Star of The Game: The offense was mighty, but Pete Walker stepped up with three no-hit innings when the rest of the 'pen really needed a day off. No less than five relievers are rested for today's game, and Walker deserves a lot of the credit.
Defensive Play of the Game: I'll open this one up to the readership, as I don't actually recall a fantastic defensive play. Troy Glaus picked a few at third, but none of them were really "Play of the Game"-type plays.
Fun On The Basepaths: The Jays had four double plays yesterday, stole three bases and got caught once on a hit-and-run. Lyle Overbay hit into two of those DPs and missed on what had to be a hit-and-run -- there's no way Shea Hillenbrand should be stealing.
More Details, and Today's Game: The Spencer Fordin for a new generation has your game story, and today's game is Clement vs. Towers. Add their ERAs together and you get 16.24.
David Bush Update: Two starts this week. On Monday night, he needed 101 pitches to get through six, until he was pulled for pinch-hitter Gabe Gross (who hit a 3-run homer). No walks and five K's, and seven of his nine hits allowed were singles. One of those other hits was a homerun by Morgan Ensberg, which was gone -- and Dave Bush knew it. That tied it up in the sixth at three, and that's where Gross came in. Game Score: 47.
Yesterday, Milwaukee got a 11-0 lead and Bush got the chance to go the distance, having struck out five in a row at one point, and going four innings without giving up a hit. With two outs in the top of the ninth and nine strikeouts already on his record, Bush faced pinch-hitter Javier Valentin who singled. Then Austin Kearns doubled. At this point, Bush had thrown 112 pitches, his highest since he shut down the Yankees' B-Team in October 2004. Fortunately, Scott Hatteberg was up and he popped out on a 2-0 pitch. Game Score: 86, the highest in the majors so far this year. Average Game Score: 59, with two above 70 and two below 50.
He's Hurt Again, Banks On It: A.J. Burnett's hurting again. Shaun Marcum got the callup, and look for Josh Banks to make the next open start in the rotation, if it comes to that.
For those who are unfamiliar with Banks, Jordan Furlong's thoughts in our Top 30 Prospect List would be a good place to start. He ended up as #8, and Baseball America put him in the five spot. I'd agree more with BA, to be honest, but I actually had Banks at #2 on my list -- higher than the 4-9-9-11 rankings doled out by the rest of our intrepid minor league team. So I have a soft spot for him.
You Mean They Might Get A Real Stadium? The House Tax Committee in St. Paul discussed "numerous amendments to [a ballpark bill] that would facilitate construction of a new Twins park." They approved it, but only by a 15-13 margin. The Twins Sports Inc. president said it was "real progress" (whatever that's worth).
Papelbon Still On Top: Not counting last night's Detroit-Seattle game, Jon Papelbon is still the AL leader in Saves Above Average, with 1.1. Chris Ray and Joe Nathan are second and third at 0.8 and 0.6. Thanks to some other pitchers blowing easy saves, B.J. Ryan is now at 0.3 above average, despite not saving a game in over a week.
It Happens Every Game: The old saying "You see something new in each baseball game" applied to the Oakland-LAAoA game on Friday. One out in the ninth, Kiko Calero looking for the save, and Jeff Mathis is the batter. He swings and misses at strike three, then Jason Kendall throws down to second, but Robb Quinlan was safe. Or was he? The umpire said Mathis interfered with Kendall's throwing motion (which he did, if unintentionally) and the runner was called out. Game over, and I can honestly say I've never seen that happen before. Today's matchup in this series is Kelvim Escobar and Esteban Loaiza. Yeah.
Don't Panic: Here's Rob Neyer's favourite game:
Player A: 20 IP, 3.60 ERA, 3 BB, 10 K in three starts
Player B: 19.2 IP, 3.66 ERA, 6 BB, 15 K in three starts
First person not named Alex Obal to identify those two pitchers wins a No-Prize.