated interleague play so far, going 10-2 each.

Correction: The Astros were not swept by the White Sox, as originally stated. It just seemed that way.

Wandy Rodriguez gets the call for the Astros. He's pitched well away from the juice box, giving up more power but countering that by allowing fewer runners on base. He'll face Zach Miner. The young righty is benefiting from not seeing too many lefties so far. Only one third of the at bats against him so far had the platoon advantage. That could continue tonight as Berkman and Lamb are the likely lefty batters against him.

The battle of Florida moves to Miami as the Devil Rays face the Marlins. If you want to see some good, young pitching, these two teams seem to be the place to stop. James Shields is doing everything well a pitcher should do well. In 30 innings, he's struck out 27, walked 10, and allowed no home runs. Six good innings from Josh Johnson tonight puts him in the ERA lead for the NL. Johnson's been impressive with the bases loaded, striking out five in nine at bats while allowing just one hit.

Enjoy!

Robinson Cano pulled a hamstring in last night's loss.

The second baseman was the Yanks' only everyday player who hadn't missed a game because of injury or illness, but he could be out tonight when the Bombers face the Braves.

They'll determine today how seriously Robinson hurt the muscle.

Adam Kilgore writes like this is a good thing:

Marlon Byrd stood on second base with no one out, ripe to be driven in. At the plate stood one of the best players in the league, so it came as a shock to Washington's dugout when Alfonso Soriano -- the Nationals' best hitter, their highest-paid player -- squared to bunt.

Soriano had decided to sacrifice on his own volition, not because of any sign from third base coach Anthony Beasley. Soriano pushed the ball between the pitcher and third baseman, a perfect spot. Soriano ended up in the dugout, but Byrd landed on third, and Soriano, masher of 24 home runs this season, had ignited a two-run third inning with the meekest play in baseball.

"I am struggling at the plate so we have a little problem scoring some runs," Soriano said. "I think it's a good opportunity for me to bunt, put the run in scoring position for [Jose] Vidro. That's a smart play."

Soriano came back to the dugout to high fives. If he had grounded out to second, he probably would get a standing O! Soriano's job is to drive in Byrd from second base. Bunting like that does nothing but say, "I can't hit anymore. All of you looking to trade for me, I'm not worth it."

Remember David Ortiz describing the difference between the Red Sox and the Twins a couple of weeks ago? The Twins high-fived "productive outs." The Red Sox asked why you didn't drive in the runner. My guess if Frank Robinson is privately asking the same question.

In general, I like players who want to get in the game. What I don't like are the ones who act disgruntled when they've done nothing to show the deserve to play. Jay Payton is pulling this again. He hasn't been a good hitter since he left Colorado, but he gets upset when he doesn't start. That's why the Red Sox got rid of him. Jay ought to think about improving his play before he gripes.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

With all the power on the Chicago White Sox, it's Tadahito Iguchi who brings the south siders back from the brink of defeat. After Roy Oswalt leaves with a 9-2 lead Iguchi hits a three-run homer off Springer in the eight to close the gap to 9-5, then slams Lidge in the 9th to tie the game. They're in the 11th now, and Astros fans are starting to think they'll never beat this team.

An impressive debut for Anibal Sanchez. Called up from double-A, starting in Yankees Stadium, trying to prevent his team from being swept, he pitches 5 2/3 shutout innings against the Bronx Bombers. He gives up seven hits, but does not issue a walk and strikes out two. He threw a lot of pitches, 96, but also a lot of strikes, 63. Just another reason to believe the Marlins are going to be a team to reckon with in a couple of years, or even sooner.

Barry Bonds' knee is hurting again. The picture does a good job of showing his discomfort:

Bonds is day to day. The seven-time NL MVP had surgery on his left knee after the 2004 season ended, then underwent three operations on his right knee last year.

Fans booed when A's starter Esteban Loaiza walked Bonds on four pitches leading off the second. He scored on Steve Finley's double to left-center two batters later, but was clearly uncomfortable running the bases and hobbled home with a grimace on his face.

He's been hitting and running somewhat better lately, even stealing a base the other day. The problem, of course, is that he might start pushing himself too much, and something like this happens. The Giants get Monday off, so he'll have a day to recover if it's minor. At this point, however, you just don't know if the knee is going to go for good.

Bleed Cubbie Blue Says it's time to back the truck up to Wrigley:

WGN-TV, as you know, always runs a half-hour season preview special before the season starts. Back in the 1970's, it wasn't as whistles-and-bells as it is now; they simply did a review of the previous season, and a look ahead to new players acquired.

I will never forget the show they ran in April 1974. This was, of course, after seven seasons (1967-73) when the Banks-Santo-Williams-Kessinger-Beckert-Hundley-Jenkins Cubs had burst onto the scene after a couple of decades of misery, and tantalized us by getting close but never even making the playoffs, as four Cub teams have done in the last two decades. And yes, the '73 team is included even though it finished under .500 -- it was eight games ahead on July 1 and even as late as the final weekend, could have sneaked into the playoffs.

But after that year's failure, management "backed up the truck". Banks was long retired, and they traded away Santo, Jenkins, Hundley and Beckert, Williams a year later, and Kessinger after that.

The season preview began with a "literal" picture of what had happened -- a large truck backing up to an entrance of Wrigley Field.

Al goes on to list who the Cubs should keep and who they should unload if they get the chance. Needless to say, there are a lot of names on the unload list. He also offers this fun stat:

It's pretty bizarre, too, that the Cubs keep losing games on WGN-TV. They lose on other TV channels too, but they are now 5-27 on WGN, 23-19 on all other outlets. That is just freaky.

Baseball Girl at Athletics Nation explains why she doesn't like interleague play:

Yet, I absolutely despise interleague play. Actually, the more I think about it, it might not be interleague play that I dislike so strongly; it might actually be National League baseball, and the A's playing it. Which is why I'd like our team to be left in the American League until forced to play a World Series. I might like interleague play then.

The funny thing about interleague play is that I really feel like I genuinely dislike it for the right reasons. It's easy for a fan of a team that doesn't play well during interleague to complain, but I'm a fan of a team who has a sensational interleague record, and I still hate it! It's also worth noting that our current A's team probably would be better off in the NL right now: Their choices for DH consist of their back-up catcher, Mr. .007 batting average, or a pitcher, anyway, and with the NL's microscopic strike zone, we'd walk our way to victory nightly, but I still can't get behind the idea.

I don't agree with this, however:

I can't stand the mysteriously shifting (and more often than not, small) strike zone, something that seems more prevalent in the NL than the AL. In Nick Swisher's first AB yesterday, there were two questionable pitches taken by Swish, who has a tremendous batting eye, and my feelings were summed up exactly by Swisher's reaction. He turned to the ump, and said something to the effect of, "Seriously?", but using the cuss jar.

Yesterday's strike zone started out the size of Texas against the A's, and about as big as a breadbox for Danny Haren, but slowly shrunk for both sides, until both pitchers needed pinpoint control to ring up a strike. That trend continued into today, where both pitchers were squeezed from the get-go. The Giants reacted by having a walk-a-thon; Loaiza reacted by giving up doubles.

Given there are ML umpires these days, instead of NL and AL umps, I'm not sure why this would happen.

The Seattle Mariners keep playing well vs. the National League, taking the game from the Padres 9-4 today. The two teams combined for five home runs this afternoon; it's only the 9th game at PETCO with five home runs or more. Yesterday's 8 set a record for the park.

Signing Johnny Damon this off season looked like a good move for the Yankees today as the centerfielder drove in both runs in a 2-1 victory over the Marlins. There were a lot of comments on this blog after the Crisp trade that the moves would favor the Red Sox long term. That may turn out to be true, but it's not this year:

Through 6/24

Centerfielders, 2006	Red Sox	Yankees
Batting Average	.267	.296
On-base Average	.315	.365
Slugging Average	.368	.465

This is with Damon playing hurt. Crisp suffered a bad hand injury, and I would guess he's still recovering. But so far this is a slam dunk win for the Yankees. They're paying a lot more money for their centerfield production, but this is a case they're getting what they paid for.

Coors Field saw the ninth shutout of the year today, a 3-0 win for the Rockies over the Texas Rangers. Byung-Hyun Kim makes his second consecutive start at the park in which he allows no runs. For his career as a pitcher for the Rockies, Kim as a 4.11 ERA at home, 5.50 on the road. The Rockies should figure out what makes Kim so effective at Coors and try to find other pitchers with the same abilities.

The Royals batters and pitchers combined to do about everything right today as they shutdown the Milwaukee Brewers 6-0. One difference in the game was the number of walks; they Royals drew seven and issued just two. The Beane Count is a stat that measures the home run and walk tendencies of team offenses and pitching. The Royals have the worst Beane Count in the AL, as they rank 13th in walks drawn and 12th in walks allowed. A few more games like this will not only help their Beane Count ranking, but help them to win some more games as well.

The Cubs brought their big gun back to the majors today as Derrek Lee returns from the disabled list. Unfortunately, Lee struck out twice with men on second base. The Cubs were one out away from being shutout for the 9th time this season when Henry Blanco singled to score their only run of the game. It wasn't near enough as the Twins win 8-1.

The Cubs now have played 20 games this year in which they've score 1 run or less. The closest is Kansas City, with 17 such low scores.

Although he didn't get the win today, Jeremy Bonderman put together his third straight game going at least seven innings and allowing one run. In the 22 innings pitched, he's struck out 32 batters and walked just five. He left with the game tied, but the Tigers scored three in the bottom of the eighth to send the Cardinals to their sixth straight loss.

After giving up six runs in four innings to the New York Mets, a pitcher names Towers owns an ERA of 9.11.

Jeremy Sowers kept the Reds at bay for the first three innings, but the Reds get to him in the fourth. Griffey and Dunn each hit two run homers to make the score 4-0 Reds. Sowers gave up more home runs in this inning than he did in the minors all year.

Rain washed out the Phillies and Red Sox game today. They'll play at 1:05 tomorrow.

Jose Reyes is 2 for 2 today with a leadoff home run against the Blue Jays. That raises his June batting average to .422 after hitting .250 in both April and May. His OBA and slugging percentage are equally impressive. He's now knocked out 17 extra-base hits in June, after collecting 20 in April and May.

So what's changed? This Metsblog.com entry from June 15th gives the best explanation.

"I'm learning. I talked a lot with Rickey[Henderson] in spring training. I look for my pitch now. With two strikes, I used to swing at pitches in the dirt. Now if I'm looking for a fastball, I'm going to wait for a fastball."...

...sure, it's that, but it's also the way he is allowing the ball to come to him...he is not lunging at the ball as much, and though he still rotates at the ball too much, he is doing so a lot later and, as such, is driving the ball more, especially the other way...more than anything, this just means he is seeing the ball well and is confident in what he's doing, which allows him to be a better two-strike hitter...unconfident hitters overreact and confident hitters stay back...

I'm not convinced yet. We've had a much longer track record of Reyes hitting like he did in April and May. I'd like to see a few more months of a .350 OBA before I'm willing to say he's turned his career around. But if Rickey Henderson really accomplished this, someone should hire him as a full time coach.

John Rocker sets the record straight on sensitivity training:

When Rocker was ordered to attend similar training after the former Braves reliever made offensive remarks in a Sports Illustrated story published in 1999, he left shortly after showing up, he told the Chicago Tribune.

"The guy told me when I got there I had to show up to make it look good for people, so after about 15 minutes I left and walked right out of the room and it satisfied the powers that be," Rocker told the newspaper.

And as far as fines go:

"It was a farce, a way for the scared little man, Bud Selig, to get people off his [backside]," Rocker, speaking to the Tribune, said of the sensitivity training.

He also told the newspaper that he didn't pay any of the fine levied against him by Selig. Rocker was fined $20,000 for his comments, but that was reduced to $500 after appeal.

"I never paid a cent, a lot of players never pay a cent," Rocker told the newspaper. "It's just a front to look good and the way Selig cowers to pressure."

Good to see MLB does such a good job of enforcing discipline.

Jeremy Sowers makes his major league debut today for the Cleveland Indians. Sowers was originally drafted by the Reds out of college, but wanted to attend college. The Indians picked him up three years later. He'll face face the Reds today. As you can see here and here, Sowers pitched very well at AAA this season. The one home run allowed is very impressive. Sowers, like so many Cleveland pitchers, however, doesn't strike out many batters, making him very dependent on the skill of the defense.

He'll be opposed by Elizardo Ramirez. Ramirez's ERA of 3.69 is much better than his 2-6 record. He's been hurt by two things.

1. Twenty two percent of runs scored against him are unearned.
2. The Reds only scored 24 runs with him on the mound, or 3.54 runs per 9.

Better play on both sides of the ball from his fielders would easily turn that record around.

The pitching matchup of the day takes place during game 1 in New York (weather permitting) as Dontrelle Willis face Mike Mussina. The Yankees won 15 of 21 games started by an opposition left hander this season, trailing only Detroit (they've won 16 of 22). Willis pitches lights out on the road this year, posting a 2.39 ERA away from Dolphin Stadium, but a 7.83 ERA at home. Mike Mussina is on a bit of a slide right now. Over his last four starts, Mussina's ERA increased by a run. The one thing that stands out in the month of June for Mike is that balls are falling in for hits. He's allowing a .296 batting average this month vs. .212 the first two months. And they're long hits, too. He allowed just 17 extra-base hits in April and May, 13 in June.

The Astros get one more chance to try to win a game from the White Sox. They'll send staff ace Roy Oswalt to the mound against newcomer Javier Vazquez. Oswalt's given up just one home run on the road this season, but given the ballpark and the opposition, that may change tonight. Vazquez so far solved his home run problem. In equal number of starts home and road, he's given up just two of his seven home runs in Chicago.

Enjoy!

Rays of Light is a new Tampa Bay Devil Rays blog. Stop by and say hi.

Jesse Draper researches the relationship between fantasy baseball and pop culture. He's conducting a poll of on-line fantasy players for his thesis. If you play fantasy games, take a minute to drop by and contribute some information.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Orlando Hudson homered in the second inning to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead over the Angels. Since the current team slump started on June 5th, Orlando's been the best hitter on the team. And that's fascinating, because before the slump he was easily the worst hitter on the team. Maybe the key for the Diamondbacks to get back to winning is the have Hudson go on an extended slump! :-)

Paul Byrd pitched eight shutout innings vs. the Reds Saturday as the Indians took home a 4-0 victory. The Indians defense, which did so well last year, played well tonight. They turned 20 of 25 balls put in play against Byrd into outs. Paul kept the ball in the air and in the park today; of the balls in play, only four were ground outs. Byrd is a fly ball pitcher, but he played that to extremes today and it worked.

Vernon Wells hit two home runs today and drove in four runs to help the Blue Jays defeat the Mets 7-4. Wells is now batting .321 with a .384 OBA and a .625 slugging percentage, a great year. But Wells must drive fantasy players crazy. At age 24, he had a superb season, putting up high batting averages and power number, and a decent OBA. When a player performs like that as he enters his peak years, the skies the limit. I'm sure he was picked high in a few fantasy drafts going into the 2004 season. But he declined. At age 26, he declined again. So he's 27 in 2006 with his stats going the wrong way for his age and I bet a large number of fantasy owners passed him over. How many of you picked up Vernon in the late rounds? You must really be happy.

If Wells were foreign born I'd suspect he was older than the numbers stated, but it's pretty difficult to lie about that now, especially for American citizens.

We spent the day celebrating graduations and birthdays and it looks like there were a number of exciting contests this afternoon. Three of the five games finished so far saw last at bat victories.

Curt Schilling walked his second batter at Fenway this year, but he also struck out 10 in six innings. Still, the Phillies managed three runs off Curt, the same the Red Sox scored off Myers in five. The bullpens did a fine job of keep the game tied until the 8th, when David Ortiz took Tom Gordon deep for a 5-3 Boston win.

With a 2-2 count and Alex Cora on first with a single, Ortiz hit his 22nd homer of the season off Tom Gordon (2-3). Teammates poured out of Boston's dugout, Papelbon swung a white towel at the plate and Ortiz flipped his helmet off as he ran down the third-base line.

It's a gesture of self-preservation he learned after his teammates pounded his helmet-clad head when he reached home after his first walkoff homer for Boston on Sept. 23, 2003 against Baltimore.

"You want to make sure you got your helmet off. Otherwise, you know you're going to go crazy with a concussion," he said.

Ortiz had been 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts in extra-innings this year. It was his seventh extra-inning home run in 29 at bats for the Red Sox, good for an 1.172 slugging percentage.

6-4-2 Didn't know who to root for today in the Athletics/Giants game. What he saw was Oakland get off to a 7-2 lead, then give it back as Bonds went 2 for 2 with a double, homer and three walks. His walk in the ninth brought the winning run to the plate in the person of Ray Durham, who please the San Francisco faithful with a three-run shot to win the game. It was Durham's third 9th inning home run this year, his only inning with multiple dingers.

The White Sox keep winning. It looked like Houston might finally take a game from the South Siders, but Chicago fought back from a 5-1 deficit, scoring four in the seventh and one in the tenth to end that thought. Garland pitched another poor game, giving up 8 this and five walks in five innings. But the bullpen put up five innings of two hit ball to hold Houston at bay the rest of the game. And poor Chad Qualls:

Crede hit reliever Chad Qualls' first pitch for a game-tying grand slam in the seventh, and Alex Cintron delivered a game-winning bases-loaded single in the 10th Saturday as the White Sox beat the Astros 6-5. Eight months ago on the same field, Paul Konerko drove Qualls' first pitch for a grand slam in Game 2 of the World Series, and the White Sox went on to a sweep and their first championship in 88 years.

"Paul actually mentioned something to me in the dugout after I hit it," Crede said. "He said, 'You know the last two (first) pitches that this guy has thrown in this stadium have gone for grand slams."'

Washington and Baltimore are tied at 2 in the bottom of the ninth, so there will be at least one more last at bat win today.

The Phillies and Red Sox offer the best pitching matchup of the day as Brett Myers faces former Phillie Curt Schilling. The arrest of Brett Myers and a National telecast just adds to the drama. How will Boston fans treat him? Well, these are the same fans who cheered Wade Boggs after it the Margo Adams affair, but my guess is they'll be brutal. Schilling, like Josh Beckett, has been nearly unhittable at Fenway this season. Curt's allowed a .226 BA in Boston this season. In addition, he's issued just one walk and no home runs.

Violent pitcher day continues as the Cardinals try to end their four game losing streak against Kenny Rogers. The lefty doesn't allow much power at Comerica as his slugging percentage allowed (.252) is lower than his OBA allowed (.255) at the park. Jeff Suppan takes the mould for the Cardinals. Suppan's been hammered on the road this season. His .652 slugging percentage away from home is the fourth highest in the majors this year among pitchers with 100 batters faced on the road.

Enjoy!

Jake Peavy appears to be back to normal after eight great innings last night in a 2-1, ten inning win for San Diego. He's put together back to back eight inning outings, striking out 16 and walking just two. He's a key to San Diego winning the division this year.

Sometimes I look at a boxscore and just can't understand the result. Consider the Angels-Diamondbacks game last night. Enrique Gonzalez and Ervin Santana combined to give up 11 hits and 10 walks in 10 innings, but the three home runs hit against them were all solo shots! At least Gonzalez gave up some runs in his four innings of work. Santana walked six in six innings, gave up seven of the hits, but the Diamondbacks managed just two runs. What started as a very promising season is turning into a full retreat.

Barry Bonds stole a base and scored the go-ahead run last night for the Giants.

Before the A's comeback, the talk was about Bonds' legs, not his bat. At 41 and running on two ravaged knees, he might be the last person in baseball you'd expect to steal a base. If you've seen him in person or watched highlights showing him hobbling around the bases on home runs, you'd hardly believe what transpired in the eighth inning Friday night.

He actually stole second base off A's reliever Chad Gaudin, then scored on Pedro Feliz's broken bat single to center. Thing is, Bonds ran reasonably well on both instances, helping his team take a 3-2 lead.

It was Bonds' first steal since Aug. 16, 2004 -- his 507th overall. Bonds began the rally in his customary fashion, with a walk.

I just watched the late BBTN but they didn't have the highlight. Did anyone see it? It's amazing what medical science can do in rebuilding the body.

Unfortunately for the Giants, they have Armando Benitez and poor outfield positioning:

After Antonio Perez struck out looking to begin the ninth, Jason Kendall and Bobby Kielty hit back-to-back singles. Kendall scored on Mark Kotsay's sacrifice fly to center. The Giants, surprisingly, left a huge gap for Nick Swisher in right-center field, and that's where he ripped a Benitez pitch for a triple, scoring the winning run.

Closer Huston Street, unlike his counterpart, had no trouble putting away the Giants.

Update: Bonds was actually picked off on the steal. Bonds got a good jump, but Gaudin threw to first, and Johnson threw high and wide to second, allowing Barry to reach the base. I'm guessing it was a hit and run that went bad. Barry wasn't exactly speeding to second.

Aaron Harang shutout the Cleveland Indians last night 3-0. That lowered his road ERA to 1.57, the lowest in the majors by over half a run. Harang might be getting Cy Young consideration if he didn't pitch in Cincinnati. The band box ballpark he calls home raises his ERA to 6.00. He's allowed 10 home runs this season, nine at Great American Ballpark. His strikeouts are great, his walks are great, it's just a tough park for pitchers putting his ERA into the threes. I hope voters at least take a look at this factor when they vote come fall.

(By the way, I love the picture of Harang and LaRue slow dancing after the win at the first link. :-))

I'm not surprised Ozzie Guillen doesn't want to attend sensitivity training:

Guillen did not deny an ESPNdeportes.com story that quoted him doubting he would ever attend a major-league baseball mandated sensitivity class, instead calling the entire situation "uncomfortable" for him.

"I don't need this job," Guillen said. "I don't need to kiss anybody's butt.

"I apologized."

Guillen walked out of the press conference after answering a question about the Web site's story in which Guillen said he didn't know what a sensitivity course was about, and that he doubted he would ever attend one.

Later though, Guillen said through a team spokesman that he indeed would do whatever he is ordered to do, including the sensitivity training.

Ozzie can't say it himself. He can be blustery and macho in front of the press, but he has to send a spokesman to be submissive. I wonder how the sensitivity teacher is going to handle being told to @%$# off by Ozzie?

Meanwhile, the White Sox are being accused of stealing signs. And they offer evidence:

Signs were changed after the fifth inning, and the White Sox went four for 36 with one extra-base hit and one run after the switch.

This sounds more like La Russa being La Russa, looking for an external excuse to internal failure. I guess the Tigers were stealing signs last night, too.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Johan Santana pitched another great game tonight, allowing 2 runs, 1 earned over eight innings to lower his ERA to 2.75. He's been consistently excellent since the start of 2002. With his game tonight, he moves ahead of Pedro Martinez for the best ERA in the majors over that period. Santana now lead Martinez 2.84 to 2.85.

Note: the link will show this lead when the Day by Day Database updates tomorrow morning.

The Beltway Series got off to a fine start with a pitcher's duel between Washington and Baltimore. The good news for the Nationals was the return of John Patterson. He went six inning, allowing just one earned run. Unfortunately, he also allowed an unearned run, and that was enough to give the Orioles a 2-1 victory.

Rodrigo Lopez did everything you want from a starter. He pitched seven innings, struck out seven and walked none. He's been walking a batter every three inning this season (which is fine). Without Nick Johnson in the lineup for the Nationals, however, there's not a lot of on-base on the team. Lopez took advantage of that.

Soriano took an 0 for 4. His batting averages are steadily declining.

Alleged domestic violence landed Brett Myers in jail last night:

Myers, who was scheduled to pitch Saturday against the Red Sox, pleaded not guilty to assault charges at his arraignment Friday in Boston Municipal Court, said David Procopio, a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office. Myers' next court date is Aug. 4.

Myers was arguing with his wife shortly after midnight at the corner of Boylston and Dalton streets, Procopio said. The woman and two witnesses told police the 25-year-old pitcher hit her. One witness told investigators Myers also pulled her hair.

"The evidence at this point leads us to believe the victim was struck in the left side of her face," Procopio said. He added that investigators are trying to determine if Myers hit her with a fist or open hand and whether he hit her more than once.

Myers' wife bailed him out, so it's not clear how upset she is with her husband. However:

As part of his bail conditions, Myers must not initiate contact with his wife and can see her only if she wants to see him. The judge also ruled that if Myers is arrested again while out on bail he can be jailed for up to two months.

It seems like really bad year for ballplayers running into trouble, either with the law or with organizations. We've had three DUI's recently, including Dmitri Young skipping his court date, disciplinary problems in the Tampa Bay minor leagues, and of course Jason Grimsley. Or is this like injuries, where we always think there are a lot more than in the past until we actually count?

For once, the manager pairing makes a game interesting to me. Joe Girardi bring the Florida Marlins into the Bronx to face his mentor, Joe Torre. The rookie manager rides into town with one of the hottest teams in baseball. Given that the talent was stripped away just after Girardi took the reigns, the fact that the Marlins are in third place in the NL East and six games out of the wild card is an impressive accomplishment. Joe Torre is also facing a challenge to his skills as two thirds of his starting outfield went down for most if not all of the season. Some thought the team might collapse, but Joe's used his replacements well, and the Yankees are still in the heat of the division race, although nowhere near the best team in the league.

One advantage for the Marlins in this game is Girardi's experience with the Yankees. He knows the hitters and the pitchers from coaching in New York last year. We'll see if he can use that to his advantage.

The Cardinals move from the frying pan into the fire as they travel to Detroit. (Obligitory Kentucky Fried Movie Reference:

Dr. Klahn: The CIA thinks they can infiltrate the Mountain of Dr. Klahn!

CIA Agent: You can't scare me, you slant-eyed yellow bastard.

Dr. Klahn: Take him to... Detroit!

CIA Agent: No! No, not Detroit! No! No, please! Anything but that! No! No!)

After getting Busch whacked on the south side of Chicago (now you're all singing Jim Croce), the Cardinals send staff ace Chris Carpenter against Justin Verlander. It's tough to pick an ace on the Detroit staff. The way the five are pitching right now is more reminiscent of the Braves of the mid 1990s. Carpenter's been stellar since returning from the DL, posting a 1.89 ERA in three starts. Good offensive clubs give Verlander trouble, as the White Sox and Yankees combined to score 17 earned runs in three starts against him.

Enjoy!

If you're wondering if there is a grand jury investigating Barry Bonds, here's one more piece of the puzzle:

The San Jose Mercury News learned that Greg Anderson, Bonds' boyhood friend, spent an hour in the grand jury chambers in San Francisco accompanied by celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos. Anderson, who spent three months in prison for his role in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative drug scandal, had been subpoenaed to testify in an investigation of Bonds for perjury and tax evasion.

Geragos, the Los Angeles lawyer who defended Michael Jackson and Scott Peterson last year, declined to comment as he entered a courthouse elevator with Anderson. Chief BALCO prosecutor Jeffrey Nedrow also declined to speak when leaving the grand jury room.

Although the government has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of a grand jury investigation of Bonds, the appearance of Anderson and the BALCO prosecutors supports multiple sources' claims that a probe is under way.

I sometimes see comments wondering why Bonds hasn't been indicted if he did something wrong. Sometimes, it takes a while to build a case. If a prosecutor goes to trial, he wants to win.

An excellent piece of research here by the Baseball Crank on how great pitching teams are almost always supported by great defenses.

Scott Priestle looks at how the Indians are going to go about fixing the team. They're going to keep the core in place and try to find the right supporting players.

The key to keeping pace in the increasingly talented American League Central is assembling the right supporting cast, and the Indians' spotty play through 71 games suggests they have the wrong mix. The bullpen has been shaky, the starting rotation inconsistent and the defense uninspiring.

"It's up to us to determine what those negatives mean and how to address them," Shapiro said.

He and assistant general manager Chris Antonetti are not likely to rush into judgments. They generally study trends throughout the game, look for historical comparisons and try to forecast ramifications before making a move.

One thing the Indians might want to address is why they've been so unlucky the last two years. In 2005, they finished four game under their expected won-lost record. Right now, they're five games below where they belong. The Indians are 29-46 in one run games in 2005 and 2006, the third worst record in the majors. Only Kansas City and Pittsburgh have worse winning percentages, and only the Pirates lost more games. Could it be dumb luck? Sure. But it will be worth re-evaluating the strategies used in those close contests.

Peter Schmuck does a nice job of putting David Segui's legal use of HGH in the proper perspecitve:

The fact that there were no doctors in his hometown of Kansas City, Kan. -- and certainly no endocrinologists (it's the Midwest, for goodness sake) -- wasn't a big problem for Segui, who knew a guy in Florida who is so legitimate that he blacks out his name on prescriptions because he doesn't want any more business.

Can't draw any conclusions from that. Lots of doctors write legitimate prescriptions for highly controversial and possibly performance-enhancing drugs and don't want their names revealed for completely legitimate reasons. How do you think I get my amphetamines?

(C'mon, that was a joke. Sarcasm is totally lost on you people.)

The only thing that bothers me about Segui's completely legal use of hGH is the price he had to pay for it. The receipt that he faxed to The Sun showed that his six vials of the magic potion cost a total of nearly $2,000.

I could have sworn that the Major League Baseball Players Association had one of the best health plans in the world and this guy has to shell out two grand for a completely legitimate, legally prescribed medication? I've got basic Blue Cross coverage and the most I ever have to come up with for my steroids is a $60 co-pay.

He notes that Segui's done a good job of getting ahead of this scandal:

Segui outed himself to ESPN, then contacted The Sun and spent a day or so doing radio interviews to spread his highly questionable side of the story. If Rafael Palmeiro had shown that kind of PR savvy last August, he'd still be headed to the Hall of Fame.

Meanwhile, Orioles fans wait for other Orioles names to leak out.

Derek Lowe finished up last night's action pitching the Dodgers to a 4-2 win over the Mariners. Lowe completed the game, throwing 119 pitches and allowing runs on two homers, his sixth and seventh allowed this season. They were the first home runs he allowed since 5/16. In those seven starts, Lowe won five and lost none while posting a 2.23 ERA.

The complete game made a comeback last year, but is on the way back down. Consider last night there were two complete games, Lowe's and Anthony Reyes' eight inning one hitter. Freddy Garcia, in that same game, threw just 99 pitches through eight innings. Why didn't the White Sox let him finish the game? He retired the Cardinals in order in the top of the eighth.

In Houston, Francisco Liriano allowed just two runs through eight innings, throwing just 97 pitches. He did allow a two run homer in the 8th, but that's going to happen sometimes. Why not let him finish what he started.

Compared to last year at the same point, only 2.9% of starts (62/2164) are getting completed vs. 4.4% in 2005 (94/2142). It seems when managers have the choice of letting the starter finish or bring in the closer, they're making the call to the bullpen.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Liriano goes eight strong innings, making one mistake, a two-run home run to Jason Lane in the eighth inning. But with a save from Nathan, Liriano runs his record to 7-1. He's been so good as a starter this year that the two runs in eight innings raises his ERA in that role to 1.64. In 44 innings as a starter, he's struck out 42 and walked 15. The Twins take the game 4-2 and have now won 11 of their last 13. However, they're still 11 games out of first and 10 1/2 out of the wild card.

Tied at five in the top of the tenth, the Marlins get a runner to second with 1 out, and the Orioles decide to walk Miguel Cabrera. Todd Williams throws a lollipop too close to the strike zone, and Cabrera is ready. He lines it into center to drive in the go-ahead run.

There's a small but very vocal Marlins contingent at the game. You can hear them on the broadcast cheering for the Fish.

Update: The Fish win 8-5 as they score two more in the top of the 10th. They've now won 10 of their last 11 and 14 of 18. The Marlins head to New York in what should be a fun series as Master and Pupil face off for the first time.

Who needs Ozzie Guillen? The White Sox get great pitching and one big hit to defeat the Cardinals 1-0. Anthony Reyes allowed just one hit, the homer to Jim Thome. Freddy Garcia, however, pitched nearly as well, allowing just four hits and a walk over eight innings, yielding to Jenks for the save. The Cardinals get swept in Chicago on two blow outs and a wasted great start. Pujols went 0 for 4 in his return from the DL.

Down 5-1 in the ninth, the Marlins rally for four runs, capped by back-to-back pinch-hit home runs by Borchard and Helms. Wes is on fire during the Marlins streak. That's his third home run in his last twelve at bats.

With one out in the seventh inning, Jim Thome comes up and hits a massive home run deep into the right field stands. Reyes loses the no-hitter, the shutout and the White Sox take a 1-0 lead. It was a majestic shot.

Roger Clemens just finished the fifth inning, throwing exactly 100 pitches. I don't know if that's his limit, but I bet it's not much more than that. He wasn't exactly sharp tonight as he allowed six hits, two walks and two runs. He did strike out four, however.

Meanwhile, Liriano allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk through four innings and only threw 42 pitches. He leads Clemens and the Astros 2-0.

Update: Springer enters the game in the sixth and gives up a run on a homer to Morneau. Justin continues his hot power hitting with a double and homer tonight.

Anthony Reyes retired the first thirteen batters he faced before Jermaine Dye launched a long fly ball to right center. Taguchi ran a long way to the wall, leapt, and had the ball hit the heel of his glove and bounce out, putting Dye at third. The official scorer deemed it a three-base error, and I have to agree. Seo got there, got under it, and should have made the catch. The perfect game is gone, but the no-hitter is still intact.

Update: Reyes gets out of the jam with a soft liner and a foul pop out that Molina catches leaning over the first row of the stands. Anthony allowed no hits through five. The game remains tied at 0.

Update: Reyes continues the no-hitter through six, retiring the side in order. He's thrown 77 pitches through six innings, 56 for strikes. He's struck out five batters.

Update: I mispelled So Taguchi's first name in the title. I confused it with the last name of the pitcher.

Selig came down hard on Ozzie Guillen today, suspending him one whole game for his part in the beaning of Chris Duncan and fined him for calling a reporter a fag. Guillen will also undergo sensitivity training. Ozzie is such a personality, however, I can see the class coming out talking more like Ozzie than the other way around.

And if he's going to WNBA games and Madonna concerts, how much more sensitive can he get? :-)

A.J. Burnett is on the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays this evening, his first start since April. So far so good as he's tossed three shutout innings, allowing one hit while striking out five. And he's done it with only 38 pitches.

