Toronto Trio Blasts Cleveland; Kelly Johnson Slams Cards; Jeter, Yanks Rained Out

Players of the Day for Friday, July 8, 2011

American League

Rajai Davis

Edwin Encarnacion

Talk about the bottom of the order coming through and you have to mention the job done by the sixth, seventh and ninth hitters for Toronto in their 11-7 win at Cleveland.

Edwin Encarnacion (6), Travis Snider (7) and Rajai Davis (9) combined for 10 of the Blue Jays' 16 hits, nine of 10 RBI and eight of the team's 11 runs.

Encarnacion went 4-for-5 and scored four times. Snider was 3-for-5 with a double, home run, five RBI and two runs, but Rajai Davis had a double and a pair of singles in four at-bats, stole two bases, scored twice and drove in four runs.

Travis Snider

The trio put away all thoughts of their previous game, which came to a sudden end when Cleveland's Travis Hafner belted a grand slam for the 5-4 win.

The Blue Jays, though blessed with an enormity of talent, remain near the bottom of the AL East, 11 games back and four games under .500. With the loss, Cleveland is clinging to a 1/2 game lead in the Central. The second place Tigers have won three straight and have been locked into a battle for the division lead for over a month.

National League

Kelly Johnson

Kelly Johnson had just one hit for Arizona in their 7-6 win at St. Louis, but it was a big one and provided the Diamondbacks' margin of victory.

Tied at three in the top of the seventh, the Diamondbacks loaded the bases for Johnson and the veteran second baseman responded with his 16th home run and second grand slam of the season, establishing a lead that Arizona would not surrender. Arizona gave up three runs in the bottom of the 8th for the 7-6 victory.

It was Johnson's fourth career grand slam and helped the Diamondbacks edge closer to the Giants in the NL West. Arizona trails San Francisco by one game after the Giants lost at home, 5-3, to the Mets. The Cardinals continued to hold second place, tied with Pittsburgh one game back of Milwaukee in the Central.

JETER 3000 WATCH: In what has to be as frustrating for Jeter as it is for the fans, Friday's scheduled game with the Rays was rained out and postponed until September. Jeter, the Yankees and Rays will be on the field Saturday at 1:05, and Sunday will be the final game before the all star break. Jeter is just two hits shy of 3000, but the Yankees start the second half of the season with an eight game road trip, so the two games will be his last opportunity to get hit #3000 at Yankee Stadium.

Jeter, along with Alex Rodriguez and closer Mariano Rivera all pulled out of the all star game due to nagging injuries. Jeter intends to rest his sore calf, which earlier put him on the disabled list, while Rodriguez rests a sore knee and Rivera nurses an ailing right arm.

Hafner Grand Slam Produces 5-4 Win for Tribe; Freeman Leads Braves; Jeter at 2998

Players of the Day for Thursday, July 7, 2011

American League

Toronto pitchers kept Indians' hitters in check through the first eight innings of their game in Cleveland; unfortunately, a ball game lasts nine.

Travis Hafner

Entering the bottom of the 9th down 4-0, the Indians put together a rally, loading the bases on a single, double and a walk before Asdrubal Cabrera drove in the Indians' first run of the game with a single to shallow left. That left the table set for Travis Hafner, who went to the plate with two singles in four previous at-bats, but had no RBI or runs to show for his efforts.

All that changed when Hafner lauched a massive drive into the night air, driving the ball deep into the right field stands for his 12th career grand slam, and, more importantly, a stunning, walk-off, 5-4, victory.

Hafner, playing exclusively as a DH, is batting .347, though the number of at-bats fall short of qualifying him for inclusion in the batting title statistics. Because of minor injuries and interleague play, Hafner has only participated in 48 games and has only 150 at-bats, though he's got eight home runs and 35 RBI. The Indians maintained their 1 1/2 game lead over the Tigers in the AL Central. Detroit beat KC, 3-1, on Thursday.

National League

Freddie Freeman (R)

Atlanta has won four straight, nine of their last ten, and fresh Freddie Freeman is showing the way.

Freeman, a rookie first baseman, went 3-for-4, including his 13th home run of the season, a three-run, 3rd inning blast that erased a 2-0 Colorado lead as the Braves touched home five times in the inning.

Atlanta scored another run in the 5th, and Tim Hudson and a trio of relievers held the Rockies in check for the 6-3 win and a series sweep of the four games in Atlanta in which Colorado stars Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez were sidelined with injuries.

Batting .279 with 13 homers and 42 RBI, Freeman is putting in a solid bid for NL rookie of the year, while providing much-needed power for the Braves, who trail Philly by just 2 1/2 games in the torrid NL East. While chasing the Phillies, the Braves have built a 5-game lead over Arizona in the wild card standings.

JETER 3000 WATCH: Finally back in Yankee Stadium, Derek Jeter wasted no time in his quest for 3000 hits, taking the first pitch he saw from Tampa starter Jeff Niemann into the left-center gap for a leadoff double. That hit put Jeter just two shy of the mark, but it also turned out to be his only hit of the game, as the Rays dominated the Yankees in a 5-1 win.

