The Daily Closer: King Of The Hill

Notes from a day in baseball:

• The Felix Hernandez Steps On Your Nuts Show. We took that little bit of headline goodness from Surviving Grady, the Red Sox blog which revealed that it was actually pulling for a no-hitter in the latter stages of the Mariners' 3-0 win over Boston on Wednesday. The man of the moment was not Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka, Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki, nor even famed Japanese movie superhero Space Prince. It was Mariners' pitcher Felix Hernandez, who lost said no-hitter to lead off the eighth, and finished with a complete-game one-hitter. Here's what else they're saying in the blogs:

‣ Walking out of the stadium, I was interviewed on camera by a Fuji TV reporter who wanted to know what I thought about Matsuzaka vs. Ichiro. All I could talk about was Felix. Full writeup tomorrow, although I don't think I'm going to have any words for what I just witnessed. Just...just remarkable. [ Lookout Landing]

‣ The media is going to run with Matsuzaka-Ichiro as the big story, which should be expected. The matchup will open the game, and Ichiro is the most famous player on the roster. But in four hours, there's a good chance that Ichiro and Matsuzaka won't be the story to come out of this game. This is King Felix's first start in Fenway, too. Daisuke Matsuzaka is the second best pitcher taking the hill tonight. Go get em, Felix. [ U.S.S. Mariner (4:05 p.m., PST)]

‣ Felix Hernandez. This was an awesome pitching performance. I hate to lose games as much as anyone, but all you can do here is tip the cap and be thankful we face Washburn next. [ Over The Monster]

‣ Matsuzaka pitched okay. He retired Ichiro four times, but the rest of the Mariners found a way to pound out eight hits. And Johjima, who faced Dice-K quite a bit in Japan, managed two doubles. Still, on most days, the Red Sox will take seven innings and three runs from their starter. By the way, Will Carroll wrote that the pitch that struck out Sexson was the gyroball. [ Baseball Musings]

• Greg Maddux: Padre! It may take a little while to get used to Greg Maddux wearing this, unless you live in close proximity to the San Diego Zoo, and Tijuana. Maddux (he'll be 41 on Saturday!) threw six shutout innings for his 334th career win, 4-0 over the Giants. Maddux retired Barry Bonds three times on four total pitches.

• Manny Acta's PowerPoint Presentation. Following the Braves' 8-3 win over the Nationals (1-8) on Wednesday, Washington manager Manny Acta held a postgame team meeting. "I thought it was the right time,'' Acta said. Thoughts, anyone? Andruw Jones and Chipper Jones homered in the same game for the 56th time for Atlanta (7-1).

• Party Like It's 1999. Believe it or not, the White Sox had not won a series in Oakland for seven years before Wednesday's 6-3 win. Darin Erstad's sacrifice fly in the ninth, following Jermaine Dye's tying two-run homer an inning earlier, was the main damage.

This being Matsuzaka-Suzuki Day and all, we close with a bit of soothing Haiku poetry, courtesy of Flyers' Fieldhouse: The Indians were/Sent to Milwaukee to play/And race sausages.