Tag: Boston Red Sox

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MLB General

The Full Count: A’s finally clinch


1. All in: In the National League only one team has clinched a playoff berth. But in the AL, all four playoff teams are already in. They are the Yankees, Tigers, Twins, and after last night, the A’s. Oakland won 12-3 against Seattle to finally clinch the AL West after four days of trying. Rich Harden pitched well and improved to 4-0 this year. Harden, who has been injured most of the year, will certainly help the A’s in the playoffs. So the A’s, at 91-66, are in. That means that the Angels are outta here. Anaheim/LA had made a remarkable comeback after starting off the year in last place. They were just unable to hold off the superior A’s.

2. They just can’t win: The Cardinals have looked absolutely horrendous this past week. While all they’ve needed to do is just cruise and win half their games to make the playoffs, the Cards have lost 7 in a row. Yesterday was seemingly a good situation for a St. Louis victory, with Cy Young candidate Chris Carpenter on the mound. But Carpenter blew a three-run lead in the seventh in what was his worst outing of the month. The opposing Padres took advantage by winning 7-5 and keeping their two-game lead in the NL West. If the Cardinals can’t win, the Astros will be more than happy to take their division title. Houston has won seven in a row.

3. Chase for the title: The Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers are both in the playoffs already. But they both are continuing to win in the quest for the AL Central title. Each team has won 4 games in a row, including yesterday. The Tigers handled the Blue Jays by a count of 4-3, with Jeremy Bonderman earning his 14th victory. Detroit stands at 95-62. Meanwhile, the Twins edged the Royals 3-2. Johan Santana went eight innings to advance to 19-6. He maintains the lead in each Pitching Triple Crown category, and currently would be leading the National League as well. The Twins are just one game back at 94-63.

4. Great player, extraordinary season: David Ortiz is having one of the best unaided seasons of our era. Ortiz, despite the Red Sox’s elimination from playoff contention, is still mashing the ball. He has 5 homers in the past week alone, and 54 on the season. He leads the AL in homers and RBIs, with 137. He manages to get on-base at a .407 clip despite the infamous “Ortiz shift” by the opposing team. Just so you know, he’s recorded the 18th-most homers of any player ever in a single-season, though taking out the clear roiders he’s in the top 10. Will this be enough for an MVP? Somehow, probably not.

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MLB General

Sep 18 in Sports History: Dodgers outfielder goes nuts on flight



20 K day

In 1935 Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder Len Koenecke was dismissed from the team by new manager Casey Stengel for erratic play and strange behavior. After being kicked off the flight home for being drunk and threatening the airline crew and passengers, Koenecke, a .297 career hitter, decided to charter his own plane home to Buffalo. On board that plane, he tried to grab the controls and fought with the pilots During the scuffle, the co-pilot reportedly hit Koenecke on the head with a fire extinguisher and killed him. He was 31 years old. (courtesy of baseballlibrary.com)

In 1996: For the second time in his career, Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox struck out 20 batters in a 9 inning game. Clemens fanned 20 Detroit Tigers and walked none in a 4-0 Boston vicrory at Tiger Stadium. Clemens also accomplished the feat against the Seattle Mariners in 1986.

In 1986: On the same day they tied the ML record for losses in a season in 1962, the New York Mets clinched the NL East Division crown with a 4-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium. It was their first division title since 1973, and their 108 victories was the most in the NL since the 1975 Reds. Jubilant Mets’ fans stormed the field in celebration, nearly destroying the playing surface. The Mets went on to defeat Houston in the NLCS and the Red Sox in the World Series.

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New York Yankees

Odds and Ends: Trash Talk Scoreboard – Jeter 1 Ortiz 0



Jeter to Ortiz: Sit down

On Sunday, Big Papi decided to talk a little trash and say that Derek Jeter’s MVP candidacy was illegitimate because of the Yankees murderer’s row of hitters.


Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great player but he’s got a lot of guys in that lineup. Top to bottom, you’ve got a guy who can hurt you. Come hit in this lineup, see how good you can be.

Jeter responded by pointing to the division standings.

I’m not thinking about the MVP right now. We’re thinking about winning a division. We’ve still got something to play for.

In other news…

[All Headline News]: New GM Garth Snow and crazy Isles owner Charles Wang gives DiPietro 15 year $67.5M contract

[MSNBC]: Coach K decries ‘cloud’ of rape case. Basketball coach says it’s unfair that all of Duke athletics were tainted

[Footyblog]: Top Wives and Girlfriends in English soccer

[WHDH Boston]: Red Sox fan cursed at Red Sox players, shook his seat loose from bolting and throws seat in the face of a Maine woman nearby

[Superflav]: Off Topic but very cool: best rock video choreography you’ll ever see live

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MLB General

The Full Count: Special August Wrap-up Edition



Often compared to Willie Stargell

1. He’s good. Real good: The Phillies lost to the Nationals last night, but that wasn’t the most important thing going on in that game. It was Ryan Howard’s continued dominance at the plate. Howard jacked his 49th homerun of the year, breaking Mike Schmidt’s single-season franchise record with a month left in the season. Howard has now hit an RBI in 9 straight games and homered in 6 of those games. His August will go down as the best month of the season by any player, as Howard hit 14 homeruns and 41 RBIs for the month. He also hit .348 and slugged .750 on the month and put up a stratospheric 1.214 OPS. The most incredible part of all this? Howard’s just 26 years old and playing in his first full season.

2. Santana strikes again: Who do you call when you need a win? Call on Johan Santana. The pitcher had a great start against the Kansas City Royals, who were actually on the brink of sweeping the Twins. He struck out 11 and pitched seven innings for his league-leading 16th win of the season. Johan just completed a truly special month of August. He went 4-0 with a 2.32 ERA and 47 strikeouts, first of any pitcher in the month. The win improved him to 7-0 after the break this year and 37-3 after the break since 2003. The Twins won 3-1 and are a half-game out of the Wild Card.

3. Where did this come from?: Putting it lightly, Astros pitcher Andy Pettitte sucked the first half of the season. He posted a 5+ ERA each of the first three months and allowed opponents above a .300 batting average. But now, Pettitte is starting to produce like a machine. In August he put up a 2.43 ERA and 44 strikeouts, both very comparable to Santana’s numbers above. Though he just went 3-2 and still has a .500 record on the season, Pettitte is looking more like himself from last year, when he went 17-9 with a 2.39 ERA. Last night he pitched seven innings while only allowing 5 hits and 1 earned run to the Brewers. With Pettitte in addition to Roger Clemens and the recently resigned Roy Oswalt on the pitching staff, the Astros are looking good as they head into September.

4. New York, New York: Both teams from the Big Apple had particularly good months. The Mets finished the month with a loss yesterday but overall posted an outstanding 19-8 record. They gained the best record in baseball, 82-50, in the process. The Mets are 15.5 games ahead of the second-place Phillies in the division, still the only double-digit lead of any team, and they would be 11 games up on the Cardinals if they were in the same division. That’s quite an accomplishment considering the Cards have finished with the best record in the NL for two straight years and are in second this year. And how `bout them Yanks? For them it’s been a great month for them and a bad month for their rival, you-know-who. NYY was tied with the BoSox on August 1, but after their success and Boston’s struggles have opened up an 8 game lead. By the way, that is the second-largest lead in all of baseball. So if you don’t think another Subway Series is a reality this season, you better reconsider.

5. Back to the Bay: After lasting two years with the Boston Red Sox, David Wells is moving on in his career once again. Wells is going back to the San Diego Padres, his hometown team who he played with in 2004. Wells was sent to Cali in a trade for a minor league catcher. Padres GM Kevin Towers thinks Wells is the difference for this team as they look to keep a lead in the Wild Card race.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Yankees show em who’s boss


1. One-sided rivalry: Everyone said the Yankees-Red Sox series would tell us a lot about where these two clubs stand. And it has. The Yankees are clearly much better than the Red Sox. New York over Boston was the result all weekend as the Yankees won 4 games in 3 days. This series has showed just how good the Bronx Bombers are: they have scored 47 runs in the four games, including three double-digit games to get the series rolling. Last night the result was 8-5 in 10 innings of Sunday Night Baseball, and the game was decided by their bullpens rather than the Schilling-Mussina pitching matchup. Derek Jeter hit an RBI single off Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th to tie up the game, while Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada homered in the 10th to win the game. Giambi’s homer gave him 2 on the day as he drove in 5 runs. David Ortiz hit his 44th homer of the season for the Red Sox and Manny Ramirez hit his 100th RBI. But it wasn’t enough as the Yankees extended their divisional lead to 5.5 games.

2. The wins keep on comin’: If Roy Halladay can do anything, it’s win ballgames. While no NL pitcher has even won 14 games, Halladay captured his 16th of the year yesterday. He was perfect through five innings but eventually allowed two runs as the Blue Jays defeated the Orioles. He is now 16-3 on the season, giving him a league-leading win percentage in addition to his second-best WHIP and innings pitched totals. Could Halladay win 20 games and a Cy Young? He’ll have to defeat this next guy to do that:

3. It’s easy to be dominant: Or at least it is for Johan Santana. The pitcher won his 6th consecutive decision last night as the Twins beat up on the ChiSox. It was his 15th win of the season as he allowed just one run in 7 innings. He now leads the American League in ERA, innings pitched, strikeouts, and WHIP and could capture his second career Cy Young award. It will be a great duel to the finish between him and Halladay, but as of now Johan is leading. He ranks better than Roy at everything but wins and, as described last week, is an animal down the stretch. The Twins won the 20th game in a row he started at the Metrodome, a modern record according to ESPN.com. The Twins took the series and now are just one game back from Chicago in the divisional and Wild Card races. This one could get nasty down the stretch.

4. No signs of fading: The Cincinnati Reds have held the NL Wild Card lead for a long time, and despite increased challengers they keep on winning. Yesterday they topped the Pirates 5-1 in front of their home crowd, as Aaron Harang easily shut down the opposing offense. Harang struck out 9 and allowed just a solo Jason Bay homerun to Pittsburgh while winning his 13th game of the year. That ties him with multiple players for the National League lead. Adam Dunn (37) and Scott Hatteberg (12) both homered in the third to give the home team an early cushion. Dunn is now only 3 away from his third consecutive 40-homerun season and has been a machine for the Reds in every offense category but batting average, strangely enough. Cincy now has a two-game WC lead and is only two games back of the division-leading Cardinals. The Astros, at 7.5 back, have yet to make a push.

5. Pitching problems: Pitcher after pitcher has gone down recently. The A’s and Reds will face bullpen problems over the next few weeks, as both Huston Street and Eddie Guadardo will be put on the DL. Street was feeling groin pain and will be temporarily replaced by Ron Flores, who was called up from Triple-A and has already had three stints with the A’s this season. Guadardo, who had saved 8 of 10 chances since being acquired by Cincy, was also put on the 15 day list and has forearm problems. But both those pitchers got off easily compared to Tom Glavine. He is being examined for a blood clot and could either return next week or miss the rest of the season. The Mets could be without their top two starters, Glavine and the 15-day DL Pedro Martinez, for a while.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Can Johan Santana pull off the Pitching Triple Crown?


1. After-break ace: Johan Santana, always an ace after the All Star break, is at it again. He improved to 5-0 after the break this year with a win last night over the Indians. He had a fantastic game, tossing 8 innings of shutout ball against one of the league’s toughest offenses. Santana struck out 9 to elevate his major league-leading total to 187. With a 14-5 record and 3.10 ERA to go along with those strikeouts, Johan has a realistic shot at the Pitching Triple Crown. He is 3rd in ERA (with two rookies ahead of him) and trails only Roy Halladay in wins. He helped the Twins roll along to 20 games above .500.

2. Detroit wins Duels: With the Tigers’ outstanding pitching and efficient offense, they can win just about any game in a pitchers’ duel. That remained true last night, when they ousted the Red Sox 3-2. Jeremy Bonderman and Curt Schilling each pitched very well for their teams. Strikeout specialist Bonderman mowed down 8 Sox in seven innings while only allowing 2 runs. Schilling didn’t walk anybody but allowed 9 hits and 2 runs in seven. The game wasn’t decided until the ninth inning, when Mike Timlin–who was oddly in the game instead of closer Jonathan Papelbon–allowed an RBI single to Craig Monroe. Then Todd Jones was able to save his 16th save chance in a row without blowing one. He has 33 on the year. The Tigers moved to 6.5 games ahead of the White Sox (who lost), while the BoSox fell to 3 games back of the Yankees (who won). Both teams will play their main rivals later this week.

3. Enough of 18: You could call the Houston Astros the most worn-out team in baseball, or you could call them the most dramatic. Whatever the case is, they always seem to be playing in extremely long games. Yesterday they went 18 innings against the Cubs, their third game of such length in the past year. Houston’s Roger Clemens, who has been an automatic quality start so far this year, allowed a season-high 5 runs but still almost got a win. The only reason he didn’t was because of the Cubs’ Matt Murton, whose homerun in the ninth tied the game at 6. it stayed there for a while, for 8 more innings in fact. The tie was finally broken in the 18th, when it was Murton who drove in the winning runs. So the Cubs won, but it is Houston and their sense to play in extremely long games that has us puzzled. Their pitching staff has now thrown an MLB-high 1081 innings on the year, about thirty more than most teams. Could this wear and tear affect them as they try to make another run down the stretch? We’ll see.

4. Another 18: In one of most coincidental twists in the entire MLB this year, another 18-inning game was played yesterday. It was the first time that two games of this length had ever been played on the same day. The other victims were the Diamondbacks and Rockies, who played the longest game in the history of Coors Field. It lasted almost 5 and a half hours and featured 15 pitchers (still short of the Astros-Cubs’ whopping 18). This one was lower scoring from the get-go. The Rockies’ Jason Jennings had another great start with 8 innings pitched and just one run allowed. Miguel Bautista of the D-Backs pitched 6 and also allowed one. That set the stage for an enormous drought in scoring. For a mind-blowing 12 straight innings, neither team put a single run on the board. The 1-1 tie was finally broken in the 18th, when Luis Gonzalez delivered his only hit in 8 at-bats: a single that drove in the winning run. So that was the second 18-inning game on the same day! This might never happen again.

5. LA Law: Los Angeles is “laying down the law” on opposing teams, with 17 wins in their last 18 games. The streak is now reaching the historic. They are only one of two teams in the last 100 National League seasons to have a streak of such magnitude. According to baseball-reference.com, the streak is better than any in Dodgers history over an 18-game period. It is better than any run since the A’s magical 20-game win streak in 2002, a record that might never be broken. LA now leads by 3.5 games in the NL West, and they have the best home record (39-25) in the National League. Can they keep it up? Considering their weak division, yes.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Red Sox Swept by a AAA team?


1. A Royal Sweep: What has happened to the Boston Red Sox? The team, once dominant over the AL East, has lost five straight games. They have fallen from first place to 3 games back in that span, and they are just not looking good right now. The Kansas City Royals of all teams just hammered the Sox in a three game sweep. Yesterday they prevailed 5-4, despite an incredible 8th-inning single by David Ortiz that many national columnists are calling “clutch.” Anyway, the Royals got three hits and two RBIs by vet Reggie Sanders, and a decent start by Runelvys Hernandez, who had allowed 17 runs in his previous two outings. For the Red Sox, Curt Schilling allowed an uncharacteristic 11 hits and 5 runs to one of the league’s worst offenses. Until the Red Sox can figure out what’s going on, the Yankees have a chance at dominating the division.

2. Different Sox, different story: Ready to take some more blame, Alex Rodriguez? The Yankees slugger, who had been relatively quiet for like a week, made a costly throwing error against the White Sox. His errant throw let Jermaine Dye score, and four runs total crossed the plate that inning. So with those runs and a Scott Podsednik RBI, the White Sox won to take the series of three. Javier Vasquez walked six but struck out 8 and Bobby Jenks closed the door for his AL-leading 31st save. With that Chicago was able to re-pass Minnesota for second place in the division. The 76-38 Tigers, who were off yesterday, still loom large in first.

3. Back to the normal: The Earth rotates, the sky is blue, and the Houston Astros are in Wild Card contention. Those are the facts of life these days. The `Stros, who have won the Wild Card and advanced to the NLCS for two consecutive seasons, are now two games back after sweeping the Pirates. Roger Clemens pitched last night to close out the series, with his 4th win of the year. Incredibly the Rocket has allowed three earned runs or less in each of his 10 starts. So now the Astros, despite an underwhelming record of 56-58, trail the leading Reds by just 2.5 games. In the American League, their record would put them 11.5 games out.

4. One game changes everything: San Diego had the NL West lead when they woke up on Thursday. Now, after they lost and the Dodgers won, the Padres find themselves tied for second. SD lost to El Duque Hernandez of the Mets, who after early struggles has won four straight decisions. The Dodgers, meanwhile, defeated the Rockies despite an ace performance by their starter Jason Jennings. Underrated youngster Andre Ethier hit his 11th homerun for LA. They lead both the Padres and the Diamondbacks (who were off) by a half-game. With how crazy this division is, however, the Dodgers could find themselves in third place by tomorrow.

5. Don’t believe it Phillies fans: The Fightins might be 3 games out of Wild Card contention and starting a series against the Cincinnati Reds who lead the WC race but don’t get your hopes up. This is, after all, the Phillies. They will break your hearts every time. Even worse so because they give you some hope. Just move it along. Move it along to football and the Eagles. This has been a public service announcement from Sportscolumn blog.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Can Big Papi break the non-steroided HR record?


1. 40 down, 61 in sight?: David Ortiz continued his tear yesterday, hitting another homerun. It was his 40th on the season, as he became the first player of the season to reach that milestone. This is important as his homerun pace is now 59, meaning Big Papi is within reaching distance of 62. He might become the first player since 2001 and the first non-cheater ever to reach that mark. Ortiz continued his dominance at Tropicana Field, with his sixth homer there on the year and 13th since 2003. Ortiz now has at least 40 homers and 100 RBIs in three consecutive seasons, and is the only player besides Pujols to have a streak like that going. Oh by the way, the Red Sox lost to the Devil Rays in 10 innings.

2. Back to normal: The St. Louis Cardinals’ recent 8-game losing streak might have been an aberration. The team has looked fine in their last two games, both wins over the Brewers. Yesterday’s 7-1 victory included three hits by Albert Pujols and a homerun by Scott Rolen. Those players, both hitting over .315, are pivotal to the Cardinals success. Jim Edmonds, who has rounded out their 3-4-5 trio the past few seasons, has stumbled this year with a .263 average and only 16 homeruns (low for him). Thankfully, Juan Encarnacion has played better than expected with 62 RBIs. Anyway, the Cards will need all of their hitters to be in top shape for their next series. They play the Reds in a four game set. Right now St. Louis is up by 3.5 over the Reds, but they’ll play seven games over the next two weeks so that could change quickly.

