Golden Thong Th Thong Thong Thong:

- Jason Giambi hit a pinch-hit 2-run walk-off shot in the 9th inning to give Colorado their 10th straight win.  The Rockies are now 1.5 games back of the Padres & Giants, who are tied for the division lead.

Triple-Double:

- Albert Pujols hit 2 solo-shots against the Braves.  He's up to 39 HRs, 104 RBI, and a .309 batting average... ho-hum, just another season.
- Paul Konerko went 3-4 with 2 homers and 3 RBI.  He started hot to start the season and has really never let up.  On the season he's at 36 homers and 104 RBI with a .322 batting average.
- Mike Stanton went 3-4 with 2 homers and 3 RB.  He now has 20 HRs and 49 RBI with a .251 batting average... Oh to be young and powerful.

Notables:

- Kevin Slowey pitched 5 innings and allowed 2 unearned runs against the Indians.  He struck out 5, walked none, and now has a 12-6 record with a 4.24 ERA.  With the win, the Twins are now 6 games ahead of the White Sox in the AL Central.
- Justin Verlander struck out 11 Orioles batters and allowed 2 earned runs over 8 innings in a win.  He's now 4th in the AL in strikeouts (190) and 3rd in wins (16).
- Chris Tillman allowed 1 earned run over 6.2 innings to the Tigers.  He walked more batters (6) than he struck out (4), but allowed only 1 hit.
- Jeff Niemann pitched 5 innings and allowed 3 earned runs to the Blue Jays.  Compared to his last three outings (23 earned runs in 10 innings), this was a gem.  It has to be a matter of time till Tim Hellickson steps into the rotation, right?
- Adam Lind hit a 2-run walk-off homer off of Rafael Soriano.  The Rays are now a 1/2 game back of the Yankees.
- Cliff Lee won his 11th game, after he held the Yankees to 1 run over 8 innings.  This was his first start since the end of August.  The time off looks like it did Lee a world of good; he hadn't allowed less than 4 earned runs in over a month.
- Dan Haren threw 7 innings of shutout ball against the Mariners.  He struck out 6, walked 3, and scattered 3 hits in the win, his 10th.  His counterpart, Jason Vargas wasn't so bad himself, allowing 2 earned runs over 7 innings in a loss.
- Josh Beckett struck out 7, walked 5, and allowed 3 earned runs over 6 innings to the A's.  He received a win, to push his record to 5-4.  His 5.83 ERA tells the tale of his up and mostly down season.
- Johnny Cueto pitched 7 shutout innings against the Pirates in a no-decision.  He struck out 7, walked 2, and allowed only 3 hits.  Over his last 4 starts he has a 22/5 K/BB rate with only 5 earned runs allowed.
- Roy Oswalt threw a complete game shutout against the Mets with 6 strikeouts and 1 walk.  He now has a 6-1 record and 1.98 ERA since joining the Phillies.
- Hunter Pence went 3-4 with a homer and 2 RBI.  He now has 24 homers, 84 RBI, 18 stolen bases, and a .288 batting average.  The RBI and stolen bases are both career highs.
- Yovani Gallardo tossed 7 shutout innings against the Cubs with 6 strikeouts and 3 walks.  The results pretty awful in August (7.75 ERA in 33.2 innings), despite a 41/15 K/BB ratio.  In his two starts this month he has a 1.29 ERA and 10/5 K/BB ratio.
- Ian Kennedy pitched 6 innings of shutout ball against the Rockies in a no-decision.  Kennedy hasn't allowed more than 3 earned runs in his last 6 starts with a 40/11 K/BB ratio.
- Tim Lincecum held the Padres to 1 run over 7 innings with 9 strikeouts and 1 walk.  Lincecum has been the Timmay of old in his last 3 starts (all wins), where he's allowed 5 earned runs with a 29/2 K/BB ratio.   With the win he's now 14-9 with a 3.60 ERA.  The Giants are now tied with the Padres atop the NL West.

Save Chances:

- Neftali Feliz, converted (36).  Struck out the side in the 9th.
- Jonathan Papelbon, converted (36).  Struck out the side in the 9th.
- John Axford, converted (21).  PItched 1.1 scoreless innings with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.
- Brandon Lyon, converted (15).  Worked a clean 9th with 1 strikeout.
- Fernando Rodney, converted (10).  Pitched a scoreless 9th with 1 walk and 1 strikeout.
- Joel Hanrahan, converted (5).  Tossed a scorless 9th with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.
- Clay Hensley, converted (3).  Pitched a clean 9th with 1 strikeout.
- Francisco Cordero, blown (8).  Served up a 3-run double to Andrew McCutchen in the top of the 9th.
- Rafael Soriano, blown (3).  Gave up a 2-run homer to Adam Lind in the bottom of the 9th.

