Nine innings, nine items to get you going. Ladies and gentleman of the Stew, take a sip of morning Juice.
1. Asdrubal goes, so go the Indians: If you're a Cleveland Indians fan, your favorite player has to be Asdrubal Cabrera. If not, you deserve nothing but memories of Felix Fermin.
A few days ago Cabrera made this play against the White Sox. Against the the Reds on Sunday, he went 5-for-5 with two homers and five RBI in the Indians' 12-4 victory.
Case closed. Cleveland, which has the best record in the majors, improved to 29-15 for their farthest above .500 in four seasons. They're also 18-4 at home.
2. "We need more 'Bort' license plates in the gift shop": Not only does Ubaldo Jimenez need to find a toy license plate with his name on it, he needs to find some run support. If you wondered how someone could pitch a two-hitter and lose, Jimenez and the Colorado Rockies showed the Milwaukee Brewers. The Men of Cheese scored all of their runs in the same at-bat; Ryan Braun hit a two-run triple and scored on Dexter Fowler's throwing error. That was it: A 3-1 final. Zander? You gotta be kidding me.
3. Sulu, Chekhov ? Rays' Shields!: Check out this line from Rays' right-hander James Shields: Shutout, three-hitter, one walk, 13 strikeouts, 126 pitches. Manager Joe Maddon admitted he was stretching it a little, but said that Shields wasn't tested much by the Marlins in Tampa Bay's 4-0 victory. Joe, if you say so.
4. Haz Matt: Lefty Matt Harrison has been OK for the Texas Rangers ? nothing special ? but he didn't allow a run over 8 1/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 2-0 victory. Nobody in the Phillies lineup, aside from Placido Polanco, is hitting particularly well. But, with Chase Utley dressing in a nearby phone booth and ready to activate himself, maybe a change is going to come to the Phillies offense.
5. Crash, boom, bam: The Chicago White Sox have won 11 of 15 after beating the Dodgers 8-3 to take the rubber game of their series, but the bigger story at U.S. Cellular Field was Andre Ethier injuring three separate body parts ? a sprained left big toe, bruised left elbow and a sore back ? after crashing into the fence chasing a fly ball. Both middle fingers, conversely, got through the play unscathed.
6. Call it both ways, blue! The St. Louis Cardinals drew 13 walks and the Kansas City Royals ONE in the Redbirds 9-8 victory in 10 innings. If that sounds out of whack to you, Royals catcher Matt Treanor agrees: He and manager Ned Yost were thrown out by umpire Angel Campos for arguing balls and strikes in the seventh inning.
7. His mama call him "Emmanuel": Emmanuel Burriss said in spring training to call him "Manny" off the record but, in deference to the woman who named him, he's still "Emmanuel" officially. Well, if his mama named him Emmanuel, I'm gonna call him Emmanuel, especially after his RBI single in the bottom of the 11th that gave the San Francisco Giants a 5-4 victory against the Oakland Athletics.
8. He took a no-no into the first: With King Felix Hernandez opposing the morbidly offensive San Diego Padres, another pregame no-hitter alert was in order. But the Seattle Mariners' ace was merely great instead of unhittable, striking out 13 (and allowing six hits) in a 6-1 victory.
9. Act like you been there before: After some hilarious misadventures the night before, the Boston Red Sox got their act together with Tim Wakefield on the hill in a 5-1 victory against the Chicago Cubs. No overthrows, no dropped pop ups, no shenanigans of note. Adrian Gonzalez stroked four hits and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a home run that the Cubs team president didn't catch this time.
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