Old Time Family Baseball

And so, two months into the season, the Fantastic Voyage has come to a close. This will allow me to devote more attention to superbly interesting baseball topics rather than cover every “Jeff Francis has gone 5 innings and given up three runs in a normal and boring way” type game. 

Don’t worry though, the rest of the site will remain exactly the same. There will still be plenty of silly quotes, stirrup socks, and game recaps every day, and I’ll still be reading the box scores each night, only now it will be even better! Probably. 

Anyway, before you begin your Memorial Day cookouts, enjoy the final Fantastic Voyage: 

Red Sox 4, Tigers 3 (Game 1) - David Ortiz’s ninth inning homer off of Jose Valverde seals the deal for the Red Sox in this one. Feels like 2004, doesn’t it? Oh wait, the last time David Ortiz hit a pinch hit home run was 2003. 

Tigers 3, Red Sox 0 (Game 2) - This game wasn’t supposed to be shown, but because of ESPN’s great benevelonce, Tigers and Red Sox fans were able to watch. I’m sure money exchanged hands, but ESPN worked its way around blackout rules for the fans that MLB itself won’t do. Justin Verlander pitched 7.2 shutout innings for the win. 

Blue Jays 13, White Sox 4 - Because Jose Bautista missed hitting a home run for roughly the third time this season, he got very angry at himself. John Danks, feeling like he had just been shown up, lashed out. Exciting times in player frustration! 

Mets 9, Phillies 5 - Vance Worley saw his ERA rise by 1.61 in this one after giving up 12 hits, 8 runs (5 earned) in 3 innings. Then again, Vance Worley still has a sub-4 ERA 24 innings into the season. Josh Thole went crazy with 3 hits and 3 RBI, but is still only hitting .230. 

Padres 5, Nationals 4 - In a game between two teams hitting .227 and .229 respectively, it makes sense that this game would end with a quasi-infield single. Even without much happening offensively, the two starters combined for only 9.2 innings, 12 hits and 7 runs. Kind of a blah game all around. 

Rays 7, Indians 0 - Only five hits for the Indians with Adam Everett getting one of them. I’m sure he’s accounted for 20% of his team’s offense before, but I’m sure it was a long time ago. Grady Sizemore racks up 4 strikeouts as Jeremy Hellickson lowers his ERA to 2.80 in the victory. Indians lose 3 of 4 as they now must defend their claim as true contenders. 

Diamondbacks 4, Astros 2 - The Diamondbacks are in first place and Aaron Heilman is 4-0. Das not compute.

Angels 6, Twins 5 - The first four batters in the Twins lineup accounted for 10 hits and 5 RBI, but the rest of the batting order went silent as the Twins lost once again. The Twins even got a strong outing from Carl Pavano who pitched eight innings, but the Twins seem to be cursed. Maybe nature is angry at them for removing the trees from center field. That makes sense. 

Brewers 6, Giants 0 - The Giants are six-hit with two of them coming in the ninth inning after Yovani Gallardo was removed. In Gallardo’s last five starts he’s gone 35 innings and allowed 5 earned runs, lowering his ERA from 6.10 to the more expected 3.89. 

Cubs 3, Pirates 2 - Aramis Ramirez hit the winning home run in the third inning, giving him two more than Tony Campana on the season. That gives him two, two home runs. Steve Pearce and Ryan Doumit were injured in this one, once again knocking those players out for extended periods once they had a chance to get extended playing time. 

Rangers 7, Royals 6 - A late comeback against Joakim Soria gave the Rangers the win as Mike Napoli was able to slide in under Brayan Pena’s glove. A pet peeve of mine though: people (most notably @MLB) kept calling it a walk-off slide. Not only has walk-off become the most overused phrase for game-ending home runs, something I take part in as well, but now they refer to any event that ends the game. Yes, technically, the players walk-off the field, but it’s becoming a horrendously overused phrase and takes the magic out of many game-winning hits. Let’s stop this now. 

Cardinals 4, Rockies 3 - The Rockies have dropped eight of ten, just the type of thing you want before embarking on a nine game road trip. Kyle Lohse moves to 7-2. 

Athletics 6, Orioles 4 - Mark Reynolds had a hit and a stolen base. Unfortunately, that represents a hot streak for both him and the Orioles. The Athletics swept this series thanks to a three-run home run from Josh Willingham and four innings of shutout ball from the relief staff. 

Dodgers 8, Marlins 0 - Clayton Kershaw: 9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 10 K. Oh yeah, he also went 2-4 at the plate with an RBI and 2 runs scored. That’ll do quite nicely. 

Yankees 7, Mariners 1 - Those upstart Mariners are returned to the land of .500. Nick Swisher homered and CC Sabathia went the distance because, and I quote, “He knows how to pitch.” Unlike all of those other pitchers who stand there waiting for someone to give them some instruction. 

Braves 2, Reds 1 - Two home runs accounted for all the scoring as Martin Prado hit a two-run shot off of Johnny Cueto and Jay Bruce hit a solo home run off of Jair Jurrjens. 11 of Bruce’s 15 home runs have come in losing efforts this year proving that he is a selfish player who cares little for baseball. Jair Jurrjens is the ERA (1.15) and WHIP leader (1.02) in Major League Baseball. Stings to remember that the Tigers were willing to trade him to the Pirates for Jack Wilson straight up. Damn you, Dave Littlefield.