Curveballs for Job 4/21/11

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

Today's honorary bat boy is Bud Harrelson.



[Harrelson 1990 Topps manager card, autographed. Estimated value: 17 sunflower seed shells.]


Yankees 6, Bluejays 2. Ladies and gentleman: 2011 Bartolo Colon. El Pitcher, as he's known around my apartment, pitched into the seventh and struck out seven in his first victory in the big leagues since May, 2009. Colon gave up a home run to J.P. Arencibia leading off the second, then retired the next 12 batters he faced, including Arencibia in the fourth! That's called ArencibiaPayback™. On the flip side, Brett Cecil smelled funny: 5 IP, 5 ER, 4 BB.

Nationals 8-3, Cardinals 6-5. We're now living in a world where a Jim Riggleman-managed team is above .500. That guy living in my ear may have been right: it's time to stock canned goods and see if Flanders has any room.

Indians 7, Royals 5. Wilson Betemit: DNP.

Padres 5, Cubs 4. Chicago won game one of a Wednesday doubleheader, 2-1 on Reed Johnson's walk-off solo home run in the 11th, but the Pads earned a split thanks to Ryan Ludwick, who was employee of the month at the BP station down the street before getting three hits and homering to get that average up to the Betancourt Line.

Marlins 6, Pirates 0. This photo of Florida third base coach Joey Espanada is the early favorite for MLB Photo of the Year.



Let's get a Marlins fan's opinion on the photo and the Wednesday victory:

Astros 4, Mets 3. Justin Turner: 0-for-1, K.

Redsox 5, Athletics 3. I was going to make fun of Boston for batting Jed Lowrie fifth until I noticed Lowrie was hitting .462....just seems like there isn't much to make fun in that lineu....oh wait, Jason Varitek is batting, period. Found something.


Other games, but down here....

Phillies 4, Brewers 3
Tigers 3, Mariners 3
Rockies 10, Giants 2
Diamondbacks 3, Reds 1
Devilrays 4, Whitesox 1
Orioles 5, Twins 4
Angels 4, Rangers 1
Dodgers 6, Braves 1

Shot Of The Night

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.

Last night's shot of the night was a Black and White: 1/3 oz Dr. Mcgillicuddy's® Vanilla Schnapps, 1/3 oz Kahlua® coffee liqueur. It's not a very exciting shot but there weren't many performances that drove me to drink last night. Except for maybe Jered Weaver's 5 earned run doozy. Anyway, this shot is in honor of Carlos Quentin and it seems like it would be good for breakfast.

TCQ powered the White Sox into first place in the Central by going 2-4 with a solo shot and a grand slam. Quentin has been on a serious home run tear. He's 7-13 over the past 7 games with 6 homers. That's about all he does though as the .244/.334 numbers don't really scream All Star. In other White Sox news, Gordon Beckham went 3-4 raising his slash line to .214/.277/.304. *Slow golf clap from Brandon Wood*

Wilson Betemit: DNP

Dishonorable Mention: Carlos Silva
Silva had been enjoying his resurgence in the National League until he ran into the Xavier Paul led Dodgers offense. Silva only made it through an inning and a third while giving up 6 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. Silva's opposing pitcher, Vicente Padilla, went 8 innings and gave up 2 hits and no runs. Haha, the Cubs' offense is terrible.

Curveballs for Jobu

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

Today's honorary bat boy: Rod Beck



Royals 1, Nationals 0. This Stephen Strasburg youngster is going to be alright. The Washington offense, on the other hand, reportedly will be played by the Espinoza Nine in an upcoming feature film. Strasburg set another rookie record, picking up 41 strike outs in his first four starts (Herb Score's 40 was the old record). Sadly, the Nats could only get six singles against the Royals, which is the equivalent of getting six handshakes on prom night, and Strasburg, despite nine Ks and one earned run, Riggleman'd for the first time in his young career. Wilson Betemit: DNP.

Phillies 7, Indians 6. Jimmy Rollins, who correctly predicted the Phillies would win last year's World Series in five games, hit the first walk-off home run of his career to help the Phils beat the apendage formerly referred to in conversations as Kerry Wood's right arm. Shin-Soo Choo belted two home runs (his first since June 1) for the Indians, who have lost eight of nine.

Mets 5, Tigers 0. R.A. Dickey is pitching like it's....well, he's......R.A. Dickey is pitching well in 2010. The knuckleballer, who was terrible in nearly all of his 442 2/3 innings through 2009, went eight scoreless Wednesday and has now given up two runs or less in five of his seven starts.

Whitesox 4, Braves 2. Let's bring back KenHarrelsonVoice™ for this one:

"Well, the good guys had to sit through a rain delay before this one, nearly two hours, tell you what. The crew's pick to click during the rain delay was Murray, 7th from the left on the tarp. Atta boy Murray. The bad guys took the lead in the second on a duck snort, but the Sox came back. Pauly with a little bingo, singled in Vizzy, then Carlos put it on the board eeeeeee-s, then later he put it on the board eeeeee-s again. Big night for Carlos, Wimpy's pick to click. In the 9th, Jenkser came in and did what the Jenkser does: he gone! Good guys 4, bad guys 2."

Curveballs for Jobu

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

Today's honorary bat boy: Bobby Meachum



Twins 13, Phillies 10 (11). Minnesota trailed 9-4 heading to the ninth, but scored five to tie it. Joe Mauer's only hit of the game was a big one-a tying homer off Brad I'm Awesome No Wait My Career Is Done I'm Awesome Again Is My Career Really Over? I'm Pretty Good Again Oooohhh Hung One To Mauer Lidge. Drew Butera and Ross Gload traded solo home runs in the 10th. The 11th was all Twins as Delmon Young and someone named Matt Tolbert drove in the runs. As a whole, Lidge and fellow relievers Jose Contreras, Chad Durbin and Danys Baez were Simply Irabuian: 3 13 IP, 10 H, 9 ER, 3 HR.

Pirates 6, Indians 4. And that my friends is what a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball victory looks like. The Buccos snapped a 12-game losing streak, winning for the first time since June 5 (2010).



Orioles 5, Padres 4. That's two wins in four games On Baltimore's west coast trip, which ends today. With Kevin Millwood shaking off a three-run first by pitching five straight scoreless innings, for at least one day Baltimore avoided being relegated to the AAA International League in favor of first-place Durham.

Braves 5, Royals 4. I sat a bar with a Miller High Life and called Troy Glaus' walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. Ask this guy I know named Craig, he was standing right next to me. He said "you're spilling Miller High Life on my foot, jerk," right before I called Glaus' 14th home run that extended Atlanta's lead in the NL East to 1 1/2 games. Wilson Betemit: DNP.

Bluejays 3, Giants 0. Matt Cain and Toronto's Jesse Litsch matched penguin eggs for seven innings before the Bluejays got a two-run home from Aaron Hill in the eighth to help decided it. Cain, who has given up more than three earned runs once in 14 starts, deserved a better fate, but SF does employ Pat Burrell and bat him fifth so it's really their own fault. Litsch, who didn't get out of the third inning in a seven earned run-debacle at Colorado June 13, threw seven shutout innings and allowed just three base runners in his second start of the season.