Roger Clemens is back on the mound. The first batter of the game, Luis Castillo, ground back to Clemens, but Roger had to leap for the ball and didn't field it cleanly. He was charged with an error. But Clemens comes back inducing Kubel to hit into a double play and striking out the tough Joe Mauer. All in all, not a bad first inning.

Albert Pujols is in the starting lineup for the St. Louis Cardinals tonight. He lined out to left in his first plate appearance.

Update: Mulder, however, goes on the DL with a shoulder strain.

At this post, Deadspin tells you how to read the blacked out portion of the PDF in which the government makes its case for upholding the subpoena of the Game of Shadows authors. I don't know why Deadspin didn't publish the name of the suspected informant, but I've decoded section C. It seems the government has e-mails between the reporters and the suspected leaker. It's pretty funny how the three step around asking for the CD of the testimony, and suddenly (and rightly) get concerned about their e-mail being read.

Well, maybe there's another way of some sort to communicate; either pay phone or
cell or even meeting that would provide more comfort. Frankly, I wanted to make
a pitch about seeing some stuff and talking about a few things . . . . As to our email
exchanges, well, the only way they end up in our paper is if/when you give
me the green light. As with the CD-Rom, waiting, waiting, waiting . . . .

I don't want to get in trouble naming names, but you can have fun reading it on your own.

Update: SI is reporting it's Victor Conte. That's how he got his revenge on the athletes who testified against him.

The Pirates lost to the Royals today 15-7. If you get swept by the worst team in baseball, does that title automatically transfer? The Pirates own four more wins than the Royals, but with this sweep, capped off by a very embarassing loss, Pittsburgh has to rank the lowest rung on the ladder right now.

Have you seen a bigger disconnect between batting average allowed an ERA than for John Rheinecker? It continues today as he's allowed eight hits through four innings but just two runs. His opponent, Clay Hensley, hasn't allowed a hit through three. The Padres lead the Rangers 2-0.

Update: Rheinecker is out of the game after 5 1/3 innings. He gave up 11 hits but just two runs. After this performance, his ERA is a respectable 3.57 but his batting average allowed is .343. In addition to the 11 hits, he walked 2 batters, so half the men he faced reached base.

David Wright hits two run homers in consecutive innings to help the Mets to a 6-2 lead over the Cincinnati Reds in the fifth inning. Wright was assigned a negative clutch factor in the Runs Created formula because 12 of his 15 homers came with the bases empty. This performance should bring that down.

Scott Kazmir synced up with his mojo today as he's shutting down an Arizona offense in full free retreat. He's struck out 8 through six innings while allowing just one hit and one walk. Edgar Gonzalez was also pitching well, but just gave up a home run to Huff to give Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead. Not that things are looking good for the Diamondbacks, but going into Tampa Bay and getting shutdown by that team makes one wonder about the viability of Arizona as a playoff contender.

U.S.S. Mariner is enjoying rooting for the Mariners again.

Even when Washburn gave up the lead and we trailed 5-2, my first thought was "it's only three runs, and the Dodgers bullpen isn't very good." For the first time in a while, I was anticipating a come from behind win. That's a nice feeling.

Part of the fun is that Ichiro is on an incredible hitting streak. While 20 games isn't that long in terms of the best of all times, the stats he's collecting during the streak are extremely impressive. He's averaging better than two hits per game, with 14 multi-hit games and two four hit games. He's scored 22 runs as well. If the Mariners had any offense at the bottom of the order, he might have a ton of RBI as well.

Evan Brunell, author of Firebrand of the American League, reveals today that he's been working for the charitable arm of the Red Sox for the last six months. He gives his take on the Red Sox offices and personnel. He didn't have anything to do with club operations, but it sounds like a fun job nonetheless.

Roger Clemens returns to the majors this evening, and Richard Justice is happy:

The hope is that with your return, the Astros will return to the formula that worked last season. If Roy Oswalt stays healthy and Pettitte can get straightened out, the rotation will be as good as almost any.

Is it good enough? Who knows? The Mets and Cardinals are going to get two of the four National League playoff berths, probably leaving the Astros in a scramble with the Reds, Phillies and maybe even the Marlins for the wild card.

In truth, none of us experts really knows how good the Astros are. If you and Andy are solid, the team is good enough to go back to the playoffs. We know just one thing for sure: The chances got a lot better today.

To make it better, his opponent in his return is the up and coming star, Francisco Liriano. The Twins lefty is sporting very Clemens like numbers this season. He's striking out 10.3 per 9 while walking just 2.6 per 9. Since moving to the rotation, he's allowed just one home run in 36 innings. That's lead to a 1.50 ERA as a starter.

Clemens has a long history against the Twins. He's made 42 starts versus Minnesota and complete 1/7 of them with two shutouts. He's 23-12 in those starts with a 3.01 ERA. His strikeouts are a bit low compared to his career (7.9 per 9 vs. the Twins, 8.6 overall) but he's only allowed 16 home runs against them in 299 1/3 innings.

Enjoy!

Sheldon Ocker details the mental collaspe of the Cleveland defense in the third inning last night.

I don't hear many calls for Eric Wedge's head. It's seems to me, however, when a team doesn't have its head in the game, that's a good time to blame the manager. I'm interested in Cleveland fans take on Wedge as a manager of people, rather than the game.

It looks like Albert Pujols is almost healed:

Albert Pujols should be ready to come off the disabled list and play by Monday when the St. Louis Cardinals open a three-game series at home against the Cleveland Indians, manager Tony La Russa said Wednesday.

"Sooner than that? Maybe," La Russa said.

That's certainly good news for the Cardinals. Not that he would have helped in this series against the White Sox, but Cardinals opponents failed to gain much ground during his absence, and the team will only get better with their big bopper back bashing.

The government is turning up the heat on the authors of Game of Shadows.

The Bush administration urged a federal judge Wednesday to force two San Francisco Chronicle reporters to divulge who leaked them secret grand jury testimony of Barry Bonds and other athletes who took part in the government's probe of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative.

Noting that it is a crime to leak grand jury materials to the media, "there is no reporter's privilege in criminal cases, under the First Amendment or under common law," federal prosecutors Brian Hershman and Michael Raphael wrote in a 51-page brief.

Even if compelled, I doubt the reporters will testify. After all, their testimony might be leaked! So in an ironic twist:

Both Fainaru-Wada and Williams say they aren't going to comply with the subpoena, which means they could be fined and jailed until they reveal their sources if they lose their legal challenge. The reporters also could be jailed for a fixed term for contempt if U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White forces them to appear before the grand jury.

They face more jail time than any of the five BALCO defendants, as the largest prison term was four months.

There are good reasons grand jury testimony shouldn't be leaked, and it's pretty much along the lines of why reporters don't divulge sources. If grand jury testimony is routinely leaked, people are less likely to testify. The players whose testimony was leaked might take the fifth instead of helping out if they knew their testimony would be made public. The argument goes that revealing sources drys up future sources. Leaking testimony might do the same for future grand juries.

The Yankees bullpen turned in an impressive performance last night with four hitless innings:

"This is the way we're supposed to pitch, get our three outs, each of us, and get the ball to Mo," Proctor said. "Hopefully, we can keep it rolling."

Villone walked one batter and Proctor hit one, but Farnsworth and Rivera threw 1-2-3 frames. "Farnsworth looked like Farnsworth," Torre said. "He took it to them."

Villone has a 1.80 ERA, lower than any regularly used reliever other than Mike Myers (0.69), and he attributed his success to being "well-rested, well-taken care of." He says he loves pitching in tight situations and hopes for more.

The relievers combined to throw 59 pitches in the four innings, 39 for strikes. Remove Villone, and 30 of 41 went for strikes. The Yankees bullpen ERA stands at 3.75, second in the league, but watching them lately they don't appear to be that good. They keep the ball in the park, however, only giving up 18 home runs and own the lowest slugging percentage of any AL pen, .365.

Things are going poorly for the Diamondbacks right now, as last night's game demonstrates:

And in what has become a common theme surrounding the bumbling Diamondbacks, it was full of fluky circumstances. Just check out this sequence in the second inning:

• Left fielder Luis Gonzalez lost track of a fly ball hit by Russell Branyon - the white, domed roof of Tropicana often being such a nemesis - and the ball dropped behind him for a one-out double.

• Jonny Gomes followed with a grounder off the end of his bat that ricocheted off the third base bag, bouncing high before Chad Tracy could do anything. Branyon advanced to third.

• With runners at first and third, Brandon Webb was charged with a balk. Branyon, who shouldn't have been on base, scored Tampa Bay's first run. Catcher Toby Hall then doubled to left to make it 2-0.

"I don't know," Webb said. "That's just the way things are going right now, just ridiculous plays and there's nothing we can really do about them."

Of course, it's not all bad bounces as opponents outscored Arizona116-50 over their last 16 games. Not suprisingly, they've won just two of those. The more amazing thing is despite the huge losing streak, they're just 2 1/2 games out of first place.

The strength of this team up until this downturn was the ability of hitters to get on base a little better than league average. Since 6/5, most of the regulars are well below that. Orlando Hudson, the team's weakest hitter, is the only one having a good stretch with the bat.

Ozzie Guillen apologized last night for remarks made Tuesday.

Noah Lowry's velocity is down.

Alou called Lowry's stuff "very mild," citing the left-hander's fastball, which often ranged in the 84-85 mph neighborhood. Typically, Lowry's fastball ranges 88-91 mph, a sufficient complement to his changeup.

"We're going to look into it and see what's causing it," Alou said of Lowry's dip. "Maybe Friday we'll talk a little bit about what's causing it. It's not his 'A' stuff that we've seen in his last several starts."

Lowry says he's not hurt. Maybe it's just a dead arm period. Could a change in mechancis be resposible?

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

After 21 scoreless innings at Coors, Nick Swisher connects in the fourth inning tonight, a solo shot to tie the Rockies at 1. That's 18 for Swisher, three short of his 2005 total.

Eric Bedard threw his game of the year tonight, ending the Marlins winning streak with eight shutout innings. He allowed just two hits. He struck out 12. And he got through eight innings just throwing 105 pitches. Whatever he did right tonight, the Orioles hope he can repeat it as the season goes on. Even with the eight scoreless innings, his ERA still sits at 5.09.

Jose Reyes just singled in the bottom of the 8th to complete the cycle. He homered leading off the game for the Mets, then doubled, tripled before getting the single to complete the feat. It's the 9th cycle in Mets history according to the broadcast. Reyes' four for five raises his batting average to .283 and his OBA to .347. That's still low for a leadoff hitter, but it's moving in the right direction.

Update: Unfortunately for the Mets, Billy Wagner can't hold the 5-4 lead. With two out in the ninth he walks two and gives up two singles to give the Reds two runs and a 6-5 lead. The Mets are coming up in the bottom of the ninth.

Correction: Changed 9th triple to 9th cycle.
Update: Coffey gets Wright to ground into a double play to end the game. The Reds win in dramatic fashion 6-5. It's Wagner's fourth blown save of the season.

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

For the second game in a row, the Cardinals starter gives up nine runs to the White Sox. Yesterday, Mulder waited until the third to get bombed. Tonight, the White Sox scored four in the first and five in the second off Marquis. La Russa sent him out for the third and he gave up a home run to Crede to make the score 10-3. It looks like Jason is taking one for the bullpen tonight.

Update: Marquis does indeed take one for the team. He goes five innings, giving up runs in each inning, 13 total. His ERA jumps nearly a run tonight, from 4.55 to 5.53. The Cardinals could use a mercy rule right now.

The Baseball Musings Radio Show is coming up in a little while at 8 PM EDT. You can leave questions during the show in the TPSRadio Chat Room.

Jimmy Rollins just hit a ball up the middle that hits Jaret Wright. He got his glove up so it did no damage, but it seems in every game he pitches somebody hits a hard liner right at him. Maybe it's because he's a wide target, or maybe he keeps putting pitches in the wheel house for these batters to cream.

Rickie Weeks provided the power to give the Brewers a 4-3 comeback win over the Tigers. Weeks hit his two run shot in the seventh after a pinch-hit, two-out single by Barnwell. Rickie was in a bit of a slump, batting just .222 in June. He has to hope his 2 for 4 today is the start of the climb out of that.

Jeff Weaver is through four innings, and all in all he's pitching a good game. He gave up two runs in the second, but he's struck out six and walked none. He facing a Giants lineup without Bonds and Alou. We'll see if he blows up in the next two innings as is his pattern.

Update: Weaver gets through the fifth and sixth with no damage. He did give up a hit and a walk in the sixth, but one of those runners was erased with a caught stealing.

Political correctness caught up to Ozzie Guillen today.

On Tuesday to reporters, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen referred to Chicago Sun-Times columnist and Around the Horn contributor Jay Mariotti as a derogatory name for a homosexual.

Angry with a recent column by Mariotti critical of Guillen's handling of recently demoted relief pitcher Sean Tracey and upset with Mariotti with columns of the past, Guillen said to reporters when referring to Mariotti before Tuesday's game with the Cardinals, "What a piece of [expletive] he is, [expletive] fag."

Ozzie says the word fag is used differently in Venezulea.

Guillen said that in his native Venezuela, that word is not a reference to a person's sexuality, but to his courage. He said he was saying that Mariotti is "not man enough to meet me and talk about [things before writing].''

Guillen also told Couch that he has gay friends, attends WNBA games, went to a Madonna concert and plans to go to the Gay Games in Chicago.

"I called that of this man [Mariotti],'' he told Couch. "I'm not trying to hurt anybody [else]."

I thought he was calling him a cigarette, myself. The problem of course, is that Ozzie didn't finish the insult with, "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"

And how is the stereotyping going? WNBA? Madonna concerts! I bet he likes Barbara Streisand albums and Judy Garland movies, too. Just keep digging your own grave, Ozzie.

Jason Johnson, that is. Even though the Red Sox are going with a four-man rotation through the end of June, they've picked up Johnson as insurance against other or continuing injuries. It stirkes me they're just trying to give themselves plenty of options.

Nate Robertson and Chris Capuano are showing great control this afternoon. Through four innings, neither walked a batter and the two combined for nine strikeouts. It's 2-1 Detroit in the fifth, and Robertson singled and drove in the go-ahead run, his first major league hit.

Bloggedy Blog doesn't mince words: Mulder must go!

Peter Schmuck is waiting for the Orioles names in Grimsley's affidavit to be revealed:

Three of the blacked-out names in the leaked affidavit clearly are current or former Orioles, based on Grimsley's claim that he had a conversation with three teammates last year about "how they were going to play the baseball season next year when Major League Baseball banned the use of amphetamines and began testing for them."

It all sounds pretty damning, until you consider that amphetamine use has been one of baseball's dirty little secrets for generations ... and Grimsley's recollection of one casual clubhouse conversation is far from proof that any of those three players were guilty of using illegal drugs.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not running interference for anybody, but the same kind of conversation that Grimsley described in the affidavit probably went on in every clubhouse in the major leagues last year.

That could be. The more likely reason for including it in the affidavit, however, is that they were talking about their own use of greenies.

The Baseball Musings radio show will be on TPSRadio tonight at 8 PM EDT. Check out their other sports programming as well.

You can 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.

It looks like they decided to put all the good pitching matchups on Wednesday this week. Almost any game you tune into today has a pair of fine hurlers in opposition. If you like youngsters, try Washington vs. Boston tonight. Shawn Hill faces John Lester. After getting a cup of coffee in 2004, Hill is earning a place in the Washington rotation with four solid starts. In his brief major league career he's been good at keeping the ball in the park, allowing just two home runs in 35 innings. Lester makes his third start tonight. He's striking out batters, but his control is lacking so far. Call this the futures game.

While their teams aren't very good, Carlos Zambrano and C.C. Sabathia are pitchers in their primes who should put on a good show this evening. Zambrano is death to right-handed batters as he allows just a .139 batting average to them, the best in the National League. Righties aren't very good against the lefty Sabathia, either, hitting just .239 with the platoon advantage.

Joe Mays makes his first start for the Reds tonight after being pulled off the Kansas City scrap heap. He's pitched seven good innings for the Reds in relief. He'll face Alay Soler. The opposition is hitting just .118 vs. Alay with men on base.

Brandon Webb comes off his worst outing of the year to face James Shields of the Devil Rays. Shields struck out 22 so far in 23 innings. With Kazmir, Hendrickson and Shields, is a rotation starting to take shape for the Devil Rays?

Finally, Chris Young returns to Texas as arguably the best starter on the Padres staff. He'll face replacement ace Kevin Millwood. In Young's last four starts he holds an ERA of 1.00. He's struck out more batters than he's allowed to reach base (29-21). Millwood does not find the confines of Texas friendly. He's allowed a 6.65 ERA at home vs. 2.44 on the road.

Enjoy!

For the second time in recent days, I see this at FishStripes:

We aren't going to win the World Series this year.

However, looking at the standings, the Marlins are just six games out of the wild card. Their penultimate series of the season is against the Reds, sandwiched between two series with the Phillies. The odds are they won't win the World Series, but it would be mighty impressive if they made the playoffs. If nothing else, it shows you can replace a number of veterans with a number of young, cheap players and do pretty well.

While everyone's been looking at the Marlins as sellers at the trading deadline, might an extended winning streak make them buyers? Who has more prospects to trade than the Marlins? They have offensive weaknesses in center and right field. Why not trade for an experienced, good outfielder? Or a third baseman so you can send Cabrera back to right? Would the Cubs move Aramis Ramirez to rebuild?

Mark Teixeira thought he hit a walk off home run last night, but the umpires called it foul. He hit it so high, it was way above the foul pole, making it a tough call. Teixeira invokes Newton to prove his point:

Teixeira said that the physics and angles on the play, given where the ball landed -- just slightly foul but well beyond the outfield wall -- indicate that the ball was fair when it passed the foul pole.

'I have no doubt in my mind that the ball was fair,' Teixeira said.

Did anyone see the play and want to comment?

Matt Morris won a tight game last night. He's been pitching much better over his last five starts, especially his walks and home runs allowed. Now he just needs the Giants to score runs for him so he can transform more of those good outings into wins.

Spasms in Moises Alou's back may force him back on the disabled list.

Derrek Lee took batting practice yesterday and looks to return this weekend:

Trainer Mark O'Neal acknowledged Lee is pressing to return.

"It's still a strength issue,'' O'Neal said. "He's real antsy, and we're just trying to make a good decision. We're trying to restrain him to make sure he has the strength to be able to tolerate four or five at-bats.''

At 15 1/2 games back in the division and 10 1/2 back in the wild card, Lee will need to work a great deal of magic to get the Cubs back in the playoff picture.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

In the article on Adrian Beltre linked in this post, there was a suggestion that seeing Manny Mota again might help the former Dodger:

If nothing else, pitcher and former teammate Odalis Perez says Beltre could benefit from reuniting with Dodgers coach Manny Mota.

"Since Adrian came to this organization, Manuel Mota has been like a father to him," Perez says. "When he went through difficult times, Manuel was the one who got him going again."

Mota, a Dodgers fixture for 37 years, believes leaving such a familiar environment might have prompted the sensitive Beltre to put extra pressure on himself.

"I might talk to him and try to enhance his confidence level, remind him of the things he did to become such a good hitter in late 2003 and 2004," Mota says.

"More than anything, encourage him, tell him to relax."

If he talked to Mota before the game, it worked. Adrian is two for two with two runs scored and two RBI. His two hits are a double and a home run. The Mariners lead the Dodgers 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

Justin Morneau hits a solo home run in the top of the 10th inning to give the Twins a 6-5 victory over the Houston Astros. Ten days ago I wrote:

The Twins version of the M&M boys never developed. Joe Mauer put up a three for five to raise his batting average to .384, but Morneau's batting and on-base averages are right where they were last year, low. While his power rebounded a bit, he's not hitting like a first baseman, and it's time for the Twins to find another answer at the position.

Morneau had homered twice the previous night. Including that game, he's now hitting .439 over that stretch with four doubles, six homers and 19 RBI in 10 games. Is there anyone else Twins fans would like me to criticize? :-) Minnesota fans stretch their winning streak to 8 games and 10 of the last 11.

The Oakland Athletics are scoreless through five innings, giving them fourteen straight scoreless innings at Coors this year. You'd think that wasn't possible. Colorado is showing how it's done again tonight as they've collected 10 hits, four for extra-bases to take a 6-0 lead after five.

Update: The A's are now scoreless through 8. There's been only one other time when Coors saw shutouts on consecutive days. The Rockies held the Pirates scoreless on April 30 and May 1, 2002.

Update: The Rockies take the game 6-0. The first batter of the game gets a hit off Jennings, and that was the only hit Oakland earned in the game. They did draw six walks, but without any other hits they were useless. It's the first one-hitter in Rockies history. It's amazing how a team so hot could go so cold in such a hitter's haven.

It looks like it doesn't matter who the Cardinals send to the mound tonight. The White Sox added 10 runs off the bullpen and lead the Cardinals 19-2. Pierzynski and Crede are each a triple away from the cycle.

Update: Crede doesn't get the triple, but he does hit a second home run to bring the total runs for the White Sox to 20.

Zach Miner wins his third game against one loss as the Tigers take down the Brewers 10-1. It's the kind of game great teams win; lots of offense and great pitching. Miner completes the game, the first of his career. His ERA is down to 2.08 and opponents are batting just .200 against him. It's impressive that the Tigers take an injury to a very good pitcher and can replace him with someone better. Miner even added a double and a run scored, his first major league offensive contributions.

The Yankees come back again. Melky Cabrera singles in one and Johnny Damon triples in two to put the Yankees up 8-7. Can Ryan Howard bring the Phillies back again?

The team that wins this game may be the one that gets the lead to its closer.

Update: Jeter singles in Damon as Arthur Rhodes returns to his old form against New York, facing four batters having all four reach on an error, two hits and a walk.

Update: Torre goes to Rivera in the 8th for a two inning save.

Update: It comes down to Rivera vs. Howard. Mo gives up two singles in the ninth to set up the two out confrontation with Ryan. This time, the Yankees pitcher wins as Ryan grounds out to give the Yankees a 9-7 victory. A tough way to end a great game for the Phillies first baseman.

The Mets used the long ball to hang a 9-2 loss on the Cincinnati Reds. Carlos Degado his number 20, the 11th season in a row he hit at least that number. (The last 10 he's hit at least 30.) Nady punched two out of the park and Steve Trachsel added his first homer since 1998. He also pitched six strong innings, and the bullpen allowed just two hits to finish off the Reds who have now lost 9 of their last 11 and have allowed 8 runs or more in five of those games.

Twice tonight the Yankees came back to tie the Phillies and twice tonight Ryan Howard put them back ahead. He drove in the first five runs with two homers, and then when the Yankees tied it at five, he tripled in two more for a 7-5 Phillies lead. He's three for three, the rest of the team is five for 24. But he's come to the plate with five runners on base and drove in all of them.

Correction: I orginially had Howard with a double. Did the official scorer change his mind?

The Florida Marlins stretch their winning streak to nine games with a 6-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Dontrelle Wills got plenty of support as he was able to spread out eleven hits over 8 2/3 innings. He didn't walk a batter, however, which kept the hits (nine singles) from doing much damage. He did give up his ninth homer of the season. That's the big difference from last year in which he allowed just eleven.

It appears aliens replaced Mark Mulder tonight with a rather poor copy. The White Sox are up to nine runs in the bottom of third with just one out. Pierzynski and Crede go deep to account for the last five runs. There's so much smoke from the fire works the cameras can't see the field clearly. That's the third time in his last five starts Mulder's given up eight runs or more. His ERA is 13.50 over those five games.

Jason Johnson pitched so poorly this year that the Indians decide to eat his $3.5 million dollar contract. He's been designated for assignment.

Mark Teixeira hit his 24th double of the year tonight and came around to score to give Texas an early 1-0 lead. The double belongs to the Texas offense this year as Mathews and Young are tied for second with 25, Teixeira is fourth with 24 and DeRosa is 5th with 21.

Kip Wells is making his 2006 debut after surgery to fix a blood clot. His Pirate teammates are trying to make it easy on him as they've scored four runs in the top of the first so far to send Wells to the mound with a lead. You might say it's their "Get Wells" card.

Ryan Howard goes deep twice off Mike Mussina. That ties him for the National League lead in home runs with 25. It's taken a while, but someone caught Pujols. Howard's driven in all five runs as the Phillies lead the Yankees 5-3. That's 11 runs allowed by Mussina in this last two starts.

One of my favorite players, Matt Treanor, just hit his first career home run! The Marlins continue to pour on the good play as they lead Baltimore 4-0 in the fourth. Dan Uggla also homered, his 13th.

Update: Amezaga hits a two-run shot in the sixth to make the score 6-0 Marlins. Cabrera gives up all three dingers. He only allowed two all season entering tonight.

After an 0-1 tonight, Neifi Perez's OBA stands at .220. That's his on-base average. That's 122 at bats with a .220 OBA. That's over 110 points lower than the league average. There are pitchers with better OBA's than that. Can it really be true that there is no second baseman in the Cubs minor league system that is capable of a better OBA? How long does Neifi have to be this bad before the Cubs do something.

The team can't score. It seems replacing Neifi with almost anyone would make the offense better.

How bad was Livan Hernandez tonight? The Red Sox only played two innings but Loretta and Nixon already have multi-hit games. The Sox are off to a 6-0 lead in the middle of the third.

Update: The Red Sox win 11-3 and five Sox players wind up with multi-hit games. Loretta and Nixon picked up three each, as did Alex Cora. Ramriez and Crisp each knocked out a pair of hits, including Coco's third homer of the season.

Cubbiepalooza presents a picture of the Cubs new uniform and the reason for the change.

Jon Weisman points out that even though the Dodgers have a number of starting pitchers with decent ERAs, they're not pitching very much. I wonder how much this had to do with being careful with Brad Penny's workload early on?

Here's my clip from Sports Bloggers Live last night. You can hear the whole show at the second link.

It's not often you get to see a 1-8 pitcher challenge a 1-9 pitcher, but that's the matchup in Atlanta tonight as Josh Towers faces Jorge Sosa. Towers has lots of balls put in play against him, and they either leave the park or fall for hits. He's given up 73 hits in 45 innings pitched! That's just amazing. That works out to a .363 batting average against. His home run rate would lead to well over 50 in 200 innings. He can't even hold runners as base stealers are 10 for 11 against him.

Sosa, with the worse record, is actually pitching better. But like Towers, the ball keeps leaving the park. Among pitchers with 60 innings, only Carlos Silva allowed more home runs per 9 innings. This is a good bet for a high home run game.

Enjoy!

Blez at Athletics Nation is still scared of the Angels because of their young talent. I'd be more scared of the Rangers since they appear to have found okay pitching, and when the offense clicks their pitchers are going to be good enough. Texas is in the middle of the pack in ERA and near the top in runs scored. An improvement in either gives them a good chance to win the division.

The Red Sox designated J.T. Snow for assignment.

This season, Snow only had 7 starts, but he had been used as a late-inning replacement several times (accumulating 102 1/3 innings). So does this mean Youk will be getting an extra 5 AB's a week? I'd say so. It doesn't look like there's anyone on the farm that they'd want to bring in (other than Hee-Seop Choi). Maybe they're comfortable letting Ortiz play first when Youk needs a day off. Who knows... but bottomline, Youkilis has shown mgmt that he's a viable MLB first baseman and in doing so has secured himself his first season of ~600 ABs.

Choi's drawing a lot of walks but not hitting well at AAA. Still, the Red Sox know the value of walks, and he'd be a good defensive replacement. Snow was unhappy with his playing time, so this really works out well for everyone involved.

Geoff Young at Ducksnorts uses the Padres situation at third base to explore why people are risk adverse when they are winning, more adventurous when they are losing. He's looking for help with the answers:

We need to find a way through this "mental tunnel." We need to challenge our own thought processes and continue to innovate despite the potential risk to current success or else we risk "losing" additional future success. I'm mostly talking about baseball here, but it could be anything.

How do we get to that point? How do we avoid the trap of mindless risk aversion when all is going well -- especially when millions of dollars are at stake?

I don't have an answer to these questions. Like I said, I'm not smart enough to figure it out on my own. But I'm sure folks have some good ideas.

Okay. So, what are they?

He wants to know why choices are different in this situation:

He houses his discussion in the context of wagers, submitting that we will choose a sure gain over a probable gain, but choose a probable loss over a sure loss, even when the amounts -- the "calculus of expected values" -- are identical. The example provided, from studies conducted by pioneering researchers Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, is as follows:

1. Sure gain of $75.
2. 75% chance of winning $100, 25% chance of winning nothing.
3. Sure loss of $75.
4. 75% chance of losing $100, 25% chance of losing nothing.

Given the choice between A and B, more subjects chose A. However, given the choice between C and D, the majority chose D. This doesn't make sense because both A and C represent certainty, while B and D involve risk with no additional overall reward. Either A and C should be preferred, or B and D. There would be consistency of thought here. Preference for A and D violates any concept of rational decision-making.

Let me give this a try. The 75% scenario represents probability over a long time. In other words, if you play the 75% win game thousands of times instead of just taking the $75 dollars, you come out about the same. You might come out a little better, but you also might come out a little worse. Taking the $75 each time puts a floor on the minimum you can pick up. It cuts off half of the possible outcomes of playing the game, all more negative than taking the $75 dollars. The fewer games you play, the more you're decreasing your risk.

In the other situation, the exact opposite takes place. You're going to lose money. By playing the game, you're giving yourself a 50% shot of losing less. If you play a lot, you won't lose a lot more than $75 per time, but you might actually save some money. And if you play just a few times, you might get lucky and save a lot. It seems to me it's a perfectly rational decision in terms of the probabilities.

I'm not surprised to see bud Selig is upset over the signing of fifth round pick Jeff Samardzija.

Justin Upton, the No. 1 pick in 2005, received a $6.1 million bonus from Arizona, the record for a player signed by the team drafted him. Baseball America, citing unnamed sources, reported Commissioner Bud Selig was upset by the Samardzija bonus and became personally involved in the negotiations because the Cubs have upset the slotting structure for signing bonuses, giving out money no first-round pick has ever received to a player selected in the fifth round.

Why should the commissioner care who signs for what money? Because the draft is one of the many rules passed over the decades to try to prevent the Yankees from winning every year. The whole idea is to give the worst teams access to the best talent. The problem is, the talent figured out how to make money from the system. They declare before hand that they'll demand a big signing bonus, so some of the worst teams pass them over because they don't want to give out that much money. Now with a fifth round pick getting lots of moolah, the first rounders will demand even more.

The answer to this problem, is fairly easy. Allow teams to trade or sell their picks. The team with the #1 pick owns a very valuable asset. Right now, if the person they want is unsignable by them, the asset loses value. But if they could use it to trade for other players, or even cash, they could still come out ahead. The worst teams aren't necessarily getting the best players right now. While allowing trading wouldn't change that, at least the worst teams would be getting something they judge as equal value.

USA Today details Adrian Beltre's fall as a high-priced free agent. The interesting thing is no one can put a finger on what's wrong with Beltre. They keep saying he needs to relax. Maybe he should take a shot of whiskey before the game (or a beta blocker, for a more high tech solution).

Bavasi comes in for criticism as well:

General manager Bill Bavasi is taking heat in Seattle for the club's moves, which might explain why he speaks in clipped sentences when answering not the $64,000 question but the $64 million one: Why can't Beltre hit?

Bavasi says it's unrealistic to expect Beltre to duplicate his 2004 season, even though Beltre, at 27, is at the start of what is typically a player's prime years.

Bavasi says the more reason-able expectation would be production between those outstanding numbers and his average previous season.

Asked why Beltre hasn't come around yet, Bavasi responds, "He will. ... He has ability. He's a young guy that has upside."

(Twenty-seven is actually the peak of a player's ability, not the start of his prime years.) Bill certainly hopes so. His job may be gone if Beltre continues to struggle.

The Tigers attendance is up this year, and they may set a record for the park:

Tigers attendance is up 76,184 from last year in a 34-game comparison, placing Detroit eighth in the American League at 885,400. Summer weather, combined with a first-place club that has been one of baseball's surprises, likely will make this season Detroit's best box-office year since 2000, when Comerica Park opened and hosted 2,533,752. In 2005, the Tigers drew 2,024,485 -- their first 2-million season since 2000

.

The expect to sell out the St. Louis series this weekend, which they can bill as a possible World Series matchup.

Octavio Dotel suffered new pain:

The Yankees said that Dotel has triceps tendinitis - a minor injury - and that he'll be able to throw on Thursday when he reports to Double-A Trenton. Some teammates, however, were a little more concerned because of the way Dotel described his symptoms; tendinitis usually results in a heavy and fatigued feeling and Dotel said that he felt more of a sharp pain.

Dotel said he had not undergone an MRI, though he added that he might ask to have one to put his mind at ease that he didn't have a more serious condition, like a bone spur.

GM Brian Cashman said, "It's definitely a small setback but at the same time he's close (to being ready). It's nothing major."

The Yankees are now looking at an end of the month return for Dotel.

This quote is from a couple of day ago, but still worth repeating:

Bowden, the general manager of the Washington Nationals, believes there are 11 teams with which the Nationals might be able to trade one of their veterans for prospects. The Yankees, who boast pitching prospect Philip Hughes in the minors, are included in that group, as are the Los Angeles Angels, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets, Boston and Toronto.

"I've never seen the Yankees' farm system completely dry," Bowden said. "Every time I look in the big leagues, they keep bringing them up there, and everyone always says it's dry. It's not that dry. It's wet enough for me."

My take is the Yankees are better off getting their system flooded than trading for short term success again. But with all the talk of how poor the Yankees minor leagues are, they have come up with some decent players the last two years. If you can produce one major leaguer starter a year, you're in pretty good shape.

Jason Williams notes the improvement in the Twins starting pitching since Liriano entered the rotation:

The Twins were 17-24 with a major-league worst starting earned-run average of 6.43 entering Liriano's first start on May 19 at Milwaukee. Since then, the Twins are 17-10 and have a starting ERA of 3.63. During the winning streak, the starters are 5-0 with a 1.62 ERA.

Overall, the Twins' rotation still owns an ugly 5.29 ERA, ranking 12th in the AL going into Monday's games. But the starters have a 3.09 ERA in June, ranking them among the top five staffs in the majors for the month.

