Josh Reddick's Homers, Five RBI Lead A's Rout of Tigers; Corey Hart Serves Up Highlights for Brewers

Players of the Day for Friday, May 11, 2012

American League

Josh Reddick

The Oakland A's are doing their nest to keep the Rangers from running away with the AL West, but the effort seems futile as 20-11 Texas has the best record in the league and leads the A's by five full games.

Oakland evened their home series with the Tigers at a game apiece as Josh Reddick cracked a pair of home runs to go with a couple of singles, going 4-for-4, scoring four times while driving in five runs in the A's 11-4 romp.

Reddick scored the A's first run in the opening frame, then knocked a solo shot to right center in the third, putting the A;s ahead, 3-2. In the sixth, he singled in a run and scored, capping his perfect night at the plate with a three-run homer in the seventh which put the game completely out of reach.

Having been a part time player in Boston from 2009 through last season, the A's snatched up Reddick and made him their starting right fielder in 2012. He's responded with a .292 batting average, eight homers and 18 RBI. Over his last ten games, he's been red hot, batting .350 (14-for-40) with five dingers and 13 ribbies.


National League

Corey Hart

Brewers fans got more than their money's worth as the Cubs opened a three-game series against Milwaukee at Miller Park - a 13-inning come-from-behind thriller that kick-started the Brewer home stand with an 8-7 win that sent the Cubs reeling into last place in the NL Central division.

David DeJesus tripled and homered for the Cubs, driving in five runs, but Corey hart outdid him, launching a two-run, one out homer in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

Hart had singled twice and scored an earlier run to keep the Brewers close, and finished the game 4-for-7 when he singled in the winning run with no outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 13th.

The homer was Hart's seventh of the season and his three RBI upped his total to 17.

The win helped the Brewers avoid being in the division cellar, though they still trail the Cardinals by six games with the Reds and Astros in second and third place, respectively.

Alexi Ogando Shutout Keeps Rangers in Front; Corey Hart Blasts Three Homers for Surging Brewers

Players of the Day for Monday, May 23, 2011

American League

Alexi Ogando

Missing two of their biggest and best bats for the past month, the Texas Rangers had not given up much in the AL West. In fact, heading into Monday's game with the White Sox, they still held a 1/2 game lead in the division with Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz both returning to the lineup.

Hamilton and Cruz pitched right in, with both players hitting home runs in support of Alexi Ogando's five-hit shutout, the first of his major league career. Ogando improved to 5-0 with the effort, and the Rangers maintained their slim lead in the tightly-packed division where all four teams are separated by just three games.

A first-year starter, Ogando has given the Rangers a boost in the pitching department. After going 4-1 with a 1.30 ERA in 41 2/3 innings last season - all in relief - Ogando replaced injured Tommy Hunter in the rotation and has delivered, compiling his perfect record along with a stunning 1.81 ERA and WHIP of 0.87. He struck out six and walked three in the 4-0 win.

National League

Corey Hart

Milwaukee didn't spend last weekend playing interleague games; they were busy taking three straight from the Rockies instead and moving up in the standings.

With their 11-3 home win over the Nationals, they've now won four straight and have caught the Reds for second place in the NL Central. Both teams trail St. Louis by 3 1/2 games, but the Brewers seem to be headed in the right direction.

Monday's win featured the usual performance by ace hurler Yovani Galardo, who cruised through seven innings, allowing just one run on five hits while fanning nine. The unusual came off the bat of Corey Hart, who went 3-for-5, all of his hits being of the over-the-fence variety, and drove in seven runs.

What made Hart's feat even more sensational, was the fact that he hadn't homered since September 28th of last season. And it's not like he doesn't hit homers with regularity; he smashed 31 dingers in 2010 and has averaged 25 per year since 2007.

With Hart heating up in the #2 hole, the Brewers are already on a roll that may take them to the top of the division before long.

Hart's 2 HRs Drop Astros; Rookie Murphy Slams Royals

Players of the Day from Wednesday, June 11, 2008 American League Maybe the NL brass should just hand over the Rookie of the Year hardware to David Murphy at the All-Star game. After all, there's a pretty good chance he'll be on the field. On Wednesday, Murphy added to his star appeal with a pair of home runs to right field in the 7th and 9th innings of the Rangers' 11-5 pummeling of the Royals. The first one was a grand slam, the second a solo shot, giving Murphy 5 RBI on the night and 46 on the season to go with his 10 homers. He also singled earlier in the game and was 3-for-5 overall. Murphy's solid stats may have something to do with his teammates. He's surrounded by some of the best hitters in the league, making it impossible to pitch around anyone in the Texas lineup. Leadoff batter Ian Kinsler is batting .312. Michael Young, at .302, just had a 23-game hitting streak snapped last night. Josh Hamilton is... well, you know, ridiculous. Milton Bradley leads the league with a .333 average, and third baseman Ramon Vazquez, who has filled in admirably for the injured Hank Blalock, is pounding the ball at a .333 clip. The Rangers are leading the majors with a .286 team batting average, 378 runs, 362 RBI and 683 hits. Heck, All-Star Game? Just send these guys. But leave the pitching staff home. Their 5.04 ERA is the main reason the Rangers are in 3rd place in the AL West, 7 behind the Angels, but only 2 back of the A's. Notes: Can Detroit turn its season around? With last night's 5-1 win over the White Sox (their second straight over Chicago), the Tigers are 9 games behind and have a record that is the converse of division-leading Chicago's. The Sox are 37-28; the Tigers 28-37, but hey, it's only June and there are still 90+ games to play. Stay tuned. National League Corey Hart had a pretty good game on Wednesday, helping the Brewers knock off Houston, 10-6, but it was more the kind of game you'd expect from a clean up hitter rather than your leadoff man. Hart stroked a double and a pair of 2-run homers in 5 at-bats, boosting his average to .302. The home runs were numbers 8 and 9 on the season and he has 36 RBI. For a leadoff hitter, his 31 runs scored is a little low and he still strikes out too much (43 Ks to 13 BBs). He has stolen 10 bases in 13 tries, so there's plenty of upside for the Brew Crew. Notes: Wild Cards? If the season ended today... well, what would we do all summer? But, if it did, the NL Wild Card would belong the the St. Louis Cardinals, who are 2 1/2 behind the Cubs in the Central. At 40-27, St. Louis would be leading if they were in either of the other two NL divisions. Their closest pursuers at the moment are the Marlins (36-29). Forget the West. Only Arizona has a winning record. Second-place LA is 3 1/2 back at 31-34. Every team in the Central except the Reds (7-8) has a winning record against West division teams.

