Tommy Medica Goes 5-for-5 in Padres Win; David Murphy Leads Cleveland Past Rangers, 12-2

Players of the Day for Friday, August 1, 2014

American League

Murphy: 4-for-4

With two months left in the regular season, all six of the divisional races are still up for grabs, but the one in which the team on top has the biggest lead - the AL Central - could become the most interesting of all.

The Tigers still command a four-game edge over the Royals, who have won three straight, but the Indians and White Sox, 6 1/2 and seven games back, respectively, have not gone away.

All four Central contenders won on Friday, the Indians taking the first of their three-game series in Cleveland with a 12-2 pounding of the Rangers.

Batting out of the eighth spot, David Murphy provided some bottom-of-the-order offense with a 4-for-4 performance, banging two doubles, a pair of singles, driving in two runs and scoring twice. Murphy also had an eventful night in right field, throwing out Adrian Beltre at the plate to preserve a slender, 1-0, lead in the second inning, followed by an error on a bobble in the third, which did not result in any unearned runs.

Some may call it payback, but Murphy's big night came against the team for which he played six seasons, and which traded him to the Indians following 2013.

The series resumes Saturday, at 7:05 pm EDT.

National League

Medica: 5-for-5

Trailing the Nationals by 1 1/2 in the East, one would think the Braves would relish a three-game series at San Diego, but the Braves went down in flames for the fourth straight time in the opener of their series at Petco Park, hammered by the Padres, 10-1.

San Diego banged out 20 hits, five of them by rookie first baseman, Tommy Medica, in five at-bats.

Medica, a UC-Santa Clara graduate, banged a pair of two-run homers (#s 5 and 6), three singles, drove in four runs, stole a base ad scored four times, certainly his best game as a major leaguer. with just 150 at-bats this season, Medica's batting average went from .248 to .273 in just one game.

San Diego still has a bit of hope in the West, trailing the Dodgers by 12 1/2, but time is running out on them.

Game two of the series is slated for an 8:40 pm EDT start on Saturday.

David Wright Leads Mets with 5 RBI in 17-1 Win; David Murphy Powers Texas past Detroit

Players of the Day for Wednesday, June 27, 2012

American League

With the Angels pounding the Orioles, 13-1, the Texas Rangers knew that if they wanted to maintain their 4 1/2 game lead in the AL West, they'd need to finish their three-game series with Detroit with a victory.

Mission accomplished. While the Rangers matched the run output of their closest rival, the pitching wasn't nearly on par, as Detroit piled up nine runs, but, a win is a win, and so the 13-9 Texas victory was good enough and produced a 2-1 series win over a potential future playoff team.

David Murphy

David Murphy was the main catalyst for the Rangers' outpouring of runs. In the second inning, Murphy cam to the plate with two aboard and a run already in, and promptly deposited an offering from Detroit starter Doug Fister over the right field wall for a three-run homer and a 4-0 lead.

The Tigers chipped away at the Texas advantage, though they would never tie the game or take the lead after Murphy's blast. The Tigers scored a run in each of the third and fourth innings, but Murphy's second homer of the game - a solo shot - made it 5-2, and Ian Kinsler socked a two-run job that put the Texas lead at 7-2.

Murphy singled in another run and scored in the fifth and added another single later to go 4-for-5 with three runs and five RBI.

The Rangers remain home to start a four-game series with Oakland on Thursday, while the Tigers - now four games behind the White Sox in the Central - head to Tampa for four games with the Rays.


National League

Usually, when a team scores 17 runs, the RBI get spread around, but in Wednesday's 17-1 thumping of the Cubs, four players produced all of the runs.

David Wright

Three players totaled four RBI each for the Mets. Scott Hairston hit a grand slam; Ike Davis had a three-run homer and an RBI double; and Daniel Murphy hit a solo homer, a two-run blast and drove in his fourth run on a ground out in the eighth for the Mets' last score.

David Wright topped them all in just three at-bats - the three others each had five - driving in five runs with a sac fly in the first and two two-run doubles, one each in the fifth and sixth innings before taking a seat on the bench and allowing Justin Turner to finish up the sixth through ninth innings at third base.

With the 2-for-3 effort, Wright raised his already-gaudy batting average to .357, second in the NL behind Philly's Carlos Ruiz. He also leads the Mets with 47 RBI, which is tied with six other players at seventh in that category.

The Mets snapped a four-game losing streak and remain in third place in the NL East, 4 1/2 behind the Nationals, but just one game back of Atlanta.

It was the Mets highest scoring total since they put up 18 at Wrigley Field on Sept. 5, 2010. Apparently, a number of Mets' hitters have found a comfort zone at Wrigley Field.

Murphy, Cruz, Rain Beat Verlander; Rangers Lead 1-0

Players of the Day for Saturday, October 8, 2011

American League

David Murphy

Nelson Cruz

Rangers 3 Tigers 2

David Murphy tripled home Mike Napoli and scored on Ian Kinsler's single in the second inning and Nelson Cruz connected for a solo homer off Justin Verlander before the second rain delay in the 5th inning sent Verlander to the bench for the night.

