1. CC’s back: The Cleveland Indians have played without their best pitcher CC Sabathia so far this season. On Tuesday, he returned from the DL to give the Indians a much-needed win. He pitched 5 solid innings, only giving up 1 run. Opposing pitcher Mark Buehrle threw his worst game of the season, with 7 runs and 13 hits allowed to the Indians. Travis Hafner led Cleveland on offense with a homer (9) and 4 RBIs. The Indians were in danger of falling under .500 had they lost.
2. Just two more: The Giants fell to the Padres on Tuesday, but this game was all about 712. That’s Barry Bonds’ homerun total after his solo shot in the eighth inning. Now Bonds is just two away from tying Babe Ruth on the all-time list. The Giants’ next two series are at Milwaukee and Philadelphia, so there is a possibility Bonds will hit his tying shot on the road. The loss sent the Giants to .500, but the Padres are still in last in the NL West.
3. Clear the benches: One of the fist major fights of the season occurred in the Oakland-Los Angeles game yesterday. John Lackey was pitching to Jason Kendall, and a pitch went high and inside. Lackey apparently insulted Kendall, resulting in the A’s catcher charging the mound. The two started fighting, which led to the clearing of both dugouts. No one was ejected because of the incident. The A’s ended up routing the Angels 10-3, including 6 9th inning runs to put the game out of reach.
4. Leading off: Marcus Giles had high expectations when he was named Atlanta’s leadoff hitter before the season started. He has been a disappointment, but he played like a star in the Braves game against the Rockies. Giles went 4-5 with an RBI and a run, and Andruw Jones recorded two RBIs for the Braves. Shortstop Edgar Renteria set an Atlanta record by extending his hitting streak to 17 games at the start of the season. The Braves won 5-4 against Colorado, and despite their 12-14 record they are in second place.
5. Minor league cheater: Though no major leaguers have been suspended for steroids this season, a few minor league players have been caught on the juice. The latest was Tampa Bay minor leaguer Matt Rico, who was suspended for 100 games for his second drug violation. Tampa Bay’s minor leagues are worse than the major league team this season, with this on top of Delmon Young’s bat-throwing incident.
One reply on “Full Count for May 3 2006: Nothin’ But A Good Time”
It’s funny — Jason Kendall has been plunked 197 times in his career. He doesn’t get hit, and he charges? Maybe he was pissed he didn’t get hit, thus making good use of that plate-mail armor he wears on his elbow. I also heard he swallowed his chew.