Dan Haren Wins Duel with Nats' Zimmermann; Angel Pagan Leads Mets in 16-9 Triumph

Players of the Day for Wednesday, June 29, 2011

American League

Dan Haren

Yes, there is a pennant race in the AL West and the Angels are right in the thick of it, especially after winning their third straight over the Washington Nationals in a 1-0 nail-biter.

Dan Haren outdueled the most luckless starter in the majors, Jordan Zimmermann, who pitches eight innings without giving up an earned run. The game's only run was scored by LA in the 4th inning, ironically set up by a wild throw by third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmermann, the pitcher, is 5-7 with a 2.63 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP.

As for Haren, his 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball were enough to produce his 8th win against 5 loess. Haren allowed just two hits, walking one batter while striking out six.

The Angels trail Texas by 1 1/2 games.

National League

There were so many stars in the Mets' 16-9 thumping of Detroit, it was hard to single out one player, but Angel Pagan fit the bill.

Angel Pagan

The Mets hammered out 20 hits, four of them credited to Pagan, who had two singles and two doubles in six at-bats, drove in four runs, stole a base and scored three times.

Pagan has been instrumental the recent Mets' power surge, which has resulted in a team record 52 runs over their last four games, all wins. Oddly enough, there were four homers in the game, all hit by Detroit players.

While the Mets have climbed back over .500 (41-39), they still are playing in one of the toughest divisions in the majors, the NL East, where they trail the Phillies by 9 1/2 games, with Atlanta in second place, 4 1/2 out.

INTERLEAGUE TALLY: With each league winning seven games on Wednesday, the overall tally after 202 games is all even at 101 wins apiece.