An Exciting Tuesday In Major League Baseball

Kevin Youkilis charged the mound after being hit by a Rick Porcello fastball in the second inning and Porcello threw Youkilis to the ground when Youkilis arrived at the mound.

Kevin Youkilis charged the mound in Boston last night when Rick Porcello hit him in the back with a fastball.

Earlier in the game Junichi Tazawa had hit Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers.

Youkilis will almost surely be suspended and Porcello may not be as likely to be suspended since the pitch seemed to be unintentional and Porcello only defended himself when Youkilis charged toward him.

The MLB Network showed a video of when Shawon Dunston of the Cubs had charged the mound several years ago. Dunston was not even suspended, showing it was a different era back then.

In the old days the players took care of situations like this. Now Youkilis and Porcello will more than likely have to miss some games with both teams in the middle of a pennant race.

Nowadays umpires are quick to give warnings to both teams instead of letting the players play the game. It was a given that if a player hit a home run against Bob Gibson they could expect to be hit or brushed back the next time they faced him.

Barry Bonds would only admire one of his home runs only once with Gibson on the mound. Gibson was a no nonsense pitcher who played the game the way it was meant to be played.

Now the Red Sox will be without their best hitter for a few days as Youkilis almost certainly will be suspended in the next day or two.

 

Adrian Gonzalez Has Six-Hit Game

On any other day a six-hit game would be the big story of the day but it was almost an afterthought after the Red Sox-Tigers fight.

Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres became only the fourth NL player to have six hits in a game since the first day of 2000. Gonzalez entered the game with a .251 average and finished with a .262 average.

Ian Kinsler is the only other major leaguer to post six hits in a game this season. The AL has had 10 players accomplish the feat in the same time frame. However, six of those six-hit games were in 2004.

 

Chicago Teams 1-1 Yesterday

It was a good and bad day for the two Chicago baseball teams with the White Sox taking a ninth-inning win and the Cubs losing to Philadelphia in the 12th inning, 4-3, on a home run by recently acquired Ben Francisco of the Phillies. He came to the Phillies as part of the Cliff Lee trade that brought him to Philadelphia from the Indians.

The White Sox were only two outs from losing to the Mariners by a 1-0 score before Alexei Ramirez hit a three-run homer. His three-run home run prevented rookie Doug Fister from taking the win for the Mariners.

Fister had pitched six scoreless innings and allowed only one hit. David Aardsma gave up the game-winning home run to Ramirez. John Danks pitched eight strong innings to take the 3-1 road win, which was his 10th win of the season.

Meanwhile at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Cubs tied the score 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth on a RBI-single by Milton Bradley.

Brad Lidge blew his seventh save of the season. Last season he didn’t blow a save; this year he has seven blown saves with about 50 games left in the season.

Bradley is hitting .400 for the month of August and raised his average to a season-high .267 in the contest. Kevin Gregg took the loss and has a 10.13 ERA in August after posting a 1.93 mark in July.

 

Highlights of  Other Important Games

Yankees 7, Blue Jays 5

The Yankees scored four times in the eighth inning to take an eventual 7-5 win over the Blue Jays as Mariano Rivera registered his 33rd save of the season. Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada hit solo homers in the eighth inning.

Angels 3, Rays 0

Ervin Santana pitched the Angels to a 3-0 complete-game win over the Rays. The win stretched the Angels AL West lead to five games over the second-place Rangers. The loss was the third in a row for the Rays, who are now nine games behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East.

David Price took the loss as his earned run average rose to 5.13.

Braves 8, Nationals 1

The Braves ended the eight-game winning streak of the Nationals as Tommy Hanson (7-2) took the win, striking out nine in 6 2/3 innings and allowing only one run and no walks. The 8-1 win moved the Braves to within four-and-a-half games of the NL East-leading Phillies.

Chipper Jones hit his team-leading 15th homer, but three other Braves have more than his 53 runs batted in.

Marlins 9, Astros 8

The Astros blew a 7-2 lead and lost to the Marlins 9-8 in 11 innings. The win moved the Marlins to within three-and-a-half games of the Phillies.

Dan Uggla hit a walk-off single to drive in the winning run.

Dodgers 9, Giants 1

Manny Ramirez and Matt Kemp hit seventh-inning homers as the Dodgers took a 9-1 win over the Giants. The win stretched the Dodgers lead over the second place Rockies to six-and-a-half games.

Reds 5, Cardinals 4

Albert Pujols hit his major league-leading 37th homer yesterday, but it wasn’t enough to defeat the Reds, who won 5-4. The only teams to win in the NL Central yesterday were the fifth- and sixth-place Reds and Pirates, so the Cardinals held on to their three-game lead over the second place Cubs.