I didn’t get a chance to post my usual “And That Happened” recaps this morning, but here are some quick hits regarding last night’s games:
Andruw Jones went crazy against the Angels last night, hitting three homers. Which is the same number of homers he hit all last year. And which, for the season, puts him at .250/.348/.581. That sound you hear is me banging my head against the wall in the realization that he, and not Jeff Francoeur, could have very easily been manning right field in Atlanta this year. Rangers are in first, now, kids. They’re for real, and my pre-season prediction that had them winning the west still looks prescient. Sure, it was a wild-ass guess, but that’s what we call prescience before the fact.
Oliver Perez is back, and better than ever! Oh, wait, He walked seven guys. Dodgers: how do you lose a game to Oliver Perez when he walks seven guys?
Chris Volstad and Wandy Rodriguez each pitched five-hit shutouts. It is such a bizarre coincidence that anything so mind boggglingly improbable could have happened purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.
Jose Contreras apparently spent his rehab time earlier this season working with Ponce de Leon. And in this crazy, mixed-up world, isn’t it refreshing that you can still count on some things in life? Thing like the Indians sucking?
Prince Fielder legged out an infield single that drove in the go-ahead run and which caused the U.S. Geological Survey and several local fire departments to go on high alert. See, because he’s a big guy and there was a lot of thigh-friction and . . . ah, well, never mind.
The Tigers finally figured out how to beat Zack Greinke. Leyland: “When you are going against a guy like Greinke, you know that you are going to have to get a great game from your starter. If you give up three or four runs, he’s going to beat you, so I was very happy with what French did tonight.” Thank goodness for the Tigers that Greinke still pitches for the Royals, so three or four runs aren’t all that distinct a possibility.
You always want to win games, but I bet the Reds are just as happy to finally see an effective Homer Bailey (6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 6K 0 BB) as they would have been to see a victory.
