Thursday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops
American League
The Angels'
Kelvim Escobar knocked the Cleveland Indians out of first place in the AL Central with a 7-hit complete game shutout on Thursday. The 8-0 win also kept the Angels a game up on Oakland in the AL West. Escobar (4-1) struck out 9 and has given up just one run in his last 16 innings, dropping his ERA to 2.21 and his WHIP to a very respectable 1.08.
Oakland's
Dan Johnson made up for a lot of lost time on Thursday in Kansas City. Johnson, who didn't start playing regularly until April 25, went 4-4 with 2 homers and a double, drove in 4 runs and scored 4 times as Oakland steamrolled the Royals, 17-3. With only 43 official at-bats entering the game, Johnson raised his batting average from .326 to .383. Leadoff hitter
Shannon Stewart also had 4 hits in 6 at-bats, scored a pair of runs and drove in 2.
Jose Contreras evened his record at 3-3 with a 5-hit complete game, 3-0 shutout of the Minnesota Twins. It was Contreras' 2nd road win of the season and his 2nd career shutout. The win moved the White Sox 1/2 game ahead of the Twins and also ended Torii Hunter's hitting streak at 23 games. The Sox took the last 2 of their 3-games series in Minnesota and trail the Detroit Tigers by 4 games in the wide-open AL Central division.
Tim Wakefield shut out the Blue Jays on 3 hits over 7 innings and the Boston offense spoiled
Roy Halladay's bid for his 100th career win in an 8-0 rout. The Red Sox swept the Jays in their 3-game set and sent them to their 9th straight loss. The Sox have won 4 straight and now lead the AL East by 7 games.
The Texas Rangers finally got a win over the NY Yankees and they made it a big one. The Rangers had lost 5 straight to the Yankees, but their 14-2 win in New York snapped the streak.
Mark Teixeira had a single and 3 doubles in 5 at-bats, drove in 3 runs and scored 3 for Texas.
Victor Diaz hit his 1st home run of the season, a grand slam in the 8th inning to finish the scoring deluge.
Other AL Scores
Baltimore 11 Tampa Bay 6 - O's sweep 3-gm. series w/D-Rays
Detroit 7 Seattle 3 - Tigers 1/2-gm. lead in AL Cent.
National League
Sergio Mitre shut out the visiting LA Dodgers on 3 hits and 3 walks over 8 innings but did not get the decision as
Josh Willingham ended the contest with a 3-run homer with 1 out in the ninth inning off LA starter Derek Lowe. It was Willingham's 5th home run of the season.
Adam Dunn (right) just needed a single to hit for the cycle, but he had to settle for a 3-4 effort in Cincinnati's 9-4 win over the visiting Astros, smacking his league-leading (tied with Barry Bonds) 11th home run of the season to go with a double, triple, 3 runs scored and 3 RBI. While Dunn was having his fun,
Ken Griffey Jr. (left) knocked his 6th homer of the season and 5th in his last 10 games. Griffey's shot was the 569th of his career, tying him for 9th place all-time with Rafeal Palmeiro. Just 4 ahead is Harmon Killebrew at #8 with 573.
Griffey, when healthy, is capable of hitting 40 or more, which he's done 7 times, though various injuries have limited him since 2000, when he last hit 40. Since then, his best has been 35 in 2005, but he's off to a solid start and should easily pass Mark McGwire (583) and Frank Robinson (586) and may catch still-active Sammy Sosa (595). While Barry Bonds continues to chase down Hank Aaron's 755 this season, Griffey, 37, looks to have at least 3 or 4 more seasons to make a run of his own.
One good reason to root for "The Kid" is that in an age of steroids and other performance-enhancing potions, there's never been so much as a hint that Griffey ever used any, instead relying entirely on his own abundant physical talents.
Other NL Scores
Pittsburgh 6 Chicago Cubs 4 - A. Soriano, 18-gm. hit streak; D. Lee, 17-gm. streak
Colorado 5 San Francisco 3
Atlanta 5 San Diego 3 - T. Hudson (W, 4-1)
Concluding their three-game series in Tampa, the Rays and Yankees set out to determine which of them would be the AL East leader heading into the final two weeks of the season.
In a see-saw battle that had the Yankees ahead twice - 1-0 and 3-2) - the final outcome was determined not by any veteran player with pennant race experience, but a free-swinging DH who had played in just 25 games this season and wasn't even in the majors all of 2009.
Dan Johnson answered the Yankee leads both times with a pair of two run homers, providing all of Tampa Bay's runs as the Rays took temporary possession of the top divisional spot in a 4-3 thriller.
The Yankees scored quickly, getting Derek Jeter home on a Robbie Cano single in the first. The lead would last until the 5th inning, when Johnson stepped to the plate with Evan Longoria aboard and deposited Phil Hughes' offering into the right field seats.
After Curtis Granderson put the Yankees back on top in the 7th, 3-2, with a two-run shot of his own, Johnson did it again, crushing another ball deep to right field. Tampa's bullpen managed the rest of the game, with Rafael Soriano picking up his 43rd save of the season.
The two teams won't get much rest before meeting again. They begin a four-game series in New York on Tuesday, the 21st. Each of the three games in this series was decided by a single run, so there's likely to be more drama next week as the Yankees attempt to re-take the lead.
National League
Colorado just keeps coming after NL West leader San Diego. Finishing up their three-game series, the Rockies took the final two games, including Wednesday's 9-6 triumph, a tour de force by Troy Tulowitzki.
The Padres hardly knew what hit them before Tulowitzki tied his own career high with seven RBI. The Rockies' star shortstop singled home a run in the first inning, then cracked a three-run homer in the 3rd and another in the 4th, putting the Rockies up 9-2. The Padres' Adrian Gonzalez tried to bring the Padres back with two homers and five RBI of his own, but it proved to be not enough, as Colorado crawled to within 2 1/2 of the division leaders.
Later in the evening, the Giants took a 2-1 decision over the Dodgers, closing their gap to just 1/2 game behind San Diego.
PENNANT NOTES: Roy Halladay won his NL-best 19th game as Phillies' batters broke out for a 10-5 win over the Marlins, their 4th straight win. With Atlanta losing their second in a row to the lowly Nationals, 4-2, Philadelphia nw appears to be in control of the NL East with a 3-game lead and just 15 games remaining.
The Reds won and the Cardinals lost, sending St. Louis 8 games behind Cincy in the NL Central. The Cards have played their way out of contention for either the division or the wild card, dropped 7 1/2 behind Atlanta.
Minnesota continued to put an exclamation point on their season, whipping the White Sox again, by a 9-3 score. The Twins now hold a commanding eight game lead in the AL Central and conclude their three-game set at Chicago on Thursday.
Texas pushed its magic number down to 8, beating Detroit, 11-7, while the A's were losing, 6-3, in Kansas City. Texas has assumed their largest lead of the season, at 10 games in front.
