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MLB General

The Full Count: Teixeira pays dividends already


1. What a Debut: In his first game as a Brave, Mark Teixeira was already showing his excellent potential. Batting fourth in the lineup in between Chipper and Andruw Jones, Teixeira hit a homerun and had four RBIs in the Braves’ rout. Atlanta won 12-3 over Houston, giving them 38 runs in their last three games. For Teixeira it was his 14th combined homer of the year, and he extended a streak of getting exactly one hit to eight games. The Braves now have possibly the league’s best lineup from top to bottom. They had five .300 hitters in the lineup on Wednesday, not even counting Teixeira’s .297. With the recent scoring explosion Atlanta ranks second in the NL in runs, though they’re still 52 behind the Phillies. Despite three straight wins Atlanta is 3.5 games behind the Mets.

2. Another game, another blowout: The Braves are hot offensively, but it’s nothing compared to what the Yankees are doing. With an 8-1 victory over the White Sox on Wednesday, they have scored 34 runs their last three games and 62 runs their last four home games. They pounded out five homers in the win, giving them 13 in two games. The latter stat ties a team record set in 1939. However, A-Rod hasn’t hit any of those homers, and remains stuck at 499 for his career. Jorge Posada hit two bombs, giving the .341 hitter 14 homers on the year. Robinson Cano, who leads the AL in hits since the All Star break, hit a shot as well. The Yanks have won three in a row and seven of their last ten, but the Red Sox have been just as good. New York remains seven games back.

3. The Unlikely Division Leader: The Arizona Diamondbacks, despite being outscored for the year, lead the NL West division and have the second-best record in the National League. They have been on fire lately, winning 10 of their last 11 contests. Their success has come at a time when the Dodgers and Padres are struggling, though they still only lead them by 1 and 2.5 games, respectively. Arizona beat San Diego in an extra-inning contest on Wednesday. Though the Padres rallied for four runs in the ninth to tie the game, the Diamondbacks put up four in the 11th to win the game. Chad Tracy hit a key three-run homer in the win.

Player of the Day: Miguel Cabrera, Marlins: 3-3, HR (26), 2 runs in a 4-3 win over Colorado

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MLB General

The Full Count: Braves make a big move wit Teixeira


1. Brave New World: The Atlanta Braves made a deal on Monday that will shake up the entire order in the National League. In the first (and perhaps only) big deal this trading deadline, Atlanta acquired All Star Mark Teixeira from the Rangers. They gave up phenom catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, two minor leaguers, and also got a lefty reliever in return from Texas. With this acquisition, the Braves have put together what is probably the league’s best offense. They already had the fifth-most runs in the NL, and now they have a slugger at what has been their weakest position: first base. Teixeira is hitting .297 this year with 49 RBIs in only 78 games. The Braves’ combined first basemen this year, in 106 games, have only 41 RBIs and a .211 average. With Teixeira hitting likely at cleanup now, the Braves have virtually no holes in their lineup. Unless their bullpen is awful (like it has been lately), then the Braves will be a top challenger for the Wild Card, if not the division title.

2. Hotter than Hot: The Cubs have one of the league’s best records since the All Star break, but the Phillies have been even better recently. They have now won 9 out of 10 after beating Chicago 4-1 on Monday. The Phillies, who lead the National League in runs by a mile, won with pitching. Cole Hamels gave up one run and three hits in eight innings, along with eight strikeouts. The ace improved to 12-5 with a 3.50 ERA on the year. Hamels ranks second in the league in strikeouts behind only Jake Peavy. On offense, Aaron Rowand had another great game, with a homer and three RBIs. Rowand is hitting .418 since the All Star break with a ridiculous 1.242 OPS. The Phillies are now three games behind the Mets in the NL East, and 1.5 ahead of the Braves. But they were the only one of the three teams not to make a deal yesterday (Teixeira to the Braves and Luis Castillo to the Mets).

3. The Worst Team in the League: Sometimes there is a close race for the MLB cellar, but this year the Devil Rays are far and away the league’s worst. They won on Monday, becoming the last team to reach the 40-win plateau this year. They have allowed 662 runs, almost 100 more than the next worst (the Rangers, 568). Opponents have hit nearly .300 against them. Amazingly, their offense is above-average, but their pitching is so bad it doesn’t even matter. Recently they traded for Dan Wheeler to help out their atrocious bullpen, which has a 6.51 ERA this year. Wheeler is a good pitcher, but there’s no way he can turn this awful team around.

