It ain’t easy keeping up with the Joneses….

@Braves 6, Padres 0: It’s still hard to believe he’s retiring, but Jason Marquis won’t miss him. With 2 HRs tonight, Chipper is now 8 for 17 with 5 HRs against Marquis.

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Belatedly, and most imperfectly….

@Orioles 5, Red Sox 3: For 5-1/3 innings, all Baltimore could do with Aaron Cook‘s offerings was beat them into the ground. Nobody even got the ball out of the infield fair: 19 batters, 13 groundouts, 3 walks, a strikeout, a foul fly, and a soft liner to short. But J.J. Hardy‘s liner to left opened the floodgates, and Boston’s lead was washed away by a 5-run deluge.

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Shutouts, shutouts everywhere….

@Yankees 3, Rangers 0: Hiroki Kuroda lost his no-no on an infield single in the 7th when the game was scoreless, but he went the route on 2 hits for his first 9-inning shutout since his rookie year, 2008. Nick Swisher got the party started once again, with a 2-run HR in the 7th, and “Me-too” Mark Teixeira followed with his 23rd — the first 2 batters faced by Alexi Ogando.

• Ogando started twice against the Yanks last year and was hammered both times, totaling 11 ER in 8 IP.
• New York had gone 13 months since their last 9-IP CG shutout — July 2011, by CC Sabathia.

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Dodgers 5, @Pirates 4: Shane Victorino‘s first HR for LA put them up 4-2 in the 5th, and an 8th-inning run built on Juan Cruz‘s wildness turned vital  when the Bucs scored twice in their half. Kenley Jansen converted his 24th save (his 10th of the one-run species) as the Dodgers forged a tie in the West.

• Victorino also doubled home a run and sacrificed. He owns 2 of the 5 games this year containing a HR, another XBH and a SH.
• LA is 4-0 against Pittsburgh, by a combined score of 14-8.
• The Pirates have allowed 5+ runs in 7 straight games (2-5 record). They had not yielded 5+ in more than 3 straight before this stretch.

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@White Sox 7, Athletics 3: H.R. Pierzynski broke a tie in the 6th with his 23rd HR, touching off a 5-run uprising, and Chris Sale fanned 11 over 6.2 IP (2 each in the first 5 frames) for his 14th win.

• 23 HRs is the 3rd-highest ever by a catcher aged 35 and up, tied with Carlton Fisk, who also holds the top two marks (37 and 26). Pierzynski’s .560 SLG would break Gabby Hartnett‘s record of .548 for that same group. Fifteen of his 23 HRs have come at home.
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[I couldn’t finish last night and had tech troubles this morning, so here it is for whatever it’s worth by now.]

@Angels 6, Mariners 5: After dropping 6 of 8 to teams they’re chasing for one reason or another, the Angels needed this one bad, and in the end that’s how they got it. A 2-out, 1-and-2 pitch squirted away from Josh Kinney in the 9th, and pinch-runner Peter Bourjos was just fast enough to beat John Jaso‘s return throw and score the game-winner. Kendrys Morales had set it all up with a leadoff double; he had their only 2 hits in the last 4 innings, as the #2-3-4 men went 0 for 12.

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Is Aroldis Chapman injured, tired, bummed out, in the doghouse, attending childbirth, awaiting trial, on double-secret probation, or otherwise unavailable to pitch? I can’t find anything online to that effect, but consider the last 2 Reds losses:

• Aug. 8 — @Brewers 3, Reds 2 — Brewers reverse Cincy’s 1-run lead with 2 outs in the home 8th, on two separate RBI hits.
• Aug. 9 — @Cubs 5, Reds 3 — Bottom/8th, 1 out, Cubs break a tie on a 2-run HR.

Yet the most dominant pitcher in the world right now did not appear in either game. The man sporting the highest strikeout rate and lowest opponents’ batting average in MLB history has not pitched at all during Cincinnati’s 5-game losing streak.

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Rays 7, @Blue Jays 1: Matt Moore turned in Tampa’s third straight strong start (1 R, 2 H in 6 IP), and the Rays moved to 3-0 with Evan Longoria back in the lineup, even at DH — not only completing the sweep (with a total of 4 runs allowed), but resurfacing in the wide-open wild-card race. Losses by Detroit and Baltimore leave Tampa just a half-game out of a playoff spot and with a bit of momentum: They’ve won 10 of 15, including series wins over WC competitors LAA, OAK and BAL.

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Miguel Cabrera is in his 10th season. Just for fun, I compared his 10-year totals (projecting his 2012 rates to a full season) with those of Henry Aaron, who also debuted at age 20. Before you finish that derisive snort, let me state clearly that Aaron was without question:

• a better hitter than Cabrera (8 points of OPS+ is significant);
• a much better baserunner; and
• a far more valuable player, considering defense.

That said, their hitting totals are still interesting:

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[Originally posted as “Tuesday” game notes, doink. I was home sick for 2 days and my head got kinda fuzzy.]

@Brewers 3, Reds 2: You’re never as good as you look when you’re winning 15 of 16, says the adage, and the Reds suddenly have a 4-game losing streak, their second this year, averaging 2 runs on 5 hits. Milwaukee’s comeback was keyed by Carlos Gomez, who put them on the board with a HR in the 6th (reaching double-digits for the first time), then knocked in the tying run with 2 outs in the 8th and scored on Ryan Braun‘s double.

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