Well, it's done

Barry Bonds made history last night with his 756th homerun off of Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik in the 5th inning of the DC-SF game. At the time, the homerun broke up a 4-4 tie, putting the score 5-4 in favor of the Giants. Of course, no one was concerned with that. The game stopped for a good 15 minutes for a video from Hank Aaron celebrating the accomplishment followed by Bonds addressing the crowd on a microphone.

I wasn't sure how I would react when the homerun was hit, as I've been fairly apathetic towards Bonds during this whole homerun chase. I only shrugged when he passed Babe Ruth awhile ago, and I expected my reaction to be the same here. If anything, I think it would have been the same were the Nationals not the team that will be forever linked with Bonds and 756. That aspect of the moment made it difficult to swallow, although a final score of 8-6 Nationals helped to ease some of the queasiness.

Opinions on Bonds are what they are. Steroids or not, I have little respect for how he's conducted himself personally over the course of his major league career. However, there's no denying that what he's accomplished is amazing. If they can't indict him on anything right now, there's nothing to do but accept the moment and move on. But I can't call it a special moment I'll hold in my memories from here on out. Cal Ripken passing Lou Gehrig's consecutive game record is something I still remember to this day, and I wasn't nearly as invested in baseball as I am now. This? It just happened. Now, it's over.

I do want to give Mike Bacsik a lot of credit for how he's carried himself since the homerun. He tipped his cap to Bonds, spoke to him afterwards, agreed to an interview during the ESPN broadcast of the game, and was very classy in his postgame press conference. In the wake of the mixed emotions following 756, one of the positives to come out of it has been the positive light shed on the Washington Nationals team. Not only did they have the opportunity to play two hard-fought games on national television (they should have won that game on Monday, by the way) but their players handled last night's events with dignity. They didn't jump up and down in celebration, but they didn't disrespect the moment either. And once it was done, they played hard and came back to win the game in the 8th inning. These little things can only help the organization going forward. I have to admit, it was nice to turn on ESPN 2 and hear little snippets of how good of a player Ryan Zimmerman is or how underrated Manny Acta has been as a manager in the middle of the media chaos that was Barry Bonds.

And because I didn't update after Monday's game, a lot of credit also should be given to rookie John Lannan. He struggled through seven innings against the Giants but managed to hold them to only one run, scored in the 1st inning by Molina. Lannan went after Bonds, he grit his way through jams, and he saved his best pitch for the most tense moment of the game - 7th inning, 3-2 count, 2 outs, Barry Bonds at the plate. The breaking ball he threw for the strikeout was one of the most beautiful things you'll see.

Other games from yesterday:

Final Score: Yankees 9, Blue Jays 2
WP: Clemens (4-5, 4.00 ERA)
LP: Towers (5-9, 5.36 ERA)

In case you missed it, the Blue Jays don't really like Alex Rodriguez much. Back in May, there was the now infamous "HA!" game where A-Rod apparently yelled something while Toronto 3B Howie Clark settled beneath a pop fly from the bat of Jorge Posada. The yell must have distracted Clark, who let the ball fall. Everyone was safe. The Blue Jays were livid.

I still say, you're a 3rd baseman in the major leagues. Catch the ball. You have fans yelling in the stands, cameras going off, and you can't even tell that the voice behind you isn't your teammate's? And if you're that intune to your surroundings, where you're going to hear this voice loud and clear, shouldn't you be able to hear the footsteps running away from you towards third base? Alex Rodriguez isn't exactly a little boy...

That aside, retaliation - it seemed - was in order. The Blue Jays had a series in New York in July, but there was nothing. Manager John Gibbons claimed that the entire affair was behind them. He forgot to add "until August." In Monday's game, A-Rod was greeted in his first at-bat with a pitch thrown behind his legs by Toronto starter Jesse Litsch. Rodriguez had no complaint. Neither did the Yankees. Keep in mind, Yankee reliever Luis Vizcaino hit Matt Stairs with a pitch during his two innings of relief work. This didn't appear to be intentional, as Stairs' HBP brought the winning run to the plate in the 8th inning. But stairs apparently had other thoughts.

