Will Middlebrooks, Andrew Cashner Power Padres; Jordany Valdespin, Reid Brignac Wreck Mets in Marlin Win

Players of the Day for Monday, March 9, 2015

Brignac

Grapefruit League

Valdespin

Before some Mets' batters had even gotten to the plate, the Marlins had already put up nine runs on their NL East foes, scoring six in the second and three more in the third inning. The players doing the bulk of the damage were fresh faces on the Miami roster, Jordany Valdespin and Reid Brignac.

Valdespin, who started with the Mets and played in 54 games for the Marlins last season, singled and tripled in four at-bats, driving in three runs and scoring twice. Brignac, who spent last season in Philadelphia, went 3-for-4 (all singles) also driving in three and scoring twice.

When it was all said and done, the Marlins pasted the Mets, 13-2, improving to 3-2 for the Spring while dropping the Mets to a 3-4 mark.


Cactus League

Cashner

Middlebrooks

Will Middlebrooks socked a three-run, second inning homer in support of three innings of no-hit ball from Andrew Cashner as the San Diego Padres evened their record at 3-3 and sent the Cubs to their fifth straight defeat of the spring without a win with a 6-3 victory.

Cashner blanked the punchless Cubs over the first three innings, walking one, while striking out a trio. After going 10-9 in 2013 with the Padres, Cashner dipped to a 5-7 mark over 19 starts in 2014, though his ERA dropped to a very respectable 2.55. He's expected to remain in the San Diego starting rotation.

Middlebrooks, who spent the last three seasons playing part-time for the Boston Red Sox, is looking to catch on as the regular third baseman with the Padres and he's off to a good start with a .400 batting average in two games. The Texas native needs to work on his plate demeanor, as his batting average has gone from .288 in 2012, to .227 in 2013, to a scary .191 last season.

Rays Lead AL East on Brignac HR; Lowe Stuffs Nats

Players of the Day for Monday, September 13, 2010 American League In Tampa, the Rays and Yankees got a look-see at what the post-season may be like when they matched up their aces - David Price and C.C. Sabathia - in the opener of a three-game series. Both starters worked eight full innings without giving up a run. Sabathia allowed just two hits, Price, three, before the relievers took over and the game went to extra innings. Leading off in the bottom of the 11th, Reid Brignac, who was inserted at 2nd base in the 10th inning and moved to short in the 11th, delivered a game-winning, walk-off home run to down the Yankees, 1-0. Brignac's shot to right-center was his only hit of the night, in his only at-bat, but it propelled the Rays into first place in the AL East, a position they surrendered back in June and regained for only one day since then. Tampa Bay now leads the Yankees by 1/2 game, but the two teams will meet six more times in the next ten days, a stretch that will almost certainly determine the AL East winner. Even though the Yanks are temporarily out of first place, they hold a seven-game lead over Boston in the wild card race. Whichever team finishes second in the division will almost certainly be the wild card, though they will not meet their AL East counterparts in the ALDS. According to MLB rules, the wild card cannot face a team from the same division in the opening playoff round. National League With the Phillies hammering Florida, 11-4, the Atlanta Braves, trailing the Phillies by one game, needed a win to keep pace in the division and got a superlative performance from Derek Lowe, who pitched eight shutout innings in a 4-0 win over the Nationals. Atlanta scored all of their runs in the second inning, and Lowe made them stand up, as he won his second straight start, improving to 13-12 on the year. Lowe fanned a season-high 12 batters, allowed just six hits and didn't walk a batter. Even though the Braves didn't gain any ground on the Phillies, they helped themselves to a 1 1/2 game lead in the wild card standings over the idle Giants. PENNANT NOTES: Miguel Tejada homered, singled and drove in four runs to pace the Padres over the Rockies, 6-4, ending Colorado's 10-game win streak and taking back sole possession of first place in the NL West by 1/2 game over the Giants, who had the night off. Colorado is 2 1/2 back. Cincinnati won and the Cardinals lost, stretching the Reds' lead in the Central to seven games. Texas, Minnesota and Chicago all took the day off. The Rangers lead the AL West by eight games. Minnesota leads the White Sox by six in the Central. The Twins open a three-game series at Chicago on Tuesday.

Reid Brignac Stuns Yanks; Edinson Volquez Returns for Reds

Players of the Day for Saturday, July 17, 2010 American League Reid Brignac wasn't supposed to be in the lineup for the second of a three-game tilt with the Yankees, but his two homers and five RBI from the #9 spot in the order provided Tampa Bay with some surprise offense and a 10-5 win at New York. After Carlos Pena drove in evan Longoria with a double in the first, Brignac kept things going for the Rays in the 2nd inning with the first of his two bombs to right field, a two-run shot off Yankee starter A.J. Burnett, which did more damage than just the pair of runs. Following the inning, an angry Burnett slammed into a double door leading to the Yankee clubhouse, cutting both hands on the plastic lineup card holders attached to the doors. He was bandaged to start the third, but plunked Longoria, who scored again on a Pena single. Burnett was removed by manager Joe Girardi, the misfortune exacerbated by the fact that the Yankees had pulled to within one run (3-2) on Brett Gardner's 2-RBI single in the 2nd. After B.J. Upton made the score 5-2 with a sac fly in the 5th, Brignac put the game away with his second homer, this one a three-one belt, upping the lead to 8-2. Brignac was inserted in the lineup due to the absence of regular second baseman, Sean Rodriguez, who was a late arrival, attending to matters related to the flooding of his Redington Beach condo. It was Brignac's best game as a pro, going 3-for-5 with the two homrs, 5 RBI and 2 rruns. The win sliced the Yankee lead in the AL East to just two games over the Rays. After winning Friday's game in dramatic fashion, the teams will play the rubber game of the series Sunday. National League Finally returning after Tommy Jorn surgery to make his first start of the season, Edinson Volquez sparkled for the Reds as they rode his 6 innings of 3-hit work to an 8-1 win over Colorado. There was some skepticism after Volquez allowed a leadoff double to Dexter Fowler and an RBI single by Carlos Gonzalez in the first inning, but he retained composure, got out of the inning without further damage and proceeded to mow down the Rockies, striking out fur of the next six batters he faced, an fanning nine overall. After a two-out single by Clint Barmes, Volquez didn't allow another hit, yielding only a pair of walks to Rockies' second baseman, Jonathan Herrera. With Volquez slcing through the Colorado batting order, the Reds regulars were doing what they do best, piling up the runs. Though they only had five hits for the entire game, four of them were home runs, one each by Brandon Phillips and Jonny Gomes, and two by Drew Stubbs. All but Gomes' solo shot came off Rockies' starter Jorge De La Rosa, who walked five and surrendered seven runs, six of them earned. The return of Volquez to the Cincinnati rotation could not have come at a more opportune time for the Reds as they try to hold off the St. Louis Cardinals, reigning champs in the NL Central. St. Louis trails Cincinnati by just 1/2 game. The Reds have won two straight, but the Cardinals have won four in a row.