Touch ‘Em All: Red Sox Could Run Away and Hide Soon

Red Sox 8 – Marlins 2: The Red Sox are starting to look very dangerous.  We had them number one in the power rankings yesterday and we think they’re poised to rattle off some solid win streaks in the near future.  We were ripping David Ortiz up until last week but he appears to have woken out of his slumber.  Yesterday, he went deep again.  In the last 15 days, Ortiz is hitting .303 with 3 HRs and 7 RBIs.  Tim Wakefield got his ninth win and had the knuckler dancing all over the plate.  The Marlins are tanking and look like they’re destined for 4th in the NL East.

Cardinals 11 – Tigers 2: After a series of successful starts for Justin Verlander, he was bound to throw in a clunker.  He only lasted 4 innings in this one and had given up five runs by the time he departed.  Albert Pujols hit number 23 out of the yard off of Verlander in the effort.  In the next 3 weeks, both the NL Central and AL Central battle each other in interleague play.  Perhaps after it concludes, someone will decide they actually want to win either of those divisions.

Royals 5 – Diamondbacks 0: Good God the Diamondbacks are terrible.  Phoenix might rival Washington D.C. as one of the worst sports cities in America (remember, the Cardinals play in Glendale).  Gil Meche threw a gem and picked up win number four on the season.  He’s pitched well, but the Royals have simply tanked it in the last 4 weeks.  They’re 10-20 in the last 30 games they’ve played.

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Touch ‘Em All: Johan Gets Shelled

Yankees 15 – Mets 0: This weekend for the Mets was just like one giant kick to the collective groin.  The Friday loss was despicable.  Saturday K-Rod manages to open his mouth and incite the Yankees.  And Sunday, they get rolled and shutout.  Robinson Cano was big in this one driving in 3 runs.  Johan Santana went 3 IP and gave up 9 ERs.  It was the single worst start of his major league career.  Luis Castillo needs to be in the witness protection program for a few weeks in N.Y.  Or, they could just designate him for assignment already.

Dodgers 6 – Rangers 3: Chad Billingsley is arguably the NL Cy Young award winning right now.  He leads the NL in wins, picking up his ninth in this one.  And, he isn’t just a thrower.  He only struck out three in this one needing only 97 pitches to get through 7 full innings.  Casey Blake pretty much carried the offense as he drove in 4 runs, 3 of them coming on a homer.  The Rangers were one of the hottest teams to start the season.  They’re cooling off as they lost Josh Hamilton two weeks ago and Frank Francisco could be headed to the DL as well.

Angels 6 – Padres 0: Jered Weaver is starting a revolution.  This guy killed our fantasy stat lines for two seasons so we avoided him this year like LeBron at the end of the Eastern Conference Finals.  He went all nine innings in this one to earn his first shutout of the year and his seventh win.  The Angels are healthy, almost, and they’re starting to get rolling.  They need Vlad to start picking up his share of the runs soon or he could be moved down in the lineup.  The Padres won nine straight not too long ago.  They’re back to their old ways.  Don’t expect to see much from them, especially with Peavy out.

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Weekend Slate

Not much going on with the NBA getting two days off again between games.  There is a UFC pay-per-view on tonight, our preview is below. The College World Series is underway in Omaha.  And, of course, you’ve got summertime afternoon baseball.  Here’s some highlights for both the fights and the baseball:

• Virginia vs. LSU @ CWS – (And the Valley Shook’s Preview – LSU Blog)
• Cro Kop vs. Turk Fight – (CRM’s Blood, Booze and Bruises)
• Mets vs Yankees (Pinstripe Alley)
• Dodgers vs Rangers (True Blue L.A.)

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Touch ‘Em All: Yanks! Sawks! Media Overstimulated!

Red Sox 7 – Yankees 0: And, the Yankees are 0-6 against The Nation this year.  A.J. Burnett was brilliant (read: stupendously AWFUL) in this one going 2.2 innings and allowing five earned runs.  He threw 88 pitches during that span.  You have to really, really try to throw that many pitches in that short of an outing.  Credit should be given to that effort.  David Ortiz hit a two-run homer…wait, that can’t be right.  It says it right here though?  Are we sure on this?  Ok, I guess we’ll run with it.  So, Papi went deep in this game.  It must have been after they pulled Burnett and put in Mel Stottlemyre.  He had to be throwing BP or something.  Oh, and Kevin Youkilis stole a base.  Yeah, he’s the one that looks like a caveman.  And, onto other non-bizarro baseball…

Mets 6 – Phillies 5: Santana actually had a pretty rough outing in this one giving up a season high 5 ER while only going 7 innings.  He gave up twice as many home runs as batters punched out.  And, I suppose the bizarro baseball continues then.  K-Rod picked up save number 16 as Pedro Feliciano got the setup role with J.J. Putz on the DL.  There were seven home runs hit in this game as it appears that the wind in New York is blowing out to all fields at gale force levels.

Blue Jays 9 – Rangers 0: Just hours after learning that Jesse Litsch would miss the remainder of the season for Tommy John surgery the Blue Jays pitching staff shutout the high-powered Rangers offense and held them to just two hits.  Adam Lind and Aaron Hill continue to have amazing, breakout season as they each went deep.  Also, if you managed to pick up Marco Scutaro in your fantasy league…I hate you.  I flip-flopped on that never-was for like three days.  Damn you indecision…

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Touch ‘Em All: Let’s Play Two!

