Phil Hughes Keeps Yankees Tied for First; Allen Criag Supplies Cardinals with Boost in Wild Card

Players of the Day for Thursday, September 13, 2012

American League

At a most opportune time, Phil Hughes appears to be rounding into his best form of the season.

The Yankee starter shut out Boston for 7 1/3 innings, helping New York grind its way to a 2-0 win in the series finale.

Phil Hughes

Hughes (15-12) allowed five hits and a walk, striking out seven while his teammates scratched out a pair of runs. It was his second straight win and the first time he hasn't given up an earned run since going seven innings against Boston on August 17, where he also earned the win.

The win kept the Yanks and Orioles tied for first in the AL East, as Baltimore completed their three-game sweep of the Rays with a 3-2 win in 14 innings.

That puts the Rays in a troubling predicament, because they'll have to catch either the O's or Yankees for one of the two wild card spots as the A's are a game up on both Baltimore and New York, but Tampa Bay is four back of them.


National League

There were just two NL games on Thursday, but the results impacted the wild card race.

Allen Craig

The Phillies' seven game win streak came to an end as they were dumped by Houston, 6-4, while in LA, the Cardinals picked up a needed win, topping the Dodgers, 2-1.

Allen Craig went 2-for-5 and drove in the winning run in the top of the seventh with a single after doubling in an earlier at-bat.

Lance Lynn (15-7) allowed the only Dodger run, going six innings for the Cards before giving way to a trio of relievers, ending with Jason Motte picking up his 34th save.

The results left St. Louis five behind Atlanta and in position for the second wild card spot. The Dodgers trail the Cardinals by two games. The Pirates are three back, followed by Milwaukee, 3 1/2 behind, Philly, 4 out, and Arizona, 4 1/2 behind.

Jon Niese, Kirk Nieuwenhuis Pace Mets; Phil Hughes Tosses Complete Game vs. Detroit

Players of the Day for Sunday, June 3, 2012

American League

The Yankees took two of three in Detroit as Phil Hughes twirled a four-hit complete game in New York's 5-1 win Sunday.

Phil Hughes

Hughes walked three and struck out a season-high eight batters. The only mistake he made was allowing a leadoff home run in the fourth inning to Prince Fielder. The Yankees were already ahead, 3-0, at the time, and quickly negated Fielder's blast, scoring two runs in the top of the fifth.

After the Detroit home run, Huhges settled in, setting down 15 of the final 18 batters he faced, never allowing a runner past first base. The only Tiger to reach second for the game, besides Fielder, was Miguel Cabrera, who walked with two down in the first inning and advanced on a passed ball.

It was the second complete game for Hughes in his seven year career with the Yankees. The win kept New York 1 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay, who took sole possession of first place in the AL East with an 8-4 win over Baltimore.


National League

Jon Niese

Taking their third straight from St. Louis, the home-standing New York Mets found their way into the crowded top of the NL East, in a three-way tie with Miami and Washington, with a 6-1 victory.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis

Jon Niese shut out St. Louis over the first six innings, extending the Cardinals' scoreless streak against Mets' starters to 24 straight innings. Niese fanned a career-high 10 batters, improving to 4-2. The Cardinals finally got on the board for the first time in the series with a run in the seventh.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis homered and was 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs to pace the Mets offensively. New York will be looking for the sweep of their four-game series when they host the Cardinals at 1:10 pm EDT Monday afternoon at Citi Field. The Mets have outscored St. Louis 19-1 in the first three games.

The Cardinals have lost five straight and have fallen into third place in the Central, 3 1/2 games back of Cincinnati.

Carlos Pena Keeps Rays Alive; Phil Hughes Leads Yankees to Sweep of Twins

Players of the Day for Saturday, October 9, 2010

American League

Deep in the heart of Texas, the Rays faced elimination from the playoffs just a week after winning the AL East with the best record in the league.

After dropping two straight in Tampa, the Rays found themselves staring at the wrong side of a 2-1 score as they batted in the top of the 8th inning.

With one out, Dan Johnson doubled and was replaced at second by pinch-runner Desmond Jennings. His team five outs away from being swept, Carlos Pena stepped to the plate, and delivered the biggest hit of the series for the Rays, a line single to right filed that sent Jennings home with the tying run.

