American LeagueTravis Hafner hit a grand slam on his birthday and tied a career high with six RBIs to lead the Cleveland Indians over the Los Angeles Angels 14-2 Saturday.
Hafner's 15th homer capped Cleveland's eight-run sixth inning and gave the Indians a 10-2 lead. It was his major league-best third grand slam of the season and the fifth of his career. Hafner, who turned 29 Saturday, also singled in a run in the first and added an RBI double in the eighth.
Errors by right fielder Vladimir Guerrero and shortstop Orlando Cabrera made all the runs in the sixth unearned. The Angels committed three errors total, leading to 10 unearned runs.
PHOTO: AP
Cliff Lee (4-5) allowed two runs in seven innings for the Indians, who won for the fourth time in five games.
Kelvim Escobar (5-6), who has lost four straight starts, was charged with eight runs in 5 2-3 innings. The errors made six of the runs unearned.
Lee took a shutout into the sixth before Garret Anderson hit a two-out, two-run double to tie it. Lee allowed six hits, walked two and struck out four.
Athletics 2, Twins 1
In Oakland, California, Eric Chavez hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly to center in the seventh inning and also drove in Oakland's first run.
Chavez's first-inning RBI single stood until the seventh, when Minnesota No. 9 hitter Jason Kubel hit a run-scoring single to right off Kiko Calero to tie it.
The A's then loaded the bases in the bottom half against Brad Radke (4-7), whose winless stretch reached four starts since beating the Chicago White Sox on May 13. Radke has lost his last three decisions.
Oakland's Brad Halsey (2-2) returned to the bullpen after filling in as a starter and got two outs for the win. Closer Huston Street worked two innings for his ninth save in 12 chances.
Yankees 6, Orioles 5, 10 innings
In Baltimore, Johnny Damon homered off Chris Ray (1-2) leading off the 10th inning, and the short-handed Yankees picked up their seventh win in eight games.
Andy Phillips also homered for the Yankees, who were without their two leading home-run hitters, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi, both of whom were out with a stomach virus.
In addition, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui are on the disabled list, and closer Mariano Rivera has a sore back that will probably keep him sidelined through the weekend.
Scott Proctor (2-1) got the win, and Chien-Ming Wang got two outs for his first major league save.
Ramon Hernandez hit his ninth homer for the Orioles, who committed a season-high three errors.
National League
Aramis Ramirez hit a grand slam and Phil Nevin added a two-run homer in his first start with the Chicago Cubs, who beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-5 Saturday.
The Cubs took advantage of three errors to score five runs in the fourth inning against Mark Mulder, including third baseman Scott Rolen's second fielding error in two games. Chicago has taken the first two games of the three-game series, the Cardinals' first home series loss after a 9-0 start at new Busch Stadium, and is 6-2 against St. Louis overall this year.
The Cardinals' Albert Pujols, who leads the major leagues with 25 homers and 65 RBIs, left after two innings with a strained right oblique muscle.
Mulder (5-4) lost his third straight start and allowed eight runs and 12 hits, five of the runs earned, in 6 2-3 innings.
Glendon Rusch (2-5) started for the first time since April 29 and earned his first victory since April 16. In five innings he gave up three runs and four hits while avoiding the long ball. Entering the game, he was among the NL leaders with 13 homers allowed in only 37 innings.
Yadier Molina hit a two-run single off Scott Williamson in the ninth to cut the Cubs' lead to 8-5 but Bob Howry got Aaron Miles to ground out with Molina on first for his first save.
Diamondbacks 4, Braves 2, Game 1
In Atlanta, Chad Tracy and Orlando Hudson homered, rookie Enrique Gonzalez earned his first career victory and Arizona won the first game of a split doubleheader.
Tracy broke a 2-all tie by hitting the first pitch of the sixth inning off the right-field foul pole for his 10th homer. Shawn Green also had an RBI single off John Smoltz (4-3) in the sixth to make it 4-2.
Gonzalez (1-0) allowed two runs, four hits and one walk in six innings in his second major league start. He was optioned back to the minors after the game. Jorge Julio pitched a perfect ninth for his third save in three chances.
Smoltz allowed four runs and eight hits in seven innings for Atlanta, which fell to 1-4 on its 10-game homestand.
Dodgers 8, Phillies 2
In Los Angeles, Brad Penny allowed one hit over six scoreless innings and rookie Matt Kemp homered for the third consecutive game for the Dodgers.
Nomar Garciaparra went 3-for-5 with an RBI double, helping the Dodgers win for the 12th time in 16 games.
