Neil Walker has been on fire at the plate so far
in July for the Pittsburgh Pirates

post from Pittsburgh Pirates MLB News - Pirates Baseball Blog on 17 July 2012 11:05:24 PM. © Pittsburgh Pirates MLB News - Pirates Baseball Blog

26-year old switch-hitting 2B Neil Walker has been on fire with the bat so far in July. He has played in 12 games so far this month for the Pirates and he is 22 for 46 (.478 avg, 1.343 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 3 homers and 10 RBIs. Walker has now played [...]

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-far-in-july-for-the-pittsburgh-pirates/

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Game 89 Overflow thread #2

post from Royals Review on 17 July 2012 11:01:24 PM. © Royals Review

Game 89 Overflow thread #2

Royals on the comeback, down 9-6

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Break Out the Bats!

post from The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website on 17 July 2012 11:01:23 PM. © The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website

In what could very well be a preview of an upcoming playoff matchup in Atlanta, the Giants got off to a perfect start. They backed Barry Zito's excellent performance with a hit parade, scoring 9 runs by the fifth and knocking Jair Jurggens out before he could exit the fourth.

Posey Leads SF with 52 RBIBuster Posey again was the offensive catalyst Tuesday, going 3-5 with 2 doubles and 5 RBI. The Giants catcher has been on a tear since the Giants came out of the break, single-handily carrying the offense in their sweep over the Astros over the weekend, and has carried that right into the Atlanta series. The difference between last weekends games and Tuesday night's affair was that he wasn't the only one doing the damage. He did drive in half the teams runs but was only able to do so because the top part of the order got their job done. The top of the order has been a bit of an issue lately, but they showed what will happen when they get on for the middle part of the order. They didn't even get anything out of Pablo Sandoval Tuesday and they were still able to run up the score and put the game away early. I've said numerous times here that the under-the-radar key to this lineup is Gregor Blanco, and he showed why Tuesday. It just seems like every time he has it going, this offense flows so much better. He was thriving in June and that's when they were playing their best ball and hopefully this is just a sign of things to come for speedy outfielder.

The Giants offense decided this game before it was even halfway through, but the start Barry Zito provided
Zito Improves to 8-6cannot be overlooked. The reason why this team swept Houston and are back on top in this division has been because their starters have been ridiculously efficient since the All-Star break. And as good as those three starts were in San Francisco by MadBum, Cain and Timmy, Zito's was equal to or better than all of those. He allowed just 3 hits over 7 shutout innings and even chipped into the offensive effort with a hit and an RBI. The thing that I was curious to see was how he threw once Hector Sanchez left the game with the knee injury, cause that's been a topic of discussion around the Giants lately. Bruce Bochy has been a big advocate of the pitcher/catcher matchup game playing lately and now he looks set on using Sanchez for 2 of the 5 arms in the rotation. Buster Posey showed a little frustration in an interview before the series saying "he can catch anybody" when the topic was brought up. Hopefully this doesn't become an issue going forward. I don't have a problem with Sanchez being out there if he's playing better than Belt and pitchers are comfortable with him, but you can't alienate your best young player.

Note: Well the verdict was in on the Melky Cabrera/Jonathan Sanchez trade was in early, but it became official when the Royals DFA'd Sanchez earlier Tuesday and the Giants clearly won this deal. I still remember various people upset with the Sanchez trade back after it happened early in the winter, but we've seen Melky develop into the league leader in hits, an All-Star MVP and a guy who could be a mainstay in this lineup for years to come. I wish Sanchez all the best, he's not yet 30 and should land on somewhere else.

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Houston Astros at San Diego Padres, Jul 17, 2012
9:05 PM CDT

post from The Crawfish Boxes on 17 July 2012 11:01:22 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes

Current Series

4 game series vs Padres @ Petco Park

Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes
@ San Diego Padres Gaslamp Ball

Monday, Jul 16, 2012, 9:05 PM CDT
Petco Park

J.A. Happ vs Kip Wells

Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to right field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 65.

Complete Coverage >

Tue 07/17 9:05 PM CDTWed 07/18 2:35 PM CDTThu 07/19 9:05 PM CDT

Jordan Lyles

#41 / Pitcher / Houston Astros

Height: 6-4

Weight: 210

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Oct 19, 1990

Ross Ohlendorf

#59 / Pitcher / San Diego Padres

Height: 6-4

Weight: 240

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Aug 08, 1982

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-jul-17-2012-9-05-pm-cdt

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Game 89: Giants 9, Braves 0

post from Capitol Avenue ClubCapitol Avenue Club on 17 July 2012 11:00:06 PM. © Capitol Avenue ClubCapitol Avenue Club

Source: FanGraphs Game MVP: Barry Zito, 74 game score Least Valuable Giant: Pablo Sandoval, -.045 Most Valuable Brave: Freddie Freeman, .028 Least Valuable Brave: Jair Jurrjens, 10 game score Big plays: 1st – (SF) Buster Posey RBI double for a 1-0 Giants lead, .110 3rd – (SF) Posey RBI single for 2-0 Giants lead, .105 [...]

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The Yankee beat: Pirela, Upton, and domination

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 17 July 2012 10:42:20 PM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

[...]

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BBDP July 17th: Turley and Gerritse get their gem
on

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 17 July 2012 10:22:36 PM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

[...]

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r-gem-on/

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Foster Brooks the Airline Pilot

Reblogged from Nostalgia and Now:

This is Foster Brooks on the Dean Martin Show portraying an airline pilot who has had one drink too many to be flying an airplane.

Foster Brooks made a living out of pretending to be drunk, like Hal Smith who portrayed Otis Campbell on the Andy Griffith Show.

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ATTENTION TEAM COLLECTORS: I May Have Some
Archives For YOU!!!!

ATTENTION TEAM COLLECTORS: I May Have Some Archives For YOU!!!! I am going to try to build on the network of trade partners that I have established recently. And while I don’t always have stuff to readily offer, I think … Continue reading →

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ome-archives-for-you/

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2012 Rockies Game #90: Erik Bedard vs. Christian
Friedrich

DENVER, CO - MAY 30: Starting pitcher Christian Friedrich #53 of the Colorado Rockies delivers against the Houston Astros at Coors Field on May 30, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Christian Friedrich allowed 21 runs in his first three Coors Field starts, against the Mariners, Astros and Angels. After a modest improvement against the Nationals June 26, both of Friedrich's July home starts have been encouraging. Against both San Diego and Philadelphia, the lefty allowed one run in five innings, with 12 strike outs to one walk.

Erik Bedard has lost four of his last five starts, with his best game score in those four losses checking in at 41.

Carson Cistuli at Fangraphs collected a scouting report from MLB.com, after the fold.