SPOOKY EXPRESS SIX PACK FOR TUESDAY

[Spooky]

Hope everyone had a great summer!

Welcome back and best of luck to everyone!!

Six-pack for Tuesday

-- Ben Sheets was sailing along with a 54-pitch shutout thru five innings Monday, then hurt his leg, left game, and Mets rallied late for a win. Mets-Brewers are likely first-round foes in the playoffs, should New York win the NL East.

-- Nationals have somehow rallied to win last seven games.

-- Astros are six games over .500, and have only one pitcher anyone else would want. Good managing job, Cecil Cooper.

-- Stephen Drew hit for cycle as Arizona waxed the Cardinals. Adrian Beltre hit for the cycle for Seattle, but since it came against the Texas pitchers, it might merit an asterisk.

-- Two starting pitchers in Bronx-Detroit game combined to throw 140 pitches, allow 15 runs, get 14 outs. Not good.

-- Cliff Lee is 20-2, seems like a shoo-in for Cy Young award.

[Mr. IWS]

::handshake::

[Spooky]

MLB SPOOKY SCOREBOARD FOR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND

Tuesday, Sept. 2

New York Mets at Milwaukee (8:05 p.m. EDT) Mets pitching prospect Jonathon Niese makes his major league debut in the heat of a playoff race against Milwaukee. Niese will take the rotation spot left vacant when right-hander John Maine was placed on the 15-day disabled list.


STARS

Monday

-Cliff Lee, Indians, became the club's first 20-game winner in 34 years, pitching a five-hitter for his second career shutout in a 5-0 win over the Chicago Cubs.

-Roy Oswalt, Astros, allowed four hits and came within two outs of a complete game in Houston's 3-0 win over the Chicago Cubs.

-Alex Rodriguez, Yankees, had four RBIs, sparking a scoring barrage with a two-run single in the first inning and adding an RBI in each of the next two in a 13-9 win over Detroit.

-Jorge De La Rosa, Rockies, pitched seven shutout innings and had an RBI single in a 4-0 win over San Francisco.

-Greg Maddux, Dodgers, tied Roger Clemens for eighth on the career list with his 354th victory, leading Los Angeles to a 5-2 win over San Diego.


CYCLICAL

Stephen Drew and Adrian Beltre became the first players to hit for the cycle on the same day since Bobby Veach of the Detroit Tigers and George Burns of the New York Giants did it on Sept. 17, 1920, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Beltre homered in the second off Texas Rangers starter Matt Harrison, then singled in the fourth and sixth off Harrison. He doubled in the seventh off Luis Mendoza and tripled in the eighth off Josh Rupe to become the fourth Mariners player ever to hit for the cycle. Drew singled in the first, tripled in the third and homered in the fifth against St. Louis Cardinals starter Joel Pineiro. Drew then added a pair of doubles.


TURNAROUND TWENTY

Cliff Lee (20-2) became the first Indians pitcher to reach 20 wins since Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry went 21-13 in 1974. The left-hander's milestone win - his ninth straight - came exactly one year to the day that he was recalled from the minor leagues. Lee joined Perry and Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Bob Lemon in Cleveland's record book as the only 20-game winners, and he's only fourth 20-game winner in the American League since 2004.


SIDELINED

Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets was removed from the team's game against the Mets after five innings with "very, very slight'' tightness in his left groin. Sheets said it first tightened while he was warming up for the third inning, and manager Ned Yost removed him after 54 pitches and the Brewers up 1-0. The Mets rallied to win 4-2. ... The Yankees expect to activate RHP Joba Chamberlain (rotator cuff tendinitis) from the DL on Tuesday. They plan to use him in the bullpen for the rest of this season, letting him build up arm strength before becoming a starter again in the future.


STATS

The Braves have lost four straight and 17 of their last 21 games to fall 20 games under .500 for the first time since 1990, after losing 4-3 to the Marlins. It was the 29th consecutive one-run loss on the road since August 10, 2007, for the Braves, a major league record. ... Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia continued his torrid hitting, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Pedroia, who hit .374 in August and closed the month going 9-for-12, scored 33 runs last month, the most for the Red Sox since Dom DiMaggio and Billy Goodwin had 35 in 1950, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Pedroia has 184 hits, a record for Red Sox second basemen, breaking Del Pratt's 1922 mark.


SPEAKING

"Watching him pitch, I've admired what he's done. He has never been overpowering, but he's always managed to keep the game at a manageable speed for himself. And when other guys maybe rear back and throw harder, he goes the other way. He tries to do it with finesse and feel, really plays on the hitter's emotion.'' -Dodgers manager Joe Torre on pitcher Greg Maddux, who tied Roger Clemens for eighth on career wins list with 354.


SEASONS

Sept. 2

1952 - Miguel Fornieles of the Washington Senators, in his major league debut, pitched a one-hitter for a 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics in the second game of a doubleheader.

1965 - Ernie Banks hit his 400th home run as the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 at Wrigley Field. The blow came off Curt Simmons in the third inning.

