Diamond Rundown – Edition Fourteen

Facts, figures and other tidbits from the fourteenth week of the ’08 major league baseball season.

According to Elias I:  Texas’s Josh Hamilton notched his 80^th RBI in the third inning of the Rangers 2-1 win over the Yankees.  Hamilton’s 80 RBI was the most by the end of June since Carlos Delgado plated 89 in 2003, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. 

Notable Quotable I:  “You can’t hit lefties and you’re old!”  Darren Baker, son of Reds manager Dusty Baker, before Monday’s game against the Pirates to Ken Griffey Jr. who was told he would be on the bench for their game.  He was later inserted for defensive purposes and got a chance to bat in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game against Pittsburgh’s Matt Capps — a righty — and ended it with a walk-off homer to give the Reds a 4-3 win.

Two-Sided:  Chicago’s Nick Swisher homered from both sides of the plate including his second grand slam in four games in the White Sox 9-7 win over the Indians.  It was the second time this season that Swisher homered from both sides of the plate and he was the first player in team history to accomplish such a feat twice.

From Start to Finish:  Toronto’s Roy Halladay notched his sixth complete game of 2008 on Monday which leads the Majors.  He gave up four hits in his 10^th career shutout and raised his record to 9-6 while lowering his ERA to 2.90.  Halladay led the AL in complete games in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

In Good Company:  Philadelphia’s Pat Burrell hit his 20^th home run this season in their 8-3 win over the Braves on Tuesday.  Burrell joined only Mike Schmidt as the only other player in Phillies’ history to hit at least 20 home runs in eight consecutive seasons.

Dazzling Debut I:  Washington’s Collin Ballester went five innings and gave up just one run on one hit and three walks in the Nationals 9-6 win over the Marlins on Tuesday.

Notable Quotable II:  “He has a lot of heart.  I was going to say something else but that might not make it in print.”  Washington’s Dmitri Young on Ballester’s performance on Tuesday.

Not Particular:  Minnesota’s lead-off hitter Carlos Gomez walked twice in one game for the first time in his career.  So far this season, Gomez walked just 14 times compared to 83 strikeouts in 335 at-bats.

Stopper:  Colorado’s Aaron Cook pitched the first shutout of his career and snapped a Rockies’ losing streak of three or more games for the fourth time this season.  With his five-hitter, Cook lowered his ERA to 3.38 and raised his record to 11-5.  The Rockies beat the Padres on Tuesday, 4-0.

The Return of Bruce:  After a drought of 62 at-bats, Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce hit his fifth home run of the season to lead off the game on Wednesday.  In the next inning, he added his sixth home run to record his first multi-home run game of his career.  It was Bruce’s second lead-off homer of his short career.

Notable Quotable III:  “Ozzie was yelling at me to not try to be a hero and hit a single.  When I hit it, I was like, it’s got a chance but I didn’t know it was going to make it.”  White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski on his walk-off home run to beat the Indians 6-5 in 10 innings on Wednesday and extend the team’s winning streak to seven games.

20/20:  In their loss on Wednesday, Cleveland’s Gray Sizemore hit his 20^th and 21^st home run and stole his 20^th base to become the first American League player to have 20 of each this season.

Comeback I:  Down 5-0, the Arizona Diamondbacks scored six runs without making an out in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Milwaukee Brewers.  The D-Backs scored six runs on six hits including Conor Jackson’s 2-run single off of Salomon Torres to end the game.

According to Elias II:  When the Red Sox and Yankees began their series on Thursday, both teams trailed the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.  According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the two teams met after Memorial Day with neither team in first place was September 1997.

Notable Quotable IV:  “For three years, Duchsherer preached down in the bullpen, ‘I am a much better starter than a reliever.  I’m a much better starter than a reliever.’  It was to the point where it was ad nauseum, where you just wanted to tell him, ‘Duke, you’re not starting.’”  Athletics reliever Huston Street after Justin Duchsherer recorded his ninth win of the season in their 3-2 win over the White Sox.  Duchsherer went seven innings and gave up two runs on five hits and two walks and was rewarded later in the week as the team’s lone All-Star representative.

Half Off Clearance:  After a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox and a three-game average of 33,768 fans per game the Rays put their best record in baseball on the line against the Kansas City Royals.  A total of 16,830 people turned out for their first game with the Royals on Friday, less than half the average attendance for the series with the Sox.

According to Elias III:  The Braves sent down the struggling Jeff Francoeur to Double-A Mississippi and replaced him on the roster with Jason Perry.  Perry tripled in his first Major League at-bat and, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, became the first player in team history to hit a triple in their first at-bat.

Comeback II:  The Colorado Rockies recovered from a 13-4 deficit in the fourth inning to beat the Marlins 18-17 with a walk-off single in the ninth inning by Chris Ianetta.  The Rockies trailed 5-1 after the first, 7-3 after the second, 13-5 after the fourth, 17-12 going into the bottom of the seventh when Matt Holliday hit a grand slam to make it 17-16 before eventually winning 18-17.  The two teams combined for 35 runs, 43 hits, 21 extra-base hits and eight home runs.  Other than the pitchers, Colorado’s Brad Hawpe was the only starter to not get a run and a hit in the game — Hawpe went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.

Notable Quotable V:  “I think we owe it to the players for it to be agonizing, and it has been.” Red Sox and American League All-Star manager Terry Francona on selecting players for this year’s All-Star game.

Three’s Company:  Tampa Bay’s Andy Sonnanstine won his fourth consecutive decision on Saturday to go to 10-3 becoming only the third pitcher in Rays’ history to win 10 games by the All-Star break.  Sonnanstine joined Rolando Arrojo in 1998 and Scott Kazmir in 2006 to achieve 10 wins by that point in the season.

Home Sweet Home:  Cincinnati’s Edinson Volquez had a tough outing on Sunday.  He pitched six innings and gave up five hits and three runs with three walks and three strikeouts.  The Reds answered with some support and they helped Volquez to his 11^th win of the season in their 6-5 win over the Nationals.  This season, Volquez is 6-0 at Great American Ballpark.  He is also 1-0 at Yankee Stadium this season where he will be pitching in the All-Star game.

Sunday Bloody Sunday:  The Baltimore Orioles lost 11-10 to the Rangers on Sunday and dropped their 13^th consecutive Sunday game.  They are 1-13 in Sunday games this season and have been outscored 75-44.

Notable Quotable VI:  “If we’ve got to work this hard to win one, I don’t know if we’re going to have enough gas in the tank.”  Atlanta’s Chipper Jones after their 7-6 win over the Astros in 17 innings on Sunday.  The game took five hours and 35 minutes.

Catch Me If You Can:  Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins stole two bases on Sunday in their 4-2 loss to the Mets in 12 innings.  It was his 21^st steal without being caught and 35^th consecutive stolen base without being caught dating back to last year.

Dazzling Debut II:  Marlins reliever Chris Volstad pitched two scoreless innings on Sunday.  Florida’s newest pitcher who skipped Triple-A on his way to the Majors was the pitcher of record when the Marlins took the lead and got a win in his first Major League appearance.  The Marlins won 10-5 over the Rockies.

A Bear of a Time:  Troy Glaus of the Cardinals finished 0-for-4 on Sunday in their 7-1 loss to the Cubs.  This season, Glaus is 0-for-24 with 10 strikeouts against Chicago.

Notable Quotable VII:  “This is the best thing in my life, next to getting married.”  Kansas City’s Joakim Soria on his selection to the American League All-Star roster this season.

Still “The Big Unit”:  Arizona’s Randy Johnson picked up the 289^th win of his career on Sunday which moved him to 24^th on the All-Time Wins list passing Tommy John.  Johnson gave up a home run in the first to Scott Hairston then settled down going 6 1/3 innings with three hits and one run in their 3-2 win over the Padres.  He also recorded double-digit strikeouts (10) for the 211^th time in his career.  Johnson trails only Nolan Ryan who recorded double-digits in strikeouts 215 times in his career.

Numbers Game
16:  Both Kansas City’s David DeJesus and Milwaukee’s J.J. Hardy saw their 16-game hitting streaks come to an end on Saturday.
34:  Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez recorded his 34^th save in 36 tries on Wednesday in their 7-4 win over the Athletics.  He is now 23 saves shy of the Major League record in saves and tied with John Smoltz for the most saves recorded before the All-Star break.
100:  Angels starter Jon Garland pitched a complete game six-hitter to earn his 100^th win of his career.  It was the 241^st start of his career.  The Angels won 7-1 over the Blue Jays and Garland is now 11-2 with five straight winning decisions against Toronto.
128:  The Texas Rangers continued their streak of games without being shutout dating back to August 21, 2007 to 128.  No wonder four Rangers received All-Star honors.
264:  Florida Marlins have now gone 264 games without a complete game — the longest streak in Major League history.  Florida passed the Washington Nationals who failed to have a complete game in 261 games on Friday.  The next longest active streak in the Majors belongs to the San Francisco Giants who have gone 188 games without a complete game.
300:  St. Louis’s Albert Pujols hit his 300^th home run in their 2-1 loss to the Cubs on Friday.  He was the fifth youngest to hit 300 homers at 28 years, 170 days — one day younger than Mel Ott when he hit 300 home runs.
535:  Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez slammed the 535^th home run of his career on Wednesday in their nine-run seventh inning vs. Texas.  He passed Jimmie Foxx for 14^th on the All-Time list and the Yankees beat the Rangers by a score of 18-7…
536:  Then A-Rod did it again on Sunday and tied Mickey Mantle for 13^th on the career home run list.  Madonna could not be reached for comment.
1500:  San Francisco’s Rich Aurillia hit a home run in the team’s 5-3 loss to the Dodgers on Sunday — the 1,500^th hit of his career.
5001:  Cincinnati’s Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 604^th home run on Friday off of Washington’s Jason Bergmann – Griffey’s 387^th victim — in their 3-0 win over the Nationals.  With the homer, Griffey became the 18^th player in Major League history to reach 5,000 total bases.  Griffey ended the game with 5,001 total bases.

Grand Slams
Nick Swisher, Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland (6/30)
Mark DeRosa, Chicago Cubs vs. San Francisco (6/30)
Ronnie Belliard, Washington vs. Florida (7/1)
Jason Giambi, NY Yankees vs. Texas (7/2)
Matt Holliday, Colorado vs. Florida (7/4)

Walk-Off Archive
Single:  Orlando Cabrera, Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland (7/1); Willie Bloomquist, Seattle vs. Toronto (7/1); Conor Jackson, Arizona vs. Milwaukee (7/3); Ryan Spilborghs, Colorado vs. Florida (7/3); Shane Victorino, Philadelphia vs. NY Mets (7/4); Rick Ankiel, St. Louis vs. Chicago Cubs (7/5); Prince Fielder, Milwaukee vs. Pittsburgh (7/5); Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati vs. Washington (7/5); Mark Teixeira, Atlanta vs. Houston (7/6); Brett Gardner, NY Yankees vs. Boston (7/6) 
Double:  None 
Triple:  None 
Home Run:  Josh Willingham, Florida vs. Washington (6/30); Ken Griffey Jr., Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh (6/30); A.J. Pierzynski, Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland (7/2); Troy Glaus, St. Louis vs. NY Mets (7/2)