Here’s what’s happening in baseball:
Yesterday’s Games 5/16
Boston
4 Tampa Bay 3
Will Middlebrooks hit a two-strike, two-out, top of
the ninth, bases clearing double off Tampa closer Fernando Rodney that stunned
the home crowd and gave Boston a dramatic comeback win.
Seattle 3 New York Yankees 2
Michael
Morse blasted his tenth home run over the centerfield wall in the sixth inning
that gave Seattle the lead for good and they escaped a ninth inning rally by
New York to beat Andy Pettitte (who left the game in the fifth with a sore
back) and win the series in the Bronx 2-1.
Pittsburgh
7 Milwaukee 1
Travis Snider hit a monster 458 foot three-run home
run in a four-run sixth for Pittsburgh that broke the game open as Francisco
Liriano struck out seven in just under seven innings for his second win of the
season.
New
York Mets 5 St. Louis 2
Daniel Murphy had four hits and David Wright drove
in a two as the Mets won at home and avoided the four-game sweep. Jonathan Niese pitched into the seventh for
his third win.
Texas
10 Detroit 4
The Rangers pounded Justin Verlander for eight runs
in under three innings and knocked him out of the game for good with a Geovanny
Soto three-run blast. Yu Darvish wasn’t
as sharp either, allowing four runs in eight innings, but the Texas offense
aided by another Nelson Cruz home run (his 11th) provided Darvish with
enough run support to win his seventh game.
Washington 6 San
Diego 2
Stephen Strasburg pitched a career high eight
innings while allowing just three hits and one run for just his second win of
the year, and Bryce Harper returned to the lineup full-time after running into
the outfield wall in Los Angeles and smacked his 11th home run to
lift the Nationals in San Diego.
Chicago
White Sox 5 Los Angeles Angels 4
The Angels bullpen gave up three runs in the eighth
to lose the lead and the game as the White Sox rallied for their third road win
in a row. Alex Rios hit his ninth home
run in the win for Chicago and Albert Pujols his seventh homer in the loss.
San
Francisco 8 Colorado 6
The Giants mounted a Coors Field comeback in Denver
as they came back from an early five run deficit to beat the Rockies thanks to
Brandon Crawford’s bases clearing double in the fourth and Angel Pagan’s
two-run single in the sixth. Matt Cain stayed
composed and pitched into the sixth for his second win.
Cincinnati
5 Miami 3 (10 innings)
Matt Latos came within one out of a complete game
for the Reds before Miami tied the game on consecutive triples, but they finished
off the series sweep with three runs in the tenth as closer Aroldis Chapman picked
up his third win in relief. Brandon
Phillips homered and drove in two more runs for his league leading 36 RBI.
A.L. MVP Watch: Nelson Cruz, OF, Texas
Rangers. Cruz hit his 11th
home run on Thursday, and fourth is his last six games, putting him on pace to
hit 43 HRs and drive in 130 runs.
N.L. MVP Watch: Brandon Phillips, 2B,
Cincinnati. Phillips went 1-4 on
Thursday with his 7th home run and two RBI, raising his NL lead to
36. He’s on pace to hit 27 HRs and drive
in a career-high 142 runs.
Fantasy Spin: Nelson Cruz, OF, Texas Rangers. Cruz does this every year where he goes off
at the plate for a few weeks only to disappear for a few months. Can this year be different? Could be is the short answer. Cruz seems to always miss playing time with
various injuries throughout the year, but he missed just three games in 2012
and no longer loses RBI chance to Josh Hamilton who signed with the Angels in
the offseason. He hit a career-high 33
home runs in 2007 and has always displayed tremendous power, but he’s never had
more than 90 RBI in a season, but if he can play in another 150+ games this
year, there’s no reason why he can’t best his career highs and become a top
fantasy outfielder.