Penny (6-1) won his fourth straight decision, throwing 112 pitches in hot and muggy conditions. The right-hander struck out seven and walked four while allowing only one runner past second base.
Eude Brito (0-1) got the loss, allowing six runs and nine hits in four innings. He did not strike out a batter in his sixth major league start and first since Sept. 24.
Giants 6, Mets 4, 1st game
In New York, Eliezer Alfonzo delivered a go-ahead homer for his first major league hit, leading the Giants to the win in the rain-delayed first game of a doubleheader.
Barry Bonds sparked the key rally and hit an RBI single during his first game in the Big Apple this season. Hard-throwing Matt Cain (4-5) won his third straight start since being skipped in the rotation, and ex-Met Armando Benitez closed it out for his fourth save.
Orlando Hernandez (3-5) lost his home debut for the Mets. New York had won 13 consecutive series openers at Shea Stadium, including 10 this season.
Alfonzo hit a two-run homer in the sixth for his first career hit and a 5-4 lead.
Given up for baseball dead and banished from Boston as the last of whatever curses had prevented the Red Sox from winning the World Series for 86 years, Nomar Garciaparra is alive and doing extremely well in Los Angeles.
He is doing so well he does not want to talk about it. He agreed to a telephone interview last week on the condition that he would not be asked about how well he is doing. His agent, Arn Tellem, also did not want to talk about how well Garciaparra is doing.
"Given all that he's been through, I don't want to jinx anything," Tellem said.
Ned Colletti, on the other hand, was eager to talk about how Garciaparra is doing. He is the Dodgers' general manager and the man who signed Garciaparra.
"As many players as I've come across, a lot of them will give you a sales pitch when they want to land with your club," Colletti said. "Many don't follow through. This man told me what he was going to do and told me who he was. He's shown me who he is and done what he said he was going to do."
A .320 career hitter, Garciaparra, whose previous two seasons were wrecked by injuries, was hitting as high as .375 on May 24 and still had a team-leading .361 average before Saturday night's game. He also topped the team in slugging (.611) and on-base percentage (.422) and was second with home runs (6) and runs batted in (37).
Even more impressive, he had committed only one error at his new position, first base.
"Before spring training, he showed up with Eddie Murray and worked at first base," Colletti said, referring to the Dodgers' coach and the Hall of Fame first baseman. "In spring training he worked hard every day. I knew where to find him. He was at first base working with Eddie."
Only a few years ago, Garciaparra was grouped with Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter as the best shortstops in the business. Rodriguez signed a US$252 million contract, and Jeter got a US$189 million deal. Garciaparra disappeared. He missed the first 57 games of the 2004 season with Achilles' tendinitis, and then the Red Sox traded him. He went to the Chicago Cubs on July 31, and the Red Sox won the World Series on Oct. 27.
"It definitely was difficult," Garciaparra, 32, said. "I didn't want to go anywhere. Then one day I'm told they no longer wanted me. That was very difficult. You give your whole heart and soul and suddenly you have to pack up and move."
Adding injury to insult, the Red Sox won the World Series without him. More depression?
"I felt such a part of it," he said. "Guys were calling me through the whole run. `Did you see the game? We're thinking about you. You're with us.' They called from the bus. I called them and congratulated them."
When it was over, Garciaparra received a Series share and a ring. "It's a championship season, not a championship series," he said.
With the Cubs last year, Garciaparra again encountered injury. A groin ailment limited him to 62 games, not a good way to go into free agency.
"It definitely wasn't easy," he said. "That takes away from you doing what you love. But I had wonderful support from family and friends. I said I'll give myself one day to sulk, then do what I have to do to go forward."
As a free agent, Garciaparra was pursued most seriously by the Yankees, Indians, Braves, Astros and belatedly the Dodgers. They all had different positions in mind. The Dodgers needed a first baseman and a hitter for the middle of their lineup.
The signing has been successful for player and team.
"Mentally, I've never seen him better," Tellem said. "He has been able to regain the positive outlook that he had early in his career and I think it's really transformed him."
Garciaparra's decision to accept the Dodgers' offer of $6 million for this season turned out to be an easy one.
"It's the first place I saw a baseball game as a child," he said of Dodger Stadium. "It's the team my parents grew up with and cheered for. When I had to make a decision this off-season and when I walked into that stadium, that feeling put the Dodgers ahead.
It's the team I grew up watching."
