Record: 38-37. Change on last season: +11
That one probably should go down in the books as a fortunate win for the offense; had one umpiring decision in the sixth innings gone the other way, the result would very conceivably have been different.
The key play was a toss by Polanco to shortstop Infante, which umpire Bill Welke said pulled Infante off the second-base bag. The Tigers manager was ejected for arguing the call - said Trammell, "It was huge...there was no question he was out" - and it seemed to shake starter Maroth up. He walked Glaus; Clark got an infield RBI; and Green's sacrifice fly scored another unearned run. That was the sum production of our offense.
Fortunately, Estes was on the "very" side of good - though I don't know whether to be peeved that he allowed an RBI single to the opposing pitcher, or pleased that was all he allowed. He was pulled with one out in the seventh, and blamed a stiff back and BOB's A/C: "Here, inside, when you get the (air conditioning) going in the stadium, it cools you down real fast and your sweat gets cold and it tightens everything up in the back area. Sometimes, I'll sit down there with a hot pack on it to keep everything loose, but I didn't have it tonight."
Aquino tidied up the seventh, Valverde got the eighth, and Bruney pitched the ninth, preserving the win and extending our suddenly-invulnerable bullpen's scoreless streak to 11.1 innings over five games. Two hits for Clayton and Glaus, but eight of our nine hits were singles.
Did we deserve to win? Perhaps, perhaps not. I didn't see the game, and can't comment - so, Devin, you're on your own with regard to explaining "C Counsell fouled out to second." :-) It hardly sounds like a fully satisfying victory, but with the Padres getting slammed by the Mariners [er, that sounds like a particularly dubious gay video], we're 2.5 games back, so we'll take it.
Shawn Estes contines to chase Webb for the title of Biggest Rabbit in the majors: they're the only two players with 20+ ABs and a BA of .000. At least Brandon's got a base on balls - the pitcher responsible probably slit his wrists immediately after. Add Brad Halsey's solitary knock, and the trio are 1-for-71 this year, with one walk. On the other hand, Ortiz is batting .292, and Vazquez .280. The latter is even slugging .400: better than Clayton, Snyder and McCracken, and only three points behind Cintron.
Scarily random fact from last night: David Hasselhoff watched the game from the D'backs executive suites last night. One trusts this will lead to Pamela Anderson throwing out the first pitch, rather than Hasselhoff signing the National Anthem. He's very big in Germany, you know. And check out Rukkus's assessment of the Johnson trade.
Finally, and at the risk of blowing our own trumpet, Time magazine has anointed SportsBlogs one of the 50 Coolest Sites of the Year. Me. Cool. Who'd have ever thought it? :-)