The world is not a prison house but a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell God with the wrong blocks. ~Edwin Arlington Robinson
The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 2-1 on Thursday night. Can you say "Sweep?" Detroit sits 3 games behind Chicago in the AL Central. They play a 3-game series against the White Sox beginning tonight. 32 games remaining to clinch a post-season spot. 7 games against the White Sox. 7 games against the Royals. 7 more games against A. J. Pierzynski and Hawk Harrelson. 7 more games against Billy Butler and the ghost of Buck O'Neil. These cats need to pick it up.
The San Francisco Giants are hosting "Bruce Lee Night" at AT&T Park next Tuesday. They're giving away a bobblehead of the martial arts legend. Here's the greatest bobblehead commercial you'll ever see...
I know most of you kids are probably sick of her...but the Hot Baseball Wife Hall of Fame still digs Kim Kardashian. Not the fame-whore part. Just the T&A part. Here's Kim's latest Twitter submission...
Detroit's run-producing machine strikes again. On Wednesday night, the Royals beat the Tigers 1-0. Is it just me - or has this cat been feasting on Tigers' pitching forever?
You know what he calls his bat?
The Athletics whomped the Tribe 12-7 today to complete a 4-game sweep of Cleveland. Oakland has a one-game lead over Baltimore for the top spot in the AL wild card race.
Some Tigers' fans have taken to saying " Happy Verlander Day" on days that JV takes the mound. Happy Verlander Day indeed - 5 2/3 innings, 12 hits, 8 runs, 3 walks and 6 Ks.
Here's a brief synopsis of the "Happy Verlander Game" dénouement. Delmon Young's 'stache...
Launches a potential 9th inning, game-winning home run...
That gets the video review treatment from the umps and is ruled foul... ...and The Royals beat the Tigers 9-8.
Is there a hotter hitter in baseball than Adrian Beltre right now? Answer: NO On Monday night, Beltre went 3-for-3 with a home run and 4 RBIs to help the Texas Rangers defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5. If you'll recall, Beltre was selected AL player of the week after a 3-homer game and another in which he hit for the cycle. In his last 8 games, Mr. Beltre has batted .385 with 6 dingers and 13 RBIs!
Beltre joined Joe DiMaggio (1948) as the only other player with a 3-homer game and a cycle in the same week. There is an abundance of love, at the Hot Baseball Wife Hall of Fame, for Adrian Beltre. One of the coolest things I've ever seen in a ballpark - and I've seen many - was Adrian Beltre cranking a home run over the Green Monster, out of Fenway, and onto Lansdowne Street...from one knee!!!
Another sweet slugger, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista, will have season-ending surgery to stabilize a tendon in his left wrist. Bautista has not played since he initially injured the wrist in an at-bat against the Yankees on July 16. Joey Bats finished the season with a .241 average, 27 homers and 65 RBIs in 92 games.
I'm all about equal opportunity. Here's one for the ladies...
To counteract the above photo - here's Kate Upton blowing...bubbles
Justin Verlander blah, blah, blah... Max Scherzer is the Tigers' ace in 2012. Scherzer pitched 7 innings, allowed 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks and racked-up 9 Ks in a 5-2 Tigers win against the Angels. Prince Fielder and Delmon Young hit back-to-back jacks. Scherzer is the first Tiger since at least 1918 to have at least 8 strikeouts in 8 straight starts. He's also the first Detroit pitcher with 9 strikeouts or more in 11 starts in a season since Mickey Lolich had 15 in 1971! Max leads the league with 195 strikeouts.
Shhh..Kate. I don't need to hear about Apalachicola, or oysters, or how nice the residents are..I just need you to hop around and smile...
The Tigers beat the Angels 5-3 on Saturday. Drew Smyly, replacing the injured Doug Fister, had a solid outing - 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run (Detroit committed 3 errors), 2 walks and 6 Ks. The Tigers were trailing 3-0 before scoring twice in the 6th inning. Detroit scored 3 more runs in the 8th, including Jhonny Peralta's two-run, game winning double.
The Oakland A's beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 to move 12 games over .500 Brandon McCarthy pitched 7 innings, allowed 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and notched 7 Ks. Chris Carter and Seth Smith both went DEEP. The Athletics moved within a half-game of the AL wild card-leading Rays.
So, as everybody knows, the Dodgers acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto in a big-ass trade from the Red Sox. What does A-Gon do, after landing on the West Coast? He hits a 3-run homer in his first at-bat as a Dodger, helping Los Angeles beat the Marlins 8-2.
I LOVE Sundays! I just sit back and drink copious amounts of java and listen to Time Warp with Cristina on 89X. It's a bad-ass ritual.
Yes! Finally some good news coming out of Beantown! Rumour has it that the Red Sox have agreed to send starting pitcher Josh Beckett, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and left fielder Carl Crawford (their 3 highest-salaried players) plus infielder Nick Punto and cash to the Dodgers in exchange for first baseman James Loney, second baseman Ivan De Jesus Jr., outfielder Jerry Sands and pitchers Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster. Please, please let this come to fruition...AND DUMP BOBBY VALENTINE! To Rise From the Ashes of the Phoenix - first, you must burst into flames - and die...
