Crede goes 4-for-4 in ChiSox Win; Kuroda 4-hits Cubs

Players of the Day from Friday, June 6, 2008 American League The Chicago White Sox continue the domination over Central Division teams, leading the Twins by 3 1/2 games after Joe Crede socked a pair of solo homers in a 10-6 win over Minnesota. Crede also singled twice and scored three times, going 4-for-4 on the night. His two RBI gave him 33, though he's far behind teammate Carlos Quentin, who blasted his 16th home run and drove in 3 runs, for a season total of 53, second in the AL. Notes: The White Sox have won four straight, while out in the West, the Angels won their sixth straight, a 3-1 win over 2nd place Oakland, which boosted their lead in the division to 4 1/2 games. In the East, Boston's 3-game win streak was snapped by Seattle, as the Mariners handcuffed the BoSox, 8-0. Boston leads Tampa Bay by 1/2 game. National League Nobody expected Hiroki Kuroda to last through the 6th inning, much less pitch a complete game, 4-hit shutout last night, stopping the Central division-leading Cubs, 4-0. Kuroda, who was last seen leaving the mound after just 2 2/3 innings after allowing 7 hits and 6 runs to the Mets in New York. On Friday, however, the rookie starter was a different pitcher, throwing 77 of 112 pitches for strikes, fanning 11 in the process, including Alfonso Soriano and Derreck Lee twice each. He also did not issue any walks. Kuroda, who hasn't pitched badly for the most part, sports a 3.49 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP, to go along with his 3-5 record. Notes: There's plenty of good pitching to go around in the NL West. Besides the solid starters for the Dodgers and Padres, there's a guy in Arizona named Brandon Webb, who became the first 11-game winner in the majors with a 3-1 win over the punchless Pirates. Webb allowed 3 hits and one earned run over 7 innings without walking a batter. He struck out 3 while improving to 11-2.

Ramirez Drives in Five as Sox Sweep Rays; Dukes' Walk-Off Blast Folds Cards

Players of the Day from Thursday, June 5, 2008 American League Manny Ramirez cracked a three-run homer in the first inning and drove in another pair of runs in the 4th with a single to lead the Red Sox to their third straight win over Tampa Bay, 7-1. With the five RBI, Ramirez has moved into third place in the RBI race, chasing Josh Hamilton (68) and Carlos Quentin (50). The Red Sox, by sweeping the series with the Rays in Boston, have retaken first place in the AL East and lead the Rays by 1 1/2 games.

Fish , Hunt Ducks and Waterfowl Lake Manitoba Narrows
Golf, Fish Walleye , Fall Duck Hunting at Resort Lake Manitoba Narrows Home Cottage Lot.
fishlakemanitobanarrows.com

Notes: Texas earned a split in the slugfest series with Cleveland, winning 9-4 on Thursday. Kevin Millwood (4-3) got the win, with C.C. Sabathia (3-8) taking the loss. The 21 hits and 13 runs the two teams combined for was a low of the series. The totals for the four games were 113 hits and 80 runs. Texas shortstop Michael Young, who extended his hitting streak to 21 games, had 10 hits in the series, raising his batting average from .289 to .306. Milton Bradley homered for the 4th time in the last three games. He has 13 and is batting .337. Ian Kinsler went 0-for-4, snapping his 19-game hitting streak. National League Elijah Dukes - budding star or flash-in-the-pan? Dukes, 23 and technically a 2nd year pro, smacked a two-run, 10th inning, walk-off homer to push the Nationals past St. Louis, 10-9 in the second game of a double-header, after losing the first game, 4-1. The blast was Dukes' first homer of the year. Earlier, he singled twice and tripled, going 4-for-6 for the game with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored. Dukes entered the game batting .155. He left it with a .203 average. Last season, in 52 games, Dukes played in 52 games, getting to the plate for 184 official at-bats. Of his 35 hits, 10 were of the home run variety, and while he was issued 33 walks, he struck out 44 times while batting a mediocre .190. Notes: Chipper Jones hit the 400th home run of his career, and went 4-for-5, raising his batting average to .418. Chipper, who has never had 200 hits in a season, already has 89.

