Nine innings and nine items to get you going. Ladies and gentleman of the Stew, take a sip of morning Juice.
1. Waiting to exhale: The successful return of Josh Beckett gave the Boston Red Sox and their fans several reasons to breathe easier. First and foremost, Beckett's ankle, which he sprained during a start on Sept.5, appeared strong and healthy for the entirety of his six inning performance. He was also effective, allowing only two earned runs while striking out seven.
"We need him to be Beckett. We don't need him to be Beckett in name only," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Despite what's been happening, we want him to have a chance to pitch effectively. So we weren't going to pitch him unless he was ready."
Not only was Beckett ready, but thanks to Mike Aviles's solo home run in the fourth and shut down relief from Alfredo Aceves, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon, he was the winning pitcher in Boston's critical�4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. That pushes their lead in the wild card race to a much more comfortable four games.
2. Stuck on 19: In his second bid for his 20th victory, New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia struggled and took a no-decision in their 5-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Alright, so maybe my use of the word "stuck" is a little misleading. This isn't Tim Wakefield going for career win No. 200, but the standards are different for Sabathia. This was only the second time all season he's gone two starts without a win. Based on that, most of us had already penciled No. 20 in the book.
3. Done playing dead: One day after skipper Terry Collins called his team out for mailing in the season, the New York Mets responded with a season high 20 hits in a 12-2 pummeling of Derek Lowe and the Atlanta Braves. David Wright led the charge, cracking a pair of home runs and driving in five, while four other Mets contributed at least three hits.
4. Rookie to the rescue: After Corey Patterson's error squandered another ninth inning lead, the St. Louis Cardinals desperately needed a big hit to avoid a back-breaking loss. Enter rookie Adron Chambers, whose very first big league hit plated Rafael Furcal with the go-ahead run in the eleventh. Tyler Greene would follow up with an insurance RBI double and the Redbirds got their victory, 4-2, over the Philadelphia Phillies, cutting their wild card deficit to 3 1/2 games.
5. Braun Brews up 30-30 season: The Milwaukee Brewers added four home runs to the total of Cincinnati Reds starter Bronson Arroyo in their 6-3 win, giving him an astounding 44 allowed on the year. Among those taking Arroyo deep was Ryan Braun, who then launched another off Jeremy Horst in the eighth to clinch only the second 30 home run, 30 steal season in Brewers history.
6. Silence of the Snakes: Nothing like a trip to Petco Park to kill your offensive momentum. Winners of 18 of their previous 22, the Arizona Diamondbacks arrived on Friday and were promptly shut out by Tim Stauffer and a trio of San Diego Padres relievers, 2-0.
7. Scoreless in Seattle: Speaking of western division leaders with hot offenses getting shutout, the Texas Rangers suffered the same fate in their 4-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners. Rookie Blake Beavan pitched the game of his young career, throwing eight scoreless frames and out dueling C.J. Wilson, who allowed only one earned run (four overall) in 6 1/3.
8. The ol' walk-off swinging bunt: How else would you expect an epic 12-inning battle between the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros to end? With the bases loaded for Chicago, Marlon Byrd chopped one softly down the third line base that was clearly heading foul (maybe even was foul), but the on-charging Chris Johnson elected to play it, kicked it, and Starlin Castro crossed the plate to give the Cubs the 4-3 win.
9. First time, long time: Javier Vazquez's already strong second half for the Florida Marlins got even stronger in their�3-0 victory. Staked to an early lead, Vazquez pitched aggressively and efficiently, striking out seven Washington Nationals, walking none and needing only 104 pitches to complete his first shutout since 2005.
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