Thursday Quick Hitters

The California (editor’s note:Jeff just won’t call them anything else, seriously, it must be his love for Brian Downing) Angels pulled the rug out from under the Rays.

The New York Yankees rode the left arm of Andy Pettitte to a win.

Clay Buchholz continued his stellar play. Josh Beckett is looking to return on Tuesday. A discussion you heard on The Sports Vortex last night, before the game was over, was nailed on the head by Matty! Clay Buchholz was demoted to the Portland Sea Dogs.

The White Sox continued to blister the Mariners, and Ken Griffey, Jr hit another milestone in the process.

The Twins kept pace and remain one game back in the AL Central.

The Mets took advantage of the Braves, again. They also added another arm to their bullpen.

Brett Myers told the Nationals “Boom outta here!” as the Phils remain a game and a half back.

Cincy held the Cubs in check.

JJ Hardy powered the Brew Crew to victory.

The Cardinals got good news and bad news.

The D-Backs and Padres had quite a pitcher’s duel.

Chad Billingsley threw a lot of pitches for the Dodgers and their atrocious defense beat them again.

Steven Jackson will apparently end his holdout. He may even practice on Thursday.

Oklahoma City waives Donyell Marshall.

Sunday Morning Quick Hitters

Join us for a LIVE edition of The Sports Vortex, brought to you by Chicago Dogs, 285 RT 1 Scarborough, ME, to be simulcast on WJZF from 4 to 6 PM EST

MLB Round-Up

Sox lose again in the land of Angels. Beckett looks great for 6 and then gives up 4 in the 7th. Vlad gets it started and Willy Aybar finishes them off. In a related story Air Force One may be making an unscheduled flight from Pawtucket, RI to California. In another related story, people are setting fire to eBay in Portland Maine.

Dan Haren’s 7 scoreless combined with Chad Billingsly’s rough 1st inning, Arizona beat the Dodgers 3 – 2. Former Sox Brandon Lyon made it interesting in the 9th giving up a leadoff HR to Jeff Kent and allowing 1 more to cross, but does just enough to get his 20th save.

Another former Sox (see a trend) Lenny DiNaaaaaaado hit Jose Molina in the 12 to bring home the winning run allowing the Yankees to beat the A’s 4 – 3. The Yanks offense continues its struggles leaving an astounding 21 runners on. Both closers blew leads in this 4 hour and 45 minute marathon.

The Brewers win its 3rd straight game, beating the Giants with offense this time. Prince Fielder homered for the 2nd straight game and Ricky Weeks had a 2 run double to spur the victory. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting the Brewers prospect Darren Ford has been traded to Oakland for Huston Street. There is no MLB confirmation of the deal as of yet.

Evan Longoria blew open a pitchers dual between the Jays Roy Halladay and the Rays Matt Garza, in the 6th inning with his 1st career grand slam. Dan Wheeler closes out the game for his 4th save and moves Tampa 1 1/2 games up on the Sox.

The Cubbies lose their 2nd straight game to the Astros and 3rd straight overall, 4 -1 Saturday, as their bats fall silent again. Carlos Zambrano fell to 10 – 4 on the season, but tried to help his own cause with his second homer of the season in the 7th. Wandy Rodriguez went 6 2/3 for his 5th win of the season.

The Cardinals are steaming back into the race with the Cubs with their 4th straight win. The Cards are now just 2 games back of Chicago. Down by 5, the Cards came back with help from Albert Pujols who went 3 – 4 with 4 RBIs. The Cards bullpen shut out the Padres the rest of the way and the Cards came away with a 6 – 5 victory.

In a wild one in Miami, the Florida Marlins outlast the Phillies 9-5 for the victory. Cody Ross (4 – 5 and a homer short of a cycle) and Jorge Cantu drive the offense for the Marlins. Pat Burrell hit 2 homers for the Phillies. Kevin Gregg made it interesting in the 9th, loading the bases then striking out Ryan Howard on 3 pitches and getting the previously mentioned Burrell to ground out to end the game. The Phils are still 1 game up on the Mets…speaking of the Mets

Josh Fogg continued his resurgence for the Reds, beating the Mets 7 – 2. The Mets looked like the hapless Mets of the Willie Randolph era, hitting into 3 double plays, making errors and taking a called third strike, twice, wit the bases loaded.

Other scores Baltimore Magic struck Luke Scott as he walks off against the Tigers 11 – 10. The Nats rookie John Lannan helps his team over the Braves 8 – 2. Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer help demolish Texas 14 – 2. The win pulls the Twins to 1/2 game back of the White Sox, who lost to the Royals, 9 -1.

Other News

Greg Norman could be the oldest person to win a major PGA event today, as he leads the British Open by 2 strokes with 18 holes to go.

The little QB that could, Doug Flutie, along side JoPa, entered the College Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.

And just for the hell of it, The Indiana Fever beat the New York Liberty 71 – 55 in the WNBA’s first outdoor game. With temps hovering around 90 degrees, the teams did battle on a makeshift court at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open facilities in NYC.

Thursday Afternoon Baseball

It’s a get away day for many MLB teams today, and there are a ton of games this afternoon, Twins-Tigers, Giants-Mets, Cards-Phils, Reds-Cubs and Mariners-A’s. Pitching matchups–
Braden Looper vs Jamie Moyer in Philly, Barry Zito vs. John Maine in New York, Kevin Slowey vs Kenny Rogers in Detroit, Jorge De La Rosa vs. Dave Bush in Milwaukee, let’s get going, shall we?

1:05 PM- Live from Philly, it’s Cards v. Phillies. JA Happ was optioned to Lehigh Valley so that he wouldn’t miss any turns during the All Star break. Harry Kalas, who is as smooth as Black Velvet, is calling the game. Moyer gives up a walk to Ryan Ludwick and does battle with Albert Pujols. Wasn’t Pujols supposed to have major elbow surgery as soon as the Cards were out of contention? Oh wait, the Cards are still in it. Pujols lines a single into left and we have first and second with one out and the nimble Troy Glaus at the plate. Glaus K’s, bringing up Rick Ankiel. He hits a screaming liner that glances off Moyer’s glove and Chase Utley makes a fabulous glove scoop to nab Ankiel at first. 1 hit 2 left, Phils due up…

1:19 Pm- Jimmy Rollins grounds out to second, while Shane Victorino lines a broken bat single to right. That brings up one Chase Utley, who beats out a double play grounder to bring up one of Jarred Fogle’s good friends, Ryan Howard. Howard’s average and OBP are both putrid this year, his K rate is horrid, yet he is among the league leaders in home runs and RBI’s. It’s like watching Mo Vaughn minus the bat waggle.

As Looper and Howard battle, I can’t help but think of how bad Looper was with the Mets. He was basically run out of town, now he is a successful starter with St Louis. This makes me wonder, why doesn’t every pitcher out there who is on the cusp of fading away make a beeline for St Louis? The amount of ability they get out of pitchers is unheard of, it’s like Denver

Broncos running backs. Howard has fouled off about 5 pitches now, and it’s a 3-2 count. The 10th pitch of the bat is a high line drive to left-center and, in the words of Harry ,”It’s outta here!!!!!” 2-0 Phillies.

Pat Burrell, who is currently trailing Corey Hart and David Wright for the last All-Star slot in the NL, lines out to right. Phils 2-0, probably heading to SNY next…

1:38 pm est- Gary Cohn and Ron Darling in Shea talking about how much power Fernando Tatis has. He is on second base with a double. Carlos Delgado attempts to get on base by pretending to be hit by a pitch, but to no avail . Delgado is hitting .429 this month. The Mets have been pretty hot as of late and now there are rumors of Jerry Manuel contract extension. Good lord. Delgado flies out to left, Nick Evans does the same, and after an intentional walk to Brian Schneider John Maine grounds out to first. Where’s Keith Hernandez?

