Billy Butler Leads Royals in 11-1 Rout of Rays; Allen Craig's Grand Slam Lifts Cardinals over Reds, 8-6

Players of the Day for Monday, August 26, 2013

American League

On what would have normally been a day off, the Tampa Bay Rays instead flew out to Kansas City to make up a May snow-out on Monday.

Billy Butler

Following the resulting 11-1 rout by the Royals, and, dropping 1 1/2 behind the idle Red Sox, the Rays probably wish it had snowed in August as well.

The Royals pounded Tampa starter, Jeremy Hellickson, for seven hits and five earned runs in just 2 2/3rd innings, then scored six more runs off a pair of Tampa bay relievers.

Leading the 13-hit assault was Billy Butler, who singled twice and homered in three at-bats, driving in three runs and scoring three times.

The game left the Royals 10 1/2 games behind the Tigers, in third place in the Central division. At 66-64, the Royals are having their best year in a long time, but still are looking up at five teams ahead of them in the hunt for two wild card positions with the number of games remaining dwindling quickly.

With the make-up game out of the way, the Royals head to Minnesota for a three-game series with the Twins. At the top of the wild card heap, the Rays return to Tropicana Field for three games with the Angels. Both series start Tuesday night.

National League

Allen Craig

Allen Craig's first career grand slam capped a five-run seventh inning that propelled the St. Louis Cardinals to an 8-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a three-game series in St. Louis.

Trailing 5-3 entering the frame, the Cardinals put runners on second and third with one out off Reds' starter, Mike Leake and then loaded the bases when reliever Manny Parra walked Matt Carpenter. Jon Jay grounded out to first, pushing across the first run of the inning. J.J. Hoover relieved Parra, walking Matt Holliday to re-load the bases, setting up Craig's opposite-field blast into the right field seats.

The Reds retaliated with a solo shot by Jay Bruce in the eighth, but could get no closer. Edward Mujica slammed the door shut, setting the Reds down in order in the ninth for his 35th save.

Craig also had a single and double in his for at-bats, his four RBI giving him 95 on the year, tying him with Brandon Phillips for second place in that department. Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt leads the league with 103.

The win gave St. Louis sole possession of first place in the NL Central, 1/2 game better than the idle Pirates. Game two of the series with the Reds begins at 8:15 pm EDT on Tuesday.

Today's Trivia: Who were the four Baltimore pitchers who each won 20 games in the 1971 season? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: The pitcher who went 26-9 with 30 complete games (no, that's not a typo) was Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants. Despite his stellar season, Marichal did not receive the NL Cy Young award. That went to St; Louis hurler, Bob Gibson, who, like Denny McLain in the AL, was also the league's MVP.

Allen Craig Powers Cardinals Past Houston, 13-5; Dustin Pedroia Keeps Boston in AL East Lead with 4 RBI

Players of the Day for Tuesday, June 25, 2013

American League

Dustin Pedroia

While the race in the AL East remains a tight one, one constant has been that the Red Sox stand atop the rest. Since taking over the top spot in May, that's where Boston has remained, despite pressure from the other four teams in the division.

Much of the success of this year's Boston team stems from their outstanding hitting throughout the lineup, as evidenced Tuesday, when they amassed 20 hits in an 11-4 hammering of the visiting Rockies.

Dustin Pedroia knocked in four runs and scored twice, going 3-for-5 with a double and two singles, leading the Boston attack.

Pedroia, who stands just 5'8", is one of the toughest outs in either league, batting .316 (9th in AL) with five homers and 44 RBI.

Boston's win was their first in a two game series with the Rockies, who are themselves in the heat of a pennant race in the NL West, but have recently taken it on the chin, losing six of their last eight. Despite that poor recent record, they remained tied for second in the division with San Diego, both three games behind Arizona. The Giants are 3 1/2 out.

The Red Sox, Yankees, O's and Rays were all winners on Tuesday, keeping the standings intact. Boston leads New York and baltimore by 2 1/2, the Rays are 4 1/2 out and Toronto is just 6 1/2 back, despite being in last place.

The series concludes Wednesday at Fenway with a 4:05 pm EDT start time.

National League

Allen Craig

Leading the NL Central Division by a game over the Pirates - who've won five in a row - the St. Louis Cardinals are probably the most balanced team in the National League. They lead the league in batting, with a .276 average, runs (385) and RBI, with 367. Four of their regulars are batting over .300, led by Yadier Molina, who leads the league at .355.

Their starting pitching has the lowest ERA in the league, but they have mound competition from Atlanta - which has the lowest total ERA in the league, at 3.21 - and Pittsburgh, whose starters have thrown 12 shutouts already this year and whose staff has allowed a league low batting average of just .226 to opponents.

Still, the Cardinals have managed to stay clear of their pursuers - primarily Pittsburgh and Cincinnati (3 1/2 games out) - with the best record in baseball, getting to 48-29 by virtue of Tuesday's 13-5 pounding of Houston, the first of a two-game series against the former NL Central Astros, now making their home in the basement of the AL West.

