A week ago last Thursday, this blog posted on Chicago White Sox lefthander Mark Buehrle’s perfect game effort against the Tampa Bay Rays.  Well, Buehrle’s perfection didn’t end there as the lefthander made a serious bid to the feat on Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins.

It was batter up, batter down as Buehrle retired the first 17 batters he faced through 5 2/3 innings to set an All-Time MLB record of 45 straight hitters retired.

MLB.com’s Scott Merkin reports on the previous holders of Buehrle’s record:

White Sox closer Bobby Jenks had a share of the previous record, retiring 41 straight from July 17-Aug. 12, 2007, and matching Jim Barr’s 41 in a row for San Francisco from Aug. 23-29, 1972.

With 2 outs in the sixth and the White Sox up by 1-0, Buehrle issued a walk to end the consecutive streak and any chance of a repeat perfect game. A single and a double later and the Twins had tied the game.

An inning later, in the seventh, Buehrle was pounded for 4 runs on a couple of soft, seeing-eye RBI singles before leaving the game with 1 out.

AP Sports Writer Jon Krawczynski reports Buehrle’s reaction to the record and to the loss:

“It’s just frustrating after a loss,” Buehrle said… “It might mean more tomorrow or the next day once I cool off. But I’m not too happy right now.”

The White Sox managed to score 2 runs in the ninth on 3rd baseman  Gordon Beckham’s RBI single, but it was not enough as the Twins prevailed by a 5-3 margin.

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The last time the NL had won an All-Star game was in Philadelphia in 1996.  The string remained intact as AL pitchers retired 17 straight NL hitters from the third inning through the first 2 outs in the eighth.  Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino singled and scored a run amidst the NL 3 run rally against AL starter Roy Halladay in the second inning, but pinch-hitter  Ryan Howard struck out on a Joe Nathan slider in the eighth inning with runners on 2nd and 3rd foiling a chance for the NL to tie or take the lead.  Each team used 8 pitchers and the AL went up early with 2 runs in the first inning against NL starter Tim Lincecum and single runs in the fifth and eighth innings in another drab, boring All-Star affair in which the AL edged the NL by a 4-3 score as their unbeaten string hits 14 seasons.

A lot of pitchers and players were used but very little can be said about  All-Star game #80.  The most valuable player, AL leftfielder Carl Crawford went 1 for 3 with a fifth inning single only to be rubbed out on outfielder Ichiro Suzuki’s fielder’s choice grounder.  Crawford’s main claim to MVP fame was his leaping, homer-robbing grab over the 8-foot leftfield wall to bring down a Brad Hawpe drive in the seventh inning.  Had the drive landed over the wall, the NL would have taken a 4-3 lead.  Perennial MVP Suzuki also went 1 for 3 with a first inning single and was not involved in the scoring having been rubbed out by a fielder’s choice grounder.

Beyond Crawford’s seventh inning heroics, the most entertaining part of this All-Star game may have been President Obama’s ceremonial first pitch which fluttered, barely making it to the glove of Albert Pujols.

There were no classic, dramatic match-ups such as a Dizzy Dean or a Carl Hubbard striking out Lou Gehrig or Joe DiMaggio, or the 1958 All-Star game where Dick Farrell struck out 5 out of 7 AL stars he faced in 2 innings, the last 4 in a row.   And there were no heroics like in the 1964 All-Star game where Phillies’ pitching great Jim Bunning fanned 4 AL stars in his two innings of work and where rightfielder Johnny Callison blasted his memorable game-winning 3 run walk-off homer.

And there were no apparent managerial blunders by either NL manager Charlie Manuel of the Phillies or AL manager Joe Maddon of Tampa Bay.

Beyond the game itself, possibly the most interesting news to watch is the apparent signing by the Phillies of free agent pitcher Pedro Martinez who has passed his physical.  A Yahoo sports report indicates that the Phillies signing of Martinez is to be made official at press conference which is expected to be held in Philadelphia later on Wednesday.  According to Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Andy Martino:

…Martinez has signed a one-year contract with the Phillies.

According to a baseball source, the contract is worth about $1 million, and Martinez could make an additional $1.5 million in incentives based on starts and time on the active roster.

A baseball source also said Martinez could join the Phillies in Miami later this week to work out with the team before beginning a minor-league assignment.

