Marlins Play Spoiler Role Well

The New York Mets managed to blow a three-run lead twice Thursday night and they could be on the verge of blowing their lead in the NL East, after commanding a 7-game gap a little more than a week ago. Now, they've lost six of seven.

The Florida Marlins took advantage of the absence of Mets closer Billy Wagner (back spasms) by rallying for 3 runs in the ninth inning before scoring in the 10th on Dan Uggla's game-winning RBI double for an 8-7 victory.

Mark Mulder Rusty in Return to Mound

Mark Mulder's season debut was best summed up in his own words,

"Not what I was hoping for."

Following a 49-minute rain delay, the St. Louis Cardinals lefty was roughed up by the Pittsburgh Pirates for an 8-2 loss Wednesday night.

After an injury-plagued 2006 season in which he went 6-7 with a 7.14 ERA before undergoing rotator cuff surgery, Mulder lasted just four innings in his first game back. He kicked off the game with a nine-pitch first inning before running into trouble, serving up six runs on eight hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Bucs backstop Ronny Paulino was 2-for-4 with a base hit and a three-run jack for his 8th hit in his last 11 at-bats.

Travis Hafner is a Monster, Tribe Wins Again

After beating Johan Santana for the fifth time this season on Monday, Travis Hafner and the Cleveland Indians defeated the Minnesota Twins for the 13th time (out of 17 games) to pad their AL Central lead to 7 games over the Detroit Tigers and 11.5 ahead of the Twins.

Aaron Laffey lasted just four innings for Cleveland, allowing five runs and six hits with a walk and a strikeout. Four relievers combined for five scoreless innings after him, including Rafael Betancourt for the win and Joe Borowski with the save.

Kevin Slowey pitched five innings for the Twins, giving up 2 runs -- 1 earned -- on five hits with three strikeouts. Six different relievers followed him, with Joe Nathan getting the blown save and Julio DePaula earning the loss.

Hafner nailed a solo shot in the first inning and Kenny Lofton scored on a fielding error in the second, but Jason Kubel got one back in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI double for Minnesota. Justin Morneau nailed a three-run two-bagger in the third to give the Twins a 4-2 lead before Luis Rodriguez drove in the fifth run on a single to center the following inning.

Friday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Just 3 hours after a tough 9-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals, the Minnesota Twins put youngster Scott Baker on the hill for the nightcap of a double-header at the Dome.

Taking a perfect game into the ninth inning, Baker fanned nine and threw 111 pitches in the 5-0 Twins victory, which lasted just over two hours.

The 25-year-old righty walked catcher John Buck on five pitches to lead off the ninth, erasing his chance to pitch just the 18th perfect game in big league history. Of course, he got the very next batter, Esteban German, to ground into a force out.

Mike Sweeney, who was activated from the DL prior to the game, came in as a pinch-hitter and belted one into short left-center to break up Baker's no-hit bid.

The feat marks Baker's first complete game shut-out, which had fans on their feet from roughly the seventh inning on.

Thursday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Chien-Ming Wang no-hit the Boston Red Sox for six-plus innings to help the New York Yankees complete another sweep with an exciting 5-0 victory Thursday night.

Out-scoring Boston 14-6 in three games with 17 more hits has New York enjoying the view from the top of the AL wild-card standings, sitting one game ahead of the Seattle Mariners.

Robinson Cano hit two opposite-field homers -- one in the third and one in the fifth -- to give his starter all the cushion he needed. Wang allowed only one hit -- a Mike Lowell single to right field two batters into the seventh -- right after Kevin Youkilis reached on a throwing error by Derek Jeter.

After a brief powwow on the hill, Wang forced J.D. Drew to ground into a double play which Red Sox skipper Terry Francona found slightly questionable.

He was ejected after the umpires ruled Youkilis out for straying from the basepath to avoid the tag by Alex Rodriguez on Drew's sharp grounder to third. After Youk scurried onto the infield grass, A-Rod threw to first for the other out.

This would normally not be a problem, but considering the second-base ump signaled safe while the third-base ump called Drew out, Francona was steamed and a little confused.

