Mariano Rivera Sets Saves Record; Ian Kennedy Allows One Hit in 20th Win; Cardinals Within 2 1/2 of Braves in NL Wild Card

Players of the Day for Monday, September 19, 2011

American League

Rivera: 602 Saves

It wasn't a very pretty game, but the Yankees left Toronto with a 6-4 win and save number 602 for Mariano Rivera, making the Yankee closer the all-time leader, passing Trevor Hoffman, who retired last season with 601.

Rivera came on in the ninth as the sixth Yankee pitcher of the day, but his work was, as usual, nearly flawless. Striking out Chris Parmelee to end the game, Rivera didn't allow a hit or a walk in recording his 43rd save of the season, second best in the AL behind Detroit's Jose Valverde.

Better yet for Rivera, who has been on a roll lately with 10 saves in the past three weeks, the Yankee win coincided with a Red Sox split of a double-header against Baltimore, padding the Yankees' lead to five games over Boston and seven over Tampa Bay.

The Rays did not play on Monday, but are headed to New York for a three game series starting Tuesday.

With the Central division already decided in favor of the Tigers, the LA Angels are letting their season slip away with their third loss in four games, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Blue Jays in ten innings. The Rangers' lead in the West is now five games, and though the Angles finish the regular season with three home games against Texas, they'll have to do better in their next three games at Toronto followed by three at home with the A's.


National League

Arizona strengthened its case for winning the West with a 1-0 victory at Pittsburgh Monday, increasing their lead in the division to 5 1/2 games over the idled Giants.

Ian Kennedy: 20-5

Diamondback bats weren't exactly booming, getting just five hits off Pittsburg starter Jeff Karstens and their only run coming on a Justin Upton broken bat solo homer in the 6th, but they didn't need much, as ace Ian Kennedy racked up his 20th win, stifling Pittsburgh on one hit over eight innings, walking one and matching his career high with 12 Ks.

Kennedy, 20-4, dominated the middle of the Pirate order, striking out their 3, 4 and 5 hitters a total of seven times. He became the first 20-game winner in the National League. Justin Verlander (24-5) is the sole AL 20-game winner.

The wild card race tightened up a little more, as the Cardinals downed the Phillies, 4-3, and the Marlins topped the Braves, 6-5, when Omar Infante launched a two-run homer off Braves' closer, Craig Kimbrel.

The Braves have seen their big wild card lead dwindle to just 2 1/2 games. Atlanta has gone just 6-12 in September. Meanwhile the Cardinals have won eight of their last 10 and have nine games left - all at home - against some of the weaklings of the National League, with consecutive three game series against the Mets, Cubs and Astros.

Atlanta has two more games in Florida, three in Washington, but then return home for a season-ending, three game series with the Phillies.

Phillies Clinch 5th Straight NL East Pennant; Rivera Ties Hoffman; Hamilton Slugs for Rangers

Players of the Day for Saturday, September 17, 2011

American League

Josh Hamilton went 4-for-5 with a home run, two singles and a double and drove in three runs, helping the Texas Rangers pad their lead in the AL West to 4 1/2 games over the Angels with a 7-6 win at Seattle.

Josh Hamilton

As hot as any team in the majors, the Rangers are 10-5 for the month of September and continue t keep the hungry Angels at bay in pursuit of their second straight division crown. Once they finish up in Seattle on Sunday, the Rangers face the A's in Oakland for three games, then return to Arlington for three more with the Mariners before finishing out the regular season with three games at Anahiem with the Angels.

Rivera: 601 Saves

In Toronto, the Yankees came back from a 6-1 deficit to defeat the Blue Jays, 7-6, allowing Mariano Rivera to record save #601, tying him with Trevor Hoffman as the career leader in that department. Rivera was the fifth in a parade of relievers working one inning apiece after starter Bartolo Colon lasted just four innings, allowing all six Toronto runs. Rivera didn't allow a baserunner and chalked up a strikeout for his 42nd save of the season, second best in the AL.