1971 - Cesar Cedeno's 200-foot fly ball in the fifth inning fell for an inside-the-park grand slam as second baseman Jim Lefebvre and right fielder Bill Buckner of the Dodgers collided. The hit helped the Houston Astros beat Los Angeles 9-3.

1972 - Milt Pappas of the Chicago Cubs retired 26 consecutive San Diego Padres before walking pinch-hitter Larry Stahl on a 3-2 pitch. Pappas then retired Gary Jestadt to finish an 8-0 no-hitter.

1987 - Houston's Kevin Bass went 4-for-4, including home runs from both sides of plate, and drove in three runs as the Astros posted a 10-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Bass became the first NL player to homer from both sides of the plate twice in one season.

1990 - Dave Stieb, who lost three no-hit bids with one out to go in the previous two seasons, finally pitched one as the Toronto Blue Jays beat Cleveland 3-0. It was the record ninth no-hitter of the season.

1993 - The expansion Colorado Rockies drew 47,699 fans for their 6-1 loss to Montreal to set a single-season NL attendance record with a 62-game total of 3,617,863. Los Angeles set the previous record of 3,608,881 in 1982. Toronto set the major league record of 4,028,318 in 1992.

1996 - Mike Greenwell set a major league record by driving in all nine Boston runs, the final one on a 10th-inning single to give the Red Sox a 9-8 victory over Seattle.

1999 - Cal Ripken hit his 400th career home run, joining an exclusive circle of sluggers. Ripken connected off right-hander Rolando Arrojo in the third inning of the Baltimore Orioles' game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Today's birthdays: Rich Aurilia 29; Luis Gonzalez 33.

[Spooky]

Daily Sports Roundup for Tuesday

The Yankees will be looking to keep their slim playoff chances alive on Tuesday night when they continue their series in Tampa Bay. Here's your Daily Sports Roundup . . .

Event of the day . . .

Mike Mussina has never won 20 games in a single season, but he still has a shot at doing it this year if he can put together a win streak over the month of September.

Mussina (16-7, 3.41 ERA) was denied his 17th victory of the season last time out against the Red Sox despite holding the opposition to two earned runs on five hits over seven innings of work. The Yankees, though, still got the win in that game, and overall they've won each of Mussina's last six trips to the mound (and eight of his past 10).

Countering Mussina for the Rays on Tuesday night will be Matt Garza (11-7, 3.53 ERA), who is coming off a strong performance against the Blue Jays in which he tossed 7 2-3 shutout innings in a win. Tampa Bay has pulled out the victory in four of Garza's last six outings, and the righthander blanked his opponents in three of those six contests.

Non-event of the day . . .

Ian Snell and Aaron Harang were expected to be their team's aces this season, but neither of them has performed up to expectations. Snell is 5-10 with a 5.77 ERA so far this year, while Harang is an ugly 4-14 with a 5.27 ERA. At most one of those two pitchers will be able to add to their loss total on Tuesday, however, as Harang's Reds play host to Snell's Pirates in the opener of a three-game divisional series.

Also on the schedule . . .

The key games between playoff contenders in the National League on Tuesday are the Mets at Milwaukee and St. Louis at Arizona. Other NL games on the day's schedule: Atlanta at Florida, Philadelphia at Washington, Houston at the Cubs, San Francisco at Colorado, and San Diego at the Dodgers.

Over in the American League the Red Sox will be keeping their eyes on the Yankees/Rays results as they play host to the Orioles on Tuesday. Rounding out the AL slate: the White Sox at Cleveland, the Angels at Detroit, Minnesota at Toronto, Seattle at Texas, and Oakland at Kansas City.

Finally, there are three WNBA games on Tuesday as that league gets closer to the end of its regular season. At 7:00pm ET Seattle will be at Atlanta while Washington hosts Indiana. An hour later, New York will tip off their road game against Houston.

News from the wire . . .

Major League Baseball teams were able to expand their rosters on Monday, with many minor leaguers getting the call to the show . . . Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent was placed on the disabled list with a knee injury; no timetable has been set for his return . . . Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson says his shoulder is at 100 percent . . . Bills quarterback Trent Edwards has recovered from his quad injury and will start Week 1.

Peek at the future . . .

It'll be Carl Pavano (2-0, 3.27 ERA) taking on Edwin Jackson (11-8, 3.81) in the Yankees/Rays matchup on Wednesday . . . the Patriots are the NFL's biggest Week 1 favorites, as they've been given a line of -16.5 to beat the Chiefs at home on Sunday afternoon . . . Clint Bowyer has a slim lead on David Ragan in the Sprint Cup standings heading into the final pre-Chase race of the season on Saturday at Richmond.

[Spooky]

HAD A GREAT SEASON ON THE JIMMYTHEGREEKRETURNS BASEBALL TRACKER.

Lets see how I can do here now that I am able to log in.

TUESDAY

DETROIT TIGERS/LA ANGELS OVER 10 RUNS -110

OAKLAND A'S +141

[timbob]

Thanks for the info and BOL on the plays!