In the game following A.J. Burnett's 130-pitch effort, he had to leave in the 5th inning with a shoulder strain. A deaf person can hear, "I told you so!" coming from all corners of the baseball punditry.
The Marlins' Scott Olsen pitched seven shutout innings in a win against the Indians. Will this get all of the buy-lowers who have wanted to get Olsen on their active rosters to make the move? Is there a fear this is a dead cat bounce?
What did Zach Duke need to stave off further calls for his demotion? In addition to a tired shoulder by AAA starter Brian Bullington, he needed the Texas Rangers. That line-up in an AL park is laughable, but an NL one where the pitcher hits?
The Devil Rays' continue to win. Scott Kazmir struck out 11 in six innings of work but did not get the win. The bullpen ex-Al Reyes pitched three scoreless innings. With James Shields getting the moniker of "staff ace", Kazmir drops to a solid #2. If Sonnanstine and Howell pitch in the 4's with earned runs and Jay Witasik settles the bullpen, this team is going to shatter its franchise wins record and will be a sexy wildcard contender going into 2008.
The Royals' Brian Bannister pitched seven shutout innings versus the St. Louis Cardinals and took his season ERA down to 2.91 in 55.2 innings of work. With a solid 1.13 WHIP, Bannister is making Royals GM Dayton Moore look smart, but you have to wonder whether the 28 Ks and BAA of .232 augur something worse on the horizon?
Finally! Matt Kemp got that 8th HR - almost one year to the day. (The 7th was last June 14th.) I think his first HR brings him into a tie for 3rd most HRs on the Dodgers' doesn't it?
FMLB with Eric Karabell at 11AM.
Baseball Prospectus' Jay Jaffe at 1PM.
Baseball America's Jim Callis at 2PM.
FMLB with Ron Shandler at 3PM.