Pirates over Astros, 2 games to 1

Moving the Needle: Sunday, Ryan Doumit brings the Pirates all the way back with a three-run shot, +.596 WPA. Now this is the kind of WPA swing I’m talkin’ ’bout. The Pirates had a 2-0 lead in this one, but the second the bullpen entered the game things got dicey. As in, the bullpen blew the lead and left the Pirates down 4-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth. But after a single and a walk Doumit absolutely crushed one, putting his team on top 5-4. Joel Hanrahan closed it out, giving the Pirates the game and the weekend advantage.

Notable Pitching

Charlie Morton: 7.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 HR, 12 GB.

James McDonald: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K. He really needed this one. That’s three straight serviceable starts for him. Now, if only he could pitch into the seventh.

Astros 3, Pirates 2
Pirates 6, Astros 1
Pirates 5, Astros 4

Also in this issue: Angels over Indians | Reds over Cubs | Rays over Orioles | Nationals over Marlins | Red Sox over Twins | Mets over Dodgers | White Sox over Mariners | Yankees over Rangers | Cardinals over Brewers | Tigers over Blue Jays | Padres over Diamondbacks | A’s over Royals | Braves over Phillies | Giants over Rockies

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Indians 4, A’s 3

Moving the Needle: Ryan Sweeney doubles home the tying run and sets up more, +.392 WPA. Down 2-1 in the eighth, the A’s started to rally, putting runners on first and second with one out. Sweeney came through with a bloop to left that brought the tying run around and set up second and third, giving them a chance to go ahead without a hit. But they didn’t take the lead, and it cost them in extras. Craig Brewslow surrendered two in the 12th, and while Sweeney drove in a run to cut the deficit, Hideki Matsui cold not come through to bring home the runner from third with two outs.

Notables

Brett Anderson: 9 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 0 HR, 20 GB. Seriously, standing O for Anderson. Tough luck in this one.

Jack Hannahan: 1 for 5. That’s not much in the box score, but he drove in the go-ahead run in the 12th.

Lou Marson: 3 for 5, 1 3B. His 12th inning single also gave the Indians a needed insurance run.

Also in this issue: Angels 11, Red Sox 0 | Diamondbacks 3, Rockies 2 | Tigers 6, Yankees 3 | Braves 2, Brewers 1 | Royals 9, Orioles 1 | Reds 10, Astros 4 | Mets 5, Giants 2 | Mariners 3, Rangers 1 | Phillies 7, Nationals 3 | Rays 3, Blue Jays 1 | Cardinals 6, Marlins 3

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Honestly, this is the definitive moment of the game. Hat tip to Dustin Parkes at The Score.

Moving the Needle: Jacoby Ellsbury ties the game in the ninth, +.417 WPA. If you’re going to watch an archived game, or even a condensed game, may I suggest this one. It had a little bit of everything. On the downside, it had rain. But there was more than enough upside. The Red Sox didn’t pick up their first hit until the seventh inning, while neither team scored until the top half of that inning. The Angels took a 3-1 lead into the ninth and blew it, and a crazy play factored in heavily. And then there was some extra inning gold. I think I need another paragraph to describe it.

A walk and a hit by pitch were Ervin Santana’s only blemishes through four innings. Unfortunately for him, the rains came to Boston and they had a lengthy delay, far too long to even consider putting him back in. That left the job to Rich Thompson, who pitched two hitless innings of his own. But with one out in the seventh, then facing Scott Downs, Jed Lowrie picked up a single. Nothing came of it, but something did the next inning when Jason Varitek doubled off of Fernando Rodney. Oops. Adrian Gonzalez knocked him in, cutting the lead to one. The Angels added one in the ninth, which they really, really ended up needing.

Lowrie walks to open the ninth, and Mike Cameron singles him to second. Here’s where reading the play-by-play might not fully explain everything. Jordan Walden delivered a pitch in the dirt, and Hank Conger couldn’t keep it in front of him. The runners tried to advance, and Alberto Callapso couldn’t handle the throw. It kicked off him and towards Erik Aybar at short. Lowrie took off for home and would make it easily, but the same couldn’t be said for Cameron. The Angels cut him down at third, leading to the largest negative WPA swing of the game, -.221 (because even though a run scored they needed another one and now had no runners on with only two outs remaining).

Carl Crawford, who was at bat during this fiasco, ended up doubling and then scoring on Ellsbury’s single. In extras the Red Sox had the walk-off run in scoring position in both the 10th and the 12th, but failed to bring him home. That opened the door for the Angels in the 13th, as they loaded the bases for Bobby Abreu, who singled past a diving Dustin Pedroia and put his team ahead by two.

I don’t do this a lot, but this was seriously worth the effort.

Notables

Ervin Santana: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K. Of all the starts to get shut down by rain.

Hank Conger: 3 for 4, 1 2B, 1 BB. On base four times and he neither scored nor drove in a run.