The Rays and Red Sox continued to contest the wild card in Boston, with the Rays coming out on top of a 4-3 score Tampa has taken two of three in Boston and play the series finale Sunday afternoon, but the battle doesn't end there. After a day off Monday, the Rays head to New York for a three game set with the Yankees, then return home for three with the Blue Jays and three more with New York to close out the season. The Red Sox have a series in New York sandwiched between a pair of home and away three game series with the Orioles, a less-daunting task.

National League

Shane Victorino

Oswalt: 7 Scoreless

The Phillies cooled off the red-hot Cardinals - winners of seven of their last eight - with a 9-2 win, clinching their fifth straight NL East title.

Shane Victorino walked with the bases loaded in the 4th inning, socked a solo homer in the 6th and singled in another run in the 8th to lead the effort. Raul Ibanez capped off the scoring with a grand slam later in the 8th inning to seal the victory. Roy Oswalt worked seven scoreless innings from the mound, allowing just five hits while fanning seven.

Ibanez: Slam Man

The win was the 98th for Philadelphia, easily the best in the majors and dropped the Cardinals 6 1/2 games behind the Brewers in the Central division. Milwaukee bombed Cincinnati, 10-1, as they cruise toward the division crown. Atlanta topped the Mets, 1-0, putting them 4 1/2 in front of St. Louis in the wild card race.

Out West, the Giants won their seventh straight, topping Colorado, 6-5, while the Diamondbacks dropped their third in a row, losing to San Diego, 3-1. Those results sliced Arizona's lead in the division to five games with 10 left to play. Arizona has one more game in San Diego before returning home for the remainder of the season. They host Pittsburgh for three games, then the Giants for a three game weekend series before closing out the season with three against the Dodgers.

Mariano Rivera and Time Wakefield Reach Mound Milestones; Fielder and Braun Power Brewers

Players of the Day for Tuesday, September 13, 2011

American League

Wakefield: 200 Ws

A couple of milestones were reached by two veterans of the Yankee-Red Sox wars on Tuesday, specifically, Boston's knuckle-balling Tim Wakefield notched his 200th win as the Red Sox trounced the Blue Jays, 18-6, and Yankee closer, Mariano Rivera, collected his 600th save in New York's 3-2 win over Seattle.

Rivera: 600 Saves

The Yankees got six good innings out of starter AJ Burnett (4 hits, 2 runs, 11 Ks) and key contributions from Robinson Cano, who had a solo homer in the 2nd inning and drove in the eventual winning run in the 6th on a fielder's choice. Cano's two RBI tied him for the AL with teammate Curtis Granderson at 111. The focus was clearly on Rivera though, who came on, as he customarily does, in the 9th inning, quieting the Mariners by sandwiching a single to Ichiro Suzuki between a pair of strikeouts, the game ending when Russell Martin gunned down Ichiro at second as he attempted to steal.

Jacoby Ellsbury

Rivera's 41st save of the season was also the 600th of his major league career, placing him just one behind the only other pitcher in the "600 save club," Trevor Hoffman. Rivera should have ample opportunity to tie and surpass Hoffman for the all-time lead in saves as the Yankees have 15 more games on the regular season slate.

Dustin Pedroia

In Boston, the Red Sox won just their second game in their last nine tries, as Wakefield lasted six innings while his teammates were collecting 18 hits. Wakefield's 200th win was nothing special other than its milestone status, as he gave up six hits and five runs before exiting. The knuckle-baller has started 461 games over 20 years, compiling 200 wins against 178 losses.

Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury each went 4-for-5 and scored four times. Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a solo homer, two singles and a double, driving in three runs. Pedroia was busy collecting total bases, homering twice and doubling twice, driving in five runs.

Verlander: 23-5

The Yankees maintained a 4-game lead over Boston in the East, and the Red Sox advanced another game over Tampa Bay in the wild card race, as the Rays fell to Baltimore, 4-2. Boston's wild card lead is back to four games.