The Rangers' bullpen shut down Detroit on one hit over the final 4 1/3 innings after the Tigers scored two runs off Texas starter CJ. Wilson in the fifth.

The series resumes Sunday in Arlington, Texas at 7:45 pm EDT. Max Scherzer goes up the bump for the Tigers, facing the Rangers' Derek Holland

National League

The NL Championship Series between the Brewers and Cardinals begins Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee at 4:05 pm EDT. Zach Greinke (16-6), who has not lost at home all season, will start for the Brewers, while the Cardinals send Jaime Garcia (13-7) to the mound. In seven career starts against the Brewers, Gacia is 3-2 with one shutout and a 3.27 ERA.

Capuano 2-Hit Shutout Stops Braves; Cruz, Murphy Lead Rangers over Angels

Players of the Day for Friday, August 26, 2011

American League

After losing three straight and four of their last six, the Texas Rangers were in desperate need of a win, especially with the Angels, winners of their last six games, in town for a three game visit.

Cruz: 2 HR, 6 RBI

The secret for the Rangers was that they'd handed the Angels three straight losses just a week ago, before dropping the final game of their four game series in Anaheim, so, as if it were all planned out, the Rangers got big efforts from Nelson Cruz and David Murphy, resulting in an 11-7 win over their top rival in the AL West.

Grand Slam Murphy

Cruz, dealing with a slump entering the contest, was dropped to the #7 slot in the order by manager Ron Washington. His response was a 4-for-5 night at the plate, with a solo homer in the 4th inning, a three-run blast in the 6th, a double, a single, three runs and six RBI.

Murphy, playing as DH and batting right behind Cruz, went 3-for-5, including a 5th inning grand slam off Angels' starter Dan Haren, sending the LA hurler to an early shower.

Texas increased its lead over the Angels to three games with the victory and face them twice more over the weekend. The two teams match up again in Arlington on September 26, 27 and 28, the final three games of the regular season.

National League

Capuano: 2-Hitter

Better late than never, as the saying goes.

Mets' pitcher, Chris Capuano (10-11), who hadn't gone deeper than six innings in any of his last six starts and had only pitched into the 7th inning five times in 25 starts this season, shut down the Atlanta Braves on two hits for a 6-0 Mets win, pitching his first complete game shutout since blanking the Cubs, 2-0, on July 6, 2006, when he was a starter for the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Braves came to visit the Mets as winners of seven of their last eight games, but ran into a buzz saw, as Capuano had all his pitches working, setting down the first 12 batters in order, striking out a career high 13 without surrendering a walk in a dominating performance.

Capuano allowed only a 5th inning single by Dan Uggla and an 8th inning double by David Ross, throwing 79 of 122 pitches for strikes. He ended the game with a flourish, fanning the final two Atlanta batters, including the last out against Micheal Bourne, who struck out all four times he went to the plate.

Unfortunately for the Mets, they are still 21 1/2 games back in the NL East and 15 1/2 games behind the Braves in the wild card race. The teams decided to postpone the next two games of the series, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, in the face of oncoming Hurricane Irene, which is expected to deliver heavy rains and damaging winds to the New York area over the next two days.

The games will be made up as a doubleheader on September 8 at Citi Field.

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.

Murphy Drives Rangers Closer to AL West Crown; Kershaw Shuts Out Giants

Players of the Day for Tuesday, September 14, 2010 American League Replace Josh Hamilton? Hardly, but that's what Rangers' outfielder David Murphy is trying to do. Since the star of the Rangers went down on September 4 with bruised ribs, Murphy has stood in his place, mostly batting third in the lineup, and he's doing a bang-up job. Riding am 11-game hit streak into Tuesday's contest with the visiting Tigers, Murphy led the way with a pair of doubles and his 10th home run of the season, driving in two and scoring twice in an 11-4 Rangers' win. Hamilton was leading the majors in hitting with a .361 batting average when he went down, and is expected back prior to the playoffs. With 507 at-bats, he probably doesn't need any more plate appearances to claim the batting title, but Murphy is doing a good impression. Over the course of his 12-game hitting streak, he's gone 20-for-51 (.392), raising his batting average from .271 to .288. Texas took another step closer to winning the AL West with the victory. They now lead the A's by nine games and have their magic number down to 10, the lowest in the majors. National League It's life or death in the NL West, and the Giants must feel like they've just been executed. Clayton Kershaw hurled a 4-hit shutout over San Francisco Tuesday, for a 1-0 win in which the Dodgers got only one hit and scored the game's only run on an error by Giants' shortstop Jose Uribe. Kershaw faced off against Barry Zito, who took the loss but hardly deserved it. Zito lasted 6 1/3 innings, lifted after he loaded the bases with a hit batsman and two walks and Casey Blake smashed a grounder that Uribe couldn't handle, allowing Reed Johnson to score. Aided by the good fortune, Kershaw continued mowing down one Giant hitter after another. He set down the first ten batters in order, gave up hits in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th innings, didn't walk anyone and never allowed a baserunner past second. Kershaw improved to 12-10, though the victory is a hollow one for the Dodgers, who fell out of contention in August and trail the Padres by 10 1/2 games in the division. Their only satisfaction can come from ruining the Giants' chances. San Francisco trails the Padres by 1 1/2, with Colorado - 7-6 losers to the Padres Tuesday - 3 1/2 back. PENNANT NOTES: Cole Hamels struck out 13 Marlins in just 6 2/3 innings, leading the Phillies to a 2-1 win over Florida and a two-game lead in the NL East, as Atlanta was shut out by Washington, 6-0. The Reds and Cardinals both lost, so the Reds' lead remains at seven games in the Central. The Yankees won in dramatic fashion, on a pinch-hit solo homer by Jorge Posada in the 10th inning, to take an 8-7 decision over the Rays and reclaim first place in the AL East by 1/2 game. Minnesota took care of business with a 9-3 laugher over the white Sox in the first of their three-game showdown. The Sox fell seven games behind the Twins in the AL Central. Minnesota's magic number is 12.

