ByIt’s not an official game yet, but in the first inning, in front of his hometown crowd in southern Florida, Ken Griffey, Jr. has finally hit his 7th home run of the season.
Congratulations, Jr!
By| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinals (38-27) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Astros (32-32) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 2 |
The Cardinals continue to hang with the Cubs, despite the temporary losses of Adam Wainwright and Todd Wellemeyer.
Kyle Lohse pitched well enough to win and Ryan Franklin got his 8th save as St. Louis squeaked by the Astros.
For Houston, Wandy Rodriguez pitched pretty well, but the unimproved Astros defense did him in. Rodriguez had a shutout in terms of earned runs. But those 5 unearned runs did the team in.
Both teams have an off day today.
By| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brewers (33-30) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 2 |
| Rockies (24-39) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
The Brewers avoided being swept by the Rockies on Sunday thanks to solid pitching.
Milwaukee took an early lead in the first, but that was about all they’d score. Timely hitting was missing for both teams after that. The Brewers left 13 men on base, while the Rockies left 10. It’s like neither team wanted to win.
Jeff Suppan turned in a solid performance for the victory, and the Milwaukee bullpen made the miniscule lead stick with almost 4 innings of scoreless ball.
The Brewers have a day off before traveling to Houston.
By| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dodger (34-29) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Pirates (30-33) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 6 | 10 | 0 |
Pirates starter Phil Dumatrait again put his former team in last place, this time without even playing them.
Dumatrait went 5 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs for the win, thanks in large part to a 5 run fourth inning. Those do tend to help with the winning. Jason Bay contributed two RBI to the cause, continuing his resurgent year at the plate.
How long before Bay’s traded? He’s about the only chip the Pirates have to bring in fresh blood. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to do it before all the other crappy teams flood the market with players.
Randy Johnson goes for the snakes this afternoon, matching up with Zach Duke at 12:25pm EDT.
By| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reds (30-34) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Marlins (34-28) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | 9 | 13 | 0 |
Starting with the worst Central team first, the Reds continued to display their suckiness to the world. This time, it wasn’t even Arroyo. No former Cy Young vote-getter Aaron Harang sucked again, and he has to be getting frustrated.
Things started well for him, with him driving in the first run of the game, but he couldn’t hold it. Harang hasn’t received run support all year, and despite his struggles, I bet it’s nothing that a 10-run barrage wouldn’t cure. His confidence is likely down, and he’s probably placing a lot more pressure on himself because he knows the team won’t score squat for him. It’s not good to be pitching all tense like that.
Tonight, Edinson Volquez starts against Mark Hendrickson in the final game of the series at 7:10pm EDT.
