The Closer: Markakis For President

Notes from a day in baseball:

• 1. You Might Just Make It After All .... How fickle are we baseball fans? Just a short while ago it was Joe Mauer over whom we all fawned, but now it's a Baltimore rookie named Nick Markakis who is our flavor of the month. That's because all he did on Tuesday was belt three home runs — becoming the 18th Oriole to do so, and first since Albert Belle in 1999 — in Baltimore's 6-3 win over Minnesota. He flew out in his fourth at-bat (16 players in major league history have hit four in one game) and was left on-deck as the Orioles made their final out of the game. Since moving to No. 2 in the lineup, Markakis has six homers in six games. But hey, we still love Joe Mauer as well.

• 2. It Goes To 11. The Seattle Mariners found the key to breaking their losing streak: free laundry. Fans waved towels at Safeco on Tuesday, and Adrian Beltre responded with two home runs to lead the Ms past the Yankees 6-5, breaking Seattle's 11-game losing streak.

• 3. Now You've Dunn It. The Reds are only one game behind the Cardinals for the top spot in the NL Central, as Adam Dunn's three-run homer highlighted an eight-run third, Cincinnati bludgeoning Houston 14-0.

• 4. Walky Big Papi. Mike Scioscia decided to walk David Ortiz with a runner at second in the ninth ... and that brought up Kevin Youkilis, who flied out to end the game as the Angels beat the Red Sox 4-3. To us, walking someone named Big Papi to get to someone named Kevin always seems like a good idea.

• 5. OK, We're Calling It For The Tigers. Even the over-40 set are beating the White Sox these days, as Kenny Rogers shut down Chicago in a 4-0 victory, giving the Tigers a 7 1/2 game lead in the AL Central.