Jeter finished 1-for-5, but will have three more cracks at Tampa pitching before the squads set down for the all star break. With New York buzzing and Jeter's penchant for the dramatic, this should turn into a memorable weekend in the Big Apple.

Longoria Keeping Rays in Race; Shierholtz Leads Giants in Extra Innings; Jeter Within Three

Players of the Day for Wednesday, July 6, 2011

American League

Evan Longoria

While the Yankees and Red Sox continue to slug it out atop the AL East (Yanks lead by 1/2 game), the Tampa Bay Rays have quietly kept pace and are just four games out after whipping the Twins, 12-5, Wednesday night.

Having lost the first two games of the series to the Twins, the Rays responded, avoiding the series sweep thanks to Evan Longoria, who went 3-for-6 and provided key offense in the late innings.

With the score tied 5-5 in the 8th, Logoria, with his second hit of the night, singled in the go-ahead run and later scored as the Rays plated four in the inning. In the 9th, Logoria topped off his night and put the game away with a three-run homer, his 11th.

Longoria has picked up the pace of late with three homers and 15 RBI in his last ten games. The Rays travel to New York for a four-game series with the Yankees, preceding the all star break.

National League

Nate Schierholtz

Normally, the San Francisco Giants rely on excellent starting pitching and usually aren't too worried about the San Diego Padres, but after consecutive 5-3 losses to the fourth place Padres, the Giants saw their lead in the NL West dwindle to just one game over the Diamondbacks entering Wednesday's games.

It looked like another bad night for the Giants by the sixth inning, as starter Madison Bumgarner allowed nine hits and five runs for a 5-3 Padres lead, but Pablo Sandoval doubled in a pair of runs to tie the game and send it to extras.

Both bullpens were unflappable until the bottom of the 13th, when Nate Schierholtz ended it with his second home run of the game, a solo shot to right for the walk-off, 6-5 Giants' victory.

Schierholtz had earlier doubled and smacked a two-run homer in the 4th inning. He finished with three hits in six at-bats, three RBI and two runs in the comeback win. Coupled with Arizona losing to Milwaukee, 3-1, the Giants increased their lead to two games in the division.

JETER 3000 WATCH: The Yankees couldn't muster much offense, scoring all of their runs in the 9th inning, losing the series finale at Cleveland, 5-3. Jeter went 1-for-3, banging a double eyond the reach of Indians right fielder Austin Kearns in the 8th, putting him within three hits of the historic mark.

The Yankees return home on Thursday for a four-game set with the Rays, the final series before the all star break. Ticket prices have spiked in New York since the all star shortstop came off the DL three days ago. The average price for the Saturday game - the third in the series - reached $194 in secondary markets, with the Thursday, Friday and Sunday game prices not far behind.

Haren Outduels Verlander; Granderson Knocks a Pair; Howard Leads Phils; Jeter Two Hits Closer

Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 5, 2011

American League

Well, Justin Verlander is human after all, as proven by Dan Haren and the LA Angels Tuesday night.

Haren: 2-Hitter

Haren (8-5) shut out the Tigers on two hits, and the Angels pushed across a run in the 2nd inning that held up for the 1-0 win. It was the first loss for Verlander after winning seven consecutive starting assignments dating back to mid-May.

Throwing 87 of 122 pitches for strikes, Haren issued no walks and struck out nine Tigers. The Angels have won four straight and remain tied with Texas atop the AL West with Seattle lurking, just 2 1/2 games back. The win was Haren's second complete game shutout of the year.

Granderson: 25 HR

In Cleveland, the Yankees pounded out 17 hits for a 9-2 win over the Indians. Curtis Granderson went 3-for-6, with two homers - his 24th and 25th - three RBI and three runs. Granderson's two-run shot in the 2nd inning and solo blast in the 4th put the Yankees up 6-0, as C.C. Sabathia improved to 12-4, throwing seven innings of shutout ball and striking out 11.

The Yankees maintained their 1 1/2 game lead over Boston in the AL East, while the Indians held onto the same edge over the Tigers in the Central.

National League

Howard: 71 RBI

It may not seem fair that the Phillies play a three-game series with the Florida Marlins, but the schedule dictates they play the games, no matter the expected outcome.

Tuesday's 14-2 Phillies' romp surprised nobody, as the Phillies kept their NL East lead over the Braves at four games and the Marlins sunk further into the depths of the division.

Ryan Howard went 4-for-5, including his 18th home run of the season, a two-run job in the 4th. Howard also singled twice and doubled, drove in four runs and scored three times.

Jeter: 2996 Hits

With 71 RBI, Howard tied Prince Fielder of the Brewers for the lead in the National League. LA's Matt Kemp is third, with 64.

JETER 3000 WATCH: Derek Jeter took two steps closer to the magic 3000-hit mark, going 2-for-6 in the Yankees' win at Cleveland. That puts him just four hits away with one more game to complete the series in Cleveland. Manager Joe Girardi has suggested that he might sit the Yankee captain for Wednesday's game, as Jeter is just off the DL and has played four straight games - two of them with Trenton on a rehab assignment - and Girardi wants to keep Jeter healthy.

Jeter said he wants to play Wednesday, as the team prepares to head back to Yankee Stadium for a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays.