Here's what's happening in baseball:
Yesterday's Games (4/18)
Rockies 11 New York Mets 2
Game time temperature was 28 degrees, the coldest MLB game in almost 20 years, and the Mets looked frozen in their tracks. Troy Tulowitzksy & Dexter Fowler homered (7th), and Carlos Gonzalez had 3 hits, as the Rockies scored 8 runs off the Mets bullpen, after scoring 3 runs of starter Jonathan Niese and completing the mile high sweep.
Milwaukee 7 San Francisco 2
One day off his DUI arrest, Yovanni Gallardo allowed just one run in six innings, struck out 6, oh, and hit a 2-run HR as the Brewers pounded Matt Cain for seven runs in three innings.
Arizona 6 New York Yankees 2
Yankee catcher Francisco Cervelli’s ninth inning game-tying home run didn’t hold up as the Diamondbacks pushed four runs across in the 12th inning to spoil the late game heroics.
Chicago Cubs 6 Texas 2
Alfonso Soriano & Anthony Rizzo homered in a four run 3rd inning for the Cubs, and Carlos Villanueva picked up his first win by tossing seven innings and allowing just two runs.
Boston 6 Cleveland 3
John Lester pitched seven solid innings & Jarrod Saltamacchia hit a tiebreaking HR in the 4th inning as Boston won their sixth straight game.
St. Louis 4 Philadelphia 3
Carlos Beltran hit a go-ahead HR in the eighth inning and Adam Wainwright picked up his third win as the Cardinals barely hung on to beat the Phillies.
Tampa Bay 10 Baltimore 6
Orioles catcher Matt Wieters hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning as they completed the sweep of the Rays at home.
Cincinnati 11 Miami 2
Rookie Tony Cigrani started in place of injured Johnny Cueto and struck out eight Marlins on the way to his first ever win.
Atlanta 6 Pittsburgh 4
The Upton brothers each homered early and pinch hitter Evan Gattis hit a tiebreaking HR in the eighth inning as the Braves improved to 13-2.
Toronto 3 Chicago White Sox 1
R.A. Dickey threw six scoreless innings and struck out seven, and Rajai Davis had two hits as the Blue Jays pinned the loss on White Sox starter Chris Sale.
Seattle 2 Detroit 0
Hisashi Iwakuma and two relievers combined to shutout the Tigers and spoil a strong effort by Justin Verlander who struck out 12 in seven innings but ultimately gave up the two runs costing him the game. Both teams combined for 40 strikeouts, falling three short of the all-time record set back in 1971 between the Angels and Athletics.
Record Watch: Justin Upton hit his ML-leading 9th home run Wednesday and is on pace to hit 15 HRs in April, which would break the record of 15 held by Alex Rodriguez in 2007 and Albert Pujols in 2006. He plays three games in Colorado which should help.
A.L. MVP Watch: Torii Hunter, OF, Detroit. Leads the A.L . in batting (.413), hits (26) and doubles (6).
N.L. MVP Watch: Justin Upton, OF, Atlanta (5th mention). 1-4, HR, 2 runs scored.
Fantasy Spin: Torii Hunter slid nicely into the second spot of the Tigers lineup ahead of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, and he’s benefited tremendously from the big guys behind him. Hunter leads the league batting, hits, and at-bats (he’s only walked twice), has scored 11 runs in 14 games, and it should come as no surprise how well he is playing. If manager Jim Leyland continues to bat Hunter second he should finish as a top 20 outfielder. He hasn’t hit more than 25 HRs in six years, but he’ll score a ton of runs and will see some great pitches.
News & Notes: Derek Jeter suffered a crack in his repaired broken foot and will be out until after the All-Start break.
Travis d’Arnaud, the highly touted Mets catching prospect attained in the R.A. Dickey trade to Toronto in the off season, suffered a broken left foot in a Triple A game Wednesday night.
Boston DH David Ortiz returns to the lineup tonight after missing the last 85 games with an Achilles injury.
History – Minnesota Twins - Team History
The Twins started way back in 1894 as the Kansas City Blues of the Western League, and moved to Washington D.C. in 1901 as one of the eight original franchises in the American League, named Washington Senators, or Nationals. They won their first pennant and only World Series in Washington D.C. in 1924 over the heavily favored New York Giants that ended in the 12th inning of game 7. They returned to the World Series in 1925, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 7 games, and again in 1933 losing to the New York Giants in 5 games.
In 1961 team owner Calvin Griffith moved the
team to Minneapolis, but MLB allowed Washington D.C. to keep a franchise as
they expanded and they left behind the Senators name. He named his new team the Twins, after the
twin cities Minneapolis & St. Paul, and they played their home games in Metropolitan
Stadium (now the site of the Mall of America, and here’s a plaque where home
plate used to be.
In 1965 they won the
American League pennant, but eventually lost the World Series to Sandy Koufax
and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 7 games. They
moved into the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in 1981, and six years later they
returned to the Fall Classic and defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games of
the 1987 World Series. History repeated itself again in 1991 as they beat the
Atlanta Braves in 7 games for their 3rd franchise World Series win. In 2010 they moved into a downtown open-aired
Target Field where it’s hotter than blazes in the summertime, and winning hasn’t
come easy.
Yesterday’s Question: What pitcher holds the Kansas City Royals record for most career wins?
Answer: Paul Splittorf with 166 career wins from 1970-1984.
Vegas Bet: Lastly, here’s an actual bet you can make in Las Vegas casinos: Over/Under 15 combined strikeouts by Stephen Strasburg and Matt Harvey in the Mets-Nationals game Friday night.
Yesterday’s Bet: Over/Under 5 runs scored in the Phillies-Reds game tonight.
Result: Over. Final score was 11-2
Standings
| American League East | |||
| Team | W | L | Strk |
| Boston | 11 | 4 | W 6 |
| N.Y. Yankees | 8 | 6 | L 1 |
| Baltimore | 8 | 7 | W 1 |
| Toronto | 7 | 9 | W 1 |
| Tampa Bay | 5 | 10 | L 1 |
| American League Central | |||
| Team | W | L | Strk |
| Detroit | 9 | 6 | L 1 |
| Kansas City | 8 | 6 | W 1 |
| Minnesota | 6 | 7 | W 2 |
| Chi. White Sox | 7 | 9 | L 1 |
| Cleveland | 5 | 9 | L 4 |
| American League West | |||
| Team | W | L | Strk |
| Oakland | 12 | 4 | W 3 |
| Texas | 9 | 6 | L 1 |
| Seattle | 7 | 10 | W 1 |
| L.A. Angels | 4 | 10 | L 2 |
| Houston | 4 | 11 | L 5 |
| National League | |||
| National League East | |||
| Team | W | L | Strk |
| Atlanta | 13 | 2 | W 1 |
| Washington | 9 | 6 | W 1 |
| N.Y. Mets | 7 | 7 | L 3 |
| Philadelphia | 6 | 10 | L 4 |
| Miami | 3 | 13 | L 2 |
| National League Central | |||
| Team | W | L | Strk |
| St. Louis | 9 | 6 | W 1 |
| Cincinnati | 9 | 7 | W 4 |
| Pittsburgh | 7 | 8 | L 1 |
| Milwaukee | 6 | 8 | W 4 |
| Chi. Cubs | 5 | 9 | W 1 |
| National League West | |||
| Team | W | L | Strk |
| Colorado | 11 | 4 | W 6 |
| Arizona | 9 | 6 | W 1 |
| San Francisco | 9 | 7 | L 3 |
| L.A. Dodgers | 7 | 8 | L 4 |
| San Diego | 5 | 10 | W 3 |
Friday 4/19 Schedule
with probable pitchers in parentheses.
My picks to win are highlighted. Yesterday’s Picks: 5-6 Overall: 120-103
Times EST
My picks to win are highlighted. Yesterday’s Picks: 5-6 Overall: 120-103
Times EST
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