Baseball

The Nats returned from a lengthy west coast road trip Friday night, and Jordan Zimmermann welcomed fans and Phillies back to Nationals Park with a dominating performance. In the fourth inning... [[ Visit LetTeddyWin.com for full standings, photos and more... ]]

Go Rangers!

The Yankees just can’t catch up to all these injuries. Less than two weeks after he returned from a fractured right forearm, Curtis Granderson suffered a fractured fifth metacarpal (left hand) in his left hand when Cesar Ramos hit him with a pitch in the fifth inning. No word on a timetable for his return, but it’s same injury Alex Rodriguez had last season. He missed six weeks. Crud. Granderson, 32, actually stayed in the game to run the bases before being removed the game after the inning. The trainer did come out to look at him on the bases. In eight games since coming off the DL, Granderson went 7-for-28 (.250) with a double, a homer, and a stolen base. He also moved to the corner outfield in deference to Brett Gardner, playing primarily right field with a smattering of innings in left. Ichiro Suzuki will presumably return to the lineup on an everyday basis now even though he came into Friday’s game hitting .241/.279/.331 (56 wRC+) in 156 plate appearances on the season. Thanks to Butch.

WASHINGTON - The Washington Nationals are finding out the difficulties that come with earning front-runner status. A trendy preseason pick to win the World Series, the Nationals(25-23) are just two games ahead of the Phillies after Friday's 5-2 win at Nationals Park.

Chris Davis hit his major league-leading 16th home run, Nick Markakis had three hits and three RBIs and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-6 on Friday night.

Brett Gardner, Lyle Overbay and Jayson Nix each drove in two runs, and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-4 on Friday night.

Sox beat Cleveland 8-1 at wet Fenway. Lackey (Big Lack as Castig calls him) was what he isn't, or wasn't what he is, tonight, going 7 strong and exhibiting an almost Pedro-esque recoil at the end of his delivery. Or maybe he always does that but it just looks better when he's actually pitching well.We beat my beloved old pal Burn-Bat Masterson. Carp's 3-run dong gave us an early lead. The Carp-athian had been Hit-tite-less in his previous 21 at bats. The game was still close at stretch time*, but a two-run single by Ellsbury turned 4-1 into 6-1, and you could turn your sets off there, folks. Pedroia also singled in two later in the frame. On the Ellsbury single, Swisher got a glove on the ball, ensuring that two runs would score. Don/Remy didn't mention that for some reason.The Yanks won, but they probably lost Granderson again with a broken finger. So we're still 1 game back. No team in the A.L. has a better record over its/their last ten games than the Red Sox.*I think I've mentioned this before, but no one ever thinks to stand at the 7th-inning stretch until the PA person says to. Every game I go to, the top of the 7th ends, I stand up, and wait as every single person in my section sits there. Then they get the memo, and the "feels like an asshole" baton is passed from me to them.

Where's Oswaldo? Well, he's on a plane back to Rochester, it seems. Needing to clear a 25-man roster spot so P.J. Walters can start Saturday against Detroit, the Twins settled on optioning outfielder Oswaldo Arcia to Triple-A Rochester, though a corresponding 40-man roster move still needs to be made. It seems rather odd that the Twins would demote a guy that's currently hitting .255/.318/.449 with 4 homers in just 107 plate appearances this season, but the truth is that Arcia has only had 3 hits in his last 34 plate appearances, with 4 walks and 11 strikeouts in that span. However, one could easily argue that Chris Parmelee - batting .207/.290/.306 after Friday's game - is more "worthy" of a demotion than Arcia. For whatever reason, the Twins disagree, and Arcia is the one that draws the short straw. Brian Dozier, Chris Colabello, or even Eduardo Escobar could have been other options for the demotion, but with Pedro Florimon suffering a sprained finger on Thursday, the Twins are a little short on infielders right now. Still, it should be noted that Florimon did enter Friday's game as a defensive replacement after Colabello pinch hit for Escobar. I don't think Arcia will stay down in the minors for long. Eventually, the Twins will realize that while Parmelee has shown he can handle the outfield defensively, his bat simply is not an asset and they will need Arcia back in the lineup. To be honest, however, the sign that Arcia's bat needs to be in the lineup should have been evident after being one-hit on Friday.

Sportsmanship in the midst of this mess.