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There was a load of MLB fixtures on Wednesday so we’ll recap some of them starting in Baltimore where the Orioles went down 3-2 thanks to a 2 run 7th innings by the visiting L.A Angels. This loss meant the Angels swept the Orioles 2-0 in the short road series after L.A fought back from going behind early in the ballgame. In the bottom of the first Baltimore first baseman Huff hit a sac fly to center to score Roberts before Morales tied the game for the Angels in the 4th with an RBI triple to deep center field to score Izturis. Los Angeles then had to wait a while before their winning runs, in the 7th Hunter homered to left to make it 2-1 before Morales batted in his second run of the game with a homer to center to make the lead 3-1. In the 8th Nick Markakis pulled one back for the Orioles when he hit a single to right center to score Jones and in doing so extended his hit streak to 16 games. However this couldn’t rally Baltimore to get the tying run and they dropped to 9-
13 after nearly a month has been played in the season.

In a pitching battle in Milwaukee the Brewers’ Yovani Gallardo triumphed over the Pittsburgh Pirates to see his team to a 1-0 win. Not only did he pitch 8 complete innings in which he struck out a career high 11 batters but he only gave up 2 hits and 1 walk. The best however was to come after he had pitched his 7th innings when he came up to bat and hit a home run to left field from a pitch that stayed up and begged to be hit. After this Villanueva earned his 2nd save of the season after pitching out the 9th and striking out one but the plaudits go to Gallardo who won the game with stellar pitching and his second home run of the season.

In New York the Florida Marlins overcame the Mets thanks to a Cody Ross 2 RBI single in the 8th innings to see the Fish to a 4-3 victory and a 2-1 series victory overall. Florida were 2-1 up after one thanks to a Will Helms sac fly and a Jose Cantu home run before Jose Reyes pulled one back for the Mets on a Cora sac to first. Raul Castro then singled to left center to score Tatis in the 4th to pull the Mets level before Tatis himself homered to left to put New York up 3-2 in the 6th. Before the 8th Johan Santana had kept the hot Florida offense relatively quiet striking out 7 and giving up only 5 hits but as soon as he went off the whole thing fell apart. Putz earned the loss for his 8th innings performance that gave Ross the winner and walked 2 in the process while Mike Lindstrom got his 5th save of the season for the Marlins.

In Chicago the White Sox moved to a .500+ record in this early part of the season thanks to a 6-3 win over the Seattle Mariners that also secured them the series win, 2-1. Trailing 3-1 going into their half of the 6th innings Betemit doubled to right to score Paul Konerko before Ramirez hit a sac fly to center to score Pierzynski to tie the game at 3-3. Then in the 7th Carlos Quentin homered to right before Jermaine Dye did exactly the same thing, Quentin then put the icing on the cake in the 8th by singling to left center to score Ramirez to make the game 6-3. In a fairly unspectacular pitching effort by both sides Jenks earned his 5th save of the season after he pitched out the ninth for the White Soxs.

In Colorado the Rockies managed to take 2 games out of 3 from the San Diego Padres after a 7-5 win to move to 8-12 on the season. Colorado raced into an large lead before San Diego could get into gear and by that time the game was just about wrapped up. It all started in the 2nd when Iannetta homered to left field to score Stewart and himself before Helton hit a solo in the next innings. The Rockies then had to wait a while for their next runs which all came in the 6th innings, firstly Iannetta singled back past the pitcher to score Tulowitzki to make it 4-0. Fowler then sac flyed to right to score Barmes before Helton singled to right to see Iannetta and Smith home to make it 7-0. The Padres finally got going in the 7th with a Gonzalez solo jack before Blanco managed one better than that with a 2 run homer and Gonzalez then gave the Padres some more hope with homer to center field that scored himself and David Eckstein. Unfortunately the Padres couldn’t keep it going into
the 9th and eventually lost.

In Arizona the Diamondbacks easily saw off the Chicago Cubs to win their home series 2-1. The D’Backs won this one 10-0 in a shut out of the Cubbies with Doug Davis earning the win after pitching 7 complete innings during which time he gave up only 2 hits and struck out seven to move to 2-3 on the season. On the offense side Arizona were up 4-0 at the start of the 7th before a car crash of an innings, Carlos Marmol had been sent in to relieve Ryan Dempster of his starting duties after Dempster had walked Roberts, Marmol then proceeded to walk the next batter before Ojeda sacrificed to the catcher to move the base runners to second and third. Tracy was then intentionally walked to load the bases before Reynolds was unintentionally walked to score Roberts before the same happened to Jackson that sent Lopez home. Samardzija then entered the game for Marmol, who could only manage one out, and started well by striking out the batter for the second out before giving up a bases cl
earing double to Upton to score 3 runs and put the game beyond doubt.

In Atlanta the Braves carried on their so-so start to the season with a series losing loss to the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3. The Braves were ahead 3-1 going after the 3rd innings and a Francoeur RBI single before Francoeur himself scored on an Adam Wainwright wild pitch. Unfortunately for the home team they gave up the lead in the 5th innings after they gave up, what were to be, the game winning 4 runs. Firstly Adam Wainwright singled to center to score Thurston before Albert Pujols singled to center to score Barden and Duncan hit into left center field to score Wainwright. Finaly Rick Ankiel singled to right to score Pujols to make it 5-3 before the Cards relief pitching kicked in a gave up only 1 hit in the final 3 innings.

In the Motor City the New York Yankees came out of the Tigers’ den with an 8-6 win that gave them a 2-1 series win and took them to 11-10 on the season thanks to a 7 run 4th innings. Earlier in the 3rd the Tigers had opened the scoring with Polanco sac fly that sent Inge home but the Yankees started to swing their bats in the 4th with Nick Swisher homering to left to score Matsui and Posada to give the Bronx Bombers a 3-1 lead. After this Johnny Damon doubled to right to score Miguel Cabrera before Matsui doubled to left to clear the bases and score Jeter, Damon and Teixeira to make it 7-1. Swisher then hit his second homer of the day in the 5th this time a solo to make it 8-1. After that Detroit couldn’t get back in the game and despite scoring 5 in the bottom of the 9th they fell two runs short to fall back to 11-10.

Finally in Cleveland the Boston Red Soxs improved to an impressive 14-7 after a 6-5 extra innings win over the Indians that ended their series with Cleveland, a series that they won 2-1. Cleveland were ahead 5-0 by the 4th thanks to a Victor Martinez RBI triple in the first along with a Choo sac fly, a Mark DeRosa homer in the second and a Kevin Shoppach 2 run jack in the 4th. Then in the sixth the BoSoxs kicked in and scored two to lessen the deficit, these runs came courtesy of a Mike Lowell RBI double that scored Bay and a Jason Varitek double that scored Lowell. In the 8th the Soxs then tied the game with a Ellsbury single to center that scored Bailey after Van Every and J.D Drew each hit RBIs. Van Every then homered to center in the 10th to seal the win.

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15 games were played in the Major Leagues last night starting in Cincinnati where the Atlanta Braves prevailed thanks to some early power hitting. The Braves were up 6-0 by the 2nd innings as 3rd baseman Jones hit a RBI single to right field in the 1st before hitting a 3 run jack in the second to make it 6-0. The Reds tried to hit back immediately with a 2 run homer from short stop Gonzalez but Atlanta made sure of the win in the 6th innings when Ross hit an RBI double before Escobar homered to left center to score Ross. The game ended 10-2 and with it the Braves moved into a 2-0 lead in the 3 game series. Lowe pitched the win after 7 complete innings during which he only gave up 4 hits and 2 runs while striking out 8. Arroyo moved to 3-1 for Cincy after giving up 9 earned runs in 5.2 innings.

Next up in New York the Mets beat the Washington Capitals 8-2 after an explosive first three innings during which they scored 5 runs. After that they were in cruise control and starter Pelfrey was able to earn the win, pitching 5.2 innings allowing 6 hits and only 2 earned runs. An error by Washington center fielder Elijah Dukes allowed Wright to be get a 2 RBI double that scored Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado to make it 2-0 in the first before Church hit an RBI single to center field to score Wright. Beltran then hit an infield single to score Luis Castillo in the second and Santos scored on a fielder’s choice in the third. The Nats tried to come back in the 4th and 6th when the aforementioned Dukes hit first an RBI single and then an RBI triple to make it 5-2 but the Mets hit back immediately in the 6th and scored 3 runs including an 2 RBI single to center by Church that scored Beltran and Wright. Young Nats starter Daniel Cabrera had a poor game, giving up 6 hits, 5 r
uns, 1 earned run and 4 walks in only 2.1 innings before he was pulled off the field.

In Oakland the A’s won their 6th game of the season when they beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 to tie the series at 1-1. In a low scoring game the A’s were up early thanks to a Buck home run to right field in the 3rd innings and a Nomar Garciaparra 3 RBI double to center field in the 4th that scored Cabrera, Giambi and Cust to make it 4-0. Tampa responded in the 5th when Iwamura RBIed to center but Jason Giambi effectively ended the game in the 7th with a solo home run to right to make it 5-2. The Rays added another run in the 8th but it wasn’t enough and Oakland held on. Braden got the win for Oakland after pitching 5.2 innings allowing 4 hits, 1 earned run and 3 walks whilst striking out 2 before Ziegler got the save in the 9th innings.

In a shootout at Fenway Park the Boston Red Sox triumphed over their AL East rivals the Yankees 16-11. New York managed to give away a 6 run lead that they had accumulated in the first 4 innings when the Soxs scored 5 in the bottom of the 4th before taking the lead in the 5th when they scored 3 more. New York made it 8-8 in the 6th but only held a tie for a half innings as Boston responded with 1 run in the bottom of the 6th to make it 9-8. The lead then changed hands again when the Yankees scored two in the 7th to make it 10-9 before the Red Soxs hit 3 runs to make it 12-10. The Yankees tried to find another response but could only muster one run to make it 12-11 before the Soxs but the game to bed in the bottom of the 8th with 4 runs. This of course led to some horrific pitching stats, Burnett, New York’s starter, pitched 5 innings and gave up 8 hits, 8 earned runs, 3 walks and 2 home runs before being carted off the field. It didn’t get any better from there and the Ya
nkees went through their entire bullpen trying to find someone that would stabilize their defense, none of which did. The 6 relievers that they tried all failed to complete one innings with Albaladejo taking the loss after he gave up 3 earned runs in 0.1 innings.

In St. Louis the Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 8-2 thanks to some nice hitting in the 4th and an Albert Pujols grand slam in the 7th to make it 7-1. Before that though Greene hit an RBI double to deep left to score Ludwick before Barden followed up with a single to left that scored Molina and Greene to make it 3-0. Theriot then responded for the Cubs with a single to left that scored Marshall in the 5th to make it 3-1 but Pujols stole the show with his hit to left field in the 7th to make it 7-1 before Thurston hit an RBI single to right to score Greene in the 8th. Theriot then hit another RBI in the 9th but by then the game was over and with it the Cardinals took the series with one game to go as they were now up 2-0.

In Baltimore the Texas Rangers guaranteed at least a tied series as they beat the Orioles 6-5 to take a 2-0 lead in their 4 game road series. Texas were up 5-0 by the end of the 3rd innings as firstly Kinsler homered in the first, Davis homered in the second and Kinsler again homered in the third and in the process scored Andrus before Jones capped off the innings with another homer to make it 5-0. Baltimore then responded with an RBI single courtesy of Wigginton but Byrd sac flyed in the top of the 5th to make it 6-1 to the Rangers, a lead they nearly, but in the end didn’t, give away. In the 6th Wigginton again scored with a home run to center before Izturis hit a double to deep left to score Zaun in the bottom of the 9th. Jones then followed up by singling to right center to score Montanez and Izturis to make it 6-5. Alas the Orioles just couldn’t complete the comeback and with it the Rangers’ starter Feldman earned the win off of 5 completed innings in which he gave
up only 4 hits and 1 run while striking out 2.

In Chicago a 6 run 5th innings took the game away from the Toronto Blue Jays in a 10-2 win for the White Soxs. After trading runs in the 2nd innings to make it 2-2 the White Soxs exploded in the 5th when Paul Konerko singled to center to score Fields before Anderson singled to left to score Dye and move Konerko to third. Ramirez then scored Konerko, Miller and Anderson with a grand slam that made the scoreline 8-2. Jermaine Dye then hit a home run to left field in the next innings to score Quentin to make the 10-2 and end the game. With this it gave Buehrle his 3rd win of the season as a starter for the Chisoxs, he got through 6 complete innings and gave up only 6 hits, 2 earned runs and 3 walks while striking out 4 and has an impressive E.R.A of 3 on the season.

