Note: What follows does not include the three West Coast games, which will be updated in the dawnlight of a Midwestern morning.
The Young and Potentially Restless
• Alex Presley isn't a prospect, per se, but he did this in 296 Triple-A PA: .294/.349/.460 (.330 BABIP). Also, he played left field and batted second for the Pirates tonight.
• Washington's Danny Espinosa went 1-for-4 tonight with 2 K. His slash line entering the game was this: .256/.289/.558. He's hit some homers, is what he's done.
• Angel catching prospect Hank Conger made his second major league start. Blam: 0-for-4 with 3 K. But what about Triple-A? Blam-blam: .300/.385/.463 (.326 BABIP).
• Lucas Duda is contagious. QED: 2-for-3 with a HR and K. That's his first dongpiece in the majors, eva.
• At 26, Matt Downs isn't super young, but he appears to be playing for the Astros now, which I didn't know. Anyway, he's not great at any one thing, but he qualifies at MI, has a little pop, and can steal a base. If he ends up with a starting role in Houston, he's someone to think about later in drafts next year.
• Brent Morel should probably be the White Sox' third baseman next year. He hit a home run tonight, also. Nice looking cut, great loft.
• Carlos Carrasco has been posting crazy numbers since his late-season call-up. Tonight: 6.0 IP, 25 TBF, 6 K, 1 BB, 11 GB on 18 BIP (61.1|PERCENT|). That actually brings his groundball rate DOWN, if you can believe it.
• Hey, prospect Ben Revere started for Minnesota tonight in center field and also batted leadoff. It was the first time he'd ever done any of that junk in the majors. He was 0-for-3 with a BB. Here's his Double-A line: .305/.371/.363 (.339 BABIP). Also, he he was 36-for-49 on SBs.
Notables
• I think there was some handwringing early on, but it turns out Lance Berkman is still pretty good at baseball. He entered today with a slash-line of .290/.388/.377 and then went 2-for-3 with a BB. Also, it's unlikely that his power has totally evaporated. Maybe he'll do a Brian Giles thing where he keeps his plate discipline but loses his power-on-contact. But I'd warn against totally freaking.
• Roy Oswalt got the W tonight for the Phils and is now 13-13, which is a strange record to have.
• Jason Marquis conceded 6 R (6 ER) in just 0.1 IP tonight at Philly. Line: 0.1 IP, 9 TBF, 0 K, 1 BB, 4 GB on 7 BIP. Not pretty, although 6 H on 7 BIP is probably bad luck.
• Ryan Zimmerman went 4-for-4 with a 2B. He probably made like 10 sweet plays at third, too. I mean, I don't KNOW that for a fact, but it's probably true.
• Hey, hey, Wade Davis. Davis hasn't really been K-ing people, but here's his line tonight: 6.0 IP, 26 TBF, 8 K, 1 BB, 5 GB on 17 BIP.
• John Jaso was 1-for-3 with a BB tonight. Batting leadoff, once again. As a catcher. In an alternate reality, he's Rookie of the Year.
• Jason Heyward since the All-Star break (208 AB): .332/.447/.505, 39 BB, 48 K. He was 2-for-5 tonight with a HR. He continues to be just 21 years old.
• Jose Bautista hit his 48th HR.
• There might be some things wrong with Yunel Escobar, but "playing baseball real well" isn't one of them. He entered play tonight with this: .297/.350/.400. And he did this against Boston: 4-for-6.
• Max Scherzer can scale tall building and stuff. Metaphorically, I mean. Line versus the White Sox tonight: 8.0 IP, 25 TBF, 11 K, 2 BB, 6 GB on 14 BIP (42.9|PERCENT|). He was throwing his fastball for all different speeds and stuff.
• Shin-Soo Choo jacked three dongers tonight. He had 47 RBI, too. Look it up -- what do I care?
• Woah, Mat Latos did not have fun tonight, conceding 8 R (8 ER) to the Cards in just 1.1 IP. Line: 1.1 IP, 15 TBF, 1 K, 2 BB, 6 GB on 12 BIP. Hmmm. That doesn't look good, but also consider this: St. Louis was 9-for-12 on balls in play. That seems lucky. The more notable thing is that Latos only got the lone strikeout.
Stolen Bases
• Shane Victorino (33), Jose Reyes (30), Austin Jackson (24), Fred Lewis (17), Joey Votto (15), Cesar Izturis (11), Johnny Damon (10), Cameron Maybin (7), Mike Napoli (4), Yunel Escobar (1).
Caught Stealing
• Juan Pierre (18), Kosuke Fukudome (7), Fred Lewis (6), Will Venable (6), Gregor Blanco (2), Desmond Jennings (1), Logan Morrison (1).
Mostly Normal Save Chances
• Mariano Rivera, converted (31). Blah Blah blah.
• Koji Uehara, blown (2). He have up a two-out homer to Alex Rodriguez. When the O's were winning 3-1. Ack.
• Fernando Rodney, converted (11). Good job, guy!
• Billy Wagner, converted (34). Without incident.
• Carlos Marmol, converted (32).
• Kevin Gregg, converted (32). In 0.1 IP. For real.
• Brandon Lyon, converted (17).
• Andrew Bailey, converted (25).
Other Relief Appearances
• Joel Hanrahan and Evan Meek both entered Pittsburgh's game versus Arizona with the game tied 3-3. Meek entered later, though, and was around for the W.
• THE Mike Hampton pitched 0.1 IP, getting Pedro Alvarez to ground out.
• Rich Hill pitched for the Red Sox tonight! It was his second time doing that! He's from Boston originally!