Marcum 1-Hits A's; Tejada Boosts Padres' Post-Season Hopes

Players of the Day for Monday, August 16, 2010 American League It may be too late this year, but the rest of the AL should be wary of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays have a heck of a team, leading the majors in home runs with 183. Even their top power hitter, Jose Bautista, who leads the majors with 37, does it in unconventional ways. On Monday in Oakland, Bautista hit what appeared at first to be an inside-the-park job, but was later ruled a conventional homer. Bautista already has one inside-the-park homer this season; he did it on July 7 against the Twins. But the Jays aren't just about hitting homers. Their pitching staff is loaded with live, young arms, like that of Shaun Marcum, who tossed a 1-hitter in Toronto's 3-1 win, the lone Oakland hit being a 7th inning leadoff homer by Conor Jackson. Marcum retired the final nine batters in order following Jackson's spoiler, for his first complete game in the majors. He walked one and hit a batter, throwing 103 pitches, 73 of which were strikes. While Marcum improved to 11-6, the Blue Jays are still stuck in 4th place in the AL East, nine games behind co-leaders New York and Tampa Bay, but their 63-55 record shows that they have some things working in the right direction. Of course, playing in the same division as the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays makes contending for a division title difficult. National League Just before the trading deadline, the Padres snatched up Miguel Tejada from the Orioles, knowing they were getting a solid veteran with excellent bat skills. Turns out that Tejada may be the best pickup of the season, as the slick-fielding shortstop has settled into the #2 spot in the batting order and has begun hitting the ball all over the place. In his last three games, Tejada is 9-for-14 (.643) after going 4-for-5 in the Padres' 9-5 triumph at Chicago. Tejada doubled and singled three times, drove in a pair of runs and scored twice as the Padres extended their NL West lead to 4 games over the idle Giants. At 70-47, the Padres have the best record in the National League and appear to be on their way to the playoffs. Tejada and Ryan Ludwick, acquired from the Cardinals at the same time, have bolstered the lineup, so now San Diego has multiple ways of winning games, either with their bats or with their stellar pitching staff, which leads the majors with a 3.23 ERA and has allowed the fewest hits in either league, 916. San Diego only has to put away the Giants, as Colorado and Los Angels are respectively 9 and 11 games back, seemingly out of contention.

Cecil Gets 1st ML Win; Tejada, Lee Stone Padres

Players of the Day for Sunday, May 10, 2009 American League Toronto's Brett Cecil got his first major league win with a dandy, 5-hit, 8-inning shutout effort. The Pitching-rich Blue Jays took the final two games of their three-game set at Oakland with an easy 5-0 win. They head back home with the best record in the AL and a 1-game lead over Boston in the heady AL East. Cecil, acquired by the Blue jays in the 2007 supplemental draft, had a solid outing in his first ever major league start on May 5, going 6 innings and giving up 6 hits and 1 earned run, though he didn't receive a decision in the 10-6 Blue Jay win. The rookie left no doubt, however, on Sunday, walking just 2 batters while fanning 6 and getting another 12 outs on ground balls. National League The Houston Astros won their third straight Sunday, with a 12-5 pounding of San Diego - a team with a record worse than Houston's sub-par 14-17. Carlos Lee (left) and Miguel Tejada (right), had nearly identical stats on the night. Both had three hits, including a homer, drove in four runs and scored twice, Lee doing his damage in 4 at-bats, while Tejada took five. Tejada's first-inning, two-run blast was his second of the year, while Lee's 8th-inning, two-run homer was his sixth. Ivan Rodriguez also went 4-for-4 with a solo home run in the rout, which completed a weekend three-game sweep of the Padres, who trail Los Angeles in the NL West by 8 1/2 games. Houston is in 5th place in the Central, 5 1/2 back of St. Louis.

Ortiz Getting into Groove; Tejada Roughs up Padres

Players of the Day for Monday, April 21, 2008 American League Big Papi is getting himself into a groove. After a slow start, David Ortiz has begun to put some sting on the ball. On Monday, he doubled twice and drove in three runs as the Red Sox knocked off the Rangers, 8-3. To get an idea of just how poorly Ortiz started the season, consider that he was batting just .070 on April 12. Eight games later, he's upped his average to .177, still poor, but he's hit safely in seven of his last 8 games and has knocked in 11 runs in his last four.

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Notes: The Red Sox have won five straight and opened up a 2 game lead on the Baltimore Orioles, and 3 1/2 over Toronto and the Yankees. On the opposite end of the scale, the Rangers lost four straight (all to Boston) and the Royals are beginning their annual dive in the standings with a four-game losing streak. National League In five at-bats, Miguel Tejada singled twice, doubled, homered, drove in three runs, scored three times and stole a base as he and the Houston Astros drubbed the Padres, 10-3. The homer was the 4th for Tejada, a newcomer to the National League after spending all of his career with Oakland and Baltimore until this season. He doesn't seem to be affected by facing different pitchers as he's batting at a brisk .342 pace and has 16 RBI. Notes: Best in the West. The Arizona Diamondbacks are off to an exceptionally grand start. At 14-5, they're already 5 games in front and are the only team in the NL West with a winning record. That's largely the result of the D-Backs, who have run up 13 wins against just 3 losses in the division. Over in the Central, Pittsburgh is currently on a 6-game losing streak and has dropped into last place at 7-12.