In Cleveland the Twins gave a good performance in an easy win over the Cleveland Indians to make sure of a series win in the second game of their 3 game series. Minnesota now lead the series 2-0 and won this one 7-1 after a good performance by starter Kevin Slowey in which he pitched 8 full innings and gave up only 8 hits while striking out 7. He gave up the one Indians run in the 9th before being taken off but will still be happy with his 3 win of the season to take him to 3-0 despite an E.R.A of 4.44. Morneau started the scoring for the Twins with a single to right in the 1st that scored Casilla before Young singled to left in the 4th to score Joe Crede. It didn’t end there in the 4th though as Redmond singled to right to score Cuddyer to make it 3-0. Jason Kubel then homered to right to make it 4-0 in the 5th before Span hit a sac fly to left to score Young in the 6th. To make sure of no Indians comeback Jason Kubel and Joe Crede each hit a solo home run in the top of th
e 9th to make it 7-0 before Shoppach tacked on Cleveland’s only run with an RBI single to left center in the 9th to score Martinez.

Milwaukee needed extra innings to get past the Astros in Houston but triumphed thanks to a Braun RBI single in the 11th to win 9-8. With this DiFelice got his first win of the season for the Brewers after pitching the last Houston innings in the bottom of the 11th during which he struck out 2 of the 3 outs. The runs didn’t get flowing for a while though with the first one coming in the 4th as Fielder homered to left to put Milwaukee 1-0 up. Houston then responded with 3 runs of their own with a 2 run homer from Lee to center field to score Berkman before Matt Hampton RBI singled to right to score Geoff Blum. Bourn then hit a solo homer in the 5th to make it 4-1 before Milwaukee tied the game in the 6th with a Hall 3 run jack that scored Braun and Hardy. They then took the lead with a Hall RBI single in the 8th before Kendall hit a sac fly in the same innings to score Cameron to make it 6-4. The hitting didn’t stop there though as Houston regained the lead in the bottom of
the 8th as Towles singled to shallow center to score Blum before Matsui doubled to left to score Towles and Erstad to make it 7-6 in favour of Houston. Fielder then stepped up to hit a 2 run homer to left field in the top of the 9th to make it 8-7 Milwaukee before Pence got safely on base thanks to a throwing error by the third baseman that scored Berkman and tied the game at 8-8. With this we went into extra innings and finally after an innings of nothingness Braun stepped up to single to right to score Hart and eventually win the game after DiFelice did his business.

In Kansas City the Detroit Tigers tied up their 3 game road series with the Royals after they won 9-1 on Saturday night. The Tigers won this won in the 6th innings during which they scored 4 runs, an Anderson 2 RBI triple to deep right and a Paul Polanco 2 RBI double to deep left to score the aforementioned Anderson and Curtis Granderson. This made the score 8-0 and despite a Mike Jacobs ground out that scored Coco Crisp immediately after that Detroit flurry of runs the Royals couldn’t find anything else and eventually lost this one 9-1 after a Ordonez homer to left center in the 9th. Detroit starter Miner therefore got the win after his pitched 5 innings during which he only gave up 3 hits and 1 earned run before the Tigers’ relievers kicked in and did their job.

In Florida the Marlins carried on their bad run of form with their second loss in the same number of days to the Phillies, 6-4. Despite being up 4-2 after a 4 run 4th innings the Marlins couldn’t hang on. In that innings Cantu homered to center to score Baker and Ramirez before Dan Uggla hit a solo home run to make it 4-2 but Philly fought back and tied the game in the 9th when Bruntlett grounded out to third to score Werth and therefore took the game into extra innings. It didn’t take long for the winning runs to come though as Chase Utley RBI singled to center to score Victorino before Werth again RBI singled to center to score Utley and make it 6-4 in the 10th. Brad Lidge then got his 4th save of the season as he struck out each out despite giving up a run and two walks as the Phillies took the series regardless of what happens in tonight’s game as they made it 2-0 in the 3 game series.

In Colorado the Los Angeles Dodgers won their 13th game of the season with a 6-5 win over the hapless Rockies. The Dodgers were ahead early in this one thanks to a Ethier RBI single that scored Furcal, a 2 RBI single that scored Ethier and Loney off of the bat of Martin and a Blake single to right that scored Martin. All of these in the first innings that made it 4-0. Colorado never really recovered despite getting 3 runs back in the 3rd after Smith singled to right to score Jimenez and Hawpe singled to right to score Fowler and Smith. After that the Dodgers made sure of the win when Martin singled to shallow center to score Hudson and Ethier to make it 6-3. Colorado gained another 2 runs after Atkins homered to left to score himself and Helton in the 5th but couldn’t find that extra run to take the game to a tie in the remaining innings and the Dodgers escaped with a series win whatever happens in the last game as they took a 2-0 lead in the best of three.

In Arizona the San Francisco Giants moved to .500 in their so far short season after they beat the Diamondbacks 5-3. The Giants move to 8-8 in an NL West division where you don’t have to be that great to win it and did so after a 4 run 5th innings eventually won the game for them. 2-0 down after Upton homered to left to score Young for the D’backs the Giants responded with Renteria’s double to deep center that score Ishikawa and Torres before Winn homered to left to score Renteria himself to make it 4-2. While a Byrned home run made it 4-3 in the bottom of the innings Arizona couldn’t find anything else and San Fran made sure of the win in the 6th when Burriss singled to center to score Schierholtz to make it 5-3. Despite only giving up 3 runs the Giants used 6 pitchers and in those 6 Miller got his first win of the season as he pitched out the 4th and 5th Arizona innings and gave up only 1 hit and 1 run in his 1.2 innings of chucking.

In Anaheim the L.A Angels couldn’t complete a late comeback against the Seattle Mariners and went down 9-8 in the second game of the 3 game series (which Seattle now leads 2-0). Trailing 5-3 after 5 innings the Angels proceeded to give up 4 runs in the next two Seattle innings. First up Johnson hit a sac fly to left to score Branyan in the 6th before Ken Griffey Jr. singled to right to score Ichiro, Beltre singled to center to score Chavez and Branyan singled to right to score Griffey Jr. to make the game 9-3 in the 7th. Then the Angels started to play but despite a Bobby Abreu RBI single in the 7th, Kendrick double to deep center in the 8th that scored Morales and Rivera and Hunter 2 run homer in the 9th Los Angeles just fell short and lost 9-8.

