Now that the Los Angeles Angels apparently have straightened out setup man Scot Shields, it’s time to get closer Francisco Rodriguez back on track. Rodriguez blew another save for John Lackey in the ninth inning, giving up a tying home run to Ryan Garko. But Kendry Morales lined a single past a drawn-in infield in the 10th, helping the Angels beat the Cleveland Indians 3-2 on Friday night.
Clint Hurdle has a deep bullpen thanks to September callups. He almost needed more. The Colorado Rockies used 10 pitchers in a 10-4 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night, a National League record for a nine-inning game. The only other time that many pitchers were used in a nine-inning game was when the Baltimore Orioles used 10 against the New York Yankees on Sept.
Brandon Webb was good enough, and his bullpen was better. Webb outpitched Adam Wainwright to earn his 15th victory, and the Arizona relievers blanked the Cardinals in the final three innings in the Diamondbacks’ 4-2 victory Friday night. The win, coupled with San Diego’s loss at Colorado, boosted Arizona’s NL West lead to two games over the Padres.
Kenny Wallace is best known as the funny brother.
Kyle Busch led four times and for all but 25 laps and even made overtime look easy at Richmond International Raceway on Friday night, earning his ninth career NASCAR Busch Series victory and second of the season.
The San Francisco Giants’ first walkoff home run of 2007 came in September, and from Dan Ortmeier of all people. Ortmeier, a rookie switch-hitter not even on the opening day roster, hit a game-winning solo homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Giants past the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 on Friday night to end an 11-game home losing streak to their archrivals.
The Chicago Cubs picked a bad night to run into a pitcher who almost always gives them problems. Tom Gorzelanny allowed one run over seven effective innings and Jack Wilson homered while driving in three runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat Chicago 6-1 Friday night, the slumping Cubs’ fourth loss in five games.
Curtis Granderson joined the likes of Willie Mays and George Brett. He was able to relish the accomplishment, too, because it helped the Detroit Tigers in the wild-card race. Granderson’s homer put him in elite company and Justin Verlander gave up one run over eight innings as Detroit beat the Seattle Mariners 6-1 Friday night for its first three-game winning streak in nearly two months.
Shawne Merriman doesn’t want to get drawn into a verbal exchange with the Chicago Bears. The defending NFC champions haven’t been shy about goading Merriman in advance of Sunday’s season opener at Qualcomm Stadium. “I would like to say a bunch of things,” Merriman said Friday. “And that starts all the way to the top and all the way to the bottom.
Bengals defensive end Frostee Rucker won’t have to serve a one-game suspension from the NFL, but will miss the season opener anyway because of a lingering hamstring injury. The league proposed a one-game suspension after Rucker settled a domestic violence case in April. Rucker’s agents appealed on grounds that the incident occurred while he was a college student.
