The Game Notes hard drive died of a nostalgia overdose after watching music videos from the 1970s & ’80s. Je ne regrette rien….

@Rays 4, Yankees 3: In the slim annals of Yankee lead-blowing, there is no sequence as haunting as the one that put the Rays in front Monday: “Roberts steals 2B … Single (groundball); Roberts scores.”

• Last 7 starts for James Shields: 5-1 (team 6-1), 2.22 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, 47 SO/8 BB.
• In 17 starts for New York against Tampa, CC Sabathia is 3-7 with a 3.57 ERA (4.49 RA).
• The Yankees’ record against teams at .500+ is 40-39; vs. AL teams at .500+, 32-35; vs. AL playoff teams, 16-19.
• Jeff Keppinger is hitting .411/.995 against southpaws.
• In his last 13 games (12 starts), Ichiro Suzuki has 1 Run and 1 RBI, and a .217 OBP with 1 double. With the Yanks, he’s scored at a pace of 45 Runs per 700 PAs.
• Yanks are 4-20 when they don’t hit a home run.
• The more muddled the AL CYA field, the wider the opening for a reliever like Fernando Rodney.
• Curtis Granderson‘s game-ending pinch-K left him with a .234 BA, which would tie Mike Pagliarulo‘s club mark for the lowest BA with 30+ HRs. The GrandyMan is hitting .219/.745 since June 1. It also left him 9 Ks off his own club record of 169, set last year.

@Braves 6, Rockies 1: After Tyler Chatwood‘s 1st-inning misadventures gave Atlanta 2 runs without a batted ball traveling more than 60 feet, the only drama left was Kris Medlen‘s scoreless string, which reached 34 IP before ending on Paul Janish‘s 2-base throwing error in the 7th (just his 2nd error in 47 games at SS). Medlen shrugged it off and struck out the next 2 men to strand a runner at 3rd, then fanned the last 2 in closing out his 2nd CG with a career-high 12 Ks.

• Chatwood walked 5 in 3 IP (including Michael Bourn twice to start an inning), and they all scored.
• Rox 1B Jordan Pacheco was charged with two errors on this play, one for dropping Chatwood’s throw and one for his own wild throw to 3B. The first error belonged to Chatwood; no one who watched the replay could believe that a 1B with “ordinary effort” could have caught Chatwood’s throw while remaining on the base and not getting flattened by the approaching runner.
• Atlanta has won the last 18 games started by Medlen, dating to 2010-05-29, and 21 of his 25 career starts; two of the four losses were shutouts.
• Josh Roenicke‘s two scoreless innings gave him 81 IP to lead all relievers; his 2.4 WAR ranks 6th.

Nationals 2, Cubs 1: Seven shutout innings by Ross Detwiler meant that 4 of the last 5 Washington starters had allowed no earned runs in at least 6 IP. It also gave them 20 scoreless starts of 6+ IP, tied with Oakland for the most in MLB. But mainly, it sewed up their first winning season since 2003, and the first by a D.C. team since 1969, when Ted Williams led the Senators (II) to 86 wins in his maiden voyage.

• You want pitching depth? The Nats have five qualified SPs with an ERA+ of at least 112; no team since 1950 has had more than 4 with ERA+ at least 110. They have 10 pitchers with 50+ IP and at least a 110 ERA+; that’s been matched only by the 2002 Braves (who had 11) and the 1991 Blue Jays.
• Jeff Samardzija‘s 8-13 record includes 1-9 record in the 11 games wherein the Cubs scored 2 runs or less; 6 of those 9 losses were Quality Starts.
• In road series, the Cubs are 3-14 with 4 splits, including 9 series in which they were swept in 3+ games.

Indians 3, @Tigers 2: After sweeping into a share of first place, the Tigers were toothless against a team they mauled exactly one month ago. Nobody — ever? — had a worse game than Alex Avila: At the plate, 0 for 4 for a WPA of -0.344, the worst in MLB since 8/23, including a GDP with 2 aboard and a game-ending groundout with the winning run on base. In the field, 2 defensive miscues that led directly to runs; Cleveland’s other run, the tiebreaker in the 7th, followed one of their 4 steals against Avila.

• Corey Kluber got his first career win, minimizing the damage in both of Detroit’s scoring frames with DP grounders.
• Vinnie Pestano worked into and out of trouble for his 2nd save. He’s preserved 35 of the 37 leads he’s been handed. Both of his “blown saves” came with 1-run leads, one starting with men on 3rd and 1st and no outs. That’s why he ranks 3rd in reliever WPA, trailing only the two 41-save closers.

@Dodgers 4, Padres 3 (11): LA continued its drive to discourage early departures, winning their 3rd straight game by one run, the last 2 in walk-off fashion. After tying the game with a HR in the 9th, Andre Ethier started the winning rally with a 2-out single, took 3rd on the 4th hit from Luis Cruz, and scored on a single by A.J. Ellis.

• Closer syndrome strikes again: Ethier’s career splits show .313/.917 vs. righties, .238/.650 vs. lefties. Luke Gregerson‘s splits show .188/.536 vs. righties, .255/.703 vs. lefties. In the 8th inning, with the same 1-run lead, Padres skipper Bud Black played the matchups with 2 out and none on, bringing in a lefty to face Adrian Gonzalez, who is more balanced than Ethier (and has actually hit southpaws better this year). When Ethier came up with 1 out in the 9th, Black could have used Joe Thatcher, who has put lefties to sleep (7 for 48 with 22 Ks). True, he then would have wanted another RHP to face Luis Cruz, but he still had Brad Brach (.208 BA vs. RHB). I am no advocate of chasing the platoon edge willy-nilly — but it’s odd that so many managers will chase a small edge in any other inning, but not a big edge in the 9th.
• LA remained a half-game behind STL in the WC chase.

Angels 8, @Athletics 3: Oakland’s bid for a 10th straight win ended in a 10-hit flurry off Tommy Milone, who faced just 17 batters. Vernon Wells (2-2-2-2) and Chris Iannetta (4-1-3-3, HR, 2B) led the attack from the bottom of the order, combining for 7 times on base in 8 trips, while Torii Hunter‘s 2 hits raised his BA to .307 as he bids for his first-ever .300 season.

• Mark Trumbo‘s August swoon has not been affected by the calendar change; in his last 30 games he’s hit .194/.509, with 50 Ks, 7 walks and 3 XBH.
• Chris Carter continued to mash, with his 4th HR in his last 6 starts; he has 14 taters in just 196 PAs.
• With no games left against Baltimore or Tampa and little chance of catching Texas, Anaheim’s hopes rest on their 6 remaining games with Oakland, all in the next 10 days. Five wins would almost wipe out the gap between the two, but that might only open a door for one of the other contenders.

Orioles 4, @Jays 0: Go. Figure.

• Through 100 games, Toronto was hitting .255/.760, scoring just over 5 R/G. In their last 34, it’s .213/.599, scoring just under 3 R/G.
• Baltimore’s 75 wins are their most since 2004, which is also the last time they finished above 4th in the division.