The above pinky belongs to Brewers SP Kyle Lohse. He dislocated it when colliding with Padres 2B Jed Gyorko during a play at first. It is on his non-pitching hand, so he should be fine for his next start (they say). Still, ouch. Easing the pain, I’m sure, is that Lohse and his Brewers won- the team’s 8th in a row after an 8-2 start. And everybody’s favorite “innocent” PED user Ryan Braun got another HR. Oh, joy.
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In that Brewers game, the Padres broke their unfortunate streak of innings without scoring a run at 25 2/3 when they scored in the 5th tonight. It was their only run, losing to the Brew Crew 7-1.
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The Angels lost to the Rangers tonight on an A.J. Pierzynski 9th inning HR by the score of 7-6, but there was a bright spot. Josh Hamilton, who had an awful weekend and who saw Albert Pujols intentionally walked by the Tigers to get to him- a successful move each time- was finally moved in the lineup to hitting behind Mark Trumbo. Hamilton went 4-4 for the 16th time in his career. Of course, with Trout-Pujols-Trumbo going a combined 0-13 in front of him, it didn’t help the Angels fortunes much. Still, it has to be heartening for Angels fans to see Hamilton bust out. He did have 2 RBI and saw his average rise to .222.
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Mother Nature saw games canceled in Minneapolis and Denver again. That makes 15th postponed games so far three weeks in. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale in his piece pointed out that the record for postponed games is 26 in 2007. A lot of whiny types are saying that the Twins should play in the Metrodome on days like today. The sky isn’t falling, it’s just snow. It’ll all work out.
Twins closer Glen Perkins is proving to be a pretty funny guy. Today on Twitter he posted: “If you like peeing in the snow, like I do, this has been a great spring!!”
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The National League teams with the two best records- Braves and Rockies -will attempt to play a double header tomorrow, but the Braves are going to be without Jason Heyward indefinitely as he was taken to the hospital today for an appendectomy. I was going to say “emergency” appendectomy, and maybe I’d be correct, but I have not heard yet of a scheduled one. I’m sure there have been. Moving on…
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In Houston, King Felix notched his 100th career win. The Mariners beat the (Not-lowly) Astros 7-1. Hernandez pitched six innings and struck out 9. Afterward it was reported that he had some stiffness in his back… Hopefully it isn’t anything serious. Michael Morse, who started off super hot with six HRs in the first six games before getting hit on the hand has been ice cold. He didn’t go on the DL, but after taking a few days off, he has gone 3 for 28 since, a .107 mark… Hernandez is the third pitcher to win 100 or more games in a Mariners uniform. Can you name the other two? (answer at the end).
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The Reds Shin-Soo Choo got hit by a pitch for the 10th time this month alone. Enough of this bullshit. The next starter to face him needs to give him some high heat. A little chin music for Shin should back him off the plate. Bring on Bob Gibson.
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The Nationals stadium featured “Sweet Caroline” today during the game. Enough already. Time to move on. The tragedy in Boston was not about baseball… especially not in Washington D.C. three days after everybody else followed the Yankees lead.
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The Giants beat the Diamondbacks in dramatic fashion tonight. Down 4-2 heading into the 8th, Buster Posey tied it up with his second HR in as many days to tie it. In the bottom of the 9th, Andres Torres led off with a single, Brandon Crawford sacrificed him to second, and then the story got good. 1B Brandon Belt, who has been off to an awful start, and who was informed that he wouldn’t be seeing as much playing time (in fact, he didn’t start tonight, but came off the bench for defensive purposes) singled in the winning run in a walk-off 5-4 victory. Hank Schulman, the Giants beat writer, wrote that manager Bruce Bochy himself worked with Belt in the batting cages before the game. “Apparently, it worked” he tweeted. The Giants are a fun team.
Schulman and the San Francisco Chronicle’s Scott Ostler also wrote a piece on the disappearance of the large plaque on the wall behind the center field bleachers that commemorated Barry Bonds‘ all-time record breaking HR missing. Are the Giants trying to distance themselves further from the tainted player? Did it get stolen? Read it here.
Finally, Giants fans haven’t forgotten the heroes of the 2010 World Series, even though they just won another last year with a team that largely still plays for them. They are happy to have Andres Torres back after he was traded to the Mets for Angel Pagan. And they were happy to see playoff hero Cody Ross back in right field, even though for the Diamondbacks… or were until his RBI hit gave them the lead. Later in the game though, the fans showed appreciation for a tremendous catch that Ross made to rob Buster Posey of a hit. If you haven’t seen it, check it out.
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Trivia answer: The other two pitchers to notch 100 or more victories in a Mariners uniform besides Felix Hernandez are Jamie Moyer and Randy Johnson…..
The Baseball Messiah League 