Red Sox back in first place

Boston beat the Mets 12-5 on Sunday, while the Blue Jays lost 10-2 in Atlanta and the Yankees fell 4-3 to the Phillies in 11 innings.

This means the Red Sox (26-18) are back in first place, by a half-game ahead of the Blue Jays (27-20). New York (25-19) is one game behind Boston.

The Blue Jays have lost six straight, following back-to-back sweeps in Boston and Atlanta. They still lead the Wild Card though, by a half-game ahead of the Yanks.

Blue Jays slumping, Yankees winning

The Blue Jays begin Sunday still in first place despite their five-game losing streak, only because second-place Boston has been struggling too.

Meanwhile, the Yankees have been on a tear, and have now tied the Red Sox for second place in the East.

Standings before Sunday's action: Toronto 27-19 (--), Yankees 25-18 (1/2 GB), Boston 25-18 (1/2 GB), Tampa Bay 23-22 (3 1/2 GB).

* Saturday: another one of those walk-off wins for the Yanks, who shocked the World Champion Phillies at new Yankee Stadium. Phils led 4-2, but closer Brad Lidge--who was perfect in save situations last year--couldn't nail it down. A-Rod hit a two-run HR off Lidge in the ninth, and then Melky Cabrera won it with his third walk-off hit of the season. Out of the Yanks' last eight wins (in nine games), half have been of the come-from-behind, walk-off variety, including three straight last weekend against the Twins. And now New York is just a half-game back in the East.

* Jays:
1) Friday, Toronto lost 1-0 in Atlanta, even though Roy Halladay pitched seven shutout innings. The only run scored in the eighth on a sacrifice fly, but the Jays had Aaron Hill on third base with two outs in the ninth inning. He was left stranded.

Actually, it was a promising ninth inning as the Jays had their 1-2-3 batters coming up against closer Mike Gonzalez, who had blown two of his previous three save opportunities. With one out, Hill doubled. Alex Rios, however, grounded out to Gonzalez, with Hill taking third. Vernon Wells then grounded out for the final out.

In the eighth, the Jays also wasted Scott Rolen's leadoff double with the game still scoreless. Joe Inglett, who was just called up earlier in the day (while Travis Snider was sent down to Las Vegas), struck out as a pinch-hitter for Halladay to end the threat.

2) Saturday, Toronto lost 4-3 in Atlanta. Pitcher Derek Lowe singled in the fourth inning to break a 2-2 tie and give the Braves the lead. Kelly Johnson homered off B.J. Ryan in the seventh inning. 4-2 Braves. The Jays finally scored a run off Gonzalez in the ninth, and then loaded the bases with one out. Rafael Soriano replaced Gonzalez, and struck out Kevin Millar and induced a flyout off the bat of Marco Scutaro for the final out.

Scutaro, the leadoff man in both games, was the goat here. He made the final out on Saturday with the bases loaded and was only 1-for-5 (though his lone hit was a two-run double in the third that gave Toronto a 2-0 lead). On Friday, Scutaro was 0-for-4 and flied out for the first out in the ninth, before Hill doubled.

Two blown wins for Toronto against the Atlanta, and the Jays suddenly have forgotten how to hit. Meanwhile, the Yankees continue to win.

On Sunday, a close 2-2 game was broken open in the seventh, when the Braves scored 7 runs. (The score is now 9-2 Atlanta in the eighth.) The difference? Atlanta loaded the bases with one out, and scored seven runs.

In the top of the seventh, the Jays loaded the bases with one out, and Adam Lind struck out and Jose Bautista flied out. Whoa.

Right now in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium, Brad Lidge is on again for the Phils trying to nail down a 3-2 win. Oops - I spoke too soon, Melky Cabrera has just singled in the tying run! Fourth blown save for Lidge!

If the Yanks win, the Jays will be in second place. If the Red Sox win, the Jays will also fall too. In Boston, the Sox have taken a 6-5 lead to let Tim Wakefield off the hook (Boston was behind 5-3 earlier).

Boston 2, Toronto 1

The Toronto Blue Jays' first big test of the season came Tuesday at Fenway Park, where they took on the Boston Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series.

