At Least He's Consistent:

- Mets manager Jerry Manuel once again did not use Francisco Rodriguez in an extra-inning game. The Mets lost in 13, with Oliver Perez on the hill. Mets fan forehead, meet wall. Wall, meet forehead.

Notables:

- Madison Bumgarner won his fourth game, striking out a career-high (his career being six starts old) seven batters and conceding two runs in seven innings.
- Buster Posey went 2-for-3 with two walks, and now has a 17-game hitting streak and a .358 batting average. It seems clear in retrospect that the Giants kept him in the minors to start the season just to give Jason Heyward a fighting chance in the NL Rookie of the Year race.
- Ervin Santana struck out eight over eight innings to get the win, giving up just two solo home runs.
- Michael Young homered for the third straight game.
- Jim Edmonds hopped in the Wayback Machine, hitting a home run and making a diving catch that led to Mike Morse getting doubled off first base.
- Ryan Braun homered, stole a base and drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth.
- Rick Porcello technically turned in a Quality Start, allowing three runs in six innings, but four walks and no strikeouts is nobody's idea of quality.
- Mat Latos won his 11th, striking out seven in six innings and also allowing just two solo home runs in his return to the rotation.
- Scott Baker struck out eight in seven innings, but the two runs he allowed came on a two-run shot by Luke Scott rather than two solo home runs.
- if you haven't heard, Luke Scott homered again, his fifth in seven games. Right at this moment he's the good kind of streaky. Next week, ehh, maybe not so much.
- Johnny Cueto threw eight shutout innings, striking out six and allowing just four hits and a walk, to win his 10th. None of that two solo home run crap from him.
- Carlos Monasterios tossed five shutout innings in a spot start. He really should be pitching for the Padres, don't you think?
- Kyle Kendrick gave up just one run over seven innings. More importantly for the Phillies, he managed not to injure himself doing it.
- Jimmy Rollins went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a steal. He's 7-for his last-17 and once again, his bat is threatening to wake up.
- Jack Cust had a Two Truer Outcomes sort of day: two home runs and three walks in five plate appearances.
- Gordon Beckham went 1-for-3 with a double. Remember when he sucked? Beckham's now hitting .386 in July, but his 1:10 BB:K ratio on the month is a reminder that suckitude may not be far away once again.
- Starlin Castro went 3-for-4 with  home run, two runs scored and two RBI. He's hitting .308/.358/.449 and playing a solid shortstop, and probably wouldn't finish in the top three in NL Rookie of the Year voting if it were held today. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: 2010. Best. Rookie. Crop. Ever.
- Mark Teixeira homered twice, and after that painfully slow start to the season is now on pace for 30+ home runs and 100+ RBI.

Save Chances:

- Joakim Soria, converted (27). Struck out one and gave up a hit and a walk in a shutout inning.
- Rafael Soriano, converted (25). Two K's in a perfect inning.
- Kevin Gregg, converted (22). One plain vanilla inning, no sprinkles.
- Carlos Marmol, converted (18). Two strikeouts and a walk in a shutout inning.
- Garrett Olson, converted (1). Entered the game with the Mariners leading 2-1 in the top of the eighth, then watched the M's score three more runs in the bottom of the inning.
- John Axford, blown (1). Gave up three hits and a run in the top of the ninth, then got handed his sixth win when the Brewers scored in the bottom half.

Other Closer Outings:

- Aaron Heilman retired all four batters he faced, striking out one, after the rest of the Diamondbacks bullpen (and I use that term loosely) coughed up six runs in getting three outs.
- Octavio Dotel struck out two in a perfect inning with the Pirates down by seven.
- John Rauch gave up a hit and a walk in an inning of work with the Twins up by five.
- Jonathan Broxton pitched two shutout innings, the ninth and 10th, in a 13-inning win by the Dodgers, walking two and striking out two.
- Huston Street tossed a perfect inning with the Rockies down by eight.

Non-Closer Outings:

- Mike Gonzalez gave up a run in an inning of work, and now has a 12.27 ERA. Baltimore's paying him how much again?

