The Closer: ... With An Arm That Can Bring A Man To Tears

Notes from a day in baseball:

• 1. Some Crying, Apparently, In Baseball. Following his team's 8-5 win over the Astros, Nationals manager Frank Robinson began crying in front of reporters as he described having to remove catcher Mathew LeCroy in the middle of an inning. By the seventh inning, the Astros had already stolen seven bases, the most by any team in the majors since 2003. After LeCroy threw the ball into center field — his second error — Robinson benched him. "If my daddy was managing this team, I'm sure he would have done the same thing," LeCroy said. You'll recognize LeCroy's daddy from now on; he'll be the guy at Denny's wearing the fake nose and glasses.

• 2. May The Cheese Be With You. The Royals are God-awful, we all know that. But some KC fans have chosen not to bang their heads against the nearest tree, instead deciding to sit back and enjoy the ride. Take the site Royales With Cheese, for instance. Instead of dwelling on the Royals' 13-8 loss to the Tigers on Thursday — KC's 13th straight — the folks at The Cheese instead give us a fine feature on possible new Royals stadium promotions. "Each game, between the top and bottom of the seventh, Runelvys Hernandez and Matt Stairs will engage in a pie-eating contest. The winner will get to take a nap for the remainder of the game." One question: How will we know the difference?

The Daily Closer continues after the jump.

• 3. Nice Way To Break A Slump. Phil Nevin had been 0-for-17 until two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Thursday, when his two-run homer gave the Rangers an 8-7 win over the struggling Athletics. Oakland, which has lost six straight, lost in Royals-like fashion, as Texas came back from a 7-0 deficit.

• 4. V As In Victory. Meet Shane Victorino, the leadoff man the Phillies have been looking for all season. Victorino worked a key walk in the seventh and later scored the go-ahead run as Philadelphia beat the Mets 5-3. Victorino was replacing shortstop Jimmy Rollins at the top of the order. Chase Utley had four hits for the Phillies.

• 5. He Was, As They Say, Due. Baltimore's Rodrigo Lopez had a seven-game losing streak going, with the AL's second-highest ERA at 8.07. All of this apparently really intimidated the Seattle Mariners, who went hitless from the first through seventh innings in a 2-0 loss to the Os.