Derek Jeter got a standing ovation — when he came on the field for his pregame wind sprints at the start of a very long day. He didn't give fans more to cheer about, failing to gain ground on Lou Gehrig. Jeter went 0 for 8 with a walk and remained three hits behind the Iron Horse as the New York Yankees swept a day-night doubleheader from the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 and 11-1 Monday.
Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw was scratched from his scheduled Friday start after bruising his right shoulder during pregame warmups before Sunday's game. Kershaw, 8-8 with a 2.89 ERA, ran into an auxiliary scoreboard in Dodger Stadium while shagging fly balls during batting practice.
Brad Penny is back in a pennant race in the familiar NL West and he's making his mark for everybody to see — and hear. The pumped-up Penny dazzled in his home debut and endeared himself with the crowd by showing some emotion, Juan Uribe homered twice, tripled and drove in five runs and the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 9-4 on Monday.
Manny Ramirez showed off a faux trophy ball in the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse Monday, then signed it. "This is the ball I was thrown of the game on," he said with a smile. Like the Dodgers, Ramirez could laugh about it after a 7-2 victory over Arizona. Ramirez hit his 17th home run in the second inning but was ejected by home plate Doug Eddings in the third after striking out.
The Colorado Rockies escaped with a win on Ian Stewart's tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning. Now, they're hoping to avoid a bigger loss — Troy Tulowitzki. The NL wild card-leading Rockies rallied for a 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday despite losing their smooth-fielding shortstop.
Mark Buehrle was perfect. And then, for six weeks, he was winless. Buehrle won for the first time since his gem on July 23, ending his eight-start drought by pitching the Chicago White Sox over the Boston Red Sox 5-1 Monday. As if he needed a reminder, his teammates let Buehrle know how long it had been.
Hunter Pence heads straight to the weight room after most games. Makes sense, because he provided the muscle in the Houston Astros' four-game sweep of Philadelphia. Pence homered and drove in three runs on Monday in the Astros' 4-3 win over the NL East leaders. The Houston right fielder went 6 for 13 in the series with three home runs and eight RBIs.
Derek Jeter got a standing ovation — when he came on the field for his pregame wind sprints. He didn't give fans more to cheer about, failing to gain ground on Lou Gehrig. Jeter went 0 for 4 and remained three hits behind the Iron Horse as the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in the opener of Monday's day-night doubleheader.
Chris Carpenter kept throwing strike after strike. Mostly unhittable ones. Carpenter pitched a one-hitter, allowing only a clean double to Jody Gerut in the fifth inning, and struck out 10 as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0 Monday. "Unless it's a certain situation late in the ballgame, or you have a chance to lose the game, or change the game, I'm going to come…
The Pittsburgh Pirates' not-so-magic number is zero, or the number of winning teams they've had during a record-setting run of futility over 17 forgettable seasons. The Chicago Cubs assured the Pirates of an unwanted place in baseball's record book, getting two homers from Derrek Lee and an effective start from Ted Lilly while beating the last-place Pirates 4-2 on Monday.
