Nine innings and nine items to get you going. Ladies and gentleman of the Stew, take a sip of morning Juice.
1. Ells Ya!: Watch the ribs, hey? For the second straight night, Jacoby Ellsbury walked the Boston Red Sox off the Fenway Park with a game-winning hit. While Tuesday's triumph was a plain old single, Wednesday's winner off Joe Smith was much more dramatic: A 415-foot blast to deep center field that earned Boston a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Indians, plenty of backslaps for Ellsbury from happy teammates and even a tight noogie/head lock from coach Dave Magadan.
It also produced one of the best "duh, losing" moments of the year, as seen in the Associated Press' account of the game:
Asked if the pitch was where he wanted it, Smith said: "Four hundred and fifteen away to the middle of center? No."
Ellsbury's back-to-back winners were proof positive that it's not how you start, it's how you finish: He was 0 for 4 in both contests before ending the festivities.
2. Squishing the Sox: Boston has taken two of three from Cleveland so far this week and it's a good thing because the New York Yankees have been busy threading a string for the slumping Chicago White Sox to play out. The latest nail: An 18-7 pounding via five hits from Derek Jeter and five RBIs from Curtis Granderson. If the form holds for both AL East powers during Thursday's series-enders, the Red Sox will hold a one-game edge heading into this weekend's set between the two teams at Fenway Park.
3. Breathing room: Don't look now, but the Detroit Tigers are creating some room for themselves atop the AL Central. A 5-4 win over the Texas Rangers gives them a four-game lead over the Indians and a 6.5-game cushion over the White Sox. The victory was the first for Doug Fister in a Tigers �uniform and his first in 10 starts. Fun fact: Fister has already equaled the number of victories that Jarrod Washburn ? another traded pitcher from Seattle ? posted for the Tigers in 2009.
4. Peaceful, easy feeling: Casey McGethree? The Milwaukee Brewers took the storyline of a heated rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals and bent it into something that was entirely about himself by hitting three homers in the Crew's 10-5 rubber-match victory. His power pausing of the animosity may only be temporary, though: The two teams will reconvene for a three-game set starting next week in St. Louis.
5 Take note, Adam Dunn: Who are you and what have you done with the bad Dan Uggla who previously kidnapped the good Dan Uggla? The once-struggling �second baseman for the Atlanta Braves continued his torrid pace, extending his hitting streak to 25 games in a 6-4 win over Washington. Uggla's 2-for-4 night with a homer allowed the Braves to snap a three-game skid and raised his batting average to .214 on the season. It had been at.173 as recently as July 4.
6. Fourgasm: Break up the North Siders! After finally posting their first three-game winning streak of the year late last month, the Chicago Cubs finally posted their first four-game steak with a 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Buccos are now again under .500 and if they aren't�careful, they'll soon find themselves closer to the Cubs in the standings than the first-place spot they used to occupy.
7. Rescue rangers: The San Francisco Giants' five-game losing streak is history after Ryan Vogelsong pitched six strong innings and the offense finally showed up in an 8-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. �Carlos Beltran had his first big game for the G-men, going 3 for 5 with two runs and a RBI.
8. Twin killings: Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer hit two homers apiece and accounted for a total of eight RBIs in the Minnesota Twins' 11-4 win over the Angels.
9. Century club in sights? Another day, another win for the Philadelphia Phillies. After an 8-6 win over Colorado, they need 29 victories in 52 games to become the first National League team to win 100 games since the 2005 Cardinals. More than doable.
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