Cody Ross Belts a Pair in 10-1 Boston Win; Kubel's Two Homers Lift Arizona over Cincy

Players of the Day for Wednesday, July 18, 2012

American League

Catching the Yankees in the AL East is not going to be easy, but the Boston Red Sox will have that on their minds the rest of the season. While New York was winning their third straight - a rain-shortened, 6-0 win over Toronto - the Red Sox were thumping the White Sox, 10-1, thanks to a couple of homers by Cody Ross.

Cody Ross

Ross belted a pair of three-run shots and added a sixth-inning double and scored to round off a 3-for-5 effort, driving in six runs and scoring three times.

The victory moved Boston into a tie for third place with Tampa Bay, though both teams are 10 1/2 behind the Yankees. Baltimore is 10 out, in second place, making the Yanks' lead the largest in the majors.

The Red Sox have recently gotten a couple of veterans back from injuries. Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury give the Sox needed punch at the top of the lineup, in addition to excellent defense in the outfield. Boston is still awaiting the return of former MVP, Dustin Pedroia, who has been sidelined since July 4 with a jammed right thumb.

Boston plays New York 12 more times, including the final three games of the regular season, in New York. With their full lineup intact, can they make a run at the Bombers?


National League

Jason Kubel

Jason Kubel's two home runs helped lift the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 7-1 triumph over the Cincinnati Reds, to take a 2-1 lead in their four game series.

Kubel got things started with a two-run bomb in the first inning and added a solo shot in the fourth to back the pitching of Ian Kennedy, who scattered eight hits and allowed just one earned run over eight strong innings.

The homers were Kubel's 16th and 17th; the three RBI upped his season's total to 63, the fourth-highest total in the league and just three behind leader Carlos Beltran of St. Louis.

The win kept Arizona seven games behind San Francisco in the West, with the Dodgers in between, three games out. Cincy's loss moved them back into a dead heat in the Central with the Pirates, who topped Colorado, 9-6.

Greg Dobbs, Mark Buehrle Snap Marlins Losing Streak; Cody Ross Homers Twice of Boston

Players of the Day for Sunday, June 24, 2012

American League

Good baseball continues to be played by the Boston Red Sox, winners of seven of their last eight with Sunday's 9-4 win over Atlanta.

Cody Ross

The Sox have managed to clamber out of last place - that position now occupied by Toronto - but gaining ground in the rugged AL East is no easy feat. Boston is still 5 1/2 behind the division-leading Yankees, with Baltimore and Tampa Bay sandwiched in between.

Cody Ross was the hero of their latest win, driving in five runs with a pair of homers in four at-bats for Boston. Ross delivered a three-run shot in the fourth inning, and, after Atlanta battled back to trail by just one run, Ross, in his next plate appearance, went deep again, socking a two-run homer over the Green Monster as the Red Sox put up three runs in the fifth.

Boston fans said farewell to Kevin Youkilis, a longtime staple at third base, as he was dealt to the White Sox. Apparently, Red Sox brass was willing to replace Youkilis with the younger Will Middlebrooks and his .326 batting average.


National League

Greg Dobbs

Mark Buehrle

Avoiding being swept at home by the Toronto Blue Jays, the Miami Marlins took a 9-0 win in the finale of their three game series but still have plenty of work to do to get back into the NL East race.

Sunday's victory snapped a six-game Marlin losing streak. Despite their win and Washington's 2-1 loss to Baltimore, Miami is still eight games off the pace in the division.

Greg Dobbs went 3-for-4 in the contest with a pair of singles and a two-run homer - his first of the season - scored twice and drove in two runs while Mark Buehrle Held the Blue Jays scoreless over seven innings, scattering seven hits and fanning seven, getting his record to 6-8 on the year.

With interleague play ended, the Marlins will host St. Louis beginning Monday, in a three-game series.

INTERLEAGUE SCOREBOARD: With interleague play wrapping up Sunday, the AL emerged the better of the rival leagues, winning 11 of 15 games, including a double-header sweep by Tampa Bay over the Phillies.

The final tally had the American League winning 140 games to the NL's 110.

Cody Ross Bolsters Boston Attack; Albert Pujols, Torii Hunter Lead Angels

Players of the Day for Friday, March 30, 2012


Grapefruit League

Cody Ross

Boston's off-season acquisition of outfielder Cody Ross is looking like one of the shrewder moves moves of the winter, as the lefty hitter has displayed nice power to all fields and should have a fun time in tiny Fenway once the regular season begins.

Ross cracked a pair of two-run homers - his fifth and sixth of the spring - and drove in four runs to help the Red Sox overcome the Twins, 9-7, on Friday, improving to 13-11 as exhibition baseball winds down.

If Ross can carry his spring training form into the regular season - he's batting .366 and has driven in 15 runs - the Red Sox should have one of the more formidable offenses in the AL.

Albert Pujols

Cactus League

The Angels are starting to look like the offensive juggernaut they envisioned when they signed Albert Pujols this past winter.

Torii Hunter

Pujols went 2-for-3 and socked his fifth home run to help the Angels overcome Arizona, 9-2, improving their exhibition record to 17-10, good for second place in the Cactus League behind the Oakland A's.

Torii Hunter continued his torrid spring with a double and two singles in three at-bats. Hunter is batting .347 and looks forward to his fifth year with the Angels after an illustrious career as the center fielder for the Minnesota Twins.

The Angles open the regular season with a three-game home stand against Kansas City, beginning on April 6.

Rangers Even Series, Beat Yanks, 7-2; Giants Take Game One in Philly, 4-3

Players of the Day for Saturday, October 16, 2010

American League

After blowing a 5-0 lead and giving away game one on Friday, the Texas Rangers came back Saturday to take game two of the ALCS with a no-doubt-about-it, 7-2 win over the Yankees.

