Thursday

Chicago White Sox – In what is turning into being just a fun race to watch, the White Sox started off a four-game series with a come-from-behind win in Minnesota. The Sox trailed 6-4, but held on for an 8-7 win to extend their first-place lead.

Texas Rangers – How do you start up the second half of the season as a first-place squad? How about coming out of the gate with 6 runs of Tim Wakefield in the top of the first inning! That’s precisely what the Rangers did in Boston en route to a 7-2 win.

Tim Lincecum – The All-Star starting pitcher threw the fourth complete game shutout in his career on Thursday night in a 2-0 win over the Mets. Needless to say, Lincecum gave the other Giants starters something to mimic in the coming games.

Friday

New York Yankees – Talk about an emotional night. First you start the game by honoring the passing of longtime owner George Steinbrenner and PA announcer Bob Sheppard, and then you come back for a dramatic 5-4 walkoff win over the Rays. I can foresee this being a Yankees Classic sometime soon on the YES Network.

Stephen Strasburg – The rookie was on his A-game in Miami on Friday night. In six innings, Strasburg allowed zero runs and won his fourth game. That 2.03 ERA is impressive, but I’m told Strasburg is running out of innings on his allotted total for the season.

Bengie Molina – It’s a rare site, but a Molina brother not only got a triple, but that triple brought upon a cycle! That cycle was pretty big too, because it included a grand slam within an 8-4 win for the Rangers in Boston.

Barry Zito – Another game in San Francisco, another day of no hitting for the Mets. Zito controlled the lineup on Friday night, the second straight night the Mets totaled zero runs.

Saturday

Old Timer’s Day in NY – Plenty to cover in this game… First off, it was an emotional Old Timer’s Day in New York with the passing of two members of the Yankee family. Then, to the game, it was young timer’s day, as Reid Brignac smacked two homeruns in the win. Oh yeah, AJ Burnett smacked something too, the clubhouse doors. The led to Burnett lying about a cut that forced him out of the game. He says he was frustrated and then embarrassed.

Josh Johnson – This guys ERA is now 1.62 on the season after a 2-0 win over the Nationals. Payback for Strasburg’s start on Friday?

Edinson Volquez – For the first time in 13 months, Volquez returned to the mound and he was on target. He struck out nine and gave up only one run in six innings in his return from Tommy John Surgery in an 8-1 Reds win over the Rockies.

Adam Wainwright – For the first time in about 70 years, a pitcher has won his first 10 home games of the season with an ERA under 1.50. That pitcher is Adam Wainwright.

Cleveland Indians – It’s a double header sweep at home for the Indians over the Tigers. Cleveland rocks!

Carl Pavano – It must be the mustache, because Carl Pavano is on fire this year. He finished off his fourth complete game of the season in a 3-2 nail biting win over the White Sox at home.

Tony Gwynn Jr. – Gwynn has three homeruns this year. After an 8-5 win on Saturday over the D’Backs, two of those homeruns are inside the parkers for Gwynn.

Sunday

New York Mets (& Umpires) – The Mets avoided a four-game sweep in San Fran, with a little help by the umpires. Oh, and speaking of umpires, they had a TERRBILE ninth-inning. Before the Giants had even tied the game at three, K-Rod reacted to a missed called strike, leading catcher Henry Blanco to turn towards the home plate umpire. Then, the ump reacted by slapping his own hand in disgust with the arguing from the Mets. But no one had been ejected?! You had to have seen this to believe it. Then, the Giants tied the game on the same at bat. The inning continued with what seemed to be a game-winning fielder’s choice to David Wright at third base. He threw home and Travis Ishikawa appeared to get under the tag, but he was called out. Finally, the third out of the inning should have been on a ball right in front of home plate, but the third base ump called the ball foul – without evening blinking. How could he overrule the home plate umpire?!? Who knows… Anyway, the Mets ended up winning it on an Ike Davis double. That was QUITE a mouthful.

