The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid. And if the hitter is timid, he has to remind the hitter he's timid.
--- Don Drysdale
Ex-Blue Jay of the Day? Has to be Chris Woodward. Nothing like a pinch-hit walk-off homer in the eleventh inning. Those of you who always thought Woody would be a great utility guy... you were right. He's played every infield and outfield position, he's hitting .308 - every bench should have a guy like that.
The Yankees aren't in first place anymore. With the game on the line, protecting a one-run lead in Texas, they had Wayne Franklin pitching to Hank Blalock, which worked out just about as well as you might have expected.
Meanwhile, Curt Schilling got his first save since 1992, as the Red Sox leapfrogged the Yankees and moved back into first place. Baltimore was three outs away from keeping pace with the Red Sox, but B.J. Ryan couldn't get it done against the Twins.
Incidentally, further proof that the Yankees will try just about anyone with a pulse as a starting pitcher: former Jays farmhand Aaron Small is making his first major league start since 1996 for the Yankees tonight. In Texas, no less. In the last 7 years, Small has worked 16.2 IP in 8 major league appearances.
Alan Embree (1-1, 7.65) was Designated For Assignment by Boston yesterday, who also traded former Blue Jay Scott Cassidy to San Diego for outfielder Adam Hyzdu, who replaces Embree on the active roster.
Also floating around on the DFA list is Shingo Takatsu, who went into this season pencilled in as the White Sox closer.
Meanwhile Jose Lima walks the streets, gainfully employed as a starting pitcher for a major league team...
Now that everybody, even Liam, has jettisoned Zack Greinke from their fantasy teams, what does he do? Seven shutout innings for his second win in as many starts.
Another of the AL's bright young arms, Jeremy Bonderman, shut down the White Sox for his 12th win. It was the 29th win of his young career, which gives him one more than Greg Maddux had at the same age. (Roger Clemens had 9 wins at age 22.) OK, OK, he's still got a long, long, long way to go. But I still say... this is the guy to watch.
Unless, of course, it's Rich Harden. The Angels got a good close-up look last night, and were more or less helpless. Harden is now 5-1, 1.34 since coming off the DL.
Washington maintained their tenuous hold on first place in the NL East, thanks largely to John Patterson, who contributed 8 scoreless innings. Patterson is 4-2 in 17 starts: he had 5 straight no-decisions coming into yesterday's game, and another run of 5 straight no-decisions in May and June. With Atlanta blowing a late lead in San Francisco, the Nats increased their lead to 1.5 over the Braves.
All five NL East teams played the five NL West teams yesterday. The Giants were the only West team to win.
Today's action gets underway this afternoon, with a couple of former Jays lefties hooking up at Fenway:
AL
Tampa Bay (Hendrickson 4-6, 6.35) at Boston (Wells 7-5, 4.73) 1:05
Baltimore (Lopez 9-5, 4.50) at Minnesota (Radke 6-9, 4.00) 1:10
Detroit (Robertson 4-7, 3.28) at Chicago (Garcia 9-3, 3.41) 2:05
New York (Small 0-0, 0.00) at Texas (Benoit 1-0, 0.69) 7:05
Kansas City (Lima 2-8, 7.16) at Cleveland (Sabathia 6-6, 4.63) 7:05
Seattle (Franklin 5-10, 4.35) at Toronto (Chacin 8-5, 3.81) 7:07
Oakland (Zito 7-8, 3.74) at Los Angeles (Byrd 9-5, 3.67) 10:05
NL
Houston (Pettitte 6-7, 2.98) at Pittsburgh (Fogg 4-5, 4.64) 12:35
Atlanta (Smoltz 10-5, 2.73) at San Francisco (Lowry 6-9, 4.74) 3:35
Colorado (Jennings 5-9, 5.08) at Washington (Hernandez 12-3, 3.41) 7:05
Los Angeles (Lowe 5-10, 4.27) at Philadelphia (Lidle 8-7, 4.07) 7:05
Chicago (Wood 3-2, 4.41) at Cincinnati (Harang 5-8, 3.95) 7:10
San Diego (Williams 5-5, 4.15) at New York (Glavine 6-7, 4.71) 7:10
Milwaukee (Sheets 5-6, 3.45) at St.Louis (Mulder 10-5, 4.13) 8:10
Florida (Moehler 5-6, 3.43) at Arizona (Webb 8-6, 3.64) 10:05
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