Fast-forward to Tuesday and the third inning, where Towers greeted Rodriguez with a pitch thrown at nearly the same position on his leg as Litsch's the day before. This time, the pitch didn't miss. Rodriguez barked at Towers, and the two players closed in on each other. The benches cleared. No punches were thrown, but the benches were warned. A-Rod took first base. There were apparently some words between Towers and Tony Pena, and the benches cleared again. Like before, no punches thrown, but Shelley Duncan quite aggressively sought out Matt Stairs and got in his way as he went right after Rodriguez. Why Stairs' beef would be with Rodriguez when Vizcaino was the one who hit him, I'm not sure. Because he's A-Rod, apparently.

Check out this quote from Towers:

"I heard somebody chirping and I didn't think it was Alex," Towers said. "I asked who it was and Tony Pena is running his mouth. ... He's a quitter. He was managing (the Royals in 2005) and he quit in the middle of a season because he couldn't hack it."

Said Pena: "I don't care, I have no comment. Let him talk."

Source: The Journal News

Keep in mind, this is the same Josh Towers who has a 5-9 record with a 5.36 ERA for 2007. In his career, he is 45-54 with an ERA of 4.95. That, my friends, is what we call Clown Shoes.

Final Score: Braves 7, Mets 3
WP: Carlyle (7-3, 4.28 ERA)
LP: Perez (10-8, 3.31 ERA)

Not a good outing at all for Perez, who gave up six earned runs over five innings of work including a solo homerun to Diaz in the first inning and a 3-run HR to Francoeur in the 3rd. The offense for the Mets came from two sources: an RBI triple from David Newhan, pinch-hitting for Perez, and an RBI single from Reyes. That's all she wrote.

Final Score: Mariners 10, Orioles 3
WP: Weaver (3-10, 6.20 ERA)
LP: Walker (1-2, 2.72 ERA)

Every time I see Jeff Weaver's name, I'm shocked to see that he's still pitching this season, as bad as he's been. But he was pretty good here. Six innings, three earned runs, no walks, and three strikeouts. He gave up 11 hits though, but I guess that's okay when your opponent is leaving 10 men on base. (Seattle, to be fair, left 13. And STILL put up 10 runs. That's what you call a bullpen malfunction)

Trachsel started this game for the Orioles and was okay. He went 5.2 innings, allowing two earned runs - including a solo homerun by Ibanez in the 2nd inning. He'd go on to have a multi-homer night, with a 2-run HR against Walker in the 7th inning. Parrish closed out the 6th inning in a bases loaded jam without allowing a run, and the Orioles were in line at that point for the victory.

Enter the bullpen. Parrish started off the 7th inning, recording the first out. Then, Trembley went to Shuey. He recorded the second out but allowed the tying run to reach. Then, we have Jamie Walker who...well, obviously didn't have his best stuff. He couldn't get that last out in the 7th inning to save his outs. Shuey's baserunner scored, as did one more run until Trembley finally went to Bradford, who inherited two. One of those scored. Bradford would record two earned runs (three total), while Birkins added on another two to turn a previously 3-2 game into a Seattle rout.

Final Score: Padres 4, Cardinals 0
WP: Peavy (12-5, 2.21 ERA)
LP: Reyes (1-11, 5.66 ERA)

Yikes, check out that record on Reyes! He took a tough-luck loss here, allowing just one earned run over seven innings. But one run isn't as good as none, which is what Peavy allowed over six innings. Only three hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. Meredith, Bell, and Brocail all pulled their weight out of the bullpen and preserved the shutout victory. The rest of the Padres runs came during the 9th inning, where Isringhausen allowed 2 earned runs (three total) to put the game out of reach for the Cards. Peavy owes his win to Josh Bard, who hit an RBI single in the 7th inning. Scott Hairston picked up two RBI of his own in the 9th inning, with a triple off of Isringhausen.

