A-Rod's 15th-inning Blast Drops Red Sox; Church Seals Win in LA

Players of the Day for Friday, August 7, 2009 American League Alex Rodriguez hadn't hit a home run since July 19, and as the scoreless duel between the Red Sox and Yankees reached the 15th inning, he had gone 72 at-bats without sending a ball out of anyone's yard. Boston's Josh Beckett and New York's A.J. Burnett had long been relieved, with Beckett going 7 innings and Burnett, 7 2/3. When Derek Jeter opened with a single in the bottom half of the 15th - his only hit of the night - Rodriguez figured to get a chance to drive him home. After two outs by Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira, Rodriguez picked the right pitch and the right time to end the longest homerless drought of his career, sending the ball over the left field fence for his 20th home run and a 2-0 Yankee win. Rodriguez finished 2-for-7 with the only 2 RBI of the game, giving him 62 on the season. Rodriguez has now hit 20 or more home runs in 14 straight seasons. He will have to step up his RBI production, having played in only 75 games this season, to keep intact his 100-RBI-per-season streak, which currently stands at 11. The 20 homers in consecutive seasons mark puts A-Rod in a tie for 4th place (with Eddie Mathews, Rafael Palmeiro and Manny Ramirez), behind Barry Bonds and Willie Mays, both at 15, Babe Ruth (18) and Henry Aaron (20). His 573rd career home run also tied A-Rod with Harmon Killebrew for 9th place on the all-time leaders list. The win boosted the Yankees edge in the AL East to 4 1/2 games over the Red Sox> Tampa Bay, which lost at Seattle, dropped 7 games off the pace. National League A dark horse to even make the playoffs this season, Ryan Church helped keep Atlanta's hopes alive as the Braves knocked off the Dodgers, 9-5, in 12 innings. Church went 3-for4, scored twice and drove in 4 runs, with a single, double and 3-run homer in the 12th that sealed the win. After Yunel Escobar singled home Garret Anderson with the go-ahead run, Church delivered 3 insurance runs with his 4th homer of the season. The win left the Braves in third place in the NL East, 6 1/2 behind the Phillies, but only 1/2 back of Florida and 4 1/2 behind the Giants and Rockies in the wild card race. After splitting the first two games in their series in LA, the Dodgers and Braves face off for two more, Saturday and Sunday. Both the Giants and Rockies trail the Dodgers by 6 1/2, so they are hoping for some help from the Braves. NOTES: The Texas Rangers just won't go away, opening their three-game series with the Angels with an 11-6 win. The Rangers banged out 15 hits and pulled to within 3 1/2 of LA for first place in the West. In the Central, the Tigers expanded their lead to 3 games over the White Sox and 4 1/2 over the Twins, as Detroit won their third straight and their two pursuers each lost on Friday. In the NL Central, the Cardinals grabbed a 1-game lead over the Cubs with a 6-4 win over Pittsburgh.while the Cubs were losing to Colorado, 6-2. The Cubs have one fewer loss than St. Louis (50-51), but have played 2 fewer games than the Cards.

Tough-luck Weaver; Church a Mets Leader

Players of the Day from Tuesday, May 13, 2008 American League 2008 has not been kind to Angels' starter Jered Weaver, who went 24-9 over the past two seasons, but is off to a 2-5 start this year. Last night in Anaheim was more of the same. Weaver threw 1-hit ball over 7 innings but didn't get a decision as John Danks was shutting out the Angels on 7 hits. Eventually, LA scored a couple runs and beat the White Sox, 2-0, albeit too late for Weaver to get a decision.

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Scott Shields (2-0) picked up the win and Francisco Rodriguez earned his major league-leading 16th save. Notes: Tampa Bay took over first place in the East with a 2-1, 11-inning win over the Yankees while Boston was dropping a 5-4 decision to Baltimore. Tampa has won six straight; the red Sox have lost three in a row and Tampa leads by 1/2 game. With Florida 1 1/2 up in the NL East, this marks the deepest into a season that both Florida teams lead their respective divisions. National League After he socked 15 homers and drove in 75 runs with the Nationals in 2007, the Mets were expecting good things from Ryan Church, but maybe not this good. On Tuesday night, in the Mets' 6-3 win over Washington, Church drove in four runs with a solo home run, a two-run double and a sac fly, giving him, 30 RBI, second on the team behind David Wright's 32. His 8 homers, .324 batting average and 29 runs all lead the team. Notes: Home Sweet Central: All six teams in the NL Central have winning home records, even last-place Cincinnati, at 10-9. On the flip side, none have winning road records, though the Cubs, Cardinals and Astros are all just a game under .500 away from home.

