Morneau, when he went on the disabled list was batting .345 with 18 homeruns and 56
runs batted in. The 29 year old from Canada is a career .286 batter, and just 14 homeruns
shy of 300 for his career.

To fill in for Morneau, Justin Cuddyer has moved to right field. The Twins currently
hold a 4.5 game lead on the Chicago White Sox for the top spot in the American League
Central.

In early August Morneau took batting practice with the team, but was advised by doctors
to take it very slow. Morneau missed the final three weeks of the 2009 season with a bad
back.

The news got better for San Diego when Nick Hundley blasted a solo homerun in the third inning to give the Padres a 1-0 lead over San Diego. Stomachs started getting a bit uneasy in the fourth when the Dodgers threatened, but came away with just one to tie the game up. The Padres added two runs in the fourth and from that point kept the lead for a 4-2 win.

San Diego got two hits from their slugger Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez now is batting .305. Nick Hundley also added two hits for San Diego in the win.

The Padres got the win from reliever Mike Adams. Adams pitched 1.2 innings of hitless and scoreless ball to pick up the win. Heath Bell picked up his 38th save on the season with two strikeouts in the ninth.

The win for San Diego moved them to 77-59 overall, and 39-29 when playing at Petco Field. The Padres remained one game ahead of the Giants for first place in the National League West. Los Angeles with the loss fell to 69-69 overall, and 28-38 when playing on the road.

Date: Wednesday September 8th, 2010

Time: 4:10 pm EST

Preview: The Cincinnati Reds will play in Denver against the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday in the third game of a four game set. The Reds come into Tuesday’s game six games ahead of St. Louis atop the National League Central.

Cincinnati has been anchored by Joey Votto and his .321 batting average, along with 32 homeruns and 98 runs batted in. Votto is not only in the mix for the National League most valuable player,
but also for the triple crown. Cincinnati is fourth in all of baseball with a .272 batting
average, as a team.

On the mound for the Reds will be veteran Bronson Arroyo. The 33 year old from Key West Florida is 14-9 on the season with an earned run average of 3.84. In his career, he holds a 100-92 record. Aaron Cook will make the start for the Colorado Rockies. Cook, a right hander – is 5-8 on the season with a 5.21 earned run average. The 31 year old is 68-58 in his career as a starting pitcher. Cook’s last start was a win in San Diego, where he pitched 6.1 innings, allowing 4 hits and just 2 earned runs.

Another MVP and triple crown candidate will be in this game, as Colorado outfielder Carlos
Gonzalez is having a monster season. Gonzalez is hitting .340 with 31 homeruns and 97
runs batted in. Gonzalez also has an OPS of 991.

Our prediction for this one: Colorado continues to win, beating Arroyo and the Reds. Colorado 7-6. Place your bets at Bodog for the best odds.

Troy Tulowitzki hit a solo homerun in the fourth inning to five the Rockies an early lead.
Tulowitzki then drove home another run in the fifth inning. Miguel Tejada tied the game
in the sixth with a two run homerun, but Melvin Mora’s single in the 7th inning gave the
Rockies a two run lead, in which they kept the rest of the way.

Jorge De La Rosa picked up the win for Colorado. He is now 6-4 on the season, and
holds a 4.18 earned run average. Huston Street picked up his 15th save of the season. The
loss for San Diego, came out of the bullpen; in Todd Stauffer. He dropped to 3-3 on the
season, allowing a hit and 2 runs in 0.1 innings.

Carlos Gonzalez continued his torrid pace in 2010 with three more hits. He is now
batting .337 on the season. Miguel Olivo also picked up two hits for Colorado. The
Padres offense saw Tejada blast out three hits, while Chris Denorfia picked up two at the
top of the lineup.

Colorado, with the win, moved to just 4.5 games behind the Padres, and 3.5 games
behind the Giants in the National League West. Colorado is also 5.5 games behind the
Philadelphia Phillies for the National League Wildcard lead.

New York could not figure out Atlanta rookie Mike Minor, who moved to 3-0 on the
season. Minor went five strong innings, allowing just those two runs. Jonathan Niese took
the loss for the Mets. Niese finished just 4.2 inning, taking the loss, and falling to 8-7 on
the season.

The Braves offense saw Nate McLouth come back after his Triple A stint, get hit by pitch
to get the inning started. Jason Heyward and Alex Gonzalez both drove in runs in the big
inning for Atlanta.

The Braves with the win moved to 77-55 overall and 48-18 when playing at Turner
Field. Atlanta came into action on Tuesday night leading the Philadelphia Phillies by
three games in the National League East. The Mets fell to 65-67 overall, and 26-42 when
playing away from Citi Field. The Mets are 12 games behind Atlanta in the division.

Date: Wednesday September 1st, 2010

Time: 8:10 pm EST

Preview: The Detroit Tigers will take on the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night in the middle game of a three game series at Target Field. The Tigers come into the game one game below .500 on the season, and ten games out of first place in the American League Central.

The Tigers rank sixth in all of baseball with a .270 batting average, while Miguel Cabrera ranks near the top with a .342 batting average. Cabrera also leads the team with 33 homeruns and 107 runs batted in. Minnesota comes into the game, 3.5 games up on the Chicago White Sox atop the division.

The Twins lead all of baseball with a .278 batting average, while also blasting 117 homeruns; for 19th in all of baseball. Joe Mauer leads the team with a .327 batting average, while the injured Justin Morneau leads with 18 homeruns.

The pitching match-up for Wednesday features two young fire ball pitchers. Max Scherzer will pitch for the Tigers. Scherzer is 10-9 with a 3.60 earned run average on the season. The 26 year old is 19-24 in his major league career. Francisco Lirano is 12-7 on the season and 36-29 in his career. The 26 year old left hander is coming off a win in Texas where he pitched 8 innings allowing five hits and 2 runs.

Our prediction in this game: Detroit comes up with a road win; beating the first place Twins. Detroit 7-5. Place your bets at top bookmaker Sportsbook.com

Another outfielder Lance Nix left the game in the third inning after spraining his left
ankle. Cincinnati made another move optioning relief pitcher Jordan Smith to Triple A –
Louisville. They also recalled Sam LeCure and second base men Chris Valaika. Valaika
is the 7th Cincinnati player to make his major league debut this season.

With the win for the Giants, they moved to 70-56 overall; 5.5 games behind the Padres
for first place in the West. San Francisco is just one game behind the Phillies for the
National League Wildcard.

Cincinnati with the loss dropped to 72-53. The Reds lead St. Louis by 2.5 games at the
top of the National League Central. The Giants and Reds will play the second of a three
game series on Tuesday evening. San Francisco will send Madison Bumgarner to the
mound, while the Reds counter with Homer Bailey.

Eric Hinske is one of those guys. Hinske was another in a long list of Cubs prospects that never really got a chance here. He was traded for Miguel Cairo (Nice!) and went on to win Rookie of the Year in 2002. He’s also been to 3 World Series and won twice. He’s built a decent career, as well as an enormous tattoo on his back.

Gives a whole new meaning to going on to bigger things, but still qualifies. It’s a very cool design, but really — Banana Republic underwear?

h/t: AJC