Friday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops
American League
Baltimore already had a 4-1 lead when they loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth inning and
Nick Markakis pounded a grand slam to right field for his second home run of the season. The O's won the game 8-1 as
Erik Bedard cruised through 6 innings, allowing just one earned run on 5 hits and 4 walks. Bedard struck out 9 Royals to give him 17 in 17 1/3 innings as he improved to 2-1 on the season.
The Blue Jays have been scoring plenty of runs, but
Roy Halladay probably wishes
they'd saved a few for his starts. After getting no decision in his opening day start (Toronto won 5-3 at Detroit), Halladay got his first win on Sunday at Tampa Bay, but had to throw 10 innings last night for the 2-1 win over the visiting Tigers. Displaying his usual combination of control and finesse, Halladay allowed just 6 hits, no walks and just 1 earned run - a second inning solo homer by Magglio Ordonez - as he improved to 2-0 and kept the Jays a half-game ahead of Boston in the AL East.
The Yankees may have overpaid in their knee-jerk reaction to Boston's acquisition of Dice-K when they paid through the nose for Japan's
Kei Igawa. In two starts this season, Igawa has yet to earn a decision or last more than 5 1/3 innings - which he did last night, giving up a 2-run homer to the A's Eric Chavez which sent him to the showers. So far, Igawa numbers are far from terrific: 10 1/3 innings, 11 hits, 5 Ks, 5 walks, 9 earned runs (3 homers), 7.84 ERA. Oh, Kei? Not OK.
National League
Barry Bonds (right) returned to Pittsburgh, where he began his major league career, and belted a pair of bombs to right field along with a run-scoring single. In bone-chilling 45-degree weather, Pirates fans gave Bonds a chilly reception, lustily booing both his 2-run shot in the 2nd and solo shot in the 4th. Bonds finished with 4 RBI in the 8-5 Giants win, and moved closer to Hank Arron's career record of 755 home runs, with his own 736 and 737.
The Chicago Cubs had a 5-run lead at home, but starter
Carlos Zambrano gave it all back in the top of the 5th inning issuing 5 hits, a walk and a hit batsman without getting an out. Will Ohman only made matters worse by walking in a couple more runs before Mike Wuertz came in and struck out the next three batters. In all, 6 Reds crossed the plate, and Cincy got the win, 6-5. After the game, Cubs' manager Lou Piniella lost his temper at the press conference, yelling at reporters and generally showing his disgust with his 3-6 team.
Houston picked up
Carlos Lee (right) in the off-season from Texas in hopes that he might add some pop to the middle of their lineup. Last night, the powerful left fielder showed what he could do, launching a trio of home runs in Houston's 9-6 win at Philly. Lee sandwiched a 3rd inning grand slam with a pair of solo shots, knocked in 6 runs, moving him into 2nd place in the RBI race with 12, just one behind Florida's Miguel Cabrera.
The Los Angeles Dodgers took over sole possession of first place in the NL West with a 9-1 win at home over rival San Diego.
Derek Lowe scattered 7 hits and a pair of walks over 8 innings, allowing just one earned run while striking out 6. Lowe improved to 2-1 on the season.
In Tampa, the Rays and Yankees got a look-see at what the post-season may be like when they matched up their aces - David Price and C.C. Sabathia - in the opener of a three-game series.
Both starters worked eight full innings without giving up a run. Sabathia allowed just two hits, Price, three, before the relievers took over and the game went to extra innings.
Leading off in the bottom of the 11th, Reid Brignac, who was inserted at 2nd base in the 10th inning and moved to short in the 11th, delivered a game-winning, walk-off home run to down the Yankees, 1-0. Brignac's shot to right-center was his only hit of the night, in his only at-bat, but it propelled the Rays into first place in the AL East, a position they surrendered back in June and regained for only one day since then.
Tampa Bay now leads the Yankees by 1/2 game, but the two teams will meet six more times in the next ten days, a stretch that will almost certainly determine the AL East winner. Even though the Yanks are temporarily out of first place, they hold a seven-game lead over Boston in the wild card race. Whichever team finishes second in the division will almost certainly be the wild card, though they will not meet their AL East counterparts in the ALDS. According to MLB rules, the wild card cannot face a team from the same division in the opening playoff round.
National League
With the Phillies hammering Florida, 11-4, the Atlanta Braves, trailing the Phillies by one game, needed a win to keep pace in the division and got a superlative performance from Derek Lowe, who pitched eight shutout innings in a 4-0 win over the Nationals.
Atlanta scored all of their runs in the second inning, and Lowe made them stand up, as he won his second straight start, improving to 13-12 on the year. Lowe fanned a season-high 12 batters, allowed just six hits and didn't walk a batter.
Even though the Braves didn't gain any ground on the Phillies, they helped themselves to a 1 1/2 game lead in the wild card standings over the idle Giants.
PENNANT NOTES: Miguel Tejada homered, singled and drove in four runs to pace the Padres over the Rockies, 6-4, ending Colorado's 10-game win streak and taking back sole possession of first place in the NL West by 1/2 game over the Giants, who had the night off. Colorado is 2 1/2 back. Cincinnati won and the Cardinals lost, stretching the Reds' lead in the Central to seven games.
Texas, Minnesota and Chicago all took the day off. The Rangers lead the AL West by eight games. Minnesota leads the White Sox by six in the Central. The Twins open a three-game series at Chicago on Tuesday.