Finally in San Diego the Padres lost in a blow out to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-1, and in doing so moved to 10-7 after a good start. This win for Pittsburgh tied the series at 1-1 and they managed it thanks to some great pitching from Duke who pitched 8.1 innings during which he gave up only 6 hits, 1 earned run and 2 walks and struck out 5. Thankfully his effort wasn’t in vain as the runs flowed for Pittsburgh. Monroe hit an RBI single in the first to score Morgan before Adam LaRoche grounded into a double play at first that scored Sanchez in what turned out to be the winning run. The Pirates didn’t stop there though and in the 4th Duke hit a sac fly to center to score Vazquez before Morgan did the same to score Jaramillo in the same innings to make it 5-0. In the 6th Monroe doubled to deep right to score Morgan and Sanchez before Gonzalez got San Diego’s only run after he grounded out to second to score Hairston to make it 8-1. Pittsburgh then polished off their win with a 2 run 8th innings in which Hinske singled to right to score Sanchez while Adam LaRoche hit a sac fly that scored Monroe to make it 10-1.

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With 16 games played in the MLB on Wednesday it seems stupid not to talk about that instead of 3 NBA play-off games that produced little in terms of excitement. First up in Pittsburgh the Pirates completed their sweep of the Florida Marlins and in doing so gave the Marlins’ their 4th loss of the season. The Pirates were successful in this 3 game home stand because they limited the Marlins’ explosive offense, before last night’s game the Marlins had only scored 2 runs in the last 2 games and only scored 4 in this game. Architect of this was Paul Maholm, who gained the win despite giving up 4 earned runs and 8 hits in 6 complete innings, thankfully for the Pirates though their middle and late relief came through the final 3 innings without giving up a run and in the 9th closer Matt Capps earned his 5th save of the season.

In the first of two games in Boston the Red Sox won the game that had been postponed on Tuesday due to rain 10-1 thanks to some early power hitting. With another game coming up later that evening the Red Soxs wanted to keep their bullpen relatively fresh and luckily for them the gods were smiling. Rain again came down in the bottom of the 7th which would end the game prematurely but since enough innings had been played Boston and pitcher Tim Wakefield took the win. Wakefield thus became the oldest Red Sox pitcher to complete a game and now moves to 2-1 on the season, in this game he only gave up the 1 earned run (the only run of the game for Minnesota) and 5 hits while striking out 4. As for the Sox’s offense that came in quick 2 run bursts to take the game away from the Twins early. In the 1st Kevin Youkilis homered to right to score David Ortiz and himself, in the 2nd Nick Green homered over the Green Monster to score George Kottaras and himself and in the 3rd Mike Lowell
homered again over the Monster to score J.D Drew and himself. After that the game was in Boston’s hands and they didn’t let Minnesota see it adding 4 more runs in the 7th before the game ended.

In New York the Yankees created another piece of history at their new stadium against the A’s by scoring the first walk-off home run. They won this one 9-7 after a long period of extra innings as the game was tied at 7 after 9. With C.C Sabathia starting the Yankees hoped for a long outing that would spare their shaky middle relief from another outing, he gave them 6 and 2/3rds innings but gave up all 7 Oakland runs and 4 walks. Thankfully then for New York their relief kicked in and held the A’s to only 3 more hits in the next 7 and 1/3rd innings eventually leading to Jose Veras to get the win after Miguel Cabrera hit a 2-run homer into right field to score Nick Swisher in the bottom of the 14th.

In Arizona the Diamondbacks shut out the Rockies and won the game thanks to a Ryan Roberts RBI single in the 7th followed by a walk when the bases were loaded. They won this game 2-0 but most of the plaudits go to their pitching, starter Dan Haren came into this game 0-3 but hit back at his critics by pitching 7 complete innings giving up only 6 hits while striking out 9. His work was backed up in the 9th by Chad Qualls who earned his 4th save of the season despite giving up 2 hits.

In another tight game in the West the San Francisco Giants won their 6th game of the season in extra innings thanks to a Brad Molina RBI ground rule double in the 10th against San Diego. Brain Wilson was given the win after he pitched the final two innings for the Giants but starter Barry Zito did no harm to his E.R.A with a 7 innings outing that saw him strike out 5 and give up 6 hits. This win gave San Francisco a 2-0 win in a short series with the Padres and improves them to 6-8 after a couple of weeks gone in the season.

In Baltimore the White Soxs tied their 3 game road series against the Orioles with an 8-2 win. Thanks to some early hitting Chicago were up 4-0 by the end of the 3rd as Baltimore couldn’t find a way of coping with John Danks’ pitching, Danks earned the win pitching 7 complete innings during which he allowed only 4 hits and 1 earned run to improve to 2-0 on the season with an impressive E.R.A of 0.95.

In Cleveland the Kansas City Royals levelled their 3 game series with the Cleveland Indians with a 2-0 win on Wednesday night. Cleveland have looked inconsistent in the early runnings and carried on that kind of play with only 5 hits all night as the Royals pitching was dominant. Brian Bannister started for the Royals and pitched 6 complete innings giving up 4 hits and striking out 1 for his first win of the season while Joakim Soria earned his 5th save of the season by pitching out the 9th. Kansas City were ahead early when in the 1st David DeJesus hit a sac fly to right to score Coco Crisp from third before right fielder Willie Bloomquist hit an RBI single to center in the 7th to score designated hitter Mike Jacobs.

In Washingon the Nationals were subjected to a cruel loss at the hands of the Atlanta Braves thanks to a walk when the bases were loaded to lose this one 1-0. Despite this loss they still took their first series of the season beating Atlanta 2-1 and are 3-11 on the season. Jair Jurrjens started for the Braves and gave 7 and 2/3rds innings of seamless pitching during which he gave up 6 hits and struck out 4. It wasn’t him that got the win though, that went to Mike Gonzalez despite Gonzalez pitching only 1 out in the bottom of the 8th. Rafael Soriano then pitched out the 9th with the 1 run lead to get his 2nd save of the season.

In Philadelphia the reigning champions carried on their questionable form this time losing at home to the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1. The game was won for the Brewers in the middle innings when they broke through the Phillies defense to score 3. In the 5th short stop J.J Hardy hit a homer to right before in the 6th center fielder Mike Cameron hit a 2 RBI double to score Corey Hart and Ryan Braun. Despite giving up a run in the bottom of the 9th Todd Coffey earned his second save of the year to tie the 3 game series at 1 each.

In Toronto the Blue Jays levelled their home stand with the Texas Rangers at 1-1 thanks to a walk off RBI single by Kevin Millar that scored Vernon Wells in the 11th innings. The game ended 8-7 and the Blue Jays must have feared the worst when closer B.J Ryan blew a 3 run lead in the top of the 9th but thankfully their smoking hot offense came through again to keep them at the top of the AL East at 11-5 on the season.