After an out and a walk to Jason Bartlett, Pena eventually came around to score the go-ahead run on John Jaso's single up the middle.

In the top of the 9th, the Rays added insurance to their lead on a solo homer by Carl Crawford and a two-run shot by Pena.

Juaquin Benoit, who took the mound with one out in the 7th, held the Rangers hitless in the bottom of the 8th, recording five straight outs. Rafael Soriano gave up a solo shot to Nelson Cruz in the bottom of the 9th, but managed to avoid further damage, sealing the Rays' 6-3 win.

The series resumes Sunday with the Rays still on the brink of elimination, but with at least the confidence of having won a game. Wade Davis takes the mound for the Rays against Texas' Tommy Hunter at 1:07 pm ET.

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It's got to be tough for the Twins, having to face the Yankees just about every time they reach the playoffs. This year was exceptionally brutal, as the Bombers took out the Twinkies three straight, adding insult to injury by winning the first two games in Minnesota.

Phil Hughes became the Twins' hangman du jour, blanking Minnesota for seven innings, allowing just four hits and a walk while fanning six, leading to a 6-1 Yankee win.

Minnesota did finally get on the scoreboard, but it was in the 8th inning off Kerry Wood, who took the ball from Hughes to start the inning. After they scored their run, Minnesota loaded the bases, but Boone Logan and David Robinson got Jason Kubel and Delmon Young on routine fly balls to end the threat, the inning and all hope for a Twins revival. The loss was the Twins' 12th straight in post-season play, the second most in MLB history. Nine of those losses have been to the Yankees, who also swept them last season.

The Twins were swept by Oakland in the divisional series in 2006. In 2004, the Twins took the first game of the ALDS from the Yankees, but then dropped the next three, which began their streak of post-season failure.

As the wild card, the Yankees will travel to either Tampa or Texas, depending on the outcome of their series, on Friday, October 15, for the start of the AL Championship Series.

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There were no National League games on Saturday. On Sunday, the Braves host the Giants at 4:37 pm ET. That series is tied at a game apiece. The Phillies will be looking for the sweep when they play at Cincinnati at 8:07 pm ET.

Furcal Leads Dodgers to 14-6 Win; Hughes Takes No-Hit Bid to 8th

Players of the Day for Wednesday, April 21, 2010 American League Winning their sixth straight and 9th of their last 10, the New York Yankees maintained their slim 1/2 game lead over Tampa Bay on the strength of Phil Hughes' 1-hit performance and a 3-1 win at Oakland. Hughes carried a no-hitter into the 8th inning, but lost it on a one-hop comebacker from Eric Chavezthat he could not handle. Instead of being called an error, the smash was labeled a hit. Had Hughes not stopped the ball, it almost certainly would have bounded untouched into center field. Hughes gathered himself and struck out the next batter, Kevin Kouzmanoff, but walked Gabe Gross to put runners on 1st and 2nd. That prompted manager Joe Girardi to bring in Joba Chamberlain, who allowed the sole A's run of the game on Jake Fox's 2-out single. The run, scored by Chavez, was charged to Hughes. Despite failing in the no-hit bid, Hughes had an awesome outing, giving up just the one hit over 7 1/3 innings, with 2 walks and 10 strikeouts, a career best. Hughes is 2-0 in 2 starts, with an ERA of 2.19. National League Sure, Roy Halladay was on the muscle in his 4-hit, 2-0 shutout over the Braves Wednesday night, earning his first National League shutout, but that's what he does. Besides, Halladay wasn't nearly as unhittable as the stats indicate. Shane Victorino stole a home run from Troy Glaus with a spectacular catch, and infielders Chase Utley and Ryan Howard also added highlight reel fielding gems to aid Halladay's cause. The real story of the day was in Cincinnati, where the LA Dodgers were pummeling the Reds, 14-6. The Dodgers are, after 14 games, still hitting an impossible .315 as a team. Their 18 hits last night were just another dose of reality for the rest of the league to absorb. At the top of the order, Rafael Furcal was banging away, going 3-for-5 with 4 RBI, 3 runs and a stolen base. Furcal is only batting .356. Teammates Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier are hitting .421 and .400, respectively, but Furcal is the guy who literally gets things started. His single, double and triple gave him 7 multi-hit games this season. The Dodgers are 1 1/2 back of the Padres, who hold a 1-game lead over the Giants at the top of the NL West.