An interesting stretch of games started yesterday in Major League Baseball with five division leaders facing off against their respective number twos.
In the Bronx, the Yankees trumped the Red Sox 5-3 with a solid performance from Andy Pettitte. Also, have you seen this Joba Chamberlain kid pitch for the Yanks? This guy is going to be something special. If I was part of the Red Sox Nation, I’d be scared that this kid could turn out to be better than Papelbon. Man-Ram also left the game in the seventh due to muscle spasms in his lower back, but after he had already hit a solo shot in the first. The Yanks are now 7 games back in the East.
In the NL East, the national league New Yorkers just couldn’t hold down the Phillies. Ryan Howard’s 10th inning two-run walk off shot sealed the deal as the Phils closed the Mets lead to four games. The Mets had been cruising, up 2-0 until the eighth when the Phillies tied the game and eventually pushed the game into extra frames.
At Wrigley, the Cubs came back from a three-run deficit to beat the Brewers 5-3. The recently horrid Brewers suffered their 11th loss in 14 games and extended their streak to five in a row down the gutter. Also, while they’ll be getting their ace Ben Sheets back soon, Alfonso Soriano just made his come back from the DL for the Cubbies. The Brew Crew are now 2 1/2 back in the NL Central and have also fallen behind the simple awful looking Cardinals in their race. Seriously, this has to be the worst race since the Padres made the playoffs with a record a few games over .500 a few years back. Should the Cards defy all probabilty and win again this year, would they not be the worst repeat champions ever?
As for the Mariners vs. The Angels of Anaheim and the Diamondbacks-Padres match ups, well west coast baseball somewhat interferes with my Madden playing time. More on them later…