More high drama hit Yankee Stadium in the ninth when Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain was tossed after throwing not one, but two 99 mph fastballs over Youk's head. Of course, the rookie sensation threw his hands up in disbelief as he intended no such harm to the Red Sox first baseman.

Yankees manager Joe Torre called the ejection "ridiculous", adding that the umps "do not apply common sense" in many situations.

"I've seen it too many times. And something has to change," he said, suggesting school as an option to remove Old Blue's head from his ass.

Curt Schilling the Red Sox veteran starter and author of the fine blog 38 Pitches, allowed 2 runs on six hits in seven decent innings, striking out four and walking one. He is 4-4 with a 4.14 ERA over his last 10 starts, allowing 28 earned runs in just over 61 innings pitched.

Bobby Abreu hit an RBI double off Hideki Okajima in the eighth for the third Yankees run before they scored twice more on a double steal when catcher Jason Varitek's throw wandered into left field for an error.

Wednesday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Let me just make it known to the world that I hate the Cleveland Indians... in case you weren't aware. Sure, I try my best to be impartial and crap when it comes to writing about them, but for the record - $*@% the Tribe. Furthermore, $*!% C.C. Sabathia.

Anyway, Sabathia  allowed two runs on 7 hits, struck out two and walked two over six good innings for his 15th win. He also totally pissed me off when he hit Jason Bartlett (kind of meek and harmless... C.C. would eat him for dinner) and again when he beaned Rondell White (elderly... it's just wrong).

Torii Hunter grounded into a forceout in the fifth that scored Jason Tyner for his 94th RBI before Justin Morneau struck out swinging with men on the corners to end the inning. Then, Rondell scored on a Mike Redmond single to center in the sixth as the Minnesota Twins continued to threaten.

Morneau led off the eighth with a strikeout and after a Michael Cuddyer triple, Old Man White drove him in to get within one, but they couldn't hang on for the rally.

Something that troubles me: my Canadian Crusher went 0-for-3 last night and is batting .284 right now. Time to step it up, pal. Man, the expression on his face sums up last night's sentiment perfectly, just without the F-bombs and flung objects.

Johan Santana dropped to 0-4 in five starts this season against the Indians, the only team in the history of ever to beat him thrice in the same season. He gave up 10 hits, which matched a career-high, but managed to stick around for six innings with two K's. So not Johanesque.

Rookie infielder Asdrubal Cabrera's two-run shot off the two-time Cy Young winner paired with Victor Martinez's solo shot in the four-run first was all the Indians needed to complete the three-game sweep for their fifth straight victory and earn a 4.5-game lead in the AL Central over the second-place Detroit Tigers.

The defending ALC champs fell to a miserable 8.5 games behind Cleveland. The Twins, however, manage to hang on with every thread of hope until elimination. God, that's an ugly word.

There's a Moose on the Loose

Mike Mussina was given the boot from the New York Yankees rotation after three horrible starts in a row. Now, he'll be skipped for his next scheduled start, which is Saturday against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The 38-year-old righty refused to comment on the situation as he retreated from the clubhouse following the Yanks' 5-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox Tuesday night.

"He was disappointed, naturally. This was very difficult for me. We have relied on him every year since he's been here," said manager Joe Torre, who broke the news.

After going 15-7 with a 3.51 ERA last season, he was 8-10 with a 5.53 ERA this year. Over his last three starts... a 17.69 ERA. That's 19 earned runs over 9.2 innings.

Remember when Mussina was the Yankees' top starter? Yeah, that didn't last too long.

Related, the club will call up last year's first-round draft pick, Ian Kennedy from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees to pitch against the struggling D'Rays. The 22-year-old righty was 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA in six minor league starts.

Monday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Less than a month after being cut by the San Diego Padres, David Wells pitched five good innings in his brand spankin' new Los Angeles Dodgers uni Sunday night. He allowed 2 runs on 7 hits with two strikeouts -- walking three -- as his new club beat the New York Mets 6-2 to avoid the three-game sweep.

