Dodgers 8, Mets 0: Somewhere on Long Island there's a guy who went to last night's game for the express purpose of booing Manny and holding up a sign with a syringe on it or something. And, yes, Manny was booed and was even ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes! Dude from Long Island was probably loving it! Too bad, then, that Manny also knocked in three runs and then, after his ejection, watched the Dodgers complete a pretty damn dominant performance from the clubhouse while eating candy and drinking soda or whatever it is Manny does.

Rays 3, Blue Jays 1: Phun Pfact: Map makers will sometimes slip in phantom streets or towns or something so that they can tell if a competing map maker is really just copying their work. I suspect that the people who put together box scores do the same thing. Evidence: the "pitcher" named Marc Rzepczynski. He doesn't really exist. He's a copyright protection device. He was created by the NBC Sports people so that they can tell if Yahoo! is ripping off the scores. At least I'm pretty sure that's the case.

Tigers 8, Royals 5: Verlander wasn't particularly sharp, but he strikes out 11 because the Royals aren't particularly sharp either. According to the game story, Verlander's 141 strikeouts are the most by a Detroit pitcher before the All-Star Game in 37 years. Of course that was Mickey Lolich, and Mickey Lolich used to pitch approximately 598 innings a year back in the early 70s, so Verlander's feat is far more impressive.

White Sox 10, Indians 6: I'm struggling to think of a trade that was as disastrous for both teams involved as the Perez-DeRosa trade has been this far for Cleveland and St. Louis. Paul Konerko drove in seven. Why is it, despite the fact that he's 33 years-old and has been in the league for 12 years, that I still think of him as a Dodgers' prospect? Same thing happened to me with Robin Ventura for his whole career. No matter how old he got, I pictured him playing for Oklahoma State in the 1987 College World Series. Maybe the White Sox uniforms have some sort of time warping effect or something.

Orioles 12, Mariners 4: Luke Scott was a one-man wrecking crew (3-4, HR, 3B, 7 RBI). From the game story: "Ichiro Suzuki has turned down MLB's request to participate in the Home Run Derby." Wait, what? The guy hits six homers a year. The only reason they'd want him in there is as a cynical rating ploy for the Japanese market, which I'm assuming gets the All-Star broadcast. Good for him for not wanting to be used like that.

Cardinals 5, Brewers 0: Both Brewers' bench coach Willie Randolph and hitting coach Dale Sveum were ejected. I said at the beginning of the year that it may be awkward for both of these former managers to be in subordinate roles this year. I'd like to think, then, that their ejections were really auditions for any managerial openings that pop up the rest of the year.

Braves 2, Cubs 1: Javier Vazquez continues to get no run support, but he didn't need much last night, as he gave a single run in seven innings. His ERA is down to 2.95, but because his record is only 6-7, he doesn't make the All-Star Game. Total ripoff.

Pirates 6, Astros 3: I can't think of a single thing to say about this game, so I'll say this: my son, Carlo, recently discovered the book Where the Wild Things Are. He loves it. I loved it when I was a kid, and I love reading it to him. I think our love of it is based on the fact that, deep down, we both have anger issues. Nothing crazy -- neither of us are violent or bombastic -- but both he and I are easily frustrated and often stomp around a bit in something not unlike the book's wild rumpus when things don't go just the way we planned. The book, you see, is really about anger, and how it's natural and follows a predictable but necessary arc before resolving itself and how ultimately it's OK. But the thing is, the beauty of the book has a lot to do with the fact that it's only ten sentences long and can be read in a couple of minutes, even if you linger on the pictures a bit. It follows that anger arc and resolves itself pretty quickly, resulting in an almost therapeutic effect. Which makes me wonder how in the hell they're going to make a movie out of it. And why they felt the need to in the first place. I hope my son never gets wind of the movie, because I don't want the wonderful few minutes we spend with the book each night to be sullied in any way.

Sorry Pirates and Astros fans. I'll try to pay more attention tomorrow night.

Red Sox 5, A's 2: Round numbers galore: Beckett's 10th win, Bay's 20th home run, Giambi's 0 for 4. I guess what I'm saying is that nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Reds 4, Phillies 3: Way to bounce back after getting slaughtered. A couple of homers for Brandon Phillips and a single off of Brad Lidge carried the day.

Yankees 10, Twins 2: Production from all over the Yankees' order in this one, as Cano, Gardner and Cervelli combine to go 7-14 with 6 RBI.

Rockies 5, Nationals 4: Defensive breakdowns killed the Nats, with the last being a potentially inning-ending comebacker that Joe Beimel threw to the wrong guy down at second.

Rangers 8, Angels 5: And we're tied again, as Andruw Jones -- on an unexpected hot streak -- blasts a three-run homer in the course of a big fifth inning. In addition to the game, the Angels lose Vlad to a knee injury that, while maybe not terribly serious, has to be enough to keep him from ever playing the field again, right? I mean, he has to be a DH at this point, doesn't he?

Diamondbacks 4, Padres 3: Four in a row for Arizona, all coming after Mark Reynolds yelled at everyone on his team. Coincidence? Well, yes, it most like is a coincidence, actually.

Giants 3, Marlins 0: It's probably against the rules for Tim Lincecum to have dressed up in Barry Zito's uniform and pitch last night, but he apparently did it anyway (8.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER).