The Braves and Pirates played for 19 innings last night. It was a game that lasted 6 hours, 39 minutes and ended at 1:50 am, so perhaps the atrocious call at home plate that gave Atlanta the walkoff win was possibly due to fatigue? I’m not sure how else you explain the shit-on-a-stick special the Pirates were served after playing for nearly seven hours. Even worse, credited with the game-winning RBI was Scott Proctor. Based on that alone, one should be able to surmise something was fishy about the call from the home plate ump. Does anyone, including Braves fans, actually think Lugo was safe? Buster Olney has already submitted a vote for a five-man umpiring crew with one in the booth to oversee replays. The ump who made the call, Jerry Meals, will be working third base tonight directly in front of the Pirates dugout. It’ll be a huge upset if Clint Hurdle doesn’t give him a DDT by the second inning. Here’s a link to the play at the plate, as well as a GIF from @Jose3030:

Marlins 11, Nats 2 — On a much lighter note than the controversy at Turner Field, a praying mantis made pals with some of the Marlins last night while Jordan Zimmermann got shelled.

Yankees 4, Mariners 1 — This headline about sums it up: “Mariners lose 17th straight, striking out 18 times.” CC fought a couple rain delays and flirted with a perfect game into the seventh, striking out a career high 14, but it was not to be. Last night was the first chance in awhile that I got to see a full start from Doug Fister and I must say, the dude can pitch. I was impressed with his fists of fury. He rarely gets run support though, which explains why Dougie is often spotted fisting himself.

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So what’s the deal with Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus? According to Tony La Russa, Colby is very disobedient: “… he doesn’t listen to the Cardinal coaches much now, and that’s why he gets in these funks, in my opinion. If he would just stay with [basically] what they teach, he would have … but I actually feel concern for him, because he hears it from so many places, he’s got to be confused.” Based on Tony’s quotes, Colby is basically a Labrador retriever who was gifted with all the physical traits often seen in the breed but is, sadly, dumb.

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Angels 2, Indians 1 — Jered Weaver pitched seven innings of one-run ball. He’s been nothing but efficiently awesome. I just have a feeling Jered will need to legpress a live alligator between each pitch in order to impress the, at times, blind sports media.

Tigers 5, White Sox 4 — It wasn’t quite the same type of evening for Justin Verlander. The Tigers stud served up two dingers but managed to hold on for eight innings. This type of start is where someone annoying might say, “this guy is a gamer,” a close friend of the “this guy is a baseball player” expression. Wilson Betemit’s RBI single in the eighth was the difference. I still can’t believe the White Sox swapped Nick Swisher for Betemit with a straight face.

Phils 7, Giants 2 — Chase Utley hit an inside the park home run that was capped by a adept, thunderous slide into home plate. It sounds so cliche, because it is, but it’s hard not to love the way Utley plays. He also said “Muff” at the end of his postgame interview. Muff is a reference to announcer Chris Wheeler. Muff.

Dodgers 3, Rockies 2 — Clayton Kershaw continues to give Dodger fans a sliver of hope. He pitched well on a night he had to throw well because it was Fernando Valenzuela bobblehead night! You can already purchase a plethora of Fernando bobblers on ebay.

O’s 12, Blue Jays 4 — The Orioles won! This victory came in vintage WWE heel fashion, as Buck Showalter sent in the order to throw at Jose Bautista’s head in an effort to eliminate his bat from the game. Mission accomplished. Unfortunately, the headhunting was not included in MLB’s highlights.

[Top photo via Getty]