One for the exes

Let's see . . . in the travails of ex-Phillies pitchers this week, it's been one vote in favor of Gavin Floyd, who took a no-hitter into the ninth for the Chicago White Sox, and one vote against Jon Lieber, who was pummeled for four home runs in one inning in a start for the Chicago Cubs.

A tiebreaker? Vicente Padilla stood up for the exes in his latest start for the Texas Rangers, allowing two hits in seven innings in the 2-0 win. He threw 91 pitches, the last four clocking in at 96, 94, 96 and 91 miles an hour.

Padilla, now 5-2, has allowed just one earned run in his last 212/3 innings, watching his ERA dip from 4.97 to 3.02.

Temper, temper

It was a bad night Wednesday for items nailed down and not nailed down in major-league dugouts.

Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon blew his first save since mid-September of last year as the Red Sox lost to Detroit. After the game, he kicked one Gatorade cooler and tipped over another, which led one blogger to wonder why he didn't kick shortstop Julio Lugo, who committed his 10th error of the season (in just his 36th game) to fuel the Tigers' late rally.

Chicago White Sox starter Mark Buehrle was knocked out during a five-run sixth inning. Shortly after he reached the dugout, he took a bat and whacked it several times against a space heater and a bench.

"It was everything building up," Buehrle said. "It was the way I was pitching, the way we were playing. It was one of those games where you can't hold it back."

The silent Suzuki

Students excitedly yelled "Eee-chee-roo" when Ichiro Suzuki walked into a Seattle elementary school to join two teammates, a coach and manager John McLaren to speak to them about making sound choices in life during the Mariners' annual education day.

But when it came time for him to speak, Ichiro stayed silent in his seat, and his interpreter, Ken Barron, didn't move. Instead, the speech about motivation was delivered by pitching coach Norm Charlton, but not before some grumbling by older students who wanted to see the Mariners star.

No one knew why Ichiro declined to speak, and the outfielder wouldn't talk about it when asked through Barron.

"Maybe he had a cold or something," McLaren said.

At least Ichiro had dressed for an appearance in an elementary school - green and white 1970s-style cap turned backward, a white T-shirt with black print, a black fleece-like rain jacket, faded jeans and white sneakers. One school official said she thought Ichiro was one of her fifth graders when he passed through the main office.

Pretty in pink

With Mother's Day only a couple of days away, four members of the White Sox have had their facial hair painted pink to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Toby Hall said he first took part in the paint job when he played for Tampa Bay. He is being joined by Nick Swisher, Bobby Jenks and John Danks.

"This is something we've been planning for several weeks now," Swisher said. "My mom and grandmother, they're the reason I'm here. I think Mother's Day should be almost every day."

The four players said they would color their facial hair blue next month for Father's Day and raise awareness of prostate cancer.

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Contact staff writer Joe Juliano at 215-854-4494

or jjuliano@phillynews.com.