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Daily News and Notes
by Richard Van Zandt, BaseballEvolution.com


Notes through games of Tuesday, June 13
Highly touted Phillies prospect Cole Hamels made his big league debut on Friday night and after having held opposing hitters to a

Can You Hear Me Now? – The Cubs became the first team in baseball to call wirelessly for relief when the club unveiled their new push-to-talk Motorola wireless bullpen phone system on Tuesday.  The old land line phones will remain in place for the remainder of the season but both the home and visiting teams will now use the wireless walkie-talkie style phones when making the call for bullpen help.

 

Around the Horn - Tuesday

 

The marquee match-up for the night was certainly no letdown.  Johan Santana (6-4) and Curt Schilling (9-2) battled each other through 8 innings, allowing only one run each, both on solo home runs in the 7th, though neither pitcher was around for the climactic finish.  In the bottom of the 12th, after the Sox had scored once in the top half to take a 2-1 lead, Jason Kubel hit a walk-off grand slam off of Julian Tavarez to give the Twins their 19th win in 29 home games.  Jonathan Papelbon threw two scoreless innings for Boston to lower his ERA to a miniscule 0.28.  Joe Mauer had 1 hit in 5 at bats for Minnesota to drop his AL leading average to .381.

 

Backed by Vernon Wells’ 16th home run, Roy Halladay won his 8th of the year, beating Baltimore 7-1.  Halladay allowed just the one run on 6 hits in a complete game effort.  It was Halladay’s third complete game of the year to tie Jason Schmidt for the major league lead.  In the loss, Ramon Hernandez, a night after being charged with his 9th passed ball, committed his 8th error of the season, both tops among all catchers in the majors.

 

The Gambler was dealing against the worst hitting team in baseball, helping the Tigers to win their 4th straight, 7-1 over Tampa Bay.  Kenny Rogers allowed just 1 run on 4 hits over 8 innings to get his 9th win of the year.  Rocco Baldelli had two more hits in the loss and is batting .429 (9 for 21) since his return from the DL. 

 

Scott Rolen went 4 for 4 to raise his average to .351, while Chris Carpenter struck out 13 and allowed just 3 hits over 7 shutout innings as the Cardinals beat the Pirates 2-1. 

 

Rookie Jared Weaver stayed hot and won his fourth straight, allowing just 1 unearned run in 7 innings as the Angels sent the Royals to their 4th straight loss.  His ERA dropped to 1.37 in 26.1 innings.  The Royals, meanwhile, are on pace to lose 121 games this season. 

 

The A’s won their 5th straight, beating Seattle 2-0, behind 8 shutout innings by Joe Blanton.  Blanton held Ichiro to a 1 for 4 as Oakland also won for the 10th time in their last 12 games.  Ichiro’s average now sits at .364, second in the majors.

 

Team Hitting Leaderboard – Pt I – The Top

 


Runs AL

1. Indians         366

1. Blue Jays      364

NL

1. Dodgers       351

2. Reds            338

 

Hits AL

1. Blue Jays      664

2. Rangers        640

NL

1. Dodgers       620

2. D’Backs       594

 

Doubles AL

1. Rangers        161

2. Blue Jays      133

NL

1. Brewers       132

2. Reds            131


 


Triples AL

1. Mariners       22

2. Tigers           13

 

NL

1. Giants           27

2. Rockies        23

 

Home Runs AL

1. Blue Jays      91

2. White Sox    90

 

NL

1. Reds            98

2. Brewers       90

 

Batting Average AL

1. Blue Jays      .298

2. Indians         .286

 

NL

1. Dodgers       .281

2. Cardinals      .276


 

Team Hitting Leaderboard – Pt II – The Bottom

 


Runs AL

14. Royals        246

13. D’Rays       275

 

NL

16. Cubs          252

15. Rockies      280

 

Hits AL

14. D’Rays       522

13. A’s             538

 

NL

16. Marlins       532

15. Padres        538

 

Doubles AL

14. A’s             85

13. D’Rays       101

 

NL

16. Cubs          90

15. Giants         101


 


Triples AL

14. D’Rays       6

14. Yankees     6

14. Red Sox     6

 

