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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
Backed by Vernon Wells’ 16th home run, Roy Halladay won his 8th of the year, beating
The Gambler was dealing against the worst hitting team in
baseball, helping the Tigers to win their 4th straight, 7-1 over
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
Team Hitting Leaderboard – Pt I – The Top
Runs
1. Indians 366
1. Blue Jays 364
NL
1. Dodgers 351
2. Reds 338
Hits
1. Blue Jays 664
2. Rangers 640
NL
1. Dodgers 620
2. D’Backs 594
Doubles
1. Rangers 161
2. Blue Jays 133
NL
1. Brewers 132
2. Reds 131
Triples
1. Mariners 22
2. Tigers 13
NL
1. Giants 27
2.
Home Runs
1. Blue Jays 91
2. White Sox 90
NL
1. Reds 98
2. Brewers 90
Batting Average
1. Blue Jays .298
2. Indians .286
NL
1. Dodgers .281
2. Cardinals .276
Team Hitting Leaderboard – Pt II – The
Bottom
Runs
14. Royals 246
13. D’Rays 275
NL
16. Cubs 252
15.
Hits
14. D’Rays 522
13. A’s 538
NL
16. Marlins 532
15. Padres 538
Doubles
14. A’s 85
13. D’Rays 101
NL
16. Cubs 90
15. Giants 101
Triples
14. D’Rays 6
14. Yankees 6
14. Red Sox 6
NL
16. Pirates 7
16. Nationals 7
Home Runs
14. Royals 46
13. Twins 54
NL
16. Cubs 50
15. Padres 53
Batting Average
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
News and Notes
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
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
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.