Chicks dig the quiet two-hitter.

If only most fans and media members felt the same, we'd be talking about Greg Maddux as the best pitcher of his era.

A day before his 42nd birthday, Maddux put together a typical performance - 2 H, 2 SO, 1 BB and most importantly 0 ER and a W. He's not going deep into games anymore, but if you still need a pitcher to keep you into the game 5-6 innings deep there's still no one more consistent.

Tim Keown has a great article in the recent ESPN Mag about how Maddux has managed to win 347 (at the time) games looking and pitching the way he does.

We can safely assume Greg Maddux has never flirted with performance enhancers. It's refreshing that a guy like him still can successfully outwork and out-think his opponents.

Oh, and the Padres won 1-0.

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Brewers 9, Mets 7 Someone get Gape Kapler more ABs. He's clearly the new Ted Williams, batting an impressive .423. Gabe hit his 4th home run in the 1st inning, then added another RBI in the 7th to give Milwaukee enough insurance runs to win the series.

Pirates 9, Reds 1 The Johnny Cueto love fest comes back down to earth momentarily. JC struck out six more, but the Bucs were finally able to get a bat on his nasty stuff for five runs in six innings. Nate McLouth continues to be the hit machine, with his MLB-leading 22nd.

White Sox 11, Tigers 0 Are they even trying? Apparently Jim Leyland  waited until this 10th loss, and second straight shutout to tear into his team. What was he waiting for? It's not so much the pitching, we knew they would give up double figures many times this season but where are the bats? Curtis Granderson can't come back soon enough. Let's see what happens when he returns in a week - then we can write the Tigs off.

Red Sox 8, Yankees 5 Round 1 goes to the Sawx. Dice-K wasn't great, but good enough for the bullpen to hang on for another win. David Ortize, now 3-for-34, was given a "mental health day off" for obvious reasons.