Tigers Regain 1st; Brewers Running Away in NL Central

American League LA Dodgers 6 Tampa Bay 3 - The Dodgers took a narrow 1/2-game lead over Arizona and San Diego in the NL West as Derek Lowe improved to 8-6 and Takashi Saito picked up his 20th save. Chi Cubs 5 Chi White Sox 1 - Carlos Zambrano (8-6) delivered another stellar performance, striking out 12 while allowing just 3 hits and one earned runs over 8 innings. The Cubs, however, still trail Milwaukee by 8 1/2 games in the NL Central and are still well under the .500 mark at 33-39. The Cubs are better than their flagging cross-town rivals, who have won just 4 times in their last 19 games. And these guys won the world series just a few years ago... Cincinnati 16 Seattle 1 - Catcher David Ross (right) socked a pair of homers - #s 10, 11 - scored three times and drove in 5 runs as the Reds thumped slumping Seattle, only 3 or 4 games behind the Angels in the AL West not long ago, have recently dropped 7 of their last 9 and fallen 8 games back. Other AL Scores Toronto 9 Colorado 8, 10 innings - Rockies score 2 in top 10th, Blue Jays plate 3 in bottom frame. Texas 11 Houston 3 - S. Sosa, 2-3, HR (13), 4 RBI (57) LA Angels 5 Pittsburgh 4, 11 innings National League Milwaukee 11 Kansas City 6 - The Milwaukee Brewers are making the best of a bad division, winning their 4th straight and 8th of their last 10 to lead the feeble NL Central by 8 1/2 games over the Cubs and Cardinals. The Brewers (42-31) are the only team in the division over .500, and on Friday, showed why they are among the elite in the National League, getting game performances from 2 unheralded regulars, Corey Hart and Ryan Braun (left and right). Hart, batting in the leadoff spot, went 3-5 with a 3-run homer, 4 RBI and scored 3 times while Braun, batting 3rd, was 4-4, with a double, solo home run, stolen base, 2 runs and 3 RBI. Detroit 5 Atlanta 0 - Kenny Rogers returned from the DL and shut out the Braves over 6 innings to get his first win of 2007 and boost the Tigers into first place in the AL Central as Cleveland lost at Washington. Rogers was dazzling, giving up just 2 hits, while striking out 5. Detroit scored all of their runs in a decisive 6th inning, capped by Carlos Guillen's 2-run double, just in time to give Rogers the lead and the W. NY Mets 9 Oakland 1 - It took over a month, but Tom Glavine finally got win #296 and has the vaunted 300 plateau in sight. Glavine worked 8 innings, allowing 6 hits, 1 earned, while striking out 5. The Mets stayed ahead of the Phillies, who continue in pursuit, just 2 games out and now in 2nd place, 1/2 ahead of the Braves in the NL East. Philadelphia 6 St. Louis 0 - Jamie Moyer (7-5) scattered 7 hits over 6 innings and the Phillies scored 5 of their 6 runs in the 3rd innings to move to within 2 games of the Mets in the NL East. Anthony Reyes took the loss for the Cards. He is 0-9. Other NL Scores Washington 4 Cleveland 1 Florida 5 Minnesota 4 - Marlins, 4 1/2 back in NL East Baltimore 7 Arizona 1 Boston 2 San Diego 1 - D. Matsuzaka (W, 9-5), 9 K; J. Papelbon, S (17) NY Yankees 7 San Francisco 3 - B. Bonds, HR (749) Interleague Scoreboard: Friday (6/8): AL 8, NL 6 Saturday (6/9): AL 10, NL 4 Sunday (6/10): AL 9, NL 5 Monday (6/11): AL 0, NL 2 Tuesday (6/12): AL: 8, NL: 6 Wednesday (6/13): AL: 6, NL: 8 Thursday (6/14): AL: 7, NL: 5 Friday (6/15): AL: 6, NL: 8 Saturday (6/16): AL: 5, NL: 9 Sunday (6/17): AL: 9, NL: 5 Monday (6/18): AL: 7 NL: 3 Tuesday (6/19): AL: 3, NL: 11 Wednesday (6/20): AL: 10, NL: 4 Thursday (6/21): AL: 3, NL: 2 Friday (6/22): AL: 7, NL: 7 Total: AL: 91 NL: 78 Note: During interleague play, home teams are reported under their respective leagues.