Diamond Rundown – Edition Thirteen

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

Who Needs The DH?:  Seattle’s Felix Hernandez became the first pitcher in Mariner history and first AL pitcher in 37 years to hit a grand slam in their 5-2 win against the Mets on Monday.  Hernandez was the first pitcher to hit a grand slam since Dontrelle Willis did it on July 7, 2006 as a Florida Marlin against the Mets at Shea Stadium, also.

Late to the Party:  Behind Tom Gorzelanny’s six-inning, three run effort on Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates finally joined every other team in baseball to earn a regular season win against the New York Yankees.  It was their first win in seven tries against the Bronx Bombers.  The Pirates won 12-5.

According to Elias I:  Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo became the sixth pitcher in Major League history to give up at least 10 earned runs while recording no more than three outs on Tuesday.  According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last pitcher to accomplish the feat was Houston’s Jason Jennings on July 29, 2007 against the San Diego Padres.

Sitting One Out:  New York’s David Wright finally received a day off after playing every inning of their first 75 games.  Manager Jerry Manuel felt Wright need a day off and sat him on Tuesday in their 11-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

Pacing Himself:  On Wednesday, Bobby Abreu of the Yankees went 3-for-5 with his a home run, two runs and four RBI in their 10-0 win over the Pirates.  Abreu had 10 HRs and 50 RBI at the end of the game and added two steals over the weekend to get to 11 steals.  He became the 10^th player in Major League history to record at least 10 HRs, 50 RBI and 10 steals in at least 11 seasons — a list that includes teammates Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.  If Abreu continues his pace, he will become the second player in baseball history to record at least 15 HRs, 100 RBI and 20 steals in at least seven seasons joining Barry Bonds who accomplished the feat eight times.

According to Elias II:  When Arizona’s Randy Johnson faced off against Boston’s Tim Wakefield on Wednesday, the combination became the oldest combination to ever start a game at Fenway Park.  According to the Elias Sports Bureau, their combined age of 86 years and 252 days was the oldest to ever start a game at Fenway.  Wakefield pitched seven shutout innings and the Red Sox won 5-0.

Family Affair:  Washington’s Aaron Boone joined three family members when he recorded his 1000^th hit of his career on Wednesday.  His brother Bret recorded 1,775 hits, his father Bob recorded 1,838 hits and grandfather Ray recorded 1,260 hits in their careers.

Oops!:  Tampa Bay’s Akinori Iwamura made his first error of his career at second base after 75 consecutive games at the position without an error.  Despite the error, the Rays beat the Marlins 15-3 on Wednesday.

Notable Quotable I:  “I was trying to top them… almost.”  Tampa Bay’s Matt Garza who took a no-hitter into the seventh before giving up a home run to Florida’s Hanley Ramirez which would stand as the only hit by a Marlin in the game.  Garza’s one-hitter fell a bit short in his bid to one-up his former college teammates at Fresno State who won the College World Series and cost Garza some sleep with phone calls throughout the previous night.  The Rays won 6-1 over the Marlins on Thursday.

Can’t Win ‘Em All… Ever:  Dodgers 2006 draft pick Clayton Kershaw made his 16^th consecutive professional start without a win on Thursday.  The streak dates back to his time with Triple-A Jacksonville where he last posted a win back in August ’07.  In his seventh Major League start, Kershaw went four innings and gave up two runs on six hits and four walks and dropped to 0-2 with a 4.36 ERA.

You Got My Back, I Got Yours:  Oakland’s Rich Harden pitched eight innings of scoreless two-hit ball against the Phillies in the Athletics’ 5-0 win on Thursday.  Harden raised his record to 5-0 and is now 31-0 in 38 starts when the Athletics supply four or more runs.

Notable Quotable II:  “He couldn’t have pitched better than that.  That’s one of the best games I’ve seen pitched, ever.”  Braves manager Bobby Cox on Jair Jurrjens’ eight scoreless innings on Friday against the Blue Jays.  The Braves won 4-0 behind Jurrjens who gave up three hits and one walk and extended his scoreless innings streak to 21 2/3.

Pick Up Pick Me Up:  The Yankees salvaged the second game of their doubleheader with the Mets on Friday behind Sidney Ponson who made his ’08 Yankees debut and pitched six scoreless innings in their 5-1 win over the Mets.  Ponson was made available after the Rangers expelled him for off-the-field issues.

The Day the Streaks Died:  Four double-digit hitting streaks were stopped in the Majors on Saturday.  Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels (16 games), Curtis Granderson of the Tigers (15 games), Derek Jeter of the Yankees (15 games) and Brian Roberts of the Orioles (14 games) all had their hitting streaks come to a close on Saturday.

Notable Quotable II:  “Never, not even in Little League.”  Angels outfielder Torii Hunter in disbelief of their 1-0 loss to the Dodgers despite the Dodgers’ failure to register a hit.  The Dodgers were the fifth team since 1900 to win a game without a hit.

