Mets Comback Three Times to Beat Arizona in 13

Here’s your morning baseball briefing:

Game of the Day for Monday July 1, 2013:

New York Mets 5, Arizona Diamondbacks 4 (13 innings)

The Mets were down 3-0 early and 3-2 in the ninth when Josh Satin singled home Marlon Byrd with the tying run.  Byrd appeared to be dead meat at the plate as the throw from left field clearly beat him, but Arizona catcher Miguel Montero couldn’t hold onto the ball as Byrd slid safely into home plate.  The game remained tied 3-3 heading into the top of the 13th when Cody Ross homered to give Arizona the 4-3 lead, but the Mets rallied in the bottom half of the inning as Satin doubled to lead it off.  John Buck was then intentionally walked, and pitcher Matt Harvey was called upon to pinch hit and sacrifice the runners to second and third.  He executed his bunt perfectly, and Arizona was forced to intentionally walk Omar Quintanilla to load the bases with two outs and give them a force out at any base.  It was now up to outfielder Andrew Brown who entered the game in the tenth inning as a pinch hitter.  Brown promptly singled home both the tying and winning runs as the Mets completed a dramatic comeback at home as they walked-off winners in front of their home crowd.

Rest of the Day’s Scores:

RESULT	WIN	LOSS	SAVE
at Toronto 8, Detroit 3	Dickey (8-8)	Alvarez (1-2)
at Cincinnati 8, San Francisco 1	Arroyo (7-6)	Kickham (0-3)
at Washington 10, Milwaukee 5	Zimmermann (12-3)	Gallardo (6-8)
at Miami 4, San Diego 0	Fernandez (5-4)	Marquis (9-4)	Cishek (15)
NY Yankees 10, at Minnesota 4	Chamberlain (1-0)	Burton (1-6)
Tampa Bay 12, at Houston 0	Moore (11-3)	Keuchel (4-5)

Joe DiMaggio Watch (56-game hitting streak):  Michael Cuddyer, OF/1B for the Colorado Rockies, did not play on Monday, but has hit safely on 27 straight games, 29 short of Joe D’s major league record.

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): 4  The Mets were the only team to walk off winners on Monday as they beat Arizona 5-4 in the 13th inning.

Record Watch:  Manny Machado has hit 38 doubles this season and is on pace to hit 75, which would break the all-time record of 67 set by Earl Webb in 1930.

A.L. MVP Watch:  Robinson Cano, 2B, New York Yankees.  Cano went 3-4 on Monday in Minnesota with two home runs (19), three RBI and four runs scored, and is on pace to .293 with 38 HRs, 103 RBI and 97 runs scored.

N.L. MVP Watch:  Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, Arizona Diamondbacks.  Goldschmidt had just one hit on Monday but it was his 20th home run, and is on pace to hit .303 with 40 HRs and 138 RBI.

A.L. Cy Young Watch:  Matt Moore, Tampa Bay Rays.  Moore improved to with seven shutout innings in Houston as he allowed just two hits while striking out 9.  He’s on pace to go 21-5 with 181 strikeouts.

N.L. Cy Young Watch:  Jordan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals.  Zimmerman (12-3) became the National League’s first 12-game winner on Monday by beating the Brewers at home despite giving up four runs.  He’s on pace to go 24-6 with 170 strikeouts with a 2.46 ERA.

News & Notes:  Andy Pettitte broke the all-time Yankee strikeout record last night and his 1,958 K’s are two more than Yankee legend Whitey Ford.

Bryce Harper came off the DL on Monday after missing 31 games with left knee bursitis, and promptly homered in his first at-bat to electrify the crowd.

History – 1939 World Series

          Winner: The New York Yankees swept the Cincinnati Reds 4 games to 0.

The Yankees continued their dominance against the National League as they swept their second consecutive series and won their fourth straight World Series title, setting a new major league record in the process and giving manager Joe McCarthy his fifth title, one more than Philadelphia A’s manager Connie Mack for most all-time.  Earlier in the year Yankee hall of famer Lou Gehrig had been diagnosed with a degenerative bone & muscle disease (later named after him) and retired after starting a record 2,130 consecutive games at first base.  He was honored with a special day at the Stadium on July 4th where he famously made his retirement speech.  Babe Ruth was on the field supporting Lou as were members of past World Series teams.  Gehrig passed away in 1941, but the Yankees this series for him.   They won game one 2-1 as they scored once in the bottom of the ninth on Bill Dickey’s RBI single, making a winner out of Hall of Famer Red Ruffing who pitched a complete game.  They shutout the Reds 4-0 in Game 2, won 7-3 on Game 3, and 7-4 in Game 4 to complete the sweep.  Rookie outfielder Charlie Keller led the Yankees with seven hits, three home runs (two in Game 3) and eight RBI as they outscored the Reds 22-8 overall.  Hall of famers in the series included for the Yankees: manager Joe McCarthy, outfielder Joe DiMaggio, first baseman Lou Gehrig, catcher Bill Dickey, second baseman Joe Gordon, and pitchers Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing; and for the Reds: manager Bill McKechnie, catcher Ernie Lombardi and outfielder Al Simmons.

