Playing the Role of Spoiler

All three teams doing the chasing in the current Wild Card races lost last night. The Rays fell 5-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays to push idle Boston's lead to 2 1/2, the Angels lost 3-1 to the A's to drop to 3 1/2 back, and over in the National League, the Cardinals lost 5-1 to the Cubbies to fall 3 games behind the Braves. One of the things you hear a lot about in sports is the ability to play the role of spoiler. The Blue Jays, A's and Cubs are all out of contention, and have been for some time. However, they still have the ability to influence the postseason and in this case they can all play a major role in keeping a division rival out of the playoffs. Let's look at our top spoilers from each of last night's games:

TORONTO 5 TAMPA BAY 1

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SPOILER: BRANDON MORROW

Toronto's 27 year old right hander has struggled a bit this season coming into last night's game with a record of 10-11 and a career worst 4.98 ERA. None of that seemed to matter last night as Morrow put together one of his best starts of the season going 7 shutout innings and allowing just 2 hits while fanning 9 en route to his career high 11th win. In doing so he beat David Price who had already beaten the Rays 3 times this season.










 OAKLAND 3 LOS ANGELES 1

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

SPOILER: GIO GONZALEZ

The A's trailed the Angels by 15 games in the standings entering play last night, but following last night's win have now taken a 10-7 lead in their season series with the Halos. Gio Gonzalez tied a career high with his 15th win going 7 1/3 innings allowing just 1 run on 3 hits. This marked the 4th time that Gonzalez had beaten the Angels this year as he outdueled the Angels staff ace Jered Weaver.











CHICAGO 5 ST. LOUIS 1

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SPOILER: ALFONSO SORIANO

Soriano was a 40/40 guy with the Nationals when they signed him after the 2006 season. In 5 years with the Cubs he has failed to both hits 40 home runs or steal 40 bases in ANY season. In fact, in 5 season, he has just 54 total steals. In the midst of yet another disappointing season, Soriano had a rare chance to play the role of hero last night crushing a 3-run home run off of reliever Kyle McClellan in the top of the 8th to break a 1-1 tie and send the Cubs to victory.









HONORABLE MENTION

Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com

SPOILER: CARDINALS BULLPEN

On Thursday, the Cardinals took a 6-2 lead in to the 9th inning and promptly surrendered 6 runs. Last night, Chris Carpenter left the game after 7 strong innings with the game tied 1-1. In 2 innings, the Cardinal pen allowed 4 runs on 4 hits en route to another huge loss. Here's the breakdown of the last two games between the Cardinal starters and their bullpen: Starting Pitching - 13 innings, 8 hits, 2 runs, 6 walks, 9 strikeouts - 1.38 ERA.
Bullpen - 5 innings 8 hits, 11 runs, 5 walks, 4 strikeouts - 16.20 ERA. In that span, the bullpen has tossed just one scoreless inning, a perfect 7th on Thursday from 41 year old Arthur Rhodes.







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