Yardwork: Big Z Flips Out, Logan Morrison Gets Sent Down, and Uggla's Streak Ends at 33
By Tim Ryan
It was a bizarre weekend in baseball that began with a fantastic Friday freakout from Carlos Zambrano. The Cubs demented pitcher served up five home runs against the Braves, threw at Chipper Jones, got ejected, and proceeded to clean out his locker and text team personnel that he was likely retiring. Sounds about right. It’s doubtful anyone in the Cubs organization or their fans were surprised or upset by this sequence of events, other than the five homers.
The Marlins also made some waves over the weekend in demoting Logan Morrison, who had 26 RBIs in July, to the minors. It’s surprising because it’s incredibly stupid, but it’s also not insanely shocking because it has been clear ownership can’t stand his hilarious Twitter feed nor his candor with reporters.
Cubs 6, Braves 5 — The Cubs have won two straight since Zambrano emptied out his locker. To be fair though, they had already been playing pretty well, winning 11 of their last 14. Sadly, for some, Dan Uggla’s 33-game hitting streak came to an end thanks in part to Darwin Barney’s terrific catch. He does own the all-time streak for the Braves, which is certainly something to hang your hat on for a .230 hitter.
Cards 6, Rockies 2 — Albert Pujols hit a 465-foot home run, the longest moonshot ever hit at six-year-old Busch Stadium. Fat Al now has 29 homers and 75 RBIs. Does he keep his 30 and 100 streak alive? I’m rooting against that streak. The Cards remain five games back of those light-dimming Brewers.
Giants 5, Marlins 2 — Ryan Vogelsong went 7 2-3 innings and allowed two runs while striking out eight. Jack McKeon remains hilariously unimpressed: “Guys get carried away. Vogel … Volkswagen … whatever his name is—he’s lucky he didn’t have to face Drysdale or Gibson or one of those guys. You would get a shave and a haircut real quick.” Jack McKeon thinks it’s 1965 and that Twitter is the name of Logan Morrison’s dog. I love this guy. Overeager rookie Brandon Belt went deep twice.
Brewers 2, Pirates 1, 10 innings — The Brewers tied things up at 1-1 in the eighth thanks to a wild pitch from Joel Hanrahan, who Clint Hurdle actually used in a non-save opportunity. The wild pitch pretty much sums up how things have gone for these two teams over the last few weeks. Milwaukee won it on Nyjer Morgan’s sac fly in the 10th. Charlie “Chipwich” Morton pitched very well but he has yet to live up to his full Chipwich potential.
Mariners 5, Red Sox 3 — Furbush rebounded from an awful start and got right back on the landing strip, limiting the Red Sox to four hits and a run over seven innings. Seattle took two of three from Boston. The AL East race is tighter than Jay-Z’s lyrics in “Already Home.”
Rangers 7, A’s 6 — The Rangers are winners of eight straight, squeaking this one out in top of the ninth on David Murphy’s RBI single. Their lead on the Angels in the AL West is up to four games.
[Photo via Getty]