Diamond Rundown – Edition Ten
by Brian Joseph
Facts, figures and other tidbits from the tenth week of the ’08 major league baseball season.
Chasing History: Chase Utley hit a home run on Monday in Philadelphia’s 5-4 win over Cincinnati for his second 5-game home run streak of the season. Utley became only the fourth player in Major League history to have two 5-game home run streaks in the same season joining Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas and Harmon Killebrew.
Notable Quotable I: “I love DH. I’m pretty sure they’re not going to miss my Gold Glove out there.” Boston’s Manny Ramirez after hitting his third home run in three games and 2nd as a DH as David Ortiz’s replacement.
Batman: Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano can be dangerous at the plate and proved it on Monday in the Chicago’s 7-6 win over San Diego. Zambrano only made it through 5 innings and gave up five hits and four walks which led to three runs but he did some damage at the plate. Zambrano went 3-for-3 with a triple and an RBI and raised his season average to .366.
Poor-for-Four: The Detroit Tigers lost 5-4 and 10-2 to Oakland on Tuesday and Wednesday and lost 4-2 to Cleveland on Thursday. The three losses brought their season record when scoring four or less runs to 1-32.
Notable Quotable II: “It felt like I’d had a couple of beers. The ball was looking all crazy.” Angels outfielder Torii Hunter on Seattle’s R.A. Dickey who pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Erik Bedard on Tuesday. The Angels did win 5-4 though.
Move Over, Darryl: Mets shortstop Jose Reyes lost his 18-game hitting streak on Tuesday but he kept his streak of safely reaching base going and extended it to 37 games before going 0-for-5 on Saturday. His streak of 37 broke Darryl Strawberry’s streak of 33, the highest for a Mets leadoff hitter. It fell well short of the Mets record of 47 set by John Olerud in 1988-89.
Move Over, Mickey: Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter registered his 2,416th hit as a Yankee on Wednesday. The hit moved Jeter past Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle for third place on the Yankees’ All-Time Hits List. Jeter is behind Babe Rush (2,518) and Lou Gehrig (2,721) on the Yankees list.
Notable Quotable III: “It was awesome. I can’t thank everybody enough.” Cincinnati’s Ken Griffey Jr. on the standing ovation he received after a deep fly out in the ninth inning on the road in Philadelphia on Thursday. On his return to the dugout, Griffey tipped his hat and waved to the Philadelphia fans.
Banking On Banks: Josh Banks has proven that not all is bad in San Diego for the Padres. On Thursday, Banks pitched six innings and gave up one run on five hits in a no decision against the Mets. The Padres won the game 2-1 and Banks finally gave up an earned run but the 25-year-old righty has been stingy. In 23 innings, Banks has given up one earned run which is good for a 0.36 ERA.
That’s Putting It Wildly: Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Padres was particularly tough for Scott Schoeneweis. In a 1-1 game in the ninth inning, Schoeneweis walked the first two batters and then after a grounder moved the runners, Schoeneweis walked the bases loaded intentionally. He hit the next batter – Paul McAnulty – with a pitch, forcing in the winning run.
Notable Quotable IV: “I protected my own players and that’s what we need to do around here. We’ve been getting stomped around the last 10 years and it isn’t going to happen anymore. I had to let them know early and let them know right away.” Tampa Bay’s James Shields who hit Boston’s Coco Crisp on Thursday following Crisp’s retaliatory forearm slide the previous night. The plunking of Crisp led to him charging Shields and the benches clearing. Eight players – including Shields and Crisp – were suspended due to the incident.
Victory-ino: Helped by a Kelly Johnson error in the ninth that allowed the Phillies to tie it in the ninth, Philadelphia’s Shane Victorino hit his second triple of the game to give the Phillies a lead in the 10th. Then, Victorino threw out Gregor Blanco – the eventual tying run – at home to give the Phillies a 4-3 win on Friday.
The Road Warrior: San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum has been unbeatable when pitching on the road this season. In seven starts, Lincecum is 6-0 on the road. On Friday, he gave up one earned run on five hits in seven innings in their 10-1 win over the Nationals in Washington.
Notable Quotable V: “Lincecum was way too good. I don’t think even the ’27 Yankees want to fall behind 8-0 with Lincecum on the mound.” Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta on the combination of the performance of his team and Lincecum on Friday.
0000000000000000000000: Arizona’s Brandon Lyon extended his scoreless inning streak to 22 while picking up his 14th save of the season against the Pirates on Saturday.
Record Breaker I: Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon went 6-for-6 on Saturday which tied an AL record for most hits in a 9-inning game and a Yankees team record for most hits in a game in their 12-11 win over the Royals which including a walk-off single by Damon. The last Yankee to get six hits in a game was Gerald Williams on May 1, 1996.
