Lou Piniella says goodbye

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella announced earlier this season that he would be retiring at the end of the season. Piniella, along with Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox and Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston would all end their managerial careers at the end of the 2010 season. However Piniella decided that he had had enough and announced that Sunday against the Braves would be his final game (his mother has been very sick). For him family came first, but no one can blame him for leaving the Cubs with 37 games left. He compiled a 313-393 record with the Cubs over three-plus seasons. Piniella has been a favorite for his infamous tirades with umpires which for most are more entertaining than the play on the field.

Sunday was also the day for contending teams to receive dominating pitching performances from their starters. The best was from St. Louis Cardinals rookie Jaime Garcia, who threw his first career shutout in an 8-0 blanking of another contender, the SF Giants. He faced just one batter over the minimum and allowed just three hits (two by Pat Burrell). Garcia did not walk a batter and struck out six while throwing just 89 pitches. The Cardinals win put them in a tie for second place with the Giants for the wild card race, behind the Philadelphia Phillies.

Roy Oswalt

The Phillies received a dominating performance from Roy Oswalt, who pitched seven shutout innings. He allowed five hits and one walk while striking out eight. Oswalt also collected two hits in the Phillies 6-0 blanking of the Washington Nationals. With the Phillies leading just 2-0, the Nationals elected to walk Carlos Ruiz to get to Wilson Valdez. Valdez proceeded to rip a two-run single, giving Oswalt a larger cushion to work with.

In the American League (and especially in the AL East), they also had their share of pitching domination. NY Yankees ace CC Sabathia allowed just three hits and no runs in six innings of work. He walked none while striking out eight Seattle Mariners. He may have went deeper in the game if not for an almost hour rain delay at Yankee Stadium. Sabathia won his AL-leading 17th game of the season and is undefeated at home during the regular season.

The Boston Red Sox received six shutout innings from Clay Buchholz. He allowed five hits and walked three while striking out seven. Buchholz earned his 15th win of the season. Red Sox rookie Felix Doubront earned his second career save while throwing two shutout innings. He allowed one hit while striking out two. Buchholz and the Red Sox bullpen shut down the prolific Toronto Blue Jays offense.

The Tampa Bay Rays also received stellar pitching from Matt Garza. He allowed one run on four hits in 7.2 innings. Evan Longoria continues his hot hitting as he collected a two-run double in the 6th inning against the Oakland A’s Dallas Braden.

Michael Cuddyer

Minnesota Twins starter Scott Baker twirled his best performance of the season. Baker pitched seven scoreless innings against the LA Angels as the Twins extended their AL Central lead over the Chicago White Sox to five games. The Twins offense went to work against Angels ace Jered Weaver in the 5th inning as they scored four runs, with the big hit coming from Michael Cuddyer with two outs (a three-run double).

The combination of Baker, Buchholz, Garcia, Garza, Oswalt, Sabathia, and Colorado Rockies rookie Jhoulys Chacin combined to allow just one run over 56.1 innings for just a 0.16 ERA on Sunday. All of these pitchers also earned victories.