Minnesota Twins – This is the kind of thing that can happen when you give up on a game. The White Sox went into the ninth inning with a 6-3 lead over the Twins with an opportunity to take 3 of 4 in Minneapolis. Zero outs later, the Twins had pieced together an incredible 7-6 comeback win. It’s the first walkoff in Target Field history, thanks to Delmon Young’s RBI single – and thanks to Alex Rios’ airmailed toss allowing the winning run to score.

St. Louis Cardinals – Tony LaRussa seemed to think that 3 of 4 against the Dodgers was good enough, based on the lineup he put out on Sunday. Instead, he was let off the hook thanks to his ballclub’s huge comeback win. Allen Craig, filling in for Albert Pujols (off day) and celebrating his 26^th birthday, drove in three runs, and Matt Holliday drove in the game winner with a shot to right capping a five-run, two-inning rally.

-Chris

David Ortiz won his first home run derby by beating Hanley Ramirez.  This was Ortiz’s first win in the derby after failing to take it down in 2005 and 2006.  Ortiz beat some good hitters, but far from the leagues best.  Pujols, A-Rod, Adam Dunn, and Joey Votto were all not in the compettition.  Ortiz beat Corey Hart, Miguel Cabrera, Nick Swisher, Matt Holliday, Chris Young, Vernon Wells, and Ramirez.

The home run derby is so difficult for me to get excited about.  In fact, make that the whole All Star break.  But lets start with the derby.  It’s nice for young kids to see their idols swing as hard as they can and launch the ball 500 feet, but personally, it hasn’t really done anything for me in recent years.  I know Major Leaguers can bomb the ball, I expect them to.  All this event is is batting practice, and that happens before almost every Major League game and people don’t make a deal about that.  The fact that every year its the same thing kind of ruins it for me.  Nothing has changed about it in the past 20 years and there isn’t much that can be changed to make it better.  Sorry for all the fans of the derby out there, but seeing players take batting practice while listening to Chris Berman’s “Back, Back, Back, Back, GONE!!!” call gets more boring to me every year.  My thoughts on the All Star game is similar, but you’ll have to wait till tomorrow night to read up.

-Matt

Twins 11, Tigers 4

Going into this game I thought the Twins were going to lose.  They’ve been playing like dirt lately and the Tigers have been on somewhat of a roll in June, not to mention Nick Blackburn was starting and he shouldn’t even be in the rotation.   But boy was I wrong!  The Twins were led by Dernard Span who was 4-4 with 5 RBI and 3 triples!  What a sick stat line to go along with the Twins overtaking first place again by a half game.  Hopefully this game will swing some momentum the Twins way.

Cardinals 8, Diamondbacks 0

This game was played out exactly how most anticipated.  Adam Wainwright bounced back from a rought start last time out and allowed just 3 hits in 6.1 innings without surrendering a run.  Pujols seems to be heating up going 3-4 with 2 homers and 5 RBI.  With the way him and Holliday have been hitting and the combo of Carpenter and Wainwright maybe the Cardinals can build up a head of steam and build a lead up against the Reds who trail by just a half game after they lost today.

Mariners 7, Yankees 4

The pitching matchup of Lee vs. Hughes seemed very promising but Hughes appears to be running out of gas heading into the all-star break while Cliff Lee is in mid-season stride after pitching his way to his 3rd consecutive complete game.  Lee is now 7-4 on the season with a sub-3.00 ERA and is on the trading blocks.  Cliff Lee WILL be traded by the deadline, so after defeating the Yankees will he be joining them within a month?  I wouldn’t doubt it.

Marlins 7, Mets 6

I’m not quite sure why this series is in Puerto Rico, but it is and just 18,000 fans came out to see it.  The Marlins scored 6 runs in the 3rd off of a Hanley grand slam and an Uggla 2-run jack but Leo Nunez pitched like Leo Nunez and blew his 4th save in the 9th.  Luckily Uggla drove in the winning run for the Marlins in the bottom of the 9th for the Marlins to keep their record respectable at 37-40.

