Afternoon Baseball

For Mike Mussina, who got strikeout #2,500 of his stellar, lenghthy career, and he also pitched seven excellent innings to get the win, his 233rd lifetime and ninth this year. While he has struggled lately, I was a little premature to jump off the bandwagon last week, considering he was still in the AL top 10 in wins, IP, ERA, WHIP, Ks, and opp. AVG before his strong outing today.
Johnny Damon continues to beat expectations as he drove in both runs to defeat the complete game of Dontrelle Willis.

For Brad Radke and Derrek Lee, who faced off today, Radke coming out far better (7 IP, 0 R). Lee was on the disabled list while Radke merely was pitching like he was on it, a change I noted in early May. Things have gone right since then, however (and better overall for the Twins, too).

For Ruben Sierra, who really isn't bouncing back. He's old, not very good and ever about to hurt himself. But he had an RBI today on a broken-bat single for the Twins! Of course, he's hitting .217/.296/.261 in 23 at-bats.

For Jeff Gordon, the fallen Wonder Boy of NASCAR who needed a win oh-so-badly. Can he keep this going to make it more than just a flashback to better days?

For David Beckham, the pretty boy who gained his reputation as the world's best (white) player largely through his ability to control a game without scoring, actually putting one in the net on a signature curving, crazy free kick.
Since he became a celebrity, not a soccer player, he's become a favorite target, and it didn't help that his level of play fluctuated. But as Michael Davies said,

"Even without the goal, Beckham turned in a vintage performance: he was all over the park, gave his opponents no time on the ball and even puked (apparently, if you watch the replays, even the hurl had dip and curl)."