Morning Wood

Chicago Cubs 7 Pittsburgh Pirates 3

Not even Rich Hill's sucking could stop the Cubs from winning their 5th straight game on Thursday night in Pittsburgh, completing a three-game sweep. The win also makes Chicago the first city in the country to have two teams win five games in a row, so that means we're going to have a Cubs-White Sox World Series. At least, that's what I think it means. If the two do meet in the Series, Geovany Soto would love to see the Sox trade for Matt Morris first, because Geo owned him last night. Soto went 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, a 2-run homer, and a single. His homer gave the Cubs a 4-3 lead during a 5-run 6th inning that blew this one open. As for Rich Hill and his sucking, he gave up 3 runs in 3 innings, while walking 4 Pirates. I'm not sure how much longer Lou Piniella is going to allow Rich to breathe at this rate, especially when considering how well Jon Lieber pitched in relief again.

New York Yankees 6 Kansas City Royals 3

The Sox may have been rained out on Thursday, but they still picked up a half-game on the Royals in the AL Central (Is April too early to start worrying about that kind of thing?) as the Yankees avoided being swept. Andy Pettite shot enough HGH before the game to go 6.2 innings, and allow only one hit, while both Melky Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez contributed with two-run homers. "Andy knows how to win big games," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I don't know if I would call this a big game, but you don't want to be swept at the start of an eight-game road trip." Did a Yankee just consider a game against the Royals to be a "big game?" Jesus Christ this has been a weird start to the 2008 season.

Boston Red Sox 12 Detroit Tigers 5

The Red Sox showed the Tigers some mercy on Wednesday, allowing them to actually win a game, but that mercy was nowhere to be found on Thursday. The BoSox roughed up Nate Robertson for 4 runs and 8 hits in 5 innings. Sean Casey had 3RBIs against his former team, while Manny, Kevin Youkilis, and J.D. Drew each drove in 2 runs as well. The Tigers are now 1-8, and Jim Leyland isn't confused as to why his team sucks so much right now. "There isn't a bullpen in the history of baseball that could help a team when the starters can only muster five innings every night," Leyland said. "That's where you start, and we'll worry about the bullpen after we get that straightened out."

AL

• Rays 7 Mariners 0
• Rangers 3 Orioles 1
• Rangers 5 Orioles 4
• A's 3 Jays 2 12inn

NL

• Reds 4 Brewers 1
• Marlins 4 Nats 3
• Mets 4 Phillies 3 12inn
• Giants 5 Cardinals 1