1. Happy Birthday, Boss: George Steinbrenner celebrated his 76th birthday last night. So did the Yankees’ opponent, the Indians. Cleveland’s offense came alive for a 19-1 bashing of New York, the second-most runs scored by any team in a game this season. Travis Hafner demonstrated why he should be on the All Star team by crushing 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. Catcher Victor Martinez, one of the league’s most underrated players, went 5-6 and drove in 3. Six Indians had 2 or more hits, and six also had 2 or more RBIs. Shawn Chacon took the bulk of the beating for the Yankees by allowing 7 runs in less than 2 innings. The Indians also featured some good pitching in the rout: Jake Westbrook went 7 innings and allowed no earned runs. Cleveland is no stranger to blowing out the Yankees; in August 2004 they crushed them 22-0.
2. Tying it up: The Blue Jays have been creeping up on the Yankees for almost two months now, and they finally tied them in the standings yesterday. Roy Halladay, the Blue Jays’ All Star pitcher, became the first AL starter to reach 11 wins on the year. Halladay worked 7.2 scoreless innings to capture what eventually became a 3-2 win over the Rangers. That’s because BJ Ryan almost blew the game in the 9th inning. Ryan, whose ERA has been well below 1 for most of the season, allowed 2 runs in the ninth but escaped with the save. Both the Blue Jays and the Yanks are now 4 games back of the Red Sox in the East, and that’s with Boston losing yesterday. Meanwhile, the Rangers fell to 42-42 but are still in 2nd place in the awful AL West division.
3. Make it 17: Jose Contreras, the AL’s likely starter in the All Star game, remained undefeated with one of his best outings in a while yesterday. Contreras, who posted a 6.21 ERA in June but escaped 3-0, worked 6.2 scoreless innings last night to improve to 9-0. Contreras needed little run support but he got plenty of it; the White Sox offense blew up the Orioles for 13 runs. Paul Konerko hit his 21st homer of the season as every Sox starter scored a run and got a hit. At 54-29, Chicago remains 1.5 back of the Tigers for the AL Central lead.
4. A three-way tie: The NL West has been the most competitive division in the majors ever since the season started. Teams move in and out of first very quickly in this division, in which currently all 5 teams are separated by just 3.5 games. Right now three teams are tied for the lead: the Rockies, the Padres, and the Dodgers (43-40 each). The Giants are just a half game back, while the struggling Diamondbacks are bringing up the rear. The division could be called the NL’s best or worst depending on how you look at it. While all teams are close, the 43-40 mark is the worst in the majors for any division leader. Which team should emerge from this mess? We’ll take the Dodgers, whose offense surprisingly leads the NL in runs scored.
5. LLLLLLima time!!!: In one of the most entertaining stories possible, the Mets recalled Jose Lima from AAA. Lima, who posted an 8.79 ERA in three starts earlier this year, will look to further the Mets’ recent struggles. Or maybe not, considering his 3.86 ERA in seven starts in the minors. Either way, we’ll get to say “Lima Time” one more time.
