Sweeps Week

Baseball Update:
Ken Griffey, Jr. belted homerun #598, but it wasn't enough as the Reds fell to the Padres 8-2.

Albert Pujols' victims, Padres pitcher Chris Young and catcher Josh Bard are both heading to the DL. I mean, I knew Pujols could hit, but I didn't know his body could be considered a lethal weapon.

The White Sox made it 8 straight with their rally in the eighth to break a 1-1 tie with the Indians, winning it 3-1.

Josh Hamilton hit a two-out dinger in the tenth inning to give the Rangers a 8-7 victory over the Twins.

The Braves completed a four game sweep of the Mets by tagging Johan Santana for three runs in the seventh inning in their 4-2 come from behind win. It was the Braves first four game sweep of the Mets since 2003.

Even worse for the Mets, their left fielder Moises Alou will be going back to the DL with a strained right calf. That's what you get when you trade all of your youngin's for a pitcher and keep all old veterans around, a crowded DL.

The Red Sox completed a sweep of their own with a 11-8 win over the Royals. The game featured gran slams by Boston's J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell, while Dice-K improved to 8-0.

And the Marlins swept the Diamondbacks with their 4-0 blanking. Andrew Miller pitched seven shut out innings for the Fish.

The Tigers completed their first sweep of the Mariners since 1995 pounding them 9-2 on Thursday.

Did the Yankees hit rock bottom and are now finally ready to turn the corner? On Tuesday, it seemed like the team could do nothing right falling to the Orioles 12-2, but since then, they were able to blow out Baltimore with a 8-0 win on Wednesday and managed a 2-1 on Thursday in a game where Ian Kennedy finally held his own and the offense was able to bang out an extra run with two outs in the ninth to bring home a victory. I guess we'll have to see how they handle the slumping Mariners this weekend.

LaTroy Hawkins was suspended 3 games for his horrible attempt at hitting the Orioles' Luke Scott on Wednesday. If you can't get them the first time, don't try again! Just throw a bat at them and pretend it was a ball.

The Yankees did a little remodeling to what will be their condemned stadium at the end of this season. Officials placed netting on a staircase that is just beyond the right center field wall to aid the umpires in figuring out if a ball is a homerun after they blew a homerun call hit by Alex Rodriguez.

After three blown homerun calls in less than a week, MLB is reportedly considering the idea of adding instant replay. The League may test it out in the Arizona Fall League before trying it in the World Baseball Classic and Spring Training. I'm all for it, but only to decide if a ball is foul/fair/homerun.

A new report says the Angels will host the 2010 All-Star game. This would be the third such game they've hosted.

Nascar Update:
Get ready for the longest race of the season on Sunday when the Cup cars take to Lowe's Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600. With the extra 100 miles, mechanical failures more so than accidents tend to take some cars out of contention making pacing and preservation a race drivers best friend. Not to mention constant adjustments as the race moves from day into night. Lowe's truly is Jimmie Johnson's home but could someone else land in victory lane. Perhaps Carl Edwards who has been dominate on 1.5 mile tracks this season or could Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finally break through? You'll have to tune in to find out. Coverage starts at 5 PM/est on FOX.

Kyle Busch will be on the pole for this weekend's race. Click here to see the full lineup.

Nascar has set limits on the amount of rear adjustments beginning this weekend at Lowe's.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. seems to be a much happier guy now that he has made the switch from DEI to Hendrick Motorsports. And if this whole racing thing doesn't work out for him, he's happy to take an Office job at Dunder Mifflin Scraton.

News&Notes: The Celtics are screwed unless they can start winning on the road after falling to the Pistons 103-97...With rumors to the contrary, Calvin Andrews, agent for Carmelo Anthony is saying that the Nuggets are not shopping the all-star around. Reports had Anthony heading to the New Jersey Nets...O.J. Mayo has cut ties with sports agent Calvin Andrews and Bill Duffy Associates after a story broke that the agency may have been illegally padding Mayo's pockets...The Stanley Cup Finals start this weekend. Tune into Versus to catch the action as the Red Wings take on the Penguins...The Colorado Avalanche have promoted assistant Tony Granato to coach for the team...The Raiders are bringing back QB Margues Tuiasosopo as a back up for JaMarcus Russell. Tuiasopo had been with the Jets last season...Penn State head coach Joe Paterno still doesn't get why there is no playoff in college football, calling the BSC's reason "bogus."...Olympic Gold Medalist Antonio Pettigrew admits he used performance-enhancing drugs. Good luck trying to find someone to give his medal to.

Check this out: The 92nd Indianapolis 500 is this Sunday. Tune into ABC at 12 PM/est to catch all the side by side racing from the brickyard. And with the recent unification, the field will be even more competitive so there is really no reason for you not to watch. Click here for the starting grid.

It's been fun blogging with you,
Kate