The surly, 44-year-old lefty became the oldest pitcher to start for the Dodgers since the club moved to the West Coast in 1958 and even bunted for a hit to lead off the fifth.

"It felt weird out there but I've been doing this for a long time... It's a big game, gimme the ball," Boomer said of his first start with his new ball club.

David Wright doubled twice and drove in the only two New York runs.

Mets starter John Maine gave up six runs -- three earned -- on nine hits in 5.2 innings with a walk and six K's.

Juan Pierre and Matt Kemp each had two hits and two RBIs for the Dodgers while Rafael Furcal went 3-for-4 with two runs scored.

New York is sitting comfortably at 6 games ahead in the NL East over the Philadelphia Phillies and seven over the Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers are fourth in the NL West, 6.5 games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks, but just 3.5 within the wild card-leading Padres.

Friday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Ah, the bench-clearing dust-up. Not quite a brawl -- as no punches were thrown -- just lots of trash-talking and frothing at the mouth. Sissies.

It began for the Philadelphia Phillies in the fourth inning on an Abraham Nunez grounder, when Carlos Ruiz took the legs out from under San Diego Padres second baseman Marcus Giles in a rather filthy attempt to break up the double play.

Wednesday's Babelicious Ass Whoopin'

Look at all those people!

And yeah, that's a record. During game one of a Wednesday double-header, the Texas Rangers became the first team in 110 years to score 30 runs in a game, setting an AL record with a 30-3 piss-pounding of the Baltimore Orioles.

So, in what inning did O's fans start emptying their seats? Maybe it was after the five-run fourth. Or that nine-run sixth. Did anyone stick around to watch the Rangers score ten more runs in the eighth? I wonder if anyone was even left to witness the other six batters cross home plate in the ninth.

Trailing 3-zip over the first three innings, the Rangers unleashed their kung-fu fury. Their first victim was losing pitcher Daniel Cabrera, who accounted for 6 runs on 9 hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Then came Brian Burres in the sixth. He managed to give up 8 runs and 8 hits with a walk and a strikeout, retiring just two batters.

Third was reliever Rob Bell, who finished the inning and pitched the seventh, surrendering 7 runs on 5 hits with 3 walks and a strikeout. The fourth and final of the Rangers' victims was Paul Shuey. He pitched the eighth and ninth for nine runs, seven hits and three walks. Strong finish, pal!


Marlon Byrd hit a grand slam for the Orioles, which is awesome... but not as awesome the grand salami off the bat of Travis Metcalf, who was called up from the AAA Oklahoma RedHawks earlier in the day. Wow.

To avoid a 500-word post here, just check out the box score. Obviously, it's ridiculous.

Fun fact from Elias: It was the ninth time a big league team scored 30 runs, the first since the Chicago Colts set the mark in a 36-7 rout of Louisville Colonels on June 28, 1897.

Tuesday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Someone call 911! Garret Anderson is on fire.

Anderson drove in a club-record 10 runs, including a grand slam and a three-run shot in the Los Angeles Angels' 18-9 ass-whopping of the New York Yankees Tuesday night.

The Halos left fielder also hit a two-run double and an RBI double, becoming the 12th player in big league history to drive in 10 runs in a single game.

Anderson could have completely broken the record with runners at the corners and two outs, had a chance to break the major league mark when he came up in the eighth inning, but he grounded out to shortstop.

The 74-51 first-place Angels remain two games ahead of the Seattle Mariners in the AL West.

Monday's Babelicious Scoreboard

If the Chicago White Sox have one thing going for them, his name is Bobby Jenks.

Jenks just missed out on posting a record 42nd straight out Monday when Kansas City Royals outfielder Joey Gathright singled on a grounder to left leading off the ninth. He did record the save, however - his 34th in 39 chances - to bring his ERA to 2.87 in just over 53 innings pitched.

He now shares the record of 41 consecutive batters retired with Jim Barr, who set the mark for San Francisco in 1972.

Gil Meche started the game for the Royals, giving up two runs on 6 hits, walking two and striking out six Chicago batters.

