1. Overtaken: The San Diego Padres were finally able to pass the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West division lead. The Dodgers had been in first since August 10, when they passed the Padres after a huge winning streak. Now the Padres have returned the favor with two straight wins against their divisional rivals. They won 2-1 yesterday behind six innings of shutout, one-hit pitching by Chris Young. Young has surrendered just a .217 opponents’ batting average, ranking him third in the league. But Young didn’t get the win, as this game wasn’t decided until the ninth inning. Pinch-hitter Terrmel Sledge hit a run-scoring single to gain a 2-1 lead, and then Trevor Hoffman closed the door. Hoffman’s 39 saves lead the NL and have brought him to within 4 of Lee Smith’s all-time record of 478. He’ll need to slightly increase his pace to get the record.
2. Right on their heels: The Dodgers lead the Wild Card now, but they have a team right behind them. That would be the Philadelphia Phillies, who have won 5 of their last 6 and swept the Astros over the weekend. All of this winning puts them at 77-72, just one game back of the Wild Card lead. Yesterday’s 6-4 win over the `Stros was powered by four Phillies homers, including one by slugger Ryan Howard. That gave him 57 on the year and ended a week-long power drought. He’s currently on pace for 62 shots this season. A more unlikely player, catcher Mike Lieberthal, hit two solo blasts himself in the Phillies win. The Phillies have got fire at the right time and seemed destined for a playoff berth. If they get that far, who knows what could happen in the postseason.
3. 10th-inning antics: In a game between the Marlins and the Braves, you know some crazy relief pitching may occur. That was the case yesterday, when 9 combined runs were scored in the 10th inning. The Marlins were first to strike, when Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla each drove in two runs in the top of the tenth to make the score 7-3. At this point it seemed like Chad Paronto was going to give the Braves bullpen another horrific memory from this season. But then that was all forgotten when Joe Borowski, the usual Marlins closer, got leveled. First Matt Diaz hit a two-run double. Then the Braves scored three more runs off two Marlins errors. That gave them an 8-7 victory and an overall series win over the Marlins, who are desperate to stay alive in the loaded NL Wild Card race.
4. Dark Horse: No one is really giving the Oakland A’s much attention in the American League, but this team has an excellent shot at going to the World Series. They swept the Chicago White Sox over the weekend, putting the Sox four games behind the Wild Card-leading Twins. Oakland edged them 5-4 yesterday, with Frank Thomas continuing his streak of dominance. He hit a homer and 3 RBIs, and already has 10 and 26 for the month. Though he looked terrible in April, Thomas’ batting average has increased each month of the season. He is now the A’s most dominant hitter. Their pitching is in good shape too, as Joe Blanton improved to 16-11 with a win. He is one of four Oakland pitchers with more than 10 wins this season. They are 7 games up in their division.
5. The homering pitcher: Carlos Zambrano is an excellent pitcher, and he’s also one of the best-hitting hurlers as well. He hit his fifth homer of the year yesterday and also has 10 RBIs. His homer came in the first inning, his second shot in the first this year. According to Elias Sports, that equals the total of first inning homers by every pitcher the last 21 years. By the way, Zambrano also pitched seven shutout innings to improve to 15-6.
