Lester Blanks Yanks; Hamels Stops Braves

Players of the Day from Thursday, July 3, 2008 American League The Red Sox struggled with Tampa Bay, dropping all three games of their series with the Rays, but they had little trouble ending their overall five-game skid as Jon Lester twirled a five-hit shutout to drop the Yankees, 7-0. Lester (8-5) threw 102 pitches, walking 2 while striking out 8. He stifled the heart of the Yankee batting order, limiting the first six hitters in the lineup to one hit in 20 at-bats. With the Rays idle, Boston picked up 1/2 game and trail by 3. The Yankees are 8 out of first, but have a chance to close the gap with three more games against Boston at Yankee Stadium this weekend. Notes: The Oakland A's dropped two of three to the Angels this week, but they opened their four-game set in Chicago with a key 3-2 win, ending the White Sox's 8-game winning streak. While the A's trail the Angels by 5 games in the West, Chicago remains in control of the Central, two games up on Minnesota, with the Tigers lurking, 6 games off the pace. National League Philadelphia may be the most balanced team in the National League and that's a key to their 2 1/2 game lead over Florida in the NL East. One large part of that balance resides in the left arm of Cole Hamels, who shut down the Atlanta Braves on Thursday for a 4-1 Philly win. Hamels (9-5) was working on a shutout until the Braves finally broke through for a run with two outs in the ninth. Tom Gordon came on to nail down the final out. Hamels gave up five hits and one earned run, striking out 7 while walking a pair. Notes: Hamels is third in the NL strikeout race, with 110, behind Edinson Volquez (113) and Tim Lincecum (122), who added 8 to his total on Thursday in an 8-3 win over the Cubs. Expect to see all three of these whiff masters on the mound for the Nationals in the July 15 All Star game.

Giambi, Rodriguez Smash Rangers; Glaus Heroic in Cardinals' Win

Players of the Day from Wednesday, July 2, 2008 American League With most of the attention in the AL East focused on the Rays' sweep of the Red Sox, the Yankees still pose a threat, though they are now 7 1/2 back in the division race. On Wednesday, Alex Rodriguez (left) and Jason Giambi (right) made sure that the Bombers avoided being swept themselves, but none other than the unbalanced Texas Rangers, as the Yankees feasted on Texas pitching for an 18-7 win. Giambi's grand slam in the 3rd turned a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead, one which the Yankees would give away. It was Giambi again in the 7th, tying the game at 7-7 with a two-run double that ignited a 9-run inning. Giambi finished 2-for-4 with 6 RBI. Alex Rodriguez did his part, with a single and a three run homer in three at-bats. He also walked twice and scored four times in the rout. Notes: The Angels knocked off their only challenger in the West, beating the A's 7-4, taking 2 of 3 in the series and extending their lead to 5 1/2 games. Unless injuries overwhelm the Halos, might as well chalk them in for the playoffs again. National League The three teams vying for dominance in the NL Central - Chicago, St. Louis and Milwaukee - all won 1-run games on Wednesday, but the Cardinals and Troy Glaus had to work extra hard for their 8-7 victory over the Mets.

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Glaus helped stake the Cards to a 4-0 lead in the first inning with a 3-run homer, but after 7, the Mets were up, 7-5, but the Cardinals were just getting started. Chris Duncan tied the game with a 2-run blast in the 8th, and Glaus ended it in dramatic fashion with his second homer of the night, a 2-out, walk-off solo shot. The win keeps the Cardinals 2 in front of Milwaukee and 2 1/2 back of the Cubs, who won 6-5 at San Fran while the Brewers were beating the Diamondbacks, 4-3. Notes: Milwaukee's win over Arizona dropped the D-Backs under .500, at 42-43, but still 1 1/2 better than the Dodgers. Every team in the division is now playing less than .500 ball.

