good night, Irene

As Irene pounded the east coast and forced cancellations galore, there was some baseball Saturday.........

In Boston Saturday, the A's and Red Sox dodged the hurricane and managed to play 2 games, with the Sox winning both. Josh Outman pitched 4 innings in relief after a rain delay in the second game, and allowed just 1 UNearned run on 3 hits and 1 walk, striking out 7 of his 12 outs in Boston's 4-0 win..............In Cleveland, Jason Donald (.280) had 3 hits and scored a run as the Indians scored an 8-7, come from behind win over the Royals.

In Louisville, Domonic Brown (.278) had 4 hits as Lehigh Valley took a 5-4 win from the Bats. Mike Zagurski (4-0, 2.90) was the winning pitcher and Justin DeFratus struck out the side in the 9th inning to get his 6th save. The IronPigs (76-60) trail Pawtucket by 1 game with 8 games left and will send Scott Mathieson to the mound today against Syracuse. The Cheifs beat Andy Baldwin and the Red Wings behind Steven Strasburg, 4-3. Baldwin (6-13, 5.64) went 6 good innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 6. Strasburg struck out 7 in 5 innings, giving the Red Wings 1 run on 2 hits.

In Reading, the R-Phils and Portland split a doubleheader, Reading taking the first game, 6-2 and the Sea Dogs coming back for a 4-2 win in the late game. Red hot Mike Spidale (.330) was 6 for 7 on the day, and is 15 for his last 28 (that's .536) in the last 7 games. Derrick Mitchell (.262) had 3 hits and 4 RBI (73) on the day. J.C. Ramirez won his 10th game, and B.J. Rosenberg recorded his 1st save of the year. Reading stays a half game behind New Britain for the last spot in the Eastern League playoffs.

In Clearwater, the Threshers exploded for 14 runs on 23 hits for an easy 14-5 win over Lakeland. Cyle Hankerd had 4 hits, including 2 home runs, and drove in 5 runs, and Alan Schoenberger, Torre Langley and Darin Ruf (.316, 2 doubles, RBI # 73) added 3 hits apiece to back David Buchanan, who won his 3rd game for Clearwater, and is 14-6 overall this year. The Threshers have now won 3 in a row and pull to within 2.5 games of fist place Dunedin.

In Fresno, Michael Taylor (.280) hit 2 home run (15) and drove in 3 runs (60) for Sacramento, helping the River Cats beat the Grizzlies, 5-4................Jason Jaramillo (.278) is off the DL, and had a hit and a walk for Indianapolis, but the Indians lost in Columbus, 4-3................In Colorado Springs, Jesus Merchan (.294) had a hit, scored a run and drove in 2 more to help the Sky Sox beat Tacoma, 8-5...............In Manchester, the Harrisburg Senators edged the Fisher Cats, 2-1. Anthony Gose (.254) had a double, a walk, stole base #65, and scored the lone run for the Cats, who have lost 4 in a row and have let both New Britain and Reading back in the hunt.................In Lake Elsinore, the Storm beat the Lancaster JetHawks, 1-0. Jonathan Singleton (.337 since trade) had 2 of Lancaster's 5 hits on the day.......Domingo Santana had a single, a double, and 2 RBI for Lexington in the Legends' 11-3 win in West Virginia.