Mark Trumbo Eyeing AL Rookie Honors; Mets Complete 4-Game Sweep of Reds

Players of the Day for Thursday, July 28, 2011

American League

Mark Trumbo

Mark Trumbo went 3-for-5, missing hitting for the cycle for the absence of a single, as the LA Angels continued their relentless pursuit of the Texas Rangers with a 12-7 win at Detroit.

Trumbo, quietly having a smashing year (.256, 19, 53) as the Angels' rookie first baseman, socked his 19th homer in the 2nd inning to get the Angels on the board, then followed up with an RBI triple in the 4th and a run-scoring double in the 7th. He scored three times and drove in five runs.

The race in the AL west has come down to a contentious battle between the top two teams. The Angls have won three straight and seven of their last ten to pull to within two games of the front-running Rangers. Trumbo is looking more and more like the choice for AL Rookie of the Year.

National League

David Wright

Defending champions of the NL Central, the Cincinnati Red are looking less likely to repeat in the most competitive division in the majors, especially now that they've dropped a four-game home series to the NY Mets.

Angel Pagan

Playing without Carlos Beltran - traded to the Giants - the past two games, the middle of the Mets lineup quickly picked up the slack, taking the final two games of the series without much help from their pitching staff.

Following Wednesday's 8-2 romp, New York came through with a 9-8 squeaker, souring the local Reds fans with the sweep. David Wright, Angel Pagan and Jason Bay each collected three hits in the victory, sending the Reds to a 50-55 record, good for fourth place in the Central, 6 1/2 games behind Milwaukee with the Cardinals and Pirates tied for second, 1 1/2 back.

Jason Bay

Catching one team in a divisional race is hard enough, but rallying past three teams in August and September would amount to a Herculean achievement. Meanwhile the Mets continue to chase Atlanta and Philly in the East, though they remain 6 1/2 back of Atlanta and 11 1/2 behind the Phillies.

Wright and Pagan both went 3-for-5, all singles, and drove in a run apiece. Wright scored twice and Pagan three times. Bay was 3-for-4, with two doubles and a single, and drove in three runs.

STREAKS: Florida's Emilio Bonifacio extended his hitting streak to 26 games, going 2-for-4 with a run, an RBI and his 24th steal of the season as the Marlins topped the Nationals, 5-2.

In Boston, Dustin Peroia socked an 8th inning home run to extend his hitting streak to 25 games, though it was not enough to overcome the Royals, who won, 4-3.

Pence's Pair Leads Astros; Bay Helps BoSox to 3rd Straight

Players of the Day for Wednesday, August 12, 2009 American League After losing four straight to the Yankees, the Red Sox have moved on, to Detroit, where they have taken the first three games of their four-game series with the AL Central-leading Tigers. In Wednesday's 8-2 triumph left fielder Jason Bay was dialed in, knocking a pair of doubles and a two-run home run to lead the Boston offense. Bay drove in two runs and scored twice as the Red Sox - 5 1/2 games back in the AL East - retained their 1 1/2 game lead in the wild card standings over Texas. Bay, added to the Red Sox last season in a deal which sent Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers, has had a solid season, batting .261 with 24 homers (tied for 8th in the AL) and 81 RBI (4th). Bay has hit safely in his last 7 games and has had multiple hits in his last two. National League Don't count the Houston Astros out of the wild card race just yet. After dropping the first tow of their four-game series in Miami, the Astros roared back for a 14-6 win on the strength of Hunter Pence's two 3-run homers. Pence walloped his first in Houston's 5-run 1st inning and followed that up with another blast in the 4th, when Houston chased Florida starter Ricky Nolasco, who allowed 8 hits and 10 runs in 3 1/3 innings. Pence's second home run came after Nolasco had given way to reliever Tim Wood, though Lance Berkman's run was charged to Nolasco. Pence's pair gave him 16 on the season, to go with his .291 batting average and 52 RBI. NOTES: Don't look now, but the Phillies, Cardinals and Yankees appear poised to run away with their respective division titles. The Cardinals have gone 12-6 since Matt Holliday joined the club on July 24 and have opened up a 4-game lead on the Cubs in the Central. The Cards got some help from the Phillies, who have taken 2 straight at Wrigley Field, including Wednesday's 12-5 spanking. While Philadelphia batters were feasting on Cubs pitching, scoring 2 runs in each of the 1st and 3rd innings and 8 in the 4th, Pedro Martinez was busy mowing down Chicago batters. Martinez tired in the fifth, allowing 2 of his 3 earned runs, but finished the inning to get his first win in nearly a year. The Phillies have a 4 1/2 game lead over the Braves and Marlins in the NL East. Maybe we should start calling the Yankee's "amazing" after another walk-off win Wednesday, beating Toronto, 4-3, in 11 innings. The Bombers won for the 9th time in their last 10 games and are 20-5 since the all-star break. Their 5 1/2 game lead over the Red Sox is tied with the Dodgers for the biggest bulge in the majors and they have the best record in baseball at 71-43.

