Braves 7, Reds 0: Tommy Hanson shuts out the Reds over six innings. Not that he was brilliant or anything. He threw a lot of pitches, got into jams and all of the kind of stuff you see young kids do. But it's all good, because even when he's been getting lit up like a pinball machine, he has continued to play this game with fear and ignorance. No wait, arrogance.

Padres 4, Mariners 3: The Padres jump on Adrian Gonzalez's back (4-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) and finally win an interleague game. Don Wakamatsu on pitching to Gonzalez: "He ends up hitting a home run and a double when we are trying to pitch around him. That is the most frustrating part." Chris Jakubauskas on pitching to Gonzalez: "I wasn't trying to pitch around him." OK, someone's lying and no one is leaving this room until we find out who it is.

Rockies 4, Rays 3: Jim Tracy on Ubaldo Jiminez: "Ubaldo is a guy who is beginning to find his niche. I still believe there's still another step on the ladder that he aspires to take and that is to become a bona fide ace-stopper type starting pitcher in the Rockies rotation." That was his real postgame quote? It sounds like a book blurb or a marketing statement or something. I think the "in the Rockies' rotation" is what sealed it. It just sounds weird. Does Tracy really talk like that?

Astros 5, Rangers 3: I was trying to make a funny yesterday when I said that the loser of this series wins the State of Texas. I guess it wasn't too funny, though, because someone emailed me to tell me that I was being both ignorant and disrespectful. That's nothing new, but at least the emailer educated me a bit. The winner of this series wins "The Silver Boot." It's a a 30-inch tall, size-15 cowboy boot cast in silver, complete with a custom, hand-made spur. How very college football of them. I wonder if the Rangers, who once again won the Silver Boot, came running out of the dugout after the game, grabbed the boot and started whooping it up like Wisconsin does with that axe after they beat Minnesota and vice-versa.

Tigers 6, Cardinals 3: Magglio rode the pine, and will continue to do so "indefinitely" according to Jim Leyland. His replacement, Ryan Rayburn, was 0-3 and struck out twice. Game story: "Albert Pujols grounded out as a pinch hitter for hot-hitting rookie Colby Rasmus in the seventh and played first base the rest of the game and flied out in the ninth. La Russa wanted to get him a day off, plus he has a sore ankle." Two at bats and a couple of innings in the field doesn't sound like much of a day off to me, but then again, I'm not a genius like Tony La Russa.

Twins 5, Pirates 1: Nick Blackburn (CG, 6 H, 1 ER) was the man, as he basically has been in the Twins rotation all year. After the game, pitching coach Rick Anderson said "He's basically been the stabilizer." So, is Blackburn's new nickname "gelatin" or "carrageenan?" That's a little food additive humor for ya. Additives -- NOT preservatives.

Nationals 3, Yankees 0: A five and a half hour rain delay? Really? Waiting around for this game to start lasted longer than the travel and suit-up time a makeup game would have taken. This is fun too "about 10,000 people were sprinkled around the ballpark for the first pitch. When the Yankees announced fans could move down, there was a stampede toward the $2,625 seats in the front row. By the end, the upper deck and bleachers were virtually empty." Part of me hopes that the peasants ransacked the manor houses while their owners were away.

Blue Jays 8, Phillies 7: Rod Barajas hits the game winning home run in the ninth. Apparently Barajas is hated in Philly despite having played there for only one season and despite being Rod Barajas. Anyone care to educate me as to the reason for the ire? Because from where I'm sitting, this is the equivalent of Braves fans hating Paul Bako or Charlie O'Brien or someone. How can the response to a guy like Barajas -- who played all of 48 games for the Phillies -- be anything other than slightly peeved indifference?

Orioles 5, Mets 4: Francisco Rodriguez and his tired act came into the game to lock things down in the ninth, except they didn't get locked down. Matt Wieters doubled to kick things off. Dave Trembley then sent in a pinch runner for him, and was amazingly allowed to live. The pinch runner scored, so maybe it was all willed by Wieters that way to begin with. In any event, an Adam Jones bases-loaded walk followed by an Aubrey Huff liner ended the proceedings.

Cubs 6, White Sox 5: A wild come from behind win by the Cubbies. Down 5-1 in the eighth, Derek Lee hit a three-run homer followed by a solo shot from Geovany Soto to tie things up. In the ninth it was Alfonso Soriano with an RBI single. If he didn't get that, I wouldn't have been surprised to see Piniella give him the Magglio Ordonez treatment.

Marlins 2, Red Sox 1: They called this one early due to rain. Because it was the Red Sox, however, the game still took three hours and twenty-six minutes.

Diamondbacks 12, Royals 5: After two great starts following his second callup, Luke Hochevar reverted to May form, giving up seven runs on nine hits in four innings. Danny Haren, meanwhile, held the Royals to two runs on seven hits, struck out six and didn't issue a walk in seven innings.

Dodgers 3, A's 2: Randy Wolf pitched well but got another no-decision. Pfun Pfact: Vin Mazzaro is the first A's pitcher with two sacrifices in one game since Ken Holtzman on Aug. 27, 1972. I hate the DH.