Game 18 : Record 10-8

Galarraga masterful again.

Armando was fantastic Sunday against the Royals. He only made it through 6 innings, but gave up 3 hits and 1 run. His problem was 5 walks. The Royals hitters were patient, took a lot of pitches and got walks, elevated his pitch count and got him out of the game earlier than would have otherwise happened. This is the 2nd straight start that the opposition has taken this tactic and it is time to adjust by pounding the strike zone to get an early 0-1 and 0-2 lead on hitters.

In not-at-all surprising news, Brandon went deep and Everett screwed up another play he should have made. Adam's misplay was not an error but a supposedly-great defensive shortstop makes that play. He has yet to make a "web-gem" material play this year and he has messed up a lot of routine plays. He has yet to impress me.

Dane Sardinha was just called up to replace Matt Treanor on the roster and got the start today. He had an RBI on a sacrifice and gunned down Coco Crisp trying to steal. That throw was outstanding. The pitch was low, so he got no help from that and simply threw a strike to Everett. It wasn't close.

Grades:

Pitching: A. Our ace looked like an ace again after a shaky start his last time out. Bullpen was good, even though Rodney gave up one HR to make it a 1 run game.

Defense: B. No major screw-ups.

Offense: B-. Only threee runs on six hits, but enough to win.