The Closer: Royals-Pirates; The Awful Truth

Notes from a day in baseball:

• 1. Children, Hide Your Eyes. We knew that this whole interleague thing had a tragic, fatal flaw. Like highly incompatible chemical mixtures, the Pirates and Royals must never, ever be allowed to touch. On Tuesday what we all feared finally happened; an explosion of awfulness so devastating that it may have destroyed baseball as we know it. Kansas City's 10-6 win over Pittsburgh (which included 17 walks and resulted in one player being sent to Triple-A for "emotional reasons"), may have been one of the worst games in history. But don't take our word for it: One brave citizen actually live blogged the entire event. So let's head over to Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? for all the horrible details.

• 2. With A Third Inning To Haunt Our Dreams. We're sorry to report that this one wasn't much better, at least on one side. Joe Crede — who is from Westphalia, Missouri, by the way — had two home runs and helped produce an 11-run, 12-hit third inning as the White Sox beat the Cardinals 20-6, on 24 hits. It was Chicago's biggest offensive outing in 10 years.

• 3. Chop Phooey. The Braves are now proud owners of their longest losing streak since 1989 (top-grossing film: the original Batman) at eight games, as Reed Johnson's homer led the Blue Jays to a 6-5 win.

• 4. Racing Sausages No Match For Mighty Tiger. Meanwhile, Detroit has won six straight (the Tigers are 28-10 on the road) after rookie Zach Miner threw his first complete game, a 10-1 win over the Brewers.

• 5. June Boon. Anyone notice that the Marlins have won nine straight? Absolutely true, we checked. Dontrelle Willis came within one out of a complete game as Florida prevailed over Baltimore 6-2. Willis (4-6), unbeaten in June, now has 50 career wins; a Marlins franchise record.