Scott Podsednik hit a two-run shot in the fifth inning to give Chicago the lead, but Emil Brown answered in the top of the sixth with a two-run homer of his own.

Gathright nailed a two-out RBI single the same inning to give the Royals the lead, before Chicago's rookie infielder Danny Richar tied it up in the seventh with his second homer of the season. Center fielder Jerry Owens got in position to score with his 19th stolen base and crossed home on Josh Fields' tie-breaking single to left for Chicago, who snapped their eight-game skid which began on June 11th against the Seattle Mariners.

Mark Buehrle pitched 5.1 innings for the White Sox, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Matt Thornton (4-4, 5.27 ERA) was awarded the win after getting four outs and giving up just one hit.

Sunday's Babelicious Scoreboard

After returning from the DL 10 days ago, Carlos Beltran homered twice, driving in four runs as the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 8-2 Sunday to finish off the three-game sweep.

They did it without first baseman Carlos Delgado once again, who missed his fourth straight game with a hyper-extended left knee.

The switch-hitting Beltran has driven in 13 runs with 5 bombs and is batting .294 in just nine games back since his strained oblique muscle has healed. Sunday marked the centerfielder's fourth multi-homer game of the season.

Veteran righty Orlando Hernandez pitched a gem, allowing two runs on three hits over seven innings for the Mets, who are on a nice little four-game run. Jorge Sosa pitched a perfect eighth inning and Pedro Feliciano shut it down for New York.

Shawn Green's two-run single in the eighth sparked a four-run rally while Marlon Anderson hit a two-run double off Jon Rauch - the reliever's second loss this week.

El Duque didn't allow a hit after Wily Mo Peña made himself welcome in the fourth, going deep for the first time since joining the team from Boston on Saturday. Ryan Zimmerman added the other Nationals run on a game-tying base hit in the third.

Washington righty Shawn Hill, who was making just his second start after missing over three months with a sore pitching elbow, allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings. Hill is 3-3 with a 2.43 ERA.

Saturday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Matt Holliday singled home his team-leading 96th RBI for the go-ahead run in the 14th inning as the Colorado Rockies beat Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-4 Saturday night in a grueling, 5-hour and 6-minute game.

Cory Sullivan hit a two-run bomb and Brad Hawpe drove in two more for the Rockies' 17th and final hit. Matt Herges worked two scoreless innings for the win and Manny Corpas earned his 11th save in 13 opportunities.

Dodgers right-handed starter Chad Billingsley (7-4, 3.63 ERA) allowed three runs on eight hits over five innings, striking out four.

After Sullivan's RBI single in the seventh gave Colorado a three-run lead, the Dodgers got one back in the bottom half on Shea Hillenbrand's base hit. He then drove in the tying run in the eighth with another RBI single after Matt Kemp scored on a double-play grounder by Olmedo Saenz.

Rookie starter Franklin Morales (0-0, 1.69 ERA) lasted 5.1 innings in his big league debut for Colorado, allowing a run and five hits while striking out four and walking none. The 21-year-old Venezuelan lefty also drove in a run with a single to center in his first at bat, leaving the game with a 3-1 lead.

Garrett Atkins had a tough night for the Rockies after causing reliever Jorge Julio two earned runs and making a costly base running error in the 10th when he got greedy and tried to sneak an extra base on Hawpe's bloop single and was thrown out by Rafael Furcal from short left field to end the inning.

The Rockies are now 4 games above .500 with a 63-59 record as they sit third in the standings, 7 games behind the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks and 2 behind the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers are just a half game back from Colorado.

Friday's Babelicious Scoreboard

After being benched earlier in the season and damn-near traded, Jacque Jones was the hero on Friday afternoon.

The Chicago Cubs outfielder made a sweet over-the-shoulder catch in the fifth inning, running full speed ahead into the brick ivy wall and hit a two-run bomb that led his club to a 2-1 victory to end the St. Louis Cardinals' five-game winning streak and punch the Cubbies into a half game NL Central lead.

St. Louis starter Braden Looper (10-10, 4.98 ERA) allowed just 2 runs off 4 hits over six innings, striking out four but walking three.