BoSox, Bay Blast Nats; Pineiro Grounds Out Mets

Players of the Day for Tuesday, June 23, 2009 American League The Boston Red Sox expanded their AL East lead to five games, knocking off the Nationals, 11-3, while the Yankees lost at Atlanta. Already the league leader in RBI entering Tuesday's games, Jason Bay added to his total by driving in three runs with a solo homer in the second inning and plating two more with a single in the 8th. Bay singled twice more in the game, going 4-for-6 and also scored three runs. He's now established a comfortable lead in the RBI category with 69, 8 better than Tampa's Evan Longoria. In the home run department, Bay's 19 dingers put him in third place behind Carlos Pena (22) and NY's Mark Teixeira (20). National League With a 1.13 WHIP and an ERA of 3.40, one would expect Joel Pineiro's record to be better than 6-8, but that's what it is after Pineiro induced 22 ground outs with his exceptional sinker, leading the Cardinals to a 3-0 victory over the Mets. Pineiro was in complete control throughout, allowing just 2 hits and one walk overall while fanning just one for the complete game shutout, the 5th shutout and 12th complete game of his career. He allowed just one hit over the first eight innings, a harmless single by Luis Castillo in the third inning. Castillo also walked to open the sixth, though he was caught stealing for the first out of the inning. Pineiro threw an even 100 pitches (62 strikes) to snap a string of five straight losses. Over that span, Pineiro didn't pitch all that poorly, never allowing more than 4 earned runs in any outing, but the Cardinals didn't exactly support him, scoring a total of 12 runs in the five losses.

Red Sox Ground Angels; Loney Slams Cubs; Hamels a Hero in Philly

Players of the Day from Wednesday, October 1, 2008 American League Boston 4 LA Angels 1 Jason Bay crunched a two-run homer in support of Jon Lester's strong 7 inning performance as the Red Sox won the opener of their playoff series with the Angels, 4-1. Bay's homer lifted the Red Sox from a 1-0 deficit and the Red Sox bullpen kept the Angels off the board for the remainder of the proceedings. Lester, who allowed an unearned run in the second inning, gave up six hits - all singles - and a walk while fanning seven. Boston's win was the 10th straight over the Angels in the playoffs and the 8th straight playoff loss for LA overall. The Angels dominated Boston during the regular season, winning 8 of 9 games. Notes: The series resumes Friday night in Anaheim with Daisuke Matsuzaka on the mound for Boston, facing the Angels' Ervin Santana. National League Philadelphia 3 Milwaukee 1 Cole Hamels was at the top of his game, striking out nine batter and shutting out the Brewers over 8 innings on two hits to lead the Phillies to a 3-1 win over Milwaukee in the opener of their best-of-five playoff series. Brad Lidge, who was named NL comeback player of the year on Monday, came on for the ninth, getting the final three outs on strikeouts, but not before allowing a walk, two hits and the Brewers' only run. Hamels was a strikeout machine, getting Mike Cameron swinging to start the game and Ryan Braun swinging to end the first inning. He fanned Jason Kendall and slugger Prince Fielder twice each. For good measure, Lidge also struck out Fielder with Ryan Braun on 2nd and first base open in the ninth. The Phillies scored all of their runs in the 3rd inning on a Chase Utley 2-run double and a bases loaded walk to Shane Victorino. Though all of the runs were deemed unearned because of second baseman Ricky Weeks' one-out error, starter Brewers' starter Yovani Gallardo struggled through 4 innings, allowing 3 hits while walking 5. The Brewers and Phillies take the field again Thursday night (6:07 pm ET). C.C. Sabathia will start for Milwaukee. Philly sends Brett Myers to the mound. Sabathia has been a stud for the Brewers since coming over in a mid-season trade from Cleveland. He will be pitching on three days rest after a complete game win which clinched the wild card for the Brewers on Sunday. LA Dodgers 7 Chicago Cubs 2 The cloud hanging over the Chicago Cubs for the last 100 years just won't go away. Nursing a 2-0 lead into the fifth inning, starter Ryan Dempster managed to load the bases on walks and with two outs let James Loney take him - and the hopes of thousands of Cubs fans in attendance - out of the park with a grand slam that broke the game open. Loney's blast was just the start for the Dodgers. Manny Ramirez and Russell Martin also homered in the 7th and 9th innings. Casey Blake singled in another run in the 8th. The Cubs had no answers in the Dodgers' 7-2 romp at Wrigley. While the Dodgers had only 8 hits, 5 of them went for extra bases, three of them out of the park. Chicago collected 9 hits, but only two - a double by Aramis Ramirez and Mark DeRosa's second-inning two-run homer - were anything beyond singles. The Cubs can make amends Thursday night (9:07 pm ET) with Carlos Zambrano on the mound to face the Dodgers' Chad Billingsley. After that, it's off to LA for a pair of weekend games and back to Chicago on Tuesday, if necessary. It's been 100 years since the Cubs last won a World Series. On such an auspicious anniversary, they're still a long way from celebrating.