In the Battle of the MVP Candidates, Miggy was DHing on a gimpy ankle and went 2-for-4 with a solo homer and Mike Trout, amazingly, went 0-for-5. The Angels beat the Tigers 2-1. On Wednesday night, Adrian Beltre belted 3 homers to help the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 12-3. On Friday night, Beltre hit for the cycle - for the 2nd time in his career. Over the past 4 games, Beltre has gone 12-for-18 with 5 homers, 3 doubles and a triple. The Rangers defeated the Twins 8-0.
Justin Verlander struck out 12 Blue Jays batters, giving him 1,407 Ks to move him ahead of Jim Bunning into 5th-place on the Tigers career strikeout list. Detroit defeated Toronto 3-2.
The "We've Mailed It In" Boston Red Sox lost 14-13 to get swept by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California of the Pacific Rim. Vernon Wells hit a ball that bounced off the top of the Green Monster in the 9th inning. It was ruled a home run. It wasn't. Boston skipper Bobby Valentine didn't bother to ask the umps to review the hit. On Monday, they buried Johnny Pesky. The Red Sox reportedly provided buses for players to take to the funeral. Only four players - David Ortiz, Vicente Padilla, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Clay Buchholz - attended Pesky's funeral. Angels rookie Mike Trout had 2 RBIs and 2 stolen bases to give him 41 steals. Trout (21 years, 16 days) became the youngest player since at least 1901 to record 40 steals and 20 homers in a season.
Who the fuck is Bryce Harper? He's a clown-show, bro. Here's Sara Jean Underwood's new burger commercial. Her friend is Emily Ratajkowski. Enjoy.
Oakland A's hurler Bartolo Colon was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for testosterone. This really surprised me because I thought Colon was doing it legit - like rockin' the P90X...
The Tigers beat the Triple-A version of the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2. Big deal. Remember Tigers' prospect Jacob Turner? He started for the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night. Turner pitched 6 innings, allowed 4 hits, 3 runs, no walks and notched 5 Ks in a 3-2 loss to the D-backs.
Some brand spankin' new Kelly Brook lingerie pics...
Ricky Romero and the Detroit Tigers beat the Blue Jays 5-3. Romero pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowed 7 hits, 5 runs and 8 walks! He gift-wrapped the first two Detroit runs on bases-loaded walks. He didn't strike out a batter. The other guy on the mound, Max Scherzer, pitched 7 innings, allowed 1 run, 2 walks and 8 Ks. Max leads the majors with 186 strikeouts! Things are NOT good in Toronto. Their lineup is inundated with minor leaguers. The injury bug took a big-ass bite out of the Blue Jays: 9 pitchers on the DL - 7 for the entire season (Robert Coello, Kyle Drabek, Jason Frasor, Drew Hutchison, Jesse Litsch, Dustin McGowan, Brandon Morrow, Luis Perez and Sergio Santos), starting catcher (J.P. Arencibia), starting right fielder (Jose Bautista), starting third baseman (Brett Lawrie) and starting first basenan (Adam Lind). ...and, after their starter served-up 8 walks, they still made this one close...
Making his first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery over a year ago, A's starter Brett Anderson pitched 7 innings, allowed 4 hits, 1 run and notched 6 Ks.The Athletics are the polar opposite of the Jays - they have too many healthy starters going into the stretch run of the season in good position to capture a wild card spot. Oakland also turned a 5-4-3 triple play - their first triple play in 12 years! The A's beat the Twins 4-1.
Second baseman Adam Rosales takes the throw from Josh Donaldson and relays it to Chris Carter at first to complete the A's first triple play since Randy Velarde's unassisted triple play against the New York Yankees on May 29, 2000.
The Boston Red Sox took the field at Fenway all wearing No. 6 jerseys to honour the great Johnny Pesky...
Naturally, Boston still managed to lose 5-3 to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California of the Pacific Rim.
Brandon McCarthy just came off the disabled list. The A's starter was on the DL from June 24-Aug. 10 with a strained throwing shoulder. On Monday night, McCarthy took the loss in a 7-2 thrashing at the hands of the Minnesota Twins. His line wasn't good: 3 1/3 innings pitched, 10 hits, 6 runs, 1 walk and 2 Ks.
Former A's slugger Josh Willingham went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs against McCarthy. During the game, the A's acquired veteran shortstop in Stephen Drew from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for minor league infielder Sean Jamieson. LHP Brett Anderson will make his season debut, tonight, against the Twins. Anderson was activated from the Athletics 60-day disabled list after undergoing Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery 13 months ago.
Here's Kate Upton attempting to stroll incognito - take a gander at the lid...
The Hot Baseball Wife Hall of Fame just added a new chick to my list of favourites - Amanda Cerny. Amanda was Playboy's Miss October 2011 and attends Florida State University. Yesterday, she Tweeted this pic of her sunbathing at the Playboy Mansion...
Despite a 5-0 lead in the 1st inning, the Tigers lost 7-5 to the Orioles on Sunday. Baltimore leads Detroit by two games in the race for the second wild-card spot in the American League. The Kansas City Royals saved the Tigers' asses by sweeping the White Sox. Detroit sits 1 1/2 games back of 1st-place Chicago.
The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3. It took 19 innings. The game lasted 6 hours, 7 minutes. Both teams used 8 pitchers. The attendance at gametime was 43,412. About 9,000 remained in Busch Stadium to see their Cards lose.
The Oakland A's beat the Cleveland Indians 7-0 to sweep the Tribe. Leadoff hitter Coco Crisp homered and drove in five runs. The A's won their fourth in a row and moved 10 games over .500
