Sportscolumn Blog

Give him a cigar: Mets Rookie Alay Soler followed up fellow Cuban Orlando Hernandez’s complete game victory over the suddenly hapless Diamondbacks with a shutout of his own. Soler handed Brandon Webb his first loss of the season, giving up only two hits in a 5-0 victory. It was the first shutout by a Mets rookie since 1994. The Diamondbacks have fallen fast; going 0-6 (including a 15-2 drubbing Sunday) since the Grimsley affair and dropping into second place behind the Dodgers in the NL West. The Mets, meanwhile, have increased their lead over the Phillies in the East by 5.5 games. If Hernandez and Soler can provide consistent starts at the back-end of the rotation, the Mets might wrap it up by Independence Day.

Rookie what we have here: Soler wasn’t the only rookie to turn in a brilliant performance over the weekend. Seattle Mariners phenom Felix Hernandez put together his best outing of the season, a complete game four hitter over the baffling and punchless Angels. Hernandez had nine strikeouts, no walks and retired 17 straight batters at one point. In D.C., it was a battle of rookie hurlers as the Nationals Shawn Hill outshined the Phillies Cole Hamels. Hill allowed only two hits over seven innings to earn his first victory since 2004 (he missed the entire 2005 season with an elbow injury) as the Nats defeated the Phils‘ 6-0.

Believe the hype (finally): The Minnesota Twins Joe Mauer has finally begun living up to the promise of being the top draft pick. The 2001 no. 1 overall has been on a tear, raising his batting average over a eighty points in the last month. Mauer was hitting .305 on May 10. Going into today’s action, he is leading the league with a .386 mark. He is hitting ..528 in June while slugging .778; and has failed to reach base in only two of the last 31 games. In fact, it is believed (according to the Elias Sports Bureau) that Mauer is only the third player in Major League history to reach base four times in five consecutive games.

That’’s entertainment: The Chicago White Sox have been one of the most entertaining teams during the first half. They didn’t disappoint this weekend with a wild series against the Indians. On Friday night, Jermaine Dye homered late to give the White Sox a 5-4 win. On Saturday, the Indians bullpen melted down again (causing a reported locker room shouting match between Bob Wickman and Paul Byrd), allowing another late-inning rally as the Sox won 4-3. On Sunday, the Indians jumped out to a 10-2 lead before giving up six runs in the ninth as another Chicago miracle came up just a little short.

Did that just happen?: The Royals have won only 16 games this year, but on Sunday they etched themselves into baseball lore positively (for a change) by turning one of the most unique triple plays in baseball history. With nobody out and runners on first and third, Tampa’s Russell Branyan hit a shallow fly ball to center field. Aubrey Huff tagged up from third and apparently scored when the throw from center was wild. Pitcher Scott Elarton was backing up the play and alertly threw out Rocco Baldelli trying to advance to second. In a bizarre twist, the Royals felt that Huff had left third early and appealed the tag up. The umpire agreed that Huff did take off a step too soon and called him out. Did you get all that? Just your ho-hum 8-1-6-1-5 triple play. “I’ve never seen any triple play quite like that,” Royals manager and master of the obvious Buddy Bell said. The Royals, however, stayed true to form and lost the game 8-2.