Article:Baseball Notebook: More Stars headed to the DL, Hamels, Pelfrey Gems for Naught as Bullpens Choke

Good morning Armchair, it's me, pinch-hitting today for Niteowl, who is having an out-patient procedure and will otherwise be out of action, (read: higher than a kite).

I can't do justice to what he does on his reports, and with only an hour before my boss comes in, maybe I'm better off not doing this at all. But, I gave my word, so here goes.

Yesterday was an eventful day in Major League Baseball. Late inning heroics, good pitching, but I'm going to start off with a flood of name players who will all spend considerable time on the disabled list.

Cubs 7 Braves 2: Ryan Dempster can't catch a break. He pitches his first complete game in almost five years, allowing four hits, no walks and eleven strikeouts, yet the story here is the Cubs losing Alfonso Soriano to a broken hand. Soriano, hitting .284/15/40, was hit on the back of his left hand by Braves starter Jeff Bennett in the second inning. X-rays showed a non-displaced fracture, (no surgery), with his hand to be in a cast for up to three weeks. Former ML infielder Eric Young, an analyst on Baseball Tonight, explained during the show last night he, too, had a similar injury when he was playing with the Colorado Rockies. The first set of X-rays showed just one fracture, when his hand came out of the splint three weeks later, subsequent pictures showed two more fractures. I had a similar situation when I played as well, X-rays showed another fracture later on as well. So, at best, Soriano will miss a month, worst case will be two or three, as was the situation with Young.

Cardinals 10 Reds 0: The Cardinals, helped by eight walks issued by Reds starter Johnny Cueto in the first five innings, put up a five spot in the first inning and cruised to an easy victory. The win was marred, however, by the revelation they will be without Albert Pujols for a minimum of three weeks due to a strained left calf suffered on Tuesday night. The Cardinals also DL'd starter Adam Wainright with a sprained finger on his pitching hand. The Cardinals recalled Chris Duncan to replace Pujols on the roster, and also, apparently, in the field, as Duncan played first base yesterday. Rick Ankiel and Jason LaRue hit first inning homers off the wild Cueto, with Ryan Ludwick chipping in with a bomb later on. Braden Looper pitched a complete game three-hitter for the shutout, throwing only 98 pitches in the process.

Mets 5 Diamondbacks 3 (13): The Dbacks received a scare when a Carlos Delgado line drive struck ace Brandon Webb on his right hip, forcing him from the game in the fifth inning. TV replays appeared to show the ball catching Webb's elbow before the hip, the Dbacks staff has denied any contact with Webb's pitching arm. A questionable lineup decision by manager Bob Melvin played a role in the Mets two run fourth inning. Starting first baseman Conor Jackson started in left field, with sieve Chad Tracy at first base. Jose Reyes, leading off the fourth, dragged a bunt to first which Tracy had trouble picking up. The next batter, Luis Castillo, dropped a bunt towards third, Tracy, covering first, stretched for Webb's throw with the wrong foot on the bag, he was unable to field the throw, allowing the runners to move up a base. (Webb was charged with the error). After a David Wright groundout, Carlos Beltran drilled a single to right, scoring two runs. The Dbacks tied the score in the ninth inning on a two out, two strike three run homer by Mark Reynolds off Billy Wagner, with Beltran winning the game in the thirteenth inning with a two run, walkoff bomb to right center off Edgar Gonzalez.

Twins 8 Indians 5: The Indians may have lost more than a game as All-Star catcher Victor Martinez suffered a strained right elbow while checking his swing on a pitch from Twins starter Nick Blackburn. Blackburn snapped a personal three game losing streak and the Twins six game streak in the process. Jason Kubel homered and had three hits, Justin Morneau had two hits and three ribbies to back Blackburn and four relievers. Jamie Carroll and Casey Blake had three hits each for the Tribe, with Grady Sizemore contributing his thirteenth big fly of the season.

Pirates 3 Nationals 1: Despite losing their NL leading 41st game of the season, the Nats got some good news, star 3B Ryan Zimmerman will not need surgery on his injured left shoulder. Zimmerman is expected to remain sidelined for another six weeks, and will look for an alternate solution at third, as Ronnie Belliard provides no offense from an offensive position. Ian Snell contributed a solid six innings for the win, with Ryan Doumit having three hits for Pittsburgh, including his eighth homer of the season.