Since that first Liriano start, the rotation is striking out 7.2 batters per nine and walking just 2.3. That's great for any individual starter, but for a staff it's fantastic. The biggest change, however, come in the area of home runs. The starters allowed 1.84 homers per 9 innings prior to Liriano's promotion, 1.12 since.

The Rockies pitched another shutout at Coors. Kim and company stopped the Atheltics winning streak cold despite allowing seven hits and four walks. Four double plays by Colorado took a few of those baserunners away. It was the sixth shutout at Coors Field this season, equaling the 1997 total for the year. It's the third this month! That's the first time there's ever been three shutouts at Coors in the same month. It's the new PETCO!

In Anaheim, the Giants and Angels offenses went home after the first inning as the Giants won 2-1. The Angels run scored without the use of a hit in the first inning thanks to a walk and a throwing error. Matt Cain allowed just one hit over eight innings while walking four and striking out 10. That's a career high for Matt, topping his old high of eight. Kelvim Escobar allowed just four hits himself over seven innings, but three came in the first inning, including an RBI double by Bonds.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

In a game between two very disappointing teams, the Cubs are well ahead of the Cleveland Indians 12-4 in the bottom of the 8th. It's only the fourth time the Cubs managed 10 runs or more in a game, and the first time since May 28th. Coming into today, they were the only major league team without four 10-run games. The team with the most 10-runs games is their opponent, the Indians, with 10 of their own.

Correction: Fixed the title.

Arthur Rhodes and Tom Gordon finish off the Yankees with two perfect innings. Gordon picks up his 20th save and strikes out two, raising his K per 9 to 11.7. He continues to be a terrific pickup for Pat Gillick.

Bronson Arroyo pitched his second complete game of the year as the Reds defeat the Mets 4-2. Arroyo was decently efficient, getting through the game with 116 pitches thrown. He lowers his ERA to 2.47.

Orlando Hernandez pitched well also, lasting seven innings, allowing just two runs. He walked just two and struck out seven. He lowers his ERA with the Mets to 3.90. Two pitchers who turned out to be good acquisitions for their respective clubs.

The Mets have now lost three of four since sweeping the Phillies. Playing the Devil Rays, Philadelphia lost a golden opportunity to gain back ground.

Jeremy Bonderman and Doug Davis have the opposition swinging and missing this evening in Milwaukee. Bonderman struck out 12 through six innings; Davis is in the seventh with seven K's of his own. Both allowed just two hits and no runs as the Brewer faithful is being treated to a superb pitching duel.

Update: Davis leaves after seven innings with a 1-0 lead on a home run by Prince Fielder. But Wise and Capellan give that run back and more on three hits and a walk, including a two-run double by Magglio Ordonez. The Tigers lead 3-1 in the middle of the 8th.

Michael Barrett failed to get his suspension reduced. Starting tonight, he'll sit out ten games for the Cubs.

The Reds lead the Mets 4-1 in the 9th. The go-ahead run came on a home run by Ken Griffey, Jr., number 548 of his career. That ties him with Mike Schmidt on the all-time list. Ken got there about 200 at bats sooner.

Brett Myers is pitching more like the Big Unit than Randy Johnson tonight. Myers is through six innings with 10 strikeouts. He's walked four and given up five hits, but the Yankees only run came on a solo shot by Jason Giambi.

Meanwhile, Randy Johnson and Jorge Posada had problems getting on the same page in the sixth inning. With a runner on second, they seemed to get their signs crossed, and eventually that runner came around on a Rowand double. The Phillies lead 3-1 as we go to the last third of the game.

Update: Myers loads the bases on an infield single and two walks. He leaves with two out in the seventh and Posada coming up. Brett threw 124 pitches in the game, 75 for strikes.

Update: Rollins saves the lead with a diving stop of a grounder by Posada in the hole. Damon scores from third to cut the lead to 3-2.

Update: Cano grounds out to second to end the inning. That at bat was an example of Robinson's weakness as a hitter. He's only drawn 8 walks this season. Ahead 2-1 in the count, he swung at a low pitch and grounded out. A better hitter would take that pitch and force the pitcher into the strike zone.

Through five innings, Kyle Snyder is showing why the Red Sox took a chance on the pitcher. He has not allowed a walk so far. In his major league career, Snyder has given up just 32 walks in 123 1/3 innings, 2.3 per nine. That's a nice low number. In other words, the Red Sox noticed something Snyder did well and decided with the rest of his stats he was worth a try. He's allowed three runs so far, but he's on the right side of a 4-3 score. He should get enough support with this team.

Update: Snyder is finished after five innings. He threw 67 pitches, 48 for strikes.

I'll be interviewed tonight on Sports Bloggers Live at about 7:15 EDT.

The Arizona Diamondbacks stopped their latest losing streak today with a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The DBacks blew a 4-0 lead in the fifth as Pittsburgh fought back with a pair of runs in the fifth and eighth innings. The Pirate pen had a good day until the eleventh, when Salomon Torres allowed a run on three hits. All in all, the pen can't really be blamed when they pitched six innings of one run ball.

You can lay some blame on the Pirates hitters, however. They loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. But Greg Aquino held his ground and struck out Burnitz, Sanchez and Castillo to send the game into extra frames. Ronny Paulino was on deck. Maybe he should be batting higher in the order.

DOJ's SportingBlog notes that Edgar Renteria admitted yesterday that the Boston fans got to him in 2005.

Just when you thought it was safe to like Jeff Kent...

Andy Marte is heating up with the weather:

The Herd's hottest hitter belted another home run Sunday in a 6-5 loss to the Indianapolis Indians before 10,122 in Dunn Tire Park.

It's the fourth straight game Marte has gone deep - one shy of the all-time franchise record set by Bisons legend Ollie Carnegie in 1938 and equaled by modern-era stars Carlos Garcia (1992) and Bill Selby (1998).

Marte didn't have a home run in his first 117 at-bats this season but Sunday's blast was his 10th in the last 132 times to the plate. He has homered in seven of the last nine games and hit safely in 19 of his last 22, raising his average 33 points to .265.

Marte's season is the opposite of Aaron Boone's. Marte got on base well in April and is hitting for power in June. Boone had a great May but his April and June leave a lot to be desired. Maybe the Indians can set up a month by month platoon!

Brian at Tiger Blog explains why he's upset about the new plans for Tiger Stadium.

Arizona makes a one day trip to Pittsburgh to make up a rain out from earlier in the season. The good news is that someone's losing streak will end. The Diamondbacks are losers of five in a row, while the Pirates dropped four straight. Pittsburgh sends Zach Duke to the mound, the last Pirate to win a game. Duke is now at the same point he finished last season, 14 games pitched. His ERA is almost three runs higher. Batters are more selective against the lefties, drawing twelve more walks than last year. They've also done a better job of hitting the ball out of the park as they've launched 10 home runs vs. 3 in 2005. My big concern about Duke was his low strikeout numbers. They're even lower this season, and that's led to more hits and a higher batting average allowed.

The Diamondbacks counter with Claudio Vargas. Vargas is interesting in that better opposition batting on the road hasn't lead to a better ERA there. One reason might be his performance with runners in scoring position. On the road, batters are hitting .350 in that situation with a .700 slugging percentage.

The Reds haven't been able to take advantage of Albert Pujols' absence since their sweep of St. Louis. They're 2-8 since that series and now trail the Cardinals by five games. They'll take on the Mets this evening as Bronson Arroyo faces Orlando Hernandez. Arroyo's gotten the long ball under control as he's only allowed four home runs in May and June after giving up five in April. In four starts with the Mets Orlando Hernandez filled the gap in the Mets rotation adequately. His 4.30 ERA isn't great, but it's better than the 6.11 mark he had with the Diamondbacks.

The Giants and Angels meet for the first time since the 2002 World Series. Kelvim Esobar will try to keep the Giants cold, while Matt tries to raise some Cain. Escobar's improved his control this year, walking a batter about every four innings. Cain hasn't been the same since his 120 pitch complete game against the Oakland A's. The longest he's lasted in his last four starts is 5 2/3 innings. He's been walking a lot of batters, which leads to high pitch counts and short outings.

Enjoy!

Via Red Reporter, the Kansas City Royals established a blog on MLB.com. That's wonderful. They're accepting comments which is even better. But they're also finding out that the readers hold your feet to the fire. Their first post about revoking credentials is bringing out the ire of KC fans, and rightly so. If this is going to be the purpose of the blog:

We will use this forum to share our insight, thoughts and opinions, while helping separate fact from fiction on the Royals and other pertinent issues to the ball club. Be sure to share your thoughts and let us know what you think!

Then they better make sure they have their facts straight.

I disagree with Red Reporter here. Any player named Homer needs to be in the major leagues as soon as possible. :-)

Pat Gillick is sticking with Charlie Manuel:

Manuel "can't go out there and play for them," Gillick said. "There's been inconsistency with our pitching, and pitching kind of sets the tone."

But Gillick has noticed that pitching isn't the only problem. He characterized his team's poor play of late as "a lack of concentration," and said his manager and coaches "have kept the guys focused as much as possible."

It strikes me that getting players to focus is the manager's job. What Gillick appears to be saying here is that no one could get the players to focus more. I find that tough to believe. If it is true, however, maybe it's time to make a "you're not so good that I won't move you" trade. Send one of the good, non-concentrating vets to a team like Kansas City to make the others take notice. If it's not the manager, maybe it's time to remake the club. As the Marlins showed over the winter, there's plenty of prospects to be had for good talent.

Elijah Dukes becomes the latest Tampa Bay minor leaguer to run into trouble this year:

Elijah Dukes, the troubled outfielder who played with the Biscuits last season, has been indefinitely suspended by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Dukes was with the Class AAA Durham Bulls when he was suspended Saturday.

The league slapped Delmon Young with a 50-game suspension earlier this year for throwing a bat at an umpire. B.J. Upton was arrested the other day for drunk driving. It's as if the Rays draft players no one else wants because of their personalities. I suppose you sign them cheaper that way. With new management in place, maybe that will stop.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Curt Schilling pitches six decent innings for the Red Sox, allowing eight hits and two runs. But with a 3-2 lead, Francona batted for Schilling in the top of the seventh. Three relievers, however, gave up a walk and two hits, the last being a three-run homer by Jeff Francoeur to put the Braves up 5-3. He's driven in four of the Braves five runs tonight, and gives him 52 on the year.

This is Francoeur's 70th game of the season, the same number he played last year. He has many fewer doubles, half the number of walks but one more homer and seven more RBI.

Update: Youkilis hits a two-run homer to extend the lead to 9-5. The inning isn't over and the Braves are bringing in their third reliever of the frame.

Update: The Braves bullpen does a worse job. With Smoltz out of the game, McBride gets the first two batters out, then gives up two walks and a single. Paronto comes in and gives up two doubles to Lowell and Cora to give the lead back to Boston 7-5. According to the telecast, it's the fifth time the Braves blew a lead for Smoltz.

Update: Coming into tonight's game, Braves relievers pitched 30 innings in John Smoltz starts, gave up 34 hits and 20 earned runs for a 6.00 ERA. They also walked 23 and struck out 17. That's all getting worse tonight.

Update: The inning finally ends. Eight straight men reach for Boston after there are two outs. Manny Ramirez get the distinction of making two outs in the innings. The Red Sox score six and lead 9-5.

Update: We may be here all night. Timlin comes in to pitch the eighth and gets two outs, but gives up four hits and two runs. The Jones boys are on base and Jon Papelbon is in the game.

Update: McCann hits Papelbon's first pitch for a fly out to left. The Red Sox lead 9-7 after eight innings.

Moyer and Putz combined to do something fairly rare; keep Bonds off base with strikeouts. Barry went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in the 5-1 Seattle win. He did not walk nor reach on a hit by pitch. It's only the 13th time in his career that Bonds went at least 0 for 4 with at least three strikeouts (no walks, no hit by pitches). It hasn't happened since August 26, 2000. The Phillies kept Barry off and missing that day.

The Dodgers and Athletics combined to turn seven double plays this afternoon, five on the ground and two in the air. They helped Blanton more than Sele, however as the Athletics managed five runs from their fifteen men on base while the Dodgers only picked up two from their 13 base runners. The five GDP turned by both teams matches the most in the majors this season. There were five in the A's-Yankees game of 5/12.

Oakland extends their winning streak to 10 games and with the Rangers win maintain their 1/2 game lead in the AL West.

Bartolo Colon's return from the disabled list went somewhat better than Mark Prior's 2006 debut. Bartolo pitched decently, allowing 2 earned runs over seven innings. But his defense let him down as two unearned runs also scored. The Angels bullpen failed to keep it close as the Padres win 7-3. Bartolo allowed two more home runs which gives him five in just 21 innings pitched this season.

The Tigers smashed eight home runs today, tying Atlanta for the most long balls hit in a game this year. Not surprisingly, Atlanta also had their big day against the Cubs, winning 13-12 on May 28th. Prior and Novoa each gave up four, accounting for all 12 Tigers' runs. Shelton and Inge pounded two each. It's the most home runs Mark Prior ever allowed in a game. The Tigers keep their lead in the AL Central at 1 1/2 games with the 12-3 win.

Michael Young picks up the third five-hit game of his career and the second of the season. He's the first to record two five-hit games in 2006. With the three singles, double and homer, Young drives in three to help Texas to a 10-7 win over Arizona.

Via Deadspin, David Sequi tells ESPN he is named in the Grimsley affidavit, but that he took HGH legally under a doctor's care.

Schaap: Your name's been redacted. It's blacked out in the affidavit. Maybe people would find out; maybe they wouldn't. Why come forward?

Segui: One is because I know. Two, eventually names are going to leak out, and I don't want to have to make a public statement after the names leak out explaining myself ... if I knew a guy was named -- knew his name was in that affidavit, for a month or so, never made a statement, I'd question -- I'd question why ... I truly don't feel like I have anything to hide.

I remember a game from the 1990's in which the Mariners wore uniforms designed by Ken Griffey Jr. The shirts were sleeveless, and you really got a great view of the guns on these players. I remember being really impressed with the size of Segui's upper arms. My thought at the time was, if a lousy hitter has arms like that, no wonder so many home runs are hit.

The good news for the Pittsburgh Pirates is that Oliver Perez pitched an even game with Johan Santana this afternoon. Through seven inning, both allowed just one run. The bad new is that Perez made an error in the eighth inning that led to three unearned runs and an 8-2 Twins win. Morneau got the big hit after the error, driving in three with a double. Eight of Justin's last 16 hits went for extra bases. Mauer did not play, so his batting average remains unchanged.

Carlos Lee homers in the bottom of the ninth to break a 3-3 tie with the Indians and give the Brewers a 6-3 win. It's the second day in a row the Brewers win the bottom of the ninth. Cleveland put 16 men on base by a walk or a hit but managed to push just three across the plate. The Brewers used the long-ball as all three runs scored on homers by Koskie, Fielder and final-Lee.

Jon Garland pitched his best game of the year for the White Sox this afternoon as he goes eight innings and allows just one run. He's now gone two consecutive starts without allowing a home run, the first time he's done that all year. In addition, he hit one himself, the first extra-base hit of his career. The White Sox go on to an easy win over the Reds 8-1. It's the third home run by a pitcher in interleague play this season, all by AL pitchers.

The Marlins won their 8th game game in a row this afternoon, defeating the Blue Jays 4-1. This despite Toronto putting 16 men on base via a hit or walk. The game started with Toronto loading the bases with nobody out in the first, but they failed to score. The were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position today. Part of the problem was the pitcher, Roy Halladay. He came to the plate three times with runners in scoring position, struck out twice and popped up foul once. Trailing 2-1 in the fifth, the Blue Jays loaded the bases with two out and Halladay was allowed to bat. Gibbons was ejected in the second inning, so I don't know if it was his call, but I don't see how you allow Roy to continue in that situation.

Gary Majewski walked Melky Cabrera to start the top of the eighth. He then came back and blew away Jeter and Giambi, making both look bad on strike three. That brought Alex Rodriguez to the plate with the score tied at 1. Alex blasted one to the wall in left center to score Cabrera from first and give New York a 2-1 lead. He's 2 for 2 with two walks today, and it's the second day in a row in which he broke a tie with an extra-base hit.

Update: Wang walked the first batter of the eighth. Ron Guidry came out and talked to him, and appeared to say, this is yours to win or lose, there's no relief today. Jaret Wright was throwing in the pen, but that has to be a side session. Wang walked a second batter in the inning, but got out of it when Melky ran down a Vidro bid at extra bases into the left-center gap. Wang then bats in the ninth, meaning it's his game to complete. He's thrown 96 pitches, 63 for strikes.

Update: Wang loses it in the ninth. With one out, Marlon Anderson singles, the Ryan Zimmerman blasts one over the left field fence. The pitch never sunk, and Zim got all of it. Wang pitched a great game, but one mistake late cost him. It's only the fifth home run allowed by Wang this year.

Zimmerman came into the game hitting .345 in June, but that was his first homer of the month.

The Detroit Tigers gave Mark Prior a rude welcome in his return to the majors. The Tigers hit three home runs off the Cubs starter in the first inning. Six of the first seven batters reached base (one on an error) and all six runs runs scored on homers as Granderson hit a solo shot, Guillen popped a three run homer and Shelton reached 13 with a two-run dinger that finished off the scoring. Prior's still out there in second and gets the first two batters. It's 6-0 Tigers in the second.

One thing I love about baseball is that there's always something new. I just saw a play that I've never seen before. Derek Jeter is standing on second with two out and Giambi at the plate. The Nationals use the shift, so the third baseman is standing next to Jeter at second. The pitcher is standing on the mound, and Derek just takes off for third. There's no pitch, no throw to a base. O'Connor just steps off the mound. It's the first time I remember seeing a steal without a throw by the pitcher.

The Blue Jays try to salvage one game from their series with the Marlins as they send ace Roy Halladay against Josh Johnson. Johnson might very well qualify as the Marlins ace right now, given the poor season by Dontrelle Willis. He has the best ERA, K per 9 and HR per 9 of any Marlins starter. Halladay ranks 15th in the majors in batting average allowed with runners in scoring position, one reason he's been so tough this season.

Detroit goes for a sweep of the Cubs with their ancient ace Kenny Rogers, but all eyes will be on Mark Prior's return. Unless the Cubs can start scoring runs, however, Prior will need to pitch shutouts if he wants to win. Rogers is close to where he was in 2005 at this point. Last year he had a 9-2 record with an incredible 1.98 ERA through June 17. His home runs are up this season, leading to a higher ERA, but the Tigers must be happy with his 9-3 record and the 10-4 record in games he starts.

Finally, ESPN brings us the battle of the ageless wonders as Curt Schilling and the Red Sox go for the sweep of the Braves against John Smoltz. A perfect game to try out the new HD TV your received for Fathers Day! Although their ERAs aren't that different, (Schilling 3.59, Smoltz 3.78) their run support is. Smoltz allowed 42 runs so far while getting 54 while he's on the mound. The Red Sox gave Schilling 68 runs in support of the 38 he's allowed.

Enjoy!

A reader commented last night:

Been wondering...what's the season series look like in interleague play so far? In other words, is the AL dominating the NL? Today the score was 9-4 in favor of the AL, 10-4 if the A's close out their game against the Dodgers. Another user made a comment elsewhere about the AL being better then the NL, and I'm inclined to agree...I'm just wonderng if this is showing through in interleague up til now.

The AL leads the NL 41-29 this season, a .586 winning percentage. I don't think it really says anything much about the AL vs. the NL. First, it's a small sample size. So it could be the result of particular pairings favoring the AL, although it's tough to believe that any pairing would put Seattle and Tampa Bay at 5-0.

In the history of interleague play, the AL leads 542-536, a .503 percentage. Seems long term the leagues are pretty even.

The New York Times prints a nice story on Karl Ehrhardt, the sign man of Shea. My favorite sign came during the 1973 World Series. Charlie Finley fired Mike Andrews after he made two errors in game 2 of the series. Games 3-4-5 were in Shea, and on the first error made by an Oakland player, Karl held up a sign that read, "You're fired."

Aaron Small's brief bit of fame is over:

Aaron Small appeared from nowhere last summer to help save the Yankees' season. Yesterday, he quietly faded away.

With Kyle Farnsworth likely sidelined for at least the weekend with back spasms, the Yanks needed to strengthen the back of their bullpen and called up T.J. Beam from Triple-A Columbus. Instead of optioning Matt Smith or Kevin Thompson back to the minors, however, the Bombers chose to designate Small for assignment.

Up until last year, Small had a forgettable major league career. At least he'll leave with a memorable season behind him and a nice pay day.

The Norwalk Advocate lists all the sons of major league players active today. I didn't realize Robinson Cano's dad played in the majors.

Dayton Moore does not want prospects to jump from AA to AAA.

"They're still in Double-A," general manager Dayton Moore said, "and I've always been a firm believer that it's important for guys to move throughout your system in a very natural way.

"And that natural way is going to Triple-A and going through the grinds of the Pacific Coast League and some of the adjustments they'll have to make against a different style of pitcher. That's always been my belief."

That marks the first evidence of a firm philosophical change since Moore replaced Allard Baird. Under Baird, the Royals regularly promoted prospects from Class AA Wichita while preferring to stock Omaha with older, borderline veterans as a taxi squad of sorts for the big-league club.

"It's a different style of play at Triple-A," Moore said. "It's a different mind-set that a player has at Triple-A. It's an older-player league. It's a different style of baseball, and (a prospect) needs that experience to draw from later in their careers."

The Indians scored six runs in their first two games against the Brewers. Half of those runs were driven in by the starting pitchers, Sabathia and Westbrook.

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun looks at the 2001 draft and decides the Twins made the correct first pick after all.

Five years after the draft, Prior, 25, is on the disabled list for the fifth time since July 2003. He hasn't pitched for the Cubs this season and has made just 48 starts since that outstanding 2003 campaign. And Mauer? Entering the weekend, he was leading the majors in hitting in just his second full season. He won the most recent American League Player of the Week honor. Only 23, he is believed to be just the third player in baseball history to reach base four times in five consecutive games. He is also among the league leaders in throwing out runners, and is continually praised by his teammates.

"He's technically sound at almost every facet of the game," Ryan said. "Mechanically, he has a beautiful swing. Receiving, he's soft and quiet. At the plate, he is calm and quiet. Throwing, his ball is true with velocity. He's still learning, believe me."

Prior returns to the big leagues today, and still has plenty of time to prove he should have been #1. Mauer won't make it easy for him, however.

Update: Paul Sullivan details Prior's prior comebacks.

The Dodgers and Athletics played 17 innings last night with Oakland coming out on top on a bases loaded walk to Bobby Crosby, 5-4. Lowe and Saarloos battled for seven innings, with the score 2-1 Dodgers with ten frames to go. Los Angeles stretched it to 3-1 in the top of the eighth, but Oakland game back with three in the bottom of the inning for a one-run lead.

Street came on for the save in the 9th, but with two out walked Furcal. Rafael stole second then scored on a Lofton triple. That would be it for a while.

The Dodger pen was marvelous for 8 1/3 innings. The first four relievers allowed just four hits while striking out eight over that time. But they could only go Seo far. Jae Seo started the 17th and was alternately bad and good. He gave up a single then struck out Kendall. He walked Swisher then struck out Perez. He walked Chavez to load the bases, and the script had him striking out Crosby. But when he went to 3-0 on Bobby, Crosby had hope:

Crosby said once it got to 3-0, he was going to take until he got two strikes.

Brad Halsey was the big man in extra innings for the A's. He pitched five shutout innings. His ERA in relief is down to 1.69 vs. 5.63 as a starter. He just doesn't give up the long balls out of the pen.

Seo got one strike, but on pitch five Crosby took a ball to end the game. The game did nothing to change the standings, however, as all the NL West teams lost and all the AL West teams won.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads! Enjoy the day with your family!

It's a triumphant return to Shea for Kris Benson. Not only do the Orioles defeat the Mets 4-2, not only does Benson pitch eight stellar innings, allowing just two runs (1 earned) but Kris hits the first home run of his career, off Pedro Martinez nonetheless. His solo shot in the third inning tied the game at two. That ought to elicit a kiss from Anna. :-)

The single, double, home run combination appears to be popular tonight. As mentioned in the previous post, Ibanez put that together for Seattle. Mike Jacobs helped the Marlins to their seventh straight win with that combination, as the Blue Jays go down 8-2. The Marlins are just percentage points behind Atlanta in the NL East, both 13 games out. Carlos Guillen also had the trifecta for Detroit as the Tigers beat the Cubs 9-3. Palonco and Ordonez also picked up three hits in that game.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays kept the Phillies on their losing streak as Rocco Baldelli drove in and scored two with his single, double and homer. The Devil Rays picked up as many extra-base hits (6) as the Phillies total of hits. Scott Kazmir pushed his record to 8-4 with nine strikeouts in five innings.

Johnny Damon was the only player with the three way combo today whose team lost. Maybe it's because he picked up that extra single. :-)

Special mention to Juan Encarnacion who went three for four, but hit a second home run instead of the single. Juan drove in three of the Cardinals six runs as they defeated the Rockies 6-5.

Gil Meche continues to pitch like a Cy Young candidate at Safeco Field. He shutdown the Giants for nine innings today, allowing just one run on a home by Ray Durham. His ERA at Safeco now stands at 2.39. He's struck out 49 in his 49 innings at the ball park while walking just 14. On the road his ERA goes to 6.38 and he's walked more than he's struck out.

Raul Ibanez played the part of Enkidu today (except for the running around naked), picking up a single, double and home run while driving in four. The Mariners won easily over the Giants 8-1.

Ervin "Magic" Santana out-pitched Jake Peavy this afternoon, giving up three hits and one run in six innings while striking out seven. The big difference, however, was the long ball. Jake went eight, giving the bullpen a night off, and allowed just four hits. But two of those were home runs which accounted for all three of the Angels runs. While San Diego wound up out hitting and out walking the Angels, LAnanheim overpowered the Padres.

A.J. Pierzynski just launched a double to the wall in right center. Ken Griffey gave chase, but pulled up as he approached the wall and the ball ticked off his glove. Ten years ago Junior catches that, crashes into the wall and makes the Baseball Tonight highlight reel. Ken's definitely lost a step and on top of that doesn't want to get injured again.

Mark Prior is skipping his AAA rehab and will start for the Cubs tomorrow.

One of the big positives for Alfonso Soriano this season is his increased selectivity that pushed up his OBA. He walks to lead off the bottom of the ninth, then after one out, he steals second, steals third and goes home on a throwing error by Posada. His patience and his speed tie the game at 9. Rivera gets the blown save for allowing the steals, walks Ward, and Guillen drives him in from first with a triple up the right center gap. The Nationals lead 10-9.

With Derek Jeter at second and one out, the Yankees up 9-8 in the 8th, Frank Robinson intentionally walks Jason Giambi to get to Alex Rodriguez. This despite the fact that Alex seemed to break out of his slump today with a single and two-run homer. Alex's home run broke a 2-2 tie.

Update: The strategy works as A-Rod flies out to right.

The majority of Josh Beckett's problems came on the road this season. He came into this afternoon's tilt against the Braves with a 7.00 ERA away from Fenway. He limited the Braves to two runs through six innings. He allowed just three hits but did walk four. His big problem on the road, however is the long ball, and he kept the Braves in the park this afternoon. The Red Sox however, get homers from Youkilis and Ortiz to earn a 5-3 win.

Jon Papelbon pitches a perfect ninth for his 22nd save. The 0 for 3 lowers Papelbon's opposition batting average to .151.

The first four hits of the ballgame for the Tigers today are a triple, single, home run and double. The lead the Cubs 3-0 in the bottom of the second.

Detroit at Chicago offers a nice matchup of young pitchers as Justin Verlander faces Carlos Marmol. The Cubs rookie has posted 13 strikeouts in 10 innings so far this season while walking just three. In his first start, he faced a powerful Reds team at GAB and allowed just one run in six innings. Verlander is enjoying success on the road this season. His 2.34 ERA away from home ranks sixth in the majors among pitchers with 30 road innings.

Kris Benson starts against his former team tonight and draws the ace, Pedro Martinez. Benson is shutting down lefties this season, allowing just a .310 OBA and a .333 slugging percentage. But he's making up for that by not getting righties out very well as they're getting on base at a .350 clip and slugging .472. There's been no Anna sightings so far. Batters are not hitting Pedro well from either side of the plate, although his home runs allowed are up this season. Most of those came away from home, however. At Shea, he's only allowed 3 dingers in 33 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

Travis Ishikawa agreed to write a semi-monthly journal at Baseball Digest Daily about his season at AA. Instead, he made the jump to the majors and writes about that in his first entry.

The Baseball Crank looks at the best players in terms of scoring once they reach base. He wanted to see how Jose Reyes ranked. He's good, but not top ten.

Rich Lederer at Baseball Analysts notes that Jered Weaver was sent down to AAA yesterday:

Jered was interviewed after the game and seemed rather downcast despite saying all the right things. I'm on record as stating that sending Weaver down is nothing more than the easy way out. You don't mess with a prized prospect who has won four games in his first four starts while fashioning a 1.37 ERA. Going to a six-man rotation, as unconventional as that might seem, would make more sense than demoting Weaver.

There's another solution I discussed on my radio show this week. Jeff Weaver is a four inning pitcher. He's good early in the game, but around the fifth or sixth inning, things start to go wrong. And it seems to happen quickly, before a manager can really react. He's cruising along, and then gives up a couple of hits. It's the fifth inning, no big deal. But then you turn your head for a minute and he's given up a couple of runs. You don't have time to get the bullpen ready and then two more are in.

Four inning pitchers are difficult to place these days. Starters should go at least six. Relievers are specialized, and most pitch one inning in a game. But Jeff could be utilized in the pen as a LRWCAP (Long Reliever Who Can Actually Pitch). When a starter gets roughed up early, he comes in to get the team to the seventh and the regular bullpen order. When the bullpen is worn out, you bring him on for the three inning save. It's the role Bob Stanley had with the Red Sox before he became a closer. I think Jeff Weaver would be effective in this role as it plays to his strength and hides his weakness.

The Oakland Athletics kept their winning ways going last night with a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The A's picked up 13 hits last night, eight for extra bases as they pounded out seven doubles and a home run. Tomko allowed five of those long hits, which shouldn't be surprising his the league is slugging .521 against him this year. He's pretty good at Dodger Stadium, but put him on the road and the average hitter becomes Manny Ramirez against him.

Chris Capuano struck out 12 Indians in seven innings last night as the Brewers defeated the Tribe 6-4. That gives Capuano 93 K in 101 innings pitched, an improvement over last year. He's striking out more with better control as well as he's walked 2.0 per 9 this season vs. 3.7 last year. Combined, he's lowered his ERA 0.70 runs.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Florida defeated Toronto 3-1 to push their winning streak to six games. With the Phillies, Braves and Nationals all with five-game losing streaks, the Marlins are just one game out of third place. In their last nine games, they've only had one poor performance by a starter. Even with that, they've posted a 2.14 ERA in those nine.

Aaron Heilman's performances started going down hill after he pitched three innings against the Yankees on 5/19. He posted his worst performance of that stretch tonight as he allows four runs in one inning to give the Orioles a 6-3 victory. In 12 2/3 innings since that long outing, Heilman's allowed 19 hits and 9 walks while striking out just seven. He's allowed three home runs, including a two-run shot to Melvin Mora this evening. He didn't allow a home run before this stretch started. His ERA is 11.37 in the dozen game stretch and 4.86 overall.

Home runs are flying out of Safeco Field tonight. In the top of the third, Felix Hernandez served up one to Randy Winn, the third solo shot for the Giants tonight. Bonds and Finley went deep in the second and the Giants lead the Mariners 3-2. That's 14 home runs of Hernandez in just 81 innings. He's on a pace to give up well over 30.

Ichiro extended his hitting streak with a leadoff long-ball of his own in the first. He's also singled to raise his batting average to .369.

The Yankees, down 5-3 in the 8th, score two in each of the last two innings to take a 7-5 victory against the Nationals. Bernie Williams provided the game winning hit when he homered to right-center in the top of the 9th inning, his sixth of the year. The Yankees struggled to score tonight, but when you allow another team to get on base 20 times in a game, they're going to collect a few runs.

Every Chicago White Sox starter knocked out at least one hit tonight, including pitcher Freddy Garcia. The White Sox put 19 men on by either a hit or a walk to blow out the Reds 12-4. Joe Crede went three for five with a double, homer and four RBI. He's benefitting from having more men on base in front of him this season. He now has 43 RBI in 64 games, when last year he drove in 62 all season. He's getting more opportunities and making the most of them. Last year, at this point he had 131 runners on base and drove in 13.0%. Coming into tonight he had 173 on base, and drove in 17.3%.

The Shields/Hamels matchup goes to James Shields. Julio Lugo hit homers off the Philadelphia rookie in the first and third innings, helping Tampa Bay to an eventual 7-0 lead. Shields gave the Phillies a devil of a time, going six innings, allowing six hits and striking out six. He allowed three runs, but by that point the game was in the bag. James runs his record to 3-0 despite allowing a .304 batting average this season. Hamels goes to 1-2 as the DRays win 10-4.

Alex Rodriguez's slump reached a new low tonight. He's struck out in his last two at bats, first with runners at 2nd and 3rd (one out) and the Yankees trailing by two. A minute ago, in the bottom of the eighth, he struck out with the bases loaded and two out. Of course, Cano followed the first strikeout with one of his own, and Giambi preceded the second with a pop out with the bases juiced. He's not the only one failing tonight as the Yankees scored just five runs on 13 hits and four walks, but he's looking the worst doing it. The game is tied at five in the bottom of the 8th.

Francisco Liriano continued his dominant starting pitching tonight, helping the Minnesota Twins to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Liriano picked up 11 strikeouts in seven innings, giving him 35 K in 36 innings as a starter. Joe Mauer picked up two hits to raise his batting average to .381. That's a battery Twins fans hope to keep going and going and going...

The Rockies are innovating, using iPods to allow their players to watch videos of pitchers and hitters any time, any place. I recently bought one for my daughter after finding out college students are using these to rewatch and rehear lectures. Something designed for entertainment is finding myriad educational uses.

Randy Knorr replaced John Wettland today as the Nationals bullpen coach:

Wetteland lost his job Thursday. Manager Frank Robinson said he asked Wetteland several times to get the team's relievers to focus more and cut down on pranks, such as lighting firecrackers.