Daniel Bard: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K. Some nice relief work to keep the game knotted at zero.

Also in this issue: Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 4 | Twins 3, White Sox 2 | Braves 8, Brewers 3 | Braves 8, Brewers 0 | Tigers 4, Yankees 0 | Orioles 3, Royals 2 | Reds 3, Astros 2 | A’s 3, Indians 1 | Cubs 5, Dodgers 1 | Rangers 5, Mariners 2 | Giants 2, Mets 0 | Blue Jays 3, Rays 2 | Phillies 7, Nationals 4 | Marlins 8, Cardinals 7 | Pirates 7, Padres 4

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No legs were broken in this celebration.

Twins 1, White Sox 0

Moving the Needle: Jason Kubel homers, +.123 WPA. His fourth homer of the season was all the Twins needed in this one. Well, that and some nice work on defense.

Notables

Francisco Liriano: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 6 BB, 2 K, 9 GB. Yes, that’s 20 balls in play and only nine on the ground for Liriano. Another nine were hit in the air, though to be fair four of them were of the infield variety. And yet, no hits. Yes, it’s a rare achievement that he’ll remember for the rest of his life. But that he did this on a night when he didn’t do the two things that normally help him win ballgames — strike out guys and get ground balls — says as much about the current state of the White Sox offense as it does Liriano himself.

Edwin Jackson: 8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 12 GB. Just 4 K in 17 IP for Liriano and Jackson? Yikes. It must have been odd for Jackson, being on the other side of a walkathon no-hitter.

Also in this issue: Red Sox 7, Angels 3 | Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 3 | Astros 10, Reds 4 | Tigers 4, Yankees 2 | Cubs 4, Dodgers 1 | Royals 6, Orioles 5 | Giants 7, Mets 6 | Indians 4, A’s 1 | Phillies 4, Nationals 1 | Mariners 4, Rangers 3 | Cardinals 7, Marlins 5 | Rays 3, Blue Jays 2 | Padres 6, Pirates 5

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A’s 5, Rangers 4

Moving the Needle: Hideki Matsui ends it with a homer, +.375 WPA. Same as last season, Matsui is off to a slow start in 2011. He had only one hit in this game, but he made it count. On the first pitch of the 10th inning he took Darren Oliver deep, ending the game just like that. It was the A’s third home run of the day, each of which led off an inning.

Notables

Brandon McCarthy : 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Notable, because those unearned runs aren’t exactly fair. McCarthy committed the two errors that rendered them unearned.

Kurt Suzuki: 2 for 4, 1 HR. That’s his third homer of the year, but second of the Texas series. In total he was 6 for 16.

Derek Holland: 7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 12 GB. The ground balls will lead to hits, but they’ll also keep runners moving station to station. This will bring down his ERA a bit, but it’s still considerably higher than his FIP and xFIP.

Also in this issue: Red Sox 9, Angels 5 | Braves 6, Brewers 2 | White Sox 6, Orioles 2 | Dodgers 5, Cubs 2 | Yankees 5, Tigers 3 | Nationals 2, Giants 2 | Marlins 6, Cardinals 5 | Pirates 4, Padres 3

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Cardinals over Braves, 2 games to 1

Moving the Needle: Nick Punto breaks the tie in extra innings, +.449 WPA. Each of these three games turned in the ninth inning or later, making it probably the best series of the weekend. It started on Friday night when Daniel Descalso hit a sac fly to tie the game in the ninth. The two sides then played an eventless 10th before the Cardinals jumped ahead in the 11th. A hit by pitch and walk put the go-ahead runners on base, and Punto brought them home with a triple into the right field corner. The Cardinals would win with another triple on Saturday before dropping the game in the ninth on Sunday.

Notable Pitching

Brandon Beachy: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 HR.

Cardinals 5, Braves 3
Cardinals 3, Braves 2
Braves 6, Cardinals 5

Also in this issue: Mariners over Red Sox | Cubs over Diamondbacks | Orioles over White Sox | Indians over Tigers | Marlins over Reds | Royals over Twins | Pirates over Rockies | Yankees over Blue Jays | Astros over Brewers | A’s over Rangers | Padres over Dodgers | Angels over Rays | Nationals over Giants | Phillies over Mets

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Note: This is the last TMA of the week, as I’ll be out of town until Monday.

And the fans in New York already hate Soriano.

White Sox 3, Yankees 2

Moving the Needle: Paul Konerko turns a deficit into a lead, +.420 WPA. The whole plan of having a closer in the setup role hasn’t worked out too well for the Yankees so far. Rafael Soriano had another rough outing, this time blowing a 2-1 lead in the eighth on the Konerko homer, a no-doubter out to left. Soriano has made 11 appearances for the Yankees, but has only a single 1-2-3 inning. The Yankees did make some noise in the ninth, but Brent Lillibridge made a pair of stellar catches to save the game. If he misses either the Yankees at least tie it.

Notables

Brett Gardner: 1 for 3, 1 HR. In a game full of offensive utility, a homer from Gardner, his second in four days, is going to make the notables.

Gavin Floyd: 8 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 2 HR. Just domination, through and through. The Sox pitching has apparently spread the team’s offensive utility to the Yankees.

Also in this issue: Angels 8, A’s 3 | Diamondbacks 7, Phillies 5 | Orioles 4, Red Sox 1 | Rockies 4, Cubs 3 | Indians 9, Royals 4 | Marlins 4, Dodgers 2 | Mariners 7, Tigers 3 | Astros 6, Cardinals 5 | Brewers 3, Reds 2 | Blue Jays 10, Rangers 3 | Mets 6, Nationals 4 | Giants 3, Pirates 2 | Braves 8, Padres 2

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Pss…ball’s behind you, Jamey.

Marlins 5, Dodgers 4

Moving the Needle: Jamey Carroll can’t handle the slow bouncer, -.437 WPA. The Dodgers appeared to have this one. They staved off a rally in the eighth and then sent out Jonathan Broxton to close it in the ninth. He got the first two guys, but then walked Emilio Bonifacio. How one does that, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, I do not know. That set up Hanley Ramirez to pinch hit, and he delivered a single to put runners on first and third. Scott Cousins came up next, and he hit a slow bouncer to short. But Carroll whiffed on it, allowing the tying run to score. Two batters later, Omar Infante delivered the single that won it for the Marlins.

Notables

Chris Coghlan: 3 for 4, 2 HR, 1 BB. The walk was an intentional one in the ninth, which was a smart move, considering his two previous homers and the open base at first (and the meaninglessness of Coghlan’s run).

Jon Garland: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 2 HR. The two Coghlan homers were all he surrendered.

Also in this issue: Angels 5, A’s 0 | Diamondbacks 4, Phillies 0 | White Sox 2, Yankees 0 | Rockies 5, Cubs 3 | Blue Jays 6, Rangers 4 | Reds 9, Brewers 5 | Pirate 4, Nationals 2 | Padres 5, Braves 3 |

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Marlins over Rockies, 2 games to 1

Moving the Needle: Mike Stanton gets his groove back with a monster three-run shot, +.379 WPA. As we see so often, the Sunday rubber match between the Rockies and the Marlins proved the main event. Three times the WPA swung more than 25%. Omar Infante provided the first score in the fifth. He came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, scored tied at zero. A triple cleared the bases and put the Marlins ahead. Then, in the top of the eighth, Troy Tulowitzki — who else? — doubled home the tying run. Finally, in the bottom half the Marlins put a couple of runners on with two outs for Mike Stanton, who hit one way out to left. It was technically only the third-longest of the day, at 420 feet, but it seemed like it was a lot further than that.

Notable Pitching

Anibal Sanchez: 9 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 K. He held his no-hitter through eight, and still managed to complete the game.

Jason Hammel: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 0 HR, 11 GB. A fine performance in a game where the Rockies just couldn’t afford to give up many runs.

Josh Johnson: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. The question is now whether any of Johnson’s starts won’t make the notables section.

Marlins 4, Rockies 1
Rockies 3, Marlins 1
Marlins 6, Rockies 3

Also in this issue: Red Sox over Angels | Dodgers over Cubs | Yankees over Orioles | Marlins over Rockies | Tigers over White Sox | Brewers over Astros | Twins over Indians | Mets over Diamondbacks | Rangers over Royals | Cardinals over Reds | Rays over Blue Jays | Phillies over Padres | Braves over Giants | A’s over Mariners |

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Yeah, that wasn’t predictable

Dodgers 5, Braves 3

Moving the Needle: David Ross puts the Braves ahead with a two-out, RBI single, +.619 WPA. Really, I covered the entire story here. It was a huge moment for the Braves, as they came back after having none on and two outs against the Dodgers’ ace. But it ended in tragedy when their own manager made a questionable decision in extras.

Notables

Clayton Kershaw: 8.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 7 K, 1 HR. Really, this would have looked a ton better if Mattingly had removed Kershaw after eight. But he had allowed so few baserunners to that point — just two hits and a few walks — that the decision was understandable.

Casey Blake: 3 for 6, 1 HR. I think that every time Blake does something awesome from now on someone will bring up the Santana trade. It was just that ridiculous.

Matt Kemp: Again, read the above-linked story for the story of Kemp’s walk-off bomb.

Also in this issue: Red Sox 4, Angels 2 | Reds 7, Diamondbacks 4 | Twins 3, Orioles 1 | Marlins 9, Pirates 5 | Royals 3, Indians 2 | Mariners 1, A’s 0 | Mets 9, Astros 1 | White Sox 9, Rays 2 | Cardinals 5, Nationals 0 | Phillies 3, Padres 0

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