Diamondbacks 9 – Padres 6: In an 18 inning marathon, the Diamondbacks finally got a 3-run-homer from Mark Reynolds that vaulted them to the win.  How San Diego only notched 9 hits in 18 innings is beyond us.  Reynolds and Josh Whitesell drove in six of the nine Arizona runs as another oustanding start by Dan Haren was wasted.  Haren went seven and only allowed one earned run to cross the plate.  He’s 4-4 on the season…and on my fantasy team.  Damnit.

Rangers 6 – Red Sox 3: Vicente Padilla must have channeled his anger from being sent down into a decent pitching performance.  Two days after clearing waivers since no one would pick up his $8M salary, Padilla led the Rangers in the rubber match against the Red Sox.  Jacoby Ellsbury left in the sixth inning with a minor shoulder strain.  He’s listed as day-to-day.

Cubs 6 – Reds 3: In the extra inning rubber match (the Cubs 4th of their road trip), the Cubs won in the 12th.  The Cubs bullpen is the most Jekyll and Hyde we’ve seen in years.  It’s like good Rex and bad Rex.  However, when Randy Wells pitches, it always sucks.  At least their consistent.  Carlos Marmol needs to be put in the pen and told to simply throw his fastball for strikes.  The one bright spot for the North-siders is that Angel Guzman is making a play for that closer’s role.

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Touch ‘Em All: Mets Have Lost 1 Straight to Nats!

Nationals 7 – Mets 1: John Maine got absolutely pasted by the Nats in just four innings of work.  He gave up three homers, one each to Dunn, Dukes and Johnson.  John Lannan on the other end went for his first Major League complete game and his 3rd win of the year while not giving up an earned run.  The Mets have lost 4 of their last 5 and are falling quickly in the standings.  And, J.J. Putz is out for at least 10-12 weeks.  Phillies have a chance to run away and hide here.

Rays 9 – Yankees 7: Mariano Rivera seems to always get touched up by the Rays.  He took the loss in this one as he surrendered four runs in the ninth to blow the game.  Sabathia gave the Yanks 8 strong innings to give the bullpen some rest.  Mark Teixiera.  So hot right now.

Dodgers 3 – Phillies 2: The Mets are giving them every chance to pull away in the East but the Andre Ethier is having nothing of it.  Less than 24 hours after hitting a walk-off double, he went yard in this one in extras to end it at Chavez Ravine.  The Dodgers are clearly the crop of the NL and they haven’t had many since he underwent that C-Section 4 weeks ago.  Once he’s off maternity leave, it’s going to be a bloodbath in the NL West.

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Touch ‘Em All: The Baby Bucs Sweep Mets

Pirates 11 – Mets 6: Pirates prospect Andrew McCutchen went 2-for-4 in his MLB debut a day after the Pirates traded Nate McLouth to the Braves.  The Mets are reeling right now having been swept out of Pittsburgh.  They’re only four games above .500.  Their only takeaway from this game was that Carlos Beltran was finally able to start after a bout with food poisoning.  He went yard in the return.  The Pittsburgh bullpen went 4.2 scoreless innings to pick up the win.  It’ll be interesting to see who the Pirates jettison next in their rebuilding process.

Athletics 7 – White Sox 0: We were at this game and in a much less impressive debut, Gordon Beckham went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in this one for the pale hose.  This game is probably the single, quickest baseball game we’ve ever attended.  The CTA got us there 25 minutes late so we only were physically inside the ballpark for two hours.  Mark Buerhle works fast.  Even when he gets shelled.  Oakland starter Brett Anderson lowered his ERA from 6.24 to 4.97.  Good work, Brett.

Angels 6 – Blue Jays 5: Adam Lind went off in this game with a 5-for-5 effort.  Yet, he only scored twice and didn’t drive in a single run in the loss for the Jays.  We kept looking for who got the stolen base on our fantasy team yesterday and still aren’t sure the one credited to Vlad in this game is correct.  John Lackey went seven strong and struck out six but Darren Oliver gave up three earned in the eighth without recording an out.  Justin Speier snaked the win in this comeback.

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Touch ‘Em All: Cubs Refuse to Let Randy Wells Win

Braves 6 – Cubs 5: Randy Wells threw 6.2 no-hit innings and left after giving up on one hit through seven.  The bullpen then proceeded to give up five earned while walking two and hitting another batter as the game went into extra innings.  Chipper Jones drove in Yunel Escobar in the twelveth inning for a walk-off winner.  In the five career starts that Wells has amassed this year, he’s given up just six earned runs yet he’s 0-2 on the year.  He got his first major league hit in this game too.

Nationals 10 – Giants 6: Bob Howry and Merkin Valdez combined to get two batters out while giving up six earned out of the bullpen.  Tim Lincecum was the victim of the spoiled start here.  He went 6.1 IP while striking out seven and only allowing two earned.  Eight different Nationals each drove in at least one run.

Blue Jays 6 – Angels 4: Roy Halladay went the distance in this one while striking out 14 to pick up his ninth win of the year.  He’s 9-1 with a 2.77 ERA.  He did throw 133 pitches in the effort.

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