Kansas City manager Trey Hillman didn't want to bring back Ramon Ramirez. He certainly didn't want closer Joakim Soria pitching again, either. The game rapidly slipping away, Hillman had no choice but to bring in Ramirez and get Soria ready, too. Jose Guillen drove in three runs and Ramirez earned his first career save with Soria standing by, helping the Royals hold off the Oakland Athletics 9-6 on...
Mike Cameron and Jeff Suppan were each brought to Milwaukee for their postseason experience, and they both had the same message Thursday night. "Keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing until whenever, Sept. 28 or whatever it is," Cameron said. "Then you look up and see where you're at. I would think everyone here knows that this is a pretty damn good baseball team." The stumbling Brewers just...
Scott Kazmir did his part to get the Tampa Bay Rays back on track. The All-Star left-hander allowed one hit in six scoreless innings, and the Rays' bullpen weathered ninth-inning home runs by Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez to beat the Yankees 7-5 and avoid a three-game sweep on Thursday night. Willy Aybar homered and drove in three runs for the AL East leaders, who avoided a three-game sweep and...
The Minnesota Twins would have been a lot happier if this marathon road trip had ended one city sooner. Jesse Litsch threw a four-hit shutout and the Toronto Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep with a 9-0 victory over the Twins on Thursday night. Minnesota wrapped up a season-long 14-game road trip at 5-9 and fell 1 1/2 games behind the idle Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.
James Parr pitched well in his last three starts with Triple-A Richmond and carried it over to his major league debut Thursday night. Parr tossed six sharp innings and combined with three relievers for a five-hitter, leading the Atlanta Braves to a 2-0 victory over the Washington Nationals. Parr (1-0) surrendered just two hits -- both to Ronnie Belliard -- walked three and struck out three.
David Ortiz remembers visiting Fenway Park with Minnesota and seeing empty seats. "The only sellout was when Pedro was pitching," he said. "Otherwise, it was a regular crowd." Pedro Martinez is long gone from the Boston Red Sox, but the sellout streak that started in a game he pitched figures to continue for a long time.
The Los Angeles Angels showed the Detroit Tigers what playoff teams look like. Torii Hunter homered to back Ervin Santana, and the Angels beat the Tigers 7-1 Thursday to cut their magic number to six for clinching their fourth AL West title in five seasons. Santana (15-5) struck out eight in 7 1-3 innings, allowing one run and six hits.
As a season-ticket holder, Darrell Buono spent 13 years rooting for the New York Mets in blue, loge-level seats at Shea Stadium. So he bought them. The seats cost $869 for a pair and will have a place of honor in Buono's basement in New Hyde Park when they are shipped, sometime after the last game is played at Shea this fall and the Mets begin dismantling the stadium.