NL

16. Pirates        7

16. Nationals    7

 

Home Runs AL

14. Royals        46

13. Twins         54

 

NL

16. Cubs          50

15. Padres        53

 

Batting Average AL

14. D’Rays       .242

13. A’s             .250

 

NL

16. Padres        .253

15. Cubs          .257


 

The Longest Streak Pt I – Tom Glavine failed to win his 10th of the year – giving up four solo home runs in the process – but the Mets won their 6th in a row anyway, the longest winning streak currently in the majors.  Carlos Beltran homered again, his 18th on the year and 4th in 5 games, and is batting .482 (13 for 27) during the Mets win streak.  Carlos Delgado had three hits, including his 3rd HR in 5 games, and he is batting .444 (12 for 27) over his last 7. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – Behind impressive pitching by rookie Enrique Gonzalez (1 H, 0 R, 7 IP), the Diamondbacks beat the Giants 2-1 and in doing so, snapped their 7-game losing streak.  The loss was the fourth straight for San Francisco.  The Reds, meanwhile, fresh off winning 9 in a row, have followed that up by losing five in a row and now they sport the longest losing streak in the majors.  Bronson Arroyo failed in his bid for his 9th win despite another home run by the hot hitting David Ross.  Prince Fielder hit his third home run in his last three games for Milwaukee in the 6-4 win.  

 

News and Notes

 

Kansas City announced on Tuesday the hiring of Dean Taylor as vice president of baseball operations and special assistant to new general manager Dayton Moore.  Taylor worked previously with the Royals as an assistant to John Schuerholz during KC’s glory year in the 80’s, including 1985 when the team won the World Series.  Taylor also worked for nine years with the Braves as an assistant to Schuerholz from ’91-’99. Most recently he was with Cincinnati. The team also announced that Muzzy Jackson was promoted to vice president of player personnel.  He has been with the team since ’98 and will remain an assistant to Moore.  

 

The Diamondbacks decided to cut their losses on Tuesday and designated pitcher Russ Ortiz for assignment less than halfway through a 4-year, $33 million contract.  Ortiz was 5-16 with a 6.99 ERA for Arizona, throwing just 137.2 innings in his 28 starts (4.91 IP/GS) while walking 87 batters. 

 

Jeff Kent returned from the DL yesterday, and to open up a spot on the roster, the Dodgers placed Eric Gagne back on it. Gagne damaged the ulnar nerve in his right elbow pitching last Tuesday.  There is no timetable for his return.  Takashi Saito will handle the closing duties in his absence. 

 

Derek Lee did not swing the bat as expected on Tuesday.  He did have an x-ray done and the team will use that to gauge his progress and plan out the next step of his rehab. 

 

Dmitri Young did not show up for a court appearance on Tuesday and a judge signed a warrant for his arrest.  He was scheduled for a pretrial hearing on a domestic violence charge.  He is currently on the disabled list and excused from the team for “personal reasons.”  Young is rumored to have entered the Betty Ford Clinic in California. 

 

On Deck – In a match-up of two pitchers going in completely opposite directions, the Braves take on the Marlins Wednesday with John Thomson opposing Dontrelle Willis.  Since May 14, when he was leading the league in ERA (1.87), Thomson has started 5 games, allowing 27 runs and 40 hits in just 23.2 innings (10.27 ERA - 4.73 IP/GS) and has seen his ERA jump almost three runs to 4.84.  Willis meanwhile, after giving up 7 runs in 2.2 innings on May 11 (his third straight start with 6 or more runs allowed - 12.88 ERA), has made 5 starts and over 39 innings, posting a nifty 2.07 ERA (7.8 IP/GS) to drop his ERA from 6.22 to 4.32.

 

Also on Wednesday, Greg Maddux will make his first attempt at career win number 326.  He is one win behind Eddie Plank for 12th on the all-time win list.  He will be opposed by Roy Oswalt, who at 88-42 has the 10th highest career winning percentage of all-time (min 100 decisions). 




Questions or comments for Richard? Richard Van Zandt is a staff writer for Baseball Evolution who lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at richard@baseballevolution.com.


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