Here’s your
morning baseball briefing:
Game of the Day for Wednesday July 31:
Texas Rangers 2, Los Angeles Angels 1
For the
third night in a row the Texas Rangers
beat the Los Angeles Angels on a walk-off home run, this time by Adrian Beltre
whose no-doubt-about-it blast deep into the left field stands to lead off the
ninth inning quickly ended the game. The
last team to win three consecutive games with game-ending homers was Detroit in
June 2004, and the last to sweep a three-game series in that fashion was
Arizona over Montreal in May 1999.
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): 4. The
Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, and
Boston Red Sox all walked-off winners on
Tuesday.
A.L. MVP
Watch: Adrian Beltre, 3B, Texas Rangers
Yesterday: 2-4 with the game winning home run
Season: .314, 23 HRS, 61 RBI
On pace
for: .313, 34 HRs, 92 RBI
N.L. MVP
Watch: Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, Arizona Diamondbacks
Yesterday: 2-3 with a homer, 3 runs scored, 1 RBI and 1 walk
Season: .303, 24 HRs, 86
RBI, 69 runs scored
On pace
for: .303, 36 HRs, 131 RBI and 105 runs scored
A.L. Cy
Young Watch: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers
Yesterday: 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run and 6 K’s in a win vs. Washington
Season: 11-8, 138 K’s and a
3.88 ERA
On pace
for: 16-12, 210 K’s and a 3.86 ERA
N.L. Cy
Young Watch: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
Yesterday:
8 IP, 0 runs, 8 K’s in a no-decision
vs. New York Yankees
Season: 10-6, 161 K’s and a
1.87 ERA
On pace
for: 15-9, 250 K’s and a 1.86 ERA
News &
Notes: The MLB trade deadline passed yesterday and here’s a list of
the more notable trades that went down:
The Houston Astros traded starting pitcher Bud Norris to the
Baltimore Orioles in exchange for outfielder L.J. Hoes and pitching prospect Josh
Hader.
The Arizona Diamondbacks traded starting pitcher Ian Kennedy
to the San Diego Padres in exchange for reliever Joe Hatcher, a minor leaguer
to be named later and a draft pick to be determined later.
The Houston Astros traded outfielder Justin Maxwell to the
Kansas City Royals in exchange for minor league pitcher Kyle Smith.
The Tampa Bay Rays placed pitcher Matt Moore (14-3) on the
disabled list with a sore elbow and is expected to miss a few starts.
The St. Louis Cardinals placed all-star catcher Yadier
Molina on the disabled list with a sprained right knee.
History –
1956 World Series
Winner: The New York Yankees beat the
Brooklyn Dodgers 4 games to 3.
For the sixth time in ten years, the Dodgers
and Yankees met in the World Series, with New York winning in 1947, 1949, 1952
& 1953, and Brooklyn winning last year in 1955. It
would be the last all-New York World Series until 2000, as both the New York
Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers would move to California after the 1957
season. Brooklyn had home field
advantage this time and looked to repeat as champions, but the Yankees had
revenge on their minds and this would go down in history as one of the most competitive
and dramatic World Series ever played.
Brooklyn pounded the Yankees twice at Ebbets Field to open
the series, winning 6-3 in the opener behind homers from Jackie Robinson &
Gil Hodges (Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin homered for New York), whose efforts
knocked Yankee pitcher Whitey For out of the game in the third inning. They won 13-8 in Game 2 as Duke Snider
homered in a six-run second inning that sent Yankee starter Don Larsen to an
early shower (Yogi Berra homered for New York), and had a 2-0 series lead
heading across the river to the Bronx.
Yankee Stadium was the venue for games 3, 4, & 5. Whitey Ford was back on the hill for New
York, and he went the distance in a 5-3 win, thanks to Enos Slaughter’s
three-run homer in the sixth and Billy Martin’s second homer of the series in
the eighth (solo shot). Mickey Mantle
and Hank Bauer’s homers helped the Yankees win game four 6-2 and even the
series at two apiece, setting the stage for history in Game 5.
Yankee starter Don Larsen, knocked out of Game 2 in the second
inning, delighted the crowd in Game 5 when he pitched the first ever perfect
game in World Series history by retiring all 27 batters he faced, beating
Brooklyn 2-0. Mantle’s third series home
run in the fourth and Bauer’s RBI single in the sixth provided all the scoring. The unlikely Larsen (81-91 career record) snuck
cigarettes between innings to calm his nerves, and he struck out pinch-hitter
Dale Mitchell in the ninth to make history.