Player of the Day: Jordan Tata, Tigers: 7 innings, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts in a 5-2 win over Oakland. There were better pitching performances on Monday, but Tata helped end the Tigers’ four game losing streak in his first major league start.

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Cincinnati Reds

The Full Count: Reds win crazy game in Atlanta with crazy fans in the stands


1. The Marathon: The Braves-Reds game went 15 innings and featured crazy back-and-forth scoring. However, the end result was the same for the Reds, who completed a sweep with a wild 5-4 win. The game started out as a pitcher’s duel, with John Smoltz and Aaron Harang churning out great starts. With the Braves up 1-0 entering the eighth, Adam Dunn hit a two-run homer off Rafael Soriano. The Braves quickly tied it back up with a Jeff Francoeur sac fly, and the game went into extras. The teams traded runs in the 10th, but other than that there was no score until the 15th. Brandon Phillips hit a two-RBI single in the top of the inning, and Francoeur then hit an RBI single. But with two men on and one out, the Braves could not convert another run, giving Cincy the win. The sweep for the Reds ties them with Houston for last place in the division. The lucky Braves still are just two games back of New York.

2. The Unlikely Wins Leader: If you were told before the season that Carlos Zambrano would lead the NL in wins, it might not have surprised you. But considering his struggles for the first two months of this season, it is almost shocking that he became the first NL pitcher to win 12 games on Tuesday. Zambrano has now run off nine straight starts with three or fewer runs allowed, and is 7-2 over that stretch. He pitched five shutout innings as the Cubs crushed the Giants 12-1. Zambrano’s 3.69 ERA ranks only 17th in the league, quite odd for a wins leader. However, judging by his success over the past one and a half months, it seems as though his ERA will keep plummeting and Zambrano could be a Cy Young contender.

3. What a Relief: The Padres nearly wasted an excellent start by Greg Maddux, but in the end they won anyway. The 5-4 victory over the Mets gave San Diego a series win, but they are still a game behind Los Angeles. Maddux pitched five scoreless innings and added six strikeouts, but the bullpen proceeded to allow four runs, nearly blowing the game. Then Geoff Blum hit a key RBI single that broke a 4-4 tie in the eighth and won it for the Padres. Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo homer, breaking a month-long homerless streak for him. David Wright and Carlos Delgado both homered to supply all four runs for the Mets.

Player of the Day: Lenny DiNardo, A’s: 7 innings, three hits, no runs in a 6-0 win over Texas. DiNardo helped the A’s snap their awful nine-game losing streak.

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Cleveland Indians

The Full Count: The A’s get and "F" for effort


1. Losing streak over–not!: It seemed like the A’s recent slide would end as they led the Indians 5-3 going into the ninth inning on Tuesday. But Cleveland rallied for the win, taking a share of the division lead in the process. A two-run double by Travis Hafner tied the score up, then a three-run homer by pinch-hitter Kelly Shoppach won it for the Indians. The A’s have now lost five in a row and are nine games out of the division lead. Cleveland is tied with Detroit again after the Tigers dropped two in a row to the lousy Rangers.

2. The Brewers are Back: The Brewers have returned to the level of play they showed in late April and early May, giving them a huge division lead and the NL’s best record once again. Milwaukee has won 11 of their last 13 to improve to 45-32, with a 7.5 game lead over the Cubs. They routed the Astros 11-5 on Tuesday thanks to a nine-run sixth inning. Rickie Weeks hit a single that scored three runs due to an error, and it was followed by Tony Graffanino’s pinch-hit two-run homer and Johnny Estrada’s grand slam. Given the Brewers’ level of play recently, they own the NL Central unless another contender emerges.

