A’s 4, White Sox 0 (5th inning)
Frank Thomas received a rather sustained ovation in his first at bat as a visiting player at U.S. Cellular Field tonight, and he responded by crushing a Jon Garland pitch over the left field fence, his 8th HR of the year. Beaky Harrelson tried to make some kind of point about White Sox fans being classier than Indians fans (who booed the heck out of Jim Thome on his return to Jacobs Field), which was a nice way of ignoring how Thomas couldn’t possibly have hit the ball harder.
Thomas put another ball into seats off Garland three innings later. Amazing the kind of bat speed an old guy can generate when he pretends he’s hitting Kenny Williams’ head.
Red Sox 7, Yankees 1 (8th inning)
3 RBI’s apiece for David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez tonight, the latter having hit a HR into the center field bleachers off Chien-Mien Wang in the 3rd. Curt Schilling has struck out 5 and walked none through 8 innings.
Marlins 9, Cubs 1 (8th inning)
Former Red Sox prospect Hanley Ramirez is 3 for 3 (3 runs, 2 RBI’s) for the Marlins. After a lost weekend against the Devil Rays, the Fish have finally found a completely hopeless club to beat up on.
Justin Verlander is about to win his 6th game of the season for Detroit. Even if Kenny Rogers goes nuts on another cameraman (and some of us are rooting for exactly that), they’ll still have a sick starting rotation.
Gary Sheffield had a single and an RBI in 3 at bats for Trenton this evening, as the Yankees’ Eastern League affiliate beat New Britain, 7-4. Philip Hughes collected his first Double A win, allowing 3 earned runs over 5 innings.
Justin Williams and Cam Ward are having a heck of game for Carolina tonight. As is His Dirkness for Dallas, though I suspect a higher percentage of you were already aware of the latter.