Diamond Rundown – Edition Twenty Five
by Brian Joseph
Facts, figures and other tidbits from the twenty fifth week of the ’08 major league baseball season.
Rare Power Source: Juan Pierre of the Dodgers hit the 13th home run of his career on Monday in their 8-2 win over the Pirates. It was his first in 1,070 at-bats. Pierre’s 13th career homer came on his 5,132nd career at-bat.
Snap!: Seattle’s Raul Ibanez went 0-for-3 in their 3-0 loss to the Royals on Monday. The performance ended Ibanez’s streak of reaching base at 32 consecutive games.
Even Better Than the Babe: Alex Rodriguez homered for the 35th time this season on Wednesday and surpassed the 100 RBI mark giving him 35 home runs and 100 RBI for the 12th season — one more than Babe Ruth. Also, the Yankees beat the White Sox 5-1 as A-Rod became the first player to homer 35 times in 11 consecutive seasons passing Sammy Sosa who hit at least 35 homers in 10 consecutive seasons.
Notable Quotable I: “No, I’m not enjoying this. Are you crazy? Walking out there every three minutes? [Fans] didn’t come to see me. They come to see the guys play. This is not the way we drew it up, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to win. We’ll laugh about it, hopefully, in November.” Mets manager Jerry Manuel who used seven different relievers in their 9-7 win over the Nationals on Wednesday.
Team Turnaround: The Tampa Bay Rays won their 90th game on Wednesday over the Red Sox 10-3. They became just the sixth team in Major League history to follow 10 consecutive losing seasons with at least 90 wins. The 2008 Rays joined the ’12 Senators, ’14 Braves, ’56 Reds, ’79 Expos and 2006 Tigers.
One Happy Return: Detroit’s Freddy Garcia made his first start in 15 months a successful one on Wednesday. Garcia went five innings and allowed one unearned run on two hits and a walk in their 17-4 win over the Rangers.
Notable Quotable II: “Wow! This year’s been really, really crazy. I’m just here for one reason. I want to win and keep going.” Geovany Soto of the Cubs who slammed a game-tying three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to send their game with the Brewers to extras on Thursday. The Cubs won on a walk-off single by Derrek Lee to beat the Brew Crew 7-6 in 12 innings.
Consolation Prize: The Rays lost to the Twins 11-8 on Thursday but Evan Longoria became just the second player in Rays’ history to hit three home runs in a game. The only other Ray to do so was Jonny Gomes in 2005.
Major Maybin: Florida’s Cameron Maybin had four hits for the second consecutive game, had eight consecutive hits and reached base 10 consecutive times both streaks tying franchise records. The four-hit performance by Maybin on Friday helped the Marlins beat the Phillies 14-8 and Maybin ended the night with an .818 average through his first three ’08 games.
Reversal: Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena became the first to benefit from instant replay as the call on the field of fan interference and a ground-rule double was reversed after review and Pena awarded a home run in their 11-1 win over the Twins on Friday. The first use of instant replay also took place at Tropicana Field on September 3.
Rookie Power: Cincinnati’s Joey Votto hit his 19th and 20th homer and Jay Bruce hit his 20th homer on Friday to help the Reds beat the Brewers 11-2. Votto and Bruce became the only pair of rookies on the same team to blast 20 home runs this year.
Whiff Ball: Oakland’s Jack Cust struck out for the 186th and 187th time on Friday to set a new American League record for strikeouts in a season. On a good note, the Athletics won the game against the Mariners 2-0.
Clinch I: The Chicago Cubs defeated the Cardinals 5-4 on Saturday and clinched their second consecutive National League Central title.
We Have A Winner: Philadelphia’s Joe Blanton has not been dominant since joining the team after a mid-season trade with Oakland but he is a perfect 3-0 in 12 starts with the club. On Saturday, the Phillies won 3-2 behind Blanton’s five-inning, two run and nine strikeout performance.
Clinch II: The Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first-ever playoff berth on Saturday with a 7-2 win over the Twins.
Streakin’: Atlanta’s Kelly Johnson extended his hitting streak to 19 straight games in the Braves 7-6 come-from-behind win over the Mets (Do the Mets lose any other way?) on Sunday.
Bullpen Blow-Up: The Mets’ bullpen fell to 2-8 since August 11 and the bullpen registered their 16th blown save since the All-Star break — the most in the Majors — on Sunday in their loss to the Braves. Scott Schoeneweis took the loss, his third since August 26.
Dynamic Duo: Oakland’s bullpen duo of Brad Ziegler and Joey Devine are nothing short of amazing this year. On Sunday, Ziegler picked up the win and Devine notched his first save in their 5-3 win over the Mariners. Ziegler is 3-0 with 10 saves and a 0.78 ERA and Devine is 6-1 with one save and a 0.62 ERA.
Closing In: Philadelphia’s Brad Lidge is a perfect 40-of-40 in save opportunities this season after Lidge’s fourth save of the week on Sunday. The Phillies beat the Marlins 5-2 and extended their National League East lead to 1-1/2 games and Lidge moved closer to becoming only the second player in Major League history to save at least 40 games without blowing an opportunity.
Notable Quotable III: “I feel like I’m losing an old friend. I’m glad I was here.” Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson on Sunday’s game at Yankee Stadium — the last before the Yankees move across the street.
Shutting the Doors: The Yankees closed out Yankee Stadium with a 7-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles behind Andy Pettite who picked up his 14th win, Jose Molina who hit the last home run at the Stadium and Mariano Rivera who pitched a perfect ninth inning.
Numbers Game
200: Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-3 on Wednesday to notch his eighth consecutive 200-hit season matching only Wee Willie Keller for the most consecutive seasons with 200 hits.
1,007: Kansas City’s Brandon Duckworth struck out Wladimir Balentien in the sixth to register the club’s 1,007th strikeout, a franchise record. The previous record of 1,006 was set in 1990.
1,270: Derek Jeter of the Yankees delivered his 1,270th hit at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. The first inning single moved Jeter past Lou Gehrig for most hits in Yankee Stadium history.
Grand Slams
Taylor Teagarden, Texas vs. Detroit (9/15)
Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado vs. San Diego (9/15)
Chris Ianetta, Colorado vs. San Diego (9/16)
Adam LaRoche, Pittsburgh vs. LA Dodgers (9/17)
Jorge Cantu, Florida vs. Houston (9/17)
Adam Kennedy, St. Louis vs. Chicago Cubs (9/19)
Joey Votto, Cincinnati vs. Milwaukee (9/19)
Alexei Ramirez, Chicago White Sox vs. Kansas City (9/19)
Walk-Off Archive
Single: Dioner Navarro, Tampa Bay vs. Boston (9/16); Chris Davis, Texas vs. Detroit (9/16); Cliff Pennington, Oakland vs. LA Angels (9/17); Derrek Lee, Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee (9/18); Jamey Carroll, Cleveland vs. Detroit (9/19)
Double: None
Triple: None
Home Run: Victor Martinez, Cleveland vs. Minnesota (9/16)
