Reds Rebuilding - Utley Sucks - Tribe Takes Two

HOU-5, CIN-3
Cueto-mania is over, at least for the time being, in Cincinnati. Johnny's ERA rose to a still good 4.05 with his 7 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K performance against the Astros. Lance Berkman went 3-3 with a homer and 3 RBI for Houston. The Reds are 9-14, and may be punting on this season in favor of contending next year with a young (but slightly more experienced) team.

PHI-3, MIL-1
Chase Utley went 3-4 (all singles) with a run scored for the Phillies. Pff... bum. Didn't even hit a homer. As of (I believe) two days ago, Utley lead the majors in extra-base hits with 20. The next guys had 14. He had almost as many home runs (10) as these guys had doubles, triples, and homers combined.

DET-8, TEX-2
The Detroit keeps on rolling, and it's getting a boost from the return of Curtis Granderson. Granderson homered, as did Brandon Inge, Ryan Raburn, and Magglio Ordonez (twice). Jeremy Bonderman gave up just two runs on two hits in 4.2 IP, while striking out seven. Unfortunately, he also walked seven, as so couldn't stay in long enough to get the win.

LAA-7, BOS-5
Justin Masterson pitched very well (6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 4 K) in his major league debut for the Red Sox. He didn't get the win, however, as the Boston bullpen gave up 6 runs over the last three innings. Gary Matthews Jr. went 3-5 with 3 RBI for the Angels. Joe Saunders got the win, and is now 4-0 with a 2.55 ERA on the year for LA. See, they do have some pitching depth. Maybe even enough to win the division.

COL-4, CHC-2
The Rockies only scored 4 runs - in line with their offensive troubles this year - but they kept the juggernaut Cubs (over 6 runs per game) to just 2 and improved their record to 10-12. Manny Corpas is apperently out of the closer's spot after a very rough start to the season - former closer Brian Fuentes pithced a perfect ninth (including 2 K's) for his first save of the year.

OAK-11, MIN-2
Fransisco Liriano's way back from injury isn't going so well. He's 0-2 after his disaster of a start against the A's (0.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 0 K). On the other side, rookie Greg Smith went to 2-0 with a good start (7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K), while Andrew Brown and Joey Devine each pitched a scoreless inning. Both relievers have tidy ERA's of 0.00 this year. Frank Thomas walked twice and scored a run in his return to Oakland.

CLE-9, KCR-6 CLE-2, KCR-0
Due to rain, the Indians and the Royals played a double header - I bet KC wished they had held some offense back for the second game. Grady Sizemore went 4-5 with a homer and a stolen base in the early game. Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona struggled mightily (5 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 1 K) but the Royals helped him out by swinging early and often despite his control problems. Lucky for the Indians, Brett Tomko pitched worse (4 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 2 K).
Game two saw a pitcher's duel between Brian Bannister and Cliff Lee. Banny was good (6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB 4 K), but Lee was dominant (9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K). Cliff is now 4-0 with an 0.28 ERA on the year. If Cleveland fans had to guess (before the season) which lefty would be carrying the rotation, I assume 99.993% would have gone with Sabathia over Lee. He can't keep up the 29 to 2 K:BB ratio, but I think he is very capable of having a solid season for the Tribe.

STL-6, PIT-2
The Cardinals won yet again, and this time it was Joel Piniero with the quality start (7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K). St. Louis is 14-9, and I have no idea how. On the Pirates side, Tom Gorzellany, who was worked hard down the stretch last year, continues to struggle - he only gave up 3 runs in 5 IP, but walked 7 and has an 8.46 ERA on the year.

ATL-7, FLA-4
A five run first and a Chipper Jones HR later was enough for the Braves to get back to .500 at 11-11. Manny Acosta pitched two innings to pick up his second save of the year. Josh Willingham went 3-4 with a homer and drove in all 4 Florida runs.

TBR-5, TOR-3
Did Evan Longoria deserve a contract after only playing 6 games? 2-2, 2B, 3B, BB, SB, RBI, R. He's hitting 282 / 383 / 564. Where can the Orioles get one of those? I'd sign him before he played his first game.

WAS-10, NYM-5
Felipe Lopez had the very rare 6 RBI day from the lead-off spot. Six Nats each picked up exactly 2 hits, and Johnny Estrada added another as a pinch hitter. Carlos Delgado went 0-4 with a K and is hitting just .198. It may be the end of the line for him. That's bad news for the Mets, as they don't have a ton of depth, or the pieces to make a trade.

SFG-1, SDP-0
Rich Aurilia hit a solo home run, and that was it. Tim Lincecum moved to 4-0 with a very good start (6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 9 K), and Chris Young's went for naught (7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 10 K).

ARI-6, LAD-4
Chad Billingsley struck out 12 in 6 IP. He also gave up 5 runs, as the D'Backs extended their lead to 7 games over the Dodgers. Arizona is an MLB best 16-6 and their 6 game lead over second place Colorado (10-12) is larger than the leads the first-place teams in the AL East and Central hold over the last place teams in those two divisions. Amazing.