Albert Pujols' 26th homer of the season put the Cards ahead in the sixth, but Ryan Theriot's single the other way and Jones' longball in the bottom half put the Cubs back on top.

Chicago starter Rich Hill (7-7, 3.73 ERA) evened up his record after going seven strong innings to surrender only three hits with seven K's. He walked two and allowed only Pujols' homer on the board. Ryan Dempster worked the ninth for his 18th save in 20 opportunities.

The Cubs were hoping their NL Central first place tie would turn into the lead after the Brewers played later in the evening, and they got their wish. Milwaukee dropped another one, this time to the Cincinnati Reds, 8-3.

Thursday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Yadier Molina hit two bombs as the St. Louis Cardinals shut out the Milwaukee Brewers 8-0 on Thursday, taking a three-game sweep into the weekend for a 2.5 game NL Central deficit.

Yeah. They haven't been that close since April 20th.

This marks the first career multi-homer game for Molina, who had just one longball on the year as of Wednesday. Way to go, buddy!

Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright (11-9, 4.01 ERA) pitched seven scoreless innings of two-hit baseball, highlighted by a sweet 3-2 curve to lights-out rookie Ryan Braun that wiggled his club out of a bases-loaded jam in the third. Wainwright struck out a career-high eight and walked three.

Dave Bush, who is apparently some sort of Jedi, gave up three runs and seven hits over seven innings for his ninth loss of the season. He gave up a walk and struck out four to keep the awful two-week winless streak rolling for Milwaukee's rotation.

St. Louis enjoyed a five-run ninth on David Eckstein's three-run double, a base hit by Albert Pujols, and a little help from a Geoff Jenkins error. The Cards managed 21 more runs that the Brew Crew for the series, leaving Milwaukee to lose 13 of its last 18 games.

They may still be in first, but the Chicago Cubbies are knocking on the door by a half game after beating the Cincinnati Reds yesterday.

Uh oh! What will the Brewers do? They gave each other crew cuts before the game so they would start winning, but it didn't seem to help this time.

Tuesday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Alert the media: Florida Marlins starter Dontrelle Willis got the win - the first for the struggling lefty since May 29th. D-Train (8-12, 4.93 ERA) struck out 11 over seven shaky innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 10 hits, walking no one.

Hanley Ramirez and Mike Jacobs both went 3-for-5 for the Fish, with Jacobs homering in the ninth and Ramirez driving in 2 runs on a fourth inning base hit.

Florida's bats were pretty hot, but in all fairness they did have a little help from Arizona Diamondbacks hurler Byung-Hyun Kim.

Kim (6-6) made it through ONE OUT IN THE GAME after surrendering four runs, four hits and one walk on just 17 pitches.

Seriously, he probably couldn't do that again if he tried.

Ramirez led off with a double before Alejandro De Aza sac-bunted. This clearly confused Kim, as Hanley scored on the righty's throwing error.

De Aza then crossed home on a Miguel Cabrera two-bagger and Josh Willingham drove in Cabrera on a groundball to center before Jacobs ended the melee with a flyout.

Then, it got downright ugly. Willingham stole second, Dan Uggla drew a walk and then Willingham nabbed third. After a coaching visit to the mound - Kim was obviously beyond help at this point - Matt Treanor singled to score the 4th Marlins run of the first inning. With one out.

That seemed like as good a time as any for a pitching change, so reliever Edgar Gonzalez replaced Kim, who was in desperate need of a hole to hide in along with his 23.62 earned run average.

Chris Young went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs for the Diamondbacks and Augie Ojeda, who started the game at short, moved to second and made his pitching debut with a scoreless eighth, drove in two runs to top off his adventurous evening.

That's right. If all else fails, throw a middle infielder on the bump and see what happens.

The fifth and final Arizona run came on a pinch-hit groundout by Tony Clark in the eighth, which sounded much like a balloon deflating.

Monday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Derek Jeter's infield bouncer that just nicked Baltimore Orioles reliever Chad Bradford's glove in the bottom of the ninth not only erased Mariano Rivera's mistake on the hill, but it scored Melky Cabrera to give the New York Yankees a 7-6 victory.