Sounds like having a blast in the bullpen is over. The Nationals relievers are walking almost a batter every other inning. I can see why Robinson wants them to concentrate more. My guess, however, is they need to find the ringleader of the pranks and get rid of him. There's obviously some disrespect for authority in the relief corps. In that case, this might be a better choice for the bullpen coach.

Glendon Rusch continues to get hit for power. In the 1 2/3 innings Rusch lasted, the Tigers went 6 for 9 with three doubles, a triple and a homer. Glendon leaves the game with a .303 BA allowed and a .638 slugging percentage allowed. The Tigers lead the Cubs 4-1 in the middle of the third.

Meanwhile. Tom Elia is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Tribune's purchase of the Chicago National League franchise.

The Phans of Philadelphia finally get to see their wunderkind Cole Hamels after four starts on the road. They'll send the rookie against the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It's a good matchup for his home debut, as Tampa Bay is near the bottom of the league in runs. The Devil Rays trot out a pretty good rookie of their own, James Shields. Sheilds gives up hits, but his strikeout and walks rates are good, and he's yet to allow a home run. He needs to become a bit more efficient so he can get past the sixth inning.

Another interesting pair of youngsters go in the Twins/Pirates game as Ian Snell hosts Francisco Liriano. Snell's last three starts produced three wins and a 1.40 ERA. He's been up and down this season, however, with a bunch of bad starts followed by a bunch of good ones. Liriano's had almost nothing but success since moving into the rotation. He's allowed zero runs in three of his five starts and has yet to allow a home run since moving into the rotation.

Enjoy!

Tiger Stadium gets demolished this fall. However, they are going to preserve the playing field and dugouts for little league. It seems like a good compromise for the community.

Friar Faithful doesn't like the way Bruce Bochy handled the pitching staff the last two days.

Nick and Nick try to figure out why the Twins are so good at home and so poor on the road. We think of parks as effecting players the same way. If a park increases scoring, it does so for both teams. If it hurts offense, it does so for both teams. But the Twins go on the road, and their offense goes way down. Meanwhile, their pitchers allow many more runs. In 31 home games, they are outscoring the opposition 169-134. But in 34 away games, they're being outscored 168-135. With all the recent new construction in baseball, the Metrodome became an unusual park. Is it so unusual that the opposition can't adjust to it, while the Twins can't adjust away from it?

I've been wondering what Paul DePodesta is doing. Here's the answer:

For the better part of Paul DePodesta's adult life, the 7 p.m. hour meant it was five minutes from first pitch.

These days, that's bathing time for his 2-year-old son and 5-month-old daughter, and DePodesta is happy to spend the time with his family in their Los Angeles home.

He's also building houses:

He's exploring what his next career move will be, and is happy to do some volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity in the greater Los Angeles area, doing mostly construction.

About once a week, DePodesta hammers nails, pours concrete, puts up dry wall, or "whatever else they tell me to do."

Nobody around him knows he used to run the Dodgers.

"I'm just like anybody else," DePodesta said by telephone from Los Angeles. "Just another guy wearing a baseball hat and safety goggles."

Good for him. It sounds like this break came just at the right time. He gets to help around the house, help others and recharge for the next job.

Phil Sheridan postulates the Phillies have a better chance of catching the Mets than winning the wild card:

While the Phillies are in second place, their record would put them no higher than third in any other division in baseball. It also has them behind six other teams in the battle for the NL wild card.

That's right. Six.

Cincinnati is out in front with a 37-29 record. All four teams out of first in the NL West are at .500 or better, as is Houston. Milwaukee (32-35) is in the mix.

So the question is this: What about the Phillies makes you believe they are capable of outplaying seven or eight teams to win the wild card? Isn't it more likely for Houston to win it a third consecutive time? Or for Cincinnati to stay hot? Or for the NL West runner-up to earn the wild card?

The Phillies? This is a team that has come up short in every wild-card race since the darn thing was introduced in 1995, and has been achingly short in three of the last four seasons. If history is the best predictor of performance, the Phillies are as likely to win the Stanley Cup as they are to surge ahead of six teams and claim the wild card.

I also like this bit about playing up to their potential:

"Everybody is frustrated," said leftfielder Pat Burrell, who hit a pair of home runs yesterday. "We have virtually the same guys out there as we did last year. We're just not playing up to the potential that we're capable of."

Apparently, though, they are. They are the Punxsutawney Phils because, as in Groundhog Day, they go out and do the same thing over and over. The nucleus of players Burrell is talking about - himself, Bobby Abreu, David Bell, Mike Lieberthal, Jimmy Rollins - has fallen short year after year after year.

Part of the problem this year is luck. The Phillies are 8-13 in one-run games. And that's despite having a very good closer. But even if they were .500 in these close contests, they'd still have a long way to go to win the division. Part of the problem may be the park. I'd love to hear Phillies fans comment on the following chart:

Doubles, 2006	Phillies	Opponents
Home	76	77
Away	46	70

Why do the Phillies doubles disappear away from town? Do the batters get into bad habits in that ballpark because power is easy there?

The Chicago White Sox scored eight runs last night as they defeated the Rangers 8-2. Jim Thome homered late in the game, his 22nd of the year, but only his second in his last 13 games. Thome was brought in to transform the offense, and indeed that's happened. Compare the White Sox through 66 games in 2005 and 2006:

White Sox Offense	2005	2006
Runs per Game	4.8	5.4
Batting Average	.262	.276
On-Base Average	.326	.348
Slugging Percentage	.421	.455

In 2005 they ranked 5th in runs per game; in 2006 they've moved up to fourth. Thome's brought fewer outs and more power to the middle of the lineup, producing more offense from the DH slot and at the same time giving everyone else more chances to produce as well.

Another difference is that the White Sox played a many fewer one-run games this season. Through 66 contests in 2005, the pale hose were 19-8 in one run games. This season they're just 11-8. More runs means less opportunities to play close games. That's a good thing.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The Marlins won their fifth straight game with a 3-2 victory over the Braves. Florida now trails Atlanta by only two games in the east. This team that was torn apart and filled with inexperienced players owns more wins than the Cubs and Pirates. In the five games they've outscored their opponents 22-12.

Nolasco continues to impress as a starter. He's not given up 9 earned runs in 35 2/3 innings as a starter, a 2.27 ERA. As the Marlins gathered all this young pitching talent last year it was clear they were building toward a strong, future staff. It looks like Nolasco is going to be a big part of that future.

The Red Sox should be a bit embarassed tonight as they failed to score against Carlos Silva, he of the 7.73 ERA coming into the game. Silva pitched six shutout innings before giving up two hits to start the seventh. Unfortunately, just as he was pitching well. he left due to an injury (it looked like a leg, but I have not heard details). One step forward, two back. The Twins lead 4-0 in the eighth.

Jason Kubel appears to have the Red Sox number. He homers again, his third in the series. Minnesota score a single run in each of the first three innings to take a 3-0 lead on Boston.

Bud Selig published an open letter to fans today on what baseball plans to do about HGH abuse:

As Commissioner, I won't be deterred and will do everything I can to try to keep up with or even stay ahead of those who break the law and break our rules. But I suspect there will always be a few players who seek new ways to violate the rules, no matter how many we have and how often we toughen them. I also know that science can provide new ways to combat them and I will rely on our experts to keep on top of the science as it develops.

In the meantime, I want you to know that Major League Baseball is taking steps to address the issue. We are committed to funding a study of HGH and how to detect it. The study will be conducted by Dr. Don Catlin, a leading expert in the medical testing field. Also, we are willing to make additional contributions to fund other studies to determine how to detect HGH and are currently reaching out to experts in the field to ascertain what other studies can immediately begin. We invite other foundations, unions, sports and the Congress of the United States to join us in pursuing the detection and deterrence of HGH use.

The San Francisco Giants picked up 10 hits through the first six innings tonight in their game against the Diamondbacks. Eight of the nine starter collected a hit, and Winn's been walked twice. Still, with all that hitting the Giants only pushed across four runs. Must be all those singles and little speed on the team. Bonds is sitting this one out.

Morris is pitching well so far. He's in the sixth and hasn't allowed a run and while getting tagged for just two hits.

With Boston and Minnesota about to get underway, the Twins media department sends this note:

The Twins have hit four grand slams in their last seven games (eight days)...June 7 at Seattle, June 10 vs. Baltimore, June 13 vs. Boston and last night vs. Boston...according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Twins are the second team in Major League history to hit four grand slams in a seven game span, the other being the Atlanta Braves in July of 1997.

Chris Young pitched five good innings today against the Dodgers, but the selective lineup worked the Padre starter for 20 pitches an inning. After five innings, however, the score was tied at 2. San Diego's bullpen came in and had no ink in the well. In four innings they allowed five runs to give the Dodgers a 7-3 win. They'll stay at least tied for first today. Jeff Kent collected 3/4 of the cycle, earning a single, double and triple. He's the second player today to collect those particular three hits.

The Astros are the second hottest team in the NL right now, winning four in a row and 8 of their last 9 after defeating the Cubs 3-2 today. They've put together 3 one-run victories and three blowouts during this period, showing they can win both ways. The starting pitching, missing Oswalt for most of this, put up an ERA of 2.70. With Clemens scheduled to return next Thursday, the Astros are looking to have a very good rotation. (Of course, they did play the Cubs five times in these nine games.)

The Oakland Athletics won again today, pushing their recent success to 11 wins in 13 games. For the first time in June, they allowed unearned runs, giving up 2 in a three-run second that put the Mariners on top. But Dan Johnson was on his game today, going four for four with four RBI and two doubles. Johnson stretches his hit streak to 8 games. Over his last 12 games he's 18 for 40 (.450) with four doubles, four homers and eight RBI. He's raised his batting average to .249 and his OBA to .333. The A's won 9-6.

Ichiro went 1 for 5 to extend his hitting streak as well.

Correction: Johnson's hit streak is 8 games, not 12. He has indeed hit well over his last 12, however.

Roving reporter Jim Storer sends these pictures from tonight's Lakewood vs. Delmarva double header in Salisbury, MD. Here's the entrance of the stadium:

It takes a tough man to make a tender pressbox:

And some field action:

The Mets hang on to their 5-4 lead as the bullpen pitches three perfect innnings to extend the team's NL East lead to 9 1/2 games. Paul Lo Duca wanted to put the division out of reach coming into this series, and the team delivered. Sure, there's plenty of time for some team to come back, but it would be an impressive comeback at this point.

On the 20th anniversary of the Mets last championship, Minaya put together a team that has the killer instinct of the 1986 squad. Right now, the rest of the NL East is thinking about the wild card.

Randy Johnson picked up a five-game suspension for throwing at Eduardo Perez.

Randy Johnson was suspended for five games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing at the Indians' Eduardo Perez on Wednesday night. Yankees manager Joe Torre was also suspended one game and fined an undisclosed amount for Johnson's actions after the teams were warned.

Unless appealed, Johnson's suspension is scheduled to begin Friday in Washington.

With Johnson (8-5) nursing a 6-1 lead the following inning, Perez, a longtime nemesis, came to the plate with one out and nobody on. The Big Unit threw his first pitch way inside, and Perez pointed his bat at the mound and took a few steps toward the pitcher.

Good. This makes Sean Tracey's decision seem even more like the right one.

Bronx Banter links to a fawning piece on Alfonso Soriano in the New York Times. Before I get into my complaints about that article, let me admit I'm too tough on Alfonso. I don't think he's a bad guy (except, of course, he lied about his age). I do think he's a good player, even a very good player in his best years. But I strongly disagree with this:

"He reminds me of Albert Pujols with the way he goes about his game," said Mitchell Page, the batting coach for the Nationals and the former batting coach for Pujols's St. Louis Cardinals. "He wants to be great, like Pujols. He doesn't want to be an average ballplayer."

I don't think Albert strikes out on pitches in the dirt too often. Albert waits for a pitch he can actually hit. I think Stanton pegs him perfectly:

Reliever Mike Stanton, who, like Johnson, is a former Yankees teammate of Soriano's, said that the only difference in Soriano's game from past seasons was that his confidence was greater.

"He's still streaky," Stanton said. "You can still get him out with good pitches. But if he's swinging the bat well, you might as well walk him."

And that confidence is waning:

There is much to adore. Though Soriano is 4 for his last 27 and has not homered in six games, he is batting .294 with 23 homers, 47 runs batted in and 15 steals. He is on pace for 56 homers and 36 stolen bases.

Soriano went 0 for 5 today as the Rockies won 8-1. His 4 for 32 (.125) with 10 strikeouts lowered his batting average to .289, his OBA to .350 and his slugging percentage to .585. Still good numbers, but he's quickly regressing to his mean.

Is he worth a trade? Sure. Is worth a top prospect? At age 30, he's not likely to get better. If some team is going to give up the farm for Alfonso, they better be sure they have a chance to win this year.

Zach Miner ran his record to 2-1 today as he allows 0 earned runs in seven innings. He gave up just two hits and a walk but did allow two runs due to errors. After a rough first outing vs. Boston, he's settled down and allowed just 2 earned runs and seven hits in his last 13 innings. That's more than enough for a replacement pitcher.

B.J. Ryan picked up his 17th save this afternoon as the Blue Jays held off the Orioles 4-2. Five of those saves came against his former team. In 6 1/3 innings against Baltimore, he's allowed just one hit, two walks, no runs while he's struck out seven. Overall, his number are a big improvement over his fine 2005 season. His ERA sits at 0.55 and his opposition average allowed is down to .132 as he retired the side in order today. His hits are down, his walks are down and his strikeouts are up. At least with that signing, the Blue Jays are getting their money's worth.

Alex Rodriguez is mired in a June swoon, but he just went deep to cut the score to 6-2 Cleveland. It's his first homer of the month, and with the 1 for 3 he's now batting just .154 in the month. Bernie Williams also homer to make the score 6-3 in top of the 8th.

Pat Burrell launches two home runs to bring the Phillies back to within one of the Mets, 5-4. After a rough first inning, Lidle settled down and allowed just three hits and one run over the next four innings.

Chris Duncan takes over for Pujols at first base and has a Pujols like day. He's three for four through seven innings with a single, double and triple. He's now six for fifteen in his four starts at first.

Update: With a 6-5 lead and the a man on first with none out, La Russa pinch hits for Duncan with Miles so Miles can bunt. No cycle for Chris this afternoon. Miles bunts too hard and the lead runner is thrown out at second. Good move, Tony.

Todd Hollandsworth, having a very poor season for the Indians, takes Mike Mussina into the black seats in centerfield for his first home run of the year. Todd is 2 for 3 with four RBI after the three-run shot. Boone follows with a double to chase Mussina.

Mike's in a bit of a slump, having now given up 15 runs (13 earned) in his last 18 2/3 innings (he's still responsible for one runner).

Update: The runner is stranded, so the 15 runs stands.

Andrew Godfrey received an early father's day gift, a surprise trip to the Hall of Fame!

Melky Cabrera just hit his first major league home run. The solo shot cuts the score to 3-1 Cleveland in the bottom of the fourth.

The Mets went into Philadelphia with the idea of ending the NL East race. They took the first two games, and it looks like they're taking no prisoners in the third. Three hits and a walk, capped off by a Wright three-run homer put the Mets up 4-0 before the Phillies come to bat. With a win today, the Mets would be at least 10 games up in the loss column on the entire division.

Victor Santos hits Scott Rolen in the first inning of the Cardinals/Pirates game, and Rolen comes around to score on a Encarnacion single. Now that's a reason to get upset at a pitcher.

Update: Jose Bautista continues to impress, hitting his seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the first to put the Pirates up 2-1. His stats are way out of line with the rest of his career, in a good direction. Possible reasons:

1. Anything can happen in 100 AB.
2. He's hitting his peak (age 26) and is finally getting playing time.
3. Artificial means.
4. They have a good batting coach in Pittsburgh.

He did have decent minor league numbers.

If this story is true, Ozzie Guillen and Ken Williams go into the baseball jerks category:

White Sox rookie pitcher Sean Tracey got into hot water with his manager Ozzie Guillen -- for getting an out.

Tracey was summoned to start the seventh inning and got Hank Blalock to ground out, but getting an out might not have been the reason Tracey was brought into the game. White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski was hit by two pitches in the game and a source told the Chicago Sun-Times that Tracey was told to hit Blalock as retaliation. Tracey threw two inside pitches to Blalock before getting him to ground out.

After getting the out, Tracey was removed from the game. Guillen slammed a water bottle to the ground when Blalock grounded out and the manager then brought Agustin Montero in to pitch. Guillen was then seen in the dugout barking at Tracey, who pulled the collar of his jersey over his head.

Guillen's explanation makes no sense:

Guillen didn't address why he screamed at Tracey and had a different explanation why he took the rookie out of the game.

"I tried to get Montero ready [to face Blalock] and wasn't able to. It was a little late," Guillen explained. "It was my mistake. I didn't get him up quick enough. I didn't want Tracey in that situation."

Pierzynski gets hit by pitches a lot. Maybe it's the way he stands at the plate. If a pitcher doesn't want to hit another human being with a deadly object, that should be fine. He got the out, after all, and when you're trying to win a ball game, that's a tad more important.

Update: South Side Sox has more on this. It seems Tracey did try to hit Blalock, he just wasn't very good at it.

It's a good day to take a long lunch at your local sports bar as there are a plethora of afternoon getaway games today. Mike Mussina goes for his ninth win as the Yankees go for a sweep of the Cleveland Indians. The Indians managed just one run against New York in the first two games, and now they're facing the best pitcher in the rotation. Mussina continues to have great success against lefties, allowing a .253 OBA and a .349 slugging percentage against them. Cliff Lee takes the hill for the Tribe. His ERA is up over a run from last year. He's allowing more hits, and with the larger number of hits come more home runs.

Chad Billingsley makes his major league debut for the Dodgers today against red hot Padres Chris Young. I wonder if Billingsley speaks jive? He's struck out 72 batters in 65 2/3 innings this season. He's 35-17 in his minor league career. Chris Young's been unhittable in his last three starts (that doesn't mean he can't be hit), allowing just 8 safeties while striking out 24. The Padres trail the Dodgers and Diamondbacks by just one game in the NL West.

If prime time baseball is your thing, the White Sox and Rangers play the rubber game of their series with Mark Buehrle and John Rheinecker taking the hill for their respective teams. Rheinecker is keeping his ERA low so far by being tough with men in scoring position. The opposition is just 4 for 20 in that situation. Buehrle's seen his K/BB deteriorate each month, and so far in June he's walked 8 while striking out just six. His ERA is going up with the decline in his control.

Enjoy!

When you see a box score that has Frank Thomas 1 for 1 with a hit by pitch, replaced by a pinch runner, you know something went wrong:

Frank Thomas left the Oakland Athletics' game against Seattle on Wednesday night in the third inning because of a strained right quad.

"It's the same thing I did in New York," Thomas said. "It's going to be awhile one way or the other."

Thomas was hit by a pitch in the second inning and later came around to score. With two outs in the third and Eric Chavez on first, Thomas hit a sharp line drive that hit off the top of the left-field wall. Chavez came around to score, but Thomas didn't even attempt an extra base.

The Athletics went on to an easy win over Seattle, 7-2. That gives them 10 wins in their last dozen games. The starters pitched particularly well during this streak, posting a 2.60 ERA.

The one bright spot for the Mariners was Ichiro who went 2 for 3 to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. Suzuki is 33 for 63 during the streak, a .524 batting average. The rest of the team is batting .258.

The leading teams lost and the trailing teams won last night as two games now separate top from bottom in the NL West. After the Nats blowout earlier in the evening, the Giants took on the first place Diamondbacks and the Padres faced the first place Dodgers. San Francisco was down 4-1 early, but score 10 unanswered runs to take the game 11-4. Barry Bonds hit well, going 2 for 3 with 2 walks and a home run. Vizquel and Finley were on base seven times in 10 at bats and parlayed that into seven runs. Neither team was scoring much coming into the game. San Francisco broke a slump in which they scored 16 runs in 7 games. With last night's loss, the Diamondbacks are at 22 runs in their last 9 games.

Mike Thompson continued his success at PETCO as the Padres won a close game with the Dodgers 5-3. He's given up 13 hits in 20 innings at home, as opposed to 20 hits in 14 innings on the road. Matt Kemp hit his seveth home run in 15 games, this time as a pinch-hitter. He's hitting a home run every 6.4 at bats. At that rate, it will take him 4854 at bats to catch Aaron.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Vicente Padilla saved his best pitching performance for tonight as he pitched eight shutout innings against the Chicago White Sox. His problem this year is giving up hits, but tonight the Sox managed just three off him, all singles. Meanwhile, the Rangers, who were suffering a power outage in June, managed five extra-base hits, including a double and homer by Hank Blalock. They'll stay in first place for one more day.

The Rockies brought the moutain to the Nationals this evening as the two teams combined to score 22 runs tonight. That's not only the most runs scored at RFK since the Nats moved in, it's the most by five runs. Since it played like Coors, the Rockies won 14-8. B.Y. Kim gave up all eight runs in 3 1/3 innings, but the Colorado bullpen continues to impress, going 5 2/3 innings, allowing just two hits while striking out seven. The heart of the Colorado order went 10 for 14 with two homers and 11 RBI for most of the Rockies scoring.

The Blue Jays picked up a 6-3 win against the Orioles tonight. Both teams knocked out ten hits, but the Blue Jays moved greater distances with theirs. While the Orioles managed just 11 total bases on their 10 hits, the Blue Jays used 2 doubles and 3 homers to gain 21 total bases. When all things are equal, power wins.

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

Jason Kubel follows up his game winning grand slam with a two-run shot in his first at bat tonight to put the Twins up 2-0 on the Red Sox.

With one out in the seventh, Randy Johnson threw at Eduardo Perez (and missed). With Posada hit earlier, the benches were warned, and Randy and Torre get thrown out of the game. It's a huge mistake for the Big Unit. He only threw 77 pitches and gave up one run. He had a chance to save the New York bullpen and didn't. New York has a 6-1 lead, and if they blow it becuse of this, protecting Posada won't be worth it.

The Baseball Musings Radio Show is coming up in a little while at 8 PM EDT. You can leave questions during the show in the TPSRadio Chat Room.

Adam Dunn blasts a three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th to break the losing streak and give the Reds a 3-0 victory. He hit it so hard the rightfielder Jenkins never moved back. That shot ties Dunn for second place in the NL in home runs with Soriano. Both trail the injured Albert Pujols by 2.

The Brewers and Reds are scoreless in the middle of the eighth inning as Carlos Villanueva and Elizardo Ramirez, two pitchers born in 1983 held the opposition scoreless. Villanueva lasted six innings before being lifted after 79 pitches. He allowed just four hits while striking out five. It's an impressive outing for his first major league start.

Ramirez just finished the top of the eighth. He's struck out 10 and allowed just five hits. With Ramirez due up second and having thrown 113 pitches, he's likely done for the day. He's lowered his ERA to 3.44.

Update: The Reds do pinch hit for Ramirez. With this outing, he now has a lower ERA at GAB than on the road.

Update: A very nice infield in play in the top of the ninth. The Brewers had men on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Hall grounded the ball to Aurilia at third. Koskie ran on contact from third, Aurilia charged the ball, picked it and kept moving toward the plate. He made a good throw to the plate while Koskie tried to cut down the angle. Valentin took the throw and was in a perfect position to tag Koskie just before his foot reached the plate. It was one of those situation where everyone involved executed the play correctly, and in this case the defense won. The game is still scoreless in the bottom of the ninth.

Update: They're going to extra innings, tied at 0.

Rick Ankiel is sidelined for the rest of the season to recover from his knee surgery.

At what point does it become worthless to wait for this play to develop into anything? After all, he debuted in majors in 1999, almost seven years ago. At some point, he's just going to be too old to have any kind of decent career. If he's happy playing minor league ball, that's fine, but at this point the chance of his having any kind of major league career is pretty slim. Maybe Ankiel should use part of this time off to see if there's something else he'd like to do with his life. For whatever reason, major league baseball doesn't seem to be in the cards for him.

The Baseball Musings radio show will be on TPSRadio tonight at 8 PM EDT. Check out their other sports programming as well.

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.

It's the battle of the Johnsons in New York tonight as Jason draws swords against Randy. Right now, Jason holds the bigger ERA, but not my much. The two rank 11th and 13th worst in ERA in the majors. The winner of tonight's contest could come down to which Johnson goes deeper in the game. Neither is lasting six innings on average.

After last night's duel, Minnesota fans are likely to be treated to a slugfest tonight as Matt Clement faces Brad Radke. Clement is 5-4; despite a 6.68 ERA, he's only allowed two more runs than the Red Sox scored with him on the mound (47-45). Radke's pitched somewhat better at home this season. He's allowed a .309 BA in the Metrodome vs. .394 on the road.

Roy Oswalt returns to the Astros rotation and is lucky enough to get the Cubs as his first challenge. Chicago is averaging just 4.0 runs per game this season. He'll get to face Greg Maddux who posted a 7.48 ERA over his last five starts. In what has to be a sign of doom, Maddux walked more than he struck out over this period.

If you're looking for good pitching, stay up late for Brad Penny vs. Mike Thompson. Penny's 2.34 ERA ranks third in the National League. He's doing a great job keeping left-handed batters off base, allowing them a .288 OBA. Thompson's been great at PETCO so far, allowing 10 hits and 2 walks in 13 innings there.

Enjoy!

There was speculation a couple of days ago that the Diamondbacks would release Russ Ortiz. It's now happened.

Ortiz is believed to be the most expensive player to be cut loose in baseball history.

The club designated the struggling right-hander for assignment, which means it has 10 days to trade, waive or release him. The team is on the hook for the balance of the $33 million, four-year contract Ortiz signed in December 2004, a figure general manager Josh Byrnes said was close to $22 million.

It's a gutsy move. Ortiz is not helping them win.

"We're like most clubs: Every dollar counts. You want to spend them as effectively as possible," Byrnes said at a Chase Field news conference. "That affected the decision, but we also were true to ourselves, and we want to put our best 25 on the field and try to win games. That led us to our decision.

"We have to spend all our dollars wisely, and obviously we owe Russ a lot of money going forward," Byrnes said. "The flip side is we probably have more young talent than anyone in baseball, and that's a good thing as managing the payroll."

In other words, they have a few years before their young talent is able to demand a lot more money. This move stands in stark contrast to the Angels and the Jered Weaver situation. Of course, it's an easier move for Byrnes to make since he didn't make the original mistake of signing Ortiz.

FishStripes provides the details of Josh Willingham's hand injury. It's too bad that just as the team starts to play well, one of their better hitters goes down with an injury that prevents him from swinging the bat.

Looking at the late games from last night, there were a number of good performances by the younger members to team staffs. Jered Weaver pitched seven strong innings to help the Angels to a 4-1 win over Kansas City. His ERA dropped to 1.37 as the only run he allowed was unearned. The Angels need to find a way to keep him in the rotation. With 22 K and 4 BB in 26 1/3 inning, I bet he has nothing left to prove in the minor leagues.

Joe Blanton out dueled the veteran lefty Jamie Moyer 2-0. Joe threw eight innings of five hit ball. He only used 92 pitches, but got into trouble when he gave up two hits to start the ninth (extending Ichiro's hit streak to 13 games) to put runners at 2nd and 3rd. Street came in and loaded the bases with a hit batter, but then struck out Ibanez and Sexson before getting a fly ball to end the game. Blanton's allowed 2 earned runs in 23 innings against the Mariners this season, including two 8 inning shutout performances. Against the rest of the league he's given up 43 earned runs in 57 1/3 innings, a 6.75 ERA.

Enrique Gonzalez in his four games (three starts) is nearly as impressive as Jered Weaver. Gonzalez one hit the Giants (who had Barry Bonds back) through seven innings, lowering his ERA to 1.64 as he allowed no runs. The DBacks needed that performance to break their losing streak, as the offense only generated 2 runs to the Giants 1. Gonzalez, in 22 major league innings fanned 20 batters while walking only four.

Update: A couple of people in the comments noted that I left out some pitchers. That's basically because they were discussed in last night's posts. Scroll down for more. This post was meant to catchup on the late games. Sorry for the confusion.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Jered Weaver is making another fine start for the Angels. He's given up one unearned run in six innings while striking out four. I just turned on the Angels game, and the announcers are talking about how the Angels are going to send Jered Weaver down when Colon is activated because he's the only starter with options! Isn't the point of baseball to win? I know he signed a free agent contract, but can't they find a way to get rid of Jeff Weaver and his 6.15 ERA? Trade him or buy him out or something. Jered needs to stay; Jeff needs to go.

The Twins are trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the twelfth. Cuddyer reached with one out on a hit by pitch. Morneau then hit one into the right center gap that hit and bounced over the fence for a ground rule double. That stopped Cuddyer at third, otherwise he could have scored easily. The Twins have the bases loaded with one out after an IBB.

Update: Jason Kubel ends the game with a grand slam to make the final 5-2. It just went over the top of the right field baggie. It the fifth home run of his career and the first grand slam.

Great pitching tonight by everyone except Julian Tavarez. The Twins staff struck out 16, the Red Sox eight. Both staff issued just two walks.

Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye combined to drive in four of the five White Sox runs tonight as Chicago kept pace with Detroit 5-2. That gives Thome, Konerko and Dye a combined 150 RBI after 64 games. Four hundred combined RBI is certainly a possibility.

For the third straight game, the Reds hit at least three home runs and lost. The Brewers took the game 6-4 behind three strong innings from the bullpen (three hits, one run, one walk, four strikeouts). Nine of the ten home runs the Reds produced in the last three games were solo shots. Lots of power with little damage.

Billy Wagner allows a walk and a hit in the ninth, but also gets a double play and a strike out to seal the 9-7 win.

With the score still tied at one in Minnesota, Castillo doubles off Papelbon to start the inning. Ford is asked to bunt, and drops it up the first base line, where a charging Youkilis throws to third to get the lead runner. If you are going to have a .300 OBA, you should at least be able to bunt down the third base line on that play.

Update: Jon strikes out Mauer and Cuddyer to end the innings. They'll play bonus frames in Minnesota tonight.

The Atlanta Braves out hit the Marlins 8-6 tonight, the hit counter isn't the determining factor in wins. The Marlins staff spread out the 8 hits. Only in one inning did the Braves collect multiple hits, the inning they scored their one run. The Marlins used a little power to push across four runs for their 13th win in their last 19 games. Josh Johnson lowers his ERA to 2.05, and should put him temporarily in the NL lead in ERA.

Barry Bonds is back in the Giants lineup tonight as they open a series against the reeling Diamondbacks. Bonds is 0 for 1 so far with a fly out. Arizona takes an early 1-0 lead, the first they've had in many games.

With the game in Washington tonight, the Rockies have split their season 32 games home and road. The venues are making no difference this year as they scored just 12 more runs at home and allowed 19 fewer on the road. Their 9-2 win gives them a 16-16 record on the road, matching their 16-16 record at home. They need to find a way to get the offense at Coors to take advantage of that park while keeping the pitching where it is. A .500 road record with some wins at home could win in the well balanced NL West.

Wang and the Yankees bullpen make Cano's home run hold up. Wang lasts 7 1/3 innings, leaving with a runner at second in the 8th. Myers, Farnsworth and Rivera retire all five men they face to take the 1-0 victory over the Indians.

The Tribe wastes a good performance by Paul Byrd. He's pitched very well in four of his last five starts, but has but one win to show for his efforts.

There's a great ad during the Tigers broadcast where they ask, "Who's your favorite Tiger?" After describing Kenny Rogers the pitcher, Kenny Rogers the singer comes on and says, "I've had more hits than he allowed this year."

Rogers pitched like that tonight. He lasted eight innings against the Devil Rays, allowing just four hits and one run. He struck out 9, a season high. The strikeouts are coming more often for Rogers as he's fanned 21 in his last 22 innings.

The Tigers offense spread the wealth tonight as seven batters divided 11 hits, 10 for singles as Detroit wins 7-1.

The Toronto starters pitched just eight innings over the last two games. Roy Halladay gave the bullpen the night off as he spun a complete game to defeat the Orioles 7-1. His only mistake was a home run pitch to Miguel Tejada. He was efficient and accurate, throwing just 104 pitches, 71 for strikes.

Johan Santana and Curt Schilling matched goose eggs through six innings. After getting Ortiz to ground out and Manny to K in the 7th (his 13th of the game), Varitek takes the first pitch he sees into the seats in left center. It was just the third hit of the game for the Red Sox, matching the number given up by Schilling. The Red Sox lead 1-0 in the middle of the seventh.

Update: History repeats as Schilling gets the first two outs of the 7th before yielding a home run to Cuddyer. The two outs give Curt 3000 innings pitched in his career. All of the 14 home runs off Schilling this season have come on the road.

Chris Carpenter appears to be fully recovered from his injury as he throws seven shutout innings against the Pirates. He allowed three hits and three walks but struck out a career high 13 batters. He almost didn't get the win however, as Oliver Perez pitched a game that will probably keep him in the majors a little longer. Perez allowed just two runs through his seven innings, but most importantly he walked just one. Isringhausen allowed a run in the 9th, but held on for the 2-1 victory.

Paul Byrd and Chien-Ming Wang traded zeros for five innings. Wang continued into the sixth, but in the bottom of the inning Robinson Cano connected for his fourth homer of the year. Wang's now thrown 85 pitches through seven innings without allowing a run. He could be looking at a complete game at this rate. The Yankees still lead 1-0.

Johan Santana just fanned David Ortiz for the second time tonight. It was his 1000th career strikeout.

Update: Aaron Rowand and Jhonny Peralta are Santana's biggest strikeout victims with 14 each.

David Ortiz on the Twins, from an SI interview republished at Boston Dirt Dogs.

The Twins, Ortiz says, so enthusiastically stressed small-ball tactics such as hitting behind runners that “if you moved the runner over from second base [with a groundout], you got high fives in the dugout like you just hit a home run.”

In his first at bat with the Red Sox, while batting cleanup in a spring training game, Ortiz happened to come up with a runner on second base and no outs. “I came in with that little pull, cheap-shot s---,” said Ortiz, explaining his grounder to second base on an outside sinker. “I still had the Minnesota Twins in my system.”

This time there were no high fives waiting for him in the dugout, just manager Grady Little with a word of advice. “Hey,” Little said. “Next time? Bring him in.”

Ortiz smiles at the memory. “I was like, O.K.!” he says. “I had a little more freedom than what I was used to.”

Feel free to relate this to the Terry Ryan post from earlier today.

