1. Overshadowed: Roger Clemens, making his first start of the season, got all of the attention before and during last night’s game against the Twins. The home crowd loved him, and so did ESPN, as the network showed montage after montage of him before the game. But in the end, it was the pitcher Clemens was facing who should have got the attention. Francisco Liriano, the Twins’ fantastic rookie pitcher, continued his success this season. He threw 8 innings, allowing just 4 hits and 2 runs. Meanwhile, Clemens was just average. He allowed 2 runs in 5 innings, but was ineffective in working the count. The Rocket threw 100 pitches, three more than Liriano, just 59 of them for strikes. Meanwhile, Liriano improved to 7-1 this season with a 2.17 ERA. Unless he completely fails down the stretch, he should be a leading contender for AL Rookie of the Year. Oh by the way, the Twins won, 4-2.
2. The scoring stops here: The first two games of the White Sox-Cardinals series featured an outstanding 44 combined runs from both sides. How bout Game 3? Not so much on the offensive side. Cardinals pitcher Anthony Reyes, in just the third start of his career, shut down the White Sox the first 6 innings. He allowed no hits during that time to a team that had collected 40 hits the previous two games. But then one swing by Jim Thome changed everything, as he took a ball deep to right field for his 24th homer of the season. The hit was not only all the White Sox needed to win the 1-0 game, but it also was the only hit of the night for the team. Freddy Garcia and Bobby Jenks combined to shut out the Cardinals offense, which included Albert Pujols in the lineup for the first time in 20 days. Pujols went 0-4, and the Cardinals took a sweep from the defending World Champs.
3. A Royal-like performance: What hasn’t already been said about the Braves failures this year, as their recent horrendousness has been one of the top stories in all of baseball. This team just cannot find a way to win, as they have lost 10 in a row. Only the Cubs and Pirates have worse records among all NL teams, their bullpen is the worst in baseball, and only the Brewers, Royals, and Orioles have allowed more runs. And there is no end in sight to the Braves’ failures, at least for this year. They lost again last night to the Blue Jays, 3-2, as Mike Remlinger blew his third save of the year. Meanwhile, AJ Burnett returned to the mound for the first time since April, going 6 decent innings for the Jays. Toronto is only three games back of the Red Sox in the AL East, and if Burnett is successful that gap could close quickly.
4. Not a Royal-like performance: Okay, it’s hard to make anything out of a sweep of the 29th best team in baseball. Unless you’re the 30th best team in baseball. That’s right folks, the Kansas City Royals got a sweep over the Pirates. Now the Royals have won an astounding four games in a row, and their record has improved all the way to 22-49! Last night they won a sloppy 15-7 game over Pittsburgh, with 9 combined unearned runs and 4 combined errors. But at 25 games out of first place, we don’t think the Royals care how they win ballgames.
5. Due punishment: Ozzie Guillen has been out of control recently, to say the least. Not long after sending down a rookie pitcher for not hitting a batter, Guillen was suspended one game after another questionable beanball incident on Tuesday. Ozzie was also fined and sent to sensitivity training for his much-publicized slur against Jay Mariotti. Guillen has not apologized to Mariotti, and it doesn’t seem like he will anytime soon.
