Good game last night. Homers from Mark Loretta and Brian Giles, a couple of knocks from Ryan Klesko. Great work from the bullpen. It was especially nice to see Aki Otsuka get back on the proverbial horse and work a perfect eighth. Kudos also to Bruce Bochy for yanking Ismael Valdez before things got ugly.

Harder to find things to write about when things are going well. Sure, I could complain about Terrence Long’s baserunning or the underutilization of Brian Buchanan and Xavier Nady, but that only gets you so far in life. So today I’ll let others do the talking. Here, then, are some items that I’ve found out and about on the Wild Wacky Web. Enjoy…

• Fifth straight win one to savor (NC Times). Team pulling together without Phil Nevin, etc.
• What If? (Astro In Exile). A Houston fan’s take on Monday night’s Roger Clemens/Brian Lawrence duel.
• Conversation with Jake Gautreau (PDX Beavers). Another fine interview from Jonathan. Former first-round pick Gautreau talks about his struggles with colitis, the promotion to Triple-A, his College World Series experience, and more baseball stuff.
• Bullpen is Beavers’ biggest concern (Oregonian). It’s easy to forget that big-league moves impact the farm teams as well. Blaine Neal’s recall and PCL All-Star Bart Miadich’s release have decimated Portland’s bullpen.
• Carter, Ramos spark Storm win (NC Times). Right-hander Jared Wells is off to a good start at Elsinore.

That’s all for now. Get down to Petco tonight if you can: Jake Peavy vs Roy Oswalt. Should be a good one. Talk to ya soon…