John Smoltz and Josh Johnson are locked in a pitcher's duel tonight. Through four innings, Smoltz is winning the hit battle, allowing just one to Johnson's four. Johnson is winning the strikeout battle, having fanned 7 to Smoltz's 2. But the Marlins are on top 1-0 as their only hit was Jacob's ninth home run of the year.

Johan Santana starts off retiring the first three Red Sox batters on strikeouts. He threw 12 pitches, 10 for strikes, and finished the inning catching Ortiz looking.

Update: Schilling walks Castillo to start the first inning. It's the first walk he's issued since May 10th against the Yankees. He gets Ford to hit into a double play to erase that runner, but Mauer follows with a single to raise his batting average to .389.

Update: Schilling strikes out Cuddyer to end the first.

Update: Santana strikes out the first five before Mike Lowell manages to get wood on the ball. He manages to get Torii Hunter work in centerfield with a fly out.

Update: After picking up his sixth strikeout, Trot Nixon doubles to left. Lou Ford tried to make a diving catch but the ball got by him.

Jerry Remy thinks lefties do better against Santana because he doesn't like to use the changeup against left handers.

The Mets scored first, but the Phillies came back with solo home runs in the first and second to take a 2-1 lead. Not to be out done, the Mets answer with back-to-back shots by Beltran and Delgado that push three runs across the plate for a 4-2 lead in the third. Delgado's blast made it into the upper deck.

Beltran is making a nice bid for MVP right now. His OPS is well over 1.000, he's hit 18 home runs, he's scored 49 runs and driven in 51 in 53 games played. He's a complete hitter this season.

Update: Abreu hits the third solo shot of the game for the Phillies to cut the lead to 4-3. Glavine allowed just 10 home runs coming into this game. He's now given up six in his last two games, nearly half his total for the year.

Update: Now it is half. Rollins leads off the fifth with the fourth solo shot off Glavine to tie the game at 4. Glavine then loads the bases with one out, and Bradford comes in to stop the bleeding, stranding all three runners. It's tied at 4 after five, and it's Glavine's shortest outing of the season.

Update: They just keep on coming. David Wright leads off the top of the sixth with his 12th home run of the year. Madson loads the bases with none out and that's it for him.

Update: Franco lines out to Utley with the bases loaded. It looked like a sure double play, but Howard wasn't really in position to field the throw, which was to the wrong side of the bag. Utley is charged with the error (an earlier error by Howard helped load the bases) as the Mets score their second run of the night without the aid of a home run.

Update: A ball ticks off Bell's glove at third and the Mets score another run. It's 7-4. For all the home runs, the Phillies defense is costing them the game right now.

Update: Bell bobbles a ball again. He then throws home off line, the ball gets away from Fasano and two runs score, Reyes racing all the way from second. Lo Duca wanted to bury Philadelphia, and it looks like the Mets are doing just that in the top of the sixth.

Update: The inning ends with five runs for the Mets and a 9-4 New York lead.

Update: David Dellucci breaks the solo home run streak with a three run shot in the bottom of the eighth to bring the Phillies back to 9-7. With a man on first, Wagner blows away Utley with 100 MPH heat and Rollins gets caught stealing on the swing and miss to end the inning.

A reader sends this request:

I am trying to locate a picture of the Jack Clark home run hit from the Oct 16, 1985 playoff game.....I can't find it anywhere and I know it is out there because I have seen it .....any help would be greatly appreciated

If you can help, leave information in the comments. Thanks.

The Kansas City Royals made a very dumb move by revoking the press passes of two reporters after their questions at the press conference to introduce Dayton Moore. Now the Press Club wants them re-instated.

At the news conference Thursday, the two reporters grilled owner David Glass over his handling of the dismissal of former general manager Allard Baird.

A release from the Kansas City Press Club states, "The questions asked at the press conference were tough, but fair. The game played at Kauffman Stadium is hardball, not softball, after all."

"Decisions made in the heat of the moment often lead to mistakes," the statement reads. "But now that time has elapsed, the Kansas City Press Club trusts that cooler head will prevail, credentials will be reinstated quickly, and the focus will return to where it belongs: getting the Royals back to winning form."

The Royals need all the help they can get to turn this franchise around. An angry press doesn't help. It just make Glass and his team look immature, and gives these two radio host more publicity than they probably deserve. If you're going to be in the public eye, you're going to get questions about your every move. And when the process was confused as the Dayton Moore hiring, you deserve a lot of them. Banning reporters isn't going to stop that; my guess is others will take up the slack.

A Padres minor league pitcher started serving a 50 game suspension Monday for a positive drug test:

Ellis was 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA in five relief appearances for Double-A Mobile. The 23-year-old righty started the season at Class A Lake Elsinore and was 1-2 with one save and 2.57 in 24 games.

The question is how much did the drugs help him earn the promotion?

The New York Mets travel to Philadephia to take on the second place Phillies in a series that might determine if there is a race in the NL East this year. Paul Lo Duca wants to bury the Phillies. That's good. The Mets have a chance to put the division away, and they should go in all guns blazing. However, the Phillies have held their own with New York, splitting the first six games played, and they've actually outscored the Mets 28-15.

The pitching matchup certainly favors the Queensmen as Tom Glavine faces Ryan Madson. Glavine is coming off his worst start of the year in which he allowed six runs to the Dodgers. The Mets, however, scored 9 to take the win. Madson is 6-3 despite a 5.71 ERA. His last start, however, was one of his better ones this season. He went deeper into the game than any other start this year and did not walk a batter for the first time in a start in 2006.

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in Minnesota where Johan Santana hosts Curt Schilling. Opponents hit 13 home runs off Schilling this season, all on the road. HIs batting and on-base averages are low away from Fenway, it's just that the ball tends to leave the park. Santana possesses a massive reverse platoon differential this season. Opposing managers might want to think about starting lefties against him.

Enjoy!

The Soxaholix is blogging about soccer! At least teams actually score in curling!

A.J. Burnett pitched five no-hit innings in a AAA rehab start last night:

Burnett threw all of his pitches last night, with his fastball topping out at 97 m.p.h. He had trouble with his curveball early, but it got tighter as the game went along. With a five-inning or 75-pitch limit, Burnett threw 46 of his 67 pitches for strikes and afterwards said — half-jokingly — that he couldn't remember the last time he had thrown so few pitches in five innings.

He should return to the majors the same day as Roger Clemens, June 22nd. With all the injuries their starters suffered this season, the Jays still find themselves just three games back. With their offense, good second halves from Halladay and Burnett should make them better.

A reader from Germany writes:

I´m taking part of a quiz in Germany, and one question is:

where and when was the most dedly [sic] baseball game in Canada?

Do you know that and can you perhaps help me?

Thanks very, very much in advance!

I have no clue, and a quick search yielded nothing. If you know the answer, feel free to enlighten us in the comments.

When they love you in New York, you can do no wrong.

I didn't realize the Diamondbacks slump was this bad:

Arizona hasn't owned a lead since the seventh inning of its game last Monday against Philadelphia.

The average score in their last seven games is 7-2 opponents. They played three games in which they allowed 10 runs or more, and four games in which they scored 2 runs or less. Great team tend to win big. Poor teams tend to lose big. Right now, Arizona looks like a very poor team.

The article states the obvious, that much of this is distraction over the Grimsley case. It might almost be a relief to release the names in affidavit, so players could stop worrying about it. Of course, there's the possibility that the team was playing over its head for a while and is just coming back to earth.

The Argus Leader takes Terry Ryan to task over his off-season moves. From not trading Lohse to picking up White, Batista and Castillo, nothing worked out. I wonder if this is one of those situations where Terry's strength is the draft, not the trade. He's great at recognizing good young talent, but not so good at evaluating mature talent. (After all, he did let David Ortiz go.) So when the Twins were playing poorly, low draft picks allowed him to play to his strength and build a club from within. But with the Twins winning the last few years, even that job is tougher. I'd be interested in hearing from Twins fans on this.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Orlando Cabrera continues his career year with a 3 for 3 through four innings tonight. At age 31, his OBA and slugging percentages are 50 points above his career averages. This is a player that had one year where his averages were okay for a shortstop (2003). Otherwise, he's been poor to mediocre. He's the second best hitter on the Angels this season.

LAnaheim is up 4-0 in the fifth, and Kansas City just earned their first hit off Magic Santana. McPherson is 2 for 2 with 2 RBI, and he's starting to hit to his potential.

Curtis Granderson picks up his fourth hit of the night, a game winning single, his fourth hit of the game. Julio Lugo set up the game winner with a two base error on an Inge grounder. He figured in three of the four Tigers runs as he scored one and drove in two. He was on base five times in seven plate appearances to raise his OBA to .385. The Tigers defeat the Devil Rays 4-3 in 13 innings.

Milwaukee picked up a 6-5 win over the Reds tonight thanks to three youngsters. Prince Fielder homered to tie the game in the 8th, and a few batters later, Rickey Weeks singled in the go-ahead run. With rookie Zach Jackson going seven innings, he picked up the win. Jackson did not walk a batter while getting six strikeouts. The Reds, however, touched him for four home runs accounting for all five runs allowed. One advantage of not walking batters is home runs tend to be solo shots.

Jose Contreras was unusually hard to connect on tonight. He went eight innings, striking out eleven. That's as many strikeouts as in his previous three starts. The 8-3 win runs his record to 7-0. It's only the second time in Jose's career that he's topped 10 strikeouts.

The outfield lights just went out in Detroit. The game is being delayed until they are back on. It's 3-1 Tampa Bay in the bottom of the ninth.

Update: The lights are still out but the Tigers are batting. They start the inning with a walks and three straight singles to tie the game at three. With men on first and second and none out, Pudge Rodriguez is trying to bunt. He fouls two off, then swings and misses for strike three. I don't understand bunting with I-Rod in that situation. Give him a chance to drive in the run from second.

Update: After Ordonez lined out to right, Thames strikes out for the fourth time in the game. I've seen the last three, and he looked really bad on each of them. Despite a double this evening, he's not doing a good job choosing pitches at which to swing. The teams go to the tenth.

The Baseball Zealot notices a couple of draft picks in trouble early.

In the top of the sixth inning, it's the Orioles 5, Alex Rios 3. The Orioles got to rookie starter Casey Janssen early, chasing in the fourth after scoring their fifth run of the game. Alex Rios, however, drove in all three of the Blue Jays tallies with two home runs. That gives him 14 on the year and raises his slugging percentage to .630. It's the first multi-homer game of his career.

Both youngsters use a lot of pitches in the Rays/Tigers game depite pitching well. Scott Kazmir is gone after five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks. He threw nearly 20 pitches an inning, 98 total. Verlander was a bit more efficient, allowing just three hits through six inning, also throwing 98 pitches. A home run by Cantu and a sac fly plated the two runs he allowed. It's up to both bullpens with the Devil Rays leading 2-0 in the top of the seventh.

Major League Baseball suspend Jason Grimsley for 50 games today, pending someone adding him to a 40-man roster. The big question here is will the union oppose this move, since Grimsley did not fail a drug test. Baseball is taking the position that admitting use to government agents is the same as getting caught by urinalysis, and I can't disagree with them. But lawyers make their money on the specific meaning of language, so we'll see how this plays out. In a just world, the players who have been pushing for stricter punishments will tell the union to let this one go.

Al at Al's Ramblings notices that the fill in starters for the Brewers aren't doing a very good job.

MLB scheduled just six game this evening, but all it turns out sport good pitching matchups, many involving the next generation of stars. Possibly the best is Tampa Bay at Detroit where Scott Kazmir faces Justin Verlander. The Tigers offer a good match for Scott, as they are hitting poorly against left-handed pitchers this season. Verlander holds a better ERA than Kazmir despite trailing Scott in strikeout, walk and home run rate. His fielding independent pitching numbers indicate he's been a bit lucky this season.

As far as division races go, the second place White Sox visit the first place Rangers as Jose Contreras faces John Koronka. Koronka's strength is his low number of home runs allowed, which is negated by playing at home. Six of the seven long balls hit against him came in Texas. Contreras, on the other hand, allowed just one of his five home runs on the road this season.

Enjoy!

The Arizona Diamondbacks are considering eating Russ Ortiz's contract after his dreadful performance yesterday (and for the year):

But things have gotten so bad so quick, that ownership has an itchy trigger finger and after deciding to go to war with Grimsley, they aren't particularly worried about hurting Ortiz's feelings.

The problem is, he is under contract for two more years after signing a four-year, $33 million deal in 2005. He's getting paid $7.4 million this season and they still owe him about $20 million. Eating that much salary would be precedent-setting by a major league club.

But the Diamondbacks are considering it. And that should tell you something. Trading him would be ideal, but it is unrealistic. They could move him to the bullpen, but spots are precious there, and what proof does the team have he will pitch any better in relief?

In addition, they're trying to get out of paying Grimsley on a technicality:

As for Grimsley, the target of a federal probe into the use and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs, the relief pitcher is to have his contract terminated today by the Diamondbacks. Arizona contends it shouldn't have to pay him any portion of the remainder of his $825,000 salary, using a clause in the collective bargaining agreement to assert he was unfit to compete.

I assume, they mean, without drugs. I would have thought they would have gone along the lines of what the Orioles did to let Ponson go last year, a violation of the morals clause:

Every player on the 40-man roster signs a standard contract that includes a morals clause, paragraph 3(a), that reads: "The Player agrees to perform his services hereunder diligently and faithfully, to keep himself in first-class physical condition and to obey the Club's training rules, and pledges himself to the American public and to the Club to conform to high standards of personal conduct, fair play and good sportsmanship."

I suppose Grimsley can argue that taking HGH was keeping himself in first-class physical condition.

Chris Constancio at The Hardball Times graphs the tendancies of team to draft college vs. high school, and high school pitchers vs. college pitchers. (Make sure you read the explanation of the first chart, since it doesn't make sense at first glance.) The Dodgers and Braves seem to be bucking a trend by taking high school pitchers. It might be that since a large number of teams are concentrating on college pitchers, those two teams have a market they can exploit.

The Indians looked like they were on their way to an easy 10-2 victory last night when the White Sox started chipping away at the lead. Chicago ended up scoring six in the inning, mostly on the poor pitching of Jason Davis. For anyone with access to the information, I'm wondering what's the most runs scored in the ninth inning for a team that didn't win the game?

Roger Clemens threw six shutout innings for the Corpus Christi Hooks last night, tying a team record with eleven strikeouts. Roger credited the ball:

The Astros received permission from the Texas League for Clemens to use an official major-league baseball, and Clemens noticed an improvement with his command.

"There is a small difference," Clemens said. "I would say to the average person there's a small difference. For me there's a big difference. It's just the way the balls are. Minor-league balls and major-league balls are different — not much on the seams but the coating. It was just a difference. Having that in my hand and working out there, I was able to maneuver the ball around the strike zone the way I wanted to."

I didn't realize there was a difference in the ball between the major and minor leagues. You would think that the ball should be the same, so that pitchers being called up have to make one less adjustment.

Juan Rodriguez writes of the successful west coast swing by the Florida Marlins. He notes the turnaround by the starting staff:

Since losing a season-high seven in a row, the Marlins have won 12 of 18. Look no further than the starting rotation to pinpoint the turnaround.

Marlins starters opened the season 8-17 with a 5.37 ERA and 4.1 walks per nine innings through May 21. Since then they are 11-6 with a 3.14 ERA and 2.4 walks per nine innings. That includes six wins and a 2.92 ERA on the trip.

'For the most part, we're not beating ourselves,' said starter Brian Moehler, who beat Padres ace Jake Peavy on Sunday. 'We're not making a lot of errors. I walked four today, but I don't think any of them scored. We're doing the little things.'

Part of that was moving Johnson and Nolasco into the rotation, replacing Vargas and Mitre (Mitre due to an injury). Nolasco's posted a 2.83 ERA as a starter, Johnson a 1.65.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The Texas Rangers didn't give David Ortiz a chance to win the second game as they scored 13 to beat the Red Sox by seven runs. All nine starters picked up a hit, but eight picked up at least two. All in all, the Rangers collected 22 hits in the game, with Matthews and DeRosa getting four each. It's the third most hits by a team in game this season. The Dodgers picked up 25 on May 19th, and Detroit had a 23 hit game on April 29th.

The Mets drew 10 walks this afternoon as they routed the Diamondbacks 15-2. It's the second time this season New York drew 10 or more walks in a game (they drew 13 on 5/5). In the first five years of this decade, the Mets two 10 walk games. Despite this, they came into today 12th in the NL in free passes. This continues to surprise me, since their manager, Willie Randolph, was terrific at drawing walks and getting on base. I'm surprised he doesn't emphasize this more, especially when they get results like this.

It's nice to see a player figure out the game. Jose Bautista moved from pillar to post in 2004, spending time with four teams, finally settling with the Pirates. He only played in 11 games in 2005, but at age 25 he's getting a chance and playing well. His average is still low; the difference is he's drawing walks and hitting for power. His two for five included a double and a home run today, including the game winning grand slam that gave the Pirates a 7-5 victory over the Giants. His batting average is down at .235, but his OBA + Slugging is .885. He's a productive player despite the lack of hits.

What's wrong with Jake Peavy? He struck out 10 today in five innings, but allowed six runs as the Padres fell to the Marlins 7-3. With three walks allowed, the Marlins picked up eight hits on eleven balls in play against Jake. The Padres are very good this year at turning batted balls into outs; their .725 DER is the best mark in the NL. He's allowing a lot more hits than last season. In 2005, the opposition hit him at a .217 clip. This year, that's up to .257. It seems when Jake makes a mistake, the pitches are very hittable. Is he just making more mistakes this season?

Felix Hernandez pitched the kind of game Seattle fans expected this season. He threw a complete game four hitter, walking none and striking out 9. If it weren't for a 3 for 4 performance from Orlando Cabrera he might have pitched a shutout. For the first time this year, King Felix put together two good outings in a row, giving up 3 earned runs and 10 hits in his last 16 innings.

I spoke glowingly of Brian Fuentes this morning, so of course the Dodgers come back against him this afternoon to take a 6-5 win over the Rockies.

Matt Kemp homered twice to bring his major league total to six. He finishes the day with a .400 OBA and an .829 slugging percentage.

Since Roy Oswalt hit the DL officially, the Astros starters are on a roll. They've gone 5-1 in the six games, posting an ERA of 2.61. They've struck out 31 and walked just 12. Rodriguez didn't need a great outing today as the Astros scored 14 vs. the Braves, but he was decent nonetheless. If the staff can keep this going when Oswalt and Clemens return, you could see another great second half comeback from the Astros.

Detroit defeated Toronto this afternoon 10-5, but looking at the offensive numbers, you might have thought the Blue Jays could easily be on top. The Tigers out hit the Jays 12-9, but Toronto out slugged them, collecting six extra-base hits to Detroit's three, and leading in total bases 23-17. They also drew 5 walks to Detroit's 4.

It's the kind of game that sports writers love to rip teams over. And they may have something to it this year. The Blue Jays are under performing their runs created estimate by 0.4 runs. The Bill James formula put them at 6.1 runs per game through yesterday, while they're scoring at a rate of 5.7. The Jays' seventh is a microcosom of the game and the season:

Blue Jays seventh. Rios homered to center on a 2-2 count. Wells doubled to center. Glaus walked on a full count. Zumaya pitching. Hillenbrand popped out to shortstop Santiago. Molina flied out to right fielder Gomez, Wells to third. Overbay struck out.

Put the double and walk in front of the home run and you get a very different looking inning. It doesn't look like bad lineup construction. Toronto just has to hope it's luck evens out before the season is over. The Red Sox had a similar problem in 2004, and that did correct itself over the second half of the season.

Carlos Marmol rode out of the bullpen today to give the Cubs a much needed shot in the arm. He was blowing away AA batters, striking out 67 in 58 innings. He also allowed just one home run. He equaled his minor league home run total today, but that's all the Reds got off the youngster as he struck out seven in six innings and helped the Cubs take home a 9-3 win. He's now struck out 13 in 10 majors league innings since being called up.

Shawn Hill easily outpitched Cole Hamels this afternoon, shutting down the Phillies offense for seven innings. Hill lowered his ERA to 1.80 and his opposition batting average to .203 with a two hit performance. I'd like to get some opinions from the Washington faithful on this pitcher. His strikeout and walk stats aren't that good, but he's getting the job done so far. What does he use to fool batters?

Dan Johnson picked a good time to break out of his slump. He hit two home runs today, his second in the eighth providing the winning margin against the Yankees (6-5) as Oakland sweeps the series. Johnson is 10 for 24 in the month of June, a .417 batting average. Four of those ten hits went for homers. Given his horrible April and May, he'll need to keep that level up for a while if he's going to put up decent numbers for the season.

My wife and I were about to leave the house when I said to her I'd like to wait a minute. David Ortiz was up and he'd either hit a homer or make an out to end the game. Otsuka had worked him well in the at bat, getting ahead 0-2, then moving the ball in and out trying to get Papi to fish. The count went to 2-2, and David barely fouled off a good slider. That's when I made my statement. On the next pitch Ortiz got all of it and the three run shot gave the Red Sox the 5-4 win.

It was Ortiz's 11th ninth inning home run since joining the Red Sox. Interestingly, while his home run rate is very good in the ninth, his over batting is only worse in the second inning (where he also hits a lot of home runs). It's really in extra-innings where Ortiz shines, hitting six home runs in just 27 at bats. Nevertheless, at this point David is probably the most feared hitter in the majors in the bottom of the ninth with the game on the line.

Who needs Albert Pujols? Twice today Scott Rolen drew a walk on a full count, and twice Jim Edmonds doubled him home. Rolen holds the longest current hit streak in the majors, but if he does nothing but walk, the streak doesn't end.

Jose Guillen is back in the starting lineup after being a late substitute in yesterday's game. He's two for two, both doubles, with two RBI off Cole Hamels. He's helped the team to a 4-0 lead in the fifth. Guillen's not hitting for much of an average so far, but almost half his hits are for extra-bases.

Shawn Hill takes the hill near Capitol Hill this afternoon as the Washington Nationals host the Phillies and Cole Hamels. Hill's made two starts and sports a 2.77 ERA, although given the batting numbers against him that's a bit low. He's been deadly against righties so far, which might split up the hits against him enough so they're not that effective. Hamels is making his fourth start, all on the road. He's been tough to hit (.158 batting average allowed) and because of that the eleven walks he's issued still allows him to sport a good opposition OBA (.286). Left-handed batters are 0 for 19 against the rookie.

Despite their six game losing streak, the Diamondbacks are still tied for first place in the NL West. The chances of stopping the streak are slim as Pedro Martinez faces off against Russ Ortiz. Pedro, despite a 3.01 ERA hasn't won a game since April, and the Mets are 2-5 in his starts from May on. Ortiz is interestingly bad this year as he's walked more than he's struck out and while lefties hit him for average, righties are very close in slugging. So when a right-hander gets a hit off Ortiz, it's most likely a double!

Enjoy!

The Mets received their second outstanding performance from Alay Solar as he out dueled Brandon Webb for a 5-0 Mets victory. Webb allowed just one earned run over eight innings (four total) while striking out 9, but ruined his perfect record with the loss. Solar, however, tossed a two-hitter, using just 108 pitches for the complete game shutout. He's allowed 8 hits and 1 earned run in his last 16 innings.

The Mariners drubbed the Angels 12-6 in Anaheim, despite two home runs from Mike Napoli. Sagging sluggers Beltre and Sexson went deep for the Mariners, Richie's being a grand slam. Ichiro added a solo shot as part of a 3 for 6 night that raised his batting average to .367.

It was a much more typical night at Coors on Saturday as the Rockies defeated the Dodgers 12-9. What catches my eye, however, is the save by Brian Fuentes. He pitched the ninth and walked one but struck out two. That's been his MO all season, but with 31 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings and only 13 hits allowed, he can afford the walks. The Rockies appear to have found an effective closer.

The Marlins squeaked by the Padres 2-1 last night behind the pitching of Scott Olsen. It's interesting to watch him learn as the season goes on. In April he had a good ERA but lots of walks and not too many strikeouts. In May, he got the strikeouts up, but the walks were high and the balls were flying out of the park. Now in June, he's cut down on the walks, kept the strikeouts up, and kept the ball in the park. The result is four earned runs in 13 2/3 innings.

Peter Schmuck explains the loophole in the MLB drug testing policy that MLB is trying to exploit with Jason Grimsley:

Call it a loophole if you want. Major League Baseball recently embarked on a wide-ranging investigation to determine the true extent of the sport's steroid problem, but it appeared powerless to punish past offenders because the collectively bargained anti-steroid program requires a positive urine test to trigger specific disciplinary action.

That might have changed when Grimsley was caught with a smoking gun called human growth hormone, according to federal agents.

Since hGH is banned under the current program but is not detectable with a urine test, the door appears to be open for baseball commissioner Bud Selig to discipline Grimsley for possession and admitted use of the synthetic hormone, which is illegal unless prescribed by a physician.

The players union will have little choice but to try to prevent Selig from setting a precedent that might be applied to players who are proved to have used other substances either during the steroid inquiry by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell or the ongoing federal investigation that stung Grimsley.

The rumor is that Selig wants to suspend Grimsley for 50 games, even though with Jason out of baseball it would be a symbolic gesture. Then if Mitchell uncovers wrong doing, those players can be suspended as well.

If the point of the investigation is to find out what happened in the past, this is the wrong move. If players believe they are going to be punished if they co-operate, they'll keep their mouths shut. But if the Mitchell investigation is designed to punish past offenses, then Selig should certainly go this route. He needs to understand it will make Mitchell's job much more difficult.

Moe Drabowsky passed away on Saturday. He seemed like the kind of person that could make you laugh. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

The Big Lead notes that Barry Bonds asked that his lawsuit against the authors of Game of Shadows be dismissed. There is still the possibility it can be filed at a later date.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Dunstin Morse from the Minnesota Twins writes:

After tonight's game, Joe Mauer has reached base four times in five straight games... we believe that this is a Major League record... the previous record was four... set five times:

• Billy Hamilton, Philadelphia (NL), July 21-25,1893.
• Billy Hamilton, Philadelphia (NL), July 20-23 (2), 1894.
• Milt Stock, Brooklyn (NL), June 30-July 3,1925.
• Babe Ruth, New York (AL), June 12-15, 1930.
• Barry Bonds, San Francisco (NL), October 2-5, 2001.

They're double checking this. It's a very impressive feat for Mauer. Joe was 2 for 3 tonight with 2 walks. He has 14 hits, 6 walks and no hit by pitch during the streak and is hitting .700 over the last five games.

Update: Dustin writes that with further research, Mauer tied a record. Two other hitters reached four time in five straight games:

• Brian Downing, TEX AL, 4/13-4/19/1991
• Mike Piazza, LA NL, 8/23/1997-8/27/1997

Interesting that all three were catchers at one time in their careers, although Downing was a DH by the time he set the mark.

I've been trying to research this a bit myself, but it takes a long time to run. Brett Butler had a four game streak in 1995.

Although the headline of this article is "Barry Will Talk," the gist is that Barry won't talk:

"I'd like Barry to cooperate with Sen. Mitchell," Rains said. "He'd like to cooperate. We believe Sen. Mitchell's investigation will be fair, thorough and impartial.

"But here's the problem: Anything that happens there can become fodder for the federal government and fodder for another book that will make reporters rich."

A federal grand jury is trying to determine if Bonds lied about drug use in his testimony to the BALCO grand jury. Bonds, whose alleged steroid use was detailed in "Game of Shadows" by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, also could face tax evasion charges.

"I thoroughly distrust the federal government's commitment to protecting anonymity," said Rains, whose client's testimony to the BALCO grand jury was illegally leaked to the Chronicle. "I've been asking for four years if this investigation is done. All I've ever got was double talk."

I don't see how Mitchell can keep what Bonds tells him within Major League Baseball. I've thought the report would be made public when complete. If not, somebody is going to leak it. So I don't see how Bonds, given the above statements of his lawyer, is ever going to talk to Mitchell.

Tim Hudson pitched a great game today to help the Braves to a 4-2 win over the Astros. Hudson's pitched much better over his last seven starts. He's 4-1 with a 2.51 ERA. He's also striking out 7.7 per 9 innings over that period. In his first seven starts, Hudson posted a 5.09 ERA to go with a 2-3 record. He was only striking out 4.5 per nine. It's a good example of what higher strikeout rates do for the rest of your stats.

Ian Snell shutout the San Francisco Giants for seven innings, and his offense gave him just enough to get a 2-0 win. That three good outings in a row for Snell in which he's allowed 3 runs in his last 19 1/3 innings while striking out 17. In his last 10 games, he's allowed 2 earned runs or less in seven of them. His 7-1 record is the best on the Pirates.

The Red Sox were scheduled for a split admission double header. They just started game 1, and game 2 is postponed.

Update: No announcement on the makeup for game 2. However, it looks like there's plenty of seats empty at Fenway. I bet if you show up for the game you can get in.

Update: There will be a split admission double header tomorrow (Sunday). Today's 8 PM game will be made up at noon. The game that was originally scheduled for 2 PM on Sunday gets played at 5 PM.

Dayton Moore got to see the real Kansas City ball club today as Tampa Bay picks up a 9-5 win. Tampa end the game with 14 hits, 12 of them singles. They sprinkled in a could of doubles and four walks, but the base at a time offense was water torture to the Royals. Casey Fossum pitched well as the starter, and Royals fans could be happy with the Royals scoring four runs in the last three inning to keep it from being a complete blowout.

Cantu picked up four hits for Tampa Bay this afternoon. That gives him 24 hits in 20 games and raises his batting average to .338.

C.C.Sabathia goes six innings, striking out seven and allowing just one run. He used a lot of pitches, however, and leaves the game in favor of Carmona. Fausto gives up two walks and an infield hit to load the bases, but gets Thome to ground out to end the inning and preserve the 2-1 Indians lead.

Update: The Cleveland bullpen blows the lead twice, the second time blowing the game. Cabrera allows a run in the eighth to send the game into extra innings. The Tribe scores one in the top of the eleventh on Victor Martinez's second homer of the game. In the bottom of the inning, however, Bob Wickman gives up four hits (that's how many C.C. allowed), all singles, but that was enough to plate two runs and give the victory to Chicago.

Giambi goes deep in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead in half. After hitting four homers in May, Giambi just hit his fifth of June. That takes Jason's slugging percentage up to .636, and his OPS to 1.089.

Mike Rouse is off to a great major league start, going four for five so far in his first two games. He just singled to drive in two and give Oakland a 4-1 lead in the fifth.

For the second day in a row, Frank Thomas homers at Yankee Stadium. It's only the 10th long ball he's hit there in 59 games in the Bronx. While he's done a great job getting on base at at Yankee Stadium, he came into today with a .460 slugging percentage at the House that Ruth Built. The A's lead 2-0 in the bottom of the first.

Update: It's the second time he's hit home runs in consecutive games at Yankees stadium. The last was in 1993.

C.C Sabathia and Mark Buehrle meet for the fourth time this season. The Indians hit Buehrle hard so far, sticking him with an 8.04 ERA and collecting 25 hits in 15 2/3 innings. Sabathia's done twice as well vs. the White Sox, with many fewer hits allowed in his 13 1/3 innings.

Game 1 at Fenway today pits two promising left-handers against each other. John Rheinecker allowed just four runs and one walk in his first three starts. He's shutting down right-handed batters, allowing a mere .242 OBA against them. Jon Lester makes his major league debut for the Red Sox, and he's being compared to John Tudor. Lester's struck out 43 in 46 2/3 innings at AAA this year. He seems to have short starts, however, as he's made 11 so far.

And the battle of the first place teams continues in the west as the Mets send Alay Soler against Brandon Webb. Soler is coming off a very strong outing at Dodger Stadium. Webb leads the NL in ERA, but five of his six home runs allowed came at home this year.

Enjoy!

Ryan Van Bibber sends a link to the baseball issue of Vice-Versa:

It's a nice distraction from this Grimsley insanity.

There's fiction, non-fiction, poetry and photo essays all related to baseball.

The Mets launched five home runs from the heart of the order in their 10-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Beltran and Delgado hit two each, while David Wright added a single dinger. The trio drove in eight of the Mets runs. The 3-4-5 hitters for the New York NL franchise combined for 48 home runs this season. That's the most in the National League and second in the majors (the White Sox are way ahead of everyone with 58).

The loss drops Arizona into a tie for first place with the Dodgers. They broke their offensive slump, but for the fourth game in a row and five of the last seven they allowed 7 runs or more.

FishStripes comments on Chris Young striking 12 young Marlins in six innings.

The Orioles and Twins played a dozen innings last night, with the Twins emerging victorious on the second home run of the game by Justin Morneau. It was a bright spot in a lackluster season for the Twins first baseman. The Twins version of the M&M boys never developed. Joe Mauer put up a three for five to raise his batting average to .384, but Morneau's batting and on-base averages are right where they were last year, low. While his power rebounded a bit, he's not hitting like a first baseman, and it's time for the Twins to find another answer at the position.

The Orioles Bruce Chen could be looking for a job soon, also. Chen gave up the two-run homer in the twelfth, the 19th he's allowed in 51 innings. He's sporting a 7.76 ERA and a .344 opposition batting average.

The Washington Nationals defeated the Phillies 9-8 in twelve innings to move into a tie with Atlanta for third place in the NL East. Robert Fick, pinch hitting in the twelfth delivered the game winning single. He came into the plate appearance 2 for 13.

After their relievers blew a 7-3, however, Bray and Cordero took over. The rookie pitched three perfect innings, striking out three batters and throwing just 31 pitches, 24 for strikes. It's been an impressive week for Bill Bray, posting a 0.00 ERA and a .063 batting average allowed. Cordero took over in the 11th and was equally effective, retiring all six batters he faced, striking out two. Although Cordero was award the W, the two should get half a win each.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The Nationals put the first two batters on in the bottom of the tenth. A hit by pitch followed by a beautiful bunt single by Mike Vento puts runners on first and second for Soriano, who is 0 for 5 tonight.

Update: On a 1-1 count, Soriano tries to bunt, but the ball rolls foul. I don't know if Robinson called for a bunt or Alfonso tried that on his own. I would think you'd want him swinging for a hit to the outfield in this situation.

Update: Soriano strikes out swinging on a high inside pitch.

Update: Ward pinch hits and walks to load the bases with one out. The winning run is at third base.

