FanHouse Stl Cardinals

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That every once in a blue moon, a pitcher doesn't even have to throw a single pitch to get a win. How? Rockies reliever Alan Embree demonstrated Tuesday night against the Nationals. He entered the game with two outs in the top of the eighth and the score tied at 4-all and Washington outfielder Austin Kearns standing at first base.

Embree caught Kearns leaning off the base a little early and ensnared him in a rundown -- a rundown in which the southpaw hurler ended up making the putout.

The Rockies scored in the bottom of the inning and the journeyman gave way to closer Huston Street, who locked up what became easily the least work-intensive victory of Embree's career.

"Then I end up with the ball [in the rundown] somehow, and I'm going, 'What just happened?'" Embree said. "And then I came in and they went, 'You're done. Do you think you can go tomorrow?'

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In a one-paragraph statement filed June 26 with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Tony La Russa announced that he will drop all claims against Twitter. The statement also confirms that he'll receive no compensation from the social media site.

Back in June, La Russa filed suit against Twitter claiming, among other things, emotional distress caused by a user's fake page making fun of his DUI charge and the deaths of two Cardinals pitchers.

Tony La Russa, the revolutionary manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, is suing Twitter because some low-life started a Tony La Russa Twitter page. His grounds are on trademark infringement and "dilution, cybersquatting, and misappropriation of name and likeness."

Mark DeRosa helped the Chicago Cubs to two consecutive division championships in his only two seasons on the North Side of Chicago. During that time, he became popular with the fans for his good nature in winning and accountability in losing -- in addition to good offensive production and ability to play solid defense nearly anywhere on the field. He became even more popular, to almost mythical proportions, this season when the Cubs struggled in his absence. He himself even proclaimed if he ever became a Cub again he'd be a disappointment, due to the fans' excessive adulation.

Thus, when he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals just over a week ago, it seemed to be a slap in the face of Cubbie nation. Fortunately, the Baseball Gods have intervened. DeRosa started 0-for-9 from the plate and fell injured. He's now been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a wrist injury.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Phillies' record book needs editing.

In Monday's 22-1 home rout of Cincinnati, Philadelphia:

• Set a modern (post-1900) franchise mark for margin of victory;

• Tied the team record with 10 first-inning runs that included three homers;

• And scored its most runs ever at Citizens Bank Park and most as a franchise since June 1985.

It was also the worst loss in Reds history, breaking a record set on July 26, 1892 – during the Benjamin Harrison administration.

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The All-Star Game will be played in St. Louis next week, but for a lot of baseball fans the game itself is secondary to some of the other events that take place during the break. The main attraction for many fans is the Home Run Derby, which will take place the Monday night before the game.

Today it was announced who the four sluggers representing the senior circuit will be and there's definitely a theme to the National League's "roster." All four participants are power-hitting first baseman from around the league. Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez and Ryan Howard will all put on what should be a rather entertaining show.

The American League will announce its participants later.

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

A week ago Sunday night, Mariano Rivera earned his 500th save. Which should make us realize a few things about closers:

• The truly great ones are the those who can sustain it for a long time. Getting 40 saves a year for 12 years would still leave one short of 500.

• Even getting to the second tier isn't easy. Only 18 players have had as many as six 30-save seasons: Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith, Billy Wagner, Troy Percival, John Wetteland, Dennis Eckersley, John Franco, Jason Isringhausen, Robb Nen, Jeff Reardon, Todd Jones, Jose Mesa, Roberto Hernandez, Randy Myers, Rick Aguilera, Tom Henke and Todd Worrell.

In other words, the shelf life for a typical closer is a short one. They can burst onto the scene – and flame out quickly (right, Mr. Gagne?)

• But it also means that teams can find short-term solutions for the ninth inning any number of ways.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the milestones keep coming for Albert Pujols. He went into the record book in grand fashion Friday night, belting his 31st home run of the season. The drive was his fourth grand slam of the season and 10th of his career, both Cardinals' franchise records. The latter mark nudges him past Stan Musial on the club list.

"He broke Stan Musial's career record?" manager Tony La Russa asked. "I'll go bow to his feet here in a second. That's a serious point to make."

Pujols is on pace to finish 2009 with 61 home runs. And just in case that's not enough for you, it came in the eighth inning with the Cardinals down 3-0 to the Reds. St. Louis went on to beat Cincinnati 7-4.

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Things went pretty well for Jack Clark during his three years as a St. Louis Cardinal in the mid-1980s. He hit 66 homers and the Cardinals went to the World Series in 1985 and 1987. Sure, they dropped each of those series in seven games and the '86 Cardinals finished 28 1/2 games behind the Mets, but you'd think 20-plus years of perspective might make any leftover pain go away.

You'd think wrong.

Clark still harbors a honey of a grudge against that Mets club and aired his grievances well ahead of the Festivus season.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Red Sox probably did not sleep well Tuesday night.

Boston held a nine-run lead in Baltimore with nine outs to go. Then the Orioles exploded for five runs on seven hits in the seventh inning and five runs on six hits in the eighth, handing Jonathan Papelbon his second blown save of the season. When George Sherrill struck out Jason Bay with two on in the top of the ninth, it finished off a wild 11-10 victory for the O's.

[Said Orioles manager Dave Trembley:] "It was the shootout at the OK Corral except it was Camden Yards."

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It hasn't been the greatest week for Cubs manager Lou Piniella. Not only is he feeling the heat of the Chicago media with the Cubs scuffling, but he's also gotten into an argument with Milton Bradley in which he called his right fielder a "piece of [expletive]." Regardless of whether the exchange should have ever left the clubhouse or not, it's not exactly the type of thing you want the world to know about.

All of this was done after a recent poll by Sports Illustrated in which Major League players were asked anonymously which manager in baseball they would least like to play for, and which one they'd most like to play for. Guess which one Sweet Lou emerged "victorious" in.