1:57 pm- Off to Detroit, and we are watching on FSN Detroit. Twins are up 2-1 in the top of the 4th, I’m sure they are glad to get out of Boston. The Tigers have Santa Claus there today, how hot must that guy be? I can see the headline now “Christmas in July Idea Causes Tragedy”. Matt Joyce (no relation to James) hits a bomb to right and we are tied at 2. The Home run call was awful by the way. I would repeat it, but I’m not going to give it justice. The red-hot Marcus Thames, gets on thanks to an infield single and makes it second on Nick Punto’s throwing error. Slowey looks off today, and it showed when he gives up a single to 1st baseman Jeff Larish and the Tigers take lead. Someone cue the Tiger roar. Lets head back to Philly….

2:13 pm- It’s 3-1 Philly and the eternally boring Geoff Jenkins is at the plate. He stops in the box and stares after hitting a pop-up (which goes foul) and gets lambasted by Gary Matthews, Sr for not hustling. I wonder if Manuel will bench him like he did J-Roll.?Jenkins makes up for it with a single to left. Pedro Feliz follows with a single to left of his own, and now we have runners on first and second with 1 out. Chris Coste is at the dish now. I wonder if he made more for his book “the 33 Year-old Rookie” than he has in baseball? I’m disappointed none of these teams have commercials as good as the Brewers Sausages (I don’t know whats worse, the Sausages choreography or the way the kid steals a slice of bologna as his his mom squeezes the life out of him). Coste pops out to second, although Adam Kennedy really had to battle the wind to snare it and we have 2 down and Jamie Moyer up. He blasts a check swing grounder to the pitcher and the Cards are out of it unscathed.

2:22 pm- The Applebees commercials, where the two little girls do Jon Cena’s “You can’t see me dance”, they have to end (If anyone can download that to YouTube for me, I think John Corbett does the voiceover for it, and I’ll give you some free pub). ALYSSA MILANO is in the booth on Comcast Philly! She is there to talk about her clothing line “Touch”. Maybe she’s a baseball groupie, but holy god she’s still hot. The Phillies Phanatic is the best smelling mascot in baseball according to Alyssa. Now we have token shots of chicks in her clothing line. Braden Looper is the best-hitting pitcher in the NL, btw. Suck on that Micah Owings! Double play turned nicely by J-Roll. I really wish someone would ask her if she will ever do a sequel to “Embrace of the Vampire”. I think she’s flirting with with Gary Matthews, as he asks her “So you like tattoos?” and Alyssa coyly responds “Only two of them are showing”. Why does my fastball top out at 48 mph? WHY? DAMN YOU GOD!!!!!! Adam Kennedy grounds out and the inning is over, which means Alyssa is now gone. They send her off with some music from :Who’s the Boss” though, nice “Touch” (ba–dum–cha).

2:36 pm- Chris Wheeler is in the booth for another inning for the Phils, so we will head back to Shea. The Phils rotate about 400 people in and out of the booth during a game. What’s the story with that? Channel 625, SNY here we come.

2:38 pm- John Maine is throwing well, Mets are up 3-1 in the top of the 5th. Bary Zito is batting a robust .087. Zito plays guitar for his family’s rock group. Does anyone else think “Partridge Family?” Ralph Kiner is in the booth with Gary and Ron. It sounds like they had to wake him up to get him to talk. Darling is unhappy that some of the younger fans are at Shea with Yankees gear on. Giants have 2 on, 2 out thanks to Zito and Fred Lewis walking. Randy Winn has a 2-2 count. Awkward exchange between Darling and Kiner after Winn swings at a ball out of the zone to make 1-2.

Kiner: A little “help me out swing” right there.

Darling: “Thank you very much” (referring to the swing)

Kiner: You’re welcome.

3-2 count on Winn, Maine just cant get anything in the strike zone but a fastball with no movement, and Winn lines a two run double to left and the Giants tie it up at 3 here in the 5th. With that John Maine is ‘Boom, outta here!”

2:52 pm- Awkward commercial with a guy being called “cuddle bear” and being followed by the Verizon guy.

3:00 pm- Harry is back in the booth as the Phillies lead 4-1. Chris Duncan cleans Jimmy Rollins’s clock with a cheap shot to break up a potential double play. Duncan gets booed off the field, and for good reason. That was interference, no doubt about it. Rollins makes a bad throw to first and the inning continues with runners on first and third for Kennedy. Lots of pop for kennedy, he has homerun so far this season. Interestingly he has more than Victor Marinez had before he got hurt. At the end of this inning we are going to Chicago for Cubs-Reds, bob Brenly usualyy good for a few laughs. J-Roll makes amend, throws a striek to first and the Phils get out a of a jam. To Chicago…

3:06 pm- It’s 3-1 Chicago at the end of the second. What a screw job, the FSN Cincy feed is the only one in HD, no Brenly. Dammit! Back to Philly…

3:09 pm- Greg Dobbs is pinch-hitting for Moyer. Moyer’s final line- 7IP, 7 Hits, 1 Earned Run, 4 K’s. Dobbs gets on with a single and it’s time for J-Roll. Oh look the Phanatic’s ass. Wonderful. Russ Springer is in the game for the Cards. Apparently when you get to St Louis and you’re a pitcher, you have to grow a goatee, especially if you are in the pen. 44,241 is the attendance in Philly today. Rollins is really scufflling at the plate right now, if he and Shane Victorino can get going then the Phils should make it through the rest of the season. If not, then, well, ugh….

Rollins nearly takes out a ball girl on a liner that went foul. Springer is very concerned with Dobbs at first. Victorino ended up on first and got revenge for Duncan’s take-out slight, albeit a lot less dirty.

3:35 pm- Sorry for the break, my 3 year old thought that drinking orange juice directly out of the carton would be a good call. Not so much. Scoreboard watch- Phils 4-1 bot 8th; Det 6-3 bot 8th; Mets 5-3 bot 7th; Milwaukee 7-1 bot 4th; Cincy4-3 top 4th.

3:40 pm- Fernando Tatis hits a two run homer and gives the Mets a 5-3 lead. Tatis has 4 rbi’s today. Unbelievable. Apparently darling was right about the Tatis’s power.

3:48 pm- Ryan Madson is on to close it out for Philly, Brad Lidge is unavailable today (just a day off). A lead-off single to Ankiel, a fly out from Molina, a steal by Ankiel and we are up to date. Duncan, fresh off a cheap shot on Rollins, steps in and now has a 2-1 count. He walks, and Madson fails. JC Romero is in to take a crack at it, now….

3:53 pm- Mets now up 7-3, bottom of the 7th. The red hot Mets. Yuck.

3:57 pm-Romero comes in and gets someone out. Brendan Ryan is all that stands between the Phillies and a win. The 3-2 pitch is popped up to Utley, JC Romero has the 4th save of his career, and Ryan Howard is the player of the game with 2 home runs. Nice win for the Phils, great pitching from Moyer. Now if you will excuse me, I have to fix this blog’s layout, quickly. Be on the PM Jab around 4:45 pm in case you can’t get enough of me….

Trade Update 1-Noon EST

I neglected to hit on the Mets trade for Luis Castillo yesterday earlier. Nice trade by Minaya to FINALLY get the Mets a decent all around second baseman (minus the power of course). I think it will do Castillo some good to get off that Metrodome turf and back into the NL East. The two minor leaguers the Twins got are supposed to be possible role players for an ML club, so this may have worked out well for them.

The Red Sox finally cut ties on the Joel Piniero experiment, shipping him to the Cardinals for the popular “player to be named”. Given the Cards track record in these types of deals, Piniero should become the NL Centrals best 7th inning set-up guy within the next two weeks. (Hey, it worked for Ryan Franklin).