Brian Tallet did the job, but the Jays still lost, 2-1.

Tallet gave up only four hits in his six innings of work, but his two runs allowed was enough to make him a loser to Tim Wakefield (8 IP, 5H 2BB, 3K).

First baseman Jeff Bailey--who?--knocked in the first run with an RBI single to center in the second inning. Catcher George Kottaras--??--delivered a sacrifice fly in the same inning to put Toronto down 2-0.

Baily (.182) and Kottaras (.143) were the No. 8 and 9 hitters in the Boston lineup.

Kevin Millar, the DH for the Blue Jays while Travis Snider got the night off, homered off Wakefield in the fifth for Toronto's lone run.

Meanwhile, more bad news for Toronto: the New York Yankees used a seven-run seventh inning to turn a close ballgame into a rout, and are now up 9-1 against the visiting Orioles, with the game currently in the eighth inning.

The Tampa Bay Rays are locked in a 0-0 tie with the Athletics, with action now in the ninth inning.

If the Yankees overtake the Blue Jays...

If the Yankees overtake the Blue Jays this season, all you need to do is look at this weekend's games.

Yes, the Jays won four straight at home against the White Sox. But so did the Yanks against the Minnesota Twins. And in all four games, the Yankees rallied to win, including the first three in the late innings and in their final at-bats.

Look at three of those wins for New York right there... if the Yanks win the Wild Card over Toronto by three games or fewer, look at those three games the Twins blew right there.

For now, Toronto is in first place, 3 1/2 games ahead of idle Boston, with a three-game series against the Red Sox at Fenway starting Tuesday.

The good news is that if the Jays (27-14) lose all three in Boston (22-16), they will still leave town in first place. The Yanks (21-17) are 4 1/2 games back, followed by the Rays (20-20) at 6 1/2 games back.

The Orioles, 16-22 and 9 1/2 out, are pretty much done in the AL East.

Blue Jays continuing to win

How about those Toronto Blue Jays?

With the Seattle Mariners slumping (5-11 so far in May pending Monday night's outcome against the Angels) and no longer in first place, the Blue Jays have surely supplanted the M's as the team of choise out on the West Coast.

The Blue Jays were at it again this weekend, ... (read more)

Saturday baseball action

Yup. I pointed out Alex Rodriguez's silly batting average on here.

And then he hit the game-ending, two-run home run to give the Yankees a 6-4, 11-inning win.

I should have kept my mouth shut.

* * * * *
And the Mets' defense is at it again.

So far, in the Santana-Johnson matchup in San Francisco, it is a 3-3 tie going into the fifth inning.

Remember, if Randy Johnson wins today, it will be No. 299, and he will go for No. 300 against Seattle--the team he starred for in the 1990s--in his next outing.

The Mets jumped out to a 3-0, first-inning lead, something that's a surprise for Johan, as he'd had a lack of run support this season.

But, the defense is again the culprit.

There were two outs in the third, but Fred Lewis reached base on second baseman Luis Castillo's throwing error. The next batter dobuled, giving the Giants their first run.

Unearned run off Santana.

In the fourth, with one on and nobody out, Randy Winn reached on third baseman David Wright's error, putting runners on second and third. Santana struck the next batter out (which woul d have been out No. 2), but Aaron Rowand singled both runners home. Tie game, 3-3.

One more unearned run off Santana.

So, the score is 3-3, but it should have been 3-1 Mets because of those unearned runs.

* * * * *
Well, as I type this, Randy Johnson is having a tough time in the fifth and will not win No. 299.

David Wright atoned for his earlier error with a big two-run double off The Big Unit, giving the Mets a 6-3 lead. (Carlos Beltran had just doubled in the go-ahead run moments earlier.)

On FOX, the announcers were saying this was the first time in Johnson's career that he had allowed four straight hits to start the ballgame. Well, deja vu, as he'd just allowed four straight hits to start the fifth, the last being Wright's two-bagger.

Johnson has been lifted in favour of Justin Miller.

11 hits off Johnson in 4+ innings. Yikes.

Ray and Blue Jays win

Rookie Robert Ray pitched a heck of a game for the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon.

But after eight innings, he was behind, 1-0, to the visiting Chicago White Sox.