Justin Verlander won his 23rd game of the season, hurling seven scoreless innings at the White Sox as the Tigers inched closer to the AL Central crown with a 5-0 win. Verlander allowed six hits, two walks and struck out six. Detroit's lead in the division is 12 1/2 games over the Sox and Indians; their magic number is three.

The Angels and Rangers were both winners in the West. Texas remains three games in front of LA in the division.

National League

Prince Fielder

Prince Fielder's solo home run (32) in the 6th inning tied the game at 1-1, and Ryan Braun's bases-empty blast (28) in the 10th provided all the runs needed by Zach Greinke and a parade of five relievers as the Brewers gutted out a 2-1 win over Colorado, improving on their MLB-best home record (52-22) while keeping the second place Cardinals at bay, 6 1/2 games back.

Milwaukee's magic number is reduced to eight, with just 13 games left on their schedule.

Ryan Braun

In the wild card race, both Atlanta and St. Louis were winners, so the Braves continue to lead them by four games.

Out West, both Arizona and San Francisco had to go to extra innings for wins, with the D'Backs knocking off the Dodgers, 5-4, in 10 innings on a bases loaded walk to Chris Young, while the Mark DeRosa's walk-off RBI single in the 12th provided the winning margin in the Giants' 3-2 win over the Padres.

The Giants trail the Diamondbacks by 8 1/2 games in the West.

Philadelphia lost their third straight, but still hold an 11 game lead over the Braves in the East. The Phillies' magic number is five.

Yanks Ties Ks Record, 1-Hit Seattle for 17th Straight Loss; Greg Dobbs Powers Streaky Marlins

Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 26, 2011

American League

Sabathia: 14 Ks

Sending the Seattle Mariners to their 17th straight loss, Yankees' pitching was at its finest Tuesday night in the Bronx. Starter C.C. Sabathia struck out 14 and took a perfect game into the 7th inning, spoiled by Seattle's only hit of the game, a one-out, seeing-eye single to left by Brendan Ryan.

Robertson: 20th Hold

In the 8th, Sabathia returned to the mound for the second time following a rain delay and this time could not locate the plate, walking the first three batters he faced. Enter David Robertson, who gave up a sac fly but struck out a pair of Mariners and got out of the jam, allowing just the one run for his 20th hold of the season.

In the 9th, Mariano Rivera put the M's down in order, also blazing two Seattle would-be hitters to tie the Yankee mark for Ks in a game at 18. The original total was set by Ron Guidry, back in 1978.

Rivera: 585 saves

The Mariners are four shy of matching Baltimore's AL-record 21-game losing streak which started the 1988 season. The 1961 Phillies dropped 23 straight for the modern major league mark.

Sabathia became the first major leaguer with 15 wins this season, improving to 15-5 with the 4-1 win. It was Rivera's 26th save of the year and the 585th of his career, just 16 saves away from the all-time saves record of 601 held by Trevor Hoffman. Rivera has recorded 25 or more saves in 15 consecutive seasons.

The Yankees won their third straight to remain two back of Boston in the AL East. The Red Sox outlasted Kansas City, 13-9.

National League

Greg Dobbs was just plain trouble for Nationals' hurlers in Florida's 11-2 win at Washington.

Greg Dobbs

The part-time first baseman started out slowly, but built his way to a 3-for-5 effort at the plate, getting runs home with each at-bat.

Dobbs got the Marlins on the board with a 1st inning ground out that plated Omar Infante. In the third, he hit into a double play, but another Marlin run scored. Dobbs smacked a solo homer in the 5th, singled home a run in the 7th and drove in two more with a single in the 9th, giving him five RBI for the game.

The Marlins, the streakiest team in the majors, won their third straight after dropping four in a row, but remain 15 1/2 games out of first place in the rugged NL East. The win got hem out of last place, 1/2 game ahead of the Nationals.

STREAKS: Seattle lost #17 in a row and will go for #18 in Wednesday's series wrap-up against the Yankees. Florida's Emilio Bonifacio extended his hitting streak to 24 games, going 2-for-4 in the Marlins' win over Washington.

Berkman Slam Dumps D-Backs, 15-5; Rodriguez, Rivera Key Yankee Surge to 1st

Players of the Day for Wednesday, April 13, 2011

American League

Alex Rodriguez

It didn't take long for the Yankees to figure out that they needed to do something about the upstart Orioles, which took off with an early lead in the AL East.

With a 7-4 win at Yankee Stadium, the Yanks have caught the O's in the standings, with both teams holding a 6-4 record, tied for first place in the division.

Mariano Rivera

After the Orioles failed to score in the first, despite getting Brian Roberts over to third base with one out, the Bombers responded with a three-run blast off the bat of Alex Rodriguez, building the lead after that until they led 7-0, before Baltimore finally got to starter A.J. Burnett for four run in the 7th. Rodriguez added a single later to complete a 2-for-3 night.

A-Rod's homer was his fourth of the season, Burnett won his third game without a loss and Mariano Rivera picked up his fifth save of the season with a perfect ninth inning. The Yankee closer has allowed just 2 hits in 5 1/3 innings, and has not allowed a run.

National League

The St. Louis Cardinals scored in each of the first five innings, cruising to a 15-5 slaughter at Arizona.

Lance Berkman

After Colby Rasmus scored the first run of the game on a wild pitch, Lance Berkman grounded out, but brought home Albert Pujols with the second run.

In the next inning, Berkman would have a better at-bat, smacking a grand slam homer to key a six-run inning. The shot was Berkman's only hit in five at-bats, but he did drive in five runs, increasing his total to 11 on the year.

By the time Arizona got on the board with a pair of runs in the 4th inning, the Cardinals had already plated a dozen and the contest was essentially no contest.

St. Louis has gotten off to a slow start, at 5-7, and their star, Pujols, who scored three times and drove in a pair of runs, has hit just one home run thus far, though nobody believes the Cardinal slugger will struggle for long.

Cano, Rivera Lead Yankee Comeback in LA; Tyler Colvin, Up-and-Coming Rookie?

