Star of the Game: Mark DeRosa was really rather good, wasn't he? He was three for four with three ribbies and a homer to lead off the sixth. I wish the Rangers had stuck with Hank Blalock. DeRosa has a .339/.393/.511 line on the season now, in 221 At-Bats, not too shabby.
Unsung Hero: John Rheinecker pitched seven Innings giving up just one run and pitched himself out of a bases loaded no-out jam in the sixth. That was obviously the key Inning of the game after opening the frame with three singles Rheinecker first got Glaus to foul out on the first pitch, then gave up a run when Hillenbrand grounded to second for the fielders choice and ended the Inning on Molina's grounder to short. Rheinecker had allowed 37 hits in his previous four starts, but working on slowing down his delivery and not over-throwing worked wonders against the Jays who again struggled against a pitcher who didn't give them a steady stream of fastballs.
For The Jays: Erm....Teasing Ted had a pretty good outing again, against a strong lineup. Aaron Hill looked good batting up in the order, not much else to write home about really.
Boxscore
Elsewhere in the East: The Yankees lost to Cleveland and seven strong Innings from Jeremy Sowers. The Ryas beat Boston as Scott Kazmir dominated the Sox lineup, getting a complete game shutout. Kazmir must have been lights out last night, I wish I'd watched, he picked up his tenth win and improved his ERA to 3.29, he needed 120 pitches to see off the Sox and had 10 strikeouts with just two walks for a game score of 91. In Chicago Erik Bedard was almost that good as Baltimore beat the White Sox. Bedard went eight Innings giving up just one run and striking out seven. The Jays remain five back of Boston, one behind the Yankess and eight in front of Baltimore.
Today: HLH takes to the mound against Koronka at 8:05.