Cain Proves Able as Giants Win, 3-0; Molina's 3-Run Blast Lifts Rangers

Players of the Day for Tuesday, October 19, 2010

National League

Relishing being back on their home field, the San Francisco Giants rode the arm of Matt Cain to a 3-0 win in game three of the NLCS, taking a 2-to-1 lead over the defending national league champion Phillies.

Cain was tough as nails over his seven innings on the mound, allowing just two hits and three walks, fanning five without allowing a run. Cole Hamels pitched will for the Phillies, just not good enough. He only allowed five hits but the Giants made them count, scoring two runs in the 4th and another in the 5th.

That was all Cain needed to keep the potent Phillie lineup in check, working out of situations with one or more men aboard in four of his seven innings. Javier Lopez and Brian Wilson, quickly becoming known as the dynamic duo of the playoffs, worked the 8th and 9th without incident, sealing the win and giving the Giants a huge boost heading into game four.

The two teams are back on the diamond at 7:57 pm ET for game four on Wednesday.

American League

As expected, Yankee starter A.J. Burnett gave up the big hit at the crucial moment, as he's been doing all season long, and the Texas Rangers took their second straight at Yankee Stadium with a 10-3 win for a 3-1 series lead in the ALCS.

Burnett took a 3-2 lead into the 6th, but gave up a leadoff single to Vladimir Guerrero. After Guerrero moved to second on a fielder's choice and an Ian Kinsler fly out, the Yanks decided to walk David Murphy in order to get to Bengie Molina, who already had been hit by a pitch in the 3rd and scored and singled in his next at bat, leading off the 5th.

Molina turned on the first offering by Burnett, depositing the baseball into the stands just inside the left field foul pole for a three-run homer and a 5-3 lead.

Texas added a pair in the next inning on a Josh Hamilton solo shot and an RBI single by Kinsler to up the lead to four runs and tacked on three more on Hamilton's secnd solo blast and a 2-run smash to left by Nelson Cruz.

The Rangers outhit the Yankees 13-6. Guerrero had four hits in five at-bats, a double and four singles. Molina finished 3-for-4, with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored.

Game five starts at 4:07 pm on Wednesday, with game one starters, C.J. Wilson and C.C. Sabathia the starters. After giving away game one, the Rangers have taken the last three, outscoring the Yankees by a combined 25-5 score.

Bengie Molina Slams, Hits for Cycle; Zito Shuts Out Mets on 2 Hits

Players of the Day for Friday, July 16, 2010 American League When Bengie Molina was traded by Seattle to Texas - making room on the Giants' roster for super prospect Buster Posey - nobody made much of the deal. Like his two brothers, Yadier and Jose, Bengie is a solid defensive catcher, but hardly a bog-time threat at the plate. Since joining the Rangers, Molina has proven to be just what he's supposed to be, an experienced receiver with limited plate potential, until Friday's 8-4 win at Boston, when he helped the Rangers maintain their 4 1/2 game lead over the Angels by hitting for the cycle. Molina's 4-for-4 night included the requisite single, double and triple, all of which proved inconsequential, but his 5th inning grand slam turned a 3-3 tie into a Ranger rout. It was only the 8th time in major league history that a player hit for the cycle and had a grand slam in the same game. The triple, completing the feat, didn't come until Molina's last at-bat, in the 8th inning. Slow of foot, Molina legged out onlythe 6th three-bagger of his 11-year career. National League Barry Zito had it going on Friday night. After striking out five of the first nine batters he faced - retiring all of them - Zito surrendered a leadoff single to Mets' shortstop Ruben Tejada, but only allowed one more hit for the remainder of his 8 stellar innings, a 7th-inning double by Carlos Beltran. Brian Wilson came on for the save in the 9th, and the Giants shut the Mets out for the second straight night, 1-0. On Thursday, Tim Lincecum twirled a six-hit complete game in a 2-0 win. It was the third time the Mets have been shut out in the last four games. Zito fanned 10 overall, walked two and allowed just the two hits, improving his record to 8-4 while keeping the Giants nestled snugly in third place in the torrid NL West. San Diego leads Colorado by 3 games, with the Giants and Dodgers both 3 1/2 back. In terms of the wild card, the Cardinals, Giants and Dodgers all trail the Rockies by 1/2 game. Notable: In their first game back after the All Star break, the NY Yankees paid tribute to deceased owner George Steinbrenner and public address announced Bob Sheppard, both of whom passed away in the past week, Nick Swisher paid tribute in his own special way. Swisher clubbed an 8th-inning solo homer to right field, tying the game with the Rays at 4-4, then singled home Curtis Granderson with two outs in the 9th for the 5-4 walk-off win. The Yankees improved their lead over the Rays to 3 games. The two teams play Saturday and Sunday and Yankee stadium. Minnesota slowed down the first place White Sox, ending their 9-game win streak with a 7-4 win. The Tigers could have tied the Sox for first place in the AL Central with a win, but dropped an 8-2 decision in Cleveland. Chicago leads the Tigers by a single game, and Minnesota by 3 1/2. Miguel Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a single in three at-bats.

