C.J. Wilson One-Hits A's over 8; Adam Wainwright Keeps Cards in NL Central Lead

Players of the Day for Tuesday, May 22, 2012

American League

C.J. Wilson

C.J. Wilson took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, surrendering a one-out single to Cliff Pennington for the A's only hit of the game, as the Angels topped Oakland, 5-0.

Wilson pitched though the eighth, fanning seven with a pair of walks, for his fifth win against four losses, an excellent record, considering the Angles have been mired in last place in the Al West almost the entire season.

After throwing 125 pitches - 75 strikes and 50 balls - Wilson was relieved in the ninth by Ernesto Frieri, who set down the A's in order in the ninth.

Albert Pujols, who is beginning to heat up, drove in the Angels' fist run with a sac fly in the first as LA staked Wilson to a 3-0 lead, and socked his fourth home run of the season in the third inning.

Along with Pujols, Wilson was one of the Angels key acquisitions in the off-season, coming to LA after seven seasons with the Texas Rangers.


National League

A mere 1/2 game separates the Central division front-running Cardinals from the hard-charging Cincinnati Reds as the Cardinals survived a sweep in LA with two consecutive wins over the Padres while the Reds have put together a four game win streak.

Adam Wainwright

Keeping the Cards in first place was largely the result of a sterling performance by Adam Wainwright, who tossed a 4-hit, 4-0, shutout against the Padres Tuesday night in St. Louis.

With the Reds slipping by Atlanta, 4-3, the Cardinals rode Wainwright's arm to victory, and will go for the sweep of the NL West last place Padres Wednesday night.

Wainwright, who has had more than his fair share of rough outings this season, put it all together for his first complete game shutout of the year. Returning from a year off due to injuries, Wainwright is just 3-5 thus far, though his mound work may be turning a corner. He struck out nine - getting each of the Padres' position players on strikes at least once - and issued only one walk.

Jered Weaver and CJ Wilson Lock into 1-0 Duel; Jayson Heyward Leads Braves Past Rockies

Players of the Day for Thursday, July 21, 2011

American League

Wilson: hard luck

Baseball is essentially a fair game to all, but sometimes great efforts go unrewarded.

Weaver leads AL
with 1.81 ERA

Such was the case as C.J. Wilson matched up in a pitching duel with Jered Weaver as the Angels and Rangers played the rubber game of a three-game series.

Wilson threw eight innings of two-hit ball, giving up one walk and striking out eight batters.

The critical play came in the 2nd inning, as Howie Kendrick was hit by a pitch and took second on Wilson's wild pitch, which struck out Mark Trumbo. The next batter, Mike Trout, lifted a fly ball into shallow center field which should have ended the inning, but was dropped by the Rangers' Endy Chavez, allowing Kendrick to easily score from second.

It turned out to be the only run of the game -unearned - giving the Angels and Weaver the series win. Weaver improved to 13-4 by pitching seven shutout innings, scattering seven hits and two walks while whiffing six in the Angels' 1-0 victory.

The decision left the Rangers with a shrinking, three-game lead over the tenacious Angels, who hung tough in the division race while the Rangers went on a twelve game winning streak which ended when the Angles won Wednesday's game, 9-8.

National League

Jason Hayward

Atlanta's Jason Heyward isn't having the kind of season many expected, though in Thursday's 9-6 comeback win over the Rockies, he provided enough of a spark for fans to believe that he's coming around at the right time.

Heyward, batting only .229, homered and doubled in five at-bats, scoring once and driving in three runs. His two-run home run in the 3rd inning helped cut into a 4-0 Braves lead, and his double in the 7th drove in the game's final run as the Braves scored four times, turning a 6-5 deficit into a 9-6 victory.

The Atlanta win got them 1/2 game closer to the idle Phillies in the NL East. The Braves trail the Phillies by four games but lead the wild card by five games over Arizona.

Colorado dropped to 47-52, 10 games off the pace set by the Giants in the NL West.

