Here’s your
morning baseball briefing:
Game of the Day for Tuesday July 30:
Texas Rangers 14, Los Angeles Angels 11
For the
second night in a row the Rangers walked-off winners on a home run, crushing the
spirit of the Angels in the process. In
a wild high-scoring game, Los Angeles led 11-7 going to the bottom of the
eighth, but last night’s hero Geovanny Soto hit a three-run home run in almost
the exact spot of his game-winning blast nearly 24 hours earlier to bring Texas
within 11-10. In the bottom of the
ninth, with two outs and Angels closer Ernesto Frieri on the mound again after
blowing the game last night, Ian Kinsler walked, stole second, and scored on
Elvis Andrus’ single to tie the game at eleven.
Frieri had converted 25 of 27 save chances this season, but has now
blown two consecutive games. He was
replaced by rookie pitcher Daniel Strange for the tenth inning (making his
major league debut), who promptly walked the first two batters he faced before
outfielder Leonys Martin drilled a walk-off three-run home run just over the
left field wall near the foul to complete the dramatic come from behind win. Welcome to the big leagues Daniel. Texas now has consecutive victories for the first
time in three weeks.
Rest
of the day’s scores:
Consecutive
days with a walk-off win (where the home team scores the winning run in the
ninth inning or later that immediately ends the game): 3. The
Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas Rangers all walked-off winners on Tuesday.
A.L. MVP
Watch: Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels
Yesterday:
4-4 with 3 runs scored and 2 walks
Season: .331, 17 HRs, 66
RBI, 23 stolen bases and 73 runs scored
On pace
for: .331, 26 HRs, 102 RBI, 35 stolen bases and 113
runs scored
N.L. MVP
Watch: Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
Yesterday:
3-9
in the doubleheader with a homer, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored.
Season: .303, 15 HRs, 58
RBI, 21 stolen bases and 66 runs scored
On pace
for: .303, 23 HRs, 89 RBI, 32 stolen bases and 101
runs scored
A.L. Cy
Young Watch: Erwin Santana, Kansas City Royals
Yesterday:
7 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs and 7 K’s in a win at
Minnesota
Season: 7-6, 115 K’s and a
3.03 ERA
On pace
for: 11-9, 184 K’s and a 3.01 ERA
N.L. Cy
Young Watch: Zach Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers
Yesterday:
7 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks and 7
K’s in a no-decision vs. the Yankees
Season: 8-2, 82 K’s and a
3.43 ERA
On pace
for: 12-4, 128 K’s and a 3.39 ERA
News &
Notes: The Chicago White Sox traded starting pitcher Jake Peavy to
the Boston Red Sox in a three-team deal that sent Boston shortstop Julio
Iglesias to the Detroit Tigers, minor league outfielder and top hitting
prospect for Detroit Avisail Garcia to the White Sox, plus three prospects from
the Red Sox: 100-mph
throwing right-hander from Class A Greenville, 20-year-old Dominican Francelis
Montas, righty J.B. Wendelken and infielder Cleuluis Rondon. Boston also acquired
reliever Brayan Villareal from Detroit to complete the trade.
The Los Angeles Angels traded infielder Alberto Callaspo to
the Oakland Athletic for infielder Grant Green.
History –
1955 World Series
Winner: The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the
New York Yankees 4 games to 3 (finally).
For the fifth time in nine years, the Dodgers and
Yankees met in the World Series, with New York winning in 1947, 1949, 1952
& 1953. The Yankees had home field advantage,
and they quickly jumped out to a 2-0 series lead by winning 6-5 and 4-2 at
Yankee Stadium. In Game 1 Joe Collins
hit a pair of homers and rookie Elston Howard added another as Whitey Ford
pitched eight innings for the win. In
Game 2 Yankee starter Tommy Byrne pitched a complete-game five-hitter while
knocking in the fourth and final run for the win.
The series
shifted to Brooklyn for Game 3 where Dodgers pitcher 23 year-old Johnny Padres pitched
a complete game for the 8-3 win, and in Game 4 they roughed up Yankee starter
Don Larsen for an 8-5 win with homers from Roy Campanella, Duke Snider and Gil
Hodges to even series at 2-2. Brooklyn
beat New York again in Game 5 by a score of 8-3 thanks to a pair of homers by
Snider, giving him four in the series (he also hit one in Game 1), and becoming
the only player from either league to hit four homers in two different World
Series.
