He had a quality start... And he had no problem shutting down the Yanks last year in the ALDS beating Wang.
No problem? He didn't pitch well against us he just got lucky that Wang was awful and he got absolutely lit up by Boston in the ALCS.
Braves have been coming apart with the injuries. They just got blown out twice by the Cardinals at Turner Field. Morton vs. Looper: 12-3 loss Campillo (who's been great) vs. Wellenmeyer: 8-3 loss Braves now out of contention and they help St. Louis stay in the race.
Rockies -131 lost 6-4 Red Sox -125 lost 6-2 Yankees -176 lost 7-6 Blue Jays -157 (my pick today) lost 3-0. Garza shut 'em down. Braves -118 lost 8-3 Brewers -128 got blown out by the Cubs Padres -123 lost 3-0 to Arizona Oakland -115 lost 5-2
He pitched a good Game 1... He shit the bed against Boston. But he did good against the Yanks. I'd trust CC in a big spot than Wang, who has shown nothing in the post-season...
He had the luxury of a huge early lead. He didn't pitch well, he faced our choking bats which makes any pitch look good but he still gave up 3 runs in 5 innings.
I don't have the odds for Wednesday night's games anymore, so I can't show that. Tonight: Yankees were -173, lost 12-6 Cardinals were -129, lost 9-4 Rangers were -138, lost 8-5
Interview of the Month: On July 17, Jason Page, on Connecticut's ESPN Radio 1300, was interviewing John Sterling when the session suddenly ended. Sterling had been pulled over by a trooper for driving while talking on his cell phone. Writing about the episode in the New Haven Register, Chip Malafronte took it from there: "Interview over! Spotless driving record over! Troopers win! Theeeeee troopers win!" (And thanks to reader Ray Wagner of Orange, Conn., for the heads up.)
Zito completely shut down the Padres tonight. Upsets for 8/2/08: Padres -245 (!!!) lose 2-0 to Giants. 3 hit shutout Mariners -132 lose to Orioles Twins -175 lose 5-1 to Indians Mets -141 lose 5-4 to Astros White Sox -155 lose 9-7 to Royals
Yoslan Herrera is one of the worst pitchers I have ever seen. I watched him tonight against Arizona. Man... I cannot believe that the Pirates keep running this bum out there. ERA now up to 9.82. He lasted 1.1 innings tonight. 18.1 innings, 35 hits, 12 walks, 10 Ks. 20 earned runs.
Pirates-Diamondbacks tonight featured a few odd things: Chris Young tripled, and then they put on the squeeze on the first pitch with Snyder up. Pitch outside, Snyder misses, Young caught in a rundown, and a nice barehand by Mientkiewicz of the throw to the plate gets Young. That proved costly, as they likely would've had at least two more runs in the inning had that not happened. Bottom of the 8th, John Grabow comes in with bases loaded and 1 out. He walks Snyder on four pitches! Then on ball 4 to Stephen Drew, Grabow throws a wild pitch, a run scores, and the other runner advances. Heck, Drew could've gone to 2nd on ball four had he wanted to. He just trotted to first instead. Finally, Pittsburgh gets out of it on a DP grounder by Hudson. 13-5 Arizona headed to the 9th, and it should've been worse.
