Kansas City looks to be well on their way to losing their 16th straight as they trail Seattle 8-1 in the seventh.

The Angels had a 3-1 lead entering the seventh, but have thus far allowed 2 runs by the Blue Jays, and the game is now knotted up at 3-3.

Most interestingly, Oakland has fallen apart against Baltimore in the seventh. In fact, it really started falling apart about the same time that one of Oakland's tv broadcasters announced that Chicago beat Minnesota 7-4 tonight. Barry Zito cruised through the first six innings before the wheels fell off. Chris Gomez led off the inning with a double. Melvin Mora popped out to third for the first out. Miguel Tejada singled, moving Gomez to third. Zito then hit Javy Lopez, which loaded the bases. Sammy Sosa singled on a dribbler which Zito tried to scoop up and toss to the catcher, but he fell over instead, Gomez scored, and all runners were safe. Zito then walked Alejandro Freire, which scored Tejada. A throwing error by Bobby Crosby allowed Jay Gibbons to reach, Lopez and Sosa to both score, and Freire to advance to third. With Baltimore now leading 4-2, Zito was lifted for Kiko Calero, who hit Luis Matos with his first pitch to reload the bases. Eric Byrnes then fouled out to catcher Jason Kendall for the second out. Chris Gomez, who led off the inning with the double, walked, which scored pinch-runner Brian Roberts. Finally, Melvin Mora, who was the first out of the inning, became the third out of the inning when he popped out to shortstop Crosby. Baltimore now leads 5-2.

UPDATE: Toronto now leads the Angels 4-3. Shea Hillenbrand hit a double to right, scoring Orlando Hudson from third. Frank Catalanotto must have just arrived on the planet from Neptune, because he tried scoring from first on Vladimir Guerrero, of course, threw him out at the plate to end the inning.

In Seattle, Ichiro hit a two-run homerun in the eighth, extending their lead over Kansas City to 10-1.

UPDATE: They've gone final in Seattle. The Royals added two more runs in the ninth, but still fell well short, as they lost their 16th game in a row. Mariners win 11-3.

Baltimore just added another run and lead 6-2 in Oakland. Toronto still leads Los Angeles 4-3 in the eighth in Anaheim.

UPDATE: Oakland showed a little life with two outs in the ninth against Orioles closer B.J. Ryan. Back-to-back singles put runners on first and third, but Mark Kotsay flied out to David Newhan in right to end the game. Baltimore wins 6-2 and Oakland has now lost 3 of 4.

In Anaheim, the Angels tied the game with a run in eighth. Now 4-4 with one out in the top of the ninth and K-Rod is in the game for Los Angeles.

UPDATE: The Angels escaped in the ninth. With one out, Rodriguez walked Orlando Hudson, gave up a single to Russ Adams, and walked Alex Rios, but Vernon Wells and Shea Hillenbrand both popped out to end the threat. Going to the bottom of the ninth, still tied 4-4. Erstad, Guerrero, and DaVanon due up.

UPDATE: The Angels finally won it in the bottom of the eleventh. Orlando Cabrera led off with a double and scored on a single by Darin Erstad. Final score: Los Angeles 5, Toronto 4.

With the win, the Angels move two games clear of Oakland atop the AL West standings. Oakland's loss allowed Minnesota and New York to each climb a game closer in the wild card standings. Minnesota is now tied with Toronto at 6 games back, idle Cleveland is 4 games back, and New York is now only 1.5 games back. With Boston's loss to Detroit, the Yankees are also now only 3.5 games back in the AL East. Good night all.

12:16 AM | (0)
file under: baseball (general)