Update: Vidro ground to second, and Utley throws the runner out at home. It's up to Nick Johnson to end the game in the 10th.

Update: This one goes to 11 as Johnson grounds out to second. Nats blow a great opportunity to win the game.

Brad Penny goes 8 1/3 shutout innings in Coors Field tonight, and Takashi Saito comes on to get the last two outs as the Dodgers shut down the Rockies 3-0. It's the fifth shutout at Coors this season. Penny lowers his ERA to 2.34. It's the first time this season Penny threw more than seven innings. It took some time, but he's starting to pay off for Los Angeles.

The Florida Marlins score a run in the third, ending Chris Young's scoreless inning streak at 18. The batters are really keeping the fans cool in San Diego tonight as Young has struck out 11 through five innings while Nolasco has six through four. The Marlins lead 1-0.

Update: Of course, this game isn't on MLB Extra Innings.

Update: On consecutive at bats in the fifth, the Padres hit a triple, double and two run homer. Mike Cameron take Nolasco deep for a 3-1 San Diego lead.

Update: Chris Young hit the triple. Three of his five hits this year went for extra bases.

The Toronto Blue Jays scored eight runs in the eighth inning to comeback and take a 10-5 win from the Detroit Tigers. Bonderman and Zumaya combined for seven strong innings, but Rodney and Jones faced seven batters and failed to get an out. The Blue Jays collected a double, triple and homer in the inning along with five singles. Shea Hillenbard banged a pinch-hit homer to start the scoring, then hit a sacrifice fly to end it. The second time Shea was in the unusual position of batting without a position. He was no longer a pinch hitter, but had yet to take the field.

The eighth is turning out to be a very bad inning for Detroit tonight as the White Sox just scored two in the eighth to take a 5-4 lead on Cleveland.

Update: Bobby Jenks gets the save for Chicago and move 1/2 game behind the Tigers.

Update: I count five games tonight where a team came back in the eighth to tie to take a lead. It's 11:20 PM EDT.

The Astros defeated the Braves 7-2 this evening. Atlanta's cold streak continues as they are now 2-10 over their last 12 games. They've been outscored 78 to 49, so while the offense hasn't been great, the pitching's been really bad, allowing 6 1/2 runs per game. It's been power, mostly as opponents collected 49 extra-base hits to the Braves 34. The loss puts them just 1/2 game ahead of the Nationals.

The Kansas City Royals make it 2-0 under Dayton Moore. Last night's slugfest was replaced with a pitcher's duel tonight. Mark Redman allowed nine hits but just two runs over eight innings to pitch the Royals to a 4-2 victory. They were down 2-1 until the eighth when Kansas City got to Hendrickson when Reggie Sanders hit a bases loaded double than scored three. That two comeback wins in a row.

With a 6-4 lead, the Cubs bring in Ryan Dempster to save the game in the bottom of the ninth. Dempster walked one and allowed a single to bring the winning run to the plate with none out in the person of Javier Valentin.

Update: Valentin gets ahead 2-0, Dempster battles back to 2-2, Javier fouls off a number of pitches then draws a walk to load the bases. McCracken pinch runs. Freel is up, after pinch hitting and staying in to play right.

Update: Freel battles to 3-2 and walks on a pitch that missed the low outside corner. The tying run is on third with none out. Lopez is at the plate.

Update: Dempster gets ahead of Lopez 1-2, but good selectivity by Felipe works it to 3-2. Dempster then freezes Lopez on a high pitch on the outside corner for strike three. Brandon Phillips is next.

Update: Phillips hits a hard liner right at Ramirez at third for the second out. It's the fourth time tonight Phillips hit a shot right at somebody. Griffey then grounds past the first baseman, but the shift is on and the second baseman throws Jr. out from shallow right. The Cubs hold on for the win 6-5 in a real nail biter.

Jon Papelbon came in for a four out save tonight by instead gave up a game tying single to Hank Blalock in the eighth. It all worked out, however, as Mike Lowell hit a sacrifice fly to put the Sox on top in the bottom of the inning. Papelbon then allowed a single while striking out three in the ninth to get the win. Twenty for twenty one is still not too bad.

The winning run was put at third by a Trot Nixon single. Nixon figured in all four Red Sox runs with a three-run shot in the first in addition to the hit between the walk and sac fly. He went four for four tonight and missed the cycle by a triple. His OBA is now 60 points above his career average.

Chris Mihlfeld denied he was named in the Grimsley affidavit. Mihfeld's source is Grimsley's lawyer, who actually read the search warrant. Deadspin, however, is sticking by their source.

It's interesting to note that since Albert Pujols went down with an injury, the Cardinals have scored 20 runs in four games but allowed 28. Down six three tonight, the pitching for the Red Birds continues to be the main problem for St. Louis.

Update: The Cardinals come back to win this game 10-6. Again, the offense hasn't been bad. The pitching hasn't been stellar.

Gustavo Chacin left the Tigers/Jays game after giving up two runs in the third inning. Looking at the play by play, it didn't seem like he was hit that hard; he did strike out the last batter. Did anyone see the game and know if he was injured?

Update: According to the CBSSportsLine GLog, it was a simple pitching change.

Update: CBSSportsline was wrong. Chacin strained his elbow.

Frank Thomas puts the Athletics up 1-0 with a second inning home run off Randy Johnson. Thomas now has seven hits in June, four of them home runs and five for extra bases. He's raised his slugging percentage to .523. It's now 2-0 in the bottom of the third.

Update: It's bombs away on Johnson tonight as Kielty and Perez also go deep against the Big Unit to make the score 5-1. Johnson gave up a career high 32 homers last season, and with 15 allowed so far is on a pace to pass that mark. The As are still batting in the fourth and added another run to make it 6-1.

Update: Johnson is out after four innings. In addition to the home runs, he allowed five walks while striking out just two. It's only the 48th time Johnson walked more than he struck out in a game, and 40 of those games came before the 1995 season. He's now hit that mark three times this year, the most since since four in 1994.

Kerry Wood is back on the DL:

"I'm not injured," Wood said. "I didn't hurt anything. It's just something that kind of comes along with having shoulder surgery. I'm having a little bit of a tough time recovering and getting this thing ready to go every fifth or seven days sometimes. So we'll take the time to get it right now, and get back before the All-Star break and finish the season healthy."

At this point it doesn't matter for the Cubs. They can't score enough runs consistently to support even a healthy Wood or Prior. Best to let Kerry completely heal.

The Mets relieved themselves of Kaz Matsui today, trading him and cash to the Rockies for Eli Marrero. Offensively, Marrero has a little more power, but neither is someone you really want in the starting lineup. Mostly, Marrero gives the Mets a player who can plug into almost any fielding position. Matsui isn't even on the big club; he's been assigned to AAA. With the offense at second base very good for the Rockies, he won't be playing there. As bad as it is, however, his offense would improve the shortstop position for Colorado, so don't be surprised to see him shift back to short.

The Phillies and Nationals face off again tonight with Brett Myers facing Tony Armas, Jr. Myers held the Nationals to two runs, three hits and two walks in their last meeting on May 30th. He's pitched into the seventh inning in each of his last eight starts. RFK and Armas do not get along this season. Tony's been lit up for a .314 batting average and a 4.68 ERA in five starts at home. The park fits Alfonso Soriano just fine, however. He's slugging .772 there vs. .556 on the road.

The Devil Rays play the Royals tonight. It could be a fun game because these teams are so evenly matched. The pitchers favor Tampa Bay, since Mark Hendrickson opposes Mark Redman. One problem with Redman this year is that 80% of his opposition hitters are righties, and they're getting on base at a .438 clip against him. At this point, a better role for Redman would be in the bullpen as a LOOGY. Hendrickson is seeing an even higher percentage of right-handed batters, but they're hitting just .253 against the tall lefty.

Finally, a nice pitching matchup on the west coast as Ricky Nolasco takes on Chris Young. Ricky's posted a 2.38 ERA in four starts. Young's allowed just three hits and three walks in his last 16 innings, and no runs to go with it.

Enjoy!

Cardinals Diaspora puts down his thoughts on Pujols and the possibility of PED use. I have to agree with the post. For example:

3. Just because Albert’s trainer was a point man for HGH it doesn't mean he took them.

True. BUT just ask Greg Anderson about this defense. Granted he followed Barry around like a lost puppy, but still when you're real tight with a guy and credit him for basically your whole career and then he becomes the target of a federal investigation, it's only right to be suspicious. Now Albert may have taken the high road, but in the past where there's smoke, there's been fire. Let's see how the whole thing plays out, but you can not assume that Pujols is clean because of his love of God or because he's a good family man or whatever reason. I ain't saying he did or didn’t take HGH, but as of this moment don't assume anybody didn't do anything.

I'd also point out that Albert plays for one of the great steroid enablers, Tony La Russa. He ignored a lot of use under his nose, so I wouldn't expect him to step forward and try to stop a young star from going down that road.

Beer Leaguer praises Manuels' use of the Philly's bullpen last night.

On top of that, today's story in the Inquirer said their flight to Washington was delayed two hours and the players didn't get to bed until 4:30 a.m. If they weren't already asleep, one can’t blame them for dragging ass once the game started. Eude Brito walked the first batter he faced, a sign of things to come. He left in the fifth inning trailing 4-2.

At this point, Manuel correctly looked ahead to the next three games of this weekend series, including tonight’s tough game with Brett Myers and Tony Armas Jr.

Manuel mopped up yesterday's mess with the bottom tier of the bullpen, even though the score was still 4-2. The offense had already wasted opportunities, and as it turned out, wouldn't score the rest of the night.

Because of this correct judgement call, the Phillies have Rheal Cormier, Geoff Geary, Arthur Rhodes and Flash Gordon all rested and ready to go. Cormier may not have been available to pitch yesterday; he pitched the previous two nights.

It's an example of losing a battle to try to win the war.

Deadspin uses sources to connect the dots in the Grimsley affidavit. Sosa's name pops out but so does a trainer:

Grimsley says that a former employee of [redacted] and personal fitness trainer to several Major League Baseball players once referred him to an amphetamine source. Later, this source — not the trainer — provided him with "amphetamines, anabolic steroids and human growth hormone." This trainer? His name is Chris Mihlfeld, a Kansas City-based "strength and conditioning guru." (And former Strength And Conditioning Coordinator for the Royals.)

But Mihlfeld is involved with more than just the Royals:

Does Mihlfeld’s name sound familiar? If it doesn't, he — and we assure you, this gives us no pleasure to write this — has been Albert Pujols' personal trainer since before Pujols was drafted by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 draft. We have no confirmation that Pujols' name is in the affidavit … but Mihlfeld's is. If you read the document, it doesn't say the trainer/Mihlfeld supplied all the HGH and what-not; it just says the trainer was the referrer.

Yeah. Sigh. We just report what we're told, folks. Ever hope your source is wrong? This is one of those times.

So much for the Pujols saves baseball from Bonds angle.

Jack Curry and Murray Chass in the New York Times take Kimberly Bell's refusal to talk to George Mitchell as a sign that charges are close to being brought against Barry Bonds. On the other hand, given that the feds thought they needed Grimsley to wear a wire to get evidence against Bonds, it might not be that close at all. My guess is that even if they were two years away from a indictment, Bell would be asked not to testify.

Balls, Sticks and Stuff offers a video comparison of Cole Hamels and Barry Zito. (If you start the Zito video when the Hamels video reaches six seconds, you can come close to getting the two to sync up.)

Orlando Hernandez pitched a complete game victory over his former team last night as the Mets defeated the Diamondbacks 7-1.

Said Willie Randolph: "The first couple of games was very uncharacteristic of what he is. He's a command guy, a control pitcher, a master of changing speeds and hitting his spots. That, to me, was vintage El Duque. Hopefully he can continue that."

Hernandez limited the NL West-leading Diamondbacks (34-26) to three hits - a second-inning single by Luis Gonzalez, a double by opposing pitcher Claudio Vargas an inning later and a leadoff double by Craig Counsell in the ninth. Counsell scored Arizona's lone run on a sacrifice fly by Chad Tracy, but El Duque still posted his first complete game since Sept. 16, 2000, for the Yankees against Cleveland. He was coming off a loss against San Francisco, when he surrendered five runs in six innings and his ERA swelled to 6.19 over 11 appearances between the Diamondbacks and Mets.

"They're an aggressive-hitting team, a fastball-hitting team, so I kind of had a feeling that if he would get ahead with his off-speed stuff he would be effective," Randolph said.

Orlando spent the season striking out a lot of batters but giving up a lot of hits. Both were low last night. I'd rather have him keep the strikeouts high, but if this adjustment continues to work, the Mets aren't going to complain.

Was Watching notes Jim Leyritz's amphetamines confession.

I'm not shocked by the Leyritz confession. I believe, if you told him that he could get a base-hit if he washed his face before the game with his first urine of the day, he would do it. He always seemed like the type of player who was looking for an edge and willing to do it.

There are a lot of players like that.

Indeed.

No one told Dayton Moore he was going to need Dramamine for his first game as the Royals GM. As noted last night, the Royals burst out of the gate with a 4-0 lead, then gave it back over the next two innings to trail 11-4. But then the fun started:

They batted around three times in the first seven innings and got at least one hit from every starter. Further, each starter scored at least one run and only Mark Grudzielanek failed to drive in a run.

They scored 2 runs or less in six of their previous seven games. With a new sheriff in town, maybe the hitters were motivated to save their jobs. :-)

The Cardinals are actively looking to find another hitter to help during Pujols' injury:

The Cardinals are disinclined to trade either Reyes or reliever Adam Wainwright, both of whom are projected to be in the team's 2007 starting rotation.

Reyes' standing has improved since he faltered during competition for the No. 5 starter's role in spring training. He has exhibited greater command while no longer addicted to strikeouts.

The Cardinals would much prefer to deal from their pitching depth at Double-A Springfield, where 2003 second-round draft pick Stuart Pomeranz, 2004 first rounder Chris Lambert and Michael Parisi have excelled.

With their pitching depth, the Cardinals should be able to make a good deal The question is, who is willing to trade power for pitching right now? While Soriano is an obvious player, the Nats might want to wait until the trade deadline to get the best deal (of course, there's the danger that Soriano reverts to form and becomes less valuable). How about Texas? Plenty of offense there, and they can always use pitching.

I want the baseball version of one of these!

The Giants came back against the Pirates last night with single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth to take a 5-4 victory. As this story atests, it was more the Pirates poor play than the Giants offense that led to the win. Looking at the play-by-play, you see the following:

• In the seventh, an infield double.
• In the eighth, two wild pitches.
• In the ninth, a fielding error and another wild pitch.

The manager gets it right:

"I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty," Giants manager Felipe Alou said.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Carlos Beltran hit his 15th home run of the season tonight to help the Mets to a 5-0 lead over the Diamondbacks. He now is just one homer behind his season total from last year, and his slugging percentage is 180 higher.

The Pirates score two runs in the first inning on just one single as Matt Cain walks three and hits a batter. Bondsless Giants are coming up in the bottom of the inning.

Joe Crede left the game early and Barry Bonds isn't starting.

The Cincinnati Reds take over first place in the NL Central with a 7-1 drubbing of the Cubs. Bronson Arroyo gives up one run on a homer over seven innings, lowering his second place ERA to 2.31. Freel and Lopez reached base six times and scored twice, another good night for the table setters.

It's the 17th time in 59 games the Cubs were held to one run or less and the third game in a row.

With the score tied 2-2, things fall apart for Jon Garland in the sixth inning. On the second out, Ivan Rodriguez tags from first to put himself in scoring position. Guillen singles him home, and moves to second on the throw. Infante rolls a slow grounder to short, and Guillen is running hard all the way. The throw is late to first, and Konkero has his back to the plate to see the umpire's call. That gives Carlos the time he needs to scamper home to extend the lead to 4-2. Great heads-up baserunning by Guillen on that play. Thames takes the next pitch over the left field wall to put the Tigers up 6-2 in the middle of the sixth.

Update: The Tigers hold that score and win the game to remain in first place. They're not playing well lately, but Detroit is winning just often enough to hold onto the lead.

Alfonso Soriano hit home run number 23, a solo shot to extend the Nationals lead over the Phillies to 5-2 in the seventh. More impressively to me, Soriano drew two walks in the game to raise his total to 21. His career high is 38, so he's well on his way to setting a new career high. While his .600+ slugging is great, with his .360 OBA he's no longer wasting outs at the top of the lineup.

Correction: It was his 23rd, not his 22nd.

The Red Sox were out-hitting the Yankees through five, but New York put up three solo shots to take a 3-1 lead. But the hits came too close together in the six and the seventh for the Red Sox scoring three in both innings, capped off by a three-run shot by Varitek. Schilling only allowed one hit other than the homers and no walks through six.

The Dayton Moore era in Kansas City starts with a bang as the Royals use five singles and a walk in the first inning to jump out to a 4-0 lead on the Texas Rangers. Kyle Snyder is also making his 2006 debut for the Royals. He had a strikeout to walk ratio of nearly 5 to 1 (43/9) in the minors this year.

Update: That didn't last long. Texas scores 3 in the second and 3 in the third (so far) to take a 6-4 lead.

Update: The Rangers score 8 in the third inning to take an 11-4 lead. Every starter's reached base for Texas tonight, and all but Teixeira have scored.

Gary Sheffield is scheduled for surgery next Tuesday:

The surgery will be performed on Tuesday by Dr. Charles Malone and will sideline Sheffield until at least September.

Sheffield originally hurt the wrist when he collided at first base with Shea Hillenbrand of the Toronto Blue Jays on April 29. He missed three games, returned for two games and then went on the disabled list May 9 with a contusion and sprain of the wrist and missed 16 games.

He returned on May 23, made five starts as a designated hitter and then returned to right field on May 29. Two days later, he went back on the DL with the ligament tear.

"I am told it's not a season-ending injury," Cashman said before the Yankees played Boston. "He experienced worse pain after he tried to come back. Surgery is being recommended. It wasn't an option earlier."

His replacement, Bernie Williams just gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead with a solo shot off Curt Schilling, the second allowed by Curt in the game. Johnny Damon led off the Yankees first with a shot of his own. Williams now has two homers in June after hitting that many through April and May.

Schilling, like Beckett, has allowed all of his home runs this season on the road, twelve after the Williams dinger.

Tony Womack homers off Bronson Arroyo in the first inning. Womack last hit a home run in 2004. Especially with Rusch on the mound and playing in Cincinnati, this could be the first of many.

Update: They're in the fourth inning and four balls have flown out of the park. The Reds hit three of them and are up 5-1.

The Seattle Mariners find themselves down to the Twins 7-1 in the sixth inning. Even though the offense only scored one run, they did a good job making Johan Santana work. Despite giving up just one run and five hits, Santana left after five innings, having thrown 101 pitches. He walked one and struck out two, so he wasn't wasting a lot of pitches on those type of plate appearances. I assume the Mariners fouled off a lot of pitches or took a lot of pitches; had their hurlers held the game close, this is a great way to try to defeat a Santana game; chase him early and get to the bullpen.

Jacob Luft at Sports Illustrated asks "What happens next?" in the steroid scandal. I found this on HGH very interesting:

Anabolic steroids such as Deca Durabolin and HGH are not the same thing. Not even close. The human body produces HGH on its own; adding more of it just increases the effect of the hormone. Whereas the positive effect steroids have on on-field performance is still unproven, there is no doubt what HGH can do for you: "It makes you into a Super You," Carroll says. "It does everything." Not only that, but if you take HGH alone, in the right doses and under medical supervision, it doesn't have nearly the same side affects as anabolic steroids. Although it may cause some problems in the long term that are still unknown, in the short term there is almost no downside to HGH if you do it right. Plus, it has that wonderful added bonus of not being tested for. Is it any wonder this has become the drug of choice for ballplayers?

So I'm reading that properly used and administered, side effects are few and results are great. So why is this illegal? A lot (not all) of the objections to steroids are on the health effects they cause. If that's not a problem, why not use them? Again, go to a doctor, make the use public, and if fans don't like it they can stay away from games and kill the sport. Otherwise, we can all watch athletes push the envelope of human achievement.

And to those who object on the grounds that they want "natural" athletes, I say why should the luck of genetics be the sole criteria for success? Just because Frank Thomas was born big and strong, why should he get all the money? Or Manny. Or Thome. I'd rather watch Pedro pitch ten more years than suffer through more Jeff Weavers. Put Pedro and Maddux and Glavine and Clemens on it now, so we can keep enjoying their skills! I mean, look what it did for Grimsley! Oh, never mind.

It took until the bottom of the ninth and two out, but an error and then a single by Clark pulled Milwaukee even with San Diego at three. It's Hoffman's first blown save of the season.

Update: Bill Hall wins it leading off the 10th with his 14th home run of the year. Hall continues to be all power as his two hits today were for extra bases. That gives him 50 hits on the season, 31 of the long variety.

Josh Bard bats fourth for the Padres this afternoon. He's become a semi-regular cleanup hitter since joining the Padres, getting half his at bats in the #4 slot. With a .755 slugging percentage since leaving the hell that was Tim Wakefield, Bard's a good choice for the position, especially when there is a left like Doug Davis on the mound. Catcher is the most productive slot for San Diego this year. The group as a whole gets on base at a .374 clip and slugs .551. Not bad for any position.

After blowing out the Athletics last night, the Indians are getting shut out by Esteban Loaiza this afternoon. Over the last two weeks, the Indians suffered these huge run swings from both the offense and the defense on a near daily basis:

It's tough to get a good read on the Indians this year. Some days they look like the 1998 Yankees, others like the 2006 Royals. They've outscored their opponents 81-68 over the 13 games. It seems that if they played closer to the averages (1 run better than their oppnents per game) they'd have a much better record.

In a comment to this post, a reader asks:

Why would you believe the defense attorney?... it would be an obvious way to get attention off Grimsely

Because IRS agent Novitzky started this investigation because he hated Bonds and thought he could get him on steroids. It wasn't like he got a tip that Barry was using, or hiding money, or anything else. This guy decided while watching TV that Bonds must be cheating, so he was going to turn over stones until he found something. This strikes me as exactly the kind of tactics Novitzky would use, blackmailing someone to make his case.

Even the New York Times doesn't fully buy the reasons for Novitzky starting the investigation:

How Novitzky came to initiate his investigation is unclear. Catlin said Novitzky told him the case had sprung from an inquiry involving money transfers. The agent declined to comment, as did other federal authorities involved in the case. But it is evident from public records and interviews that a chorus of whisperings about the supposed steroid dealings of Anderson and Balco had begun to reach the ears of federal law enforcement. Someone was talking.

Grimsley committed a crime. Arrest and charge him. Then offer him a deal to name names. Novitzky is really only interested in one name: Barry Bonds. So instead he threatens Grimsley's family and tries to use Grimsley as a mole. Remember, we're talking baseball players, not organized crime. It seems like a great deal of overkill on the part of this agent just to nail a guy who broke a home run record.

First place in the Central Divisions tonight rests in the hand of the Chicago teams.

Bronson Arroyo faces Glendon Rusch for the third time this season. Arroyo homered off the Cubs pitcher in their first two meetings. Rusch travel back and forth between starting and relieving for the Cubs this year. He's given up 11 home runs in 27 1/3 innings as a starter, just two in 14 2/3 innings in relief. Arroyo continues to impress as a member to the 240 club. That's both his ERA and his batting average allowed. If he can pick up his 8th win of the season, the Reds pass the idle Cardinals for first place in the NL Central.

The White Sox go for a sweep of the Tigers and first place in the AL Central tonight. The pitching matchup favors Detroit, as Kenny Rogers enters the game with an ERA 2 1/2 runs better than Jon Garland. Garland, a right-handed pitcher, is getting hammered by right-hand batters even more than lefties. Rogers, however, gives up home runs on the road; 8 of his nine came away from Detroit this year.

Enjoy!

Rich Harden returns to the disabled list today:

Disturbing news for the A's. Right-hander Rich Harden is back on the disabled list, this time with a sprained ligament in his right elbow.

The way Harden's career is going, he may wind up with more days on the DL than days in the majors.

Why am I not surprised that the Grimsley investigation turns out to be about Barry Bonds?

The attorney for Jason Grimsley said Wednesday that federal agents tried to pressure the former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher into wearing a listening device to lure other major league players into confidential conversations in an effort to find incriminating evidence against superstar Barry Bonds.

"It was a specific effort to target Bonds," said Edward F. Novak, one of the pre-eminent criminal attorneys in Arizona. "We were told that Jason's cooperation was necessary to their case."

Novak said Grimsley "was outed by the feds" because he refused to cooperate.

So I guess Game of Shadows isn't enough to convict Barry in a court of law.

Update: Of course, Bonds has the injury bug, too.

Don't you just love, close exciting one-run games, especially when the final in 10-9? Lookout Landing called it the most exciting game of the year. At the end, however, the fans just wanted to go home:

Echoing through the quiet and mostly empty cavern of Safeco Field came a plaintive cry from a fan:

"I want to go home, Carl!"

Seconds later, Carl Everett obliged, sending everyone home happy after a night that threatened to haunt the Mariners.

With two out in the bottom of the 11th inning Wednesday night, the designated hitter crushed a Jesse Crain fastball 448 feet to right field, giving Seattle a 10-9 victory over Minnesota. It was the Mariners' sixth win in seven games.

On the other side, Batgirl channels Lloyd Bridges.

Don't you just love, close exciting one-run games, especially when the final in 10-9? Lookout Landing called it the most exciting game of the year. At the end, however, the fans just wanted to go home:

Echoing through the quiet and mostly empty cavern of Safeco Field came a plaintive cry from a fan:

"I want to go home, Carl!"

Seconds later, Carl Everett obliged, sending everyone home happy after a night that threatened to haunt the Mariners.

With two out in the bottom of the 11th inning Wednesday night, the designated hitter crushed a Jesse Crain fastball 448 feet to right field, giving Seattle a 10-9 victory over Minnesota. It was the Mariners' sixth win in seven games.

On the other side, Batgirl channels Lloyd Bridges.

Lastings Millegde did just about everything in the Mets 9-7 victory last night:

Last night, Milledge, called up nine days ago to replace right fielder Xavier Nady (appendicitis) started in left for the first time in the big leagues for Cliff Floyd (sprained ankle). His first career triple drove in a run to cap the Mets' four-run first.

He belted his second career homer in the seventh, a two-out, two-run shot off ex-Met Jae Seo that gave the Mets a 9-6 lead. An inning later, Milledge, who threw out Arizona's Craig Counsell last week, nailed Garciaparra trying to stretch a leadoff single into a double. That proved big when Duaner Sanchez subsequently walked J.D. Drew and surrendered a run-scoring double to Andre Either that inning.

"He's certainly making a case for himself to stay here," Glavine said.

Five on Milledge's first eight hits went for extra bases. The X-Man may become the latest Wally Pipp.

Despite pitching poorly on short rest, Glavine took the major league lead in wins with nine. The bullpen did a better job allowing one run in 3 2/3 innings.

The Washington Nationals hired Davey Johnson as a special consultant through July 31st. And while people will speculate he's being groomed to replace Frank Robinson, that doesn't seem to be the case. Bowden worked with Johnson in Cincinnati and wants his opinion on minor league prospects as the Nationals work toward the trade deadline.

I'm just glad to see Davey working his way back into professional baseball. He was jaded for a while, working for a college. He said he didn't want to manage again. That still may be true, but I wonder if Davey would be willing to be a general manager. He's smart, knows talent and given his success as a player and a manager could execute a Moneyball strategy without much criticism. Maybe it's Bowden he'll be replacing.

Last night when I looked at the Reds game in progress, I wondered why with Griffey out of the lineup, Hatteberg and Aurilia were placed in the 3-4 slots. But Narron knew what he was doing as the pair combined to drive in all seven Reds runs. Rich knocked out four hits, including a double and a homer as the Reds defeated the Cardinals 7-4 and moved into a tie for first place in the NL Central. The Reds sweep of the Cardinals in St. Louis is their first since 1998. They've won seven in a row and scored at least seven run in six of those games. They've outscored their opponents by a palindrome, 52-25 in that stretch.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

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

Grady Sizemore is up in the seventh needing a triple for the cycle.

Update: Sizemore flies out to left. He's three for five with three runs scored from the leadoff slot as the Indians are up 10-2. It's the rare evening when the pitching and the offense are on the same page. Peralta, now batting sixth, is 2 for 4 tonight.

The Baseball Musings Radio Show is coming up in a little while at 8 PM EDT. You can leave questions during the show in the TPSRadio Chat Room.

Dontrelle Willis picked up a complete game victory today. That's five good performances in a row for the Marlins lefty. His one run over nine innings lowered his overall ERA to 4.32. Over the last five games, that's 2.08. The interesting thing is he's not reall striking out batters, just 16 in 39 innings. The turnaround coincides with moving Matt Treanor behind the plate to catch Dontrelle.

Dustin Nippert makes his 2006 debut and gets hammered by the Phillies. The Arizona pitcher gave up two home runs, helping the Philadelphia to a 6-0 lead in the fourth. One of those long balls came off the bat of Ryan Howard, who along with Soriano are closing in on the injured Albert Pujols. That's nine homers and 23 RBI for Howard in his last 18 games.

Orlando Cabrera drew a walk today, the 38th straight game he's reached safely. That's an Angels record. They indicated today that the all time record is 84 by none other than Ted Williams. What's surprising to me is that this seems really low for the team record. On base streaks are easier to maintain that hit streaks, since OBA are higher than batting averages, meaning the chance to reaching base in a game is higher than the chance of getting a hit in a game. I would have thought that Brian Downing or Bobby Grich would have gone over 40 at some point.

The Yankees postponed the game against the Red Sox tonight. As RotoWorld.com points out:

The Yankees sure were quick to call a game that featured a matchup between Curt Schilling and Jaret Wright. If Wright is skipped over now, Thursday's game would have Schilling facing off with Randy Johnson.

That should be fun.

Update: Wright will indeed start tomorrow.

Rocco Baldelli is back in the Devil Rays lineup after missing the entire 2005 season. He's playing centerfield, and in his first at bat flied out to left field. There's no score after two innings in Tampa Bay.

Oliver Perez just can't keep it together. He looked like he was turning it around during three good starts from 5/17 to 5/28 but his last time out and today were disasters. Nine earned runs in 2 innings bring his ERA to 7.18. At this point, Perez won't be staying around the majors much longer. He walked four and struck out none. He "only" gave up one homer, but it was a grand slam. This performance defines how not to pitch. The Rockies lead the Pirates 9-2 in the fourth.

Jason Grimsely asked for his release today. The Diamondbacks granted his wish. I'm not surprised at all by this. There's no way his teammates could trust him anymore.

Sean Marshall and Chris Sampson are engaged in a pitcher's duel through five in Houston. Sampson just gave up his first game in the fifth. Marshall's given up one through four, but it was a home run by Brad Ausmus, his first of the year. Ausmus never hit 10 homers in a season.

The Baseball Musings radio show will be on TPSRadio tonight at 8 PM EDT. Check out their other sports programming as well.

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.

The Angels and Devil Rays play a late afternoon game in Tampa, your chance to watch Jered Weaver over dinner. Jeff's younger and better brother impressed in his first two starts, striking out 13 in 13 1/3 innings while giving up just seven hits and three walks. He'll face Seth McClung, a pitcher with more walks (39) than strikeouts (31).

The Tigers and White Sox offer the best pitching matchup of the day. Justin Verlander tries to move the Tigers lead back to 2 1/2 games against Jose Contreras. Verlander is unhittable on the road this year, allowing opponents a mere .180 batting average, good for a 1.73 ERA. That's the best road ERA in the AL this year. Contreras is just as good at home, allowing a .181 batting average and a 2.27 ERA.

Enjoy!

This wasn't the first time Grimsley was involved in cheating:

It's likely that in Sosa's apeal, his agents and the union will attempt to contrast his behavior with the behavior of Albert Belle, who was suspended for only six days (but seven games) after having his bat confiscated in 1994. Belle's teammate, Jason Grimsley, has admitted crawling through the ceiling of Jacobs Field to the umpire's room and switching the corked bat with another bat.

Albert and Jason are both having bad years in Arizona.

The Smoking Gun posts the search warrant affidavit for Jason Grimsley's residence. (Hat tip, Deaspin). It's pretty clear this search was payback for Grimsley no longer cooperating with federal agents. He's told when the agents show up, they trade not making a public search of his house for his cooperation. Now that's he no longer cooperating, he's been outed by IRS agent Novitsky.

It's very interesting. Note that Grimsley claims that since steroid testing went into effect, he's just used human growth hormone. That's against the rules, but can't be detected by a urine test yet. My guess is it's just a matter of time before the redacted names in the report leak out.

Sparklines make their first appearance in Baseball Musings posts today. These are tiny graphs that fit in the space of a word. My great thanks to Joe Georigo who wrote the code and currently is providing the sparklines. Feel free to leave Joe a tip for his efforts.

Notice in this post how you can see Joe Mauer's recent hot streak pushed him by Alex Rios for the batting average lead. The lowest ticks are zeros; I'd like to change that so a zero appears as a flat line instead of a vertical bar. The ticks in red are multi-hit games. The higher the tick, the more hits in the game.

Jason Schmidt's strikeouts are displayed here. This time, 10 K games are in red.

I'd love to hear your opinions of these graphs, and what you might like to see represented in sparklines.

Felix Hernandez won round two in his battle against Francisco Liriano. Lookout Landing notes that Hernandez didn't strike out too many, but he kep the ball down:

There are two things about Felix Hernandez's performance on the field that make him so special: his strikeouts and his groundballs. While he wasn't missing as many bats tonight as we've seen in the past, he recorded only a single fly ball out in seven innings of work. That's the sign of a guy who's really got his two-seamer working. He let a few of them catch too much of the plate - as usual - but there were only a handful of balls struck with much authority, with minimal damage. An encouraging outing, to say the least.

The good news for the Twins is that Joe Mauer (hits: ) passed Alex Rios (hits: ) for the league lead in hitting.

David Ortiz to Manny Ramirez after Melky Cabrera robbed a home run:

"That," David Ortiz told Ramírez after the game, "is why when I hit my [homer], I hit it 500 feet."

Eric Gagne earned the save despite look of pain as he pitched last night:

Eric Gagne converted his first save in nearly a year on Tuesday night, but the grimace on his face and slow readings of the radar gun told the rest of the story.