-Jason

White Sox 2, Braves 0 – Make it nine wins in a row for the White Sox! Say what?? The team that everyone thought would give up despite it only being June has turned it around and won their ninth straight game. When a team wins a game 2-0, it means they are playing well. Not much more to say about it. Right now the ChiSox are rolling along, but can they make a dent in the standings?

Rays 5, Padres 3 – The Rays salvage one game at home against the NL-best Padres in a Thursday matinee. I wonder if this kind of win give Matt Garza a real shot in the arm. The ace of the Rays staff hasn’t been consistent this year, but its good to see him rebound from a terrible start to the Marlins. Imagine if these two teams met in the World Series. No one who didn’t like baseball would watch.

Brewers 5, Twins 0 – Break up the Brewers! The ‘rivals’ of different leagues duked it out in Milwaukee this week, but the Brewers came up with the sweep. In this last game, Yovani Gallardo pitched a five hitter in outpitching Nick Blackburn. Gallardo is now 7-3 on the season and Blackburn has lost four games in his last five starts.

Tigers 6, Mets 5 – The Mets are human, apparently. They lost to the Tigers on Thursday at home, but its not like the Mets didn’t try. They were down early and came storming back. But it ended up as a rare home loss for the Metsies.

Astros 7, Giants 5 – Is it weird that I don’t think of the Astros as a lame team anymore?

Cubs 3, Mariners 2 (13 innings) – The Mariners have been streaking! Up until Thursday that is… The Cubs were able to get a nice 13^th inning RBI to help the Cubs slow down the Mariners. To think, Felix Hernandez started and pitched a gem, but the Mariners didn’t hit. How many times have we heard that this year?

Orioles 11, Marlins 5 – First loss in the career of Marlins interim manager Edwin Rodriguez. Bring on Bobby V!

Blue Jays 5, Cardinals 0 – Adam Wainwright was not himself on Thursday as he allowed three homeruns in the launching pad that is Rogers Centre. Vernon Wells hit two of those homeruns for the Blue Jays, who prevent the sweep at home.

Phillies 12, Indians 3 – This kind of game is the only way Joe Blanton can win. What I mean is Blanton can only win when the Phils total 15 hits and 12 runs. Got em.

-Chris

Yankees 4, Mets 0 – It was the father of all homeruns for Mark Teixeira on Sunday in Yankee Stadium, as he hit a grand slam for the only runs of the game. CC Sabathia outdueled Johan Santana, as the Yankees evened out the Subway Series at 3-3.

Twins 4, Phillies 1 – Roy Halladay is having a great year in Philly. He has a perfect game and eight wins. HOWEVER, he has six losses now this season. Mostly they don’t hit for him, but I wonder if it’s more about him not being dominant (rather than just great).

Mariners 1, Reds 0 – This was NOT a good series for the Reds, who lost 1-0 for the second time in the series. I thought this offense was the best ever? I guess only when they’re at home.

Giants 9, Blue Jays 6 – Pat Burrell hit a homer in this game, which amazes me. He seems to have new life in San Fran – I guess he’s a National League guy.

Marlins 4, Rays 1 – Josh Johnson is the best pitcher you’ve never heard of, as long as you aren’t a Marlins fan. Johnson threw 114 pitches in the hot, hot Miami heat to outduel David Price. Johnson is now 8-2 with a 1.80 ERA.

Rangers 5, Astros 4 (10 innings) – The Lone Star Series is off to a roaring start, as the Rangers completed the sweep of the Astros. In this game, the Astros held a lead in the ninth, blew it, and then lost it in the tenth inning.

Athletics 3, Cardinals 2 – As my dad said on this Father’s Day, in regard to his favorite team, “When’s the last time the Cardinals actually won on Father’s Day?”

Cubs 12, Angels 1 – Aramis Ramirez says that manager Lou Pinella should not be blamed for the Cubs poor play. Well, if Aramis pumped up the team to win this game, then I’m blaming him.

Brewers 6, Rockies 1 – Milwaukee waited until it counted to start scoring some runs, as they dropped a five spot on the Rox in Denver. Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart each hit two-run doubles in the inning.

