Pujols Breaks Down, Will Not Be Shot

We all know that Ken Griffey Jr. is injury prone, but is it communicable? No sooner had the Cardinals landed in Cincinnati than Albert Pujols pulled up lame — strained calf — and had to be taken off the field in a wheelbarrow. Earlier he had teamed with Super Friend Rick Ankiel for back-to-back homers, but now he's done for a while. Bad news for Will, good news for the Cubs.

Chicago is 2 1/2 games head of second-place St. Louis in the NL Central, and losing Pujols (16 homers) for any significant amount of time really sucks for the men in red. But hey, at least they're getting Joel Pineiro back! Pujols suffered the injury while running out a ground ball, the Cardinals going on for a 7-2 win. He was flown to St. Louis Tuesday night, where he will have tests done today. Grow, calf, grow! Griffey was 0-for-3 with a walk in his first home game since hitting his 600th career home run Monday in Florida.

• C.C. Rider. C.C. Sabathia threw a five-hit shutout as the Indians beat the Twins 1-0. Ryan Garko's double in the first drove in the only run. Fun fact from the blog Castro Turf: The Twins haven't had a starting pitcher record a victory since May 29.

• Let The Willie Randolph Death Watch Resume. Chris Snyder's homer in the eighth led Arizona to a rain-delayed 9-5 win over the Mets; New York's fifth straight loss. Orlando Hudson, Stephen Drew and Conor Jackson also homered for the Diamondbacks. Mr. Met still recovering, unable to comment.

• Cubs 10, Braves 5. Tom Glavine (elbow strain) joins John Smoltz on the Braves' unable-to-perform list.

• Huff Said. Aubrey Huff, who entered the game 1-for-7 with three strikeouts against Boston reliever Hideki Okajima, had fours hits — including a two-run single off of Okajima — as the Orioles won 10-6.

• D-Train Takes Slight Detour. The Tigers have sent Dontrelle Willis to Class A Lakeland to "work on his control," to which we at MLB Closer snarkily reply, what control? Willis (0-1) has walked 21 batters in 11 1/3 innings, giving up eight earned runs, walking five, in 1 1/3 innings on Monday against Cleveland. The good news for Willis is that he arrives in Lakeland just in time for All-You-Can-Eat Night, as the Flying Tigers take on the Brevard County Manatees tonight at 7 p.m.

• Wizard Cat Defensive Player Of The Day. Reed Johnson, Chicago Cubs. This catch actually doesn't seem wandworthy in real time, but the replay proves that there was some sort of wizardry afoot. There's no way that ball should have landed in that glove. Wizard Cat gives this catch: Four wands, although Indifferent Ape remains unimpressed.

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