3. The AL’s dark horse: Believe it or not, the Seattle Mariners are legit contenders in the American League. They’ve won six of their last seven and four in a row to move to 41-33, which puts them four games out of a wild card spot. They’ve beaten the Red Sox the first two games of their series, including a wild 8-7 victory yesterday. Richie Sexson hit a key two-run homer which gave the Mariners a lead they wouldn’t give up in the sixth inning. Ichiro pounded out two more hits to raise his average to .362, good for second in the league behind Magglio Ordonez. He’s hitting .411 this month.

Player of the Day: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Braves: 2-4, 2 HR (4), 2 RBIs as the Braves beat the Nats 6-2.

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Boston Red Sox

The Full Count: Beckett wins again


1. Winning 11: In one of the more intriguing pitching matchups of the season, Josh Beckett defeated Jake Peavy to retake the major league wins lead. Beckett improved to 11-1 as he went eight innings with two earned runs and eight strikeouts. Peavy had one of his worst starts of the year, with 5 innings and 3 runs allowed. It was his shortest outing of the season, and Peavy’s ERA rose above 2.00 for the first time since April. Beckett, however, became the league’s first 11-game winner, passing John Lackey and CC Sabathia. He’s on pace for a ridiculous 23-2 record this season, aided by the major league’s fifth-best run support for any pitcher. The Red Sox won 4-2, giving them a series win at San Diego as their division lead remains in double-digits (11 games over Toronto).

2. Five games, one run: The Atlanta Braves are on a five-game losing streak thanks to one of the coldest offensive stretches by any team in history. They’ve been shutout four of their last five games, with only a Chipper Jones solo homerun on Saturday saving them from the record books. They got swept by the Tigers at home over the weekend, including a 5-0 loss on Sunday Night Baseball. Tigers rookie starter Andrew Miller dominated the Braves with six shutout innings as Atlanta fell to 38-38. Andruw Jones ended an 0-24 stretch with a base hit, but his average is still the lowest in the NL at .199. For the Tigers, the sweep was their second in a row as they’ve now won seven straight games. This has given them a two-game lead over Cleveland in the NL Central division, thanks mainly to their incredible offense. Detroit has 451 runs this season, 53 more than any other team in the majors. They’ve scored more than 7 runs per game in June, most in the majors, while Atlanta has scored the fewest runs this month. Thankfully for the Braves though, they get to face the Nationals next after a brutal interleague schedule.

3. The Mets are Back: It took the Mets more than three weeks to finally win their first series in June, as the team finally ended a lengthy slump with a sweep of the A’s. The Mets outscored Oakland 20-3 on the series, including a 10-2 win on Sunday. They were back to form on offense and pitching, as John Maine threw seven solid innings and the lineup pounded out 14 hits. They still only lead the Phillies by three games in the division, but they have a chance to increase that lead as they travel to Philly next weekend.

Player of the Day: Dustin McGowan, Blue Jays: 9 innings, one hit, no runs, 7 strikeouts in a win over the Rockies. McGowan took a no-hitter into the ninth inning, but allowed a hit with no outs to Jeff Baker.

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Yankees are creeping up


1. Make it 9: The Yankees extended the longest winning streak in the majors to 9 games after sweeping the Diamondbacks. They won 7-1 on Thursday thanks mainly to Andy Pettitte’s eight-inning, one-run start. Pettitte has quietly posted a 2.93 ERA this season, the best mark on the Yankees’ staff. The Yankees’ offense and pitching are on a roll as they’ve outscored their opponents 67-24 during the streak. Alex Rodriguez drove in two runs to give him 21 RBIs in his last nine games. Hideki Matsui’s three RBIs give him 12 during the nine-game win streak. The Yankees took advantage of another loss by the Red Sox to move within 7.5 games. They will face the Mets, who are on a five-game losing streak, over the weekend.

2. Start Wasted: Tim Hudson outdeuled Johan Santana, but the Braves wasted his efforts with a meltdown by the bullpen. Hudson pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and one walk. Santana went seven strong as well and struck out nine, but he allowed two runs. The pitcher’s duel didn’t decide the game though, as Bob Wickman gave up three runs in the ninth inning to lose the game for Atlanta. The 3-2 win completed a sweep for the Twins, who have won four in a row and are just 5.5 back of the Indians. The Braves moved behind the Phillies for the first time all season, albeit by just a half game. The road won’t get any easier for the Braves, as they travel to Cleveland, who has the second-best home record in the majors.