Allen Craig spearheaded the 15-hit St. Louis batting parade, going 4-for-5 with a two-run homer and three singles, totaling three RBI and scoring twice.

Along with Molina, Craig. at .321, is one of the four Cardinals batting over .300. Matt Carpenter is hitting .318 and Carlos Beltran checks in at .307.

The Cards will look to sweep the Astros and keep their lock on first place when they play ball at 8:05 pm EDT in Houston.

Today's Triva: Pete Rose was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1963. In what year did he win his only MVP award? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: "Shoeless" Joe Jackson hit .408 as a rookie in 1911, but did not win the batting title, as Detroit's Ty Cobb hit .420.

Two HR, 5 RBI by Carlos Santana Lifts Cleveland; Allen Craig leads Cardinals over Cubs

Players of the Day for Sunday, September 23, 2012

American League

Back in June, the Cleveland Indians were leading the AL Central ad looking like one of the surprise teams of 2012.

Guess again. The Indians went into a tailspin just prior to and after the all star break that sent them plummeting to the bottom of the division, where they currently reside, 18 1/2 games behind the White Sox.

Santana: 2HR, 5RBI

Pitching was the big problem for the Indians, with the second-worst ERA in the majors (4.81, worst in the AL and, in all of MLB, better than only Colorado's 5.30), but they cannot complain about their catcher, Carlos Santana, who, in his second full year in the majors, is having a solid season, batting .257 (19 points above 2011's .239), with 18 homers (tied for fifth in the AL among catchers) and 75 RBI (third among AL catchers) after going 3-for-6 with a pair of long balls and five RBI in Cleveland's 15-4 rout of Kansas City.

Santana scored three times, totaling 69 runs for the season, second most of AL catchers, behind Minnesota's Joe Mauer (78).

In the pennant and wild card races, little changed on Sunday. The Yankees and Orioles both lost, leaving the Yanks with a one game lead. The White Sox lost their fifth straight, but still lead the Tigers in the Central by one, as Detroit dumped both ends of a double header to Minnesota.

Texas continues to lead Oakland in the West by four games, both teams losing on Sunday.

In the wild card, the Orioles are a game up on Oakland for the two spots available. The A's lead the Angels by 2 1/2 and the Rays by 3 1/2.

National League

In the National League, all that remains of the season is determining the winners of the East division, where the Nationals lead Atlanta by 4 1/2 games, and the wild cards, currently Atlanta and St. Louis, with the Braves six up on St. Louis and the Cardinals three ahead of LA and 3 1/2 up on Milwaukee.

Allen Craig

While the Dodgers and Brewers both won on Sunday, so did the Cardinals, knocking off the Cubs, 6-2, taking two of three in their series in Chicago.

First baseman Allen Craig, whose been on a tear of late, went 3-for-4 with a pair of ribbies in the win. Over his last ten games, Craig is batting .372 (16-for-43) with two homers, sixteen runs and 13 RBI.

Just like last season, the Cardinals are heating up at the right time, winning six of their last seven with just nine games left. St. Louis has three series remaining: three at Houston, followed by three games at home with Washington and three home games with the Reds, the final two series providing possible previews to the post-season, as the Reds have already clinched the Central and Washington's magic number is down to just six.

Phil Hughes Keeps Yankees Tied for First; Allen Criag Supplies Cardinals with Boost in Wild Card

Players of the Day for Thursday, September 13, 2012

American League

At a most opportune time, Phil Hughes appears to be rounding into his best form of the season.

The Yankee starter shut out Boston for 7 1/3 innings, helping New York grind its way to a 2-0 win in the series finale.

Phil Hughes

Hughes (15-12) allowed five hits and a walk, striking out seven while his teammates scratched out a pair of runs. It was his second straight win and the first time he hasn't given up an earned run since going seven innings against Boston on August 17, where he also earned the win.

The win kept the Yanks and Orioles tied for first in the AL East, as Baltimore completed their three-game sweep of the Rays with a 3-2 win in 14 innings.

That puts the Rays in a troubling predicament, because they'll have to catch either the O's or Yankees for one of the two wild card spots as the A's are a game up on both Baltimore and New York, but Tampa Bay is four back of them.


National League

There were just two NL games on Thursday, but the results impacted the wild card race.

Allen Craig

The Phillies' seven game win streak came to an end as they were dumped by Houston, 6-4, while in LA, the Cardinals picked up a needed win, topping the Dodgers, 2-1.

Allen Craig went 2-for-5 and drove in the winning run in the top of the seventh with a single after doubling in an earlier at-bat.

Lance Lynn (15-7) allowed the only Dodger run, going six innings for the Cards before giving way to a trio of relievers, ending with Jason Motte picking up his 34th save.

The results left St. Louis five behind Atlanta and in position for the second wild card spot. The Dodgers trail the Cardinals by two games. The Pirates are three back, followed by Milwaukee, 3 1/2 behind, Philly, 4 out, and Arizona, 4 1/2 behind.