Diamondbacks 8, Cardinals 6; Mariners 12, Rangers 6: Stephen Drew hits for the cycle in the Dbacks-Cards game, and Adrian Beltre does the same in the Mariners-Rangers tilt. They are the third and fourth players in just over two weeks to do it, following Mark Kotsay on August 14th and Cristian Guzman on the 28th. Carlos Gomez did it back in May, making it five guys this season. Other seasons in which five or more guys hit for the cycle: 1887, 1890, 1933, 1940, 1950, 1970, 1976, 1980, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006. I knew you wanted to know that.Astros 3, Cubs 0: Oswalt shuts down the suddenly punchless Cubbies over 8+. The Astros would currently be leading the NL West and would at least be in the conversation in the East.
Yankees 13, Tigers 9: Justin Verlander (1.2 IP, 8 H, 7 ER) and Sidney Ponson (3 IP, 9 H, 6 ER) combine to commit heinous crimes against baseball artistry in a matchup many thought we'd be seeing in the playoffs this October. Jim Leyland gives the quote of the week: ""We basically threw a lot of balls when we should've thrown strikes and we threw some strikes when we should've thrown balls. And that's the end of the conversation. I'll see you later."
Rockies 4, Giants 0: There's some loose talk in the game story about the Rockies making a run in September, but the only race actually implicated by this game is the four-way battle royal between the Nats, Giants, A's, and Padres for the worst offense in baseball. As far as that goes, San Francisco putting up a goose egg in Coors makes this something of a statement game for them.
Indians 5, White Sox 0: A five hit shutout for Cliff Lee's 20th victory has to put an end to any debate -- to the extent there was any in the first place -- about the AL Cy Young. He was toying with the Sox in this one, at one point retiring more than 20 in a row.
Nats 7, Phillies 4: It seems like a decade ago, but it was really just the opening weekend of this season when I was exhibiting a full-on Ryan Zimmerman man-crush, only to have the season turn into a nightmare for both him and the Nats. It's nice to see him have a couple of big hits lately and see the Nats string together a bunch of wins like they have to remind people that there really was a reason to be somewhat excited about Washington before the season started.
Mets 4, Brewers 2: Sheets leaves the game early due to problems in the groinal area and Eric Gagne gave up three runs in the eighth. Not good for Milwaukee, obviously, but given that Ned Yost is content to shred Sabathia's arm before he hits the free agent market, they may just decided to go with a one man rotation from here on out.
Marlins 4, Braves 3: Batting second for the Atlanta Braves . . . the first baseman . . . Martin Prado . . . Prado. That pretty much sums up Atlanta's year, doesn't it?
Red Sox 7, Orioles 4: I hate to root against anyone just for the sake of rooting against them, and I have nothing personal against the Red Sox, but we really, really need Boston to lose some games in a hurry if we are to be faced with the dream scenario of Fox trying to hype Yankees and Red Sox-free playoff baseball next month. Can you imagine an ALCS intro that goes "162 games in the regular season, and nothing has been decided between the Twins and the White Sox!" We really need this to happen.
Dodgers 5, Padres 2: Finally, the Padres inability to score runs works in Greg Maddux's favor. Maddux has now tied Clemens on the all-time win list, which is rather important on a symbolic level for bespectacled men who, in the absence of brute strength, depend on their guile and intellect to get by. Not that I know anyone like that.
Yankees 13, Tigers 9: Justin Verlander (1.2 IP, 8 H, 7 ER) and Sidney Ponson (3 IP, 9 H, 6 ER) combine to commit heinous crimes against baseball artistry in a matchup many thought we'd be seeing in the playoffs this October. Jim Leyland gives the quote of the week: ""We basically threw a lot of balls when we should've thrown strikes and we threw some strikes when we should've thrown balls. And that's the end of the conversation. I'll see you later."
Rockies 4, Giants 0: There's some loose talk in the game story about the Rockies making a run in September, but the only race actually implicated by this game is the four-way battle royal between the Nats, Giants, A's, and Padres for the worst offense in baseball. As far as that goes, San Francisco putting up a goose egg in Coors makes this something of a statement game for them.
Indians 5, White Sox 0: A five hit shutout for Cliff Lee's 20th victory has to put an end to any debate -- to the extent there was any in the first place -- about the AL Cy Young. He was toying with the Sox in this one, at one point retiring more than 20 in a row.
Nats 7, Phillies 4: It seems like a decade ago, but it was really just the opening weekend of this season when I was exhibiting a full-on Ryan Zimmerman man-crush, only to have the season turn into a nightmare for both him and the Nats. It's nice to see him have a couple of big hits lately and see the Nats string together a bunch of wins like they have to remind people that there really was a reason to be somewhat excited about Washington before the season started.
Mets 4, Brewers 2: Sheets leaves the game early due to problems in the groinal area and Eric Gagne gave up three runs in the eighth. Not good for Milwaukee, obviously, but given that Ned Yost is content to shred Sabathia's arm before he hits the free agent market, they may just decided to go with a one man rotation from here on out.
Marlins 4, Braves 3: Batting second for the Atlanta Braves . . . the first baseman . . . Martin Prado . . . Prado. That pretty much sums up Atlanta's year, doesn't it?
Red Sox 7, Orioles 4: I hate to root against anyone just for the sake of rooting against them, and I have nothing personal against the Red Sox, but we really, really need Boston to lose some games in a hurry if we are to be faced with the dream scenario of Fox trying to hype Yankees and Red Sox-free playoff baseball next month. Can you imagine an ALCS intro that goes "162 games in the regular season, and nothing has been decided between the Twins and the White Sox!" We really need this to happen.
Dodgers 5, Padres 2: Finally, the Padres inability to score runs works in Greg Maddux's favor. Maddux has now tied Clemens on the all-time win list, which is rather important on a symbolic level for bespectacled men who, in the absence of brute strength, depend on their guile and intellect to get by. Not that I know anyone like that.
4 comments:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitting_for_the_cycle
It looks like this is the second time in the history of baseball that two guys have hit for the cycle on the same day. The first was September 17, 1920; Bobby Veach (DET) and George Burns (NYN) did it.
Agreed wholeheartedly with the FOX sentiment. A Rays/Twins/White Sox/Angels lineup just doesn't have that same punch for the network.... :-)
I kind of agree with the Fox sentiment too, and I'm a huge Red Sox fan. I don't want them to miss the playoffs, but if they do, Fox's misery will go a long way towards making me feel better.
APBA Guy-
I like your assessment for weakest offenses in the MLB. From a consistently weak perspective, the Giants may in fact edge out the A's. They get the edge because they are less patient but every bit as futile. The reduce patience leads to fewer walks and thus fewer runs. I think with Dukes and Milledge in the lineup, and Zimmerman healthy, the Nats are probably slightly better than those two Bay Area teams.
I can only imagine what Cliff Lee would have done to the A's or Giants the way he was pitching last night.
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