Alex Rodriguez Always Makes Things Fun

Notes on a day in baseball:

• Don't It Make You Wanna SHOUT. In a gambit we haven't seen since high school — and haven't seen work since Little League — a baserunner confused a fielder by yelling "Mine!", causing the fielder to back away and miss a popup. Ah, the ideas you pick up in Toronto strip clubs. It was our own Alex Rodriguez who, while rounding third in the ninth, yelled at Blue Jays' third baseman Howie Clark, causing Clark to miss the ball and thus open the door for a 10-5 Yankees win. All kinds of delicious quotes after this one. "I just said, 'Hah!' That's it,'' Rodriguez said. "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.'' ... "Maybe I'm naive but I thought it was a bush-league play," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "One thing you know about the Yankees, one of the reasons they're so respected, they do things right. They always have. They've got a lot of pride and a lot of class, they play the game hard, they play the game right and that's not Yankee pride right there. That's not the way they play." Yes, he's right: The victory must have been a giveaway. "I heard a `Mine' call and so I let it go," said Clark, who was just up from the minors. "Once it fell I saw that it wasn't Johnny Mac and then I realized what had happened. It makes you mad." Tyler Clippard got the win and Robinson Cano went 4-for-4. In addition, we also enjoyed the headline over at Sportsnet. Good work, boys! (Unfortunately, we'll have more on A-Rod later.)

• Escape From New York. For those who have been writing us, speculating on whatever happened to Barry Zito, he appears to be alive and well and living with the Giants. Zito (5-5) struck out seven and walked one over seven innings in a 3-0 win over the Mets, and now has given up one run over his past 14 innings. He beat Tom Glavine, who was trying for his 296th career win.

• Arrrrr. Former Pirates minor leaguer Chris Young struck out seven over seven innings as the Padres stopped Pittsburgh 9-0. The Pirates have just seven hits over 23 2/3 career innings against Young (6-3).

• The Merry Old Land Of Oz. Torii Hunter walked on four pitches with the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth to give the Twins a 7-6 win over the White Sox, prompting Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen to say: "I'm going to get fired? Good. Is this team going to get better having me out of there? I'd be too happy with it. But as long as I'm here, we've got to play better.'' Chicago has lost four straight.

• Twelve-Person Beer Bong, Why Hast Thou Foresaken Us? Brian McCann's three-run double in a seven-run eighth led the Braves over the Brewers 9-3. Milwaukee has lost seven of its past eight.