And That Happened

Tigers 5, Twins 4: Recent-day irresistible force meets recent-day immovable object. Not sure which is which, actually, but the team with the fuzzy kitty cat mascot won. Joel Zumaya gets an old school save -- nearly two innings -- in only his fifth start back following his shoulder injury. Just three days earlier, Leyland said that he "wasn't right." Hurm.

Royals 6, Orioles 5: Who mixed up the scripts? I thought Kansas City was supposed to blow a four run lead in the ninth and then blow it all in the 11th. Greinke has been saving his teammates' bacon all year, so it was nice to see them save his for once (5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER).

White Sox 9, Indians 7: Nick Swisher's two dingers -- one of which was a granny -- trumps Jhonny Peralta's 5-5, 3 RBI performance as the Tribe loses again. That, combined with the Royals win discussed supra (Get me! I'm using my legal training!) means that the Tribe is now in the cellar in the AL Central. Trade. Sabathia. Now.

Rays 5, Red Sox 4: You get the feeling from the box score that Joe Maddon was managing this one like it was game seven of the World Series, as the Rays use six pitchers in a game in which they never trailed. Un-Soxlike stat of the game: Boston drew only two walks.

Reds 4, Pirates 3: Griffey hits a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth. Not bad for an old man who can't hit lefties. No, I'm not being mean. That's what little Darren Baker told Griffey before the game when he asked why he was left out of the lineup. From the mouths of babes.

Cardinals 7, Mets 1: It was nice of the Mets to roll over so easily, because by doing so they allowed La Russa to pitch Mark Mulder in the ninth inning in what amounted to a glorified rehab start. How helpful! Speaking of helpful, a long time ago the band Yo La Tengo had these t-shirts with Mr. Met on them. Anyone got a lead on where a brother could find one now?

Rangers 2, Yankees 1: The Bombers' first three hitters combined for a sweet 0-11, and the other six had only four hits among them, this against the worst staff in baseball.

Marlins 6, Nationals 5: Didja Know? Jon Rauch is the tallest pitcher to ever give up two home runs against the Marlins to blow a game!

Astros 4, Dodgers 1: Most useless thing I learned at SABR: Jose Valverde -- who chalked up save number 22 in this game -- was given the nickname of "Big Potato" by the Diamondbacks' TV analyst Jim Traber. Seems he was trying to call him "Big Daddy" in Spanish, but said "Papa Grande" instead. Why yes, alcohol had been consumed prior to that gem being introduced to the roundtable. In other news, the Astros are 4-1 following violent outbursts by disgruntled swingmen this year.

Padres 15, Rockies 8: I view this outburst as a big "F-You" to Jake Peavy, who complained Sunday about not being able to give up three and still get a win.

Blue Jays 2, Mariners 0: Halladay (CG SHO, 4 H, 6K) was one of the few starters who bothered to show up last night. It's a shame he had to beat a knuckleballer, though. I worry that if R.A. Dickey doesn't become a success, the weirdness quotient of Major League Baseball may be diminished.

A's 6, Angels 1: Greg Smith is another one who showed up (CG, 4 H, 1 ER). The Angels made it easy for him, though, by only looking at 100 pitches the whole game. It's hard to go from first to third on a single (as I understand ONLY the Angels are allowed to do by law) when you never see first.

Diamondbacks 6, Brewers 3: The Dbacks avoid sinking below .500. Not that it matters much in that division, which is starting to look like the 1994 AL West. Eric Byrnes left the game with a pulled hamstring -- the other one this time -- and is heading back to the DL. That could be good news for Arizona, actually.

Cubs 9, Giants 2: Nothin' like facing Barry Zito to stop a losing streak. He may as well have greeted the Cubs at SFO with a basket of baked goods. I think he met DeRosa with a big sloppy kiss (3-6, 6 RBI).