THEY WON'T GIVE UP

The Yanks won the 2nd game of a 3-game series against Baltimore riding the best pitched game by a Yankee pitcher this year. The best rally the Orioles had came in the third inning - A hit batter and a single. A double play and fly out ended it.
When Cano is in a zone, the only safe place to pitch him is behind him. NY is now a few percentage points ahead of Baltimore in the race for a playoff spot.

Texas and Oakland continue to battle for the AL Western division title, but the best race is the dogfight taking place in the NL Central. Pittsburgh and St. Louis are tied with Cincinnati only 3 & a half games behind. The cards and the Bucs are battling in Pittsburgh as I write this. The Pirates picked up Justin Morneau from the Minnesota Twins, giving them a big, big bat in the middle of their lineup. He's a free agent after this season, so he's basically a rental for the next month plus any post-season games. This is a good indication of how serious Pittsburgh is in trying to get to the  playoffs.

What's up with Yasiel Puig & the Dodgers. Every other day, it seems I read that Puig has irritated somebody - an opponent, an umpire, his teammates or his manager. He's become a five-tool player: he hits, runs, throws, fields and irritates.

Miguel Cabrera is getting the day off, apparently to help him heal from his injuries. What nobody understands is that the more he's in pain, the better he hits.In a three game series against New York in early August, Cabrera could barely walk, yet he played third all three games, went 7-13 with 5 RBIs and 3 homers. Even Jeter, who's got his own litany of injuries, said, "I want what he's got."

***THEY SAID IT***
"After serving his arduous 30 minute NCAA suspension, Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel threw 3 touchdowns, but managed to get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting in the fourth quarter. Whereupon he was benched for the rest of the game. Stay classy “Johnny Football.”  -- Janice Hough
"My sister-in-law's terrier will bark when it sees baseball on TV. Honest. Except when the Blue Jays are on; then it rolls over and plays dead."  -- RJ Currie
"In New York, a 67-year-old woman has been charged with vandalism for keying a bingo rival’s car.
Police had no problem winnowing down the latter suspect, since  the scratches went across, down and diagonally.”  -- Ian Hamilton
"It's incredulous that Lindsay Lohan beat Alex Rodriguez to an Oprah sitdown. Maybe the guy has lost more footspeed than we thought.”  -- Mike Lupica
"Texas A & M gave four players two game suspensions today for “violating team rules.” What did they do to get four times Manziel’s suspension? Accept checks instead of cash?"  -- Janice Hough
"James Rosno and Tracy Anderson picked an unusual place to get married — at the Stanton County (Neb.) Fair, during a demolition derby.   Which certainly puts a whole new spin on “crashing the wedding.”  -- Dwight Perry
"UConn was upset by FCS school Towson 33-18. Of course FCS stands for Football at Connecticut Stinks."  -- Brad Dickson
"The Harlem Globetrotters are for sale. Hey, if the Big East is serious about making the league fun ..."  -- Brad Dickson

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