Jeter Continues Streak as Yanks Beat BoSox; Church's 6 RBI Leads Nats

Wednesday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League The New York Yankees made somewhat of a statement, taking 2 of 3 from the Red Sox with an 8-3 win Wednesday in New York as Derek Jeter continued his torrid bid for MVP, going 3-5 with a triple and a pair of singles, driving in 2 runs and scoring twice, extending his hitting streak to 18 games. Jeter is tied with teammate Jorge Posada for the league lead at .367. The Yanks rapped out 16 hits against Boston, 12 of them against starter Curt Schilling, who lasted just six innings, allowing 5 earned runs, including a pair of homers off the bats of Doug Mientkiewicz and Hideki Matsui. Jeter had a 20-game hit streak earlier in the season and has hit safely in 41 of 43 games in which he has recorded at least one official at-bat. The Yankees trail the Red Sox by 9 1/2 games in the AL East. Magglio Ordonez hit a pair of solo homers in the Tigers' 8-7 win over the visiting Angels. Ordonez continues to dog NY's Alex Rodriguez for the AL RBI lead. A-Rod has 43, Ordonez, 42. Detroit closer Todd Jones picked up his 15th save as the Tigers took a slim 1/2-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central. The Angels remain 4 1/2 better than Seattle and Oakland in the AL West. Chad Gaudin improved to 4-1 with 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball as the A's won 4-0 at Chicago. Gaudin allowed just 5 hits and a walk while striking out 4. Break up the Royals! Suddenly the hottest team in the majors, the Kansas City Royals took their 2nd straight from Cleveland on Wednesday in KC, 11-7, knocking the Indians out of first place in the AL Central. Mike Sweeney homered for the 2nd straight game and Mark Grudzielanek singled, doubled and homered in 5 at-bats, driving in 3 runs and scoring a pair. The Royals have won 4 in a row (their longest win streak of the season) and 8 of the last 10. They remain in last place in the AL Central, however, 10 games behind leader Detroit. Other AL Scores Minnesota 5 Texas 3 Baltimore 5 Toronto 2 Seattle 5, Tampa Bay 1 - J. Guillen, 4-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, SB (1); I. Suzuki, 16-gm. hit streak National League Ryan Church knocked in 6 runs with a pair of homers - a 2-run shot in the 1st and a solo blast in the 7th - and followed that up with a game-winning bases loaded double in the 8th, propelling the Washington Nationals to a 12-7 win at Cincinnati. The Nats have taken 2 of 3 from the Reds with the teams set to finish their 4-game set on Thursday. Oliver Perez kept the Braves' hitters scoreless through 7 innings on 4 hits and Joe Smith and Billy Wagner worked the 8th and 9th in the Mets' 3-0 win at Atlanta. Perez walked 2 and struck out 5 to improve to 6-3 while Wagner picked up his 11th save. Jose Reyes swiped his league-leading 26th base. The win gave NY a 2 1/2-game lead over the Braves in the NL East. Brad Penny kept the Dodgers in first place for another day with 7 innings of shutout ball as LA beat the visiting Brewers, 5-1. Penny (6-1) allowed just 6 hits and 2 walks, striking out 4.

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Catcher Russell Martin provided the bulk of the offense with 4 RBI on a bases-loaded triple in the 1st and a sac fly in the 7th. The Dodgers stayed 1/2-game ahead of San Diego and 2 1/2 ahead of Arizona and San Francisco in the NL West. The Brewers, despite winning just 3 times in their last 10 games, maintain a 6 1/2-game edge on the Cubs and Astros in the Central. Dan Uggla needed just a single to hit for the cycle Wednesday as he cracked his 9th home run, doubled and tripled in 6 at-bats, scoring 3 times and driving in 3 runs. The single may have helped as, despite Uggla's heroics, the visiting Phillies outlasted the Marlins, 8-7 in 10 innings. Jimmy Rollins scored the game-winner for Philly. The two teams are battling for 3rd place in the NL East. The Phillies are currently 6 1/2 back of the Mets, the Marlins 7 1/2 behind, but the teams have split the first 2 games of their 3-game series, with the rubber game on Thursday. Other NL Scores St. Louis 5 Pittsburgh 3 San Francisco 9 Houston 1 - B. Zito (W, 4-5), 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER; B. Bonds, DNP Colorado 2 Arizona 0 - J. Francis (W, 3-4), 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER San Diego 2 Chi Cubs 1 - D. Wells (W, 2-2)