Game Recap

The “Year of the Pitcher” continued Friday night as Arizona Diamondbacks’ pitcher Edwin Jackson threw the fourth no-hitter this year as he defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 in front of 18,918 at Tropicana Field. Jackson struck out six and walked eight in the 149-pitch effort.

This wasn’t your traditional no-hitter as Jackson walked eight and reminded me of AJ Burnett’s no-hitter against the San Diego Padres back in 2001. Burnett walked nine that game and struck out seven. Very similar to Jackson’s Friday night.

NEW YORK— The Mets completed another positive home stand today, shutting out the Minnesota Twins 6-0 on their Major League-best 11th shutout victory of the season.

Last night, former Blue Jay Roy Halladay, now with the Philadelphia Phillies, threw seven shut out innings in a 9-0 win in his first game against his former team.

Johan Santana hoped to have similar success against his former Minnesota Twins teammates as he faced them for the first time since being traded in 2007.

After Orlando Hudson, Jason Kubel and Delmon Young all had doubles in the first inning, Santana found himself in a 4-0 hole already having thrown 40 pitches.

NEW YORK—Entering today, Johan Santana had beaten every team in the Majors except his former club, the Minnesota Twins. Santana had never faced them before and will never want to face them again.

(6/25/2010)

Philadelphia, PA - This game was supposed to be Roy Halladay's return to Toronto—a chance for the Phillies to visit Rogers Stadium to make a statement with their new ace—but due to the G-20 summit, Halladay invited his former team to Philly and played host in a stellar seven innings of work to lead the Phillies in a 9-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Citizens Bank Park.

As great as it was to see Roy Halladay beat his former team, the Toronto Blue Jays, for his ninth win of the season, it was even better to see the offense put up nine runs and finally give Halladay the run support he deserves—even if he didn't actually need it.

One of the most highly anticipated inter-league series this season has already lived up to expectations. CC Sabathia limited Los Angeles to one run over eight innings as the Yankees topped the Dodgers, 2-1, Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

NEW YORK-- After losing their last game to the Tigers, the Mets were trying to start a new winning streak, and they got one started with a solid win over the Twins on Friday.

The game got off to a stunning start, as Denard Span led off with a home run on the second pitch from Mike Pelfrey, only his third of the season.

This article is also available on The Daily Cub and The Chicago Perspective .

After taking two out of three games in their first series against the Cubs, the White Sox were able to rattle Carlos Zambrano's cage enough to give him a mental breakdown and get him taken out after one inning. Zambrano was also involved in an altercation with Derek Lee in the dugout.

(6/24/10)

Philadelphia, PA - The Philadelphia Phillies took advantage of a shoddy defense and a strong outing from Joe Blanton to dismantle the Cleveland Indians 12-3 and sweep their three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.

Joe Blanton (3-5) went 7 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and striking out eight. Blanton was given plenty of run support as the Philles went 15-37 from the plate.