The money reports seem to somewhat jive with a series of Metsblog.com Twitters from last week which indicate that a $4 million figure for Martinez could be pro-rated.  One of the Twitters indicates that “any deal is likely to be around $1.75 million, which sounds like $4 million pro-rated over two or three months…”  We ought to know more specifics about the money in coming days.  We’re not talking about huge, make-or-break bucks such that blogging about the money may be superfluous.

Martino’s report continues:

Martinez is 214-99 with a 2.91 earned run average in 17 seasons. Last year, he was 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA for the New York Mets.

“If we were to bring him in, it would not preclude us from doing other things,” said Amaro, who is engaged in efforts to acquire Toronto righthander Roy Halladay, among other pitchers.

Martinez likely would need several minor-league starts before joining the Phillies.

Meanwhile, the Phillies resume play on Thursday travelling to Florida to open a big 4 game series with the Marlins.  In Thursday’s opener, ageless lefthander Jamie Moyer is opposed by Chris Volstad.

For all of Thursday’s games, click here.

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The San Francisco Giants registered their 1st no-hitter in 33 years as
26 year old lefthander Jonathan Sanchez tossed a near-perfect game against the San Diego Padres, only marred by an eighth inning fielding error at 3rd base.  Sanchez and the Giants shut out the Padres on Friday by an 8-0 score.

AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley reports:

It was the Giants’ 13th no-hitter and first since John Montefusco did it on Sept. 29, 1976, at Atlanta. Their last one in San Francisco came when Ed Halicki beat the New York Mets in the second game of a doubleheader on Aug. 24, 1975.
 
Sanchez’s dad, Sirgfredo, watched nervously from the stands, bouncing and biting his nails, then scurried down to the dugout to be among the first to congratulate the pitcher.

“Right now I’m just going to go home and hang out with my dad,” Sanchez said. “I was pumped that he was here watching the game.”

Sanchez almost lost his no-hit bid in the ninth, but Gold Glove center fielder Aaron Rowand saved the gem with a leaping grab at the center-field fence to rob pinch-hitter  Edgar Gonzalez for the second out.

“I was going to go up and over and land on the other side of the fence if I had to, to try to make the catch,” Rowand said.

The 26-year-old Sanchez (3-8) returned to the rotation after a nearly three-week demotion to the bullpen—and only got the call because 303-game winner Randy Johnson went on the disabled list this week with a shoulder injury.

With his father and a friend cheering from the stands, Sanchez threw a called third strike past Everth Cabrera to finish his first career complete game.

Sanchez struck out 11, walked noone and threw 110 pitches in his 1st career shut out and complete game.

San Francisco Chronicle sports writer Henry Schulman adds;

Jonathan Sanchez, a 26-year-old left-hander who until this night was the personification of pitching promise unfulfilled. Now, his name is etched forever on the list of this franchise’s great achievements.

And across America today, people will look at a staff that features Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Randy Johnson and say, Jonathan Sanchez?

“If you look at this staff he wouldn’t be the one you’d pick,” said manager Bruce Bochy, who has been like a ping-pong master bouncing Sanchez between the rotation and bullpen over the last three seasons, hoping his pitcher could find it.

Sanchez had not started a game since June 22 nor won since May 25. He was 2-8 with a 5.30 ERA this season…

“We had a toast in the clubhouse after the game, and Sanchy said, ‘I don’t want to go to the ‘pen after this start,’ ” Bochy said.

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This blog has noted various Baseball oddities such as a reliever credited with a save in a 30-3 game, the impressive minor league prospect who, in his lone MLB appearance, took an 0-for-3 collar accounting for 6 outs; a strikeout‚ double play‚ and triple play.  Also blogged about was a pitcher who went 4 for 4; 4 starts, 4 homers — three of them leading off innings.

Well, here’s the latest oddity: a reliever credited with a win without making a pitch.

The Colorado Rockies scored an eighth inning run without a hit to break a 4-4 tie as Washington’s reliever Joe Beimel threw to the wrong man on the wrong side of 2nd base on an attempted force play as the Rockies went on to defeat the Nationals by a 5-4 score.  But Beimel’s wrong-way throw is not the oddity of note here.

Rockies’ lefthanded relief pitcher Alan Embree entered the game with 2 outs in the eighth inning and pinch hitter Austin Kearns on 1st base having just singled to rightfield.  With Nationals leadoff hitter centerfielder Nyjer Morgan at bat, Kearns was caught attempting to steal second, pitcher to first to shortstop to pitcher for the final out of inning.  The Denver Post describes the play:

[1st baseman] Todd Helton caught Embree’s throw, then slipped. But he was not penalized, because Kearns tripped as he burst for second base. Eventually, the ball ended up back in Embree’s glove for the putout.