Twins had a 6-1 lead against the punchless Mariners going into the 7th inning stretch. Not so fast... Mariners 7th Glen Perkins pitching: Kenji Johjima: Strike looking, Foul, Johjima singled to left. Ichiro Suzuki: Ball, Ball, Strike looking, Ball, Suzuki walked, Betancourt to second. Willie Bloomquist: Foul, Ball, Foul, Ball, Ball, Bloomquist singled to right, Betancourt to third, Suzuki to second. Raul Ibanez: Ball, Ibanez homered to right, Betancourt, Suzuki and Bloomquist scored. Brian Bass relieved Glen Perkins. Adrian Beltre: Ball, Ball, Beltre doubled to left. Jose Lopez: Ball, Ball, Foul, Ball, Strike looking, Lopez singled to right, Beltre scored. Craig A. Breslow relieved Brian Bass. Jose Vidro: Pickoff attempt, Ball, Ball, Lopez to second on passed ball, Foul, Ball, Vidro popped out to third. Bryan LaHair: Miguel Cairo hit for Bryan LaHair. Miguel Cairo: Ball, Ball, Ball, Strike looking, Cairo walked. Matt Guerrier relieved Craig A. Breslow Jeff Clement hit for Kenji Johjima. Jeff Clement: Clement singled to right, Lopez scored, Cairo to third, Clement to second on right fielder Span's throwing error. Yuniesky Betancourt: Ball, Strike swinging, Foul, Foul, Foul, Betancourt reached on an infield single, Cairo and Clement scored, Betancourt to second on shortstop Harris' throwing error. Ichiro Suzuki: Intentional ball, Intentional ball, Intentional ball, Suzuki intentionally walked. Willie Bloomquist: Ball, Foul, Foul, Ball, Ball, Foul, Bloomquist walked, Betancourt to third, Suzuki to second. Raul Ibanez: Ibanez singled to center, Betancourt and Suzuki scored, Bloomquist out at home. End of Inning (10 Runs, 8 Hits, 2 Errors)
So Twins blow a 6-1 lead in the 7th to lose 11-6. Now the Angels blow a 4 run lead in the 9th. 5-1 game. Now 5-5. Orioles 9th Scot Shields pitching: Kevin Millar: Scot Shields relieved Jose Arredondo, Strike looking, Ball, Ball, Millar singled to left. Luke Scott: Ball, Ball, Scott popped out to second. Jay Payton: Payton flied out to center. Juan Castro: Strike looking, Castro singled to center, Millar to second. Francisco Rodriguez relieved Scot Shields. Brian Roberts: Strike looking, Foul, Ball, Foul, Roberts safe at first on 1st baseman Teixeira's fielding error, Millar to third, Castro to second. Nick Markakis: Strike looking, Markakis singled to right, Millar and Castro scored, Roberts to second. Melvin Mora: Ball, Roberts to third, Markakis to second on wild pitch, Mora doubled to left, Roberts and Markakis scored. Aubrey Huff: Strike looking, Ball, Ball, Strike swinging, Ball, Foul, Huff struck out swinging. End of Inning (4 Runs, 4 Hits, 1 Error)
however, angels load the bases with 2 outs against Sherrill in the bottom of the 9th. Sherrill proceeds to walk Chone Figgins. 6-5 Angels win.
Chris Waters made his major league debut for the Orioles against the best team in baseball, the Angels. 8 innings of one hit shutout ball. Trembley didn't let him go for the 1 hit shutout, pulling him for Sherrill. Orioles win 3-0.
Nick Swisher with a 3 run walkoff in the bottom of the 14th. White Sox win, 10-8. As he's answering the first question in the postgame interview, Juan Uribe runs up and nails him in the face with a pie. So Swisher does the rest of the TV interview with his face and hat covered in cream. Then they show him going back into the dugout after the interview, still with the pie all over him. That's damn funny. Imagine being in the clubhouse and a guy walks in with cream all over him. After it happened, the interviewer is like: "That's a shame. I was hoping to conduct a pie-free interview." Swisher: "Naw, naw, it's ok. It feels great."
top 9 in Seattle. Putz has no command. Gives up a double to Jason Kubel (his line: 4/5, 3 runs scored, 3 RBI, 2 homers, and a double) with runner on 1st, 2 outs. They hold Morneau at 3rd, which would prove to be the wrong decision. Delmon Young is the next hitter. Signal for an intentional walk. Putz almost throws ball one over Burke's head. Then Mike Redmond pinch hits and hits a line drive deep into right, but Ichiro catches it for the final out. Twins win 8-7. The bullpens were horrendous. Putz, by the way, nearly blew the game twice. He gave up a lead in the top of the 8th, making it 7-6 (Twins scored 4 runs in the inning), before Lopez got a 2 run double in the bottom of the 8th to give him the lead back. Then a walk and a double down the line. Fortunate he got away with the win. Oh yeah, I was rooting for the Twins, and I disagreed with the decision to hold Morneau. They had Delmon Young and then nothing. It would've been a close play at the plate, and I think you have to be aggressive in that situation, with Young on deck and then a gaping hole.