White Sox 6, Nationals 3 – It’s a sweep for the ChiSox, who were able to win on Friday despite Stephen Strasburg pitching for DC. The White Sox are back at .500 after completing an 8-1 road trip.

Pirates 5, Indians 3 – The Pirates biggest prospect came up on Wednesday and is now 1-16. I read today that he was forced up by upper management despite the GM saying he is not ready. That’s not good.

Braves 8, Royals 5 – Let the good times roll in Atlanta. As I said a few weeks back, what if the Braves hadn’t started off the season so poorly?

Tigers 3, Diamondbacks 1 – Is it just me or was almost every game featuring a pitcher that had played for one of the two teams previously. This game featured Max Scherzer, who is now pitching for the Tigers, beating his former team in Arizona.

Padres 9, Orioles 4 – Let me sum up how this season has gone for Baltimore through a reenactment of this game: The Orioles led 4-0 after the top of the first, and then they lost 9-4. Burn.

-Chris

Yankees 5 Mets 3

Despite Jose Reyes’ 2 homers, the Yankees were able to take down the Mets in the 2nd game of the 3 game series.  The Yankees were helped by a pair of longballs themselves by Granderson and Teixeira and Phil Hughes was dominant other than the 2 homers he gave up to Reyes.  Seeing Hughes pitch every 5 day makes my week.  I love watching him throw.  He’s the Yankees 5th starter and he’s 10-1 this year with a 3.17 ERA at only 23 years of age.  A mid 90′s fastball and a nasty curveball with pinpoint control is something a lot of Yankee fans (the real ones) can expect out of Hughes for years to come.  Game 3 will be tomorrow when Sabathia takes on Santana.

Blue Jays 3 Giants 0

Matt Cain pitched another great game but it wasn’t enough.  The San Fran offense could only put together 4 hits.  The game was 0-0 going into the 8th but Cain gave up a 2 run shot to Aaron Hill and that was enough for the Jays pitching.  San Fran is 37-30 overall, but have struggled on the road this year going 13-18.  They are 0-5 on the road this season during interleague play, and if they want to take down the NL West, they’re going to have to step it up on the road.

Twins 13 Phillies 10

The Twins rallied for 5 runs in the 9th that ended with a Joe Mauer homer off Brad Lidge.  Then Mauer scored the winning run in the 11th when Delmon Young singled.  This game had a ton of offense and some crazy numbers.  Tonight was Mauers first homers in 32 games.  The teams combined for 9 homers, and the last time the Twins had 2 pinch hit homers in a single game was 1983.  Now, there is nothing I love more in baseball than a nice pitchers duel, but every once in a while seeing a slugfest like this is pretty sweet.  I expect nothing less from a Phillies game, and the Twins proved tonight that their offense can hang with one of the best in the league.  I don’t really care what their numbers are like, the Phillies are one of the best hitting teams in the league.

-Matt

Phillies 6, Yankees 3 – Like I really need a rematch of last year’s World Series. I don’t like either of these teams, so a rematch in the regular season just annoys me. In this one, the Phillies offense did what the Yankees did last night. And who would think Jamie Moyer would dominate the Yanks a day after Roy Halladay gets shelled? Not this guy.

Braves 6, Rays 2 – This matchup is awesome. The Braves are the home team so they have a slight advantage. Now that I think of it, the Braves have a tough interleague schedule. First the Twins and now the Rays. They’re holding their own though!

Twins 2, Rockies 1 – Scott Baker struck out 12 Rox in seven innings in what could be a prelude to Thursday’s matinee in Minneapolis. It’s Ubaldo Jimenez against Francisco Liriano… BAM! I wish I didn’t have to work so I could watch this game.

Dodgers 6, Reds 2 – Honestly, the Dodgers have made the Reds offense look mortal this series. That shocks me.

Giants 6, Orioles 3 – Tim Lincecum started this game and was terrific, but then he had to leave the game. Timmy struck out 10 in only six innings, but in the top of the seventh he was hit by a line drive and was forced to leave the game. I’m sure he’ll be fine, but that’s gotta put a scare in the Giants!

