On to Sunday, May 9.

• How'd Russ Ortiz throw 133 pitches in just 6.2 innings, even while giving up only two hits? Despite throwing 80 of those pitches for strikes, which is not a horrible ratio, he walked four. I'm guessing he got into a deep count with basically every batter and generally got out of the jams, but missed a few times for some walks. Probably lots of foul balls, too. That must have been a fun one for the fans. Amazingly enough, the whole affair was over in under three hours, which is, on the other hand, quite a long time for a 2-1 game with just three hits for each side.

• The Stars and Scrubs approach was on exhibition in the Montreal-St. Louis game. The Redbirds had the stars (Jim Edmonds hit his seventh homer, a three-run shot; Albert Pujols hit his ninth, for two scores), and the Expos had the scrubs (Endy Chavez is still leading off).

• Milwaukee box scores make me so excited. Scott Podsednik, ol' Silent D, didn't let me down, knocking two singles and stealing his 18th base of the year. After a wild eighth inning, though, the Mets ended up winning in eleven, 6-5. Brooks Kieschick threw a shutout inning, lowering his ERA to 1.17, and hit a double, raising his average to .353. Brooks "Babe Ruth" Kieschnick?

• Whoa! Flash back to the early '90's, dude! Todd Van Poppel with a four-inning start!

• Baltimore and Cleveland played a wild game in which only five of the half innings went scoreless. The final score was 12-11, and the difference was essentially in the two biggest innings: four runs for the Orioles, just three for the Indians. Miguel Tejada popped a pair of two-run homers for the Orioles. He's trying to keep pace with Bobby Crosby in the A's shortstop home run race. Wouldn't that be a surprise if Crosby had more home runs at the end of the year than Tejada? Anyway, Loomer Loney hit the only Indians home run, Merloni's first for the team.

• Pittsburgh scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game, only to lose in the 14th on a home run by Olmedo Saenz and some shut-down pitching by Brian Falkenborg (signed as a minor-league free agent by the Dodgers this winter). You heard me, shut-down pitching by Brian Falkenborg.

• Eric Young was caught stealing for the fourth time this year in a loss to the Tigers. Already four times caught, and it's only May, when guys like Derek Jeter and Carlos Beltran go whole seasons of stealing 25-35 bases and being caught that many times total. In other words, stop letting him run if you want to stop giving away wins, Buck.