Back in Boston the rain had stopped by the time had come to start the other game of the day against the Twins and the Red Sox duly won that one as well, 7-3. It was another quick start by the BoSoxs as in the 2nd first baseman Jeff Bailey hit a 3 run homer to score himself, J.D Drew and Jason Varitek before an innings later David Ortiz doubled to left to score Josh Ellsbury and David Pedroia. 5-0 and Boston never looked back despite giving up 2 runs in the 4th to complete a day sweep of the Twins in a rainy series.

In Chicago the Cubs failed to score against the tame Cincinnati Reds and as a result lost 3-0. Despite keeping relatively close to the Reds all game the Cubs only had 6 hits in a convincing outing by Reds starter Johnny Cueto who pitched through 7 innings and gave up only 4 hits. Francisco Cordero earned his 6th save of the season in the 9th and was helped earlier in the innings when Cincinnati put another run on the board to make it 3-0. This win ties the series at 1 each with one to play.

In Houston the Astros beat the high flying Dodgers to at least win the series and will have a chance at a sweep tonight. Houston won this one 6-5 thanks to a 2 run 8th innings that saw them retake the lead, Ivan Rodriguez won the game with a 2 RBI single to center to score Hunter Pence and Geoff Blum. Los Angeles starter Randy Wolf will be disappointed to have gone so deep into a game and not earn the win, he didn’t get the loss though, that went to Ronald Belisario who gave up the all important single in his one innings on the mound.

In St. Louis the Cardinals can thank starter Joel Pineiro for their win against the New York Mets as he earned his 3rd win of the season pitching 8 innings in the process. Two Albert Pujols RBIs set the Cards on their way and they were 5-1 up by the 5th innings in a game where the Mets’ offense was stifled. Ryan Franklin came in to pitch the final out and in the process earned his 4th save of the year.

In Anaheim the Detroit Tigers won their 8th game of the season a shootout, 12-10. In a game where quality pitching was nowhere to be found each team signalled their intent early with the Angels leading 3-2 after one innings after Kevin Morales 3 run jack. With so many runs scored it would take too long to go through all of them in a game where 10 pitcher were used with the unlucky one being Scot Shields who didn’t manage an out at the start of the 7th innings as he gained the loss after giving up 4 earned runs and 2 walks. L.A have made a slow start to the season and are only 5-9 after nearly a tenth of the season has been played.

Finally in Seattle the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Mariners thanks to some relentless scoring in the first 6 innings. Tampa were 7-0 up before Seattle got on the board thanks to a Jose Lopez 3 run homer but couldn’t find anything else where as the Rays added another 2 to see the game out easily.

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There was a full set of fixtures played in MLB on Saturday starting in Pittsburgh where the Pirates shutout the Braves whilst scoring some late runs to win 10-0. Starting on the mound for the Pirates was Ian Snell who completed 7 innings giving up only 4 hits and striking 3 out to earn the win. To show how comfortable Pittsburgh’s win was Atlanta only left 4 batters on base and three of those were walks by Snell. Lights out pitching was the order of the day but the game was won in the 6th innings when, with the Pirates leading 2-0, right fielder Craig Monroe homered to center field to score himself, Nate McLouth and Ryan Doumit in a 3 run jack. After this the Pirates looked comfortable but to make sure the game was put to bed Monroe did exactly the same thing again in the 7th innings to make the score 9-0. Atlanta and the rest of the NL East won’t want to keep dragging their feet early in the season because before long they could see a large gap between themselves and the
1st placed Florida Marlins.

In Washington the aforementioned Florida Marlins improved to 10-1 after Jeremy Hermida saved them twice late on. The Marlins were trailing for most of the game after the Nationals scored 6 runs in their first two innings and were behind 6-3 going into the 9th before Ross Gload (pinch hitting for pitcher Josh Johnson) hit an RBI single into left field before Hermida hit a home run to tie the game. This took the game into extra innings and while the Marlins couldn’t do anything in the 10th they did prevail in the 11th when Hermida hit a 3 run homer scoring Wes Helms and Ross Gload again to win the game 9-6.

In Toronto the Blue Jay fought back after a disappointing loss on Friday to tie their 3 game home series with Oakland after a walk-off win in extra innings. This one was 2-2 after 9 and the next 2 innings saw nothing from either side offensively before Toronto first baseman Lyle Overbay hit a 2 run homer to win the game. Jason Frasor was given the win for Toronto after he got the last two outs of the Oakland 12th innings and way before him Brian Tallet started the game for the ‘Jays and gave up 4 hits, 1 earned run (2 overall) and a walk in 5 and 1/3 innings. Toronto will hope to take the series on Sunday when Ricky Romero is starting for them to stay high on top of the AL East.

In a pitcher’s battle at Citifield Johan Santana emerged victorious and in doing so handed victory to the New York Mets in a tight game. The Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 in a game with only 12 hits. The most important one came when Jose Reyes grounded out into a fielder’s choice to score Omir Santos from third in the 7th innings, this gave the loss to Brewers reliever Carlos Villanueva, who had come on for Yovani Gallardo in the 7th, and gave up 1 hit and the all important run. Johan Santana’s numbers looked much better though, he pitched through 7 and struck out exactly the same number whilst giving up only 5 hits in the process. He’s only started 3 games but of those 3 games he’s only collected an E.R.A of 0.46 and is 2-1.

Over on the pinstriped half of the Big Apple the Cleveland Indians had a field day off of the pitching of Chien-Ming Wang who started for the Yankees and only managed 1 and a third innings before he was pulled off of the field. This was because in his brief period on the mound he gave up 8 hits, 8 runs and 1 home run, all of these were in the 2nd innings when the Indians amassed 14 runs to effectively take the game from New York in one swoop. They didn’t stop there though and scored another 8 runs in the game to win this one 22-4 in a game when the Yankees went though 5 pitchers before the game ended.

In another game that went to extra innings the Chicago Cubs recorded their 7th win of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals in a game that went 11 innings. With the game tied at 5 going into the overtime the Cards were shut out twice before Aramis Ramirez hit a 2 run homer to earn the walk-off victory for Chicago. Angel Guzman earned the win on the mound for the Cubbies after giving up nothing and striking out one batter in the top of the 12th while Ryan Dempster started for the Cubs and pitched 6 innings, giving up 4 runs and striking out exactly the same number of Cardinals batters.

The L.A Dodgers carried on their good run of form at home after beating Colorado 9-5 in the second game of their 3 game series. L.A are still unbeaten at Dodger Stadium after 5 game and are tied at the top of the NL West with San Diego. They won this game at a canter and were ahead early after a pair of Manny Ramirez home runs in the 1st and 3rd innings before right fielder Andre Ethier hit a 3 run homer to make it 5-0 in the 4th. They exploded in the 7th inning to score 4 more to wrap up the game and were assisted by starting pitcher Chad Billingsley who pitched through 6 innings and struck out 6, giving up 4 hits and 3 earned runs in the process, he’s now 3-0 in his 3 starts for Los Angeles.

In a game between two misfiring teams the Arizona Diamondbacks won the second game of their 3 game road series with the San Francisco Giants 2-0, to tie the series up at 1. Both starting pitchers got through 8 innings and Giants’ starter Tim Lincecum will be disappointed not to have got the win after a stellar performance that saw him strike out 13 and give up only 5 hits. On the other side Doug Davis improved his record to 1-2 this season after giving up 8 hits and striking out 6. Chad Qualls earned the save in the bottom of the 9th after center fielder Chris Young hit a 2 RBI double to win the game in 9th.

In Houston the Astros tied the 4-game series at 1 with a 7-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds thanks to some great pitching coupled with a poor Reds offense. Wandy Rodriguez improved his record to 1-1 after pitching 7 complete innings during which he struck out 10 and allowed only 2 hits (the only hits Cincinnati were able to muster all game). The Astros signalled their intent to win this game from the off and took a 2-0 lead after right fielder Hunter Pence and third baseman Geoff Blum hit consecutive RBI singles to left field in the 1st innings. They didn’t have to do much to wrap up the win, although they did in the 7th with a string of RBI doubles, against a Cincinnati line-up that only had one player that was batting over .300 on the season.

In Philadelphia the San Diego Padres made sure they stayed at the top of the NL West with a late comeback against the Phillies. San Diego took the lead 4-3 in the 8th innings thanks to a Nick Hundley RBI single but Philadelphia hit straight back with 2 runs of their own, a Chase Utley home run followed by a Pedro Feliz sac fly to right field to make it 5-4. The Padres however, had the last laugh and after Brian Giles grounded out to 1st which let a run in, 3rd baseman  Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a 3 run homer to make the game 8-5. Heath Bell then earned the save by getting the last 3 outs including a strikeout in the bottom of the 9th.

In Tampa the rapidly improving Chicago White Sox offense beat the Rays 8-3 with designated hitter Paul Konerko going 3 of 5 on the night. Konerko had 3 RBIs including a 2 run jack that scored Jermaine Dye in the 5th to make the game 6-0 and despite an immediate rally from the Rays that scored 2 runs they didn’t have enough to fight back. Mark Buehrle earned the win for Chicago as the starter and pitched 6 innings and 2/3rds and in the process struck out 5 but gave up 8 hits and 3 earned runs, he improved his record to 2-0.

Boston recorded their fifth win of the season at Fenway Park with a 6-4 win over Baltimore thanks to an early surge of runs. The Red Sox were up 6-0 after 4 innings thanks to a Jason Varitek RBI double in the 2nd, a Kevin Youkilis 3 run homer in the 3rd followed by a Mike Lowell RBI single before another Youkilis RBI in the 4th. The Orioles hit back with 4 runs in the bottom of the 5th but Boston held on for the win. Josh Beckett won his second game of the season after pitching 6 whole innings during which he struck out 5 and gave up 4 runs, he’s now 2-1 for the season.

A solid outing from Twins starter Kevin Slowey meant that Minnesota have won their 3 game home stand with the second win out of two games against the Angels. Slowey pitched 7 complete innings, striking out 5 and only gave up 2 runs, the only runs Los Angeles were able to get. On the offensive end after going behind 2-0 in the 2nd the Twins halved the lead in the 4th before taking the lead on a Jason Kubel 2 RBI double in the 4th, Kubel himself scored later that innings along with another run to make it 6-2 and Minnesota never surrendered that lead eventually winning 9-2.

In Texas the rapidly improving Kansas City Royals won their second game in a row against the Rangers to take the 3 game series with one game to go. A Billy Butler RBI double saw Coco Crisp home in the 6th before catcher Miguel Olivo homered in the 7th for the second run. Zack Greinke was able to pitch out the whole game and got the win due to that. Greinke struck out 10 Rangers batters and gave up only 7 hits without walking a single batter and after 3 starts he is 3-0 with an E.R.A of 0.00 and will be a big part in the Kansas City Royals’ season.

Finally in Seattle the Detroit Tigers shutout the Mariners to win 2-0 and tied the 3 game series at 1. Edwin Jackson started on the mound for the Tigers and pitched 7 and 2/3rds innings without much trouble and in doing so struck out 6 and only gave up 5 hits. Fernando Rodney came into pitch the 9th innings to get the save despite walking 1 batter. The winning runs were hit off the bat of third baseman Brandon Inge who hit an RBI single which soon turned into a 2 RBI triple after a throwing error by Ichiro, Seattle’s right fielder.

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Seeing as the NBA play-offs don’t start for another day we’ll focus on the baseball that was played on Thursday night starting in Atlanta, where the Marlins completed their sweep of the Braves with a 6-2 win. In this three game series Florida have outscored Atlanta by 14 runs and have only given up 7 runs altogether, early signs that they’re a tough defensive team. Last night was no exception with Anibal Sanchez starting on the mound for the Marlins, he went on to earn the win giving up 8 hits and the 2 earned runs in 6 completed innings. On the offensive side right field Cody Ross hit 3 for 3 on the day including a 3 run homer and a sac fly in the 6th to make the score 5-2. With this win Florida move to 8-1 at the top of the NL East and are looking like an early pacesetter in a mostly sluggish division.

In Pittsburgh the Astros took the 3 game series 2-1 with a 6-3 win despite an early Pirates run splurge. Pittsburgh were up 3-1 after 2 innings after a Nyjer Morgan ribeye triple before Houston battled back culminating in a 3 run homer by Lance Berkman in the 6th innings to take the game away from the Pirates.

The Yankees were unable to christen their new home with a first win in the first game of their 4 game series with the Cleveland Indians. In a tight pitcher’s battle the game was tied at 1 going into the 7th innings before the Indians exploded off the pitching of the New York middle relief. Again showing how weak the Yankees’ relief is the Indians scored 9 runs including a Grady Sizemore grand slam and a Victor Martinez home run. This one ended 10-2 and while starter C.C Sabathia’s numbers looked respectable (5 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 5 walks and 4 strikeouts) the rest of the NY chuckers just looked grim. The loss went to Jose Veras, didn’t even get an out and gave up 3 earned runs and a walk before handing to Damaso Marte. Marte gave up the grand slam and 2 more runs and finished with an E.R.A of 27. Ouch.

