Clevelands Goes "Wahoo" After Taking the Series from Chisox

The '99  Indians try to get back on the winning path after a tough series last round versus Boston, as they play '93 Chicago. Pitching dominates in this round, and Manny Ramirez is starting to heat up for the Injuns.

Game One: Jaret Wright and Jack McDowell pitch well, with McDowell going eight and only allowing one run. But the Indians manage to tie it at two in the top of the ninth as Omar Vizquel doubles and immediately scores on a Ramirez base hit. But in the bottom of the 10th, Chicago's Robin Ventura connects for a two run homer, his 3rd, off closer Mike Jackson to give the Chisox a 3-1 win.

Game Two: Dwight Gooden is good enough, pitching 5.1 innings of four run ball for his first win (although he looks almost done). Cleveland gets two in the fifth off a wild Alex Fernandez, who ends up walking five batters, and takes a 5-4 lead. The Indians tack on three more runs, as Ramirez knocks in three and Robby Alomar two in the 8-4 Cleveland win. 

Game Three: Chicago's Wilson Alvarez is all over the park, walking nine in 5.1 innings while only giving up one hit. The Indians, behind Bartolo Colon, take the lead in the fifth as Alvarez walks two and gives up two runs on an error and groundout. Cleveland blows it open with four runs in the eighth off Kurt McCaskill, who gives up four singles and a key leadoff double by Travis Fryman. Cleveland wins the rubber game over Chicago, 7-3.

Standings afte 3 weeks of play

'06 Minnesota sweeps '00 Mariners

Game 1 @ Minnesota (J.Halama vs C.Silva)

Minnesota 7 Seattle 6

WP: Joe Nathan (1-0)
LP: Jose Paniagua (0-1)
HR: Alex Rodriguez (4), Jay Buhner (3)
Game MVP: Jason Bartlett (2-3, 3 RBI)

Seattle jumped out to an early 3-0 lead off of starter Carlos Silva in the 1st thanks to 2 walks and then a 3 run HR by Alex Rodriguez.  Minnesota however scratched its way back with 2 runs each in  the 3rd, 4th and 6th innings.  Seattle came back in the top of the 8th to tie the game at 6 thanks to a couple walks, a wild pitch and then a single by Jay Bell.   It looked like Seattle would push atleast 1 go ahead run across the plate after an error and a walk to lead off the top of the 9th.  But ROn Gardenhire called for closer Joe Nathan and Nathan was able to make it through the tough middle of Seattle order without a run crossing the plate.  In the bottom of the ninth, a double by Jason Tyner followed by a double by Nick Punto was all that was needed to give the Twins a hard fought 7-6 victory.

Game 2 @ Minnesota (M.Garza vs F.Garcia)

Minnesota 14 Seattle 2

WP: Matt Garza (1-0)
LP: Freddy Garcia (1-1)
SV: Kyle Lohse (1)
HR: Jay Buhner (4), Torii Hunter (2)
Game MVP: Torii Hunter (3-4, 3 RBI, 3 R, 1 HR)

Minnesota brought their "A" game offensively and rode a surprisingly good performance by Matt Garza (6 IP,4 H, 1 ER). The Twins 19 hit attack was led by 4 hits from Nick Punto and 3 hits each from Jason Tyner, Torii Hunter and Jason Bartlett.  Justin Morneau also added 2 doubles, driving in 3 runs and scoring 3 times.  Kyle Lohse picked up the 3 inning save  by shutting out the Mariner bats from the 7th inning on.  A lone bright spot for Seattle was a 2 strikeout 9th inning pitched by OF Stan Javier.  Javier did however allow a tape measure 437 foot blast by Torii Hunter.


Game 3 @ Seattle (J.Santana vs J.Moyer)

Minnesota 9 Seattle 6

WP: Johan Santana (3-0)
LP: Jamie Moyer (0-1)
SV: Joe Nathan (4)
HR: Justin Morneau (2), Jay Buhner (5)
Game MVP: Johan Santana (7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 11 K)

Seven shut out innings by Johan Santana coupled with 7 early runs by Minnesota made it look like an easy road to a 3rd straight win by Minnesota over Seattle.  However, the Mariners showed they were no pushovers by rallying for 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th off the Twin bullpen.  Matt Guerrier was awful allowing 6 hits and 6 runs including a bomb by Jay Buhner.   Jesse Crain came into the game with 1 out after the Buhner home run and quickly was in a jam after John Olerud and Dan Wilson hit back to back singles to put the tying and go ahead runs on base.  Crain settled down to strike out Rickey Henderson though to end the threat.  Minnesota added 2 insurance runs in the top of the 9th off reliever Arthur Rhodes with Morneau, Cuddyer, Mauer and Rondell White drilling 4 straight singles.  The Twins went to Nathan in the 9th to close out the game that at one point looked like a runaway.  Cuddyer was the standout offensively as he went 4-5 with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored.  Santana pushed his scoreless inning streak to 20 to start the season.  He has been downright dominant with 25 K's and just 12 hits allowed over those innings.

Game 4 @ Seattle (F.Liriano vs P.Abbott)

Minnesota 5 Seattle 3

WP: Francisco Liriano (2-1)
LP: Paul Abbott (0-1)
SV: Joe Nathan (5)
HR: Torii Hunter (3), Jay Buhner (6)
Game MVP: Nick Punto (3-4, 2 RI, 1 R, 1 2B)

Seattle came out showing the determination need to avoid a tough early season sweep.  Jay Buhner continued to smash Twin pitching with his 4th HR of the series.  The Buhner bomb gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead after 4.  Paul Abbott was cruising but gave up single runs in the 5th and 6th to allow the Twins to tie the game up.  Seattle retook the lead when Stan Javier singled home John Olerud in the bottom of the 7th.   Unfortunately for the M's, Abbott allowed a single to Joe Mauer and then a big home run to Torii Hunter.  Jose Mesa then entered and allowed another run with a walk to Cuddyer, single to Bartlett and another RBI single to Punto.  Minnesota turned it over to their bullpen and Scott Eyre, Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan combined to get the final 6 outs to seal the series sweep.  Francisco Liriano was good enough (7 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 7 K) to pick up his 2nd victory of the season. 

A's bash Royals

Game 1-KC takes an easy 6-1 victory behind a strong performance from SP Larry Gura

Game 2-Oakland evens it up with a strong performance from Joe Slusarski, Oakland wins 4-1

Game 3-This one comes down to the end as Eckersly is able to shut down KC in the 9th, Oakland wins 5-4

Game 4-Mark McGwire hits 2 homers and the A's get another strong performance from Kelly Downs as Oakland wins 3-1

--submitted by Andy Sexton--

Phightin's take 2 of 3 from Dbacks

Dbacks 5, Phillies 4
Down 3-2 the Phightins tied it up in the bottom of the 9th with a Ryan Howard solo blast of of Kim.  On a Nunez single Shane Victorino attempted to score the winning run but was gunned out at the dish by Finley to force extras.  A 2 run shot by Damian Miller in the top of the 11th gave the Dbacks a 2 run lead, which the would need since Philly scratched out a run in the bottom of the frame to make it interesting.

Phillies 4, Dbacks 1
Old Man Jamie Moyer and his 82 mph cutter dominated for 8 shutout innings.  Aaron Rowand knocked in 2 and J-Roll and Utley knocked in the other two runs.  Ryan Howard took the golden sombrero, and heard it from the vocal crowd in South Philly.

Phillies 13, Dbacks 7
It never turns out well when you get into a run fest with the Phightin's.  Ryan Howard, who was a whiff machine the night before, went 3 for 4 and knocked in 3 of Philly's 13 runs.  No pitcher was safe today from either of these offenses.  Gonzo knocked in 3 for the Dbacks in a losing effort.

Nats sweep Amazin’s to start season 8-0

GAME 1 - Shea
Zimmermann vs B.Jones
Nats 11, Mets 6

Mets took a 3-2 lead after Jordan Zimmermann served up a 3 run shot to Butch Huskey.  Unfortunately for the Flushing Faithful that lead was short lived as Bobby Jones threw BP and gave up 5 in the following inning.  Washington had 5 guy go yard with Ryan Zimmerman's grand slam in the 3rd being the most prolific.  New York managed to chip away with runs in the 7th and the 8th, but the chasm was too wide for them to overcome.

GAME 2
Strasburg vs Reed
Nats 1, Mets 0

Rick Reed and Stephen Strasburg hooked up in a pitcher's duel that was a battle of different styles.  Strasburg was throwing heat and Reed was throwing everything but the kitchen sink.  Both lasted until the 7th with the Nats gaining a 1-0 advantage thanks to the legs of Denard Span.  The Nats fleet footed centerfielder led off the 5th with a bunt attempt that was mishandled by Met All-Star catcher Mike Piazza.  Mike airmailed his throw to first which gifted second base to Span.  A Reed wild pitch saw span move up 90 feet closer to scoring.  A shallow fly ball to right by Anthony Rendon was just enough to score Span.  Neither team would score the rest of the way.  With a combination of Detwiler, Clippard and Soriano the Nats protected that 1-0 lead quite nicely.  Soriano notched his 2nd save of the season.

GAME 3
Leiter vs Roark
Nats 5, Mets 4

New York needed a stellar performance from ace Al Leiter.  What they got was a below average (4 runs / 5 IP) performance.  With the game tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 6th the Nats got a two out double from Ian Desmond, after Bryce Harper was given an intentional pass.  Adam LaRoche scored to make it 5-4.  With Washington's pen locked in those final 9 outs seemed to come easy.  Soriano came on board for his 2nd save in as many days.  Brian Bohanon, who gave up just one run in 3 innings of relief was tagged with the loss.

GAME 4
Yoshii vs Fister
Nats 3, Mets 0

New York was looking to salvage at least a game in this four game set and went with Japanese import Masato Yoshii.  The nats countered with another one of their aces, Doug Fister.  The latter went 8 innings without allowing a run before he handed the ball over to closer Soriano who made things a bit difficult before getting his 3rd save in as many days.  Yoshii and Fister were locked up in a scoreless time for 4 1/2 innings before the Nats posted two runs on a Danny Espinosa 3 run homer.  A Jayson Werth RBI single in the bottom of the 8th scored Span to make it 3-0.  With the series sweep the Nats jumped out to the franchises quickest start with an 8-0 record.  Folks might remember their 2012 team going 7-1 to start KOD20 and not making the playoffs, so no one in our Nation's Capitol is taking anything for granted here.

Standings after Week 1