Recently, the Yankees traded Jeff Karstens to the Pirates as part of the deal involving Xavier Nady. While Nady has certainly played excellently so far for the Bronx Bombers, Joba Chamberlain's injury and Karstens' performance may have some Yanks fans wishing he was still in pinstripes.

Karstens pitched 7 perfect innings, and finished last night's game with a 2-hit shutout of the Diamondbacks, and the Pirates were victorious, 2-0. 72 of Karstens' 113 pitches were strikes, and he struck out 4, while walking only 1. A single by Stephen Drew in the 8th broke up the bid for a perfect game, and Chris Young's double was the only other D-Backs hit.

Offensively, Freddy Sanchez hit a solo home run for the Pirates, and Doug Mientkiewicz added an RBI double. Coincidentally, the Diamondbacks' starting pitcher was Randy Johnson, who was the last pitcher to throw a perfect game.

Albert Pujols showed once again why he's the best hitter in baseball, going 4-4 with a grand slam. Pujols' 2 runs and 4 RBI helped the Cardinals to a 9-6 win over the Dodgers. Newly acquired Manny Ramirez continued his amazing hitting for the Dodgers, as he went 2-4, with a HR and 2 RBI, but it simply wasn't enough for the Dodgers this time.


----- Other MLB Scores -----
AL:
Red Sox 8, Royals 2 - Jacoby Ellsbury: 3-4, 3-run HR, 2 runs
Rays 10, Indians 7 - Carlos Pena: 3-run walk-off HR in the 9th. Rays scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 9th
Angels 9, Orioles 4 - Ervin Santana: 7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 7 K ... Vlad Guerrerro: 2-3, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI
Twins 7, Mariners 3 - Denard Span: 3-5, 4 RBI
Blue Jays 5, Athletics 1 - Shaun Marcum: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 7 K, 2 BB (no-hitter through 5 innings)
White Sox 5, Tigers 1 - Jim Thome: 3-run HR, 2 runs ... John Danks: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 6 K, 1 BB
Yankees 5, Rangers 3 - Sidney Ponson: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 4 K, 1 BB ... Mariano Rivera: 27th save (27 chances)

NL:
Brewers 6, Reds 3 - Rickie Weeks: 4-5, R, 2 RBI ... Jeff Suppan: 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 K, 0 BB
Cubs 11, Astros 4 - Mark DeRosa: 2-3, Grand Slam, 5 RBI ... Alfonso Soriano: 3-run HR
Giants 3, Braves 2 - Tim Lincecum: 8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 8 K, 4 BB ... Aaron Rowand: 2-2, 3 RBI
Padres 4, Mets 2 - Jody Gerut, Brian Giles, Chase Headley all homered for the Padres.
Phillies 5, Marlins 0 - Ryan Howard: 2-5, HR, 2B ... Kyle Kendrick: 6 shutout innings



----- Other MLB News/Notes -----

Eric Wedge seems to be having a bullpen problem. Derms33 has the answer.

A tribute to one of the greatest minor league teams ever assembled.

Mike Hampton will live to pitch another day? What's going on here?

Some Tigers fans aren't exactly thrilled with the Tigers' huge payroll without huge results.

Juan Pierre is STILL delusional.



Streakers - In case any team tries to make history, I'm going to list the teams with the longest active winning and losing streaks. Today's streakers:
Blue Jays: 3 wins
Athletics: 9 losses