Red Sox 6, Diamondbacks 2 – It’s now 8 straight wins for Jon Lester. He could be in the running for AL Cy Young by the end of the year.

Blue Jays 7, Padres 1 – Sorry Padres, you’re now out of first place. You may not see it again the rest of the year.

Mariners 2, Cardinals 1 – The Mariners salvage a game in St. Louis, which just figures. Once I think the Cardinals offense is back on track, they have a set back.

White Sox 7, Pirates 2 – I don’t care.

Angels 5, Brewers 1 – See, this is what I’ve been saying all year long with the Brewers. They score 10 runs one game and one in another. This series has been a perfect example of that.

Mets 8, Indians 4 – The NY Mets have won 6 games in a row, which most have come against the Orioles and Indians. Don’t get too excited Metsies.

Tigers 8, Nationals 3 – Like Matt said on Tuesday, since Stephen Strasburg didn’t pitch, the Nationals lost.

Cubs 6, Athletics 2 – Derrek Lee tried to make up for two big errors on Tuesday night with a homer on Wednesday. Sorry Derrek, that still doesn’t make up for it.

Rangers 6, Marlins 3 – The Marlins are playing a very good host to the visiting American League Texas Rangers. Maybe they’ll just hand them a third win on Thursday too?

Astros 4, Royals 2 (IN-PROGRESS – 6^th inning) – I wanted to do every game tonight, but I have to go to bed. Man, why’d this game have to have a rain delay??

-Chris

Yankees 8, Phillies 3

In a game where CC Sabathia faced off against Roy Halladay, CC got the better of his opponent.  Sabathia improved to 7-3 as Halladay dropped to 8-5.  Halladay g up 6 runs.  A two run triple to Gardner in the 2nd, homers to Granderson and Swisher in the 3rd, and a solo homer to Teixeira in the 5th.  I don’t think anybody would have guessed that Halladay would come into Yankee Stadium and have an outing like this, especially with his history of Yankee dominance.  The Phillies scored all 3 of their runs in the 4th, but other than that they were quiet, only finishing with 5 hits on the night.  The Phillies need help.  These two teams were picked by many to return to the World Series again, but they are going in opposite directions.

Cardinals 4, Mariners 2

Albert Pujols hit a rainmaker and the Cards topped the Mariners in St. Louis.  There were 4 homers in this game, 2 by the Cards (Pujols and Rasmus) and 2 for Seattle (Bradley and Langerhans).  Even though Ichiro Suzuki went 1-5 in tonight’s game, he is batting .419 in interleague since June of 2009.  I’m not really sure why Ichiro has such better numbers against the NL, probably because there is just more talent in the AL or that pitchers in the National League never see Ichiro.  Whatever it is, he remains a hit machine.  The rubber game of this series will be Wednesday night.

Tigers 7, Nationals 4

Strasburg wasn’t pitching for Washington tonight, so obviously they lost.  Ryan Raburn supplied most of the offense with 2 hits and 4 RBI.  It’s not too often that Washington goes to play in Detroit.  In fact, tonight was the first time the team has played in Comerica since they moved from Montreal, and even when they were the Expos they only played 1 series in Comerica.  That is what is so great about interleague.  Seeing other teams that you never really pay attention to come into your ballpark.  It’s awesome.  One of the few things Bud Selig has actually done right in his tenure.

-Matt

Braves 7, Twins 3

When the Cardinals gave up on Troy Glaus this past offseason and he signed with the Braves, I really thought the Braves were out of their minds. They gave a guy who was previously on steroids and obviously washed up millions of dollars. As it turns out, they were smart to wait for him to catch his groove. Glaus had four hits and two homeruns in Minnesota on Sunday. Braves SP Kris Medlen was nearly unhittable for half the game and lasted eight innings. The only chink in his armor was a three-run homerun by Delmon Young in the seventh inning. He’s stepping in for Jair Jurrjens who is on his way back to the roster, but this kind of start could make them survive the wait.

