Take 2 Roundup: Games of Mon, 4/7/08

[Proverbial Psalms]

[size=24:e6b7bafac6][b:e6b7bafac6]WILLIE POWER[/b:e6b7bafac6][/size:e6b7bafac6]
[size=18:e6b7bafac6]McGee's 10th HR Leads Cardinals Past Pirates[/size:e6b7bafac6]

<img src="http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/images/baseball/stratomatic/1986/story_photos/willie_mcgee_1_150x233.jpg" align="left" border="1" width="150" height="233" style="margin: 0px 10px;" />Cardinals CF Willie McGee hit a 3-run HR in the 8th inning to break a 1-1 tie, leading [url=http://www.sportingnews.com/baseball/1986/scores/boxscore.php?id=1781][u:e6b7bafac6]St. Louis to a 4-1 victory[/u:e6b7bafac6][/url] over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

McGee, better known for his center field defense and speed than for his long ball power, reached double digits for HR's (10) with a long drive off Pirates reliever Cecilio Guante.

The HR provided extra humiliation for Pirates manager Don Spagnolo, who oddly chose to intentionally walk Ozzie Smith with two outs in order to face McGee, who surprisingly leads all Cardinals batters with 74 RBI's.

The loss was the 5th straight for the Pirates, and their 9th in the last 10 games. Pittsburgh trails the Mets & Cardinals by 8 games in the NL East.

[b:e6b7bafac6]Who in the World is Laschelle Tarver?...[/b:e6b7bafac6] You would think a pinch runner on the slowest team in the league (79 players in the league have more SB's so far than the entire Red Sox team) would be more of a household name, but Laschelle Tarver remains anonymous to many fans, yet he played a key role last night, scoring the game's only run in [url=http://www.sportingnews.com/baseball/1986/scores/boxscore.php?id=1781][u:e6b7bafac6]Boston's 1-0 win over the Orioles[/u:e6b7bafac6][/url].

[b:e6b7bafac6]Update on National League Playoffs...[/b:e6b7bafac6] With the Mets, Cardinals, Astros and Padres all winning on Monday, there are again no changes at the top of the National League races. The Mets and Cardinals remain tied in the East, while the Astros maintain their 3.5 game lead over the Padres in the West.

[b:e6b7bafac6]Who's Out?...[/b:e6b7bafac6] With just fewer than 4 weeks remaining in the 1986: Take 2 season, four teams have been officially eliminated from playoff contention:
Baltimore Orioles... (53-83)
Minnesota Twins.... (53-83)
Seattle Mariners.... (52-86)
Atlanta Braves...... (50-86)

[i:e6b7bafac6]photo: SN Archives[/i:e6b7bafac6]