Back to Brooklyn for game six where the game remained
scoreless in the tenth when Yankee outfielder Enos Slaughter misjudged a line
drive to left, allowing the ball to sail over his head, and for Dodger second
baseman Junior Gilliam to race home from second base with the winning run. It breathed life into Brooklyn fans
everywhere as the series now came down to one game, in their stadium.
Game 7 was anything but climactic as the Yankees hammered
Dodger starter Don Newcombe for four home runs, two by Yogi Berra including a
grand slam, as New York won easily 9-0. Nobody
really noticed that Yankee starter Johnny Kucks pitched a three-hitter. It was the fifth straight complete game thrown
by NewYork. Jackie Robinson struck out
the end the series, and it would be his last at-bat in the major leagues as he
retired in the offseason. For the series
the Yankees outscored the Dodgers 33-25 and outhit them 58-42. They also hit eleven home runs (Mantle 3,
Berra 3, Martin 2, Slaughter 1, Howard 1, Skowron 1). Hall of Famers in this
series included for the Yankees: manager Casey Stengel, catcher Yogi Berra,
outfielder Mickey Mantle, and pitcher Whitey Ford; and for the Dodgers: manager
Walter Alston, shortstop Pee Wee Reese, catcher Roy Campanella, outfielder Duke
Snider, second baseman Jackie Robinson, and pitcher Don Drysdale.
Tomorrow: 1957 World Series – New York Yankees vs. Milwaukee Braves
Trivia -
Today’s Question: Only
one other time has a no-hitter been thrown in the playoffs. Who threw it and when did it occur?
Yesterday’s
Question: What National League team holds the record for
most wins in a season?
Answer: The Pittsburgh Pirates with 110 wins
in 1909.
Vegas Bet: Lastly, here’s an
actual bet you can make at a Las Vegas Sports Book: Over/Under 3 runs allowed by Baltimore pitcher Bud
Norris when he faces his old team the Houston Astros today.
Yesterday’s
Bet: Over/Under:
2 runs allowed by Dodger pitcher
Clayton Kershaw vs. the Yankees.
Result: Under. Kershaw allowed 0 runs through eight innings before being taken out, and the
Yankees scored three times in the ninth to win 3-0.
Standings
| American League | National League | |||||||||
| EAST | W | L | GB | STRK | EAST | W | L | GB | STRK | |
| Boston | 65 | 44 | - | Won 2 | Atlanta | 63 | 45 | - | Won 6 | |
| Tampa Bay | 64 | 44 | 0.5 | Lost 1 | Washington | 52 | 56 | 11 | Lost 2 | |
| Baltimore | 59 | 49 | 5.5 | Lost 1 | Philadelphia | 50 | 57 | 13 | Lost 1 | |
| NY Yankees | 56 | 51 | 8 | Won 1 | NY Mets | 48 | 57 | 14 | Lost 1 | |
| Toronto | 50 | 57 | 14 | Won 2 | Miami | 41 | 65 | 21 | Won 1 | |
| CENTRAL | W | L | GB | STRK | CENTRAL | W | L | GB | STRK | |
| Detroit | 61 | 45 | - | Won 5 | Pittsburgh | 65 | 42 | - | Won 4 | |
| Cleveland | 59 | 48 | 2.5 | Won 7 | St. Louis | 62 | 44 | 2.5 | Lost 7 | |
| Kansas City | 53 | 51 | 7 | Won 8 | Cincinnati | 60 | 49 | 6 | Won 1 | |
| Minnesota | 45 | 59 | 15 | Lost 3 | Chicago Cubs | 49 | 58 | 16 | Won 1 | |
| Chicago Sox | 40 | 65 | 21 | Lost 6 | Milwaukee | 46 | 62 | 20 | Lost 1 | |
| WEST | W | L | GB | STRK | WEST | W | L | GB | STRK | |
| Oakland | 63 | 45 | - | Lost 2 | LA Dodgers | 57 | 49 | - | Lost 1 | |
| Texas | 59 | 49 | 4 | Won 3 | Arizona | 55 | 52 | 2.5 | Won 1 | |
| Seattle | 50 | 57 | 13 | Lost 2 | Colorado | 51 | 58 | 7.5 | Lost 3 | |
| LA Angels | 48 | 58 | 14 | Lost 6 | San Diego | 50 | 59 | 8.5 | Lost 1 | |
| Houston | 36 | 70 | 26 | Won 1 | San Francisco | 47 | 59 | 10 | Won 1 | |
Thursday August 1 Schedule with probable pitchers in parentheses. My picks to win
are highlighted. Weekend picks: 7-7
Overall: 600-448
Times EST
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