On Saturday, I actually thought to myself that this would be one heck of a World Series matchup. These teams are built on fundamentals and have two great managers. I think Major League Baseball would be very fortunate to have these two teams playing each other in October.

Royals 7, Reds 3

Zack Greinke was on his game on Sunday in Cincinnati. The first thing you would notice from the box score is that he had 12 strikeouts. That’s terrific. But the thing that jumps out at me is that he threw a complete game. It’s only his second win of the year, so if this is a sign of things to come for Greinke, then maybe he can make something out of this season.

Mets 11, Orioles 4

The Mets don’t get many homeruns at home, but they were able to power four out of Camden Yards on Sunday. They don’t get many wins away from home though, but they were able to complete the sweep of the O’s as well. This is the first road sweep of the season for NY; then again, it’s also the first road series WIN of the season for NY.

David Wright hit two of the homeruns for the Mets to back Mike Pelfrey. Chris Carter hit a three-run homerun, his second three-run homer of the series. Many of these homers came off Orioles SP Kevin Milwood, who was not channeling his Braves days when he used to beat the Mets. In fact, he gave up 11 hits and eight runs in only 5 1/3 innings. He is 0-8 on the season – what a great investment.

Here are some other quick looks at other games from Sunday:

Yankees 9, Astros 5 – Jorge Posada dumped a grand slam over the Yankee Stadium walls for the second straight game. He’s the first Yankees player to do this since Bill Dickey did it in 1937!

Phillies 5, Red Sox 3 – The Phils are able to salvage a game in Boston despite being outscored by one million runs. This game was a nail biter even though it shouldn’t have been, as Brad Lidge had to come in to shut the door.

Mariners 4, Padres 2 – Felix Hernandez couldn’t go the full nine innings, but he still got the win after coming one out short of a complete game.

Giants 6, Athletics 2 – Aubrey Huff has really become the best hitter in the Giants lineup. He had two homers on Sunday on balls that he just crushed.

-Chris

Yankees 9, Astros 3

It isn’t really saying much this season when your team beats Houston but the Yanks put on a show today in the Bronx.  Derek Jeter had 2 homers and Jorge Posada added a grand slam.  Javy Vazquez came out with another solid outing and the Yanks took clinched yet another series at home this year.  The Yanks are 21-7 at home this year.  Some troubling news in NY was that Alex Rodriguez sat out with a groin injury.  Not sure when he’ll be back but the Yanks have a pretty solid bench and they should be able to play well without him.  Lance Berkman, who is rumored to be trade bait this summer, is currently 1-23 on the Astros six game road trip.

Red Sox 10, Phillies 2

I bet you have never heard on Daniel Nava before today.  The 27 year old rookie hit a grand slam on the first pitch he ever saw in the big leagues, becoming only the second player ever to do that.  Although the game today ended with a win for Boston, Dice-K was scratched before the game and put on the 15 day DL because of forearm soreness.  The Phillies are really struggling so far this season.  I never would have guessed that they would be behind the Braves and the Mets come the 2nd week of June.  I would have thought they would be in first place by at least 6 games right now.  After their long offensive slump, the Phillies are having trouble getting quality pitching.  I personally think they are getting what they deserve.  They had numerous opportunities to bring Cliff Lee AND Roy Halladay in together but messed up the whole situation… Let’s go Braves.

Tigers 4, Pirates 3

Carlos Guillen hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 10th to give Detroit the win.  The win improved the Tigers to 32-29 on the year but still find themselves 6.5 games back of the Twins.  The Tigers have really been disappointing this year.  I expected them to win close to 90 games this season, and although there are still a lot of games left, I don’t see this team making a run.  It’s a shame because they have a great offense led by Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez, and one of the best pitchers in the league in Justin Verlander.  The Twins are hands down the best team in the division though, so I expect Detroit to clean house come this years trade deadline and get some good young players for the future to go with Porcello and Jackson.

-Matt