3. How `bout that Royals offense!: In a bizarre occurrence, the Royals of all teams have scored 17 runs in two of their last four games. After beating the Phillies 17-5 last Sunday, they topped the Cardinals 17-8 on Thursday. Mark Teahen had five RBIs and leads the team with 35 on the year, and Alex Gordon homered as the Royals destroyed St. Louis. They scored 8 runs in the second inning, then 6 runs in the fourth. What a powerhouse! The Cardinals’ Kip Wells had six earned runs in one-plus inning and extended his major league lead in losses to 11. Now the Royals rank 22nd in runs scored, leaving their usual last place in that category. Now the White Sox can be considered the league’s worst offense.

Player of the Day: Justin Germano, Padres: 6 innings, no runs, in a 7-1 win over Tampa. The nearly unknown Germano is 5-0 with a 2.36 ERA on the year.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Mets’ hot start fading fast


1. Cold at the Wrong Time: The Mets are in the middle of one of their tougher parts to the schedule, and they’ve struggled through it. In June so far they’ve played Arizona, Detroit, Philly, and LA, all teams with winning records, and their record is 2-8 for the month. The Mets started their series against the Dodgers with a 5-3 loss, as Orlando Hernandez had one of his worse starts of the year. The only player that’s been good for the Mets recently is David Wright, who had a four-game homer streak snapped yesterday and has a 13-game hitting streak going. The rest of the team is in a slump, which has allowed the Braves to climb back within two games despite their own struggles. The red-hot Phillies are also only four games back after winning seven of their last ten. The interleague schedule for the Mets doesn’t get any easier, as they travel to Yankee Stadium and then play the Twins and A’s.

2. Surprise Contender: Besides the four elite teams in the American League (the Red Sox, Indians, Angels and Tigers), could anybody guess who has the next best record? Shockingly it’s the Seattle Mariners, who have come out of nowhere with a 34-26 record. Sure, their payroll is over $100 million, but most of that is spent overpaying players like Richie Sexson and Jeff Weaver. The reason why they are winning is an excellent lineup, which has the second-highest batting average in all of baseball and the eighth-most runs scored. Ichiro is tearing it up with a .337 average and is on pace for 232 hits and 46 steals. Catcher Kenji Johjima is batting .330, Raul Ibanez has 41 RBIs, and five players have at least 30 RBIs. Also, their underrated closer, JJ Putz, has been excellent. He has 18 saves in 18 chances, a 1.23 ERA, and a microscopic 0.58 WHIP. The Mariners out-powered Cleveland on Monday in an 8-7 win as Ibanez hit two homers and five RBIs. They are holding off the A’s for second place in the AL West, though Oakland has a winning streak going as well.

3. Bonds finally homers: Barry Bonds came into Monday’s game in a huge slump, with no homers in his last 13 games and one since May 9. He was finally able to reach career homer number 747 though, with a solo shot off Josh Towers of the Blue Jays. Bonds is still struggling though in every area except walks. The nine remaining homers he has to break the record will take him until after the All Star break, unless he heats up. The Giants won 4-3 by the way, with Matt Morris tossing a complete game.

Player of the Day: Carlos Zambrano, Cubs: 8 innings, no earned runs, 8 strikeouts, homerun (2) in a 2-1 win over the Astros.

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MLB General

The Full Count: The most offensive team in the game…


1. Powerhouse: Two years ago, it would have been laughable to think the Tigers’ offense would soon be the best in baseball. Now, that is the reality–and no one else is even close. The Tigers piled on a season-high 15 runs and 21 hits against the Mets–all without their best hitter in the lineup. Magglio Ordonez didn’t play, but it didn’t matter as Detroit roughed up Tom Glavine for 9 earned runs and 11 hits. Gary Sheffield continued to dominate with a 4-5, two RBI outing. Brandon Inge knocked in five RBIs, Ivan Rodriguez had three hits and three runs, and Placido Polanco went 3-6 to increase his average to .348. The 15-7 win over the Mets sent the Tigers to 1.5 games behind Cleveland, while New York dropped to 3-7 its last ten games. The Tigers now have 374 runs this year–a whopping 32 more than the next-best team, the Yankees. They also lead the MLB in hits, batting average, slugging, and OPS. Last year the Tigers were carried by their starting pitching. This year, they are winning because they can flat-out mash.

