Category: MLB (Page 418 of 448)

Piranhas? Try pira-nahhhh. The Twins, once again, had to play catch-up against the A’s who, thanks to some timely hitting (a three-run double by Marco Scutaro) and a deplorable defensive performance by the Twins (three errors), beat Minnesota to advance to the ALCS for the first time since 1990.

Like the first two games, Minnesota kept it close, but an intentional walk to Frank Thomas with two outs in the seventh inning proved to be the Twins’ undoing. Eric Chavez walked, then Justin Morneau made an error, loading the bases. Nick Swisher walked, scoring Thomas from third, and then the big slugger Marco Scutaro doubled to right, clearing the bases. One hit, four runs.

Torii Hunter was also the center of attention on a questionable call, getting thrown out on a play at the plate, even though Oakland catcher Jason Kendall didn’t appear to tag him. The throw beat Hunter to the plate, and the home plate umpire did not put himself in the position to get an unobstructed view of the tag, so he put two and two together…only he was wrong. Still, when you don’t have the lead in a single inning of the postseason, you don’t get the calls, simple as that. And frankly, any team that puts Jason Tyner, who has yet to hit a home run in the majors, in the lineup as a DH deserves whatever they get.

Oakland is now in the driver’s seat, getting to rest their pitchers and reshuffle their rotation for the winner of the Tigers/Yankees series, which is proving to be the most interesting series thus far. Sorry, Twinkies. Maybe next year, when/if Liriano is healthy.

Oh, and I’ll let Mr. Statler blog the Yankees/Tigers game, but Alex Rodriguez got totally hosed on a play at third base where he tagged out Pudge Rodriguez but was called safe.

It was a tough day for NL West teams.

First, Jeff Weaver blanks the Padres earlier Thursday evening and then shortly after the Dodgers fell victim to Tom Glavine (1-0) and the hell bent New York Mets.

Glavine had a great array of pitches working for him all night and was solid in going six innings and only giving up four hits and no runs. The Mets didn’t smack the ball around, but did get timely hitting from fielder choice ground balls and sacrifice flies when they needed it most. In fact, New York’s first run came on a Jose Reyes chopper to shortstop Rafael Furcal, who bobbled the ball enough to throw away a chance at an out at home plate, but did recover to get Reyes out at first. Reyes knocked in another run in the sixth on a single to center, which scored Jose Valentin and 90-year-old Julio Franco.

Los Angles just never got going and if they can’t scrounge out a win on Saturday, they will be going – home for the rest of the postseason. Hong Chih Kuo (0-1) had a decent slider that was working, but the Mets’ batters kept battling him (such as Reyes in the third when the Mets got their first run) and eventually chased Kuo. The Dodgers got their only run off a Wilson Betemit home run to center. Jeff Kent went 2 for 4, but J.D. Drew really struggled at the plate and finished 0-4.

The series shifts to Los Angles for Game 3 on Saturday and that contest will give the Mets a chance to sweep the series and set up a NLCS match up with either St. Louis or San Diego.

The Mets will face the Dodgers’ Greg Maddux (0-0) and will counter with Steve Trachsel (0-0).

The Padres couldn’t score a run on Jeff Weaver. Jeff Weaver, he of the 5.76 ERA this season and the lifetime record of 86-101, the one who was waived by the Angels earlier this year…San Diego couldn’t score a run off of him. Hell, they could barely hit him. Weaver gave up two hits, both singles, over five innings.

St. Louis limped into the playoffs thanks to a last-minute collapse by Houston. They looked worn down and exhausted, while San Diego won 10 of their last 13 games to take the division. Of course, none of that technically matters now, but you’d think some of their momentum would carry over. Instead, this is like “Freaky Friday” on a grand scale. San Diego chooses to pitch to Albert Pujols with Preston Wilson on second, and of course Pujols belts a ball to left field and scores Wilson. San Diego then had Pujols in a rundown, but Pujols reached second safely after no one came over to receive the throw from first base. Pujols would later score, and that’s all they’d need. Two runs. That’s all they’d need.

San Diego now has to go into the belly of the whale and face the most rabid fans west of the Tappan Zee Bridge. The only thing the Padres have in their favor now is that they are a better road team than a home team, and boy, did they prove that this week. One run in two games. I wonder what the Phillies would have done in that situation…

Game 3, Saturday: Chris Young (11-5, 3.46) vs. Jeff Suppan (12-7, 4.12)

The fairy tale is back on.

Curtis Granderson tripled to deep left in the top of the seventh inning to knock in Marcus Thames (3 for 4, two runs scored and an RBI) to break a 3-3 tie and give Detroit a 4-3 lead. The lead was all the Tigers needed as their bullpen shut the door on the Yankees in the final three innings to escape New York with a 1-1 series tie after losing Game 1 Tuesday night.

21-year-old rookie flamethrower Joel Zumaya pitched 1.2 innings and struck out three out of the five batters he faced (and that included Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez) to set the table for closer Todd Jones in the ninth. After Jones gave up a leadoff single to Hideki Matsui, Jones retired the final three batters – including getting Johnny Damon to fly out to short center to end the game.

Earlier in the contest, Damon hit a blast that wrapped around the right field foul pole for a three-run homer. It would be the only runs the powerful Yankee lineup would put on the board, however. In fact, they only managed two hits throughout the rest of the game after Damon’s homerun.

Mike Mussina (0-1) pitched seven innings, gave up eight hits and all four of the runs scored by the Tigers. Jamie Walker (1-0) got the victory by getting Robinson Cano to ground into an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the sixth. Walker relieved starter Justin Verlander (0-0), who kept Detroit in the ballgame before coming out in the middle of the fifth inning.

The series now shifts to Detroit on Friday, where the Tigers were 46-35 at Comerica Park in the regular season. The Yankees will throw Randy Johnson (0-0) against the Tigers’ Kenny Rogers (0-0).