Boston Backs in; Lind Homers Thrice; Molina Rocks Arizona

Players of the Day for Tuesday, September 29, 2009 American League The Boston Red Sox dropped their fifth straight, losing an 8-7 decision to Toronto, but earned the AL wild card spot as the Rangers lost to the Angels, 5-2. Boston has a six game lead in the wild card race with just 5 games left. While the Red Sox are flailing their way into the playoffs, Toronto players are simply padding their stats and looking forward to the off-season. One fellow who's had an outstanding season North of the border is Adam Lind, who launched 3 long balls in the win over the Red Sox, a two-run deal in the 1st followed by solo shots in the 5th and 7th innings. Lind leads the Blue Jays with 114 RBI and is second on the team in homers, with 35. He also ranks 3rd in RBI and 4th in homers in the AL. Along with a .305 batting average, Lind has produced a break-out season, more than doubling his career RBI and home run totals. National League Now 8 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West and 5 behind the Rockies in the wild card race, the San Francisco Giants aren't going to make any post-season noise, but that didn't stop Bengie Molina from roughing up Doug Davis and the Arizona relievers that followed. Molina went 4-for-5 with a pair of homers, two singles, four RBI and 2 runs. The batter directly in front of Molina in the lineup, Pablo Sandoval, also had 4 hits in 5 at-bats (2 singles, double, homer), drove in two runs and scored 4 times. Between them the two accounted for more than half of the Giants' 15 hits in their 8-4 win over the Diamondbacks. NOTES: With Florida toping the Braves, 5-4, the Rockies took advantage of the rare Atlanta loss to put a little distance between themselves and their closest pursuer in the wild card hunt. It took 11 innings, but the Rockies finally did away with the pesky Brewers, winning 7-5 on Chris Iannetta's 2-run, pinch hit homer in the bottom of the inning. That put the Rockies three games ahead with 5 left to play, so they still have some work to do. They have two more with the Brewers in Colorado before heading to LA for a season-ending series with the Dodgers. The Braves, who lost for only the 3rd time in their last 17 games, play Florida once more and end at home with four games against the Nationals. The Phillies and Dodgers can each clinch with wins on Wednesday. LA faces the Padres in San Diego, while the Phillies have Houston at home. Every spot except the Central has been decided in the AL, and there was no change in the standings as the Twins and Tigers split a double-header Tuesday. The two play two more head-to-head before the Tigers host the White Sox and the Twins the Royals in three-game series to finish the regular season. Detroit can clinch the division with two wins over the Twins.