Kelly Johnson Hits for Cycle, but D-Backs Lose; C.J. Wilson Extends Rangers AL West Lead

Players of the Day for Friday, July 23, 2010 American League The Texas Rangers are in first place in the AL West, and for a number of good reasons. First, they snatched up free agent Vladimir Guerrero from their chief rival, the LA Angels, in the off-season, depriving the Angels of a powerful bat in their lineup while adding it to their own. Second, the Angels can't keep up, partly because they also lost the only other power hitter in their lineup, Kendry Morales, in a freak June home plate celebration in which Morales broke his leg. Morales is out for the season. Third, they already had the nucleus of a solid batting order heading into the season and only needed some pitching to help bring home the AL West flag. And that brings us to reason number four, their pitching staff. Especially now that they've acquired Cliff lee from Seattle and Tommy Hunter (7-0) is back from the DL, they have a quality rotation which can match up with the best in the league. Proof of the Rangers' emergence in the pitching department is starter C.J. Wilson, who blanked the Angels Friday on four hits over 8 innings in a 1-0 triumph that extended the Rangers' lead to seven games. Wilson allowed hits in each of the first three innings, but settled into a groove after that, protecting the 1-0 lead provided by Michael Young's 1st inning solo homer. From the 3rd through the 8th innings, Wilson set down 15 straight Angels and did not walk a batter. Neftali Perez came on for the 9th, setting down the Angels in order for his 27th save, tops in the AL. Wilson has been the glue for the Rangers' pitching staff all season, never missing a start (20) and piling on the innings (127 2/3), while keeping the opposition at bay. Wilson picked up his 9th win against 5 losses in the win over the Angels, dropping his ERA to 3.03, which matches up nicely with his 1.20 WHIP. A converted reliever and closer, Wilson became a full-time starter this season and has flourished in the role, allowing opposing hitters a meager .203 batting average. The Rangers have taken the first two games of their series against the Angels and have two more, Saturday and Sunday. Should they sweep, the AL West race could be effectively over, with the Rangers up by what would be nine games. Unless the Angels come up with some answers, and in a hurry, they look to be second best in a division they've dominated for years. National League You know it's not your year when one of your players hits for the cycle and you still lose the game. Such was the case for the hopeless Arizona Diamondbacks in Friday's 7-4 loss to the Giants, as Kelly Johnson turned the trick with a 4-for-4 effort with 3 RBI and 2 runs. Johnson was the third player this season to hit for the cycle, following Milwaukee's Jody Gerut (May 8) and Texas' Bengie Molina, who did it exactly seven days ago. Getting the tough stuff out of the way with a solo home run in the first inning, Johnson was hit by a pitch and thrown out trying to swipe second base in the 3rd. After a ground rule double in the 5th and a two-run triple in the 6th, Johnson got the needed single leading off the 8th in his final at-bat, but was erased by a double play one batter later. The Diamondbacks are 20 games out in the NL West, but the Giants, 13-3 since July 5th, have taken over sole possession of second place, trailing the Padres by 3 games.