Players of the Day for Sunday, June 27, 2010 American League Dodger manager Joe Torre has a very good team in LA. Playing against his old team, the NY Yankees, revealed what he doesn't have, by comparison. Where he has closer Jonathan Broxton, the Yankees still have Mariano Rivera (left). And Torre also has nobody to match up to this year's Yankee sensation, second baseman Robinson Cano (Torre normally starts either Ronnie Belliard or Blake Dewitt at second). These differences played a big part in New York's dramatic come-from-behind, 8-6, 10-inning win over the Dodgers Sunday night. With the Dodgers apparently cruising to an easy victory - leading by 4 runs at the end of eight innings - Torre called on Broxton to put the final nails in the Yankee coffin. The LA closer got Mark Teixeira on a called third strike, but the next batter, Alex Rodriguez, singled and moved to second on fielder's indifference. That's when Cano, hitless in his previous three at-bats, delivered a run-scoring double and opened the floodgates. Six more batters came to the plate before Broxton could extricate himself. The Yankees tallied four runs in the inning to tie the game at 6-all. After Mariano Rivera worked a perfect 9th inning of relief, it was Cano again, launching a homer to left with A-Rod aboard, to put he Yankees up 8-6, and, with Rivera still on the mound in the bottom of the 10th, it was game over, Rivera picking up his second win of the season. A win turned into a loss, or, from the Yankees' perspective, a loss that became a win. The Yanks kept their 2-game lead over Boston intact with the win, thanks to Cano, who is a shoo-in for his first All Star start. He currently leads Dustin Pedroia by about a million votes, and Pedroia just went on the DL, so pencil - no, pen - him in. Cano is having a spectacular season, with a league-leading .359 batting average, 15 homers and 53 RBI. As for Rivera, his excellence is evident, as usual. He's converted 17 of 18 save opportunities, allowed just 12 hits in 29 1/3 innings, with 6 walks and 29 strikeouts. Rivera's ERA is 0.92, with an 0.61 WHIP. Opposing batters are hitting just .122 against him this season. Might as well mark him down for his 11th All Star appearance. Hey, Joe, need a closer? How about a second baseman? National League The season slipping away, with one more chance to snatch a win from their cross-town rivals, the Cubs finally rose to the occasion, taking the last of their three-game series - and last interleague game of 2010 - over the White Sox, by an 8-6 score. Without Tyler Colvin atop the Cubs' lineup, the White Sox may have won their 12th straight game, but the rookie provided an offensive spark, starting the scoring with a three-run homer in the 3rd inning, and ending it with an RBI single in the 8th. In between, he singled and scored in the 5th inning, going 3-for-5 with two runs and four RBI. Colvin is having a nice year for the Cubs and certainly deserves more playing time, but with Alfonso Soriano in left, Marlon Byrd having a career year in center and Kosuke Fukudome entrenched in right field, there's no place to put the kid. In just 134 at-bats, Colvin is hitting .296 with 10 homers, 9 doubles, 27 RBI and 24 runs. By comparison, Fukudome - the player he'd likely replace - is batting .270 with 6 homers, 8 doubles, 24 RBI and 24 runs in 189 at-bats. Will manager Lou Piniella make the move? Tough call, though Fukudome, with just 27 homers in nearly 2 1/2 seasons, doesn't have Colvin's power, plus, his career batting average is a sub-par .260. Colvin appears to have great upside, and with the Cubs languishing 8 1/2 games behind the Central division-leading Reds - with the Cards and Brewers also ahead of them - it might be time for Sweet Lou to shake things up. Colvin batted leadoff in Sunday's game, whereas Fukudome was in the top spot in the order in the Cubs' two prior losses to the White Sox Sox, going 1-for-7 with no runs and no RBI. Keep an eye on the Cubs for a full-time change, even though Colvin, a left-hander, may be a bit of a liability in right field, though that shouldn't sway the argument against him. More Streaking: The White Sox loss to the Cubs ended their 11-game winning streak tying them with Texas for the longest in the majors this season. Meanwhile, both Texas' Josh Hamilton and KC's Jose Guillen extended their hitting streaks to 21 games. Hamilton blasted a long, three-run homer in the Rangers' 10-1 win over Houston for his only hit of the game. Guillen had two singles in the Royals' 10-3 win over St. Louis. They are the longest hitting streaks in the majors, creating some excitement as baseball nears mid-season.

Rivera Records 500th Save; Gaudin's 1-Hitter Halts Texas

Players of the Day for Sunday, June 28, 2009 American League The Yankees completed their sweep of the crosstown rival Mets with a 4-2 victory at City Field Sunday night. While the game itself was rather mundane, there was an important milestone reached by closer Mariano Rivera, who recored his 500th career save with a 4-out, 1-hit effort to seal the win. Rivera became just the second pitcher to reach the 500 mark, and the first in the American League. Trevor Hoffman, the all-time saves leader, cracked the mark in 2007 and has 571 as of today. Rivera also managed to drive in an insurance run in the top of the 9th, taking a base on balls with the bases loaded, forcing in Melky Cabrera. Rivera is having his usual solid season, with 18 saves, 2.93 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. National League There hasn't been a no-hitter thrown this season, but San Diego starter Chad Gaudin came pretty close, tossing a one-hitter over 8 innings in a 2-0 Padres' win over Texas. There was no indication that Gaudin (4-6) was about to uncork his best effort of the season, especially after allowing a one-out walk to David Murphy and a single by Michael Young in the first inning. Once out of that mini-jam, Gaudin was nails, giving up just one more walk and no hits while fanning 9 over the next 7 innings. He gave way to closer Heath Bell in the 9th, who picked up his 21st save. Gaudin may be showing signs of coming around, even if his Padres are mired near the bottom of the NL West. His prior outing was also a strong effort, when he picked up a win at Seattle, allowing 4 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings while striking out 11.