| Login |
| Resources |
charleissoprt 5/3 mlb picks & mlb free picks content HOME - SPORTS NEWS MLB PLAYOFFS SPORT NEWS ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - John Lackey has lost count of how many victories Francisco Rodriguez has saved for him. So when the All-Star closer blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning on Wednesday, Lackey took it easy on him. ''That's not going to happen too often. I can't wait to hand him the ball the next time I've got the lead in the ninth,'' Lackey said after the Los Angeles Angels pulled out a 7-6 win over the Oakland Athletics on a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth by Maicer Izturis . ''It would have been nice to get the win, but the team got it,'' Lackey said after he was denied his 13th victory. ''Right now we just need to win games. It doesn't matter how they look or how it happens. Frankie's a great closer. There was just some weird stuff that happened in that inning.'' Rodriguez (4-2) took the ball with a 6-3 cushion before Travis Buck ignited the three-run rally with a bloop double and scored on a fielder's choice grounder by Nick Swisher . Mike Piazza helped fuel the rally with a broken-bat single, Rodriguez forced in another run with a bases-loaded walk to Mark Kotsay and Marco Scutaro tied it with a sacrifice fly. ''I didn't get the job done,'' Rodriguez said after his third blown save in 28 chances. ''My pitching was fine, but I just couldn't control what happened. They got some bloop hits and broken-bat hits and it all fell apart. ''It's a relief that we won. It would have been much worse if we lost. But I've got to step up and put zeros on the boards. I've got to make sure this doesn't happen again, because they pay me to save games - not get wins.'' Casey Kotchman singled with one out in the Angels' ninth, advanced to second on a groundout, took third on a passed ball by Rob Bowen and scored when Izturis rapped a 2-1 pitch to left field against Joe Kennedy (3-9). Kennedy dropped to 1-10 lifetime against the Angels. His only win against them came on Monday night, when he pitched two scoreless innings and was awarded the victory after starter Chad Gaudin was pulled in the fourth with a 9-5 lead. While Piazza was in the on-deck circle, he was struck by a water bottle thrown by a fan several rows up. The game was stopped briefly while a furious Piazza used his bat to point out the culprit to the umpires and security people. The bottle-thrower was escorted out while a few of Piazza's teammates calmed him down. ''It hit me partly on the back of the head and partly on the helmet where the ear flap is nonexistent. That's why I'm going to press charges on him,'' said Piazza, who homered in the fifth inning. ''It was a gutless move, but what are you going to do? Once they started asking who it was, he just tried to run away - so there you go. Hopefully he'll spend the night in jail. I mean, in this day and age, you shouldn't be surprised. But there's just no excuse for that. It's absolutely ridiculous.'' Before the game, the A's placed injury-prone shortstop Bobby Crosby on the 15-day disabled list with a broken left hand. He was hit by a fastball from Justin Speier in the eighth inning of Oakland's 4-3 victory Tuesday night. Crosby, the 2004 AL Rookie of the Year, is on the DL for the fifth time in the past three seasons. The AL West-leading Angels grabbed a 5-3 lead with three runs in the fifth. After Piazza's homer put Oakland up 3-2, Chone Figgins tied it with an RBI double, Reggie Willits scored the go-ahead run on Orlando Cabrera 's groundout and Garret Anderson followed with an RBI single. In the top of the inning, Piazza drove an 0-1 pitch to center field for his 422nd homer. All three of his home runs this season have come at Angel Stadium, including a three-run drive Monday night against Dustin Moseley and a tiebreaking solo homer off Rodriguez in the ninth inning of a 4-3 win April 5. Joe Blanton gave up five runs and 11 hits in six innings, becoming the first Oakland pitcher to allow at least 10 hits in four consecutive starts since Rick Langford in 1982. Blanton has a 6.75 ERA during that stretch, after leading the AL in June with a 1.58 mark. Lackey allowed three runs, seven hits and four walks in six innings with seven strikeouts. Notes: Angels manager Mike Scioscia left struggling slugger Vladimir Guerrero out of the lineup so he could get back-to-back days off before the team began a series against Detroit. Guerrero, who won the Home Run Derby during the All-Star break, is homerless in 97 at-bats over his last 24 games - the longest drought of his big league career. The Angels have two home runs in their last 18 games, and are 10-15 since Guerrero's last home run on June 23. The eight-time All-Star averaged 36.2 homers over the previous nine seasons, and has 14 this year. ... The Athletics have used the DL 18 times this season - the most since 1997, when they used it 21 times. ... Donnie Murphy , recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to replace Crosby on the 25-man roster, started at shortstop and was 1-for-3 with an RBI double and an error. Bound for the Hall BALTIMORE (AP) -- With the numbers 2-6-3-2 posted on the warehouse beyond the right-field wall at Camden Yards, Cal Ripken Jr. gripped the baseball and threw the ceremonial first pitch toward home plate. Eddie Murray caught it, walked toward Ripken, shook his hand and accepted a hug. One member of the Hall of Fame embracing someone slated to join the exclusive fraternity on Sunday. The Baltimore Orioles held a tribute for Ripken on Tuesday night before their game against Tampa Bay. Camden Yards was nearly filled, and it had nothing to do with the matchup between the fourth- and fifth-place teams in the AL East. It was about giving Ripken a proper sendoff to Cooperstown. "I'm just here to help him celebrate. He did all the work," said Earl Weaver, Ripken's first manager. The event was attended by Murray, Weaver, Brooks Robinson and Robin Roberts, all of whom played for the Orioles and are now in the Hall of Fame. The Orioles and Devil Rays watched from the top step of their respective dugouts, many of them applauding the player known as the Iron Man. After a video tribute, Ripken entered from right field seated atop the passenger seat of a white Corvette. The car appeared to move slower than Ripken did when he took a lap around Camden Yards after he broke Lou Gehrig's record of playing 2,130 consecutive games -- a feat recognized by the numbers 2-1-3-1 on the warehouse. Ripken voluntarily ended the streak ended at 2,632, the new standard for longevity. As the Corvette moved forward, Ripken tossed baseballs to children in the crowd. He then got out of the car, walked on an orange carpet toward the pitcher's mound and delivered a speech that was surely more succinct than the one he will give Sunday at his induction. Referring to the standing ovation he received during his entrance, he said, "For a brief moment, when you guys were standing up, I had a flashback moment. You guys clapped for about 22 minutes that night (he broke Gehrig's record). And you forced me to run around this ballpark and shake everybody's hand. It ain't happening tonight!" Since his election in January, Ripken has shook thousands of hands and accepted congratulations from people around the world. This celebration was a little bit more special, however, because it came in the ballpark where he spent the final 10 years of his amazing career. He ended his speech by quoting one of the players he idolized. "I guess I'll take a little page out of Brooks Robinson's speech when he said goodbye," Ripken said. "It's been a wonderful 21 years sharing it all with you, and I only wish I had 21 more to give you." Beforehand, Ripken spoke of being overwhelmed by all the attention he's received over the past few months. "I think some attention is good, makes you feel good. A pat on the back helps every once in a while," he said. "It will be a sense of relief when it's all over. I'll want to go back to a more normal environment where I'm not saying thank you and being congratulated every other minute." That's not the only reason Ripken is looking forward to finally taking his place in baseball's ultimate shrine. "For the most part, it's a collection of people who played the game, real people, almost like going to an All-Star game and sitting in that clubhouse and looking around at the guys you play against," he said. "Except this All-Star team is players who played in different eras and at different times. Everyone that been inducted into the Hall of Fame says the best part is hanging out with the Hall of Famers. It's a special club."
|