Players of the Day for Saturday, July 31, 2010
American League
Kevin Slowey threw eight innings of shutout ball at the Seattle Mariners, allowing just three hits, pacing the Minnesota Twins to their 7th straight win, with a
4-0 victory.
Slowey (10-4) fanned five and didn't allow a walk, giving up hits in just the 1st, 5th and 8th innings before turning the ball over to reliever Jose Mijares, who allowed a hit and stuck out one in a scoreless, non-save situation 9th.
Minnesota is determined not to let the White Sox get too far ahead in the AL Central. Their seven-game win streak has drawn them to within 1/2 game of Chicago while the Detroit Tigers continue to slump, limping along in third place, six games off the pace.
National League
The Cubs and Rockies have been scuffling along of late, so, the two of them getting together might be a boost for one club or more of the same for both. The Rockies had lost eight straight before a 9-3 over the Pirates and a blasting of the Cubs, 17-2, in the series opener, Friday. With that merciless beating, the Cubs entered Saturday's contest losers of three straight.
Colorado opened a 4-0 lead with three runs in the 2nd and another in the 3rd, only to see the Cubs rally back to tie the game with 3 runs in the 8th on a Derrick Lee homer at 5-all.
Meanwhile,
Carlos Gonzalez had put together a single, double and triple, scored once and driven in a run on a sac fly in the 7th.
When Gonzalez came to the plate to lead off the 9th, needing a homer to finish the cycle, the stage was set for unusual drama. All it took was one Sean Marshall fastball, which Gonzalez deposited into the right field seats to send the crowd into a frenzy and the Rockies to their third straight win,
6-5, over the visiting Cubs.
The win left the Rockies seven games off the pace set by the Padres in the NL West, while Chicago's loss dropped them 12 behind the Cardinals in the Central.
Being perpetually in last place doesn't seem to matter to most of the players on the Washington Nationals.
Sure, they're in a tough division - the NL East - where the other four teams ahead of them are all over .500, but they seem to accept their fate in stride and play on, despite their record.
Actually, the Nats' 46-58 record (.442) is the best of all divisional last-place teams, so there's reason for optimism, though not necessarily this season.
Still, the Nationals have won three straight including the first two of their three-game series against the visiting Phillies, who are attempting to run down the first place Braves. On Friday, Washington thumped the Phils, 8-1, but on Saturday, it looked like they might give one back, down 5-4 to open the bottom of the 9th. Of course, the Phillies are legendary for their bullpen issues, and Brad Lidge came on to hopefully record the final three outs.
All he got was one, and that was a Niger Morgan sacrifice bunt which put Michael Morse, who singled to lead off the inning, on second base. Lidge then managed to walk light-hitting Adam Kennedy, bringing the Nationals' best hitter,
Ryan Zimmerman, to the plate.
After fouling off a pitch, Zimmerman sent the next one over the center field wall for his 18th homer of the year and
stunning 7-5 win for the Nationals and capping a 2-for-4 night at the plate for Zimmerman, who helped the Nats' to a 3-0, 1st inning lead with a single and a run.
Lidge quietly made his way back to the clubhouse while the Nationals once again became the happiest last place team in the majors. The Nationals will try for the sweep on Sunday.
In the first inning, Toronto starter Ricky Romero didn't look like he was going to last five innings, but after walking leadoff batter Derek Jeter and giving up a two-run homer to Mark Teixeira, he settled into one of his best pitching performances of the season.
Romero allowed the Yankees only one more hit and went the distance in an 8-2 win. He set down 11 straight after the Teixeira homer and, after Marcus Thames led off the 5th with a single, put down the next 15 batters to close out the game.
Romero didn't issue a walk other than to Jeter, struck out four and needed only 116 pitches. He also didn't allow Alex Rodriguez to even come close to swatting his 600th home run. A-Rod has now gone 46 at-bats without a homer over 12 games and hasn't had a hit in his last 17 at-bats.
The Jays pounded out four homers against the Yanks, including Jose Bautista's major-league leading 33rd, a two-run blast in the 9th.
Toronto has taken the first tow of the three-game series in New York but still are 11 1/2 games off the AL East pace. The Yankee's loss dropped them into second place behind the Rays, who hold a slim, one-game lead.
National League
Not many people know the name Angel Sanchez, but the St. Louis Cardinals surely won't forget him.
Sanchez went 4-for-6, including a double and a triple and drove in six runs as the Astros won their 7th straight by the mind-boggling score of 18-1 at St. Louis.
The rookie shortstop has played only 25 games, but has hit safely in 18 of them. His big night Tuesday brought his batting average up to a crisp .303.
Houston continues to climb the standings in the NL Central, but are still well back, 12 games behind the Reds, but only two behind third place Milwaukee. The Cardinals' loss dropped them into second place, 1/2 game behind Cincy. The Reds and Cardinals have been swapping first and second place in the division since early June and the duel doesn't look to be ending any time soon.