The Blue Jays had outhit the White Sox 8-3, but hadn't been able to cross the plate against starter Bartolo Colon and a pair of relievers.

The Jays' best chance came in the seventh inning, when they had two on and two out for Aaron Hill. The second baseman, however, struck out by swinging on a low 3-2 pitch to end the inning and finish off an 0-for-4 day.

But the Jays rewarded Ray for his fine pitching in the eighth.

Vernon Wells singled and stole second, before Adam Lind was somehow able to hit a low pitch from Scott Linebrink, the White Sox's fourth pitcher of the day, into right field for a double for the tying run.

Linebrink then bounced the next pitch, which got away from catcher A.J. Pierzynski, sending Lind to third.

Jose Bautista promptly hit the next Linebrink offering to left field, scoring Lind and giving Toronto the lead.

Scott Downs retired the White Sox 1-2-3 in the ninth inning for his fourth save in four chances.

Though B.J. Ryan has returned from his stint on the DL, the Jays have announced Downs will be the closer for now.

For Ray, who was making his third career start, it was his first victory in the majors.

Ray gave up just one unearned run in eight innings, striking out three and walking one. He gave up only three hits.

The lone walk Ray surrendered was to the very first batter of the game, and Chicago capitalized.

Scott Podsednik walked to lead off the ballgame, went to second on a groundout, stole third base, and came around to score on Jays catcher Raul Chavez's throwing error.

For seven innings, that lead held up for Chicago.

* * * * * *
On Friday night, the Blue Jays had beaten the White Sox 8-3 in the opener of their four-game series, but surely it wasn't a great night.

Sure, the Boston Red Sox lost in Seattle, blowing a 4-0 lead. As I'd said earlier, enough of Jon Lester being a hero coming back from cancer and throwing a no-no and pitching in the 2007 World Series-clinching game.

Lester plain sucks. Staked to a 4-0 lead, he allowed a run in the fifth and four in the sixth. Boston lost 5-4.

And oh, he allowed Ichiro Suzuki to hit two home runs. Ichiro's homer in the fifth put the Mariners on the scoreboard, and his two-run bomb turned a 4-3 deficit to a 5-4 lead.

Meanwhile, Boston DH David Ortiz was benched. Ortiz was out of the lineup after his embarrassing showing in Anaheim the day before, going 0-for-7 with 12 LOBs in their extra-inning loss.

12 men left on base! That tied a Red Sox record.

Ortiz still doesn't have a home run this season.

Okay, that was the good news for Toronto.

The bad news?

The other two East rivals won. Worse, they rallied big time to get the job done.

Now, it's only May, but still, all games count. If you think Toronto will have to battle with Tampa Bay and the Yankees for the wild card (assuming the Red Sox will eventually take over the AL East lead), you'll want the Rays and Yanks to lose as much as possible. And nobody thinks the wild card will come out of the Central or West.

In Tampa, the Cleveland Indians led 7-0. The Rays, however, scored in each of the final four innings, and won it 8-7 on B.J. Upton's walk-off homer.

When will these Indians learn you can't just build a big lead and then sit on it? The day before, the Tribe jumped out to a 9-0 lead before "hanging on" to beat the Rays 11-7.

Meanwhile, at new Yankee Stadium, the Minnesota Twins jumped out to a 4-1 lead with 9 outs to go, before the home team rallied.

Twins closer Joe Nathan allowed a run in the ninth before getting two outs. But the Yankees loaded the bases, and Melky Cabrera's single ended the game. 5-4 Yankees.

Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez, in his first game at the new ballpark, went 0-for-1 with four walks.

Would have been good to see both Tampa and New York lose, since they were both on the ropes. But oh well, you could say the same about Boston--the Red Sox had the big lead.

* * * * * *
Speaking of A-Rod, he sure made a big splash when he returned from the DL last week, homering on the first pitch against the Orioles.

However, through the first eight innings of Saturday's tilt with the Twins (still in progress), A-Rod has been struggling.

Rodriguez has gone 0-for-3 so far in the game, and is hitting .120.

.120!

And it's not even October yet.

Who knows, as soon as I say this, he'll probably go on a tear.