Rockies Reassert their Wildcard Dominance, Beat
Snakes 10-4

post from Purple Row on 19 September 2009 11:57:00 PM. © Purple Row

Bringin' down the hammer on San Francisco's slim playoff chances.

The Rockies, behind seven strong innings from Jason Hammel (9-8), defeated the Diamondbacks 10-4. With the Giants losing 12-1 to the Dodgers, Colorado is once again up 3.5 games on San Francisco for the Wild Card lead with only 13 games left. By my calculations, if the Rockies even go 7-6 over a home-dominated slate to get to 91 wins, they'll be good to go as far as a playoff berth is concerned.

84 - 65

Games Back: 5

Streak: Won 1

Games Left: 13

This game, like last night's, started well for the Rockies, as Carlos Gonzalez led off the game with a home run (his 12th) and Troy Tulowitzki added his 29th to put Colorado up 2-0 out of the gates. Continuing the parallel with last night's game, an Arizona homerun (a 3-run shot by Justin Upton in the third) got them right back in the game. Thankfully, that's really where the similarities end.

The Rockies regained the lead in the fourth on an Ian Stewart sac fly combined with a horrible overthrow by Gerardo Parra, resulting in a 4-3 advantage. Colorado would nurse a small advantage throughout the game, until a late offensive barrage made this a laugher and gave Colorado residents the right to cheap tacos. The most awesome moment therein was definitely Jason Giambi's first home run as a Rockie--a laser beam three-run shot on the first pitch he saw from Scott Schoeneweis.

Box Score

Tomorrow afternoon, the Rockies will look to win their penultimate road series. It'll be a doozy, as Ubaldo Jimenez will face off against Dan Haren.

via www.fangraphs.com

High Rollers: Yorvit Torrealba (.258 WPA), Ryan Spilborghs (.198), Carlos Gonzalez (.114)
Snake Eyes: Clint Barmes (-.136), Ian Stewart (-.084), Seth Smith (-.052)

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Fish Wrap - Marlins 3 Reds 2

post from FishStripes on 19 September 2009 11:30:00 PM. © FishStripes

More photos » by Tom Uhlman - AP

about 1 hour ago: Florida Marlin' Ross Gload, right, is congratulated by third base coach Bo Porter, left, after hitting a two-run home run off Cincinnati Reds' Bronson Arroyo in the eighth nning of their baseball game in Cincinnati, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. (Ap Photo/Tom Uhlman)

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The Marlins refuse to go away.

GameFish has the recap.

Marlins make it two in a row in Cinci

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Game 148 Recap: Phillies 4, Braves 6

post from Talking Chop on 19 September 2009 11:27:00 PM. © Talking Chop

More photos » by Gregory Smith - AP

Tennis player Melanie Oudin, right, reacts as she hits autographed tennis balls into the crowd with a Braves Tomahawk Team member before an Atlanta Braves against the Philadelphia Phillies baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, at Turner Field in Atlanta. Oudin threw out the ceremonial first pitch... Saturday night was "Ladies' Night."

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As always Javier Vazquez was awesome, and our offense scored enough to overcome the requisite homerun from Ryan Howard. I'm starting to think that Rafael Soriano has been overused this year. I was not watching the game as I was instead watching the Dawgs' offense... their defense stayed in Athens and did not make the trip.

Braves recaps here and here.

Final - 9.19.2009 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Philadelphia Phillies 000000004481 Atlanta Braves 01212000X690WP: Javier Vazquez (14 - 9)
LP: Pedro Martinez (5 - 1)

Complete Coverage >

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I think it's crap that Dusty Hughes gets the
loss. I understand that MLB scoring is funky, but...

post from Royals Review on 19 September 2009 11:10:00 PM. © Royals Review

I think it's crap that Dusty Hughes gets the loss. I understand that MLB scoring is funky, but there is no way he deserves a loss. I petition that the official scorekeeper change the loss (which he can do as he determines who gets it) to Yabuta who is stealing money from the Royals. I can't wait for him to come off the books.