2. The Yankees are Back: The Yankees’ season may have seemed over when they were 14.5 back in the division. But now they have new life, thanks to a 6-game winning streak as well as recent struggles by the Red Sox. The Yanks started off interleague play with a sweep of the Pirates, including a 13-6 win on Sunday. Alex Rodriguez, who hit two homers, drove in five runs, and scored four times, is now back to his April self. Bobby Abreu went 4-4 with 4 runs and is on a ten-game hitting streak that has raised his average 44 points. Overall, the Yankees outscored the Pirates 27-13 on the series. Their next two series are against tougher teams, the Diamondbacks and the Mets, but both are at home. The Red Sox are still 9.5 games ahead, but they are only 4-6 in June compared with the Yankees’ 8-2 mark. This race could get much more competitive as the year goes on.

3. Early Ejection, Late Win: The first inning of the Cubs-Braves game featured plenty of controversy. The Cubs’ starting pitcher, Ted Lilly, was ejected in the first after hitting Edgar Renteria with a pitch. It didn’t look like he was intentionally throwing at him, but the umpire was convinced. Both dugouts cleared but there was no fighting between the teams. Renteria then elbowed Cubs second baseman Mike Fontenot when he came in with a hard popup slide on a steal attempt. Renteria was not punished for this action, however, even though it seemed much more intentional than Lilly’s pitch. Anyway, the Cubs were able to take the lead, 4-2, through seven innings despite having to overwork their bullpen. But then in the eighth, the Braves scored three runs off Ryan Dempster to pull ahead and eventually win 5-4. It would be interesting to see what would happen if these two teams played again, but their season series is over. The Braves moved up to just 2.5 games behind the Mets.

Players of the Day: CC Sabathia, Indians: 9 innings, three hits, no runs, 6 strikeouts. Aaron Harang, Reds: 7 innings, three hits, no runs, 10 strikeouts. The Reds and Indians had one of the best pitcher’s duels this season, with a 0-0 tie through the first 11 innings. The Reds won in the 12th off Alex Gonzalez’s RBI single.

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends: Amanda Beard Playboy cover


The fine folks at Playboy were nice enough to send us this pic of Amanda Beard’s Playboy cover. The cover is standard stuff, nothing too provocative or over the top but you can still see that killer body, even with a strategically placed forearm over the goodies. The blogosphere is going to be exploding with the actual scans of her nude shots soon but we’ll probably just point you in the right direction instead of posting them.

Anyway, if you’re in the NYC area next week, Amanda Beard will be signing her July issue from noon to 2:00 at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. We’ll try to get some candid shots from that event as well.

In other news…

[Rocky Mountain News]: The Braves manager who went apeshit got himself a 3 game suspension.

[CNBC]: Nike re-signs Kobe to a multi-year extension

[Cincinnati.com]: Sheffield’s words just plain racist

[SBS]: Why the UFL will fail

[Larry Brown Sports]: Hmmm… the London Olympics logo does look like two people having sex

[Randball]: How would a riot caused by 10-cent-beer night in 1974 be covered today?

And finally, we really can’t make heads or tails of this post but you can’t deny the sheer entertainment value of two blogs titled “Arcade Fire Stole my Basketball” and “Arcade Fire Didn’t Steal Dude’s Basketball“.

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Atlanta Braves

Minor league manager shows why he’s in the minors

Okay, so this happened back on Friday, but you didn’t think we were gonna let this slip by; did ya?  After all, it is just one of the biggest meltdowns of all-time by a baseball manager.  C’mon, when was the last time you saw a fat guy in a Braves uniform doing a belly crawl to the mound?  Not to mention the classic grenade style toss of the rosin bag.  Jeez, Sweet Lou has got to be feeling a lot less stupid thanks to Mr. Phillip Wellman’s antics.  

But seriously, how is his squad supposed to rally behind a guy who acts like this?  That’s like asking Alec Baldwin’s daughter to have respect for her daddy after he called her “a rude, thoughtless little pig.” Some things are just impossible to forget.