Trivia - Today’s Question:  Who holds the National League record for most consecutive games played?

Yesterday’s Question: Joe DiMaggio holds the major league record with his 56-game hitting streak in 1941, but who holds the second longest hitting streak in MLB history?

Answer:  Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds who hit safely in 44 straight games in 1978.

Vegas Bet:  Lastly, here’s an actual bet you can make at a Las Vegas Sports Book:  Over/Under 2 earned runs allowed by Clayton Kershaw tonight at Colorado.

Yesterday’s Bet:  Over/Under 7 runs scored by Arizona and the New York Mets today.

Result:  Under.  They combined for 9 runs as the Mets won 5-4 in 13 innings.

Standings

American League East						National League East
Team	W	L	GB	Strk		Team	W	L	GB	Strk
Boston	50	34	-	W 1		Atlanta	48	34	-	W 3
Baltimore	47	36	2½	W 4		Washington	42	40	6	W 2
Tampa Bay	44	39	5½	W 3		Philadelphia	39	44	9½	L 2
N.Y. Yankees	43	39	6	W 1		N.Y. Mets	34	45	12½	W 1
Toronto	41	41	8	W 1		Miami	30	51	17½	W 3
American League Central						National League Central
Team	W	L	GB	Strk		Team	W	L	GB	Strk
Cleveland	44	38	-	W 4		Pittsburgh	51	30	-	W 9
Detroit	43	38	½	L 3		St. Louis	49	32	2	L 1
Kansas City	38	41	4½	W 1		Cincinnati	47	36	5	W 1
Minnesota	36	43	6½	L 2		Chi. Cubs	35	45	15½	W 2
Chi. White Sox	32	47	10½	L 5		Milwaukee	32	49	19	L 6
American League West						National League West
Team	W	L	GB	Strk		Team	W	L	GB	Strk
Texas	48	34	-	W 1		Arizona	42	40	-	L 4
Oakland	48	35	½	W 1		Colorado	41	42	1½	L 1
L.A. Angels	39	43	9	W 6		San Diego	40	43	2½	L 3
Seattle	35	47	13	L 2		San Francisco	39	43	3	L 1
Houston	30	53	18½	L 4		L.A. Dodgers	38	43	3½	W 2

Tuesday 7/2 Schedule with probable pitchers in parentheses.  My picks to win are highlighted.  Yesterday's Picks: 6-1  Overall:  448-331

Times EST

7:05 PM	Milwaukee	Peralta (5-9)	@	Washington	Strasburg (4-6)
7:05 PM	Philadelphia	Pettibone (3-3)	@	Pittsburgh	Locke (7-1)
7:07 PM	Detroit	Fister (6-5)	@	Toronto	Wang (1-1)
7:10 PM	San Francisco	Lincecum (4-8)	@	Cincinnati	Bailey (4-6)
7:10 PM	San Diego	Erlin (1-0)	@	Boston	Lackey (5-5)
7:10 PM	Arizona	Corbin (9-0)	@	N.Y. Mets	Hefner (2-6)
7:10 PM	Miami	Koehler (1-5)	@	Atlanta	Medlen (5-7)
8:05 PM	Seattle	Saunders (5-8)	@	Texas	Grimm (7-5)
8:10 PM	Tampa Bay	Price (1-4)	@	Houston	Bedard (3-3)
8:10 PM	Baltimore	Hammel (7-4)	@	Chi. White Sox	Danks (1-5)
8:10 PM	Cleveland	Kluber (6-5)	@	Kansas City	Mendoza (2-4)
8:10 PM	N.Y. Yankees	Hughes (3-7)	@	Minnesota	Deduno (4-2)
8:40 PM	L.A. Dodgers	Kershaw (6-5)	@	Colorado	Oswalt (0-2)
10:05 PM	Chi. Cubs	Feldman (7-6)	@	Oakland	Griffin (6-6)
10:05 PM	St. Louis	Lynn (10-2)	@	L.A. Angels	Weaver (1-4)