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Astros' skid hits six games while Prince Fielder
takes Cecil Cooper's Brewer RBI record

post from The Crawfish Boxes on 19 September 2009 10:56:00 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes

Car-hit_medium

Teach you to pass me up, youngster.

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Game#147: Yankees at Mariners. Its time to get
down to business

post from Zell's Pinstripe Blog on 19 September 2009 10:41:27 PM. © Zell's Pinstripe Blog

Yankees (94-54) vs. Mariners (77-71)Pitching Matchup: LHP CC Sabathia (17-7, 3.42 ERA) vs RHP Doug Fister (2-2, 3.53 ERA)LineupJeter SSDamon LFTeixeira 1BRodriguez 3BMatsui DHSwisher RFCano 2BCabrera CFCervelli CGame News & NotesSabathia faced the Mariners on Aug. 13 in Seattle, throwing eight innings of one-run, three-hit ball and striking out 10.Mariano Rivera recorded his 1,000th career strikeout in [...]

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Yarrr, Reds be walkin' the plank, blow another
win late, lose 3-2

post from Red Reporter on 19 September 2009 10:06:00 PM. © Red Reporter

More photos » by Tom Uhlman - AP

Drew Stubbs led off the game with his 8th home run of the season. Literally dozens of fans got to see it.

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The Reds broke out their freshly minted vinyl single and flipped it over to hear the B-side, only to find out that it was the same song they played last night. Drew Stubbs gave the Reds the lead with his 3rd lead-off home run of the season, but that was basically all the offense the Reds saw in the first 7 innings.

Bronson Arroyo had another outstanding start. He surrendered a single run in the 5th on a Jorge Cantu's 16th home run of the season, but shut the Marlins down for the rest of the night, until the 8th. After Ryan Hanigan had given the Reds their 2nd lead of the game on his 3rd home run of the season, a solo shot, Arroyo promptly gave the lead back up in the 8th. Emilio Bonifacio led off with a double and then scored on Ross Gload's one out home run, his fifth of the season. Those two runs gave the Marlins their only lead of the game, but it was enough to take home the victory.

This game was the 7th time in Arroyo's last 9 starts that the offense has scored 3 runs or fewer. It's amazing that he had 8 wins midway through the season when his ERA was nearly 6, but he's just 5-5 since then with an ERA of 2.21. Clearly, the offense hates good pitching.

Tonight's loss guarantees that the Reds won't have a winning season for the 9th season in a row. But hey, they can still go .500 if they win the rest of their games, right? Shiver me timbers!

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The Royals Front Office Has Won The Battle of Who
Could Care Less

post from Royalscentricity on 19 September 2009 10:06:00 PM. © Royalscentricity

- I've got this great idea. Why don't we pitch it to the Franklin fuckin' Mint?

I'd like to preface what I am about to say with a short qualification. What follows could very likely come across as being self-aggrandizing. It may even seem like I am trying to add a degree of importance to this thing that I do as a hobby.

Let me assure you, I have mixed feelings about this blogging thing that I have taken to. It is a medium by which we (by "we", I mean "I") can say virtually whatever we want with little or no repercussions. In anger, I am sure I have crossed a line here or there.

Furthermore, when I tell people that I write a blog about the Royals, it is not without a more than proportionate amount of shame and embarrassment. Not all of those negative feelings have causes that can be attributed to the shameful team that I unfortunately am a fan of.

I certainly have no delusions of grandeur insofar as my status in the world is concerned.

Now that I have hopefully made all that abundantly clear, I will say that amongst a sports franchise's fan base, there are not that many who feel so strongly about their team that they elect to write at length about that team. It is an endeavor that is not for the weak of heart. The dedication it takes to spend countless hours expounding upon the performance of a franchise both on and off the field is nearly immeasurable.

For fans of some teams, the time and dedication is rewarded by success in the win-column. It wouldn't be difficult to find the time to write about a team like the Yankees or the Red Sox or the Cardinals. Their on-field performance warrants such dedication.