“I am not sure if I will be available (today). I am beat,” joked Embree, who had the baseball waiting in his locker afterward in a Ziploc bag. “It was a fun play for me because you just never think that’s going to happen.”

The AP recap of Tuesday’s game cites a stat on such occurences for Yahoo sports:

According to STATS LLC, it was the first time a pitcher had gotten a win without throwing a pitch since Baltimore’s B.J Ryan also had a pickoff against Detroit on May 1, 2003.

Not so oddly enough, Ryan is also a lefthanded reliever and I’ve heard since long ago, as a youngster, that lefthanders have an edge over righthanders on pick-off plays.  And the Orioles ended up taking both ends of the a doubleheader that day by scores of 5-2 and 6-4.

There are 2 other known cases of a reliever winning a game without throwing a pitch. 

California Angels lefthanded reliever Greg Garrett also accomplished the feat on a pick-off play in a July 1, 1970 4-3 win over the the then-AL   Milwaukee Brewers.

The other case dates back to September 7, 1914 in the defunct Federal League when the Brooklyn Feds defeated the Pittsburgh Feds in both ends of a doubleheader as righthanded reliever Jim Bluejacket performed the feat in the nightcap which Brooklyn won by a 12-11 score.   Baseball Library cites a Brooklyn Eagle report describing what went down:

Blue jacket (sic) did not pitch a single ball to a Pittsburgh batter‚ but even at that he gets credit for winning the second game. He entered the fray in the eighth inning‚ with Monasky on third and Yerkes on first. Bringing his Indian cunning into play‚ he caught Yerkes napping off first and ended the inning. In the last half of the same round the local team scored the five runs that won the game.”

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Phillies ace lefthander Cole Hamels got more than he bargained for on Monday; his own 2 hits and 2 RBIs, a 7 inning, 1 run, 3 hit gem as well as being beneficiary of a 10 run first inning pounding of Cincinnati starter  Johnny Cueto who lasted 2/3rds of an inning giving 9 of the runs.  Hamels was treated 4 Phillies homers including an eighth inning grand slam by rightfielder Jayson Werth to cap the Phils massive scoring.  When the scoring onslaught mercifully subsided in the eighth inning with 1st baseman Greg Dobbs and 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz going down to end the inning, the Phillies had crushed the Reds by a whopping 22-1 score. 

With the one-sided win, and the Florida Marlins’ loss to the San Francisco Giants, the Phillies NL East division lead jumped to 2 games over the Marlins.  The Mets, who had Monday off, dropped to 4 1/2 games back and Atlanta who lost to the Chicago Cubs dropped to 5 games off of the pace.

One has to wonder though about what the next games will bring after the Phils pumped this many runs into one game.    AP sports writer Rob Maaddi, who’s recap for Yahoo sports read like a lengthy dissertation rather than a recap, notes what happened last season after the Phils lumped this many runs into one game:

They hadn’t scored more than 15 runs since a 20-2 victory at  St. Louis last June 13. After that game, the Phillies went 3-11 and scored a total of 38 runs.

The previous worst defeat for the Reds, baseball’s first professional franchise, was 26-6 on July 26, 1892. That also was against the Phillies.

That 20-2 win over the Cardinals came but 19 days after the Phils pummeled the Colorado Rockies by a a 20-5 score on May 26th.  After that game, the Phils went on a winning run so, I suppose, things could go either way after this one, although the Phils offense coming into the Cincinnati opener has not exactly been in high-gear.  But three 20 run games in 2 seasons — Wow! Keep in mind that between 1957 and 2007, the Phils had scored 20 runs or more in exactly 3 games, one of them being that wild-and-wooly 23-22 ten inning slugfest at Wrigley Field with the Chicago Cubs which the Phils won on Mike Schmidt’s tenth inning solo shot off of Cubs closer Bruce Sutter.

The Phils scored 22 runs on 21 hits and sending 13 hitters to the plate while scoring 10 runs in the first inning alone.  Phillies Nation’s Amanda Orr brings some historical stats in recapping the game:

It was the first time since 1900 that the Phillies beat an opponent by at least twenty runs.

