Armchair Weekend in Review (July 14-16, 2006)
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by user JB82
Here we go again! Another weekend in the can. Let's go through the garbage together.
MLB Weekend
There were certain themes that developed over the course of the three days.
Friday: Whole Lotta Drama
- Friday provided much excitement as four of the 15 games on Friday's schedule ended either in extra innings or on a walk-off home run.
- Detroit Tigers shortstop Carlos Guillen clubbed a solo shot in the bottom of the 9th to win it 4-3 over the Kansas City Royals. However, the Royals would prevent the Tigers from running the table on them with a 9-6 win on Sunday.
- Chris Tyner delivered a 3-2 win for the Minnesota Twins in the bottom of the 10th with a walk-off RBI single off Cleveland Indians pitcher Edward Mujica.
- Johnny Estrada, Arizona Diamondbacks catcher, proved his All-Star placement by delivering the night's second bye-bye blast (2 runs) in a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Bad news: the D'Backs have lost Craig Counsell for 3-6 weeks due to a busted-up right rib.
- The longest, wildest game of the night pitted Estrada's former mates, the Atlanta Braves, against the San Diego Padres. In the top of the 11th, Adam LaRoche added a game-winning double to his two homers to give the Braves a 15-12 win.
Saturday: "Cy" But No Saves
- Saturday saw many of this year's Cy Young Award candidates, as well as past winners, in action. A few of the highlights:
- Mike Mussina went 6 innings and gave up all of the Chicago White Sox' three runs as the New York Yankees beat the defending World Champions 14-3. Looked more like the New York Giants beating the Chicago Bears.
- Meanwhile, at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox gave Curt Schilling plenty of run support (thanks to David Ortiz' bat) as the Sox shut out the Oakland Athletics 7-0 – or maybe the New England Patriots win on a Tom Brady touchdown pass to Deion Branch. The tuck rule need not apply. ;-)
- Saturday also saw history made in many forms:
- Braves sluggers Andruw and Chipper Jones (no relation) helped make history Saturday night at PETCO Park. The former swatted the longest tater in the ballpark's brief history, while Chipper is the all-time hit man in franchise history, and his 13th consecutive game with an extra-base hit is the longest such streak in almost 80 years. The past Cy Young winner in this game: John Smoltz.
- At AT&T Park, Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins became the youngest player in his team's history to collect 1,000 hits. The youngest before was Greg Luzinski, who reached the plateau on June 12, 1978 at almost 28 years old.
- Speaking of 1978, Saturday was the first time since that year when no saves were recorded during one MLB day.
Sunday: Anything Goes
HISTORY! RHUBARBS! EJECTIONS! INTRIGUE! and finally, A YANKEES SWEEP! Sunday had it all!
- The Braves-Padres series had its share of all four events. Chipper extended his XBH streak to 14, tying Paul Waner's streak set back in 1927, while both teams' managers, Padres bench coach Tony Muser and Braves slugger Jeff Francoeur were all given the gate. Was the guy who umpired the Toronto Blue Jays-Yankees game the last day of April umpiring this one?
- For only the second time this year, the Yankees swept a series. The history in this contest: Mariano "I Wish Billy Wagner Would Get a Difference Entrance Song 'Cos He Don't Know That I'm The Real Sandman" Rivera got his 400th save, putting him within a very strong spit of John Franco on the all-time saves list.
- For all their off-the-field troubles, Brett Myers and Barry Bonds gave good performances on Sunday in the series finale between their respective clubs. Myers put aside his domestic violence charge and pitched well, while Bonds clubbed his 721st career homer and juggled a possible federal perjury indictment at the same time. BTW, the Phils beat the Giants 6-2.
- The New York Mets made all sorts of history on Sunday night at Wrigley Field. In the sixth inning, Cliff Floyd and Carlos Beltran hit grand slams to help turn a 5-2 deficit to a 13-7 win. Also, the 11 runs in that inning were the most by the Metropolitans in team history, and it was the first time since Fernando Tatis of the St. Louis Cardinals clubbed two rye-bread-and-mustards in '99, leading "Mr. Andro" Mark McGwire to comment, "Tatis is the man!"
Tour de France
- It was another wild weekend in the Tour de France. The weekend saw the maillot jaune go from American Floyd Landis to Spaniard Oscar Pereiro. Sunday was marred by a rather frightening crash involving two cyclists on the course between Montélimar and Gap.
Fast Track
- Kyle Busch received his second career win (and his first this year) at Loudon, NH in the Lenox Industrial Tools 300, while Scott Dixon took the IRL IndyCar Series event in Nashville.
Odds and Sods
- Ricky Williams had the week off in a light week for the CFL. The big highlights were a safety ending the British Columbia Lions' 29-28 loss to the Saskatchewan Rough Riders and the undefeated Montreal Alouettes remaining as such with a 44-16 thrashing of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
- The ESPYS were handed out in L.A. Sunday night (though it was taped days earlier): Vince Young, Shaun Alexander, the Pittsburgh Steelers and J-Mac were amongst the winners.
That's all for now
Until next week, let's all be good sports.
Date
Mon 07/17/06, 3:52 pm EST