On the North side of Chicago the Cardinals took the first game in their series with the Cubs, 7-4, thanks to some lights out pitching from their relievers. After going down 4-3 in the 5th thanks to a Kosuke Fukudome 3 run homer the Cardinals scored 4 runs in 4 innings culminating in a Brian Barden home run in the 8th innings. While this was happening Kyle McClellan and Ryan Franklin came on to relieve Adam Wainwright of his duties and struck out 4 (2 each) altogether without giving up a run in 3 complete innings.

The Washington Nationals managed their first win of the season to move to 1-7 at the bottom on the NL East. They did this by beating Philadelphia 8-2 at home thanks to some much needed offense. The Nats took the lead in the first innings and never looked like they were going to relinquish it, Adam Dunn homered to right to score 3 and Philly never recovered despite pulling it back to 3-2 in the 5th when Jimmy Rollins sac flyed to score Lou Marson. Washington then secured the win by scoring 4 runs in the 8th innings including two consecutive home runs into left field.

In Tampa Bay the Devil Rays succumbed to a late loss despite scoring a run in the 9th innings. In a tight game against the White Sox the Rays were down 2-0 early after Jermaine Dye hit a 2 run homer in the second and despite getting a run back in the 6th the Sox tied the game up when they went 3-1 up in the top of the ninth.

In New York the San Diego Padres consigned the New York Mets to their second loss at their new Citifield home after a 6-5 loss. New York went ahead early in this one after a Carlos Delgado 3-run homer in the 1st and kept the Padres quiet until the 3rd when they scored 5, all RBI singles including one off the bat of David Eckstein. This innings took the game away from the Mets and despite a rally in the 8th when Ramon Castro homered to score 2 the Mets couldn’t complete the fight back and gave San Diego their second road win of the season.

In Minnesota the Blue Jays ended their 4 game road series with the Twins with a 9-2 win to take the series 3-1. The Blue Jays are looking hot in the first few weeks of the season and most of this is down to their offence, which won the game for them in the 7th innings on Thursday. They were already 2-1 up going into the 7th and can thank Roy Halladay for that, Halladay is now 3-0 for the season and pitched 7 complete innings, striking out 8 and giving up only one run. However, in the 7th Marko Scutaro scored himself and Rod Barajas with a home run before Kevin Millar scored a grand slam to see Vernon Wells, Adam Lind and Scott Rolen home to see the Twins go down to their 7th loss of the season.

In Seattle the L.A Angels won the game after a big 6th innings against the Mariners to take one game off Seattle. The Angels were trailing 1-0 going into the 6th in a pitcher’s battle before catcher Mike Napoli hit a 2 RBI single in what were the winning runs. The Angels then proceeded to score another 3 to wrap this one up for their 4th win of the season and their 1st on the road.

Finally in Los Angeles the Dodgers won their 3rd home game of the season to sweep the San Francisco Giants 3-0 in their first home stand. The Dodgers were 3-2 up going into the 6th before they put their foot on the gas and accelerated from the Giants with 3 runs from a sac fly and a Mientkiewicz 2 RBI double. This one ended 7-2 in favour of Los Angeles.

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No games were played in the NBA last night so today’s recap will focus on opening day in the MLB season:

Firstly two games were postponed due to bad weather with some pundits asking why the decision was made to start Boston’s and Chicago’s season at home when the weather was more likely to be bad rather than away to teams in the Sun Belt, where the weather would have been fine.

So the first game actually played on Monday was between the New York Mets and the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati, the first game in a three game series. Most teams started with their main pitchers for opening day and the Mets weren’t different. Johan Santana pitched 5.2 innings in which time he struck out 7 Reds batters and only gave up 3 hits and 1 run, the only run scored by Cincy in the whole game.

On a cold day in Ohio the Mets just sneaked this one due to the Reds poor batting and managed to win 2-1 despite leaving 12 men on base all game. Left fielder Daniel Murphy hit a home run in the 5th and ground out in the 6th in a play that saw Luis Castillo score from third for the Mets winning run before Brandon Phillips replied in the bottom of the 6th with a sac. fly that scored Darnell McDonald.

Next up Texas made easy work of the Cleveland Indians in Texas, winning 9-1. The damage was done mostly in the 2nd innings when Rangers catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia (that’s easy for you to say!) singled to right to send Blalock and Byrd to home plate before Kinsler singled to shallow left center to send the aforementioned Saltalamacchia and Andrus through to score. By the time Cleveland did manage to get their solitary run it was too little, too late, by that time Texas were up 7-0 and the Rangers then proceeded to score two more runs with Saltalamacchia getting himself a homer before Young had an RBI single. Kinsler ended the day 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs and a run. Rangers’ pitcher Kevin Millwood managed to complete 7 innings, striking out 5 and only giving up the one run to collect the win.

In Arizona the Diamondbacks ground out a victory in an opening day thriller at Chase Field, 9-8, over the Colorado Rockies. There were a total of 22 hits in this game and 8 home runs in a real shootout in the mid-West. I don’t think anyone wants to see the pitching stats so we’ll just look at the batting stats where D’Backs third baseman Chad Tracy hit 3 of 4 for 2 runs and 2 RBIs and tied Rockies right fielder Brad Hawpe for the game’s best stats, Hawpe also went 3 of 4 for 3 RBIs and 1 run.

In Baltimore the Orioles had their fans dreaming of a shot at the play-offs later this year with a strong performance over the Yankees. The O’s batting line-up managed to send C.C Sabathia packing after only 4.1 innings, Sabathia gave up 8 hits, 6 earned runs and 5 walks and no strike outs before being replaced while opposing pitcher Jeremy Guthrie completed 6 innings but gave up 7 hits and 3 earned runs despite earning the win, the Orioles won this one 10-5.

A total of 18 runs were scored in Florida as the Washington Nationals fell to the Marlins 12-6. Most of the damage was done in the first 3 Marlins’ innings with 6 of their 12 being scored, after these 3 horror innings Nationals’ starter John Lannan was rightly taken out of the game after giving up 2 home runs and 6 earned runs but no Nats’ pitcher really got a hold of the game. Ricky Nolasco earned the win but gave up 6 hits and 4 earned runs in a batter’s game.