Parra-dise:  For the 12^th time since 1956, a Milwaukee Brewers pitcher won six straight when Manny Parra helped snap Minnesota’s 10-game winning streak by pitching seven scoreless innings on Saturday in their 5-1 win.  Parra joined six other Milwaukee pitchers to record wins in six consecutive starts.  Teddy Higuera and Mike Caldwell each did it three times, Pete Vukovich did it twice and Cal Edred, Don August and Bill Travers did it once each.

Notable Quotable III:  “They’re 4-0 when I start because their killing the ball when I pitch.”  St. Louis rookie Mitchell Boggs on the great run support he has received in his first four starts.  The Cardinals are averaging 7.0 runs-per-game when Boggs starts.  He went six innings and gave up one run on four hits and four walks in his best outing of the season in their 5-1 win over Kansas City on Saturday.

Wasting Away:  The Braves failed to win their 23^rd consecutive one-run game on the road when they lost 1-0 to the Blue Jays on Sunday.  Atlanta’s Jose Reyes fell to 3-6 despite pitching seven innings of one-run ball.  Reyes was outpitched by the trio of A.J. Burnett, Scott Downs and B.J. Ryan who combined for a five-hit shutout.

Sunday Bloody Sunday:  The Orioles were on the verge of winning after taking a 2-1 lead in the top of the 12^th but a two-run homer by Washington’s Ronnie Belliard gave Baltimore their 12^th consecutive Sunday loss.  The Orioles are 1-12 on Sunday this season.

Notable Quotable IV:  “My goodness, what more can you do?  Big hits, big collision at the plate.  He had a terrific day and handled the pitching staff on a tough day to pitch.”  Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa on catcher Jason LaRue’s performance against his old team on Sunday.  The Cardinals beat the Royals 9-6.  LaRue held onto the ball during a collision at the plate in the first inning with David DeJesus that caused DeJesus to leave the game and LaRue added a two-run homer in the second and a two-run triple in the fifth.

Dynamic Duo:  The Giants picked up back-to-back win on Saturday and Sunday to give San Francisco their first series win over the Oakland Athletics in two years.  The wins came behind solid pitching performances by Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez who are a combined 17-5 and the team is a combined 25-9 when they start.

Sore Lou-ser:  Cubs manager Lou Piniella was ejected for the first time this season in the second inning of the Cubs 5-1 loss on Sunday.  The Cubs were swept by the White Sox one week after the Cubs swept the White Sox at Wrigley.

Numbers Game
9:  The Mets’ Carlos Delgado set a club record with nine RBI in the first game of their doubleheader with the NY Mets.  The Mets beat the Yankees 15-6 and Delgado highlighted his big day with the 12^th grand slam of his career.
10:  The Minnesota Twins won 10 straight before finally losing on Saturday.  All 10 wins came against NL opponents.
54:  One step closer to history for the Andy Pettite–Mariano Rivera tandem.  On Saturday, the Yankees beat the Mets by a score of 3-2 behind Pettite who collected the win and Rivera who collected the save.  It was the 54^th time in his career that Rivera saved a Pettite win.  They are just one behind the Bob Welch–Dennis Eckersley combo that led to 55 Eckersley saves.
93:  Detroit’s Kenny Rogers picked off Rick Ankiel in the second inning of their 8-4 loss to the Cardinals on Tuesday.  It increased Rogers’ Major League record number of pick-offs to 93.
122:  The Texas Rangers extended their streak of scoring at least one run to 122 straight games on Sunday.
257:  The Marlins are just five games away from passing the Washington Nationals to become the owners of the longest streak in baseball history without a complete game.  After Sunday’s game, the Marlins have not had a complete game in 257 tries which is just four behind the 261-game streak the Nationals compiled from August 16, 2006 to May 30, 2008.
1000:  Chicago’s Mark Buehrle recorded his 1000^th career strikeout in the eighth inning when he struck out Mark Sweeney of the Dodgers en route to a 6-1 win for the White Sox on Tuesday.

Grand Slams
Carlos Delgado, NY Mets vs. NY Yankees (6/27)
Nick Swisher, Chicago White Sox vs. Chicago Cubs (6/27)
Pedro Feliz, Philadelphia vs. Texas (6/27)
Ryan Raburn, Detroit vs. Colorado (6/28)

Walk-Off Archive
Single:  Gary Sheffield, Detroit vs. St. Louis (6/25); Jesus Flores, Washington vs. LA Angels (6/25); Jorge Cantu, Florida vs. Arizona (6/29) 
Double:  Miguel Cabrera, Detroit vs. Colorado (6/28)
Triple:  None 
Home Run:  Jason Bay, Pittsburgh vs. Tampa Bay (6/28); Ronnie Belliard, Washington vs. Baltimore (6/29)
Walk:  Clete Thomas, Detroit vs. St. Louis (6/26)