Huff Leads O's to 6th Straight; Molina Yard Work Drops Padres in 11

Tuesday's Players of the Day American League The Baltimore Orioles extended their AL-best win streak to 6 games with an 8-1 win at Texas as Aubrey Huff went 4-for-4 (a double and three singles), driving in 4 runs to take over the AL RBI lead. Frank Thomas and Joe Crede each have 10. Notes:While the Orioles are soaring, the Detroit Tigers are souring, falling to 0-7, with a 4-0 at Boston on Tuesday. Off-season pick-ups Edgar Renteria and Miguel Cabrera are batting .200 and .100 respectively. That says something about knowing the pitchers you're facing, though Placido Polanco (.115) and Ivan Rodriguez (.148) can't use the same excuse. National League After having Barry Bonds routinely bomb homers into McCovey Cove, fans of the San Francisco Giants aren't finding much to cheer about this season. Last night, however, catcher Bengie Molina gave everyone a treat, homering twice, the last one providing the winning margin in the Giants' first home win of the season, a 3-2 win over San Diego in 11 innings.

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Molina's solo shot came with one out in the bottom of the 11th, off Padres' reliever Cla Meredith. Bengie found his groove earlier, blasting a solo shot to left in the second inning. Notes: Arizona, 5 straight wins; Milwaukee, 4 straight wins. Washington, which began the season by winning its first three, have now dropped five in a row.

Molina Leaves Yard Twice in 5th; Sizemore, Hafner Lead Tribe

Monday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner (right) were at it again Monday night. Sizemore singled, doubled, stole a base, drove in 2 and scored a run and Hafner blasted his 7th homer of the season - an 8th inning grand slam - to ruin the Baltimore Orioles, 10-1, for a split of their 4-game series at Camden Yards. Starter Fausto Carmona stymied the O's on 7 hits over 7 innings to improve his record to 3-1. The Indians regained a 1/2-game lead in the AL Central over idle Detroit with the win. Other AL Scores Seattle 3 NY Yankees 2 - A. Beltre, GW HR (5), 9th inning, M. Rivera, (L , 1-3) National League The San Francisco Giants scored all of their runs in a crucial 5th inning, as Bengie Molina (right) cracked a pair of homers and drove in 5 runs to humble the NY Mets 9-4. Molina began the barrage with a shot to left center after Mets' starter Oliver Perez walked Ray Durham to open the inning. Then, after getting two outs, 2nd baseman Damion Easley mishandled what would have been Randy Winn's inning-ending ground ball and the game got out of hand as the Giants scored 6 unearned runs, the last 3 coming off Molina's bat with Durham and Barry Bonds aboard. Barry Zito allowed 7 hits and 3 earned runs over 6 innings to even his record at 3-3. Brad Penny had everything working in Miami Monday night. Not only did he strike out 14 Marlins over 7 innings, he allowed just 5 hits, no earned runs, didn't walk a batter and even drove in a pair of runs with a single in the 4th inning.

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Penny and the Dodgers coasted to a 6-1 win to open their 4-game series with Florida and remain a game in front of San Diego in the NL West. Chris Capuano got his 5th win without a loss and the Milwaukee Brewers extended to a 5 1/2-game lead over the idle Cubs with a 3-0 win over visiting Washington. Capuano worked the Nationals over 8 innings, allowing 7 hits and no walks while striking out 9. Francisco Cordero finished up with a hitless 9th inning for his MLB-best 13th save. Geoff Jenkins provided all of the Brewers' offense with his 6th home run of the season, a 3-run shot in the 2nd. Adrian Gonzalez belted his 9th home run of the season - a solo shot in the 2nd inning - and recorded his 29th RBI, tying him with Houston's Carlos Lee, as the Padres kept pace with the Dodgers in the NL West with a 4-2 victory at Atlanta. Other NL Scores Houston 5 Cincinnati 4 - A. Dunn, HR (9) Arizona 4 Philadelphia 3 - J. Valverde, S (12) Colorado 3 St. Louis 2 - Cardinals, 3-7 last 10, O-6 vs. NL East, NL West