Lineup-o-logy:

- just when you think the Indians finally had this rebuilding thing figured out, they start Trevor Crowe in center field (and leadoff), Austin Kearns in left field and Shelley Duncan at DH while Michael Brantley (10-for-35, with five walks and three steals, in his last eight starts) twiddles his thumbs.
- Alex Gordon, recently emancipated from Triple-A, DH'ed and hit fifth. He also went 0-for-3 with a GIDP. He might need to be emancipated from KC entirely if he's ever going to hit again.

Tough Days:

- Jon Lester retired the first 16 batters he faced and struck out 10 of them before an Eric Patterson error followed by a Michael Saunders home run ruined the perfect game/no-hitter/shutout, wound up striking out 13 in 7.2 innings, and still took the loss because the Red Sox offense couldn't solve the likes of David Pauley and Garrett Olson.
- Nate McLouth went 0-for-4, and has picked right up where he left off when he hit the DL, going 1-for-13 since being activated.
- Jorge Cantu's two late-inning errors helped lead to eight runs (four unearned) in a 10-5 loss. Yeah, that can't feel good.
- Roy Oswalt tried to hurt his trade value by allowing six run on nine hits over five innings, but he likely didn't succeed.
- Ubaldo Jimenez: six walks, six runs in two innings. Eep. He's given up 28 runs in his last six starts, and his ERA is still only 2.75.
- Freddy Garcia somehow managed to give up five runs on six hits and three walks in just 1.1 innings.
- Albert Pujols is... slumping? He went 0-for-2 with two walks Saturday, and is just 4-for his last-25. His batting average is perilously close to dropping below .300, so expect some sort of offensive explosion in the very near future. Albert doesn't do batting averages in the two hundreds.
- Sergio Mitre gave up seven runs (five earned) in 4.1 innings, prompting Joe Girardi to shake his fist in the general direction of Seattle.

Injuries:

- Eugenio Velez took a Pat Burrell line drive foul off the side of the head and was taken to hospital for a CT scan and other tests. It looks like he managed to escape with only a concussion.
- JD Martin left his start after 2.1 innings due to a bulging disc in his back. It was probably his last start of the season for the Nationals - not because the injury is serious, but because Ross Detwiler, Jordan Zimmermann and maybe even Jason Marquis will all be back before Martin's DL stint is over.
- Magglio Ordonez fractured his ankle sliding into home plate, and is gone for 6-8 weeks. Damn.
- Man of Some Metal Not Quite As Strong As Steel Carlos Guillen also got hurt, straining his calf. Cal Ripken's record remains safe.

Home Runs:

- Joey Votto (25); Mark Reynolds (23); Carlos Pena (21); Mark Teixeira 2 (20); David Ortiz (19); Dan Uggla (18); Ryan Braun (16); Jose Guillen (16); Luke Scott (16); Tyler Colvin (15); Michael Young (15); Adam LaRoche (14); Ian Stewart (14); Nelson Cruz (13); Martin Prado (13); Juan Uribe (13); Jorge Posada (12); Delmon Young (12); Kurt Suzuki (11); Jack Cust 2 (8); Raul Ibanez (8); Michael Saunders (8); Jim Edmonds (7); James Loney (7); Michael Stanton (7); Shelley Duncan (6); Chris Heisey (6); Ben Zobrist (6); Brooks Conrad (5); Delwyn Young (5); Ramon Hernandez (4); Ramon Castro (3); Starlin Castro (3); Jeff Mathis (3); Jose Tabata (2)

Stolen Bases:

- Scott Podsednik (29); Angel Pagan 2 (22); Denard Span (18); Will Venable (16); Ryan Braun (13); Chase Headley (13); Ian Kinsler (10); Ronny Cedeno (9); Coco Crisp (9); Jason Kendall 2 (9); Jason Heyward (7); Jimmy Rollins (7); Jason Bartlett (6); Jose Bautista (4); Daric Barton (3); Alexi Casilla (1); JJ Hardy (1)

Caught Stealing:

- Matt Kemp (12); Ryan Theriot (6); Ryan Spilborghs (5); Austin Jackson (4); Jon Jay (3); Vernon Wells (3); Reggie Willits (3); Blake DeWitt (2); Kevin Kouzmanoff (1)