Using the daily boxscores to riff on the Marlins playoff chances, the role of present and past Seattle outfield greats, unnamed scouts, nicknames, GM rankings, junkball pitchers and lots more.

Rays reliever Grant Balfour hurled a scoreless inning to drop his ERA to 1.26 for the season. A mostly forgettable reliever his previous four campaigns in the majors, Balfour is focusing on his mid-90s fastball this year, throwing it nearly 87 percent of the time, compared to 76 percent a year ago. The results have been impressive as in addition to the fine ERA he also sports a 3.5:1 strikeout:walk ratio with 42 strikeouts in 28.2 IP.

Yankees outfielder Bobby Abreu, manning the DH spot Wednesday, went 3-4, 4 R, 2B, 2 HR and 3 RBIs. At the beginning of last year, unnamed scouts were saying that Abreu was done and he did not have a clue at the plate. I hate reading quotes from unnamed scouts. The unnamed scout has no chance of being held accountable for his remarks and he has nothing to lose by trashing players from other teams. The writer is able to hold up this quote as being from a reputable source and the public at large treats misinformation (or perhaps just poor work by the scout at his craft) as irrefutable.

Royals infielder Mike Aviles went 3-5 with 2 2B, R and an RBI. Aviles has a .325/.350/.528 line in 197 at-bats. Last year in his second stint at Triple-A Omaha, Aviles posted a .296/.332/.463 line. He’s over his head offensively and he’s stretched at shortstop, but wouldn’t you rather have a guy who has a fighting chance to have a .450+ slugging percentage at shortstop than Tony Pena?

Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter made his season debut and limited the Braves to 1 ER in 4 IP. He was lifted after 67 pitches. Let’s hope Carpenter makes it all the way back from elbow surgery. Carpenter put up some great seasons and we need all the strong pitchers we can get. Plus, since the Cardinals are going to the playoffs it sure would be nice if they had a star on the team besides Albert Pujols.

Angels outfielder Garret Anderson went 4-5, with a 2B, HR and 4 RBIs. Anderson is 36 and is at the end of a four-year deal. It will be interesting to see if the Angels pick up his option for 2009. The money would seemingly be better spent going to newly-acquired Mark Teixeira or Francisco Rodriguez but it won’t seem like the Angels without GA. He seems to personify their swing-for-it approach and who else is going to pay $14M for an OF/DH type with a 735 OPS?

Indians catcher Kelly Shoppach went 5-6, 3 2B, 2 HR, 4 R, 3 RBI and a BB. Martinez is making the most of his time with Victor Martinez on the disabled list. He’ll be arbitration eligible this season and it will be interesting to see if Cleveland actively pursues a trade of him this off-season. He would be an upgrade for a lot of teams.

Rockies pitcher Aaron Cook went seven innings and picked up his 14^th win of the season. The easy thing to do is scoff at his puny strikeout numbers but his 4.15 SO/9 is the highest total of his career. He keeps the ball in the park (his highest HR/9 ration in seven seasons in Coors Field is 1.01, which happened his rookie year) and with a 1.96 BB/9 ratio he doesn’t hurt himself with walks.

Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer gave up three runs in six innings and picked up his 10^th win. It was his 240^th career victory, which ties him with Herb Pennock and Frank Tanana for 53^rd place on the all-time list. Up next is Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, with 243 wins.

Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson pitched into the seventh inning and picked up his first win of the season. A 12-game winner in 2006, it was his first victory since August 28, 2006. Johnson underwent reconstructive elbow surgery in 2007. Everyone is dismissing the Marlins, both in the Manny Ramirez chase and in the race for the playoffs. But if they can turn Jeremy Hermida into Ramirez, maybe everyone will change their tune. Adding Manny to a lineup that already features stars Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla, along with an underrated pitching staff, would make things uncomfortable for the Mets and Phillies in the NL East.

Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot went 3-3 with a R, 3B and 3 RBIs. Some people claim that aside from Chris Berman and his 30-year old music references, no one has a good nickname anymore. The Riot would like to differ.

Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki (I like to add in his last name, as no one else will do it anymore) went 3-4 with a walk. His third multi-hit game in the last four contests raised his season average over .300, which is where it belongs. Suzuki recently passed the 3,000-hit mark combined between Japan and the U.S. and I am with Nolan Ryan thinking that no one should try to denigrate that accomplishment.

Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. homered in the fifth inning to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. A lot of people are rooting for Griffey because they remember the million-dollar smile he had when he came up (how long has that been gone?) and hold him up as a hero because he seemingly did not partake in PEDs. He was a great ballplayer for a long period of time but I hope he doesn’t pull an Early Wynn (or Craig Biggio, if you prefer) and try to hang on to reach a milestone like 660 (Willie Mays) or 700 HRs.

White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin went 3-5 with a 2B, HR and 4 RBIs. That’s 28 HRs and a .554 SLG mark for Quentin this year. Does anyone still not count Kenny Williams among the best GMs in the game?

Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds went 2-4 with a 2B and a HR. You know what you’re going to get when you check Reynolds’ name in the boxscore. He’s either going to be pounding extra base hits or taking the collar. You wouldn’t want a team full of guys like Reynolds, either in fantasy or real life, but it’s fun to have one guy like him on your squad.

Dodgers pitcher Chad Billingsley hurled a five-hit shutout with eight strikeouts. While people underrate Aaron Cook because of his strikeouts they’ll do the same thing with Billingsley because of his W-L record. Baseball Prospectus has him fifth in the majors in Expected Wins, above more famous names like Dan Haren, Cole Hamels and Johan Santana.