History - 1907 World Series
Winner: Chicago Cubs 4-0-1 against the
Detroit Tigers
The Cubs rebounded from their surprising loss to the White
Sox in the 1906 World Series to dominate the Tigers and win their first World
Series title by allowing just three runs in their four wins and stealing 18
bases off Tiger pitching. Game 1 ended
in a 3-3 tie when umpires called the game due to darkness, the first and last ever
tie in a World Series. Hall-of Famers in
this series included for the Cubs,
pitcher Mordecai “three-Finger” Brown, first baseman Frank Chance, second
baseman Johnny Evers, and shortstop and manager Joe Tinker; and for Detroit,
20-year old outfielder Ty Cobb (who spent 22 years with the Tigers and in 1906
won his first of 11 batting titles, just one of 90 baseball records he would
break during his career), and outfielder Sam Crawford.
News
& Notes: Phillies
pitcher Roy Halladay, on the DL with arm soreness, could resume throwing in 6-8
weeks. Ouch. At least he’s not done for the year.
Tampa Bay placed their ace David Price on the DL
with a triceps strain in his pitching arm and could miss up to a month or more.
Boston reliever Joel Hanrahan underwent Tommy John
surgery on his pitching arm and will miss the rest of the season and maybe
more.
Trivia – Today’s Question
– What exactly
is Tommy John surgery and why is it named this?
Yesterday’s Question – In 2008 Carlos Zambrano of the
Chicago Cubs became the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter a neutral site. Where did he throw his no-hitter, why was the
game played at a neutral site, and what team did he no-hit?
Answer – Zambrano no-hit the Houston Astros
at Miller Park in Milwaukee as the original scheduled game in Houston was moved
due to Hurricane Ike.
Vegas Bet: Lastly, here’s an actual bet you can make in Las
Vegas casinos:Over/Under 5 runs allowed by Angels starter Joe Blanton (0-7, 6.47 ERA) against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.
Yesterday’s Bet: Over/Under 16 combined
strikeouts by Justin Verlander and Yu Darvish today.
Result: Under. They combined for just 9 strikeouts.
Standings
| American League | ||||
| American League East | ||||
| Team | W | L | GB | Strk |
| N.Y. Yankees | 25 | 16 | - | L 2 |
| Boston | 24 | 17 | 1 | W 2 |
| Baltimore | 23 | 17 | 1½ | L 2 |
| Tampa Bay | 20 | 20 | 4½ | L 2 |
| Toronto | 17 | 24 | 8 | W 4 |
| American League Central | ||||
| Team | W | L | GB | Strk |
| Cleveland | 22 | 17 | - | W 1 |
| Detroit | 22 | 17 | - | L 2 |
| Kansas City | 20 | 17 | 1 | W 1 |
| Minnesota | 18 | 19 | 3 | L 2 |
| Chi. White Sox | 18 | 21 | 4 | W 3 |
| American League West | ||||
| Team | W | L | GB | Strk |
| Texas | 27 | 14 | - | W 3 |
| Seattle | 20 | 21 | 7 | W 2 |
| Oakland | 20 | 22 | 7½ | L 2 |
| L.A. Angels | 15 | 26 | 12 | L 2 |
| Houston | 11 | 30 | 16 | W 1 |
| National League | ||||
| National League East | ||||
| Team | W | L | GB | Strk |
| Atlanta | 22 | 18 | - | L 2 |
| Washington | 22 | 19 | ½ | W 1 |
| Philadelphia | 19 | 22 | 3½ | L 1 |
| N.Y. Mets | 15 | 23 | 6 | W 1 |
| Miami | 11 | 30 | 11½ | L 5 |
| National League Central | ||||
| Team | W | L | GB | Strk |
| St. Louis | 26 | 14 | - | L 1 |
| Cincinnati | 25 | 16 | 1½ | W 6 |
| Pittsburgh | 24 | 17 | 2½ | W 3 |
| Chi. Cubs | 17 | 23 | 9 | W 1 |
| Milwaukee | 16 | 23 | 9½ | L 3 |
| National League West | ||||
| Team | W | L | GB | Strk |
| San Francisco | 24 | 17 | - | W 1 |
| Arizona | 23 | 18 | 1 | W 2 |
| Colorado | 21 | 20 | 3 | L 2 |
| San Diego | 18 | 22 | 5½ | L 1 |
| L.A. Dodgers | 17 | 22 | 6 | W 2 |
Weekend
Schedule 5/17 – 5/19 with probable pitchers in
parentheses. My picks to win are
highlighted. Yesterday’s Picks: 3-6 Overall: 252-206
Friday
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