3. Star pitcher out? No problem!: For most teams, the absence of a 14-win ace like Justin Verlander might result in a beatdown. Not the Tigers. They won 1-0 despite Verlander being out with an injury. That was due in large part to Wilfredo Ledezma, a spot starter who was able to shut down the Tribe. He barely outpitched CC Sabathia, who allowed just one unearned run in 7 innings. The strong Cleveland offense got on base easily enough but stranded 20 runners. I guess that’s why they’re 27.5 games back of the Tigers in the division.

4. Maine attraction: Who is John Maine, you might ask? He just has the longest scoreless innings streak in baseball. The rookie pitched his third start in a row–including a July 21st complete game–without allowing a run. Maine, who has been back and forth from AAA to the majors this season, proved another example of why the Mets are the best team in the National League. Even when a player is injured, they have the ability to fill in for him. And just like the Tigers, who do much of the same thing (see above), they have the largest divisional lead (13 games) in their league.

5. On and off: In an anticlimactic move that ended a complex situation, the Braves took Andruw Jones off waivers yesterday. Jones, who seemed perfectly happy with the team, was playing great, and helping the offense tremendously from the cleanup role, was inexplicably placed on waivers last week. One team claimed him, which gave the Braves two days to work out a trade with the team. But stop right there. Why would a competitive team trade probably their best offensive and defensive player? Jones led the majors in homers and RBIs last year and has 26 and 95 this year. Either way, the trade never worked out, the team who claimed him was never revealed, and now Andruw can stay with the team.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Big Papi does it again


1. Mr. Walk off: David Ortiz has now easily established himself as one of the greatest clutch hitters of all time. Ortiz, just two days removed from a 4-5, 4 RBI performance complete with a game-winning single, hit a walk off three-run homer in the ninth to defeat Cleveland. His 4 RBIs gave him a whopping 105 for the year, bringing his pace to 164. The last player to drive in that many runs in a season was Ortiz’s teammate Manny Ramirez, who had 165 ribbies in 1999. Papi hit two homers on the day to once again bring back his major league lead (Ryan Howard had tied him at 35). Though Ortiz is 30 and only has 214 career homers, he will elevate himself to the level of the all-time great power hitters if he can keep this pace up.

2. Hey, it’s another rookie pitcher!: The American League class of rookie pitchers has dominated the headlines. Francisco Liriano, Jered Weaver, Jonathan Papelbon, and Justin Verlander have all performed above any level expected for a rookie. But one of the best rooks comes from the National League. He’s Josh Johnson, Florida’s youngster who has a 2.52 ERA. That is good for the NL lead, which means each league’s ERA leader is a rookie and it’s the end of July. That, needless to say, is the first time that’s ever happened. Johnson received plenty of run support and won his 9th game of the season yesterday against the Phillies. He allowed just one run and five hits, with one of the hits coming against the Phillies’ Chase Utley. That extends Utley’s hit streak to a whopping 32, the best since Jimmy Rollins’ 38 game streak that ended this April.

3. Almost perfect: The Twins just wrapped up their 61st win of the season, putting them eight games back of the Tigers (who lost). They absolutely ripped through the Texas Rangers, shutting them down 15-2. The Twins’ performance was almost perfect, as they collected 18 hits, with seven starters having multi-hit games. Carlos Silva, though he has been incompetent so far this year, pitched well to earn his seventh victory. His ERA stands at 6.49, and he is the weakest link of the Twins’ otherwise solid rotation. The stunned Rangers have suddenly moved into last place in the AL West.

4. Powerhouse: What got into the Arizona Diamondbacks last night? They pounded the Chicago Cubs for 15 runs, 10 extra base hits, and 6 homers in a rout. They were one of three teams (see above) that scored 15 runs last night, a rare occurrence for sure. Secondbaseman Orlando Hudson had a career effort, with 2 homers and 6 RBIs. Arizona moved to a game back of the Padres in the NL West, and they now stand at 54-51. Brandon Webb didn’t have his best stuff but rode his offense to his 12th victory of the year. The Diamondbacks are used to wild games like this; they have scored and allowed the most runs in their division.

