Yardwork: Indians Are Streaking & Joba Chamberlain, Mets Fan?
By Tim Ryan
Indians 4, Angels 0 — Mitch Talbot silenced the Angels for eight innings en route to the Indians eighth straight win. Asdrubal Cabrera and Matt LaPorta both homered and the Angels grounds crew was even rumored to be impressed. Yes, we’re officially in the Bizarro World. Please say hi to Kevin, Gene, and Feldman. There’s also Vargas, but he happens to be out at the moment working diligently for the fine folks at FedEx.
Rangers 2, Tigers 0 — The Rangers improved to 9-1, getting to Justin Verlander in the seventh with two RBI doubles. What remains baffling is the fact that Darren Oliver appears to be a serviceable reliever. This just can’t be true. It can’t. He is not a good pitcher.
Cubs 5, Astros 4 — Starlin Castro, Darwin Barney and Marlon Byrd combined for seven hits, five runs and three RBIs, and Alfonso Soriano even drove in two runs of his own in the first. Actually, to be fair to him, he’s had at least one hit in eight of 10 games thus far. This is definitely the year he almost earns half of his salary.
Rays 16, Red Sox 5 — If you were watching this game, it was 7-0 Rays in about 10 minutes. Dice-K was an absolute abomination. He’s booed early and often, and rightfully so. In two starts, he’s allowed 10 runs in seven innings. Wakefield wasn’t much better in relief, so it looks like the Diceman is here to stay at the 5th spot. Also, we have some Ellsbury animation courtesy of Bubba.
Reds 3, Padres 2 — Edinson Volquez rebounded nicely from a forgettable first inning and the Reds got their runs via the long ball from Chris Heisey and team body guard, Jonny Gomes.
A’s 2, White Sox 1, 10 innings — Kurt Suzuki was the hero with a 2-out homer in the top of the 10th, but what shall not be lost here are the eight innings of two-hit mastery from Mark Buehrle, whose first two starts of the season weren’t so pretty.
Mariners 8, Blue Jays 7 — To honor the smallest crowd in the 12-year history of Safeco Field (13,056), the inspired Mariners rallied from seven down to beat Toronto after trailing 7-0 entering the seventh inning. Blue Jays manager John Farrell described the bullpen meltdown as a “tough night on the mound.” I would describe it as a “dumbfounding debacle.” King Felix was King Cow Dung, as he allowed 12 hits and seven runs.
[Photos via Getty]