I'm a jinx

Well, you know, every once in awhile a pitcher has to have a clunker. We saw it two starts ago from Roger Clemens? On Wednesday night? The honor belonged to Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang.

Final Score: Blue Jays 15, Yankees 4
WP: Halladay (13-5, 4.17 ERA)
LP: Wang (13-6, 3.94 ERA)

I need to stop anticipating pitcher duels. The opposite always seems to happen. You know, a lot of people will say the entire team fell apart for this game, but I wouldn't say that. Yes, the majority of the offense in this game was Robinson Cano: two homeruns off of Halladay. Matsui also contributed with a homern off of Halladay. But really, this was about the pitching have a "nothing goes right" day. Had you told me ahead of time that Halladay allowed four earned runs, all on the long ball? I would have assumed the Yankees won the game since Wanger was on the mound. But that wasn't the case Wednesday night.

Wang gave up three runs in the first inning. That, in and of itself, wasn't a signal of the end. Wanger has spotted three runs in the first inning before, only to adjust himself between innings and steady himself in the second. That didn't happen in this game. Wanger's control was all over the place, and when he was in the strikezone? He was up. The Jays responded by hitting him hard. Wang's 2.2 innings and eight earned runs makes this one of his worst, if not his worst ever, start.

The relief pitching was no better. Karstens went three innings and allowed two earned runs; five total. He gets a bit of a pass because of a blister on his pitching thumb. That he gutted through three innings was good. Then, enter Villone with one out to get in the 6th and the bases loaded. All three baserunners scored. The only pitcher who can say they did their job Wednesday night was, don't laugh, Kyle Farnsworth. He pitched a perfect 8th: no hits, no walks, one strikeout.

The one good thing about this game was that the animosity from Tuesday night seemed to have dissipated. Maybe this was because A-Rod wasn't on the field. As explained in the earlier entry, he sat out Wednesday because of a sore calf following his HBP by Josh Towers Tuesday. The most heated moment on Wednesday came when Bobby Abreu was ejected in the 4th inning by the homeplate ump for arguing balls and strikes. It was a strange scene. Abreu obviously yelled something at Derryl Cousins after being called out on strikes, but he wasn't ejected then. It was only after he returned to the dugout and slammed his bat into the rack that Cousins saw fit to eject him. Whether something additional was said wasn't clear. Torre claimed afterwards that there was no cursing, and Cousins had four other people yelling at him from the dugout. Shelley Duncan took over for Abreu in RF. In the late innings, Posada was replaced by Jose Molina and Jeter was replaced by Wilson Betemit, who had been playing 3B. Andy Phillips moved to third, and Johnny Damon came into the game to play first.

Jason Giambi looked okay in his return, though none of the Yankees except Cano had consistently good swings against Halladay. Giambi took an outside the pitch the other way, which is something he rarely did before his stint on the DL. He seemed to be running okay on his previously injured foot, but he scored his one run of the game on a homerun from Cano so his speed wasn't tested much.

As for other action...

Final Score: Mariners 8, Orioles 4
WP: Hernandez (8-6, 3.97 ERA)
LP: Guthrie (7-4, 3.22 ERA)

I questioned how the Orioles would manage to lose this one for Guthrie, but that wasn't necessary. Guthrie lost this game for himself with one of his worst outings of the season. He lasted only four innings, allowing five earned runs - including two 2-run HRs, one to Vidro and the other to Guillen. Rob Bell worked three innings of relief following Guthrie, and he allowed another two runs including a HR to Ibanez in the fifth inning. Hernandez was okay, but not as advertised. He lasted 6.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on ten hits while only striking out two. J.J. Putz (whose name always makes me snicker childishly) worked 1.1 innings to pick up his 33rd save of the season.

Final Score: Mets 4, Braves 3
WP: Heilman (7-3, 3.41 ERA)
LP: Soriano (2-3, 3.83 ERA)

This was looking like it would be the pitcher duel I'd anticipated. El Duque cruised until the 6th inning, where he allowed all three of his earned runs. Smoltz left in the 7th inning with two men on, in line for the win. But Mahay was unable to stop them from scoring, knotting the score at 3-3. It remained that way until the 8th inning, where Alou hit a solo homerun off of Soriano that turned out to be the game winner.

Final Score: Cardinals 2, Padres 1
WP: Wells (5-13, 5.27 ERA)
LP: Maddux (7-9, 4.15 ERA)

That would be Kip Wells who won the game, not the Wells who the Padres announced they were releasing today. A true pitcher duel in this one. Wells went seven innings and allowed one run, not earned, with six hits and four strikeouts. Maddux lasted six innings and allowed two runs, both earned, on four hits with five strikeouts. That was all there was to this one. Oh, and Maddux hit his first double of the season. I guess that's pretty exciting. Both teams left seven men on base.

Final Score: Giants 5, Nationals 0
WP: Cain (4-12, 3.77 ERA)
LP: Redding (1-3, 2.86 ERA)

Wow, Matt Cain got a win! It's a miracle! Redding wasn't terrible as far as the numbers go. He lasted seven innings and allowed four earned runs on six hits. That's below the level he's set for himself over the last few weeks, but it's solid. What killed him primarily was the mistake pitch for the long ball. Bonds hit his 757th career homerun in the first inning, a 2-run shot. Pitcher Matt Cain followed in the 5th, hitting his first career homerun off of Redding. The final two RBI were credited to Vizquel and Molina. The Nationals only had four hits all night. Good night for Lopez, who went 2-for-4, but he was the only one who had much to be proud of. The only other Nationals with a hit all night were Church and Logan. And there was only one walk all night, taken by Brian Schneider.

As for tomorrow:

RHP Joel Hanrahan (1-0, 3.27 ERA), rookie pitcher for the Nationals, will make the final start in this four game series against the Nationals. His opponent is assumed to be LHP Patrick Misch, as the Giants look to fill in the spot in the rotation left by the Matt Morris trade. This will be Hanrahan's third major league start. He is coming off of his first major league victory against the Cardinals, going five innings and allowing just one earned run on six hits. He took a no decision in his major league debut against the Mets.

RHP Daniel Cabrera (8-11, 4.90 ERA) and the Orioles will take on Mariners lefty Horacio Ramirez at 7:05pm ET. Cabrera is coming off of a win at Tampa Bay. It was the "good" Daniel Cabrera on August 3rd, going seven innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits while walking only one.

RHP Chris Young (9-3, 1.82 ERA) will make his first start since being put on the DL following an oblique strain July 25th against the Rockies. He and the Padres will take on former Red Sox reliever Joel Pineiro and the Cardinals.

RHP John Maine (12-6, 3.27 ERA) and the Mets are in for what should be a good pitching match-up (I know, I know) as they take on Tim Hudson and the Braves. Maine is coming off of a terrible outing at Wrigley. He lasted just 2.2 innings and allow six earned runs. This will be Maine's first start against the Braves this season.

No Yankees game tomorrow, as they travel to Cleveland and prepare for an important weekend series against the Indians.