MySports Today

John Smoltz and Brad Penny are shining in their new homes outside of the bright lights of Fenway Park in Boston.

In 3 starts with the Cardinals, Smoltz is 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA and miniscule 0.82 WHIP.  He suffered his 1st loss on Thursday when he gave up 4 ER on 6 hits over 6 innings.  In his previous 2 starts (both Cardinals wins), Smoltz gave up just 1 ER on 7 hits over 11 innings pitched.  He also struck out a combined 15 batters in those 2 games against the lowly Padres and Nationals.  The Cardinals have all but locked up the NL Central division, and Smoltz will be a welcome arm for the Cardinals in the post-season.  It will be interesting to see if Manager Tony LaRussa goes with Smoltz as a #3 (ahead of 14-gaem winner Joel Pineiro) or as a #4 in October.

In his 1st start with the Giants, Brad Penny earned the win with 8 scoreless innings against the Phillies, giving up just 5 hits and 1 walk.  Penny pounded the strike zone throughout the game, needing just 103 pitches to go the 8 innings.  As a point of reference, Penny pitched into the 7th inning only 2 times in 24 starts for the Red Sox in 2009 (7-8 record, 5.61 ERA & 1.53 WHIP).  The Giants are looking for Penny to serve as the team’s #4 behind Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Barry Zito.  With more starts like that, the Giants could have one of the deepest starting pitching staffs for the post-season if they can overcome the Rockies for the NL Wild Card lead.

We’ll see if it holds up for the remainder of the season, but these guys are veteran major league pitchers and with prior success for each in the National League, it’s not surprising that both are thriving back in the light-hitting NL.

The American League defeated the National League 4-3 in the 2009 MLB All-Star Game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.  The AL is now 12-0-1 since its last defeat back in Philadelphia back in 1996.  The last time the NL didn’t lose was at Miller Park in Milwaukee in 2002 when the two leagues tied 7-7 after 11 innings.

The AL jumped on NL starter Tim Lincecum right off the bat with a single by Ichiro Suzuki and a HBP by Derek Jeter.  After a Joe Mauer groundout that forced out Ichiro at 3rd base, Derek Jeter scored the game’s 1st run on a fielder’s choice error by home town hero Albert Pujols at 1st base.  Jason Bay then followed with a single to center field that loaded the bases, and the AL scored another run on a Josh Hamilton fielder’s choice groundout.  Hamilton avoided getting doubled up at 1st to allow Mauer to score.

The NL scored all 3 of their runs in the 2nd inning and took a 3-2 lead.  After 2 quick hits, the NL put together 4 straight hits off AL starter Roy Halladay to take the lead.  David Wright and Shane Victorino singled, and home town Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina delivered an RBI single to center field that allowed Wright and Victorino to score after a Hamilton throwing error.  Prince Fielder then pinch-hit for Lincecum and put the NL ahead with an RBI double to left field that scored Molina.  But the NL offense disappeared the rest of the way, as 22 of their final 24 batters failed to reach base.

The AL tied the game in the 5th inning off of Chad Billingsley on a Joe Mauer double that scored Derek Jeter.  With the game tied at 3 in the bottom of the 7th inning, the Tampa Bay Rays Carl Crawford made a specatacular catch by pulling back Brad Hawpe’s shot to deep left field that would have been a home run.  The next inning, Detroit Tigers Curtis Granderson tripled and scored the winning run on an Andruw Jones’ sacrifice fly.

The AL pitching said it all on Tuesday night.  From the 3rd through the 7th innings, Mark Buehrle, Zach greinke, Edwin Jackson, Felix Hernandez and Jonathan Papelbon each worked perfect innings.  After getting the 1st 2 outs of the 8th inning, Joe Nathan allowed a walk and a hit to put the go ahead runs on base.  But he was able to strike out Phillies slugger Ryan Howard to end the threat.  And Mariano Rivera worked a perfect 9th inning to preserve the win for the AL and home field advantage for the AL in the 2009 World Series.  No one had more than 1 of anything except for Jeter – he scored 2 runs despite never getting a hit.

Carl Crawford was named the 2009 All-Star Game’s MVP for his spectacular catch that saved the game at the time for the AL.  Crawford became the 1st non-pitcher to win the MVP Award without having an RBI or scoring a run.

Couple of side notes – President Barack Obama honored former Cards great Lou Brock before the game and threw out the 1st pitch – in a Chicago White Sox jacket – to current Cards great Albert Pujols.  Obama became the 5th sitting U.S. President to throw out the 1st pitch at an MLB All-Star Game (the NL had won each of those previous games up until last night).  Former Cards great Stan Musial – one of the games’ greatest hitters of all-time – was also honored before the game.

The 2010 MLB All-Star Game will be played at Angel Stadium, the home field for the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles.

The 2009 MLB All-Star Game is set for tonight at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.  The National League will try to win its 1st All-Star Game in 13 years – it is the longest unbeaten streak in All-Star history.

Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants will take on Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Here’s how the lineups look:

AL – Ichiro Suzuki RF (Seattle Mariners); Derek Jeter SS (NY Yankees); Joe Mauer C (Minnesota Twins); Mark Teixeira 1B (NY Yankees); Jason Bay LF (Boston Red Sox); Josh Hamilton CF (Texas Rangers); Michael Young 3B (Texas Rangers); & Aaron Hill 2B (Toronto Blue Jays).

NL – Hanley Ramirez SS (Florida Marlins); Chase Utley 2B (Philadelphia Phillies); Albert Pujols 1B (St. Louis Cardinals); Ryan Braun RF (Milwaukee Brewers); Raul Ibanez LF (Philadelphia Phillies); David Wright 3B (NY Mets); Shane Victorino CF (Philadelphia Phillies); & Yadier Molina C (St. Louis Cardinals).

On a side not, President Barack Obama will throw out the ceremonial 1st pitch to St. Louis’ own Albert Pujols.

Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers defeated Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers int he Home Run Hitting Contest on Monday night.

The 2009 MLB All-Star Game is set to start at 8:05PM and will be televised on FOX.

Jonathan Sanchez of the San Francisco Giants threw the 1st no-hitter in MLB in 2009, when he defeated the San Diego Padres 8-0 in front of the home crowd on Friday night.  Sanchez threw a remarkable game – striking out 11 batters while issuing no walks.  He needed only 110 pitches and the only Padres player to reach base was Chase Headley who reached base on Juan Uribe’s fielding error on a ball hit to 3rd base.  That prevented Sanchez from throwing the 1st perfect game in the big leagues since Sanchez’s current teammate – Randy Johnson – did so with the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Atlanta Braves.

A couple of interesting notes surrounded the circumstances behind the no-hitter.  First of all, Sanchez had recently been demoted to the bullpen and had pitched out of the pen for the 3 weeks preceding last night’s start.  When randy Johnson went on the DL earlier this week, the Giants gave Sanchez the spot start to fill in for the iunjured Johnson.

Second, Bengie Molina was supposed to catch for Sanchez on Friday night, but his wife went into labor before the start of the game.  Back-up catcher Eli Whiteside got the nod instead and entered the history books by calling Sanchez’s no-hitter.

Third, Giants’ ace – and best pitcher – Tim Lincecum – took a no-hitter into the 7th inning the night before against the Padres, but couldn’t get the job done after Tony Gwynn, Jr. singled to lead off the 7th inning.  Sanchez had what it took on Friday night, throwing 77 of his 110 pitches for strikes.  Sanchez also had Rowand to thank, as he made a leaping catch of Edgar Gonzalez’s deep fly ball to center field for the 1nd out in the 9th inning.

The Giants gave Sanchez all the run support he would need with a 4-run 2nd inning.  The Giants tacked on 3 more runs in the 5th inning on a Pablo Sandoval 3-run HR.  The Giants final run of the game came home on Aaron Rowand’s RBI single in the 8th inning.  While Sanchez kept the Padres hitless, the Giants stroked 12 hits and scored 8 runs, 1 of their highest offensive outputs of the 2009 MLB schedule.

Sanchez’s dad was able to watch the no-hitter from the stands, and Jonathan had this to say about his accomplishment:  “Right now I’m just going to go home and hang out with my dad.  I was pumped that he was here watching the game.”

Congrats Jonathan – you deserve it!