Night Beat

Important Events this Evening.

• The Reds beat the Cardinals, 8-7, on a walkoff home run from their 3rd catcher David Ross. Expect some sulking from Deadspin tomorrow morning. The Reds are only 2.5 back of St. Louis, and one ahead of Arizona for the Wild Card.
• Mike Piazza hit two home runs in a 4-3 loss at Shea; there were chants of 'Bring him back'. My Met fan friends were all teary-eyed and 2000 reminiscing. Honestly, with his new blond dye job, the man looks ten years younger. His rate stats are all up 50+ points from last year. I've never heard the phrase 'first-ballot' said so many times in my life.
• The Orioles lost to Toronto again. 34199 attended and I can't imagine why.
  
• The Mariners' Big Free Agent Signing Jarrod Washburn held the Devil Rays scoreless over 6.2 in their 2-0 win. This improved his record to 6-11, though his era is a respectable 4.26.
  
• Kyle Farnsworth imploded in the eighth, turning a laugher into a problem that Rivera had to come in and fix. Bobby Abreu hit his first home run for the team and played right field, center field, and then right again after Johnny Damon left the game; there was something wrong with his groin. Soreness. That was it.
  
• Deserving it's own bullet, Randy Johnson had a no-hitter going through six. Michael Kaye committed the inutterable, genocidal sin of mentioning this, and lo, the no-hitter was lost. Johnson would go on to give up two runs in the inning. If only baseball etiquette had been observed. We were hoping Kaye would make a reference to his outburst, but it was not to be. He and Paul O'Neil decided instead to talk for 20 minutes about the magnitude of the difference between a 97 mile an hour fastball and a 98 mile an hour fastball.
  
• Mike Sweeney is back and I am grateful. He singled in the ninth to beat the despicable Papelbon to push the 'sox three games back of the Yankees and 1.5 back of Chicago. David Ortiz went 0 for 4. He is the clutchiest.
  
• Brick was still pretty awesome the second time through, but didn't hold well at points. I admit to being a fan of 10 Things I Hate About You and will say that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a highly talented guy. Brick's hardboiled, faux modern noir dialogue is lots of fun, but it isn't quite "Where's my bourbon?"