Phillies Get Boost from Bruntlett; Santana Goes 6-0 for Angels

Players of the Day from Monday, May 5, 2008 American League The Angels' Ervin Santana improved to 6-0 as he blanked the Royals on 4 hits in a complete game shutout, 4-0 win Monday night. Santana is one of the brightest young pitching stars in the AL. In his 4th full season as a starter, he sports a 2.02 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP, having allowed just 11 runs over 49 innings. He's struck out 38 batters while walking only 9. On Monday, he fanned 9 without issuing a free pass. It was the second complete game and second shutout of his career and the win kept the Angels a game in front of the Oakland A's in the West. Santana threw just 97 pitches, 69 for strikes, facing 31 batters, 4 over the minimum. Notes: Streaking: The Twins have won five straight, while they passed by the Chicago White Sox, losers of 6 in a row. In the East, Boston's won four straight and is in 1st place, while the Blue Jays have won 5 straight, but are mired in last place. National League The Phillies have plenty of offensive stars on their roster, so it was somewhat surprising that light-hitting Eric Bruntlett would star at the plate in Philadelphia's 11-4 romp past Arizona. Bruntlett, a .247 career hitter, singled and tripled in five at-bats, driving in three with his 7th-inning bases-loaded triple which broke the game wide open. This was the opener of a four-game series between the Phillies and Diamondbacks at Arizona. The two are the respective leaders in their divisions. The Phillies are a game up on the Marlins and 1 1/2 ahead of the Mets in the East, while Arizona leads the hard-charging Dodgers by 3 games in the West. Notes: Roadies wanted. Only three NL teams have winning road records: Arizona (9-5), Philadelphia (9-6) and Florida (8-5). Oddly enough, the Phillies can't win in their division, where they are 3-6, while Arizona can't win outside it. The D-Backs are 17-5 against NL West teams, but just 4-6 against the East and Central.