Pittsburgh stunned the St.Louis Cardinals in the top of the 9th to win 6-4 at Busch Stadium in the first of a three game series. Trailing 4-2 thanks to a Ryan Ludwick homer and a Ad LaRoche RBI in the 8th the Pirates rallied thanks to 3 RBI double from Jack Wilson when the bases were loaded. Paul Maholm threw 6.2 innings for the Pirates, giving up only 1 earned run and 7 hits but failed to get the win, that was claimed by John Grabow who only completed .2 innings before Matt Capps earned his first save of the season by closing out the bottom of the 9th and striking out one.

The team from the North side of Chicago won their first game of the season in the first game of their 3 game series in Houston thanks to second baseman Mike Fontenot’s 2 runs and a early surge from the Cubs that saw them 3-0 up by the end of the 4th innings. Carlos Zambrano pitched 6 innings for the Cubbies and struck 6 out and allowing only 1 earned run to collect the win before Kevin Gregg earned the save in the 9th innings.

James Loney’s 2 RBIs set up the Dodgers for their first road win of the season at San Diego along with a strong pitching performance from Hiroki Kuroda, who only gave up 1 earned run. Loney hit 3 of 4 and including the first two Los Angeles runs in the 1st inning before Jonathon Broxton got the save late on to close out this 4-1 win.

Another team hoping for a good first half of the season to finally push for the American League play-offs are the Toronto Blue Jays. Their star pitcher Roy Halladay put in a strong performance to delight the home crowd and frustrate Detroit in a strange game where there had to be a 10 minute delay in the bottom of the 8th due to fans throwing objects onto the outfield. Toronto won this one 12-5 after an explosive first innings when they scored 4 runs before an even better 4th innings when they scored 5 including a Travis Snider home run. Halladay kept the Tigers at bay for 6 innings before giving up 4 runs in the 7th, despite this the Jays had enough firepower to see off the Tigers and their star batter in this game was Adam Lind who was 4 of 5 on the day and batted in 6 runs.

The Seattle Mariners shocked the Minnesota Twins in the first game of the season winning 6-1 away from home in a series where the Twins were heavily favoured to sweep.  The Mariners pulled away in the 6th when Franklin Gutierrez scored a 2 run homer to center field before scoring two more in the 9th to see the game out. Most pundits are predicting a long season for the Mariners but they’ll take heart from wins like this and will hope to take at least one game in every road series.

Finally the L.A Angels coasted to victory at home to the Oakland Athletics, 3-0, on the back of a solid pitching performance by Joe Saunders who completed 6.2 innings while giving up only 3 hits in a tame batting performance by the A’s. Howie Kendrick was responsible for the majority of the Angels’ 3 runs scoring an RBI single in the 3rd before hitting a homer in the 5th. The Angels will hope to sweep the Athletics to signal their intent in the AL West.

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The Houston Astros (64-62) will face the Milwaukee Brewers (72-55) this afternoon. Houston is currently 13.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. Milwaukee is 6 games back of the Cubs, but they are the current NL Wild Card holders, with a 2.5 game lead over St. Louis. Houston is 7.5 games behind Milwaukee in the Wild Card. Game time is scheduled for 2:05 PM Eastern in Milwuakee, Wisconsin.

Consider these criteria when determining a pick between the Astros and the Brewers:

- Wandy Rodriguez (7-5, 4.15) will start for Houston

- Manny Parra (9-6, 4.12) will start for Milwaukee

- Parra is 2-2 against Houston in 4 career starts, all from this season

- Parra has a 5.91 ERA against Houston this season

- Houston is 14-5 in the month of August

- Rodriguez is 1-2 with an 8.68 ERA in his last four starts

- This is the final matchup between these two NL Central teams, both teams have won 7 games versus each other

- Houston is 30-34 on the road

- Milwaukee is 37-24 at home

- Houston is 7-3 in its last 10 games

- Milwaukee is 6-4 in its last 10 games

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Tuesday night saw the Philadelphia Phillies (67-58) defeat the Washington Nationals (44-82) in what would turn out to be an important win for Philadelphia. Phillies SP Joe Blanton gave 4 runs in 5 innings and it looked like the Phils were going to lose the game to the lowly Nationals as they were down 4-1 when Blanton went out of the game.

But as soon as he left, the Phillies offense kicked into gear, scoring twice in the 5th inning, once in the 7th, and one more run again in the 8th to beat Washington 5-4. Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth hit the tiebreaking homerun in the 8th to give Philadelphia the lead. The Phillies are a major league best 56-0 when they are up going into the 9th inning. The loss was Washington’s 11th straight, their longest since moving to Washington.

Ryan Madson (3-1) was given the win, with Steven Shell (0-1) taking the loss. Brad Lidge closed out the game to earn his 31st save in 31 opportunities.

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Tonight, the Detroit Tigers (61-64) will take on the Texas Rangers (62-64). Detroit is 10.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central, and Texas is 15.5 games behind the Angels in the AL West. The reason to watch this game is for the pitching, as both starters are among the top of the league in terms of wins. Game time is scheduled for 8:05 PM in Texas.

Consider these criteria when determining a pick between the Tigers and the Rangers:

- Armando Galarraga (11-4, 3.11) will start for Detroit

- Vicente Padilla (12-6, 4.85) will start for Texas

- The Rangers have lost 10 out of their last 12 games

- The Rangers top ranked offense has only scored 11 times in the last 5 games, and have been shut out 4 of their last 10 games

-  The Rangers have the worst pitching staff in the league

- Detroit’s SP Galarraga has opponents hitting .217 against him, the third lowest in MLB

- Texas is without their leading hitter, Ian Kinsler

- Detroit is 28-36 on the road

- Texas is 32-29 on the road

- Detroit is 5-5 in its last ten games

- Texas is 2-8 in its last ten games

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On Monday night, the Tampa Bay Rays (76-48) defeated the Los Angeles Angels (76-47) by a score of 6-4 in a win that proved Tampa can hang with the top teams in baseball. The Rays are currently 5-2 against the Angels, the top team in MLB this season. Cliff Floyd and Eric Hinske both homered for the Rays. Surprising, the Angels have the best road record in MLB, but are 0-4 in Tropicana Field, the Rays home ballpark, this season.

The result of the game may have been overshadowed by a major base running mistake by Tampa Bay’s B.J. Upton, who decided to take his time on what should have been a routine double. He was tagged out at second by Angels first basemen Mark Teixeira. Upton, who is among the fastest players in the league, would not talk to reporters after the game.

Andy Sonnanstine (13-6) was given the win. Jon Garland (11-8) was given the loss. Dan Wheeler earned the save, his sixth of the season.

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