Game Recap

In a much publicized battle of the aces, Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Dan Haren matched Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez pitch for pitch. Neither backed down.

After the two aces hit the showers, Seattle capitalized, scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat the Angels, 3-1.

Hindsight is 20/20.

For the past few weeks or so, the Giants starting pitching has been the subject of much criticism. The blame for the Giants' dismal 12-15 August record has been placed upon this quintet.

The hitting was doing fine: Sanchez, Sandoval, and Torres were heating up, and Guillen, Burrell, Huff, and Uribe were providing jolts of offense here and there. But on Monday, the hitting fell silent. The Giants managed to get just four hits, and nine different Giants struck out at least once.

For eight innings it looked like the same old story was writing itself. "Rockies fall flat on the road," "Rockies leave bats at Coors Field...again."

Marcus Thames hit his sixth home run in as many games as the Yankees slugged their way past the Oakland A’s 11-5.

Here are some notes:

After recording three quality starts in row (though he lost each one), Mets' starter Pat Misch was hammered in his three innings of work tonight in Atlanta. He gave up five runs on eight hits, including a massive three-run homer to Braves' rookie phenom Jason Heyward with two outs in the second inning. The Braves won the game 9-3.

Matt Cain is the 2010 stopper. Lincecum was the go-to guy last year; whenever the Giants had a losing streak, he would stop it; which is actually not surprising at all, considering that he pitched behind Joe Martinez and Randy Johnson for a good part of the season, and he was a Cy Young winner.

The Los Angeles Angels can't get the Baltimore Orioles out of town fast enough. The Orioles are wishing they could stay for an extended period of time.

Orioles starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie allowed just four hits over eight and 1/3 innings, and Matt Wieters supplied the only offense needed with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, giving the Orioles a 1-0 victory and a sweep of the season series over the Angels for the first time in history.

NEW YORK-- R.A. Dickey came out of nowhere to impress this season when the Mets called him up, and he seems to just get better.

He didn't have his best knuckleball today, but it was good enough to breeze by the Astros for seven-plus innings.

Not only did he pitch well, he contributed with the bat in a way his team hasn't all season. The Mets scored four runs in the second inning against Bud Norris, and Dickey put the Mets on the board first.

Baltimore Orioles pitcher Kevin Millwood has suffered through a nightmarish season, yet he still takes the ball every fifth day and gives his best effort. On Saturday night, against the Los Angeles Angels, Millwood's best effort turned into into his best start of the season.

Millwood scattered six hits over eight innings, and No. 9 hitter Josh Bell slammed a two-run homer, giving the Orioles a 5-0 victory over the suddenly punchless Angels.