Bay Delivers for BoSox; Loretta Slams Mets

Players of the Day from Friday, August 1, 2008 American League Much was made about the trade that sent Manny Ramirez to Los Angeles and Jason Bay to Boston, but the Red Sox, so far, seem to have gotten themselves a good deal. In his first appearance in a Red Sox uniform, Bay endeared himself to the Boston faithful as the Red Sox topped Oakland, 2-1, in 12 innings. Bay went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks, but scored both Boston runs. In the second inning, he walked, moved to third on J. D. Drew's double, and scored on a Jed Lowrie sac fly. Then, in the bottom of the 12th, Bay tripled off the Green Monster in left and scored the game winner on Lowrie's scratch single. Notes: Boston kept pace (3 back) with the front-running Rays, who beat Detroit, 5-2. The Yankees lost to California, 1-0, and fell 5 1/2 off the pace. Let's talk magic numbers. 40 is it for the LA Angels. Any combination of Angels' wins or Texas losses clinches the AL West for LA. Key dates come at the end of August, when the Angels host the A's for three and the Rangers for 4 games to close out the month. The Angels may pop the champagne cork on the 8th, 9th or 10th of September, when they host the Yankees. Meanwhile, in the Central, those pesky Twins just won't go away. They trail the White Sox by 1/2 game as both won on Friday. The two play a 3-game set in Minnesota on September 23, 24, 25, which may decide the division. National League The Mets missed a golden opportunity to catch the Phillies in the NL East, as St. Louis dropped Philly, 6-3, but Mark Loretta broke a 3-3 tie in the 8th with a pinch hit grand slam, giving Houston a 7-3 win over New York.

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That left the Mets a game behind the Phillies. The Marlins also lost to Colorado, 5-2, and remain 1 1/2 back. The aforementioned Cardinals and the Brewers each picked up a game in the standings, as the Cubs lost to the Pirates, 3-0. Chicago leads both by 4 games. Notes: In the West, Randy Johnson (9-7) earned win #293, working 6 innings in Arizona's 2-1 win at LA. With all the attention focused on Manny Ramirez, who went 2-4 in his first start as a Dodger, the Diamondbacks improved their lead to 3 games over LA with their 4th win in a row.

Bay Puts Cubs Down in 14th; Ordonez, Tigers Hammer Twins

Players of the Day from Saturday, May 24, 2008 American League After Magglio Ordonez gave Detroit an early lead with a two-run, first-inning homer, Minnesota tied it back up on Alexi Casilla's 2-run shot in the third, so when Ordonez next stepped to the plate, he was determined the Tigers were going to stay ahead. He knocked a two-run double to right and later scored as Detroit scored 4 times in the bottom of the 3rd, en route to a 19-3 demolition of the Minnesota Twins. Ordonez was not finished, however. He smacked another 2-run homer in the 4th and walked and scored in the fifth inning. By the time he was relieved by Ryan Raburn in the 6th inning, he had gone 3-for-3 with a double and two homers, 6 RBI and 4 runs scored - pretty fair performance for five innings of work. Following a sensational 2007 campaign (.363, 28 HR, 139 RBI), Maggs is getting into the swing of things even though the Tigers are woefully out of it in the AL Central. He's batting .330, with 9 homers and 35 RBI. Notes: The White Sox and Red Sox had respective 8 and 7-game win streaks halted on Friday night by the Angels and A's, but the AL West leaders went one better on Saturday, blanking the East and Central leaders. Jered Weaver smoked the White Sox on 3 hits over 8 innings and Francisco Rodriguez earned his 21st save as the Angels won, 2-0. In Oakland, Justin Duchscherer was nearly perfect through 8 innings in the A's 3-0 triumph over Boston, hitting Jason Varitek with a pitch in the 6th and allowing only David Ortiz' single in the seventh for the one-hitter. Huston Street pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save. National League Having accomplished little since the days of Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, disco and leisure suits, the Pittsburgh Pirates don't usually get much press, but every now and then Jason Bay reminds us that there still are some real ball players in the Steel City.

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On Saturday, Bay went 4-for-6 with a two-run homer and the game winning RBI single in the 14th inning as the Pirates downed the Central-leading Cubs, 5-4. He also stole a base and scored twice as the Pirates (still 6 games back) knocked down the Cubs into a first-place tie in the division with the Cardinals. Notes: Jeff Francoeur cracked a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, breaking a 1-1 tie and giving the Braves the 3-1 win over Arizona on Saturday. Who was on base when Francoeur unloaded? Obviously, it was Chipper Jones, who had two hits in four at-bats and continues to lead the majors in hitting with an astonishing .417 batting average. Jones has been a machine at the plate, already amassing 73 hits through just 46 games. At his present pace (73-175), Jones would play in 151 games, have 574 at-bats and produce 240 hits. That would put him close to the NL record of 254 by Lefty O'Doul (1929) and Bill Terry (1930). Even if he doesn't break any records, 240 hits would be the most by a National Leaguer since Joe Medwick's 237 in 1937.