Stealing Signals: Four Of A Kind.

(Meta note: I took most of the weekend off to get out and enjoy the mini-vacation. Regular posting will be back to normal come Tuesday, or so.)

Red Sox 7, Yankees 6 - Four jacks, that is, in the bottom of the third at Fenway, hit by Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell (who hit another jack later) and Jason Varitek. A shaky start by Daisuke Matsuzaka was saved by Lowell's second homer, and Jonathan Papelbon shuts it down to close it out.

Tigers 6, White Sox 5 - Marcus Thames saves the Tigers by tying it up with a two-run homer late, then Placido Polanco wins it with a single to left in the 12th inning.

Cardinals 12, Cubs 9 - The Cubs cannot catch a break, and the problem is that they ran up against Mt. Pujols, who continues to show signs of life as the season goes forward, bashing a three-run homer for the Cards in the 10th inning that STILL hasn't landed yet. The homer bailed out closer Jason Isringhausen, who couldn't hold a two run lead in the bottom of the 9th.

Phillies 9, Reds 3 - Notable only because Ryan Howard appears to be breaking out of the slump he's been in (of course, on a day I leave him on the bench!!!), but the Phillies took the time to beat up on Reds pitching while holding the Reds to six runs for the whole series (although the Reds did take the first game 2-1).

Giants 2, D-Backs 1 - Bonds hits #740, and at this rate, the quandary for Selig and Hank Aaron will be arriving in early June. Lost in the Bonds shuffle would be Matt Cain, who mowed down Arizona hitters for a complete game three-hitter.

Angels 6, Mariners 1 - Ervin Santana had an "on" day this time, giving up one run over seven innings as the Halos sweep the M's. Jeff Weaver is now 0-3, and actually lowered his ERA from the 15 range down to high 13 with this outing. Wonder how much he misses the National League right now...

Braves 9, Mets 6 - The Mets starting pitching may not be as much of a problem as we think. Reliever Aaron Heilman is the one who coughed up the second home run to Kelly Johnson in the eighth inning, and the three-run jobs are the ones that kill. Ask Scott Schoenweiss, who also gave up a three-run jack to Edgar Renteria an inning earlier to allow the Braves back in. At this rate, the Mets are living OK without Pedro. It's getting to Billy Wagner that they should be concerned about.