Volquez Blanks Phillies; Tribe's Garko Plates 6

Players of the Day from Wednesday, June 4, 2008 American League Sometimes, all you need are singles to be a star. All Ryan Garko did Wednesday night was stroke four singles in six at-bats. Because there were so many of his teammates on base all night, Garko finished with 6 RBI in Cleveland's 15-9 win at Texas. The Indians banged out 17 hits. Ben Francisco, who had five of them, was driven home three times by Garko. The Rangers weren't exactly stoned at the plate either. Michael Young extended his hitting streak to 20 games. Ian Kinsler stretched his to 19 straight. The four-game series, which concludes tonight, has already been a pitcher's special kind of hell. The two teams have combined for 92 hits and 65 runs in the first three games. Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia and the Rangers' Kevin Millwood will try to stymie the bats in the series finale Thursday. Lots of luck! Notes: Shortstop Michael Young's 3-for-5 effort raised his batting average to an even .300. The first four hitters for Texas are all at that level or better. Leadoff man, Ian Kinsler is at .310, then Young, #3 hitter Josh Hamilton is batting .327, and Milton Bradley is at .328 in the cleanup spot. National League Edinson Volquez shut out the Phillies (one of the best hitting teams in the league) on two hits over seven innings as the Reds topped the Phillies, 2-0. Volquez, who threw 113 pitches, walked two and struck out 8, improving his record to 8-2. His ERA dropped to a microscopic 1.32. A rookie, Volquez has not allowed more than 2 earned runs in any of his 12 starts this season. On Wednesday, he was helped by some timely hitting and baserunning as Brandon Phillips scored both runs on a pair Joey Votto doubles. In the 7th innings, Phillips walked, stole second and scored the game's first run when Votto doubled. In the ninth, Phillips singled, again stole second and Votto doubled him in again. Votto's doubles and Phillips' single were the only hits of the night by Reds batters. Notes: Milwaukee's Corey Hart delivered a 4th inning, inside-the-park home run in the Brewers' 10-1 win last night over Arizona. Hart had already driven in a run in the 3rd with a single, and tallied 4 RBI for the night. The Brewers scored all 10 run in the first four innings. Milwaukee, desperately trying to catch the Cubs, have won six straight. Chicago's 9-game win streak was snapped last night in a 2-1 loss at San Diego.

Murphy 4-for-4 for Hit-Happy Rangers; Soriano, Jones Top NL Stars

Players of the Day from Tuesday, June 3, 2008 American League How many hot hitters can one team have? The Texas Rangers seem to have more than their fair share. Consider that in last night's 12-7 thumping of the Cleveland Indians, both Ian Kinsler and Michael Young extended their hitting streaks - to 19 and 20 games, respectively - Josh Hamilton homered for the 4th straight game, but rookie David Murphy's 4-for-4 night at the plate stole the show.

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

Murphy singled twice, doubled, and socked his 7th homer of the season, drove in two runs and scored three times. It was the second time this season that Murphy had four hits in a game and his 18th multi-hit performance. He's batting .292 and is the leading candidate for AL Rookie of the Year honors. Notes: The highly-anticipated debut of Yankee Joba Chamberlain as a starter didn't come off as planned. After 62 pitches and 2 1/3 tortuous innings, Manager Joe Girardi pulled the kid after he had allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on a hit and four walks. Though his fastball was approaching 100 mph, Joba couldn't find the plate and was sent back to the hut... er, dugout. He didn't get the loss. That, ironically, fell to his reliever, Dan Giese, who was called up from AAA to replace Chamberlain in the bullpen and was the Yankees' best pitcher, allowing just one run on five hits over 3 2/3 innings. Toronto won, 9-3. Roy Halladay improved to 7-5. The Blue Jays tightened their grip on third place. The Yankees fell to last. National League Mr. Leadoff, Alfonso Soriano (left) led the Cubs to their 9th straight win, beating the Padres, 9-6. Soriano doubled, homered, scored twice drove in three runs and stole a base as the Cubs remained 3 1/2 ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Chipper Jones (right) continued to assault baseballs without regard to the collective ERA of National League pitchers. After homering in the first to give the Braves a 3-0 lead, Jones singled and scored in the 8th, tying the game at 4, with Mark Teixeira scampering home behind him with the game-winner as the Braves topped the Marlins for the second straight night, 5-4. Chipper has 13 homers, 38 RBI and is continues to lead the world with a .409 batting average. Notes: Pedro Martinez came off the DL for his first start since early April on Tuesday and turned in a so-so performance, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and three walks over 7 innings. The Mets won the game, 9-6, and while Pedro got his first win of 2008, the sad saga of Barry Zito continued as the high-priced starter lost his 9th game against just one win. Zito was horrible, lasting just 4 1/3 innings, giving up 5 earned runs on 7 hits and 5 walks. His ERA is an unacceptable 5.89.