Gagne admitted his elbow was "a little sore and stiff" after he put down the Mets in order in the ninth inning of the Dodgers' 8-5 win. Gagne underwent surgery on April 7 to remove a nerve and said he's still not 100 percent two months later, even after a two-game rehabilitation assignment and a one-inning return appearance at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

He was throwing in the high 80's/low 90's. There should at least be some concern here by the Dodgers.

Jason Schmidt (strikeouts: ) tied a franchise record last night with sixteen strikeouts as the Giants defeated the Marlins 2-1, assisted by an RBI double from Moises Alou. Since his last game in April, Schmidt is pitching great, posting a 1.31 ERA in that time. He's also posting an impressive 6.0 strikeout to walk ratio over that period.

His off-season conditioning regimen appears to have worked. However, given the revelations about Jason Grimsley last night, I'm a lot less skeptical of the PED angle on that story.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Derek Lowe is out pitching Pedro Martinez so far. The game is going according to script as as Lowe is giving up base runners but keeping the ball in the park, while Pedro is striking out batters but allowed two two-run homers, one to his former teammate Nomar Garciaparra. The Dodgers lead 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth, and are threatening to score more with two on and none out.

Update: Martin singles in another run, and that chases Pedro. He pitched five innings plus five batters and so far allowed five runs.

Update: Bell does his job and allows the starter's runs to score. Pedro is charged with seven runs tonight, although due to two errors in the inning, they won't all be earned.

Wandy Rodriguez gave the Astros rotation a big boost tonight with seven scoreless innings against the Cubs. He only struck out one, but he also only allowed five hits. Meanwhile, Kerry Wood is no nearer to returning to his old form. He only lasted 3 2/3 innings, walked two and struck out none, despite throwing 67% of his pitches for strikes. The Astros take the game 4-1.

Eric Milton shut out the Pujols-less Cardinals over seven innings tonight, making three good starts in a row for the Cincinnati lefty. Hammond and White came on to pitch two perfect innings in relief for the 7-0 win. Cincinnati pitching did not issue a walk tonight. The Reds are making the most of their opportunity to gain in the NL Central, and now are just one game behind the Cardinals.

Jason Grimsley of the Arizona Diamond backs is now the center piece of the steroid probe:

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley admitted taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs and said that amphetamines were used "like aspirin" in major league clubhouses, according to an affidavit filed by the lead federal investigator in baseball's steroid investigation.

The affidavit, filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, said Grimsley agreed to cooperate with U.S. Internal Revenue Service agents after Grimsley received a package containing two kits of human growth hormone April 19 at his Scottsdale home.

He's spilling the beans on amphetamines, too, and for the first time an active player is naming names:

Grimsley provided "extensive statements regarding his receipt and use of anabolic steroids, amphetamines and human growth hormone over the last several years," the affidavit said.

Grimsley also provided "details about his knowledge of other Major League Baseball players" using illegal performance-enhancing drugs, including several close acquaintances.

An hour before Tuesday night's game against Philadelphia, Grimsley told The Republic, "I have no comment about that and no idea about that."

It appears this story was leaked to the press. If true, I don't see Grimsley lasting long on a major league club. It also might hurt the government's case, since players under investigation might now be able to cover their tracks. Stay tuned.

Update: From the comments:

Latest news is that they have searched his house.

Hat tip, William K.

From this article, it appears that Grimsely is no longer actively co-operating.

I'm looking at the Blue Jays/Orioles boxscore and the first thing that strikes my mind is why was this game decided by two runs? Toronto out hit, out walked and out slugged Batimore by a big margin. It also strikes me that it's not the first time I've seen the Blue Jays be inefficient scoring runs.

Through yesterday, Toronto was averaging 5.7 runs per game. But the runs created formula puts them at 6.1. Tonight's game isn't going to change that difference. They're underperforming their offensive stats.

On 6/6/6, the Angels take the Devil Rays to task, scoring 12 runs on 17 hits, seven for extra bases. Scott Kazmir had a devil of a time, getting knocked around for 7 runs in 6 1/3 innings. Ervin Santana was magic tonight, striking out seven in seven innings while allowing just one run. No bad omens tonight.

By the way, see the original. As much as I like Julia Stiles, she's no Lee Remick.

Alfonso Soriano hit his 22nd homer of the season, but it wasn't enough as Atlanta ends it's own losing streak and the Nationals winning streak with a 5-3 victory. Horacio Ramirez pitched an excellent game, going eight innings and allowing just three runs while striking out five. Soriano's dinger was the first he allowed this season; he's now given up one in 25 innings pitched.

The White Sox load the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Joel Zumaya strikes out Thome and gets Konerko to fly out to end the threat. A nice piece of pitching in a tough situation. The Tigers lead 3-1 going to the bottom of the eighth.

Update: Rodney can't hold the lead. He walks two and gives up a home run to Alex Cintron to put the White Sox up 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth. It's Alex's first home run this season. A .407 career slugger, you don't expect a blast from him.

Update: Bobby Jenks comes on and strikes out two of three batters he faces to earn the save and the win for the White Sox. They move a game closer to first place in the AL Central.

The Athletics and Indians are two teams suffering from the same problem this year. They can't seem to get the pitching and offense to be good on the same night. This evening the game saw four lead changes as both teams kept fighting back from deficits. In the end, it came down to the Oakland bullpen pitching better than the Cleveland relievers as they threw two perfect innings while Cleveland's pen gave up three runs. Zito pitched poorly but got the win; Westbrook pitched better but takes gets no decision.

Manny Ramirez drives a ball to the 399 foot mark in the left center at Yankee Stadium, and Melky Cabrera leaps and catches the ball, preventing Manny from tying the game. The more I see this youngster play, the more I like him. He's selective at the plate. In the outfield, he can run, catch and throw. His scoring on the wild pitch last night showed his base running ability. The more he plays, the less it looks like the Yankees will need Sheffield next year.

Cano, Wang, Phillips and Cabrera remind me of the production of the Yankees farm system in the mid 1990s.

Update: Rivera retires the side easily in the ninth, throwing just five pitches to get the side 1-2-3. The 2-1 victory puts the Yankees 1 1/2 games up in the AL East.

Jake Peavy came back from an extended rest and was knocked around by the Milwaukee Brewers tonight. They scored in each of the first four innings, picking up seven hits and five runs before chasing Jake after 3 2/3 innings. He even allowed an RBI double to his opponent, David Bush, the first extra-base hit of his career.

David Pauley bounced back from a poor first performance to go 6 2/3 innings, allowing just two runs. Unfortunately, he's on the short end of a 2-1 score as Chien Ming Wang pitches seven full, allowing just one run. The go ahead run scored when Seanez entered in relief and walked Giambi with the bases loaded.

Chris Shelton started the season hot, hitting 10 homers in April. But he didn't hit 11 until May13th and he just reached a dozen tonight. It reminds me of the season Nettles set an April record with 11 and didn't hit another one until June. Despite the home run outage, Shelton still has a slugging percentage well over .500. The Tigers lead the White Sox 3-1 in the fifth.

Manny Ramirez on a 3-2 count breaks his bat and lines a soft single to Damon in center. For some reason, he tried to stretch it into a double, and Damon throws him out by so much that Cano has to wait for Ramirez to get to second. Sometimes, Manny hustles at the wrong time.

The Reds are spoiling Chris Carpenter's return to the rotation. Lopez hit a home run in the first, and three straight hits in the second led to two more runs. Cincinnati is up 3-0 in the third.

The Tigers get off to an early 2-0 lead as Thames and Inge both hit solo shots in the second inning. Garcia's home run total for the season goes to eleven. Eight of those, however are solo shots.

Roger Clemens didn't get out of the third inning, allowing one run on a homer in the first. He did strike out six, however, a good sign.

Mark Kotsay gets the Athletics an early lead with a leadoff homer off Jake Westbrook. The ERA of the Cleveland stater is high this year based on a high number of hits allowed, but that's only the fifth home run off him this season. Westbrook came into the game tied for third in the majors in fewest home runs per 9 innings pitched.

Update: It's not a good night for the leaders on the list. Westbrook game up another home run, this time to Frank Thomas, and David Ortiz just took Chien Ming Wang deep. We'll see how Derek Lowe does later.

Kyle Drabek and Preston Mattingly, both sons of former major leaguers, were taken high in the draft today. I must be getting old, because I remember both their fathers coming up to the majors.

Roy Oswalt won't be pitching for a couple of weeks for a little over a week:

Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to May 30 on Tuesday.

Oswalt, 5-3 with a 3.11 ERA, has been diagnosed with a mid-back strain on the left side and is scheduled to return on June 14.

If anyone goes to see Roger Clemens pitch tonight and takes a video or stills, I'd be happy to post the video or pictures.

The Devil Rays activated Jorge Cantu from the DL today. The Devil Rays offense at second base is pretty bad (actually, it's really bad throughout the infield, so Cantu should give them a boost.

A great picture here of the Angels players all wearing Joe Maddon glasses to honor their former coach.

I'm watching the draft at MLB.com with the Draft Caster and I'm impressed with how fast it's moving. Lots of pitching taken so far. The most interesting pick is Washington, who took outfielder Chris Marrero. The interesting thing is that there was no scouting report prepared for this player on the MLB site. Does this mean he was off the radar?

This is one of those days with so many good games it's tough to choose just a few. We'll start with the cage match in Chicago where the Tigers and White Sox meet to battle for first place in the AL Central. The Tigers lead by 2 1/2 game, but neither team played well over their last ten games. Nate Robertson opposes Freddy Garcia. Nate's opposition batting number are worse on the road, but his ERA is better. Garcia's allowing extra-base hits, but he's keeping batters off base in general, so the two are balancing things outs.

Chris Carpenter returns from the DL tonight to host the Reds and Eric Milton. Milton had problems in his first start after coming off the DL, but in his last two he's allowed just 3 runs in 15 2/3 innings, walking none. The Cardinals record was 8-7 in Carpenter's absence.

In the second of what we hope are many battles between two promising young pitchers, Francisco Liriano faces Felix Hernandez in Seattle. Liriano prevailed in the May 26th battle 3-1. Both make batters miss; Liriano's strikeouts per 9 is 11.03, Hernandez 9.1 this season.

Finally, Pedro Martinez battles Derek Lowe in Los Angeles. They're ranked 3rd and 7th respectively in the NL in ERA, despite being separated by just 0.18 runs. It's a tight race for the NL ERA lead this season. Pedro's generating his number with lots of strikeouts and few walks. Lowe is keeping the ball in the park and batters off base backed up by a good defense. Lowe's been especially tough with two out and men in scoring position.

Enjoy!

Michael Malone notices a non-mellow fan at Dodger Stadium last night.

I'm not a draft expert, nor do I really care to be. However, John Sickles is very knowledgable in this area, so be sure to visit his site today for his insights.

Brandon Webb's streak came to an end last night, but he pitched well enough to win. With a little more support, his three runs in seven innings could have produced his 9th victory. Instead, Lyon gave up a run in the eighth to give the Phillies a 4-3 win. That's two games in a row where Webb pitched well enough to win but walked away with a no decision. Maybe Pedro transferred his bad luck in their last start. :-)

The Phillies bullpen did a great job last night keeping the ball away from the Arizona bats. Over three innings they faced twelve batters and struck out six of them. Tom Gordon picked up his 18th save and the league is now batting .183 against him.

Brian Cashman has a great quote in the New York Daily News on Melky Cabrera and his type of player:

"There was all this talk after that, did we hurt the kid?" Cashman said. "You know, by running him out there the way we did. I never looked at it that way. I always looked at it that this kid had put himself in the position at 20 to play center field for the Yankees. His chance just came six months too early, or whatever it was. But I have this theory that the good ones always find a way. The ones who aren't good enough, they always find excuses. I wasn't ready. The manager doesn't like me. The hitting coach didn't help me. The good ones, though, they find a way."

The fact that the Yankees thought they could call him up at age 20 said a lot about his skills. He's going to cause a good problem for the Yankees next year, too many outfielders.

Alay Soler pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run and striking out seven to lead the Mets to a 4-1 victory over the Dodgers. It's a nice follow up to his poor start vs. Arizona. He threw strikes, tossing 71 of his 108 pitches in the zone.

Carlos Beltran went 2 for 4 with a run scored last night. Met fans who were disappointed with his good season last year (over 20 win shares) should be reveling in his great 2006. He's currently posting a .388 OBA and a .582 slugging percentage.

Did you know?

The Washington Nationals' scouting director went into each of the last three First-Year Player Drafts ranking talent alongside another tool: signability.

He came away with much more.

In the last three drafts, the Nationals took third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, left-handed reliever Bill Bray and closer Chad Cordero in the first round. All three were close to big-league-ready out of college, signed quickly and are now playing with the Nationals.

Washington is the only team in the majors with its last three top draft picks in the majors.

That's a very good record. But this year, the Nationals are on the cusp of having new money behind them:

"Our hands were tied as far as taking the high-ceiling high school players because of budget issue," Brown said. "As far as some of the high school kids you have to overpay if you are going to draft them. Not having an owner, it was really difficult to say who you would be able to overpay."

That won't be the case this season.

Why? The strategy they've used so far worked really well. They didn't need to spend a lot of money to sign these players and they're all having a quick impact on the big league team. That sounds like an intelligent drafting strategy to me.

Former umpire Eric Gregg, who suffered a stroke Sunday, passed away last night. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

The Giants pounded the Marlins last night 14-2. They only left four on base; if you reach last night, you had a very good chance of scoring. The team went 9 for 14 with runners in scoring position last night. They loaded the bases five times and banged out four hits and a double play. If there was a scoring opportunity, the Giants seemed to convert it. Even better news, the Giants get Moises Alou back to today.

On the pitching side, Lowry and Hennessey combined to throw 117 pitches, 76 for strikes. Hennessey used just 41 pitches to finish his four innings of relief.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Brandon Webb pushes his consecutive scoreless inning streak to 30, half way to the record. He allowed back-to-back singles leading off the sixth, then gets Burrell to ground into a double play that scores the run. The DPs were a big reason Webb kept the opposition off the scoreboard, but his one costs him the streak. The Diamondbacks lead 3-1 in the sixth.

After getting the first out, Jason Isringhausen allows a double and a walk to bring Griffey to the plate with the score 7-5 St. Louis in the ninth. Griffey homered and doubled in the game already.

Update: Isringhausen throws a wild pitch on a 2-2 count to but the tying run in scoring position. He's still pitching to Griffey.

Update: Griffey homers to right to give the Reds an 8-7 lead. It was the classic Griffey home run swing; you knew the ball was gone as soon as it left his bat. It's his 53rd multi-HR game.

Update: Coffey gets the side in order in the 9th to put the Reds just two games behind the Cardinals.

The Nationals and Braves extended their streaks to five games tonight. With the Nationals taking a 5-4 victory, they've now won five in a row and 13 of their last 18. The Braves loss gives them a five game losing streak and they've lost seven of their last eight. Washington is now just two games behind Atlanta for third place in the NL East.

Evil wins today as the Tamp Bay Devil Rays use three pitchers to shut out the Angels 4-0. The Angels put 15 men on by a hit, walk or hit by pitch but picked up no extra-base hits. The Devil Rays spread out the hits and free passes, plus turned two double plays. It's the fourth shutout of the season for Tampa Bay, and the fourth time the Angels were held scoreless.

Carlos Zambrano continues retiring Astros. Through seven he's given up no hits and faced the minimum. His one walk was erased on a double play. He hasn't been that accurate tonight. He's thrown 99 pitches, 58 for strikes. He does have five strikeouts.

Update: Ensberg leads off the 8th with the Cubs leading 8-0.

Update: Zambrano falls behind Ensberg 3-0, but comes back to strike him out. On the first 3-2 pitch, Morgan checked his swing but fouled off ball four.

Update: Mike Lamb walks on five pitches for the second Astros base runner. Zambrano is looking a bit tired.

Update: Preston Wilson goes the other way and smacks a single to right between the first and second basemen. Still a marvelous performance by Zambrano.

Four Baltimore pitchers combined to shutout the Blue Jays 4-0. Daniel Cabrera only went five, as he threw a lot of pitches striking out nine and walking five. On the evening, the Orioles issued six walks, but only allowed four hits as the Blue Jays were unable to capitalize on the free passes. A very nice job by the bullpen, giving up just one hit over four innings.

With his home run, Carlos Zambrano is out-hitting the Astros 1-0. He's faced the minimum through 5 as a leadoff walk in the fifth was erased on a double play.

Prince Fielder legged out the first triple of his career tonight. His father, Cecil, picked up seven in his 13 year career, once going three straight seasons without one.

Jamie Shields goes six shutout innings for the Devil Rays tonight. He allows eight hits, all singles, including three to Vlad Guerrero. Weaver actually outpitched him, still trails 2-0.

Carlos Zambrano is making sure he gets run support tonight. His fifth career home run is a three-run shot to put the Cubs up 4-0 in the second.

Update: Jones and Barrett add solo shots to extend the Cubs lead to 6-0. Buchholz has now allowed 13 homers in 61 1/3 innings.

With Bernie Williams on first and one out, Cairo grounds a nubber in front of the plate. Varitek picks up the ball and tags Cairo, the throws to second. There's no tag on Williams, who then comes off the bag and is tagged. However, no double play is called. There's lots of arguing, but for some reason Williams is sent back to first.

Having looked at the play on TIVO, I think the ball got Cairo on the foot, which made it a dead ball. The press box announced a dead ball after the tag, but that doesn't make sense. The ball had to touch Cairo.

It costs the Red Sox, too, as Damon walks and Cabrera delivers both runners with a double. It's 10-2 in the bottom of the third.

Update: Right after I hit save, the Sox announcers figured out it must be the batter touching the ball. The ump was making the out call before Varitck tagged Cairo, another sign the ball made contact. If it did, it was on the big toe.

After Eckstein and Taguchi reach in the first, Rolen gets both home with a single and an error by Aurilia. The Reds are off to a bad start in trying to gain ground on the NL Central leader.

Through three innings, the LAnaheim Angels are out-hitting the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-1. Unfortunately, they are behind 2-0. Three walks by Weaver and two errors by the defense made the hit superfluous.

The Red Sox start the second inning with three straight singles and a double play to plate two runs and take a 2-1 lead. Mussina does pick up his fourth strikeout to end the inning. The Red Sox have now put five balls in play, and four of them resulted in hits.

Update: The first three Yankees knock out hits in the bottom of the second, except the third hit is a three-run homer by Andy Phillips. That extends Phillips hit streak to seven games. That's his third home run during the streak and his RBI total in the seven games now stands at eleven.

Update: The Red Sox announcers point out with Boston going to the bullpen in the second inning, they may be in trouble for tomorrow night with Pauley scheduled to start.

Beckett gives up his 15th homer of the season, all on the road. That's more than he allowed all last year. Two more singles by the Yankees put runners at 1st and 3rd with none out in the second.

Update: With the score 5-2, and one out, Giambi blasts one into the right field stands, the second three-run homer of the inning. Beckett stays in to face A-Rod.

Update: Beckett walks A-Rod and Francona makes the pitching change. He faced nine batters in that inning and only Melky Cabrera made an out. He's responsible for the runner at first, and seven of the eight runs are going to be earned.

Update: Van Buren retires the Yankees on two long fly balls. It's 8-2 New York after two innings. Beckett's outing raised his ERA to 5.27.

Melky Cabrera just scored from first on a wild pitch. With Giambi at the plate and one out, Beckett throws a wild pitch that doesn't get too far away from Varitek. Cabrera hesitates, then starts to second. Varitek tries to throw to Lowell who is covering second, and throws the ball into shallow right. Since no one is covering third, Cabrera runs for that base. As he approaches third, he sees Varitek running up the line to cover third. Melky decides to race Jason to the plate and easily wins to score the first run of the game. It's a wild pitch and an error on the throw by Varitek. The Yankees lead 1-0 after one.

The Baseball Zealot provides useful links if you'd like to follow tomorrow's draft on-line.

Coco Crisp leads off the Boston/New York game with a double, but Mussina comes back to strike out Loretta, Ortiz and Ramirez to strand the cereal hitter at second. Mussina now has 73 K in 82 2/3 innings, a rate of 7.9 per 9.

U.S.S. Mariner looks at the good and the bad news for the Mariners so far. This is my favorite:

Good News!

Speaking of Lopez, he leads the team in home runs, SLG%, and RBI’s.

Bad News!

Jose Lopez also leads the major leagues in sacrifice bunts.

That sums up the team quite nicely.

MetsBlog.com rounds up the reaction to Lastings Milledge high-fiving fans. Not surprisingly most don't think it's a big deal. I'm always amazed when I read a negative reaction to something like that. If you don't want someone celebrating in front of you, do your job! To the Giants credit, only Kline seemed to be upset by this, and he even stepped back from his original remarks. For a historical prespective on how ugly these things can get, check out Getting Paid to Watch.

Fake Teams sends along information heard on XM that Albert Pujols' injury is worse that reported so far.

Via Deadspin, the founder of the Grady's Ladies fan club was killed in a murder-suicide. My thoughts go out to her family and friends.

The Red Sox enter the Bronx tonight 1/2 game ahead of the Yankees. It will be a battle of aces in game one of the four game set as Josh Beckett faces Mike Mussina. While Beckett is the ace in wins, his 4.46 ERA is two runs higher than Mussina's. In what has to be the strangest pitching split I've seen, Beckett is great at Fenway, posting a 2.16 ERA there in four starts, while he's miserable on the road. He's allowed all 14 home runs away from Fenway, helping to lead to a 5.77 ERA. Mussina is pitching very well against lefties this year. Although they've touched him for some power, he's kept them off base with a .243 OBA, lower than the .253 he's allowed to righties.

One problem with both of these aces is that they don't go that deep into games, seldom past the seventh inning. Mussina, however, is coming off a very efficient complete game against Detroit.

The Reds find themselves three games back of the Cardinals, and now is the time to make a move on the other red team. Cincinnati tries to take advantage of the absence of Albert Pujols to gain some ground in the NL Central. Keep your eyes on Austin Kearns and Adam Dunn. Kearns pounded the the Cardinals so far this year with a .476 batting average. Dunn hasn't hit much, but all four of hits hits are for extra bases, including three home runs. Albert Pujols hit four homers against the Reds this season. The Red have kept Edmonds and Rolen in check so far this season.

Finally, Brandon Webb tries to extend his 25 scoreless inning streak against the Phillies in Arizona. He's only allowed 1 hit in 29 ab bats with men on base in this streak, and that was a single with a man on first.

Enjoy!

Ducksnorts looks at why the Padres finished May with the best record in the month.

Roy Oswalt's back gets an evaluation today after it forced him to miss a start yesterday:

Oswalt is unsure whether the hamstring injury had anything to do with the back problems that sidelined him Sunday.

"(The strained hamstring) may have changed my mechanics in St. Louis, but it seems like I would have felt it the next day or two," Oswalt said. "I really didn't feel it until the fourth day."

After Sunday's game, Oswalt was unsure whether he would be placed on the disabled list. Garner said the team's doctors will determine that in the next couple of days.

Nieve was scheduled to start tonight's game against the Chicago Cubs, but Garner said rookie Taylor Buchholz will start instead and Wandy Rodriguez will get the nod Tuesday.

It's almost always the case that pitching through an injury is the wrong thing to do (unless you're Curt Schilling).

Former Umpire Eric Gregg suffered a stroke and is in critical condition:

Eric Gregg, 55, worked as a National League umpire for 23 seasons before losing his job as part of a failed mass-resignation tactic by umpires during a 1999 labor dispute.

Gregg was one of the most recognizable umpires ever. During his time on the field, he was affectionately known as the "Plump Ump" for his hefty size, which was matched by a 100-watt smile and a gregarious personality that made him a favorite of baseball people and ballpark workers throughout the big leagues. He worked the 1989 World Series along with several championship series and All-Star Games.

The phrase of the day in Milwaukee is, "Don't Panic."

"Nobody's hitting with any regularity," Yost said. "Billy (Hall) is hitting below .220 (since he became the regular shortstop because of J.J. Hardy's ankle injury). Rickie (Weeks) has cooled off. Prince has cooled off."

Hall was hitless in four at-bats and saw his average drop to .266. He is hitting .224 (15-for-67) since taking over for Hardy and hasn't driven in a run during the losing streak that began last Sunday in Philadelphia.

Weeks snapped a 16 at-bat hitless streak with a fourth-inning single. Fielder saw his hitless streak grow to 15 at-bats and his average drop to .303.

In other words, there is no reason to point fingers in any one direction. This amounts to a total team collapse.

"Our pitching has not been very good; our defense has not been very good; our offense has not been very good. A lot of times, our baserunning has not been very good," Yost said.

Yost appears to be treating this as a run of bad luck. However, it may be the league adjusting to a young team, and that young team not adapting to those adjustments. While Yost is right not to panic, it is his job to figure out why things aren't working now that were working earlier.

Michael Sliverman won't win many fans with this column:

So as the Red Sox enter the Bronx beast’s belly tonight for the start of a four-game series, here’s one fun morsel to chew on: The Yankees are better.

Sliverman goes on to show that in every category except defense, the Yankees are better than the Red Sox. His most telling argument:

But when you look at how the Yankees have played against the better teams in the AL, their record speaks for itself. Against Toronto, AL Central-leading Detroit and AL West-leading Texas, the Yankees are a combined 11-5. The Red Sox, meanwhile, are 8-10 against those same three opponents. The Yankees have played less AL East team than the Red Sox -- who are 15-4 against Tampa Bay and Baltimore -- meaning they have more gimme games against those cellar dwellers remaining.

I still think the two teams are very close. When Boston and New York started their Fenway series two weeks ago I remember a sports radio host thought due to the Yankees injuries that New York would be five games out by the end of the week. That didn't happen. The replacements are doing a good job. Torre's doing a very good job of moving people in and out of the lineup. It turns out the minor league system had enough depth to fill in the holes, and the healthy stars are still good enough to put up some runs. This may turn out to be the most interesting Yankees team in a long time.

Frank Thomas' foot is bothering him again. He could barely run out a double and score yesterday before he was taken out of the game. He's been hitting like Frank Thomas of old lately, so this would be a bad time to lose him, especially with others getting healthy.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Mike Napoli just hit the third home run in three innings for the Angels to extend LAnaheim's lead to 7-0. Twelve of the eighteen batters faced by Sabathia put the ball in play and seven of those went for hits (4 of the 9 fieldable balls). That's not a good night for the pitcher or the fielders.

Brad Halsey pitched five great innings today to pick up the win as the Athletics defeated the Twins 4-1. With no runs allowed today, he's given up 2 earned runs in 18 1/3 relief innings, a 0.98 ERA. As a starter, he's posted a 5.63 ERA in 32 innings, including all seven homers he's allowed. Has anyone noticed a difference in the way Halsey approaches the game when he's starting vs his relief appearances?

Miguel Cabrera isn't getting much attention, but now with Albert Pujols on the disable list the MVP race is also wide open. Cabrera went 3 for 5 with a run scored today to put his averages at .361/.450/.614. At twenty-three years old, he's raised his batting, on-base and slugging averages every year. Right now the Marlins are a last place team, but with the 4-3 win today they've won 9 of their last 12. He's been a big part of that as he's driven in and score 12 runs in the streak while hitting .500.

Chone Figgins and Vlad Guerrero put the Indians down 2-0 with solo home runs in the first. Each lands in the same spot, just to the right of the leftfield foul pole. Chone's home run was much prettier. Sabathia put one in Figgins wheel house and the leadoff hitter's quick bat was able to deposit it in the stands. Guerrero was fooled on a low, outside pitch, but is so strong he as still able to make contact and drive it out of the park. The Angels pick up another on a couple of hits, one that Grady Sizemore nearly caught at the wall. The Indians are coming to bat trailing 3-0.

John Rheinecker continues to impress. He held the White Sox to just 2 runs over eight innings to put his ERA at 1.77. He was efficient, using just 94 pitches to get through the eight innings. His only real mistake was allowing a two-run homer to Crede.

Meanwhile, his battery mate Gerald Laird supplied the offense. Laird picked up four hits in four at bats, two doubles and two homers. That raises his batting average to .367 and his slugging percentage to .633. Texas defeats the White Sox 10-2, so Chicago can't take advantage of Detroit's loss to the Red Sox.

It took the Giants and Reds two tries to win their games in extra-innings this afternoon. The Giants and Mets found themselves tied at four at the end of regulation, but San Francisco came back with two in the tenth. Armando Benitez reminded the Mets why they're happy he's gone as he allowed two runs in the bottom of the inning to send the contest into the eleventh. The two runs came on homers by Valentin and the first by Lastings Milledge. In the 12th, however, Pedro Feliz singled to drive in a run, and Accardo made it stand up for the 7-6 Giants win.

Craig Biggio doubled and scored in the bottom of the 8th to tie the Reds at three. Cincinnati scored in the top of the tenth off Wheeler, but Coffey was on decaf as he allowed two hits and a run in the bottom of the inning. Ryan Freel, however, hit his second homer of the game in the 11th, and Esteban nailed down the victory for his first save since 2004. The Reds win 6-4.

It was a good day for the top of the orders in Atlanta. The Braves duo of Giles and Renteria gathered five hits in ten at bats including a Giles double and a Renteria home run. The drove in all three runs produced by the Braves today. That wasn't enough. The Diamondbacks pair of DaVanon and Easley collected five hits and a walk, each doubled and each homered. They drove in six of Arizona's nine runs, more than enough to win the game by themselves.

The Cardinals got off to a good start without Albert Pujols, scoring nine runs as they held the Cubs to six. Jim Edmonds injury didn't seem to bother his batting as he collected three hits, a double and two RBI. Rolen added two hits and three RBI. If those two can produce their usual offense, the loss of Albert won't be too bad. That's the advantage of having three superstars; you can lose one and still have a terrific offense. If both Pujols and Edmonds were lost, the team would be in a lot more trouble. Juan Encarnacion even helped out today with two doubles.

I'l be on Yankee Fan Club Radio at 7 PM tonight if you care to listen in.

If you want to see a home run this year, go to a Blue Jays game. They came into the day second in the American League in home runs with 79, but had allowed even more. They were second in the league in home runs allowed with 80.

Given that, it's not surprising that today's contest was a battle of home runs. The Jays hit two more, good for three of their five runs, but the Devil Rays popped four, good for eight of their 10 runs. Lugo and Hollins provided power from the top of the order, combining for two homers, six RBI and four runs scored. Chacin allowed three of the shots. He's now given up 13 dingers in 48 1/3 innings. He allowed 20 all last year.

Alfonso Soriano hits his second home run of the game, a grand slam, to put the Nationals up 6-0. He now trails Pujols by just four home runs. The Brewers come back with a run in the bottom of sixth to cut the score to 6-1.

For the second game in a row, Chris Young comes out after eight shutout innings. He only threw 91 pitches, but with a 1-0 and a man on base, Bochy correctly pinch hit for the pitcher. Hoffman is on to preserve the lead. That's 16 consecutive scoreless innings for Young.

Update: Hoffman gets the side 1-2-3 in the 9th for 12th save and the Padre win. That lowers Hoffman's opponent batting average to .200. Young is at .203 after today's game.

Matt Clement threw three pitches to Brandon Inge in the top of the seventh and leaves with an injury. It wasn't obvious he was hurt, but Varitek noticed it and stopped the game and called out the trainer. Van Buren is on in relief.

Update: Shouldn't va Buren only relieve pitchers named Jackson?

Roy Oswalt did not make his scheduled start today due to back spasms. The Reds lead the Astros 2-1 in the fourth on solo home runs by Kearns and Freel. Ensberg added his 18th for Houston.

Chris Young is making another bid to throw the first no-hitter for the Padres. After taking one into the eighth in his last start, he's only allowed one base runner on a walk through five innings against the Pirates. He's turning out to be an excellent pickup for the Padres.

Update: Doumit tries to beat out a ground ball, but appears to pull a hamstring in his final lunge. He was out by 1/2 a step and is now out of the ball game. Jose Hernandez pinch hits next, and he delivers the first hit of the game for Pittsburgh. Young now needs to concentrate on preserving a 1-0 lead.

With Albert Pujols on the shelf, the other National League sluggers have a chance to catch up to him in the home run race. Alfonso Soriano is the first to make a move, hitting home run number 20 to give Washington a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. Tony Armas has retired the first nine batters he faced.

The Orioles are using the long ball to pound Aaron Small and the Yankees. Millar, Lopez and Fahey all went deep, accounting for five of the Orioles seven runs. Small has now allowed 9 home runs in 22 1/3 innings. Matt Smith is in the game for the Yankees in the third as the Orioles lead 7-0.

The AP reports that Albert Pujols is not listed in the lineup today:

"He's sore," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "I think we'll disable him."

Although the move was not yet official, Pujols was not listed on the lineup card. Minor league call-up Chris Duncan was, and he took batting practice.

Duncan was up briefly but sent back down on May 27. He's having a decent year at AAA, good OBA but not a lot of power. He looks like someone who is developing slowly in the minors. At age 25, at least the Cardinals should be getting peak performance from him.

Cardinals fans, is there anyone else in the organization you'd like to see up?

Update: It's now official. They're not going with Duncan today. Edmonds is in the lineup at first base and Taguchi is playing center. It's looks like Edmonds can handle first base with his injury but not centerfield. Pujols going on the DL might have kept Edmonds off, since he now has a place to play.

The trio of authors who brought us The Book, now bring us the companion blog, Inside The Book. Stop by and say hi. There's comments open to the posts, so you can leave questions about your reading.

Chris Young of the San Diego Padres is starting on normal rest as the Padres used the day off on June 1st to give Jake Peavy some extra rest. Young is coming off a one-hitter against the Rockies and hopes for similar success against a hot Pirates offense. He'll face Victor Santos. Victor's been hit hard at home, giving up a 6.04 ERA and a .307 batting average in Pittsburgh this year. He'll need the offensive support today.

John Rheinecker makes his third start of the Rangers today at the home of the White Sox. In a battle of lefties, he'll face Mark Buehrle. Rheinecker is making opponents earn their way on. He's given up eleven hits in his 12 1/3 innings pitched, but only one walk. Buehrle uses a low walk total to keep all the balls in play against him from hurting him too much. Buehrle does a great job of stopping the running game, as only three stolen bases were attempted against him this year.

