Rangers Steal Nine Bases

The Rangers stole nine bases against the Red Sox in their 7-6 loss yesterday.

They took advantage of Tim Wakefield the knuckleballer being on the mound and Victor Martinez behind the plate to steal nine bases in nine tries.

The Red Sox are going to have to shore up their catching defense with Martinez throwing out one runner in 24 tries this season and backup catcher Jason Varitek has thrown none out in eight tries.

When other teams have only been caught once in 32 tries something needs to be done before every team in the AL runs on the Red Sox like the Rangers did yesterday.

Vernon Wells is still showing that he is ready be the player he had been a few years ago by having a 3-4 game while hitting his 7th home run which ties him with Nelson Cruz for the AL lead.

The Brewers have scored 19 runs in their last two games and for once had an easy game in their 8-1 win over the Pirates. For once the starter Dave Bush and the bullpen both pitched well. The Brewers still have not defeated a pitcher who has a winning record in their six wins. In fact their last two wins have come against 0-3 pitchers Jason Marquis and Charlie Morton.

Carlos Zambrano continued his pattern of alternating bad starts with good starts and allowed only two runs in six innings while striking out nine in the 4-0 shutout by the Mets over the Cubs.

Alfonso Soriano had a double the only extra base hit by the Cubs and he has hit .355 in his last ten games.

The Cubs offense didn’t give Zambrano a chance to win the game with the first five hitters in the lineup having a 0 for 17 game. Aramis Ramirez continued to struggle with his batting average falling to .145.

John Danks took his second win of the season as the White Sox ended the seven game winning streak of the Rays with a 4-1 win. Danks has not allowed more than a run in any of his three starts and improved his ERA to 1.29.

Paul Konerko and Andruw Jones provided most of the offense with both hitting solo home runs and combining for a 5-8 game while driving in three of the four White Sox runs.

A White Sox win and a Royals loss today would move the White Sox out of the AL Central cellar.