Freddie Freeman, Ben Sheets Win 7th Straight for Brave; Yoenis Cespedes Drives A's to Sweep of Twins

Players of the Day for Sunday, July 15, 2012

American League

July is turning into a very good month for the Oakland A's.

After losing three in a row to the Rangers to end the month of June, the A's avoided the sweep in that four game series with a 3-1 win on July 1, and have won eight of their last nine since.

Yoenis Cespedes

The latest victory was Sunday's 9-4 win over the helpless Minnesota Twins and a sweep of that series, their second series sweep of the month after taking Boston three straight prior to the all star break.

Leading the charge was Yoenis Cespedes, the rookie center fielder and part time DH who's having a whale of a season. Cespedes went 4-for-5 with his 11th home run - a solo shot in the second inning - and drove in three runs, boosting his RBI total to 42. Cespedes, a .283 hitter, also cashed in runners with singles in the first and sixth innings.

The A's have kept winning while the Rangers and Angels have had their share of struggles and are now eight games behind the Rangers and just three behind the Angels.


National League

Ben Sheets

Freddie Freeman

As hot as the A's are in the American League, the Braves are equally on fire in the NL East, winning their seventh straight with a 6-1 win over the Mets, sweeping the series, three games to none.

Ben Sheets, in his first major league appearance since July 2010, blanked the Mets on two hits over six innings, walking one and striking out five. Sheets threw 57 of 88 pitches for strikes and took a seat after the Braves scored all of their runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by Freddie Freeman's three-run homer, his 12th of the season.

Sheets got the win and Freeman raised his RBI total to 54, the 10th highest total in the league.

Atlanta kept pace with the Nationals, who lead the Braves and the NL East by three games.

Hernandez' Historic Homer; Sheets Complete

Players of the Day from Monday, June 23, 2008 American League The Seattle Mariners haven't had much to cheer about but Monday night, starting pitcher Felix Hernandez - who came into the game riding a four-game winning streak - provided the highlight of a lifetime by hoisting a 2nd-inning Johan Santana delivery into Shea Stadium's right field stands for a grand slam home run, leading the Mariners to a 5-2 win over the Mets. The slam was the first by an American League pitcher since 1971, almost 15 years before Hernandez was born, but the hurler didn't last long enough to earn his fifth straight win, having to leave the game in the 4th inning with a sprained ankle.

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Notes: While the Mariners aren't going anywhere in the AL West (they're 19 1/2 games back), the loss for the Mets was stunning and dropped them to 37-38, 4 games behind the Phillies in the NL East. National League Ben Sheets (9-1) pitched his third complete game of the season, working over the Atlanta Braves on four hits, in a 4-1 Milwaukee win. Sheets struck out 7 without walking a batter, dropping his WHIP to 1.04 and his ERA to a solid 2.59. Milwaukee has won three straight and trail the Cubs by 6 games and the Cardinals by 1 1/2 in the NL Central. Notes: Usually considered the weakest division in the NL, this year seems different, as the Cubs, Cardinals and Brewers have the three best records in the league. Incidentally, the Cubs, at 48-28, have the best record in the majors, including a ridiculous record in home games of 32-8.