With Albert Pujols likely gone for an extended period, the other NL Central teams have a chance to pounce. Two contenders for the division meet in Houston as Cincinnati sends Elizardo Ramirez against Roy Oswalt. After a prolonged offensive slump the Reds scored 21 runs in their last two games. Oswalt, however, has been tough with runners in scoring position this year, allowing a .238 batting average and no extra base hits.

The Phillies and Dodgers offer the best pitching matchup of the day as Brett Myers faces Aaron Sele. Myers weakness this year is home runs, but seven of the ten he's allowed came in Philadephia. Sele isn't striking out many batters, but he's baffling them nonetheless as he's allowed a paltry .218 batting average and a .268 OBA.

Enjoy!

In one of the stranger moves I've seen made, Enrique Gonzalez is returning to the minor leagues after making two very good starts for the Diamondbacks. Although the move is being made so Arizona can activate Terry Mulholland, he's really being replaced in the rotation by Russ Ortiz.

On the disabled list with a strained calf muscle, Ortiz has made four efficient starts on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tucson. After making adjustments to his pitching mechanics, he is 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA in 20 2/3 innings.

Ortiz, who turns 32 on Monday, is expected to be activated on his birthday. He would take the place in the rotation of rookie Enrique Gonzalez, who was sent back to the Sidewinders after throwing his second quality start in two outings.

At this point, I'll take Gonzalez over Ortiz, but if Russ can give the Diamondbacks a few decent starts, maybe they can trade him and make room for the youngster.

For all of you coming from Gordon Edes column, welcome! Here's the link for the RBI Percentage tool, and instructions, and an explanation of the stat.

There's a lot more information in the Day by Day Database. Daily batting and pitching logs for players going back to 1974, and splits for players and teams from the 2000 season on. I hope you find all this useful.

Thanks very much to Gordon for the link.

Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson both homered in last night's Seattle romp over the Royals. Sexson hit two dingers and drove in five. Beltre added a solo shot as the Mariners scored twelve to the Royals one. It's the first time this season Beltre and Sexson hit homers in the same game. They accomplished that seven time in 2005. The last time was 8/20/2005, when again Sexson hit 2 and Beltre 1.

Beltre is turning out to be one of the great free-agent busts of all time. Take a look at his splits for his 1 1/3 years with the Mariners. It's pretty depressing. Some points of interest:

1. You can count on Beltre to end an inning. With two outs, his OBA is .281 with no power.
2. You can also count on Beltre to get a man in from third with less than two out. In 57 plate appearances he has 36 RBI, including four sacrifice flies.
3. Although they're all small sample sizes, his stats with the team trailing seem to indicate he's trying to hit homers all the time. Trailing by one run, his batting average is .218 but his slugging percentage is .426. Nine of his 22 hits in that situation are for extra-bases, including six home runs.

Whatever he did in his final year in Los Angeles didn't make the trip to Seattle.

It's doesn't take much to get Cubs fans on the bandwagon:

When the Cubs complete the Comeback of the Century and win the 2006 National League Central title - why say "if'' when it's practically assured, right? - Saturday will be the day Chicago baseball poets recall with joyous verse.

"Late and early the Cubs prevail'd; Pujols grabbed his side; Peoria Prior hardly fail'd; Blue Heroes found their stride.''

Yes, in a Cubs season that had experienced far more bad breaks (including the bones above Derrek Lee's wrist) than good, Mark Prior's pain-free rehab outing for the Class A Peoria Chiefs capped 20 hours of absolute Cubbie bliss.

With the injury to Pujols, the Cardinals face the one of the same problems the Cubs had; replacing the best hitter in the lineup at first base. It will be interesting to see how Jocketty handles this problem compared to Hendry.

Jeff Blehar writes:

I don't know if you were following the Nationals/Brewers game closely, but this was the first game Nationals pitching prospect Bill Bray ever pitched in. He entered in the bottom of the 8th with the Nats down 3-2, threw ONE pitch for a strike, and then Brian Schneider gunned down a runner attempting to steal second for the last out of the inning.

The Nats took the lead in the top of the ninth, of course, putting Bray in line for the win.

The question, therefore, is this: is Bray the first pitcher to win a game on his first and only Major League Pitch? That's got to be some kind of (trivia) achievement, right?

I believe there's been some research on the issue, so I'll see what I can find.

The Day by Day Database is up to date. Note that a HR per 9 column was added to pitcher comparisons.

Damion Easley slugged three home runs in the night cap to give the Diamondbacks a 13-9 victory over the Braves. Easley drove in over half of the Arizona runs with a pair of two-run shots and a three run homer. It wasn't an easy win as the Braves, down 10-2 in the seventh, pushed seven runs across in the bottom of the inning. Brandon Medders allowed six runs in relief, five unearned however.

It was Easley's fifth multi-homer game of his career, but his first hitting three dingers. With the sweep, Arizona extends their lead over the Dodgers to 1 1/2 games.

The Florida Marlins put a hurt on the Colorado Rockies today, shutting them out 13-0. Like the Nationals, the Marlins are on a good roll, winning 8 of their last 11 games. Rookie pitcher Ricky Nolasco made his fourth start of the year and allowed eight singles and a walk over eight innings, while the Marlins knocked out six extra-base hits. Nolasco lowered his ERA for the season to 3.15, 2.38 as a starter.

The Giants and Mets waited three hours to start their double header, then played an extra-inning game in the night cap. It was the tenth time this season the Mets went extra frames, and they extend their record to 6-4 with a 3-2 victory. Lo Duca and Delgado set up the win with a single and a double, and Chris Woodward got the sac fly to win the game.

With Atlanta losing a pair and the Phillies loss to the Dodgers, the Mets find themselves 5 1/2 games up on both teams.

The Jays/Rays game went according to script. Hendrickson pitched into the seventh, giving up three runs, but Tampa only scored two with him in the game. Halladay last eight full, and received six runs in support. Hendrickson could help a high scoring team that's looking for pitching.

Brian Schneider takes Derrick Turnbow deep to drive in two and give the Nationals a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth. It's the third home run and fourth blown save of the year for the Milwaukee closer. Schneider came into the game with his slugging percentage below his OBA and below .300.

Update: Schneider catches the last out, a foul pop behind home plate as the Nationals win 4-3. The Nationals are 11-5 over their last 16 games.

Randy Johnson pitched into the eighth today. The Orioles touched him for three runs in the first, but he left game after 22 outs with a 5-3 lead after walking a batter. Proctor came in to give up two doubles and send the game eventually into extra innings.

Damon homered in the top of the 10th, and Myers got Roberts to start the bottom of the inning. Then Torre went to Chien-Mig Wang, who threw just 73 pitches in his outing on June 1st. Wang gave up two singles to Tejada and Hernandez (who were a combined six for nine) but sandwiched them between two outs for his first career save. Joe Torre is using his lineup and bullpen creatively and it's paying off so far.

The Los Angeles Dodgers sent an interesting batting order into battle today. The first four hitters were seasoned veterans, the 5-8 hitters rookies. Today, the vets produced more. Each had a multi-hit game and combined to go 9 for 18 with six runs scored as the Dodger defeated the Phillies 8-2. The rookies did okay, too. Each knocked out a hit, and Kemp's was a home run. Most impressive was that all eight position players have OBAs over .340.

The four day vacation Barry Bonds took appeared to do him good. He went 2 for 3 with 2 walks (one intentional) as the Giants beat the Mets 6-4. Eliezer Alfonzo made his major league debut, and drove in two with his first major league hit, a home run. The Mets are still looking for a starter who can actually pitch, as Orlando Hernandez gave up five runs in six innings and now has a 7.36 ERA with the Mets and a 6.19 ERA in 2006.

It looks like the Athletics assigned a 122 pitch count to Dan Haren. He appears to need to get a decent way through a game. In his last start against the Royals he threw 122 in 6 2/3 innings. Today against the Twins, that amount just last six innings. Despite all the throws, Haren pitched well today, not allowing a run through six innings. But if he is capable of throwing that many, he should come closer to completing a game. The A's one a close one, 2-1.

Albert Pujols is out of the Cubs/Cardinals game after going 0 for 1. Rotowire reports he left with a back injury. That's the one injury the Cardinals can't afford.

Update: Here's the AP story.

At the request of a reader, HR per 9 are now part of pitcher comparisons. You can find links to all functionality of the Day by Day Database here.

Fox just reported the game will start at 4 PM. However, they are only going to show it in the New York and San Francisco markets.

After the Angels come back tie the game at 2 in the top of the sixth, the Indians take advantage to score eight runs in the bottom of the inning, all unearned. Travis Hafner capped the rally with a grand slam home run. On his 29th birthday, Hafner is 2 for 3 with a walk and 5 RBI. The Indians lead 10-2.

Update: Hafner doubles in the 8th to get 3/4 of the cycle on his birthday.

Through six innings, the Diamondbacks lefties have all eight hits against John Smoltz. Righties are 0 for 11 in the game against John, while lefties are 8 for 15. Orlando Hudson hit his second homer of the year, and Chad Tracy also went deep and doubled. The Diamondbacks lead 4-2. Both Gonzalez and Smoltz struck out 8.

There's a lot of rain around Shea Stadium right now. Even if it stops, I wonder if they can play. Shea is like the castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, built on a swamp.

FATHER: Listen, lad. I've built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started here, all there was was swamp. All the kings said I was daft to build a castle in a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. An' that's what your gonna get, lad -- the strongest castle in these islands.

The outfield can be very dangerous on days like this, making me think that Barry Bonds won't play even with all the days off. I remember the Yankees playing there in the mid-70's and losing three outfielders because of the bad conditions there.

Two of the three lefties facing John Smoltz in the first inning double as the Diamondbacks take a 1-0 lead. See previous post.

Seventeen games today and not many stand out as classic matchups. The best game of the day might be the one no ones sees, as Arizona and Atlanta send Enrique Gonzalez and John Smoltz to the mound. Enrqiue made a strong major league debut against the Reds in Cincinnati, allowing just one run on a solo homer. He walked one and struck out four through six innings. Smoltz has a slightly longer track record, but a big difference between this season and last for Smoltz is that lefties are getting to the veteran. In 2005, left-handers batters .252 with a .301 OBA against John. This year those numbers are .273 and .354. With the switch hitters in the Arizona lineup, there could be seven lefties facing Smoltz this afternoon.

Roy Halladay faces Mark Hendrickson in a rematch of their May 23rd tilt. Hendrickson pitched well in that game, giving up two runs in six innings as the Rays took a 4-1 loss. Pitching the best ball of his career, Mark's only received 15 runs of support in his 52 innings pitched. The Blue Jays on the other hand, give Roy more than twice the runs he allows. Not surprising, since the Jays have the penultimate offense in the league while the Rays are second to last.

Enjoy!

The Yankees invited a number of college players to workout on Thursday, including Jeff Maier:

The Yankees invited Jeffrey Maier to a workout a decade after he reached over the right-field wall and stopped a Baltimore Orioles outfielder from catching a Derek Jeter blast.

"It's been a very exciting week," said Maier, who graduated from Wesleyan University Sunday and was batting, fielding and running bases at the House that Ruth Built on Thursday.

With all the ways the Cubs find to lose, it's nice to see them find a way to win. Not only did they score two in the ninth to tie the game and send it into extra-innings, but they did it on a wild Jason Isringhausen and a rare error by Scott Rolen. With the bases loaded on a single and two walks, Todd Walker hit a ball that split the wickets of Rolen, sending two runs to the plate. Another grounder by Walker in the 14th plated the winning run. The bullpen, after allowing the go-ahead runs in the seventh and eighth, but together six scoreless innings for the win.

Jamine Moyer threw his first 2-hitter in nearly 20 years last night as the Mariners took a 4-0 win over the hapless Kansas City Royals. (Where do you get hap, anyway?)

The last time Jamie Moyer threw a complete-game two-hitter, Ronald Reagan was president, Mike Hargrove was hitting coach for a short-season rookie team and Jose Lopez was in diapers.

Nearly 20 years later, the Mariners' age-defying lefty did it again Friday night at Safeco Field, hanging tight until his offense could come through and help deliver a 4-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

It's not just speed that kills:

Moyer was throwing the same kind of offspeed pitches, the ones that make hitters look bad and render radar guns useless.

"That's exactly why he's been here for 20 years," Royals outfielder Reggie Sanders, a 16-year veteran himself, said. "He had the changeup working tonight. You knew it was coming and you still grounded out -- and then he threw it slower.

"Didn't he hit 30 miles per hour once?"

There was a big positive that came out of the game for the Royals, however, a strong start by Bobby Keppel:

Keppel, 0-1, earned his start by pitching well in two extended relief appearances following his May 25 arrival from Class AAA Omaha.

He provided the Royals with their first “quality start” in 12 games and is now the only pitcher other than Scott Elarton to carry a shutout into the seventh.

Moyer was just better.

Keppel allowed two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings while striking out four and walking one.

“He was what we’ve seen up to this point,” Bell said. “Down in the zone. Athletic. His breaking ball is getting better. He just got a bad draw tonight. Moyer would have handed it to anyone tonight with that kind of stuff.”

And there's more good news for the Royals as Zack Greinke pitched very well in his rehab start.

Aaron Rowand discusses Sandy Alomar's pitch calling. Despite a good sequence by Sandy, Rowand still produced the game winning hit:

"Sandy screws with me, calling pitches behind the plate," Rowand said of Dodgers catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., who was Rowand's teammate on the Chicago White Sox. "He threw me three straight breaking balls. I just missed two of them. My mind-set was to try to hit his fastball the other way so I could stay on his breaking ball. He threw me a fastball in, and I hit it the other way. Sometimes it works out the way you want it to."

Chase Utley went four for four with a walk and a homer to help Philadelphia to an 8-6 win over the Dodgers. Utley is now a 3-4-5 man, .327 BA, .402 OBA and a .545 slugging percentage.

The Day by Day Database is up to date. Note that there was an update yesterday, you can now create a table showing RBI Percentage.

It will be tough for Albert Pujols to catch Hack Wilson, and tonight's game is a perfect example of why. The Cardinals put runners on 2nd and 3rd with two out in the bottom of the seventh. Pujols comes up and the Cubs intentionally walk him. It's tough to accumulate RBI if you're walked in these situations. Scott Rolen, however, made them pay for that strategy with a two-run double to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead over Chicago.

Kyle Farnsworth gets another chance to save a game tonight, coming with one out in the eighth and the bases loaded. He got a ground out, but the tying run scored. Jeter saved Kyle in the 9th with an RBI single, and Farnsworth finished the game for his second win of the season.

With two out in the ninth, Todd Jones was one out away from preserving a 2-1 Detroit win. But Mike Lowell singled, and Kevin Youkilis delievered a two-run homer down the leftfield line. The Red Sox take a 3-2 lead to the bottom of the ninth.

Update: Jon Papelbon shows Jones how it's done, picking up his 20th save in 20 tries. He's on a pace to break Thigpen's record of 57 saves in a season.

Mike Matheny makes his way to the disabled list with a concussion:

The 35-year-old Matheny was hit in the head several times by foul balls during a three-game series at Florida this week. He left Wednesday night's game in the third inning after a foul tip nailed him and was examined Thursday by a specialist in Pittsburgh.

"He's really got a mild concussion, which isn't bad, but he's had several of these," Giants trainer Stan Conte said. "The cumulative factor is something we're concerned about, but we don't think it's going to be a long time."

Does he use the hockey helment? He was using it in 2005. I wonder if they're not as effective as the batting helmet/catcher mask combination.

The game in Atlanta tonight was postponed due to foul weather. I haven't see a makeup date announced.

Andy Phillips went deep tonight to cut the Orioles lead to 2-1. The first baseman is starting to hit, something he did well in the minor leagues. He's another example of a first baseman that probably was available and could have solved someone's problem over the last few years.

For a team that's not supposed to posess minor league talent, the Yankees are doing a good job of bringing along youngsters. Cano, Wang, Cabrera and now Phillips are all contributing (granted, Phillips isn't that young). That's not a bad two years for any team.

The first seven Reds reach base against Wandy Rodriguez in the first on four hits and three walks. Cincinnati is off to a 5-0 lead. I'm surprised Wandy stayed in the game. Usually if you have that much trouble in the first, the manager pulls you.

I'm guessing Astros fans can't wait to see Clemens take his turn in the rotation.

Update: Wandy is hurt by a couple of errors in the second, but really doesn't do much better, giving up two hits and two walks. His only out in the inning is on a caught stealing. He leaves after facing 15 batters, getting just four outs, and and allowing seven runs so far.

Chone Figgins tests the laws of physics as he makes a terrific catch in support of Jered Weaver. Blake hit the ball to the deepest part of centerfield. Figgins caught it on the run, hit the wall, bounced off and made the throw to first to double off Hafner who was headed for third. Weaver is throwing a shutout through four with six strikeouts.

I notice Derek Jeter is back in the Yankees lineup tonight, but Alex Rodriguez is missing. Does anyone know if he's hurt, or is he just getting a day off?

Barry Bonds gets another vacation day as the Giants and Mets are rained out. They'll play a doubleheader tomorrow.

Recently I posted about RBI percentage in relation to Albert Pujols' run at Hack Wilson. Someone suggested I add that functionality to the Day by Day Database. It was a pretty easy change, so here's a tool to generate RBI Percentages. You can set the dates (so you can go back to the 2000 season), the sort column the sort direction and the minimum number of runners on base. Here's the year to date chart through June 1, 2006. I hope you find this useful.

I'm doing maintence on the site. Comments may not work for a while. I'll update here when they are working again.

Update: Everything is up and running. You might actually get better page loading times now.

It's a battle of first place teams tonight in Detroit as the Boston Red Sox send Curt Schilling to the mound against Kenny Rogers. Except for an impressive start against the Yankees, Schilling's been less than impressive, posting a 5.12 ERA in six starts. A lot of that came from two bad starts in which he gave up 3 homers in each. His strikeouts and walks are still excellent. And the Sox are scoring enough to keep Curt on the winning side of the ledger. Maybe part of it is the Red Sox defense?

Rogers is not seeing very many lefties, despite lefties having better numbers than righties against him this year. I suspect the Red Sox will start Ortiz, who is hitting lefties well this year. That should be a fun matchup.

The Padres are hitting and pitching better away from PETCO this year. They visit the Pirates in Pittsburgh, where the Pirates are on a roll. While the team doesn't hit away from PNC, they're generating good offense at home, and have a 16-12 record at the source of the Ohio. Unfortunately, for the Padres, Chan Ho Park isn't one of the pitchers who is better on the road. Opposition hitters are batting .301 against the righty away from PETCO. Oliver Perez is coming off three good starts in a row, striking out 18 in his last 20 innings. He's still needs to get his walks down, however, as he's walked 11 in that time.

Enjoy!

Congratulations to Lisa Gray on her two year blogiversary!

There seems to be some confusion over Mark Prior's injury.

In a story in Tuesday's Moline (Ill.) Dispatch, Prior was quoted in the postgame press conference as saying the injury 'was a tear.' The Tribune, the Sun-Times and the Associated Press did not quote Prior as saying that.

Because in March the Cubs had said results from Prior's MRI showed a moderate shoulder strain but no tearing, the ongoing criticism of the team underselling injuries erupted Thursday after someone flagged WSCR-AM 670 to the story.

Here's the exchange between the reporter and Prior:

Reporter: 'Is this process frustrating to you, especially since there is really no tear or anything, just sore '

Prior: 'There was a tear. Let's not belittle it. There was a strain. The thing was, there was a strain and a strain is a tear in the muscle. More frustrating than anything is not kind of knowing when you did it. It showed up almost two or three days later, I guess, after the day I did it in that game down in Mesa (Ariz.).

I don't know why the Cubs downplay these injuries. The fans are still going to show up. I suggest a few months ago they were looking for a competitive advantage vs. the other teams in the NL Central, but that was roundly criticized. Maybe they just don't want to get all the questions from the press about protecting Prior's arm. You'd think they weren't owned by a media company!

Ben Kabak explores the origin of the dropped third strike rule. He challenges the belief that the dropped third strike was added to the game. He believes the automatic out on a caught third strike was added instead.

Gary Peterson notes the success the Giants enjoyed under Brian Sabean's management, and compares his job to Billy Beane's (seems here's a lot of beans in the Bay Area):

Not only that, we keep coming back to the tightly focused mission statement Sabean has been expected to fulfill. If it can rightly be said that Sabean hasn't exactly stocked the farm the past 10 years, it can also rightly be said that it hasn't exactly been an organizational mandate. Bonds, and the window of success he has represented, has been the top priority.

Thus, Sabean's task has differed from that of say, Oakland's Billy Beane, who for years was asked to groom replacements for the fabulous players the A's were going to have to let slip away when their contracts expired.

Sabean could not serve the Bonds window with players who would be on top of their game three years from now. He has needed known quantities, veteran players who already were as good as they were going to get. He needed players who would complement Bonds' skills, and who would work for wages that would complement his hefty salary. The older Bonds has gotten, and the higher his salary has soared, the more exacting Sabean's task has become.

Which brings up the question, will Sabean adjust once Bonds is gone? Will he know how to build a team from within without years of practice? Or when Bonds goes, does Brian go with him?

The Dodgers took a 7-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies last night. The Dodgers are the top scoring team in the NL. Los Angeles leads Atlanta by .25 runs per game. The Dodgers, surprisingly are scoring more at home than on the road, about .5 runs better. Dodger Stadium is known as a pitcher's park, and the Dodger's ERA confirms that. The hurlers are nearly a run better at home. Hence, the 17-10 record at Dodger Stadium, the 14-13 record on the road.

Correction: I guess I'm not awake today. The Dodgers played the Phillies last night. I've changed the post to reflect that.

Barry Zito gave the Athletics another great outing last night, pitching seven scoreless innings en route to a 4-0 Oakland win over Minnesota. Zito's improved over his rough April start. He posted a 5.93 during the first month of the season, but since he's pitched to a 1.12 mark. The big difference is home runs. He allowed 4 in his first 27 1/3 innings, while giving up just three in 48 innings since.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Matt Kemp is making the most of his first week in the majors. Four for ten with a walk in his first four games, Kemp came through with his first major league extra-base hit tonight, a three-run homer. The shot gives the Dodgers a 3-0 lead ove the Phillies after two innings. With Ethier and Kemp, we're starting to see the Dodgers farm system living up to the hype.

Frank Thomas went deep tonight to give the Oakland Athletics an early 1-0 lead. That's three homers in the last four games for Frank. Over the previous 10 contests, Frank was batting .406 with a .537 OBA and an .812 slugging percentage. That's more like the old (young?) Thomas. He's giving the team a needed offensive boost. After not playing much the previous two seasons, maybe Frank just needed some time to get back in the swing of things.

Jose Contreras pitched his worst outing of the year, giving up six earned runs in five innings, raising his ERA to 2.53. He wasn't alone however. Indians starter Paul Byrd continued his struggles, giving up five runs in six innings. Once again, however, the Cleveland offense came to life with Byrd on the mound.

The starters were not alone, however. The teams combined to use seven relievers, and five of them allowed runs. The Cleveland pen was better, giving up just three runs to Chicago's six. The Indians take three out of four from the White Sox by a score of 12-8 tonight.

The Indians take 4 of 7 from Detroit and Chicago. The Yankees taking the first three against the Tigers gives them a big boost as well.

Mariano Rivera hurt his back putting his shoes on today.

Rivera hurt his back early on Thursday and the Yankees said he wouldn't be available for their game against the Tigers.

"He had one shoe on, and when he went to put the left shoe on, something spasmed," Torre said before Thursday's game against Detroit. "It's something new every day."

The Yankees are leading 6-5 in the ninth but won't be able to go to Mo for the save. Cobmined with Sheffield going on the DL, the Yankees club house is looking like a M*A*S*H unit. Fransworth gets a chance to close tonight.

Update: Farnsworth blows the save, with one out, a walk and two singles tie the game. Detroit is still batting with one out and two on.

Update: Farnsworth falls behind Carlos Guillen 3-1, and Guillen smacks a hit into right to score Pudge Rodriguez from second base to take the game 7-6.

It's a great win for Detroit, down 5-0 in the third, they fought back, scoring five against Wang and then getting to Farnsworth for the win. They put a little more space between first and second place in the AL Central.

Correction: Fixed spelling of Farnsworth.

The Diamondbacks finally score. After 24 straight scoreless innings, the Arizona offense puts two runs on the board against in the 8th against Atlanta. They did have some help from the Atlanta defense, but Shawn Green came through with a two-out, two-run single. Like last night, their pitching's been great, as Cruz shutout the Braves through seven innings. Brandon Lyon is on to try to preserve the two run lead.

Update: Lyon pitches a scoreless inning. Julio gives up a leadoff home run to Andruw Jones, but that's it as the Diamondbacks take the 2-1 victory.

Correction: Fixed the final score.

The Yankees tagged Justin Verlander for five runs so far tonight. He allowed eight all May. The Yankees lead 5-0 in the third inning as they go for a sweep of the Tigers. The injuries to Matsui, Sheffield, Damon, Posada and Jeter don't seem to be hurting them yet.

Juan Gonzalez signed a contract with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. I'll have to get down to Bridgeport to see him play.

Mike Maroth sees the surgeon tomorrow:

Left-hander Mike Maroth will undergo arthroscopic surgery on Friday to remove bone chips in his elbow. It is not known how long he will be sidelined.

It's a tough loss for the Tigers. Luckily, their rotation is so deep this year they should be able to get through the injury in good shape.

Earlier today Sports Bloggers Live interviewed me about what records might be set this season, and we spoke about Albert Pujols chance at Hack Wilson's RBI mark (audio here). When Juan Gonzalez made a run at this mark in 1998, he had a perfect storm of statistics. At the all-star break that year, he came up with more men on base than any other player, and had driven in a higher percentage of those runners than any other player. I wanted to see how Albert was doing in these categories.

I define RBI Pct as (RBI - HR)/Runners On. So it's the percent of men on base that you drive in. Albert ranks fourth among players with at least 100 men on base.

Batter	Runners On	RBI	HRs	RBI Pct.
Lance Berkman	121	45	14	25.62
Nomar Garciaparra	119	36	6	25.21
Johnny Estrada	116	33	4	25
Albert Pujols	167	65	25	23.952
Ramon Hernandez	132	39	8	23.485
Orlando Cabrera	127	33	4	22.835
Bobby Abreu	152	41	7	22.368
Miguel Cabrera	153	43	9	22.222
Jose Lopez	154	42	8	22.078
Vladimir Guerrero	146	45	13	21.918
Derek Jeter	152	38	5	21.711
Brandon Phillips	125	31	4	21.6
Todd Walker	107	26	3	21.495
Andruw Jones	180	51	13	21.111
Jim Thome	139	49	20	20.863
Conor Jackson	130	33	6	20.769
Carlos Beltran	111	37	14	20.721
Alexis Rios	136	38	10	20.588
Garret Anderson	132	31	4	20.455
Chase Utley	108	31	9	20.37

He ranks fifth in total men on base.

Batter	Runners On	RBI	HRs	RBI Pct.
David Ortiz	188	48	15	17.553
Mark Loretta	183	27	2	13.661
Andruw Jones	180	51	13	21.111
Alex Rodriguez	173	44	13	17.919
Albert Pujols	167	65	25	23.952
Pat Burrell	163	38	13	15.337
Trot Nixon	162	28	5	14.198
Torii Hunter	162	34	9	15.432
Mark Teixeira	162	25	6	11.728
David Wright	162	35	8	16.667
Vernon Wells	161	43	15	17.391
Jason Bay	161	46	17	18.012
Austin Kearns	160	32	10	13.75
Travis Hafner	160	44	14	18.75
Hank Blalock	160	38	8	18.75
Paul Konerko	158	41	15	16.456
Pedro Feliz	158	35	9	16.456
Victor Martinez	158	29	5	15.19
Jhonny Peralta	158	25	5	12.658
Josh Willingham	157	32	7	15.924

Note that Andruw Jones and Pujols are the only two players with lots of men on base driving in over 20%. It's not quite Gonzalez in 1998, but it's close. Also note that based on the way the Red Sox lineup works, Mark Loretta is in the wrong slot in the order.

The Pirates come back in the bottom of the ninth, thanks again to Jose Castillo. He doubles in Jose Hernandez for his third RBI of the game, then scores on a Doumit single to win. Castillo's driven in 17 runs in his last six games and scored eight. Pittsburgh can see fifth place as they're now 1 game behind the Cubs.

Jose Castillo hasn't reached the fences, but his two sacrifice flies drove in the only two Pirates runs of the game. His second just tied the game at 2 in the seventh.

Bush and Maholm are pitching very well. Each issued one walk but Maholm's given up eight hits to Bush's three. However, David is already over 100 pitches while Paul's being more efficient at 87. Despite this, Roberto Hernandez comes in to pitch the 8th for the Pirates. I would have thought another inning by Maholm would be appropriate. The Pirates would likely pinch hit for him in the bottom of the 8th anyway.

Update: Carlos Lee hits his 18th home run of the year off Hernandez to make the score 3-2 in the top of the 8th.

The Pittsburgh Pirates failed to get a hit off David Bush through four innings. Milwaukee leads 1-0 on an RBI double by Corey Hart, who's probably wearing sunglasses during the day. According to the radio broadcast, Jason Bay missed a home run by inches as the ball went foul.

The Angels raised the temperature of Kelvim Escobar today, signing him through 2009 to a $28.5 million dollar contract. It's clear the value of starting pitchers keeps going up. Escobar career strikeouts per 9 is 8.0, a very number. In the last two years, he greatly improved his control. In 2005-2006 he's averaged 2.45 BB per 9; for his career, that number is 3.84.

It seems like a lot of money for someone a year removed from a bad elbow and with a career 4.35 ERA. But that seems to be the market right now.

Was Watching wants to know the story behind Melky Cabrera's first name:

I cannot find anything out there on it. Is "Melky" short for something? Was he named after something or someone?

Is there another person on the earth with the first name "Melky"?

I can answer the second question. There is a singing group named Melky Sedeck. The female member of the brother/sister duo is named Blandinna Melky Jean.

I'll be interviewed on Sports Bloggers Live between 12:10 and 12:20 EDT.

According to the Onion, the Royals hired Tom Emanski as a new coach, entrusted with teaching the team fundamentals.

"Of course, even if you master all the fundamental drills—the Bare Hand Drill, Soft Toss Creep, 'V' Drill, 'X' Drill, and Rocket Relay—there is still the issue of talent," Emanski added. "I'm no miracle worker. But, with a lot of hard work and a little luck, I truly believe that a few of these Royals will someday have the skills you need to play in the major leagues."

The Indians and White Sox face off this evening as Cleveland tries to take 3 out of 4 from Chicago. They're in for a tough battle as Jose Contreras takes the mound for the White Sox. Lefties are batting just .209 vs. Jose with a .291 slugging percentage. Paul Byrd is enjoying tremendous run support. The Indians scored 53 runs while Byrd is in the game vs. 37 allowed by the pitcher. It seems he should be doing better than a 4-4 record.

The Yankees go for a sweep of the Tigers this evening after a complete game by Mike Mussina last night gave the Yankees pen a much needed rest. Chien-Ming Wang takes on the hot Justin Verlander. Wang's translated his terrific support into a 5-2 record. The Yankees scored 56 runs for the righty while he's allowed 39. Verlander is third in the AL in ERA at 2.55. Six of the seven home runs against him came with the bases empty, and the opposition is hitting just .200 with runners in scoring position against Verlander. In his four game winning streak, he's allowed just four earned runs 30 1/3 innings, a 1.19 ERA.

And for those of you with time to watch or listen this afternoon, Jose Castillo took up where Jason Bay left off and homered in five straight games. The Pirates face the Brewers at 12:35 EDT.

Enjoy!

The month of May saw many great performances by both pitchers and hitters. Unlike April, no clear cut winner emerged in either category.

Among the hitters, three players from the Red Sox could easily get the honor. Kevin Youkilis performed like the ultimate leadoff batter, leading the majors in on-base average at .463. Manny Ramirez was only ten points behind that, but slugged .714. Mark Loretta collected 44 hits for a for a .442 OBA. Bobby Abreu, Nomar Garciaparra and Ichiro Suzuki were all worthy of consideration. But in my mind it came down to the sluggers, Matt Holliday and Jason Bay.

Based on averages alone, Holliday wins it. But Matt neither drove in or scored as many runs as Bay. I find it very unusual for a player to collect 18 extra-base hits and only drive in 15 runs. It turns out 17 of Matt's 18 extra-base hits came with the bases empty, including all 8 of his home runs. Even though he collected seven hits with runners in scoring position, those hits only yielded 7 RBI. On the other hand, Matt did it well on the road, so he doesn't lose points for the Coors effect.

Bay, on the other hand, drove in 22 runs with his 12 homers, and added another 13 on top of that. He scored 21 runs to Matt's 20. He even stole two bases without getting caught. And he homered in six straight games. In a very tough month to pick a winner, Jason Bay wins by a nose.

Congratulations to Jason Bay, the Baseball Musings Offensive Player of the Month!

A number of pitchers in May posted numbers worthy of the honor. Tom Glavine's 5-0 record tied for wins and led in winning percentage. Johan Santana's strikeout to walk ratio topped 10. Pedro Martinez pitched great, but didn't win a game, going 0-1 for the month. Scott Kazmir did everything right for a poor Tampa Bay team.

But it does come down to run prevention, and two pitchers stood out with the lowest ERAs in their leagues. Jason Schmidt led the NL with a 1.17 mark, while C.C. Sabathia took the AL lead with a 1.20 ERA. It's very tough to distinguish the two. Both pitched two complete games and one shutout. C.C. struck out three more. Jason walked one less and allowed one fewer home run. Sabathia allowed five more hits, but didn't throw a wild pitch. Sabathia beat the White Sox twice, Schmidt took home wins over the Cubs and the Marlins. Sabathia won one more game, but he also lost one more.

The award goes to Sabathia, however, because pitching in the AL, his job is tougher. He faced a designated hitter in all six of his starts, while Jason did in just one. This is C.C.'s second pitcher of the month award.

Congratulations to C.C. Sabathia, the Baseball Musings Pitcher of the Month!

Former Baseball Musings Players of the Month:

Month	Batter	Pitcher
April 2006	Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals	Greg Maddux, Chicago Cubs
September 2005	Randy Winn, SF Giants	CC Sabathia, Cleveland Indians
August 2005	David Wright, NY Mets	Noah Lowry, SF Giants

The Day by Day Database is up to date.