Roster Moves: Lots of moves that were seen as both inevitable and surprising by the Yankees on Tuesday. Joba Chamberlain made his much-anticipated major league debut, with a two-inning scoreless performance. Jason Giambi was also activated and pinch-hit for Shelley Duncan in the 9th inning. He hit into a double play. In order to activate Giambi, the eyebrow-raising move was to designate popular bench player Miguel Cairo for assignment. With Duncan providing right-handed power off the bench, Andy Phillips doing so well at first base, and Betemit able to play all of the infield positions (we're still questionable on 1B), there was just no space for Cairo. Not as surprising, right-handed reliever Brian Bruney was optioned down to AAA in exchange for Chamberlain. All reports say he wasn't happy with the move. But hey, at least he's not Scott Proctor over with the Dodgers. I'd be stunned if Bruney wasn't back with the club during September call-ups. So, after a week of wheeling & dealing, the Yankee bullpen is currently Mariano Rivera, Ron Villone, Jeff Karstens, Kyle Farnsworth, Luis Vizcaino, Jim Brower, and Joba Chamberlain. Quite a change from what it was on July 31st, and more bold moves than we're used to from the Yankees this late in the season. We'll see if the bullpen moves pay off.

Big news out of the Padres organization today. Following the disaster of a game Monday evening, Padres GM Kevin Towers has announced that left-handed veteran David Wells has started his last game for the team. He will either be put on the voluntary retirement list or designated for assignment. No word has come yet of Wells' decision. Either way, his spot opening will allow Chris Young to be activated from the DL in time for his start Thursday. Ledezma is the Padres' leading candidate to start in Wells' place this weekend. Clay Hensley, who was optioned to Portland on Sunday, will not be eligible for recall until next week except in the case of injury.

Unrelated to anything...wow, the Rockies spanked the Brewers this afternoon. 19-4.

Tonight's action:

RHP Chien-Ming Wang (13-5, 3.49 ERA) vs. Roy Halladay (12-5, 4.13 ERA)

Excellent pitching match-up tonight up in Toronto. Hopefully it'll stay at that and the drama of yesterday will be put to bed.

Wanger has struggled recently, but he came back in a big way in his last outing against the Royals. Wang went seven innings and allowed just one earned run on seven hits, including one walk and three strikeouts. Wang's only start against Toronto on July 19th ended in a loss. He went 7.1 innings and allowed three earned runs. This is the game where Wang had a 2-0 lead heading into the 7th inning and lost it with a three-run inning. That start was against Toronto starter Dustin McGowan.

Halladay took the win in his last start against the Rangers. Halladay went six innings and allowed four earned runs on seven hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. In his only outing of the season against the Yankees on July 17th, Halladay took a no decision. He went seven innings and allowed one earned run on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts. This is the game where Cano hit the game-winning RBI single in the 10th inning to score Rodriguez. Halladay had been in line to win this game until the bottom of the 9th and a run scored off of Jays pitcher Accardo.

(Edit: After checking the line-ups for tonight, Alex Rodriguez will be sitting out because of soreness in the calf where he was hit yesterday by Towers. That, at least, should mean there will be less tension and motivation for retaliation by either team tonight. Wilson Betemit will get the start at third. Damon is sitting tonight, as Jason Giambi makes his first start since coming off the DL. He will be the DH. Cabrera leads off in Damon's place. Heavy lefty/switch-hitting line-up against Halladay tonight. In fact, the only right-handers in the line-up are Jeter and Phillips.)

Another good pitching match-up of MLB rookies as RHP Jeremy Guthrie (7-3, 2.98 ERA) and the Orioles host "King" Felix Hernandez and the Mariners. Will the O's offense and bullpen actually let Guthrie get the win here? We'll have to wait and see.

Yet another good pitching match-up, this time of the old folks, as RHP Orlando Hernandez (7-4, 3.00 ERA) and the Mets take on John Smoltz and the Braves at Shea. The rain of earlier has cleared up, so hopefully they'll be able to play as scheduled tonight. This game will be on ESPN at 7pm.

RHP Greg Maddux (7-8, 4.20 ERA) and the Padres take on Kip Wells and the Cardinals. Not such a great pitching match-up, no offense to Wells, but a must-win for the Padres as they look to take two in a row from the Cardinals and keep pace in the NL West. How 'bout them Diamondbacks?

Finally, RHP Tim Redding (1-2, 2.43 ERA) and the Nationals take on possibly the most unlucky pitcher in all of baseball, 3-12 and 3.93 ERA-sporting Matt Cain. So, is Redding relieved that the media circus has departed from San Francisco? Or is he a little disappointed that he's lost a lot of the audience he would have had were Barry still sitting on 755? I'm guessing the former. Should be interesting to see how many empty seats there are at AT&T Park tonight.