Players of the Day from Wednesday, July 23, 2008
American League
News Flash: The AL West race is over. On Wednesday,
Jeff Mathis singled twice, doubled and hit a grand slam in 5 at-bats, driving in 6 runs as the
Angels outlasted the Indians, 14-11.
The win, coupled with losses by the A's and Rangers, gave the Angels 10 and 10 1/2 game leads over their closest competition. Seriously. It's over. LA could play less than .500 for the rest of the season and still finish with more than 90 wins. See you in the playoffs.
Notes: The Yankees won their 10th straight at home and 6th overall, remaining 3 1/2 off the pace in the AL East as the Rays and second place Boston (1/2 game back) both won. In the Central, Carlos Quentin crushed a pair of homers and drove in 4 runs in the White Sox's 10-8 win over Texas. Chicago is 2 1/2 to the good over Minnesota. Detroit, 7-1 winners at KC, have won 4 straight and are 5 1/2 out.
National League
If the Brewers win the Central division and maybe more, they can point to one mid-season move that brought the magic to Milwaukee - the trade that brought
C. C. Sabathia over from the Cleveland Indians.
Since joining the Brewers, Sabathia has been nothing but special. He is 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA and last night tossed his third straight complete game,
a 3-hit, 3-0 shutout of St. Louis, their third straight over the Cardinals and 7th straight win overall.
Sabathia struck out 7 and walked two, at one point - from the 1st through 6th innings - setting down 17 consecutive victims at the plate.
Notes: The Cubs remain in first place in the Central after winning 10-6 at Arizona, but the Brewers are hot on their heels, 1 game back, with the Cardinals now reeling, 3 off the pace. The Mets re-tied the race in the East with a 6-3 win over the Phillies on Jose Reyes' 3-run homer in the 7th. Arizona stayed a game better than LA in the West, but the Rockies continue to close the gap - now 6 games - by beating the Dodgers, 5-3.
The Yankees and Angles played their second straight extra-innings game, but this time the Angels came out on top, as Jeff Mathis drove home Howie Kendrick with the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning. Mathis, inserted into the lineup to replace starting catcher Mike Napoli, who was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the 7th, finished with 2 hits in 2 at-bats and the most important RBI of the game.
New York took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 5th on solo homers by Derek Jeter (1st inning), Alex Rodriguez (4th) and Johnny Damon (5th), but LA nibbled away with a run in the bottom of the 5th, two more in the 6th and another single run in the 7th to take a 4-3 lead. The game was tied in the 8th when Jorge Posada belted a solo shot to center, setting up the dramatic finish in extra innings.
The win was crucial to the Angels' cause, clipping the Yankee lead to 2 games to 1, instead of what could have been an insurmountable 3-0 lead for the Bombers.
The series resumes on Tuesday night at 7:57 pm EDT in Los Angeles. Scott Kazmir will start for LA, while C.C. Sabathia goes to the mound on three days rest for the Yankees.
Philadelphia Phillies 5 LA Dodgers 4
Mr. Dependable came through in the clutch, putting the Phialdelphia Phillies one game away from capturing their second straight National League pennant. Jimmy Rollins stroked a two-out double into the right-center gap off reliever Jonathan Broxton, sending Eric Bruntlett and Carlos Ruiz to the plate with the tying and winning runs.
The come-from-behind win put the Phillies in a commanding position, with a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Rollins had earlier scored the game's first run, opening with a single and coming home on Ryan Howard's second home run of the series. Howard's 2 RBI extended his post-season steak to 8 games in which he has driven in at least one run, a major league record.
The series takes a day off Tuesday. Game 5 is slated for 8:07 pm on Wednesday. Clayton Kershaw will face Philadelphia's Cole Hamels.