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.

Murphy 4-for-4 for Hit-Happy Rangers; Soriano, Jones Top NL Stars

Players of the Day from Tuesday, June 3, 2008 American League How many hot hitters can one team have? The Texas Rangers seem to have more than their fair share. Consider that in last night's 12-7 thumping of the Cleveland Indians, both Ian Kinsler and Michael Young extended their hitting streaks - to 19 and 20 games, respectively - Josh Hamilton homered for the 4th straight game, but rookie David Murphy's 4-for-4 night at the plate stole the show.

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Murphy singled twice, doubled, and socked his 7th homer of the season, drove in two runs and scored three times. It was the second time this season that Murphy had four hits in a game and his 18th multi-hit performance. He's batting .292 and is the leading candidate for AL Rookie of the Year honors. Notes: The highly-anticipated debut of Yankee Joba Chamberlain as a starter didn't come off as planned. After 62 pitches and 2 1/3 tortuous innings, Manager Joe Girardi pulled the kid after he had allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on a hit and four walks. Though his fastball was approaching 100 mph, Joba couldn't find the plate and was sent back to the hut... er, dugout. He didn't get the loss. That, ironically, fell to his reliever, Dan Giese, who was called up from AAA to replace Chamberlain in the bullpen and was the Yankees' best pitcher, allowing just one run on five hits over 3 2/3 innings. Toronto won, 9-3. Roy Halladay improved to 7-5. The Blue Jays tightened their grip on third place. The Yankees fell to last. National League Mr. Leadoff, Alfonso Soriano (left) led the Cubs to their 9th straight win, beating the Padres, 9-6. Soriano doubled, homered, scored twice drove in three runs and stole a base as the Cubs remained 3 1/2 ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Chipper Jones (right) continued to assault baseballs without regard to the collective ERA of National League pitchers. After homering in the first to give the Braves a 3-0 lead, Jones singled and scored in the 8th, tying the game at 4, with Mark Teixeira scampering home behind him with the game-winner as the Braves topped the Marlins for the second straight night, 5-4. Chipper has 13 homers, 38 RBI and is continues to lead the world with a .409 batting average. Notes: Pedro Martinez came off the DL for his first start since early April on Tuesday and turned in a so-so performance, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and three walks over 7 innings. The Mets won the game, 9-6, and while Pedro got his first win of 2008, the sad saga of Barry Zito continued as the high-priced starter lost his 9th game against just one win. Zito was horrible, lasting just 4 1/3 innings, giving up 5 earned runs on 7 hits and 5 walks. His ERA is an unacceptable 5.89.

Zambrano Plunders Pirates; Murphy Has AL Rookie Cred

Players of the Day from Friday, May 23, 2008 American League Texas outfielder David Murphy continues to rack up stats in a bid for Rookie of the Year honors. Murphy belted a three-run first-inning double on Friday to help the Rangers outlast Cleveland in a 13-9 slugfest. Murphy also scored in the first, adding to more singles and to scores in a 3-for-6 effort. Murphy is batting .297 with 6 homers and 34 RBI. Murphy is already staking his claim, being named AL Rookie of the Month for April. Notes: Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona had to leave the game in the third inning with a strained left hip. Carmona was being knocked around pretty well, allowing 5 hits, 3 walks and 6 earned runs in his 2-plus innings. The Indians, who now have lost 7 straight, say Carmona is day-to-day. Both the White Sox and Red Sox had their winning streaks snapped on Friday. Chicago's 8-game streak came to an end when they lost to the Angels, 3-1, while Boston's 7-game run was stopped in an 8-3 loss at Oakland. National League Carlos Zambrano earned some respect on Friday night, both from the mound and at the plate, improving to 7-1 as he limited the Pittsburgh Pirates to 6 hits and 2 runs over seven innings and had four singles in five at-bats. The Cubs walloped the Pirates, 12-3.

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Zambrano, who drove in two runs and scored once, struck out 6 and allowed just one walk. He's batting a ridiculous .343, to complement his 2.47 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. Notes: Only three teams have winning road records in the National League - St. Louis, Philadelphia and Florida. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Braves wish all their games were in Atlanta. Despite their 11-1 home loss to Arizona on Friday, the Braves are 20-6 at Turner Field, but just 6-16 away.