And Joe Smith (his real name) hadn't given up a home run all season. Go figure.:mad:

Two Hits, Two Wins ...
 

He was two for ten in those two games (0.200). He certainly knew how to make those two hits count.

Justin Masterson (former Red Sox pitcher) just struck out 4 Red Sox in one inning (bottom of the 2nd). It's technically not that hard to do, you just don't hear about it very often.

Cliff Lee looked outstanding last night (7-hit shutout). And Hunter Pence (a moonshot HR and an RBI single in the top of the ninth) drove in 2 of the Phillies' three runs. I've got a man crush on Hunter Pence.

72-39, first place by 8.5 games. Is it October yet?

There's no blarging in baseball!
 

Well, in the Rays-Athletics game, BJ Upton was picked off (again, but that is another story) and caught in the rundown and called out at 2nd base. Then, another member of the crew announces that he had a balk call, and advances both Rays runners, which prompted Melvin to emerge from the Oakland dugout for an explanation. I wouldn't know a balk from a political truth, so I cannot say whether or not the balk call was legit. The Rays announcers saw nothing wrong.

Here's the video. F1 might have made a move toward home, but I think Reynolds called the balk because the pitcher separated his hands before he had completed his step toward 2B. If you watch the video, he kind of hangs that foot before stepping toward the runner.

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | OAK@TB: Moscoso is called for a balk in the second - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

There wasn't a huge crowd and he didn't make much noise in making the call. So, his partner wasn't even aware a call was made. I probably will never fully understand the balk rule when it doesn't involve a move toward 1B. But it seemed to create a situation where both teams had a beef (rightly or wrongly) because nobody knew about the call till well after the play at 2B.

I agree that Reynolds's mechanics could have been better. The ball was dead immediately on this balk, so there was no reason to allow the rundown to continue. Given the situation (quiet stadium), I don't know why he didn't come in hard with that call and kill it.

The balk rule ain't that hard! Once the pitcher has come set, he can legally do just 3 things: pitch to the batter, step and throw/feint to a base, or step off. There's a little more to it than that, but that's the basis for many balks.

I think that the rule has a bad reputation because at the MLB level many little movements are called, and for some balks the usual camera angles don't show them well. So it can seem mysterious why it was a balk.

If I remember correctly from my playing days back in the Doubleday era, a pitcher can't feint to 1st base. That's a balk. Correct?

Yes, 1B is special that way. It's actually legal to throw the ball to the base if the fielder is not covering it, but you must throw the ball.

We may be sub .500, but.....
 

Livan Hernandez (P, Nats) extended a remarkable streak yesterday. By grounding out in each of his two trips to the plate, Hernandez now has not struck out in his last 42 plate appearances, which is actually the second-longest current streak by any player in the majors (Atlanta's Martin Prado has not struck out in his last 45 trips to the plate). Forty-one of the trips to the plate during Hernandez's streak have come in games in which he was pitching, the longest single-season streak of plate appearances without a strikeout by a big-league pitcher since Orel Hershiser failed to strike out in his last 46 plate appearances of the 1993 season.

So, we got that going for us.......which is nice! ;)

Pyrrhic victory? :p

Gotta Love The National League ...
 

I love it when pitchers in the National League do well, relatively speaking, at the plate. I also love it when they are occasionally asked to pinch hit, or pinch run, or are even asked to play a field position for a few innings. In my opinion, this is a lot more exciting than the American League with their pitching-only pitchers, and hitting-only designated hitters.

Hall of Famer Walter "Big Train" Johnson won over 400 games, had over 100 shutouts, and also hit 24 career home runs, had 255 career RBI's and had a career batting average of .235. Middle infielders today, with those hitting statistics, would be making millions of dollars a year. In 1968, Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, another good hitting pitcher, hit for almost as high an average (.170) as opposing batters hit off him (.184). Don Newcombe, and Don Drysdale, were also pretty good hitting pitchers.

And Sonny Siebert.

Yankee/Red Sox
 

Why can't the Yankees beat the Red Sox this year? I hope they break this trend when the face each other in the post season. Or better yet. Some onter team will beat Boston in the 1st round of the playoffs.:D