GOING, GOING -- ALMOST
In the Pittsburgh Pirates' first 42 games, Jose Castillo hit one home run. In their next 12 games, he hit seven home runs and nearly had an eighth. Only the umpires turned the extra homer into a double when they ruled that Castillo's fly ball in the ninth inning against Milwaukee last Thursday hit on top of the right-field fence and did not clear the fence.
The hit was important and significant nonetheless. It drove in the tying run and set up the winning run, and it went to right field, where Castillo was looking.
"I concentrate on hitting to right field," said Castillo, a 25-year-old second baseman. "I stay back and watch the pitches. When the pitcher throws the ball inside, I pull the ball. When they throw it outside, I hit it to right field."
A right-handed hitter, Castillo has spread his recent run of homers around the field, from right to left, including four to center field. If his double to right had been a home run, he would have matched his teammate Jason Bay with home runs in six consecutive games. They overlapped in two games.
Bay is a home run hitter - 58 the previous two seasons; Castillo is not - 19 the previous two seasons. During his home-run binge, though, Castillo batted .386 (17 for 44) and drove in 21 runs in 11 games.
LEAVING THE TWILIGHT ZONE
Dan Duquette will forever be remembered as the Boston general manager who, when Roger Clemens became a free agent in 1996, said he was in the twilight of his career. But Lou Gorman, Duquette's predecessor, tried to trade Clemens three years earlier.
"We had struggled for two years and I wanted to make a dramatic change," Gorman recalled the day after Clemens signed with Houston for the remainder of the season. "I loved Roger and had great respect for him and I hated to do it, but that was a way of dramatically improving the team."
Figuring Clemens would be intrigued at the prospect of going home, Gorman called Bob Watson, the Astros' general manager, and proposed a 10-player trade. But Gorman wanted Craig Biggio in his part of the package, and the Astros would not include him.
As for Duquette, he did Clemens a favor for which the pitcher has never thanked him. In the four years before his free agency, Clemens had become a mediocre pitcher, with a 40-39 record from 1993 through 1996. The theory here is that the twilight comment induced Clemens to work harder.
The result was three 20-victory seasons and four Cy Young Awards post-Boston, achievements he might never have attained if not for the insult.
"I was glad to see that he turned it around," Duquette said last week, not commenting directly on his 1996 comment. "All we were looking for was for him to perform at his highest level. The three years leading up to his free agency were nowhere near the level he performed at before and after.
"To his credit he made the adjustments he had to make at that stage of his career. Unfortunately, the Red Sox weren't the beneficiaries."
FROM RELIEF TO ROTATION
Francisco Liriano is this season's Zach Duke, the Pittsburgh pitcher who last season had an 8-2 record and 1.81 earned run average in 14 starts. The Pirates promoted Duke, a 22-year-old left-hander, for the second half of the season. Minnesota put Liriano, a 22-year-old left-hander, in the starting rotation after he had made 12 relief appearances.
Liriano, who made four starts for the Twins last September, allowed one run in 16 innings in three winning starts for a microscopic 0.56 ERA. Including his work in relief, he has a 4-0 record and 2.11 ERA, which is inflated because Detroit scored five runs in three innings against him April 29.
The Twins acquired Liriano with Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser in a 2003 trade with the San Francisco Giants for A.J. Pierzynski, a catcher they no longer needed because they had Joe Mauer, who was ready. The Giants let Pierzynski go after a year. Now Liriano and Bonser are in the Twins' rotation and Nathan is their closer.
1-0
Keeping track of 1-0 games this season: The Mets' victory over Arizona last week was the 12th of the season and the longest. None of the other 1-0 games went into extra innings, and the longest had been 2 hours 43 minutes. This game, which lasted 3:19, was the third 1-0 decision for the Mets. They beat Atlanta and lost to St. Louis.
TRANSLATION: NO PUNCHING
Michael Barrett, the Chicago Cubs catcher, might have offered the most apt comment in last March's World Baseball Classic. Discussing the confusion of the international tournament's tie-breaking procedures, he said:
"I'm just a baseball player. I'm not a math major."
Nor is he a heavyweight boxer, but he acted like one when he threw a right cross and punched A.J. Pierzynski, the White Sox's catcher, in the face after a home-plate collision last month.
Barrett was not penalized for not understanding the World Boxing Council tie breakers, but he was suspended for 10 games for his imitation of a fighter.
As Bob Watson, baseball's disciplinarian, has said, "There is behavior you can and cannot do, and punching is one of the things you can't do."
As dreadful a season as the Cubs are having, they can ill afford to lose Barrett for 10 games. He has appealed the suspension and has continued to play, but he is not likely to win much of a reduction, if any.
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