You argue with the umpire because there is nothing else you can do about it.
- Leo Durocher
As several readers noted, there were a lot of interesting pitching matchups yesterday. Alas, few of them lived up to their promise. Neither Clement nor Buehrle were involved in the decision in Chicago. Colon wasn't sharp, but got the win when the Angels rallied against the New York bullpen. Johan Santana won, but only went five innings. Jake Peavy got hammered by the Mets. And in that same game...
Kaz Ishii - six shutout innings. In case you're wondering what those words look like in print.
The best pitcher's duel took place in Philadelphia, as Odalis Perez and the Dodgers edged Jon Lieber and the Phillies by a 1-0 score. Neither of these guys had been pitching well lately, so they were both overdue.
Vladimir Guerrero broke off a 4-45 slump in a big way, hitting a seventh inning grand slam off Tom Gordon. The Yankees lost the game 6-5, and lost a game to Boston in the standings. Jason Giambi hit a pair of homers - again - he's now hit 10 HRs in 14 games. All but one have been solo shots.
The Red Sox took the first game of the Sox showdown in Chicago. Curt Schilling blew the save and vultured the win - he looked much sharper in his second inning of work than his first.
Kenny Rogers' appeal will be heard today, finally. I can't imagine his penalty will be reduced. It's possible, but only in the same way that it's possible that Christy Turlington will drop her husband and insist on supporting me in a manner to which I could surely become accustomed. I like my chances better than Kenny's, so his start last night was probably his last action until about the 11th of August, when the Rangers visit Yankee Stadium. And I'm sure the New York fans will give Kenny a big warm welcome back, seeing as how they have such fond memories of him.
Texas ended up losing the game to Oakland. The A's won their 50th game, but didn't gain any ground in the division (the Angels won) or the Wild Card (the Twins won).
Justin Morneau batted eighth for the Twins last night, and Ron Gardenhire talked about sending him to the minors when they add an extra pitcher this weekend. Mr Ryan, Mr Ryan? Every phone line in the office just lit up...
The Braves had another good day, sitting back, enjoying the day off, moving into a first place tie. Even when they don't play, they win. This because the Nationals lost to Houston. Esteban Loaiza pitched well, but Roy Oswalt was better. However, some good news for the Nats: Livan Hernandez was feeling much better today, and plans to finish the season before having his knee surgery. And Nick Johnson may begin a rehab assignment next week.
Kerry Wood had a cortisone shot in his shoulder, and hopes to miss just one start. And I am the Queen of Sheba.
Today's action is all under the lights:
AL
Seattle (Moyer 8-3, 4.47) at Cleveland (Elarton 6-4, 4.75) 7:05
Minnesota (Mays 5-4, 4.03) at Detroit (Maroth 7-10, 4.20) 7:05
Baltimore (Chen 7-5, 3.76) at Tampa Bay (McClung 0-5, 7.05) 7:15
Boston (Wakefield 8-8, 4.12) at Chicago (Garland 14-4, 3.21) 8:05
Oakland (Haren 7-7, 4.09) at Texas (Young 8-5, 3.95) 8:05
Toronto (Walker 3-2, 2.44) at Kansas City (Hernandez 7-9, 4.33) 8:10
New York (Leiter 4-7, 6.25) at Los Angeles (Lackey 7-4, 3.97) 10:05
NL
Hoston (Clemens 7-4, 1.47) at Washington (Drese 7-8, 5.47) 7:05
San Diego (Stauffer 3-5, 4.42) at Philadelphia (Padilla 5-8, 5.61) 7:05
Colorado (Wright 5-10, 5.43) at Pittsburgh (Wells 6-10, 4.82) 7:05
Milwaukee (Ohka 6-4, 3.64) at Cincinnati (Ortiz 5-6, 6.30) 7:10
Los Angeles (Weaver 7-8, 4.26) at New York (Zambrano 4-8, 3.51) 7:10
Chicago (Zambrano 7-4, 3.60) at St.Louis (Carpenter 14-4, 2.34) 8:10
Atlanta (Hudson 7-5, 3.53) at Arizona (Vargas 3-5, 6.44) 9:40
Florida (Willis 13-5, 2.83) at San Francisco (Tomko 6-10, 4.98) 10:15
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050722022405157