Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports: The Juice: Brace yourselves: The Diamondbacks are in first place

Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports Latest Big League Stew - MLB from Yahoo! Sports The Juice: Brace yourselves: The Diamondbacks are in first place 30 May 2011, 2:52 pm Nine innings, nine items to get you going. Ladies and gentleman of the Stew, take a sip of morning Juice. 1. Looks like Harold Camping is getting his wish: The Arizona Diamondbacks are in first place for the first time since the 2008 season after beating the Astros 4-2, thanks to a two-run double by Xavier Nady. That makes him XXavier, doesn't it? Hey, Kirk Gibson, what else can you take away from these guys? 2. No amount of offense wasted: It must be nice for the Atlanta Braves to live in a world where a two-run homer by Martin Prado is all of the offense Jair Jurrjens needs to beat the Reds 2-1. Did you know that hitters are 4-for-43 (.093) with runners in scoring position against Jurrjens? Thanks to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, now you do! 3. Breakdancing catcher: If only catcher Brayan Peña hadn't done an ill-timed Texas Two-Step at home plate, letting Mike Napoli sneak in like a bandit, the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers might still be playing. They'd be in the 36th inning. Instead, Rangers win 7-6 in nine. 4. Canadian trampling: The Toronto Blue Jays trounced John Danks and the White Sox 13-4. Along the way, Ozzie Guillen went off on White Sox fans, then said he didn't, but then South Side Sox showed he did — but it wasn't really that bad. You be the judge. Or move on to the next game. 5. Win one, lose one, move on: Justin Verlander threw a career-high 132 pitches in 7 2/3 innings to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 3-0 victory against the Red Sox. The teams split a day/night doubleheader. But, only 132 pitches? I thought Leyland would have abused him more than that by now. And I say "abused" using an elastic definition of the word. 6. Lohse's secret to success: Kyle Lohse continued pitching like a beast in the Cardinals 4-3 victory against the Rockies, who are playing like they're in mourning. After for Lohse, he says spending what amounted to years on the disabled list has helped him become a better pitcher: "I kind of got interrupted there a little bit with health issues," Lohse said. "But I learned how to concentrate a little bit harder. Now I'm able to lock it in and keep it there, not let one or two hits get to me." 7. Hella good: In a playoff preview, Tampa's Jeremy Hellickson dominated the Cleveland Indians in a 7-0 victory. And Avril Lavigne curses him, because he's not a Sk8rboi. 8. Claw'd: Clayton Kershaw comes through with a two-hitter (and a game score of 92!) in the Dodgers 8-0 thumping of the Marlins. 9. Cubbie Occurrence: It doesn't happen very often these days, so it behooves us to mention that the Cubs won, 3-2 against the Pirates. Follow Dave on Twitter — @AnswerDave — and engage the Stew on Facebook You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed.