Braves rally to beat Dogers

這場比賽兩隊的先發投手 Randy Wolf 和 Kyle Davies 本季的表現都不怎麼樣，但這場比賽在六局結束以前，就彷彿兩位賽揚獎的對決。Wolf 大角度的曲球搭配塞內外角的速球，把 Braves 打者吃的死死的，主投 5.1 局丟掉 1 分、8 次三振，而 Davies 今天的控球不錯，直到七局上被老朋友 Wilson Betemit 敲出二分全壘打之前， 6.2 局投出 6 次三振、2 次保送。在 1:4 落後、Braves 剩下三個半局的反攻機會，以道奇牛棚的實力想逆轉並不容易，今年道奇隊在六局結束領先的成績是「15W-0L」！

但棒球比賽最吸引人的狀況就這麼發生了。七局下曹錦輝帶著 10.2 局、0 失分的光環上來，連負責轉播勇士隊比賽的 TBS 二位 Caray 先生都讚譽有佳，結果 Braves 的打線突然復活，一輪機關槍掃射把小曹送回 dugout，上來止血的 Billingsley 再連續被敲出二支安打，五分大局讓情勢瞬間逆轉，Braves 也贏得這場比賽，小曹不但記上 BS 加敗投，ERA 也由賽前的 0.00 增至 3.97。
As usual, I think that a reliever is only as valuable as his ability to keep inherited runners from scoring. And I don't believe reliever's ERA or even WHIP, too few samples to prove something.
RECAP

其實小曹投的並不差，但似乎為了配合主審的喜好，外角球投得有點多，太明顯的壞球也沒有吸引打者出棒的效果；而 Braves 打者這局表現出來的耐心得到回報，好像也鎖定了小曹的外角球，差不多的球就盡量碰出去，第一個上來打擊的 Willie Harris 就磨到 BB，KJ 和 Renteria 也有效的推打。接下來小曹明顯的選擇以快速球對決 Francoeur ，雖然順利解決掉，但其實這不是個好主意，因為雖然 Francoeur 今年的選球和耐心進步不少，但還是個超級 aggressive 的打者，慢慢吊他也許好一點。而 Billingsley 上場後被 Saltalamacchia 和 Thorman 敲的二支安打也投得不差，只能說 Braves 打者突然熱了起來。

這場比賽最有爭議的是裁判的問題，主審五局上可能因為視角的關係沒看到 Salty 先觸到 LaRoche 的頭部，這個誤判就算了，而好壞球的判定也沒什麼好說的；但操他媽的 Bob Davison 就不能不拿出來幹一下了，Chipper 的 checked-swing 被判出棒有點扯，根據主播的說法，Chipper 的手腕並沒有旋轉、還是保持握棒的位置，anyway, it's a close play. 這也作罷；但接下來就怪了，在 Davidson 把 Chipper 趕出球場沒多久，Bobby Cox 才剛走出 dugout 準備 argue 這個判決，就被 Davidson 趕出場，這也是 Cox 生涯第 128 次，只差紀錄保持人 John McGraw 三次了，不知道這 128 次驅逐出場裏，Bob Davidson 佔了幾次？

Bob Davidson? No, he is SOB Davidson!

打出 MLB 生涯第一、二支安打和勝利打點的 Salty 為今天的比賽下了一個好註解，
"Never say die — we proved it today." said Saltalamacchia

Quote of today
"Looking at it in slow, slow, slow motion, it could have gone either way," Jones said. "But that's not even what made me mad. The fact of the matter is he looked over at our dugout -- when Bobby stepped out, he [leaned toward our dugout], waited on Bobby to open his mouth, couldn't even tell what was said, and he threw him out. That's what upset me."

"Bob Davidson feels like all these thousands of people who come to the park come to see him," Jones said. "That's the way he always has been. It's a joke among us players."

"But the fact of the matter is we overcame bad officiating by the third base umpire and the home plate umpire (Sam Holbrook) and we still won. So I'm proud of our guys."

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BTW, Roger Clemens agrees to re-sign with Yankees.
$28M/yr + 40% luxury tax = $39M/yr, that is frightening $6.5M/month !
Again, Yankees are really good at writing checks.

ESPN's Peter Gammons "Simply, Yankees had the cash"
In the end, the Astros were not surprised. Neither were the Red Sox. The Yankees are the Yankees. Joe Torre is Joe Torre. Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi are still in pinstripes. And they have the cash flow to spend $6.5 million a month (including salary and luxury tax) -- $2.9 million more than the Astros paid last year, considerably more than where the Red Sox left it -- to bring the best pitcher in modern baseball history to the rescue of a tattered pitching staff.