Votto's 3 HRs Powers Reds; Twins' Gomez Hits for Cycle

Players of the Day from Wednesday, May 7, 2008 American League Carlos Gomez knew right away it was going to be a good night. The Twins' leadoff hitter homered off Chicago starter Mark Buehrle to open the game, then stroked an RBI triple in the 5th and doubled home a run in the 6th. His single in to lead off the ninth inning completed one of baseball's rarities - hitting for the cycle. Gomez scored twice and drove in three runs as the Twins humbled the White Sox, 13-1 Wednesday night. Gomez was acquired by the Twins from the Mets in the off-season, as part of the deal that sent Johan Santana to New York. Getting most of the starts in center field, Gomez is batting .282 with 19 runs scored and 11 RBI. The home run last night was only his second of the season. Notes: The Twins continue to lead the Central, though now it's Cleveland in second place, 1 1/2 back. Minnesota is the only team in the division with a winning record (17-15). National League Cincinnati is struggling already, but on Wednesday, rookie first basemanJoey Votto provided some hope for the future, blasting three home runs in the Reds' 9-0 win over the Chicago Cubs. Votto, who played in 24 games last season for the Reds, hit solo shots in the 2nd and 5th innings, and followed up with a thundering 2-run blast in the 6th. The homers came off of three different Chicago pitchers and gave Votto seven for the year. The other reason for Reds' optimism was on the mound, in the form of rookie starter Edinson Volquez, who worked seven shutout innings, allowing 4 hits and 6 walks while striking out 10. The 10 Ks matched a season high for Volquez, who improved to 5-1 with a 1.06 ERA. Notes: Rumors surrounding Ken Griffey Jr. being traded to Seattle continue to circulate, especially after USA Today's story on Wednesday quoted Griffey as saying he would be happy to return to his first major league team. Junior is sitting just three homers shy of the 600 mark, so the Reds are reluctant to ship him off just now, but there's no doubt he'd like to play on a contending team, having never been to a World Series. The Mariners, however, have fallen 7 1/2 games off the pace in the AL West, which is almost as badly as the Reds are doing, 8 behind St. Louis in the NL Central.

Great Scott! Olsen Sets Down Brewers; Wakefield Knuckles Under Tigers

Players of the Day from Tuesday, May 7, 2008 American League The old knuckler was working last night for Tim Wakefield. Boston's steady starter baffled Detroit hitters on 2 hits over 8 innings as the Red Sox tamed the Tigers, 5-0. Wakefield whiffed six, including Magglio Ordonez and Gary Sheffield twice each. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez slammed back-to-back homers in the 7th inning. For Ramirez, it was career #497, as his countdown to 500 continues. The homer was Ramirez' first since April 19, a span of 15 games. Wakefield threw 98 pitches, 65 for strikes. Notes: The win was the 5th straight for the Red Sox and Tigers' 5th straight loss as Detroit remains mired in last place in the AL Central. In the West, the Angels and A's are locked in. LA, leading the A's by a game, has won 4 in a row, the A's 3 straight. National League The Florida Marlins are playing better than anyone expected, and regained a first place tie in the East last night as Scott Olsen improved to 4-1, working 8 2/3 innings in the Marlins' 3-0 win over Milwaukee.

Winnipeg Food Caterers
Affordable, quality catering for weddings or events of any size.
www.kingcolecatering.net

Olsen, carrying a 2.22 ERA, has been lights out against the Brewers this season. Prior to last night's outing, he allowed 4 hits and no runs in 7 1/3 innings against Milwaukee back on April 25. The Marlins won, 3-0, but Olson received no decision. Still having some control problems, Olsen walked 4, while striking out 8 last night. Overall he's fanned 23, but issued 19 free passes. Still, his WHIP is rock-solid at 1.05. In his third year as a starter (all with the Marlins), the win evened Olsen's record at 27 wins and 27 losses. Notes: With a team that scarcely resembles the championship squad from 2006, the St. Louis Cardinals continue to lead the Central division by 2 1/2 games over the Cubs. The Cards have dominated their division, winning 12 of 19, and are 14-7 at home and 8-5 on the road. Manager Tony LaRussa seems to have found the formula for early-season success.

Phillies Get Boost from Bruntlett; Santana Goes 6-0 for Angels

Players of the Day from Monday, May 5, 2008 American League The Angels' Ervin Santana improved to 6-0 as he blanked the Royals on 4 hits in a complete game shutout, 4-0 win Monday night. Santana is one of the brightest young pitching stars in the AL. In his 4th full season as a starter, he sports a 2.02 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP, having allowed just 11 runs over 49 innings. He's struck out 38 batters while walking only 9. On Monday, he fanned 9 without issuing a free pass. It was the second complete game and second shutout of his career and the win kept the Angels a game in front of the Oakland A's in the West. Santana threw just 97 pitches, 69 for strikes, facing 31 batters, 4 over the minimum. Notes: Streaking: The Twins have won five straight, while they passed by the Chicago White Sox, losers of 6 in a row. In the East, Boston's won four straight and is in 1st place, while the Blue Jays have won 5 straight, but are mired in last place. National League The Phillies have plenty of offensive stars on their roster, so it was somewhat surprising that light-hitting Eric Bruntlett would star at the plate in Philadelphia's 11-4 romp past Arizona. Bruntlett, a .247 career hitter, singled and tripled in five at-bats, driving in three with his 7th-inning bases-loaded triple which broke the game wide open. This was the opener of a four-game series between the Phillies and Diamondbacks at Arizona. The two are the respective leaders in their divisions. The Phillies are a game up on the Marlins and 1 1/2 ahead of the Mets in the East, while Arizona leads the hard-charging Dodgers by 3 games in the West. Notes: Roadies wanted. Only three NL teams have winning road records: Arizona (9-5), Philadelphia (9-6) and Florida (8-5). Oddly enough, the Phillies can't win in their division, where they are 3-6, while Arizona can't win outside it. The D-Backs are 17-5 against NL West teams, but just 4-6 against the East and Central.

BoSox Sweep Rays on Youkilis' 4 RBI; Chipper Jones has HOF Cred

Players of the Day from Sunday, May 4, 2008 American League Kevin Youkilis has been rock steady for the Red Sox since becoming a full-time starter in 2006. That year he batted .279. In 2007, the average was up to .288, and so far this season, he's poking out hits at a robust .308 clip. On Sunday, Youkilis led the Red Sox to a 3-game sweep over Tampa Bay with a 7-3 win over the Rays. This was a return f the favor, so to speak, of last week's sweep of Boston at Tampa.

Glendale Golfs Manitoba
Glendale Manitoba Golf Winnipeg Golfs.
www.glendalegolfs.com

The best part for the BoSox is that they end up 3 games in front of the Rays, O's and Yankees in the AL East. Youkilis doubled twice, hit a solo home run, drove in four runs and scored twice in 4 at-bats on Sunday as the Sox finished off the sweep and laid claim to the top spot in the division. Notes: The Twins expanded their AL Central lead to 1 1/2 games over the White Sox (losers of five straight) with their 5th straight win and a three-game sweep of the Tigers in Minnesota. The Twins beat up on Detroit with 11-1, 4-1 and 7-6 wins. National League Might as well reserve a spot in Cooperstown for Chipper Jones, that is, if he ever decides to retire. Maybe his induction will be somewhere around 2015 or so. Jones is approaching some milestone figures. In his 14th year, all with Atlanta, he's played in 1923 games (2000 this season), has 395 homers and 1326 RBI. An RBI total of 1500 is almost an automatic for the Hall, and, barring injuries, Chipper should top that number by August of 2009. He's never hit less than 20 homers in any season, and has topped 30 nine times. On Sunday, Jones led the Braves to a sweep of the Reds in a 14-7 rout at Atlanta. Chipper went 3-for-6, with a double, his 9th home run of the season and five RBI, giving him 27 for the year, 4 behind Houston's Lance Berkman. Jones leads the majors with a .425 batting average and his 9 homers is third best in the NL. Her's hit safely in all but three games and earlier had a 13-game hitting streak. He's had 2 or more hits 15 times this season. Notes: Arizona finally lost their 10th game (21-10), but the Dodgers had their winning streak snapped at eight by Colorado as the Rockies knocked them down by a 7-2 score on Sunday, leaving the Dodgers 4 games behind the D-Backs in the West. St. Louis leads the Central by 1 1/2 over the Cubs, and Philly is 1/2-game to the good over the Mets and Marlins in the East.