Boxscore

The battle between the ERA leaders in both leagues was not disappointing yesterday as Cliff Lee and Edinson Volquez squared off.

The Reds, who are hot for the first time this year, managed to score more runs off Lee than he’d allowed all year, thanks to Adam Dunn and Joey Votto home runs. Volquez allowed two runs, which is more than he’d allowed in any start so far this year, but it was more than good enough.

The Reds are playing good baseball right now, having swept two straight series against two first-place clubs. They travel to the west coast next, which has always marked a turning point in their season in years past. Will they die in California again this year? Maybe, maybe not. Odds are, I won’t be awake to see it.

Bronson Arroyo tries to beat Brad Penny at 10:10pm EDT.

Boxscore

The Pirates again failed to reach the elusive heights of a .500 record yesterday, falling to the Cubs. Things seemed to be lined up for them, what with them facing the notorious Jason Marquis, but it wasn’t in the cards.

Phil Dumatrait started well for the Pirates, but that second time through the Cubs lineup did him in, and provided Chicago with all the runs they needed.

Chicago moved to 10 games over .500, holding a 2 games lead in first place, while Pittsburgh fell to a 4th place tie with the good-for-the-last-week Reds.

The Pirates have an off-day, while the Cubs travel to Houston, sending out Ted Lilly to face the Astros’ Brian Moehler at 7:05pm EDT. I believe it’s ESPN’s Monday night baseball game.

The Reds faced Fausto Carmona today, and Slyde on Red Reporter commented on what the Reds’ hitting approach needs to be.

[Carmona] has nearly TWICE AS MANY WALKS AS STRIKEOUTS. I yelled that…because the Reds have to, have to, have to be patient today.

Really? You think that that’s what will be going through the minds of a Dusty Baker-led team? Wow. It’s so sad. Reds fans were most definitely not paying attention during Baker’s disastrous managerial stint in Chicago.

Let’s consult the box score: Carmona had 4 strikeouts, so given his historical trends, you would think he’d walk 8. However, Dusty Baker, hitting genius that he is, tells all his batters to swing, swing, swing. So I’m going with zero walks.

I love being right. 🙂

Boxscore

Before the season began, the predictions for the Astros went along the lines that they had a solid offense, but suspect pitching. During the April, of course, the opposite held true. The Astros had very good pitching performances and little to no offense.

Yesterday’s game against the Giants fell into the pre-season prediction as Chris Sampson started and allowed 7 runs (5 earned) in his six innings. But that was okay, because Houston had its homer hitters ready. Carlos Lee, Darin Erstad, and, yes, Lance Berkman all powered the Astros to victory. Berkman’s knock in the 9th proved to be the game winner.

So for once, it looks like a pre-season prediction came true. So far.

Houston now travels to Texas to play the Rangers at 8:05pm EDT. Shawn Chacon starts against–holy crap!–fat Sidney? Yes, indeedly. Sidney Ponson, sporting a 2-0 record and an uncharacteristic 3.16 ERA goes for the Rangers. I had no idea he was still in baseball.

Boxscore

The Pirates have been very good so far this month. Obviously, it’s unsustainable–it is the Pirates, after all–but it’s nice to see them win some games for a change. Since sweeping the Giants early in the month, they’ve won three straight series. The Cardinals were their latest victims yesterday.

The game wasn’t a pitchers duel, with both starters leaving around the game’s halfway point and allowing way too many runs for a Quality Start. Instead, they both received a Crappy Start, which I think should be added to the official statistical lexicon.

Then it became a battle of the bullpens, and unfortunately for St. Louis, they have Jason Isringhausen, who is in a huge black funk right now.

The Cardinals try to regroup and uncover the magic elixir that helped them so much in April when they start interleague play against the Devil Rays at 8:15pm EDT, starting Braden Looper against Andy Sonnanstine. The Pirates travel to Chicago at 2:20pm EDT where Tom Gorzelanny will attempt to beat Sean Gallagher and pick up some games in the standings.