And That Happened

Reds 9, Pirates 6: Jay Bruce goes 3-3, 2B, 2 RBI, and 2 BB in his major league debut, that is, if you count hitting against Pittsburgh's staff as a major league debut.

Mets 5, Marlins 3: Ramon Castro! Fernando Tatis! Just as the Mets drew it up in the offseason.

Indians 8, White Sox 2: The game recap notes that Mark Buehrle "has lost six of his last seven decisions." That implies a precipitous slide, but that's not really what's been happening. Yes, he was shelled last night, but before that he had two really solid starts, one of which was a win, the other a no-decision. Before those it was two more shell-jobs, than another great start and a halfway decent one. Going further back, it's shelled-good-good-shelled. In other words, Buehrle has been feast or famine this year, and Lord knows how you explain that.

Cubs 3, Dodgers 1: A win is nice, but Jim Edmonds is 3-24 with no extra-base hits and one walk since being acquired by Chicago. This means that they are throwing it down the middle to him and he can't do a damn thing with it. Jim, for the love of God and your legacy, retire now.

Rangers 12, Rays 6: Josh Hamilton's thumb supposedly hurts. After last night's performance (2-5, 2B, HR, 5 RBI) I'd like to see what happens when it feels good.

Brewers 3, Braves 2: Tim Hudson runs out of gas, allowing the Brewers to tie it in the seventh and eighth, but he was dancin' with the devil all game, giving up 11 hits overall, as the Braves road and one-run game futility continues. At some point this just ain't luck, and someone should look into whether Bobby Cox has some tangible influence on this stuff. Does he stay with pitchers a batter or two too long? Does he go for an inordinate number of one-run strategies that don't pay off? I've been watching him manage for over 20 years now, and I can't say that anything just jumps out, but it sure seems like something has to be happening here.

Twins 4, Royals 3: I usually try to write up a handful of these recaps the night before as the finals are coming in. Helps me get a jump, ya know? So, as I'm waiting for Cincy-Pittsburgh and Atlanta-Milwaukee to come final, I scroll down to this game, and see it entering the bottom of the ninth with the Twins up 3-0. Since I'm smart and knowing and all, I figure this game is all but over and I start cranking up the snark as a means to put the Royals' futility into new relief. So whadda they do? Inside the park three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie it up, and on they go to extra-innings. Yes, they lost in 12, but that was probably a pretty entertaining game all told, and if you're a Kansas City fan, that has to be about as much as you can expect these days, right?

Astros 8, Cardinals 2: A four-spot in the top of the first pretty much ended this one before it got started.

Orioles 10, Yankees 9: Nine homers, nine walks, and a never-ending game due to a long rain delay and extra innings. That pretty much sounds like the most miserable game ever. Oh, and Ian Kennedy strained a lat and is heading to the DL. Nice night all around for Yankees' fans, no? Random observation that is news to non-Yankees fans like me: Giambi has actually become respectable in recent weeks. He's at .321/.479/.642 for May. Huh.

Mariners 4, Red Sox 3: So who plans on telling Mike Timilin (6.32 ERA, 15.2 IP, 21 H) that he's done?

Giants 6, Diamondbacks 3: Tim Lincecum continues his 1972 Steve Carlton act, moving to 7-1 for a crappy team. Arizona has dropped seven of ten, yet remain 3.5 up in the West. They've pretty much been up 3.5 or so in the West all month. Why do I get this feeling that the Dodgers are going to look back at May and realize that they missed a big opportunity?