Bradford plunked Cabrera with one out in the inning before Jason Giambi pinch-hit a single to right, advancing the speedy center fielder all the way to third. Jeter then followed with his infield game-winner to keep the Yanks within four of the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox.

Rivera (3-3, 3.00 ERA) had converted 19 straight save opportunities before Brian Roberts' single tied the ballgame at six, but Jeter made it all better for New York, which has won four straight and 9-of-10.

Chien-Ming Wang pretty much handed the O's the game from the beginning. Roberts scored on a wild pitch after he led off the game with a double. Corey Patterson, who hit a solo shot in the sixth, bunted for a single then swiped second before Nick Markakis was hit by a pitch.

After a coaching visit to the mound, Wang surrendered another run on a Miguel Tejada single to center, moving Markakis to third. Kevin Millar then grounded into a double play, but not before the run could score. Wang allowed five runs on eight hits over six innings of work, walking one and striking out two.

Bobby Abreu and Wilson Betemit homered for New York and Jorge Posada, who missed three straight games with a stiff neck, drove in A-Rod on a liner to left field in the fifth.

The Bronx Bombers have managed to score 109 runs in their last nine games at Yankee Stadium, improving to 46-22 since May 29th when they were a season-low eight games under .500.

Meanwhile, the Orioles sit 16.5 games back in the division. Kinda' sad if your name is Erik Bedard.

Magglio Ordonez is an Animal

Magglio Ordondez joined Hall of Famer Al Kaline in Detroit Tigers history Sunday as the only other player to hit two homers in the same inning, aiding in the 11-6 rout of the Oakland Athletics.

This victory actually came the day after a win, which is something the Tigers haven't accomplished since mid-July.

During the eight-run second, Ordonez hit his 20th homer of the season on a line drive to right before smoking his 21st to left center, surpassing the 100 RBI-mark for the second straight season.

Struggling rookie Dallas Braden lasted just 1.2 innings, allowing eight runs and seven hits. His terrible outing started and ended with Maggs, as he became the first Oakland pitcher to lose more than six straight in one season since Mike Mohler in 1997. Ouch.

Brandon Inge drove in two runs on a 1-for-3 night during Detroit's scoring tirade, but Placido Polanco had a big day for Detroit, as well. He tied the big league record set by Luis Castillo in June of 2007 by playing his 143rd consecutive game without an error at second base. (knock on wood)

Tigers starter Nate Robertson gave up five runs and four hits in 5.2 innings, giving Detroit consecutive wins by a starter for the first time since its four-game streak last month. He struck out six but was pulled after giving up his season-high fifth walk.

Mark Ellis and Dan Johnson each drove in a run for the A's while Marco Scutaro went 3-for-4 with a first inning solo shot, two doubles and four RBIs.

Fun fact from Elias: Now a special assistant to Detroit president Dave Dombrowski, Al Kaline hit two longballs in the same inning against the Kansas City Athletics in 1955.

Thursday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Marlins 4, Phillies 2

Since we always keep our promises, here is the post-game rant of the Florida Marlins most recent victory.

After a few days off with kidney stones, Josh Willingham hit a solo shot and drove in another on a grounder to lead the Marlins in a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies Thursday night.

Losing only one game since July 2nd, Marlins starter Sergio Mitre (5-5, 3.64 ERA) barreled through the first five innings, allowing just two hits before running into trouble in the sixth.

Through the steady rain, Philadelphia's Greg Dobbs hit a two-run double to tie it up that inning. Not for long, however! Marlins utilityman Alfredo Amezaga drove in the go-ahead run on a pinch-hit fielder's choice with the bags full in the ninth to help Florida duck the three-game sweep.

The Phillies, who wasted another solid start from Kyle Kendrick, remain four games behind the NL East-leading New York Mets and one behind the San Diego Padres in the wild-card race.

The rookie right-hander, who replaced the injured Freddy Garcia in the rotation, allowed two runs on six hits over seven innings with just 71 pitches.

The Phillies are 7-4 in games Kendrick has started.