Yardwork: Cliff Lee Homers and Mo Serves Up a Game-Winning Homer
By Tim Ryan
Outside of anyone on the Angels, the player most thankful for Mo’s latest hiccup is probably Curtis Granderson. With runners on first and third and two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Mark Teixeira at the plate, Granderson was picked off first on a fake-to-third and eventually tagged out in an embarrassing rundown to end the game. On any other day he would be universally destroyed. Today, however, is reserved for What’s Wrong With Mariano Rivera?
And no matter how hard you try, Torii Hunter is far too nice a guy to accept cash tips from fans:
Phils 2, Dodgers 1 — Clifton Phifer Lee pitched eight shutout innings and struck out 10. Because he’s Cliff Lee, he also hit a solo home run in the seventh off Ted Lilly, a run that proved to be pivotal since Ryan Madson allowed a run in the ninth. The man is a living legend. Embrace that shit.
Braves 4, Marlins 3, 11 innings — Dan Uggla’s hitting streak (now at 30) is headline fodder once again, so I guess we’re forced to discuss it. Wake me when the streak reaches 40 games. Last night’s official announced attendance was 21,337. If that were actually true, I would have glued antlers to my head this morning before leaving Kate Upton’s apartment.
Indians 3, Tigers 2, 14 innings — Hilarious ending to this one. Kosuke Fukudome, who was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts when he came to the plate in the 14th inning, was plunked by David Pauley with the bases loaded to give Cleveland the walkoff win. Welcome to life in the AL Central. Including the 2-hour rain delay, the game took 6 hours, 43 minutes. Indians reliever Frank Herrmann offered up the best quote: “I think I had five Red Bulls.” Darren Rovell will soon cite this quote as an excellent free marketing victory for the folks at Red Bull.
Brewers 5, Cards 3, 10 innings — Casey McGehee is the new sworn enemy of the St. Louis Cardinals. After eating all of Edwin Jackson’s pitches in last week’s affair, he hit a double in the top of the 10th that put the Brewers ahead for good, upping their division lead to four games. With the loss also comes a bit of bad news for the Cards and rookie reliever Lance Lynn, who “injured a left side muscle” in the eighth inning. He is expected to be placed on the DL.
Rays 4, Royals 0 — James Shields has thrown a major league-best eight complete games. He also has four shutouts. That’s damn impressive. Smoke on that one, Halladay. Here’s Shields: “I didn’t think I was going to get one complete game. I hadn’t had one since 2008, so I was just hoping for one this year. Fortunately, for me, it’s been a lot. I’m really, really happy with the way I’ve pitched this year and hopefully we can get a couple more here.” The Rays are currently 11 games out of first place, but their record of 61-54 would qualify for first place in the rancid AL Central.
[Photos via Getty]