The Daily Closer: Nine-To-Two, What A Way To Make A Living

Notes from a day in baseball:

• Mr. Met Will Take It Anyway. Look, if all we're going to do this morning is talk about Buehrle this and Buehrle that, we're not going to have time to get to John Maine, who dabbled with perfection himself on Thursday for the Mets. Maine (2-0) had a no-hitter before giving up a single to lead off the seventh in New York's 9-2 win over the Marlins. Faith and Fear in Flushing, somewhat unimpressed, puts it this way: Congratulations go out to David Wright for extending his two-season hitting streak to 25 games and Met opponents for extending their 46-season hitting streak to 7,163 games. Yes, Wright (.327) set the franchise record for consecutive hits, and the Mets still do not have a no-hitter in their history. Maine gave up two hits before leaving; Miguel Cabrera singled to led off the seventh for Florida. Joe Borchard had a two-run homer for NY. Maine walked four and struck out seven.

• Another Rookie Starter, Another Win. Kei Igawa: Know It. Learn it. Love it. Thanks to Alex Rodriguez and his Early Innings Bat of Doom, the Yankees staked Igawa to an early lead and cruised to a 9-2 win over the Indians. A-Rod hit his major league-leading ninth homer, Igawa gave up two runs over six innings, and all is well today in New York, New York. Chase Wright won 10-3 in his big league debut on Wednesday. Igawa isn't exactly a kid; he spent eight seasons in Japan's Central League and is 27 years old.

• A Thursday Morning Bit Of Unpleasantness. Albert Pujols had another homer, but so did Barry Bonds (No. 738, for those who are counting), as the Giants prevailed 6-5 in 12 innings in San Francisco (fog horn sound effect here). Rich Aurilia — one of baseball's truly good guys — lined a game-winning single to left-center in the bottom of the 12th, depressing the Leitch family, which drove all across America's West just to watch the Cardinals drop two games under .500. They'll be out there again today.

• Wake 'N Papi Make It Snappy. Tim Wakefield's knuckleball and David Ortiz' bat gave the Blue Jays a throbbing headache on Thursday, the Red Sox winning 4-1. Wakefield, 40, gave up four hits over seven innings and Ortiz homered.

• Reds Bullpen, Not So Good. Jason Lane's three-run homer in the eighth completed a two-out rally in Houston's 7-2 win over the Reds. The Astros, down 2-1, scored five runs in the eighth against Cincinnati's bullpen.