PA SPORTSTICKER BASEBALL NOTE

STARS

Friday=

- Evan Longoria, Rays, extended his torrid hitting against Boston pitching with a grand slam in Tampa Bay's 6-2 victory.

- Randy Johnson, Giants, gave up four hits and struck out nine over seven scoreless innings in his 297th career victory as San Francisco beat Colorado 3-2.

- Jorge Posada, Yankees, hit a two-run single in the ninth inning off Brian Fuentes, completing New York's rally from a five-run deficit in a 10-9 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

- Bronson Arroyo, Reds, bounced back from his worst start of the season to limit Pittsburgh to four singles over eight shutout innings in Cincinnati's 4-0 win.

- Jose Lopez, Mariners, hit an RBI single to right field on the 14th pitch from Russ Springer with two outs in the ninth inning, and Seattle rallied from five runs down to beat the Athletics 8-7.

- Jeff Francoeur, Braves, hit a two-run homer and drove in another run to help the Braves beat the Astros 7-2.

- Albert Pujols, Cardinals, hit one of St. Louis' season-high four home runs in a 6-2 win over Washington.

STELLAR AT HOME

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 1-0 on Friday night to improve to 8-0 at home for the first time since 1947, when the franchise was in Brooklyn. The year before, they set a franchise record by winning their first nine games.

SIDELINED

The Texas Rangers placed outfielder Josh Hamilton on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained left rib cage muscle. The Rangers made the move retroactive to Monday. Hamilton sustained the injury on April 12 in Toronto when he crashed into the outfield wall while chasing a flyball. ... Oakland third baseman Eric Chavez is back on the disabled list, with strained right forearm. Chavez played in just eight games and was hitting only .100 (3 for 30), before landing on the DL for the fourth time in the last three years.

STREAKING

Ryan Zimmerman singled in the third inning of Washington's 6-2 loss to St. Louis on Friday night, extending his hitting streak to a Nationals-record 20 games. It's the longest streak in the majors this season. The last 20-game hitting streak by a Washington, D.C.-based player came in 1953 by the Washington Senators' Mickey Vernon.

HOMER HAPPY

New York catcher Jorge Posada's home run in its 10-9 win over the Angels on Friday night was the 29th homer at the new Yankee Stadium, tying Kansas City's Municipal Stadium (1955), Houston's Enron Field (2000) and Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park (2003) for most homers in the first eight games at a major league ballpark, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It was the 20th homer to right field, where some believe a jet stream is carrying the ball.

SIDELINED CLOSERS

Philadelphia's Brad Lidge threw before the Phillies' 7-4 loss to the Mets on Friday night and said he'd be ready to pitch Saturday. Lidge hasn't appeared in a game since last Saturday because of inflammation in his right knee. ... Two Houston team doctors successfully drained 40 cubic centimeters of fluid from Jose Valverde's right calf on Friday, one day after he had 20 cubic centimeters of fluid removed. Valverde's expected recovery time is three to five weeks.

RED SOX HITTER

Evan Longoria hit a grand slam in Tampa Bay's 6-2 win over Boston on Friday night, improving to 10-for-22 with four homers and 13 RBIs against the Red Sox this season.

SEEING THINGS

Brian McCann's latest experiment with new contact lenses has ended, and the Atlanta Braves' All-Star catcher plans to try to resume his season while wearing glasses. McCann, who said he has never worn glasses while playing, has had difficulty with blurred vision this season. He was placed on the disabled list on April 25, retroactive to April 23, and tried new contact lenses on a minor league rehabilitation assignment with Class A Myrtle Beach.

SPEAKING

"This shows that we can come back. We can come back against tough teams, and we do have a lot of weapons on this team that could pitch in and contribute for us," - Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon said after New York rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Angeles 10-9 Friday night.

SEASONS

May 2=

1917 - Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds and Hippo Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs pitched a double no-hitter for nine innings, but the Reds won 1-0 on two hits in the 10th. Jim Thorpe drove in the winning run.

1923 - Walter Johnson recorded his first shutout of the season and the 100th of his major league record 113 career shutouts as the Washington Senators defeated the New York Yankees 3-0. Yankees shortstop Everett Scott received a medal from the American League for playing in his 1,000th consecutive game.

1939 - Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees did not play against the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium, ending at 2,130 his streak of consecutive games played. Gehrig never played again. Babe Dahlgren took his place at first base. The Yankees didn't miss his bat, however, as they beat the Tigers 22-2.

1954 - Stan Musial hit five home runs in a doubleheader split with the New York Giants at St. Louis. The Cardinals won the first game 10-6 but lost the second 9-7.

1995 - Hideo Nomo of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first Japanese native to play in the majors in three decades. Nomo pitched five scoreless innings of one-hit ball, but the Dodgers blew a 3-0 lead and lost to San Francisco 4-3.

2000 - Atlanta became the first NL team in 49 years to win 15 straight games by defeating Los Angeles 5-3.

2002 - Mike Cameron hit four homers and came close to a record-setting fifth in leading the Seattle Mariners to a 15-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox. He became the 13th player in major league history to homer four times in a game. Cameron connected in his first four at-bats, in just five innings. He joined Bret Boone as the first teammates to hit two home runs in the same inning. They connected back-to-back twice in a 10-run first.

2005 - Jim Edmonds hit a three-run homer off closer Danny Graves, and John Mabry added a two-run shot that completed the greatest ninth-inning comeback in St. Louis Cardinals history. The Cardinals sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs in the top of the ninth to beat Cincinnati 10-9.

Today's birthday: Jarrod Saltalamacchia 24.

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