The Phillies scored ten runs in the first inning, nine off Johnny Cueto, who lasted two-thirds of an inning, raising his earned run average from 2.69 to 3.45. The inning marked the fourth time in franchise history that the Phillies scored ten runs in the first inning. The last time the Phillies scored ten runs in the first inning was in July of 2002 against the  Montreal Expos.

Shane Victorino made his best “vote for me” campaign with a 4-for-5 night. He homered, drove in four runs, and walked. Greg Dobbs (4-for-6, 2 RBI) and Chase Utley (2-for-3, 4 RBI) also homered. Jayson Werth (2-for-5, 5 RBI) hit a grand slam in the eighth inning off Paul Janish, a shortstop, as the Reds were desperate to save their bullpen.

Every starter in the Phillies lineup had at least one hit, including Cole Hamels (2-for-4).  Jimmy Rollins (3-for-4) continued his hitting ways.  The only batter who did not get a hit was John Mayberry Jr. (0-for-1, BB), who came in as a substitute.  Matt Stairs had one plate appearance and walked. Other than that, six Phillies had a multi-hit night. Two Phillies (Victorino and Dobbs) had four hits. Every batter reached base at least once.

The last time the Phillies pounded 22 runs was in 1985 against the New York Mets. It is also the third most runs the Phillies scored in one game. Not only did the win make Phillies history, but Reds history, marking their largest margin of defeat, 21 runs.

The rout was sooo complete sooo early that manager Manuel gave both 2nd baseman Chase Utley and 1st baseman Ryan Howard some in-game rest in the fourth inning pinch-running Eric Bruntlett after Utley’s RBI single and pinch-running John Mayberry Jr. for Howard after his RBI single.

But while most of textual thunder has gone to the Phillies’ heavy lumber, Hamels deserves much credit as well.  After leftfielder Jonny Gomes’ second inning leadoff homer, Hamels went on to retire the last 18 of 19 Reds hitters he faced in evening his seasonal record at 5-5.  He walked no one while striking out 2.  The only other hits Hamels allowed were 2 out singles in the first and fifth innings in one of the finest outings he’s had this season.  

The bullpen  largely rested due to both the offensive explosion and Hamels’ performance.  The Big Bucks relievers; Ryan Madson, Chan Ho Park, J.C. Romero and closer Brad Lidge were all able to catch breathers as Tyler Walker and re-activated lefthander Scott Eyre, in a low-risk situation closed down the Reds in the eighth and ninth innings.

For the scores of all of Monday’s games, click here.

In Tuesday’s game 2, young, unbeaten lefthander J.A, Happ, fresh from 3 consecutive excellent outings including a complete game shutout, is opposed by Aaron Harang for the Reds.  Harang has been up and down so far this season.

For all of Tuesday’s games, click here.

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Two days ago, this blog noted that the L.A. Dodgers had won their first 11 home games.  Well, with their Wednesday 10-3 pounding of the  Washington Nationals, that consecutive home record has reached All-Time MLB record-breaking proportions:

Joe Torre settled back into his chair in the cramped manager’s office at Dodger Stadium for his postgame interview when he was interrupted by his boss, there to offer a congratulatory handshake.

Torre grasped general manager Ned Colletti’s hand firmly and then gave him a carbon copy of the Dodgers’ lineup card as a gesture of appreciation.

“Streaks are fine, but we have more important things in mind,” Torre said. “Hopefully, it’s just a stepping stone on the way to something more important. The fact that we’re playing well takes precedence over anything else. The good part about this thing is that this is about winning games, which is what we try to do every day.”

“Everywhere I go, all people are talking about is the streak because it’s the hot topic,” Torre said. “I’m sure these guys enjoy being be the team that owns the streak all by themselves—and maybe like the 1911 Tigers, not be around when it’s broken.”

The 1911 Tigers were 51-25 at home—but 38-40 on the road—and finished 13 1/2 out of first place.

But question is, with a lineup where 3 of their first 4 hitters own better than .315 batting averages, where both leftfielder Manny Ramirez and rightfielder Andre Ethier — 3 and 4 in the order have 6 homers each and 3rd baseman Casey Blake has 5, a starting ace Chad Billingsley (5-0) who hasn’t been beaten in 6 outings and a pitching staff with a collective 3.72 ERA, when will this home winning streak ever end?

Lucky thing for the Phillies that the Dodgers follow Atlanta into Citizen’s Bank Park next Tuesday because L.A. is a more down-to-earth, human 8-8 on the road.

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