5. More trading: Some of the trades that went down yesterday were revealed after FC was written. The Dodgers were probably the biggest winners, acquiring shortstop Julio Lugo from the Devil Rays and legend Greg Maddux from the Cubs. LA is Maddux’s third team, and will probably be his last. Meanwhile, the Mets got reliever Roberto Hernandez and Olivier “Remember 2004?” Perez from the Pirates. They dealed outfielder Xaiver Nady for those two pitchers. Those were likely the biggest two trades of the eight that went down yesterday, but the biggest news is who didn’t get moved. Alfonso Soriano and Miguel Tejada were rumored like crazy for a trade but will stand pat.

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MLB General

The Full Count: the Red Sox’s instant replay

1. Two days, two identical wins: The Boston Red Sox have won two games in a row in eerily similar fashions. Both yesterday’s and Tuesday’s game resulted in 1-0 wins over the Kansas City Royals. Jonathan Papelbon came on to save both games, and a Sox starter went 8 strong in each. The only difference was that the Royals collected four times the amount of hits in last night’s game than the previous one. Of course, that’s still just 4 hits. Josh Beckett won his 12th game of the year to move him into a tie with Roy Halladay for most in the majors. Despite his excellent record Beckett has somewhat struggled this year with a 4.78 ERA. He is consistently inconsistent; the type of player who will follow up 5 straight quality starts with 7 earned runs. For the signing of Beckett to pay off, he’ll have to pitch like he did last night more often.

2. 325-game winner, meet 342-game winner: It was a pitching matchup for the ages when Roger Clemens met Greg Maddux yesterday. And I mean this literally. They are a combined 83 years old. Anyway, they are two of the greatest pitchers of all time, and they are the two active leaders on the career wins list. Clemens got the better of this historic duel, winning his 343rd career game with 6 shutout innings. Maddux, who only has two wins since April, took the loss with 3 earned runs in 7 innings. Craig Biggio homered for the visiting Astros, who are still three games under .500. The Cubs would love to trade places, however, as they are 16.5 games back of the division-leading Cardinals and are in serious danger of being passed by the lowly Pirates.

3. Stop streaking, Part I: The pathetic Indians, who are 10 games under .500 despite having outscored their opponents by 34 runs on the year, had apparently had enough of two Angels streaks. They stopped John Lackey’s scoreless streak at 30.2 innings, and they also managed to stop the Angels’ win streak at 8. Lackey allowed a run for the first time in 4 starts. He had lowered his ERA to 2.69 (good for second in the AL), but allowed 5 runs to the Indians. Ben Broussard and Aaron Boone (remember him?) homered for Cleveland, who snapped a 5-game losing streak of their own. In the chaotic AL West, the Angels’ loss moved them from almost in first to third place. They are still only 1.5 back.

4. Stop streaking, Part II: The Braves were going for an all-time record, 6 games in a row with a double-digit run total. The record was 76 years old and held by a classic Yankee team, and the underachieving-until-now Braves offense was looking to break it. But the Cardinals’ best pitcher, Chris Carpenter, managed to cool off the Braves as St. Louis won 8-3. Carpenter pitched 7 innings to earn his ninth win of the season, as first-time Braves starter Jason Shiell took the loss. But the Cardinals couldn’t stop every Brave. Brian McCann homered for the 5th straight game, and red-hot Andruw Jones and Adam LaRoche both drove in runs. The Cardinals are 3.5 games ahead of the Reds in their division, while the Braves are 5 games back of the Reds for the Wild Card.

5. Bonds’ trainer to be set free: The personal trainer who was sent to jail earlier this month for refusing to testify for a grand jury is expected to be released today. Greg Anderson is the key to the perjury charges against Bonds so his lack of cooperation could mean that Bonds will only be indicted on tax evasion charges.