Yardwork: Thome Hits 600th HR and Brian Wilson Implodes
By Tim Ryan
Did you know? Carlos Zambrano would like to stay with the Cubs. Ha. “Of course, man. Hey, the Cubs have been to me like family. The organization is my family. I’ve seen people go and people come and I’m still there. … I want to keep pitching for the Cubs. It was a moment of frustration Friday night, and I pitched so bad I wanted to retire, you know, I don’t want to be making $18 million and pitch like crap.” Um, no.
Braves 5, Giants 4 — Brian Wilson had a healthy 4-2 lead entering the ninth inning but the hairy fella couldn’t hang on. It all started thanks to the antics of Constanza, who led off the inning with a single, followed by a walk, a sacrifice to third, another walk, and a Freddie “Yes I’m White” Freeman walkoff single. The Giants are now 2.5 back of the Diamondbacks. Justin Upton would sure as hell be fun to watch in the postseason but I’d still like to see the Giants rather than Arizona, and that’s mostly due to the sizzle factor.
Pirates 6, Cards 2 — Is it time to panic in St. Louis yet? They are now six games back of Milwaukee and the wildcard is not even close to being an option. We’re getting mighty close to an abundance of “will Albert stay?” stories. The sooner they’re out of the race, the sooner we can focus on Albert’s next destination.
Rangers 8, Angels 4 — Another dying division race? The Angels have fallen five back in the West and with three more to go in Cali, the Rangers could curb stomp the Angels before leaving town, though I doubt Jered Weaver will allow that to happen despite getting shellacked in Toronto this past weekend.
Yanks 7, Royals 4 — AJ Burnett picked up a win for the first time since June 29. So what? So let’s dance. Derek Jeter went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and a triple. The fact he didn’t go 4-for-4 in front on those in Kansas City who paid good money to see him play is nothing short of a disgrace. Mariano Rivera, ahem, pitched a perfect ninth.
Cubs 4, Astros 3 — Cubs have won three straight without the calming presence of Carlos Zambrano in the locker room. Carlos Pena went 2-for-5 and in doing so upped his embarrassing batting average two whopping points, bringing it to a humorous .223.
[Photo via Getty]