Other Closer Outings:

- Kevin Gregg allowed 1 earned run in the 9th.
- Drew Storen walked 1 and struck out 1 in a scoreless 9th.
- Huston Street struck out 2 in a clean 9th for a win.
- Brian Wilson struck out the only batter he faced.

Non-Closer Outings:

- Brian Fuentes tossed a clean 9th with 1 strikeout.
- Phil Coke pitched a scoreless 9th with 1 strikeout and 1 walk.
- Joaquin Benoit pitched a scoreless 9th with 1 strikeout.
- Grant Balfour struck out 2 in 1.1 clean innings.
- Scott Downs pitched 1.1 clean innings.
- J.J. Putz struck out 1 in a scoreless 7th.
- Matt Thornton struck out 2 in a scoreless 8th.
- Chris Sale struck out 2 and walked 1 in a scoreless 9th.
- Jonathan Albaladejo pitched 1.1 scoreless innings with 1 walk and 1 strikeout.
- Jordan Walden pitched a scoreless 8th with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.
- Scott Atchison pitched 2 clean innings with 1 strikeout.
- Brad Zielger pitched a clean 9th.
- Elmer Dessens pitched a scoreless 9th with 1 walk.
- Jose Veras had 1 strikeout in a clean 8th.
- Octavio Dotel struck out 3 and gave up a solo shot to Carlos Lee in 2 innings of work.
- Aaron Heilman pitched 1.1 scoreless innings with 1 walk and 1 strikeout.
- Rafael Betancourt had 1 walk and 1 strikeout in a scoreless 8th.
- Sergio Romo struck out 1 in a clean 8th.
- The Padres bullpen (Edward Mujica, Adam Russell, Ernesto Frieri, & Cesar Ramos) tossed 5 innings with 1 unearned run, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts.
- Craig Kimbrel struck out 2 in a clean 8th.

Tough Days:

- Mat Latos gave up 5 earned runs over 4 innings to the Giants.  The last time he gave up more than 3 earned runs was back in April.
- Mitch Talbot gave up 3 earned runs and never got an out against the Twins... I'm not sure it gets much worse than that.
- Carlos Monasterios only got 4 outs before he was pulled for allowing 4 runs (3 earned) to the Astros.
- Sean O'Sullivan gave up 2 home runs to the White Sox, on his way to allowing 5 earned runs over 3 innings.
- Lucas Harrell, who pitched opposite O'Sullivan, gave up 2 homers to the Blue Jays, on his way to ceding 6 earned runs over 3.1 innings.
- Jordan Zimmerman pitched 3 innings against the Marlins and allowed 5 runs (4 earned). 
- The Orioles bullpen (Mike Gonzalez, David Hernandez, & Alfredo Simon) combined to pitch 1 inning and give up 5 earned runs.
- Matt LaPorta went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts and is now batting .223.
- Kila Kaaihue went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts and 1 walk.  He's now batting .204.

Lineup-ology/Injuries:

- Felipe Paulino (Astros), Jose Mijares (Twins), Jerry Hairston Jr. (Padres), and Jeff Francis (Rockies) were all activated from the DL.
- Desmond Jennings started for the Rays and got a stolen base.  More playing time is probably not on the way.
- Andres Torres had an emergency appendectomy and will be out for 10-14 days.

Home Runs:

- Albert Pujols (38 & 39), Paul Konerko (35 & 36), Hunter Pence (24), Mike Napoli (24), Billy Butler (12), Adam Lind (22), Carlos Lee (21), Casey McGehee (21), Mike Stanton (19 & 20), Andruw Jones (19), Raul Ibanez (14), Buster Posey (13), Brandon Inge (11), Jason Giambi (6), Nate McLouth (5), Jay Gibbons (5), & Brayan Pena (1).

Stolen Bases:

- Juan Pierre (55), Michael Bourn (48 & 49), B.J. Upton (40), Ichiro Suzuki (37), Hanley Ramirez (32), Coco Crisp (29 & 30), Elvis Andrus (30), Denard Span (22), Chris Getz (15), Ian Desmond (15), Roger Bernadina (15), Ian Kinsler (13), Julio Borbon (12), Brian Roberts (9), Emilio Bonifacio (9), Brendan Ryan (9), Brennan Boesch (5 & 6), Felix Pie (5), Mark Ellis (5), & Desmond Jennings (1).

Caught Stealing:

- Chone Figgins (12), Angel Pagan (8), Eric Young Jr. (5), Alex Gordon (5), Vernon Wells (4), Skip Schumaker (3), & Mike Stanton (1).