Admittedly, this is an inexact exercise, but the simple google search of "Boston Red Sox blog" turns up 8,080,000 results. When interchanging "Kansas City Royals" for "Boston Red Sox", 1,240,000 hits pop up.

This is no coincidence.

While Kansas City is certainly a smaller market than Boston, its fan base has been depleted by years of neglect and losing.

Despite this September surge, this has been the most disappointing season I can remember. The losing has been hard to handle, to be sure. More disturbing by far has been the fact that it would seem no one is at the helm of this aimless ship.

When combining the atrocious roster moves, the wasted money, the squandered start, and the lack of vision, it is not surprising that many of those dedicated Royals bloggers have lost interest.

The vitriolic, anti-stat Dr. Thunder and Southern Lightning at Hapless Royals have jumped ship.

The thoughtful Michael A. Molde over at Undying Royalty hasn't been able to bring himself to write an entry since May 22nd.

Levi "Tug" Payton over at Everything Royals essentially hung everything up on August 2nd.

Only six of H.G. Miller's 28 posts this year over at Royal Reactions have come since June.

The stellar Jeff Parker at Royally Speaking (who also writes for Dugout Central and Hardball Cooperative) hasn't passed the 10 post mark in a month since May.

Guys like Joe Bomello at New Blue Tradition, Royals Nation at The Royal Treatment, and Clint over at Royal Report Card haven't posted in months.

I could keep going because there are many others (The Tao and Keith to name but a couple more) who have fallen by the wayside as this Royals team has made us question everything our fandom means to us. But surely no one has summed up our collective discouragement as the most prominent Royals blogger, Rany Jazayerli, did on what is to be his last post for quite some time.

Through all of this one thing becomes increasingly clear. While Dayton Moore & Co. continue to take umbrage with any criticism lobbed in their direction, many of the Royals most dedicated and passionate fans are simply giving up.

While Billy Butler's season has been cause for a little hope, and Joakim Soria has still been The Mexicutioner, there is really only one reason to watch this team ever. Meaningless September wins are not going to change this.

Dayton Moore, this season has worn your fans out. As much as we know you want to win, we no longer have the belief that we will ever see that happen. We are collectively giving up.

So if your goal was to defeat the Royals fans who might be voices of dissent when things have gone so far awry, you have won that battle, Mr. Moore.

It seems clear that we've all lost steam.

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Double Down

The Tigers late season skid continued as they lost to the second place Twins for the second straight time. It looks like Jim Leyland rode Justin Verlander just a bit too long in this one and while I’m all for riding the horse that got you there, this went a little overboard. In all, Verlander [...]

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Tex and CC Lead Yanks Past Mariners

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E NY Yankees 1 0 0 1 4 1 0 1 2
10 18 1 Seattle 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
1 7 0
WP: CC Sabathia (18-7)
LP: Doug Fister (2-3)
After four relatively quiet offensive games Yankees fans were starting to sweat a bit. The Yankees quieted any doubts tonight, as they pounded out 10 runs on 18 hits on their way to their 95th victory of the season. They also increased their lead to 6.5 over the Angels, who lost to Texas, for best record in baseball.

Mark Teixeira led the way, going 4-for-5 with two homers, a triple, five RBI, and two runs scored. He had a chance for the cycle when he led off the top of the ninth, but instead he smashed his second homer of the night. It was his 37th round-tripper of the season and his league best 118th RBI. He truly looked disappointed as he circled the bases.

Robinson Cano also had a big night offensively. He also picked up four hits, along with three doubles and two runs scored. His average is up to .323, and he now has 193 hits on the year, a new career-high.

Johnny Damon had three hits including a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. Hideki Matsui launched his 26th homer of the season to set a Yankees record for homers by a designated hitter. And Francisco Cervelli chipped in with two hits and an RBI.

