Yardwork: Brewers Prank Braun, and the Mets Need Money Again

Ryan Braun had a little bit of a malfunction while trying to round third the other night in his attempt at an inside the park home run, so his teammates decided to have some fun with his stumble by honoring his amusing fall around third base. Pretty awesome. When you’re up 7.5 games you’re allowed to do things like this. As for actual baseball, the Cards swept the Brewers as Fat Albert went deep again. I love this ridiculous lede: “Albert Pujols showed everyone who the Cardinals’ real power hitter is.” I’m not sure he was ever accused of not being a real power hitter, but I’m relieved he was able to show them.

Money 1, Mets 0 — The Mets owners are now “trying to sell shares of up to $20 million to family members” and at least for the time being will maintain controlling interest of the team. David Einhorn sound like he had a wonderful experience during his short time with the team: “Further negotiations would be pointless.”

Yanks 4, Red Sox 2 — AJ Burnett held onto his slot in the starting rotation going 5 1-3 innings and allowing two runs. Every time it appears he’s toast, he does well enough to keep himself in the conversation. The game only lasted 4 hours and 21 minutes. It probably should have ended short after the four hour mark, but the ump’s ability to squeeze Mo in the ninth allowed this one to seemingly last forever.

Phils 6, Reds 4 — Ryan Howard went deep for the fourth time in five games. The cruising Phillies have won four straight and six of their last eight.

Rangers 7, Rays 2 — The Rangers maintained their 3.5 lead on the Angels and wow, does BJ Upton remain awful. He went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts and 4 men left on base. It sounds so cliche, but perhaps a change of scenery would do him well.

Royals 11, Tigers 8 — Jeff Francoeur went 3-for-5 with a home run. Yes, this is happening. These numbers are real. Eric Hosmer also went deep, causing TBL writer Jason Lisk to excitedly giggle for 27 straight minutes.

[Photo via @MattSebek]