B & G's 7/23/09

Baseballs:

**Mark Buerhle, Chicago White Sox- There is nothing else that he could do more perfect than what he did today. 27 up, 27 down, and yes he does owe Dwayne Wise a steak dinner for making a fantastic catch in the 9Th inning. Wow, he didn't walk anyone in 9 innings, and struck out 6. Mark made history and now has a 3. Mark has a 3.28 ERA.

**Jarrod Washburn, Seattle Mariners- Jarrod did the same thing that Felix Hernandez did the night before, shut down the Tigers offense. Jarrod threw 7 shutout innings, he walked 2 and struck out 3. Washburn now has an incredible 2.71 ERA and won his 8Th game.

**Shin-Soo Choo, Cleveland Indians- Choo hit a key triple, his 3rd of the season and drove in 2 runs to give the Indians a lead for good. Choo is now hitting .286 and 56 RBIs.

**Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants- 7 strong innings for the Giants tonight, he gave his team a much needed quality start, only giving up 1 run (1 earned), he did walk 5 and struck out 6. But the key is Barry gave his team the chance to win. He now has a 4.68 ERA.

**Jayson Werth, Philadelphia Phillies- Jayson had a great night at the plate, he finished up 3-5 with 2 doubles and he drove in a run, his 62Nd RBI. Jayson now is hitting .271.

**Skip Shumaker, St. Louis Cardinals- In a rain shortened game, Skip finished off 2-1 with a walk and 2 doubles. He drove in his 24Th run of the season and now is hitting .307.

**C.C. Sabathia, New York Yankees- C.C. overpowered the team he grew up rooting for and this is big news since in his career, he is awful against the Athletics. 7 solid innings, giving up 3 runs (3 earned), he didn't walk anyone and struck out 4. Sabathia only threw 109 pitches and he probably could have went another inning. He has a 3.67 ERA.

**Mark Reynolds- Mark finished the night 3-4 With a walk, Mark is hitting .276 on the season.

**Chone Figgins, Los Angeles Angels- Chone went 3-6 tonight, he drove in his 34Th run of the season, Chone is hitting .313 on the season.

Goofballs:

**Tamp Bay Rays Offense- Let's face it, Mark deserves every bit of credit for his perfect game, but the Rays deserve every bit of a goofball too. They struck out 6 times, hit the ball hard a few times, but the bottom line was nothing dropped for them.

**Detroit Tigers Offense- The Tigers only squandered 3 hits today, they scored 1 run, but never had much of a threat.

**Jays Defense- 2 errors, 1 by Jose Bautista (2Nd) and Shawn Camp (1st) allowed 3 unearned runs to score.

**Braves Defense- Ryan Church committed an error (2Nd) and reliever Peter Moylan (3rd) each committed errors that allowed the Braves relievers to give up 4 unearned runs in the 8Th inning. When defense costs your club the game, you won't have a chance to win.

**Kevin Correia- Kevin was bad in the 4Th inning, only lasted 3 1/3 innings, he gave up 8 runs (8 earned), walked 3 and struck out 2. Kevin now has a 4.84 ERA.

**Washington Nationals Offense- They had their chances tonight, 1 run on 8 hits. Of course we can also blame Mother Nature for causing the rain delay, but nah, we'll also give a goofball to the Nats.

**Vin Mazzaro, Oakland Athletics- He did have to wait out a 2 hour and 45 minute rain delay, but so did C.C. He lasted 4 1/3 innings, giving up 6 runs (6 earned), he walked 4 and struck out 6. Vin now has a 4.75 ERA and has lost his 7Th straight decision.

**Evan Meek & John Grabow, Pittsburgh Pirates- They both gave up 5 runs (2 by Meek) and (3 by Grabow). Meek struck out 1 and he now has a 2.85 ERA. Grabow has a 3.65 ERA.

**Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins- Joe blew his 3rd save of the season, giving up 2 runs (2 earned) and he now has a 1.64 ERA.