Brooklyn was
now one win away from their first championship when they returned to Yankee
Stadium for Game 6, but Whitey Ford limited them to just one run while striking
out eight, and Bill Skowron’s three-run home run provided more than enough
scoring as the Yankees won 6-1 to even the series at 3-3. Brooklyn starter Johnny Padres took the mound
against Tommy Byrne, and he stymied the Yankee bats all day as he pitched a
complete-game shutout for the 2-0 win, giving Brooklyn their first World Series
title in franchise history. He was named the series MVP (the first ever award
given out) for his 2-0 record with two complete games and a 1.00 ERA.
Brooklyn had
finally beaten the Yankees, and when the team crossed the Brooklyn Bridge their
fans lined the streets screaming and cheering for their lovable losers, now
winners. For the series the Dodgers
outscored the Yankees 33-26 and outhit them 58-55. Hall of Famers in this series included for the
Dodgers: manager Walter Alston, shortstop Pee Wee Reese, catcher Roy Campanella,
outfielder Duke Snider, and second baseman Jackie Robinson; and for the Yankees:
manager Casey Stengel, catcher Yogi Berra, outfielder Mickey Mantle, shortstop
Phil Rizzuto, and pitcher Whitey Ford; and
Tomorrow: 1956 World Series – New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers
(again)
Trivia -
Today’s Question: What
National League team holds the record for most wins in a season?
Yesterday’s
Question: Cleveland won a then A.L. record 111 games in
1954, but that mark was broken in 2001 by what team?
Answer: The Seattle Mariners.
Vegas Bet: Lastly, here’s an
actual bet you can make at a Las Vegas Sports Book: Over/Under: 2 runs allowed by Dodger pitcher
Clayton Kershaw tonight vs. the Yankees.
Yesterday’s
Bet: Over/Under
16 combined runs scored by the
Cardinals and Pirates in their doubleheader today.
Result: Under. They combined to score just 9 runs as the Pirates won 2-1 and 6-0.
Standings
| American League | National League | |||||||||
| EAST | W | L | GB | STRK | EAST | W | L | GB | STRK | |
| Tampa Bay | 64 | 43 | - | Won 2 | Atlanta | 62 | 45 | - | Won 5 | |
| Boston | 64 | 44 | 0.5 | Won 1 | Washington | 52 | 55 | 10 | Lost 1 | |
| Baltimore | 59 | 48 | 5 | Won 1 | Philadelphia | 50 | 56 | 11.5 | Won 1 | |
| NY Yankees | 55 | 51 | 8.5 | Lost 1 | NY Mets | 48 | 56 | 12.5 | Won 2 | |
| Toronto | 49 | 57 | 15 | Won 1 | Miami | 40 | 65 | 21 | Lost 2 | |
| CENTRAL | W | L | GB | STRK | CENTRAL | W | L | GB | STRK | |
| Detroit | 60 | 45 | - | Won 4 | Pittsburgh | 64 | 42 | - | Won 3 | |
| Cleveland | 58 | 48 | 2.5 | Won 6 | St. Louis | 62 | 43 | 1.5 | Lost 6 | |
| Kansas City | 52 | 51 | 7 | Won 7 | Cincinnati | 59 | 49 | 6 | Lost 5 | |
| Minnesota | 45 | 58 | 14 | Lost 2 | Chicago Cubs | 48 | 58 | 16 | Lost 3 | |
| Chicago Sox | 40 | 64 | 20 | Lost 5 | Milwaukee | 46 | 61 | 18.5 | Won 3 | |
| WEST | W | L | GB | STRK | WEST | W | L | GB | STRK | |
| Oakland | 63 | 44 | - | Lost 1 | LA Dodgers | 57 | 48 | - | Won 4 | |
| Texas | 58 | 49 | 5 | Won 2 | Arizona | 54 | 52 | 3.5 | Lost 3 | |
| Seattle | 50 | 56 | 13 | Lost 1 | Colorado | 51 | 57 | 7.5 | Lost 2 | |
| LA Angels | 48 | 57 | 14 | Lost 5 | San Diego | 50 | 58 | 8.5 | Won 4 | |
| Houston | 35 | 70 | 27 | Lost 2 | San Francisco | 46 | 59 | 11 | Lost 5 | |
Wednesday July 31 Schedule with probable pitchers in parentheses. My picks to win
are highlighted. Weekend picks: 8-9
Overall: 593-441
Times EST
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