Hamels Dominates Marlins; Verlander Super as Tigers Take 1st; Jeter on DL

Players of the Day for Tuesday, June 14, 2011

American League

9-2 Verlander Puts
Tigers in 1st Place

After two months of chasing, the Detroit Tigers have finally caught and passed the Clevelnd Indians for the lead in the AL Central, and they did it with style.

Hosting the Indians for the opener of a three-game series, the Tigers sent their ace, Justin Verlander, to the mound, and, boy, was he special. Taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning, Verlander completely shut down Cleveland's bats, until Orlando Cabrera stroked a single to center with one out in the 8th.

Verlander surrendered another hit in the 9th, to Cleveland catcher Carlos Santana, finishing with a superb two-hitter, surrendering one walk while fanning 12 in the 4-0 victory.

Not only did the Tigers finish with a one-game lead in the division, Verlander ended up with the AL lead in Ks, his 105 total two better than that of Seattle's Felix Hernandez. This was Verlander's third complete game and second shutout of the season. At 8-3, with a 2.66 ERA and 0.89 WHIP, put Verlander on the list of probable Cy Young award winners.

National League

8-3 Hamels has
Phillies rolling

When you have Cole Hamels on the mound and your team hits five home runs, you are probably going to win a lot of games.

That's exactly what the slumping Florida Marlins discovered as they lost for the 12th time in their last 13 games, falling to the Phillies, 9-1.

With the month of June nearly half over, the Marlins have only one win to show for their efforts. At the start of the month, they were 31-22 and challenging the Phillies for first place in the division. Today, they are 32-34, 8 1/2 games back in 4th place, their season almost shattered in the course of two weeks.

Meanwhile, the Phillies have opened up a 3 1/2 game lead on the second place Braves, who lost to the Mets (3rd, 8 games back), 4-3.

With homers by Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and two by Domonic Brown, Hamels had more than enough support to notch his 9th win - tying him for the league lead with teammate Roy Halladay - against just two losses. Hamels worked seven full innings, allowing only three hits and one earned run. He struck out six and walked one.

JETER 3000 WATCH: The New York Yankees placed Derek Jeter on the 15-day disabled list for the first time since 2003. Jeter suffered a strained right calf in Monday's game against Cleveland, leaving the contest after his at-bat in the 5th inning. Just six hits short of getting to 3000 for his career, Jeter will have to watch and wait for a chance to get back into the lineup. The injury is not severe