Quentin Cracks a Pair; Rangers Hammer with Laird Slam; Bonds Watch

Monday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League Catcher Gerald Laird (right) whacked a grand slam homer in the Rangers' 8-run 5th inning and earlier doubled in a run as Texas hammered the visiting Minnesota Twins, 14-4. The Rangers banged out 15 hits, 8 for extra bases. Every starter had a hit, with 6 regulars getting 2, as the Rangers scored single runs in each of the first 4 innings, 8 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th inning. It was the 2nd night in a row in which Texas scored 14 runs. Nick Swisher drove in all of Oakland's runs in the A's 8-5 road loss to the Chicago White Sox. Coming to the plate twice with the bases loaded, Swisher delivered a 3-run double in the 5th and a 2-run single in the 8th.

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He also added a single in a separate at-bat to finish the nigh 3-5. Other AL Scores NY Yankees 6 Boston 2 - A. Rodriguez, HR (18) leads majors Cleveland 5, Seattle 2 - J. Borowski, S (14), Indians, 17-4 at home National League Carlos Quentin (right) socked a pair of homers - a 3-run shot in the 4th and a solo job in the 7th - and added the game-winning RBI with an 8th inning sac fly to provide surging Arizona with a 6-5 win over visiting Colorado. Quentin was 2-3 with 5 RBI and a pair of runs scored, boosting the Diamondbacks into a tie for 2nd in the NL West with San Diego, 1/2-game back of the LA Dodgers. Arizona has won 3 straight and 5 of their last 7. Scott Hatteberg had two doubles and a 2-run homer in Cincinnati's 8-7 win over visiting Washington, accounting for 2 runs scored, 4 RBI and keying an 8th inning winning rally. Hatteberg doubled home Alex Gonzalez and then scored the tying run on Jose Valentin's game winning 2-run blast to right. Ken Griffey Jr. also hit his 9th homer of the season - a solo shot - giving him 572 on the career list, 1 behind Harmon Killebrew at #8 all-time. Noah Lowry shut out the Astros over 7 innings, allowing 6 hits and walking 3 in San Francosco's 4-0 win over sojourning Houston. Brad Hennessey and Armando Benitez finished the job, each working an inning in relief. The Giants had only 6 hits themselves, but turned them into 4 runs and Lowry (5-4) made them stand up. In other Bay area stories, some are wondering what's happened to Barry Bonds (right) in his pursuit of Hank Aaron's mythical 755 career home run record. Barry hit 11 homers in his first 29 games and has none since. Calculating the date that Barry breaks Aaron's record may be getting easier as Bonds continues his homerless streak, now at 11 games. During that span, Bonds' batting average has fallen from .338 to .287, as he's gone 5-31 (.161), driven in exactly 0 runs, and has been walked 15 times, at least once in every game. Barry has another streak going - he's now walked at least once in each of his last 16 games. So, the current calculation, if Barry homers in his next game and then hits one every 12 games at the ripe age of 42 (he turns 43 on July 24) goes as follows: Since Barry misses one game in every 11 (he's played in 40, the Giants have played 44), that gives him 108 more chances this season, meaning he'll max out at 9 and won't get the 10 he needs to tie Aaron until, yep, next season. We can only hope. No more shots, Barry. You're being watched. Other NL Scores Milwaukee 9 LA Dodgers 5 - P. Fielder, 2 solo HR (14), R. Weeks, 4-5, 3 RBI Notes: We've had a number of requests asking about MLB rules regarding rookie status and are happy to provide the answer from MLB.com. Determining rookie status: A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).