– The soon-to-be former first place Rays lost their sixth straight Saturday. Ryan Garko and Grady Sizemore homered in the Indians’ 8-4 victory. Boston is now just a half game behind Tampa in the AL East.
– Speaking of the BoSox, they slapped the Orioles 12-1 on the strength of 15 hits. Manny Ramirez (18), J.D. Drew (17) and Kevin Youkilis (15) all went yard for Boston. Youkilis also had a career-high six RBIs in the win.
– Rich Harden looked solid in his Chicago debut, although Carlos Marmol blew Harden’s chance to collect his first NL win by giving up five runs to the Giants in the top of the ninth, which tied a once 7-0 game at 7-7. The Cubs eventual won 8-7 in the 11th when Reed Johnson singled to score Mark DeRosa.
– Alex Rodriguez passed Mickey Mantle on the career home run list after blasting his 19th of the season in the Yankees’ 9-4 win over the Blue Jays. Derek Jeter also went yard and Darrell Rasner collected his fifth win of the season.
– Shane Victornio went 3 for 3 with two home runs, three RBI and two runs scored in the Phillies’ 10-4 loss to the Diamondbacks. Randy Johnson won his second straight start, improving to 6-7 on the season.
– Ryan Ludwick went 3 for 5 with a dinger, four RBI and two runs scored, but the Cardinals dropped a heartbreaker 12-11 to the Pirates. After Troy Glaus homered to put St. Louis up 11-10 in the 10th, Jason Michaels hit a two-run shot in the bottom half of the inning to lift Pittsburgh.