Wilson Tosses 5 No-Hit Innings; Holliday's 4 RBI Lift Cards

Players of the Day for Friday, April 2, 2010 American League Do the Texas Rangers have another pitching on the verge of a breakout season? Last year, it was Scott Feldman, who turned around a lackluster career 7-13 mark into a 17-8 season. This year's phenom could be converted reliever C.J. Wilson, who has some similarity to Feldman, in that his record over 5 seasons is 12-20 and he's breaking into the starting rotation in 2010 with the Rangers. Where he differs is that he's had extensive experience as a closer, converting 50 of 60 save opportunities for the Rangers over the past three seasons. Wilson's had a OK Spring, showing flashes of brilliance, like Friday's 5 no-hit innings against the Kansas City Royals. While he didn't record a decision, the Rangers went on to win the game, 2-1, on David Murphy's 2-run homer in the 7th. Wilson walked 2 and struck out 4 in his final tune-up for the regular season. Wilson made 6 appearances this Spring - 4 of them starts - and finished up with an 0-2 record with 22 Ks, 8 BBs, and a 3.24 ERA. National League The Twins opened their new stadium - Target Field - to a wide-eyed exhibition game crowd on Friday, but Matt Holiday and the St. Louis Cardinals soured the celebration by beating Minnesota, 8-4. The official crowd, measured at 32,995, saw the Cardinals get all of their runs in two innings, with Holliday a major contributor. The Cardinals got 3 runs in the 4th, when Holliday belted a two-run homer off Twins' starter Carl Pavano, followed by a Colby Rasmus solo shot, and then hammered a pair of relievers in the 8th, scoring 5 times. Holliday delivered a two-run double in the midst of that outburst. The slugging St. Louis outfielder added a single to go 3-for-4 with 4 RBI, upping his average to .356, with 3 homers and 11 RBI. MLB Preview: San Francisco Giants The Giants appear poised to make another run at the NL West title this season, after a near-miss in 2009. San Francisco is leading the Cactus league as of this writing with a 22-11 record, and, while those games don't count for much, they may give the team an added boost of confidence when they open their regular season Monday at Houston. The home opener is slated for Friday, April 9, with the first of three games against the Braves. San Fran finished 2009 with an 88-74 record, their best performance since 2004, when they finished just 2 games behind the Dodgers, but missed out on the playoffs. Last year, they chased the Dodgers for the entire season, but stumbled down the stretch, ending up 7 back, and 4 behind the wild card Rockies. The Giants had the best record of any team in the major which didn't make the post-season, so there's reason to believe they'll be in the hunt again. Pitching is the Giants' major strength, with a starting rotation that ranks among the top 2 or 3 in the majors. Tim Lincecum. 33-12 over the past two season, notched his second straight Cy Young award in 2009. Following him are Matt Cain (14-8, 2.89), Barry Zito (10-13, 4.03) and Jonathan Sanchez (8-12, 4.24). Fifth starter Todd Wellemeyer (from St. Louis) pitched well enough in Spring training to complete the rotation. The Keys are Zito and Sanchez. If they perform well, the Giants could string together some nice win streaks through the season. If they don't, the team will struggle. In the bullpen, closer Brian Wilson should have an abundance of save opportunities this season. He had 38 saves in 2009, and will have a solid pair of set-up men in Jeremy Affeldt (a former closer himself) and Brandon Medders, who may also get a number of spot starts. Affeldt was outstanding last year, recording 33 holds and a 1.73 ERA over 62 1/3 innings. Two big free agent additions were Aubrey Huff and Mark DeRosa, who will likely bat fourth and fifth, respectively, behind slugging 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval (.330, 25, 90). Huff has a good measure of power, while DeRosa has demonstrated that he can play a variety of positions and handle the bat quite well. Huff had a down year in the home run department, swatting just 15, though he did produce 85 RBI between Baltimore and Detroit. The well-traveled DeRosa will begin 2010 with his 6th different team. In 2009, he had possibly his best year yet, batting .250 with 23 homers and 78 RBI for the Indians and Cardinals. With DeRosa in left field, Aaron Rowand will play center and bat in the leadoff spot, but the biggest surprise may be right fielder John Bowker, who's had an outstanding Spring, batting .310 with 5 homers and 22 RBI. Veterans Juan Uribe and Edgar Renteria man second and short, respectively, and besides being solid defensively, can each provide timely hits, though Uribe will likely give way to Freddy Sanchez, who is expected to remain on the DL until mid-May. Bengie Molina returns as the starting catcher after an excellent 2009 campaign in which he hit 20 homers and drove in 80 runs. The Giants should be in the thick of the division race until the end, along with the Dodgers and Rockies. If the pitching holds up and their free agency hires perform, they could get into the playoffs for the first time since the end of the Barry Bonds era. The Las Vegas future book has them at 84.5 wins and a 30-1 shot to become world champions.