Curveballs for Jobu 4/24/11

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

Today's honorary bat boy is Eddie Milner.


[Autographed Milner 1983 Topps. Estimated value: 9 pine cones]


Yankees 15, Orioles 3. NY hit five home runs-two by Russell Martin and a grand slam by Alex Rodriguez-in a rout of The Wobblin' Bucks. Alex's slam was No. 22 in his career, putting him one behind Lou Gehrig for the all-time lead. Baltimore got all classy in the ninth when Josh Rupe hit Martin in the back with a pitch. Brett Gardner followed with a two-run home run, capping the Yanks biggest offensive outburst of the young season. Carsten Charles finally got a win (PITCHER WINS!), retiring the first 11 batters he faced on his way to an eight-inning, seven-strike out effort.

Phillies 4, Padres 2 (11). MTD will handle Ryan Howard's second golden sombrero in three games later today, but Howard also came through with the go-ahead two-run double to lift the Tekulves in 11.

Athletics 9, Mariners 1. The bottom two in the Oakland order-Kevin Kouzmanoff and Cliff Pennington-each hit a home run and drove in a combined six runs to back another strong start by Trevor Cahill (6 IP, 1 ER). Noteworthy: the Seattle lineup, or Panhandler's Row as we like to call it at Offbase, included the following players Saturday: Luis Rodriguez, Chris Gimenez, Carlos Pequero and Jack Wilson.

Astros 9, Brewers 6 (10). That's just a little something they call Astros Pride (documentary film starring Humberto Quintero as himself, coming July, 2011). The 'Stros lost a 6-5 lead when Milwaukee tied it in the ninth on Prince Fielder's double, but got three in the tenth when Quintero and pitcher Brandon Lyon had consecutive doubles. Folks, we've got an 8-13 Houston baseball club, soak it in.

Mets 6, Diamondbacks 4. Three consecutive wins for the New York Metropolitans!

Cubs 10, Dodgers 8. Ryan Dempster was awful-5 2/3 IP, 7 ER, 3 HR-but no one smelled quite like Matt Guerrier. The LA righty was asked to protect an 8-5 lead in the late innings and instead protected nothing as the Cubbies got to that magical .500 mark with a five-run eighth. Starlin Castro, good at hitting: 4-for-5, hitting. 393 with a .419 OBP.

Rockies 3, Marlins 1. This Florida fan can only be described as disappointed:

Redsox 5, Angels 0. If anyone has the Angels' offense, please return it to 2000 East Gene Autry Way, Anaheim, CA, 92806.

Twins 10, Indians 3. Drew Butera: 1-for-4.



Other games, but down here....

Braves 5, Giants 2
Devilrays 6, Bluejays 4
Tigers 9, Whitesox 0
Reds 5, Cardinals 3
Pirates 7, Nationals 2
Rangers 3, Royals 1

Curveballs for Jobu

Curveballs for Jobu is Off Base Percentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy: Jayhawk Owens




Dodgers 12, Reds 0. Cincy starter Aaron Harang did a little bit of everything Tuesday and everything was horrible. He allowed five earned runs in just 4 1/3 innings, threw two wild pitches and hit a batter. After a rain delay, Harang didn't return and the Reds' bullpen was dreadful. Logan Ondrusek pitched 2/3 of an inning of three-hit ball, continuing the miserable start to his rookie year (13 1/3 IP, 1.95 WHIP, 8.10 ERA) and Micah Owings kept it real with a 1 1/3 inning, five-earned run outing. LA, coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Angels, tied a season-high with 19 hits and have scored 40 runs in four games (2-2 record) at Great American Ballpark in 2010. Words used in this recap: horrible, dreadful, miserable, Micah.

Rangers 3, Marlins 2. Matt Treanor beat his former team with a go-ahead, two-run triple in the ninth and Texas won its third straight. Since being swept by the Twins May 28-30, the Rangers have been enjoying June, going 10-4 and turning a half-game deficit in the West to a two-game lead. After two more with Florida, Texas gets six against Houston and three against Pittsburgh, or as we like to call it at Offbase, Panhandler's Row.

Royals 15, Astros 7. Felipe Paulino grew up a Royals fan, had a Terry Shumpert poster on his bedroom wall and always wanted to play for KC, so Tuesday's start-8 ER in 4 2/3 IP-was a disappointment for the right-hander. I made all that up, except the part about disappointment and Paulino being right-handed.



Athletics 9, Cubs 5. It hasn't been a great stretch of games for Derrek Lee. He's 4-for-33 in his last eight games and Tuesday the Chicago first baseman made two errors in a four-run Oakland fourth. I guess for position players that would be Simply Espinozian. Kevin Kouzmanoff is having a lot of fun in June. He ended May with a slash line of .244/.284/.335, but it's been a different story this month. His three hits Tuesday extended his hitting streak to 15 games and during the streak the Kouzer is 27-for-59 (.458).

Orioles 4, Giants 1. O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! O's win! I wrote that 18 times, one for each of Baltimore's victories in this magical season. We do have a bright spot: rookie Jake Arrieta has won his first two starts after seven innings of three-hit ball.