5-Hit Wonders Garza, Cook, Stymie Boston, Arizona

Players of the Day from Tuesday, July 1, 2008 American League The Rays topped Boston for the second straight day as Matt Garza virtually silenced the Beantown bats on five hits in Tampa Bay's 3-1 win over the Red Sox. Boston's only run came via a 4th inning J. D. Drew sac fly and was unearned. Other than that, Garza, who didn't walk a batter, continued his mound dominance. In his last start, Garza threw a one-hitter and over his last four starts (three of them wins) he's allowed 16 hits and 5 earned runs in 29 innings.

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The Rays expanded their lead over Boston to 2 1/2 games and 7 1/2 over the struggling Yankees. Tampa Bay is 5-0 against Boston at Tropicana Field this season. Notes: The Angels beat their only challenger in the West, the Oakland A's, 5-3, on Tuesday, to improve to 5-4 against the A's. The two teams play the rubber game of the 3-game set tonight in Anaheim and meet just six more times - in August and September - this season. If they hope to have any impact in the AL West race, the A's have to do better than play the Angels even. National League The Rockies got all their runs in one inning, but Aaron Cook had to work all nine for his complete game, 4-0 shutout over the punchless Padres. For Cook (11-5), the outing was the first shutout of his 6 year major league career and his 8th complete game. He allowed five hits, striking out four while walking none, throwing just 79 pitches (58 for strikes) and getting 15 outs on ground balls. Oddly enough, these two teams battled down to the wire for the NL West title last season. This game was all about which team would end up in last place. The Rockies are 9 games behind Arizona in the division; the Padres are 9 1/2 back. Notes: The Cubs and Cardinals both lost on Tuesday, making Milwaukee's 8-6 win over the Diamondbacks all the better. The Brewers are 4 1/2 behind the Cubs and just 2 back of St. Louis in the Central division struggle.

DeRosa Slam Lifts Cubs; Halladay Tosses 4-Hit Shutout at Mariners

Players of the Day from Monday, June 30, 2008 American League Year in and year out, veteran Roy Halladay is one of the best pitchers in the game, but he's labored much of his career in the relative obscurity of Toronto. The idea that nobody notices didn't deter him from pitching his 37th complete game and 10th shutout on Monday, as the Blue Jays topped Seattle, 2-0 Halladay (9-6) threw 84 of 115 pitches for strikes, didn't walk a batter and struck out nine while allowing just four harmless singles. 16 of the 27 outs recorded were via ground balls. With power and control, Halladay's numbers are rock solid, as usual, with an ERA of 2.90 and a 1.04 WHIP. Notes: The three-game series which opened in Chicago with a 9-7 White Sox win last night could prove pivotal to the Indians' chances of repeating as NL Central champions. With their fifth straight win, the Sox pulled 2 1/2 clear of Minnesota, losers to Detroit (5 behind), which has won six straight. Cleveland has lost three straight and are in last place, 10 1/2 out and a game behind the Royals. In Monday's game, Cleveland's Jhonny Peralta went 5-for-5, with three doubles and a home run, driving in three runs and scoring three. For the White Sox, hit a solo homer and a grand slam,k driving in six runs in four at-bats. National League With contributions from players up and down the lineup, the Cubs have established themselves as the team to beat in the NL Central. On Monday, third baseman Mark DeRosa had the big hits, socking a two-run homer in the 5th inning and a grand slam in the 8th, driving in six runs as Chicago blasted past San Francisco, 9-2.

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DeRosa also singled to go 3-for-4, boosting his batting average to a very respectable .295. The loss went to troubled Barry Zito, whose record dropped to 3-12. The Cubs maintained their 2 1/2 bulge over St. Louis while Milwaukee dropped a 6-3 decision at Arizona to fall 5 1/2 off the pace. Notes: Ken Griffey Jr. belted home run #603 in the bottom of the 9th inning with a man aboard to give the Reds a come-from-behind win over Pittsburgh, 4-3 Griffey entered the game in the top of the inning as a defensive replacement, but came through at the plate. With the pressure of reaching the 600 mark now past, Junior's been playing a little more like, well... himself lately. He's hit 3 homers in his last 8 games.