Double ouch
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez struck out for the 2,000th time in his major-league career when he went down swinging Tuesday night against Seattle's Felix Hernandez. The Mariners' crowd erupted into cheers as they usually do when Rodriguez strikes out against his former team.
Then in the eighth inning, A-Rod broke his left hand after being hit by a pitch from Felix Hernandez. The Yanks lost, 4-2.
What can we say?
The Blue Jays traded for J.A. Happ last week hoping he could solidify their injury-riddled rotation.
To do that, Happ will have to pitch better than he did Tuesday night. Oh, yeah. Much better.
Yoenis Cespedes hit a three-run single off Happ and the Athletics beat the Jays, 7-2.
Acquired from Houston along with two other pitchers in a 10-player deal last Friday, Happ is pitching out of Toronto's bullpen. Manager John Farrell and general manager Alex Anthopoulos have said they'll be monitoring each member of their rotation, and will consider sliding Happ in to replace any struggling starter.
Uh, it was shaky relief work from Happ and Chad Beck that allowed the A's to break open a close game with a five-run seventh inning.
"We were in this game, we were battling and I took us right out of it so it's not a good feeling," Happ said.
Why does this sound familiar?
Pujols sits out
Angels slugger Albert Pujols was not in the starting lineup for Wednesday afternoon's series finale against the Royals after getting hit on the right elbow by a pitch he swung at the previous night.
"It was weird. It looked like it was a fastball in and at the last second it had a big horizontal cut to it," manager Mike Scioscia said of the pitch from lefthander Will Smith. "He started to swing and was at the point of no return. He was sore today."
Sayonara
Hideki Matsui was cut by the Tampa Bay Rays. The 38-year-old Japanese star was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for infielder Ryan Roberts. The Rays have 10 days to trade Matsui, release him or place him on waivers.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