It was a great night for the offense, but the way CC Sabathia pitched it wasn't even necessary. He was dominating, holding the Mariners to just one unearned run on four hits and two walks, while striking out eight. He had everything working and threw 69 of his 105 pitches for strikes. Since August this guy has been one of the best pitchers in baseball. Tonight was the 23rd time this season that CC has lasted at least 7 innings in a ballgame.

The lone Mariner run came in the bottom of the fifth on an Alex Rodriguez throwing error.

We all got quite a scare earlier in the frame, when a Franklin Gutierrez line drive smashed off CC's chest. He appeared a bit shaken up, but stayed in the game and didn't look like anything was wrong the rest of the night. We're very lucky that ball avoided his head, neck or right hand, because it was close to all three.

CC now leads the American League with 18 wins, and lowered his ERA to 3.31. He also took over the league lead in innings pitched.

Brian Bruney, wearing his new no. 99, came into the game in the eighth and was shaky once again. He allowed two hits in the inning, but was able to get out of it without allowing a run.

Joe Girardi called on Jonathan Albaladejo for the ninth. He too got himself into trouble allowing a walk and a hit, but like Bruney was able to get out of it unscathed.

The Yanks go for a series win tomorrow afternoon at 4:10 p.m. with Joba Chamberlain on the mound. He'll be looking to build off his past two successful outings as his builds up his innings for October. Ian Snell will start for the Mariners.

AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Jeter, SS 4 1 1 0 1 1 1 .329 Pena, R, SS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .284 Damon, LF 4 2 3 1 0 0 0 .290 a-Duncan, S, PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .167 Hairston, J, 3B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .252 Teixeira, 1B 5 2 4 5 0 0 1 .289 Bruney, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Albaladejo, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Rodriguez, A, 3B 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 .285 Gardner, CF 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .283 Matsui, H, DH 3 1 1 1 1 2 2 .280 b-Miranda, PH-DH-1B 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 Swisher, RF 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .254 c-Guzman, F, PH-LF 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 Cano, 2B 5 2 4 0 0 0 0 .323 Cabrera, Me, CF-LF-RF 5 0 1 1 0 1 4 .275 Cervelli, C 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 .279 Totals 40 10 18 10 3 5 18
a-Struck out for Damon in the 8th. b-Singled for Matsui, H in the 9th. c-Hit a sacrifice fly for Swisher in the 9th.
BATTING
2B: Cano 3 (45, Fister, Vargas, J, Silva, C), Damon (34, Fister).
3B: Teixeira (3, Fister).
HR: Matsui, H (26, 4th inning off Fister, 0 on, 0 out), Teixeira 2 (37, 5th inning off Fister, 2 on, 0 out; 9th inning off French, 0 on, 0 out).
TB: Jeter; Damon 4; Teixeira 12; Gardner; Matsui, H 4; Miranda; Cano 7; Cabrera, Me; Cervelli 2.
RBI: Teixeira 5 (118), Matsui, H (86), Damon (77), Cervelli (11), Cabrera, Me (64), Guzman, F (1).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Swisher; Jeter; Duncan, S.
SF: Guzman, F.
GIDP: Swisher; Cabrera, Me.
Team RISP: 4-for-14.
Team LOB: 7.

FIELDING
E: Rodriguez, A (9, throw).

IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Sabathia (W, 18-7) 7.0 4 1 0 2 8 0 3.31 Bruney 1.0 2 0 0 0 2 0 4.24 Albaladejo 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4.60
Pitches-strikes: Sabathia 105-69, Bruney 18-11, Albaladejo 21-12.

MARINERS STATS

CO-PLAYERS OF THE GAME: CC Sabathia (W, 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) & Mark Teixeria (4-for-5, 2 HR, 3B, 5 RBI, 2 R)

HONORABLE MENTION: Robinson Cano (4-for-5, 3 2B, 2 R)

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees @ Mariners
Game Time: 4:10 p.m. TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP Joba Chamberlain (8-5, 4.39) vs. RHP Ian Snell (4-2, 4.86)

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