Plugged In: Last season, Delmon Young hit 13 home runs with Tampa Bay. He joined Minnesota in the offseason and it took until Saturday for Young to hit his first home run in a Twins uniform – 258 at-bats since his last home run as a Ray on September 23, 2007 off of Tim Wakefield.
Streakin’: On Thursday, Ian Kinsler’s hitting streak ended at 19 but he extended his consecutive stolen base streak to 23 dating back to last year. Fellow Texas Ranger, Michael Young extended his hitting streak to 22 games going into this week, the longest hitting streak in baseball this season.
Record Breaker II: The San Diego Padres became the first team in Major League history to win four consecutive games by a score of 2-1. On Wednesday, San Diego beat the Cubs followed by wins over the Mets on Thursday, Friday and Saturday over the Mets – all by a score of 2-1.
An Odd Hitting Record: The New York Mets tied the Major League record for hitting the most players by pitch in one inning with three. Oliver Perez hit Brian Giles and Kevin Kouzmanoff and Perez’s relief, Joe Smith, hit Khalil Greene in the sixth inning. Surprisingly, the Padres failed to score in the inning.
Finally: On Saturday, Chicago’s Paul Konerko tripled for the first time since May 16, 2000. It was the second longest drought by a player. Konerko’s triple drought lasted 1,210 games bested only by Mark McGwire’s drought of 1,377 consecutive games without a triple.
Brawling and Bickering: The Rays and Red Sox had a bench clearing incident on Thursday followed by two in-house spats. A few innings after the bench clearer, Boston’s Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez had words in the dugout which led to Ramirez taking a swing at Youkilis. On Sunday, Rays pitcher Matt Garza and catcher Dioner Navarro had an angry confrontation on the mound followed by a dugout argument where both players needed to be separated.
Wood, You Believe It?: Cubs closer Kerry Wood started off the season with three blown saves and many questioning if he belonged in the role. Since then he has turned things around and last week, Wood collected four saves in four opportunities which extended his consecutive save streak to eight. In his last 8 2/3 innings, Wood gave up zero runs, five hits and struck out 15 including four saves over the Dodgers.
Numbers Game
24: On Tuesday, Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins stole two bases to extend his perfect season to 10-for-10 on steal attempts. Dating back to last season, Rollins has successfully stolen 24 straight bases, the longest active streak in the Major League.
100: It took 13 seasons in the Majors but Cleveland’s Paul Byrd won his 100th career game in the Indians win over the Tigers, 4-2, on Friday.
238: Boston’s Kevin Youkilis made an error in the ninth inning on Saturday which ended his Major League record 238 straight games without an error at first base. Youkilis started the game at third but moved to first in the eighth inning.
400: While Atlanta’s Chipper Jones continues to fan the flames of the “Will he? Won’t he?” debates by hitting above .400 this season, he earned a bit of history on Thursday. Jones hit his 400th career homer off of Ricky Nolasco of Florida.
1,006: San Francisco’s Bengie Molina went 3-for-4 in the Giants 10-2 win over the Mets on Monday. The three hits pushed him past 1,000 career hits and he added five more hits to finish the week at 1,006.
4,680: On Tuesday, Arizona’s Randy Johnson moved past Roger Clemens for sole possession of second place on the All-Time strikeout list. Johnson trails Nolan Ryan by more than a thousand strikeouts.
Grand Slams
Marlon Byrd, Texas vs. Cleveland (6/2)
Jason Michaels, Pittsburgh vs. Saint Louis (6/2)
Jose Guillen, Kansas City vs. NY Yankees (6/7)
Edgar Renteria, Detroit vs. Cleveland (6/7)
John Bowker, San Francisco vs. Washington (6/7)
Brad Hawpe, Colorado vs. Milwaukee (6/7)
Mark Ellis, Oakland vs. LA Angels (6/8)
Walk-Off Archive
Single: Bobby Crosby, Oakland vs. Detroit (6/2); Jack Cust, Oakland vs. Detroit (6/3); Johnny Damon, NY Yankees vs. Kansas City (6/7)
Double: None
Triple: None
Home Run: Yunel Escobar, Atlanta vs. Florida (6/2); Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City (6/4); Jason Giambi, NY Yankees vs. Toronto (6/5); Elijah Dukes, Washington vs. Saint Louis (6/5); Cody Ross, Florida vs. Cincinnati (6/7); Scott Hairston, San Diego vs. NY Mets (6/7); Mark Ellis, Oakland vs. LA Angels (6/8)
Hit By Pitch: Paul McAnulty, San Diego vs. NY Mets (6/5)