Marlins 6 Phillies 2: This is what I hate about baseball now. Cole Hamels breezes through eight innings, allowing three hits while striking out 13 Marlins. Only a pair of solo homers by Jorge Cantu blemished Hamels' performance. Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the former Flash, Tom Gordon, took the mound for the Phils. So what happens? A walk to Hanley Ramirez. A single by Cantu. A walk to Wes Helms (who had struck out three times against Hamels). Bringing up, with the bags juiced, Dan Uggla, who Hamels had also punched out three times. What happened next should not be unexpected, Uggla ripped a Gordon pitch off the facing of the second deck in left field for a grand salami, game over.

Brewers 10 Astros 6: Milwaukee snapped a five game home losing streak behind a season high five homers. Corey Hart, hitting in the leadoff spot, had two of the homers, with Russell Branyan, Mike Cameron and Jason Kendall (no, that is not a misprint) with one each.

Rockies 1 Giants 0: Another dominating performance by Tim Lincecum went for naught as the Giants could not break through against Ubaldo Jimenez, who matched Lincecum shutout inning for shutout inning. A ninth inning sac fly by Yorvit Torrealba scored the winning run, with both starters already showered at that point.

Padres 4 Dodgers 1: This game was highlighted by two brothers of current ML players each hit their first ML homer. Andy LaRoche (brother of Adam) hit his first off Randy Wolf, and Edgar Gonzalez older brother of teammate Adrian, hit his off Chad Billingsley. Khalil Greene also homered to back Wolf, who struck out nine over seven innings in the win. The Dodgers announced yesterday that Nomar Garciaparra, who is scheduled to come off the disabled list in the next day or so, will play shortstop upon his return. With Rafael Furcal expected to miss another month, Nomar will play SS for the first time in almost four years, with Blake DeWitt and LaRoche splitting time at third.

Mariners 2 Blue Jays 1: Another dominating performance by Felix Hernandez (8IP, no ER, 8K's), and a ninth inning single by Raul Ibanez off B.J. Ryan gave the M's the win.

Angels 4 Rays 2: The Angels put an end to Scott Kazmir's six game winning streak and John Lackey improved to 9-1 lifetime against Tampa in the Angels win. Solo homers by Vladimir Guerrero and Gary Maththews Jr. and a two run single by Macier Izturis accounted for the Angels scoring. Kazmir, despite striking out ten, struggled, throwing 117 pitches in just 6 2/3 innings.

Red Sox 6 Orioles 3: Bartolo Colon picked up his 150th career win with six innings of five hit ball, and Jason Varitek capped a five run first inning with a three run homer off Garrett Olson. Mike Lowell had a solo homer in the sixth to end the Red Sox scoring, with Paps picking up his 19th save.

Tigers 5 White Sox 1: Marcus Thames' three run homer backed Justin Verlander's third career complete game in the Tigers win. A run scoring single by Maggs and a Carlos Guillen triple scored Detroit's final two runs, with only an A.J. Pierzynski single coming between Verlander and his shutout. Verlander threw just 101 pitches in his gem, with no walks and three strikeouts.

Rangers 11 Royals 5: Two homers by David Murphy, including his first career grand slam, and a seven run seventh inning led Texas over KC. Trailing 5-1 entering the seventh, Texas sent ten men to the plate, with Murphy's slam the big hit in the inning. For the Royals, Mark Grudzielanek had two hits, including his second HR of the season, and drove in all four Royals runs. The Royals bullpen collapsed following a solid six innings by Kyle Davies, who allowed only six hits and one run.

Athletics 8 Yankees 4: Darrell Rasner had a tough outing, (now there's a shock), allowing seven runs in 3 2/3 innings. Jack Cust's two run single capped a six run A's third inning and Justin Duchscherer improved to 5-0 at home, allowing only a Jason Giambi solo homer in his seven innings.

After limited action today, which is highlighted by a Dan Haren v. Johan Santana matchup at Shea, interleague play resumes tomorrow.