Starter Phil Hughes was banged around for 10 hits and all seven runs over four innings of work, finally excused after allowing a Nelson Cruz double and a triple by Ian Kinsler to lead off the 5th inning.

Left fielder David Murphy did the most damage to Hughes, however, whacking a solo homer in the second inning and doubling in a run and scoring in the 3rd. Murphy's two hits in four at-bats both came against Hughes and proved the catalyst for a Texas win.

Evening the series at a game apiece, the Rangers head to New York for game three on Monday, with a scheduled 8:07 pm ET start time. Cliff Lee goes for the Rangers against the Yankees' Andy Pettitte.

Pitching is a heightened concern for the Yankees. Ace C.C. Sabathia, like Hughes, only lasted four innings, though due to his short stint may be available for game four. Sabathia is usually lights out at Yankee Stadium, though A.J. Burnett is still scheduled to go on Tuesday.

National League

With Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum sharing the mound, game one of the NLCS was supposed to be all about pitching, and while there was plenty of that from the pair of aces, it was Cody Ross' two solo home runs which provided cover for Lincecum and a 4-3 win for the Giants.

Ross got the first hit off Halladay of the game, coming with one out in the 3rd inning, blasting a shot to left center. Carlos Ruiz answered in the bottom of the frame with his own sol homer off Lincecum to tie the game.

Ross rode another ball out to left field in the 5th inning, putting the Giants ahead 2-1, and they added two more in the 6th for a 4-1 lead. Jayson Werth got the Phillies back to within one with a two-run bomb to right in the bottom of the 6th, but Lincecum got through the 7th without further damage and then handed the ball to the Giants' bullpen.

Javier Lopez got the first two outs in the 8th and Brian Wilson came on to finish. After giving up a single to Werth, he fanned Jimmy Rollins to end the inning. In the 9th, Wilson got Raul Ibanez looking at strike three, then grazed Ruiz with a pitch, but got Ross Gload and Shane Victorino swinging to end the game and pick up his first post-season save. Lincecum got the win; Halladay was saddled with the loss.

Game two starts Sunday night at 8:19 pm ET at Philly. Jonathan Sanchez faces the Phillies' Roy Oswalt.

Ross leads Giants to Showdown in Philly

Players of the Day for Monday, October 11, 2010

National League

Cody Ross has been a player for the San Francisco Giants for less than two months, but his solo home run in the 6th inning and game-winning RBI in the 7th should endear him to fans for some time to come.

Ross was acquired from the Florida Marlins on August 29 to provide a little more pop to a lineup devoid of a bona fide power hitter. Though Ross isn't exactly Ryan Howard or Prince Fielder, he did hit 22 and 24 homers in 2008 and 2009, respectively, as a Marlin.

In Monday's elimination of the Braves, advancing the Giants to the championship series with the Phillies, Ross' power poke in the 6th inning tied the game at 1-1 en route to a 3-2 win.

In the decisive 7th inning, the Giants loaded the bases on a Buster Posey single sandwiched between a pair of walks (to Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell). After Juan Uribe reached on Alex Gonzalez's throwing error and Huff scored, Aaron Rowand struck out. With two outs, Ross singled to left, scoring Posey from third. Burrell was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

Santiago Casilla held the Braves scoreless in the 7th and got two outs in the 8th, with Javier Lopez getting the third out. After walking Rick Ankiel and Eric Hinske, Brian Wilson finally ended the game when Melky Cabrera grounded out to third base.

The Giants will open the best-of-seven series on Saturday in Philadelphia for the right to advance to the World Series. The Phillies swept the Reds three straight and earned home field advantage by having the best regular season record in the league. The series promises plenty of great pitching. The Giants led the majors with the lowest staff ERA at 3.36. The Phillies were 5th in the NL and 6th overall, at 3.67.

American League


The ALDS series between the Rays and Rangers will be decided on Tuesday at 8:07 pm at Tropicana Field in Tampa. The series is tied at two games apiece.

Ross' 2 HR Not Enough for Marlins; Bedard Blanks Boston

Players of the Day from Wednesday, May 28, 2008 American League Tim Wakefield had the old flutterball working last night in Seattle, but the Mariners' Erik Bedard used harder stuff to get the decision in Seattle's 1-0 win over Boston. Bedard (4-3) gave up two hits and three walks while fanning 8 over 7 scoreless innings in his best performance of the season. Brandon Morrow and J.J. Putz finished up with an inning of perfect relief each. Though his ERA is a bit high at 4.03, Bedard has pitched well in his 9 starts, allowing only 42 hits in 53 innings. His strikeouts to walks ratio is better than 2-1 (48-23), but he's given up 8 homers and often doesn't get much run support. Well, he does play for the Mariners, who have scored just 217 runs in 54 games. In the AL, only the Blue Jays and Royals have scored less. Notes: Kansas City lost a tough 10-9, 10-inning decision to the Twins on Wednesday, but it was their 10th straight loss, the longest losing streak in the majors this season. National League Cody Ross did what he could to keep the Marlins in the game, but the Mets eventually overcame Florida, 7-6, in 11 innings. Ross delivered a pair of homers off NY starter Oliver Perez - a solo shot in the 5th and a 3-run blast in the 6th which actually gave the Marlins a 5-4 lead. Ross' heroics went for naught, however, as Eric Chavez homered to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, and Fernando Tatis doubled home a pair in the 14th after Florida had retaken the lead with a run in the top of the frame. Notes: Jeff Suppan 4-hit the Braves over 8 innings in Milwaukee's 1-0 win, but he couldn't stop Chipper Jones from extending his hitting streak to ten games. Jones singled in the 3rd inning and walked twice. His 1-for-2 night at the plate raised his batting average to .418.