Curveballs for Jobu 5/18/11

Curveballs for Jobu is Offbasepercentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Rico Rossy.

Braves 3, Astros 1 (11).
Brian McCann had the most impressive day off since Ferris Bueller in 1986. Down 1-0 with 2 outs in the 9th, McCann came off the bench to hit the game tying home run. Then, for good measure, McCann hit the game winning home run in the 11th inning. McCann's heroics spoiled an impressive 8 shutout innings of work from Wandy Rodriguez. The one bright spot for Houston this season is that they aren't Minnesota.

Rockies 5, Giants 3.
Ubaldo Jiminez threw 116 pittches (72 strikes) over 8 innings, allowing 3 earned on 8 hits. He struck out 7 while only walking 1 batter. I haven't seen any data on his velocity but this was at least an encouraging start. And it came just a day after Troy Renck shot down my idea to phantom DL Jiminez to get some rehab starts out of him. Blog favorite Buster Posey went 2-4 and is hitting just .271/.355/.376 taking a huge dip in his slugging percentage from last year.

Reds 7, Cubs 5.
Milli Vanilli's 1989 smash hit Blame It On The Rain was the Cubs' theme for Tuesday's game. A steady rain in 50 degree weather led to 4 Cub errors and all 7 unearned Reds' runs. The Reds have won 5 straight and 8 of their last 10. What was wrong with 1989? How could the same year produce Blame It On The Rain and Young MC's instant classic Bust A Move?

Oakland 14, Angels 0.
Gio Gonzalez and the A's humiliated the Angels Tuesday night. But, as an Angels fan, I was able to take two small victories away from this one. Fernando Rodney didn't play a role in the loss. Oakland scored exactly enough to give the Angels a -1 run differential. At 22-21, the Angels are once again outperforming their Pythagorean record (however so slightly).

Indians 7, Royals 3.
Another day, another win for the Tribe. Travis Hafner went 2-4 with 2 doubles and is hitting .345/.409/.549 for the year. Pronk! Carlos Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera both went yard to help the Indians keep the best record in baseball. Kansas City messiah Eric Hosmer went 2-4 with a triple.

Twins 2, Mariners 1.
Francisco Liriano pitched 7 innings and gave up just 1 run on 3 hits. He struck out 9 while only walking Miguel Olivo. That's the good news. The bad news is Liriano pitched well against an offense featuring two major league hitters. Justin Morneau went 0-4 for a .223/.294/.323 line. I don't know if Ron Gardenhire is trying to lose 100 games but, at some point, Morneau should probably be displaced from the clean-up spot/lineup.

Other games, but down here...
Pirates, Nationals PPD.
Marlins, Mets PPD. Mets find a way to not lose or get any players injured.
Cardinals 2, Phillies 1.
Diamondbacks 6, Padres 1.
Dodgers 3, Brewers 0.
Yankees 6, Rays 2.
Blue Jays, Tigers PPD. Jose Bautista homers 0
Orioles, Red Sox PPD. Lackey joined Dice-K on the DL.
White Sox 4, Rangers 3.

Shot Of The Night: All Star Edition

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Tonight's shot of the night is Star Wars: 1 oz Southern Comfort® peach liqueur, 1 oz amaretto almond liqueur, 1 oz sweet and sour mix, 1 oz Sprite® soda. While Derwood sat in The Big A jinxing the American League in person, I watched the All Star Game alone from my dimly-lit bunker in Louisiana while drinking cheap whiskey. I'm living quite the life, ladies. Just like the rest of the season, the All Star Game was a pitchers duel. That said, the shot of the night is in honor of the MVP, Brian McCann.

The Braves catcher came in for Yadier Molina in the 5th inning and promptly flied out to right. But McCann would hit a bases loaded/bases clearing double in the 7th inning off of Matt Thornton to give the National League all 3 of their runs. I'm pretty sure the messy 7th inning that Phil Hughes and Thornton worked was a tribute to the Angels bullpen. In that case, well done, fellas. McCann would go on to deliver a humble speech at the post game presser while wearing his catcher's helmet frontwards. A look that John Olerud approves of.

Dishonorable Mention: I have a couple of these bad boys.

Joey Votto: Votto was the big snub from the All Star Game but got in through the Last Man In fan voting or some such titled nonsense. Votto is having a monster season for the Reds but his All Star appearance was unspectacular. He went 0-2 and saw exactly 2 pitches.

Omar Infante: DNP. The questionable All Star didn't get into the game despite being the designated player who could come back into the game after being pulled. I hear he did fulfill his utility role by sweeping up sunflower seeds and installing a new bullpen phone.

Joe Girardi: He blew through all of his left handed starters as quickly as possible and saved Alex Rodriguez for pinch-hitting duties in the imaginary 13th inning.

Corey Hart: He continued his poor showing from the second round of last night's Home Run Derby by going 0-2 with 2 strikeouts.