Observations:
- Dustin Pedroia put on a laser show Thursday night in Colorado. The former MVP went 5 for 5 and hit homers off of Jason Hammel, Rafael Betancourt, and Huston Street. The one off of Street came in the 10th inning of a tied game and brought back visions of this commercial he was featured in, prior to the '09 season. (h/t to Joe Sheehan)
Notables:
- Matt Garza won his 8th game of the season, after he pitched 8 innings of 3 run ball. He struck out 5 Padres batters and walked none. The 0 walks is a first for him this season. He did however give up a home run, which makes 6 straight games that he's done that now. He had a 1.22 HR/9 and 11.1 HR/FB|PERCENT| coming into today's game. Both are career highs for the 4th year starter.
- B.J. Upton hit his 7th homer of the season, in a 1-4 effort. The .231 batting average isn't pretty, but he's got 23 steals and could still make a run at 20 homers. His name is Bossman Junior after all.
- Joe Blanton struck out 8 Indians batters and walked none over 7.2 innings. He allowed 3 earned runs on 6 hits and came away with a win, his 3rd. The 8 strikeouts and 7.2 innings are both season highs for him. In this game, Blanton's 10th, he gave up his 13th homer of the season. Before today's game his HR/9 was 2.04 and his HR/FB was 14.0|PERCENT|. Last season Blanton battled similar issues, as he had a 1.38 HR/9 and a 13.0|PERCENT| HR/FB.
- Jayson Werth went 3-4 with 1 run and 2 RBI. Werth now has 6 hits over his last 2 games and 10 RBI over his last 10 games. He's batting .294 and looks to be over the funk that plagued him for the better part of late May and early June.
- Chase Utley is having something of a mixed season right now. His .377 wOBA and .204 isolated power are 6 year lows for him, but he's also carrying a .269 BABIP. His 13.6|PERCENT| BB/9 walk rate is a career high, while his 14.7|PERCENT| K/9 strikeout rate and 5.4|PERCENT| swinging strike rates are career lows. Thursday he went 3-3 with 2 runs and 1 RBI. I'm pretty bullish on Utley having a huge 2nd half.
- Gavin Floyd is on a roll right now. He pitched 7 innings of shutout ball, striking out 9 Braves batters and walking 1. Over his last 29 innings, Floyd has 31:7 K:BB ratio, 0.93 ERA, and a 0.76 WHIP. After a poor start, Floyd has really turned it on. If he's available in your league, snap him up immediately.
- Derek Lowe also pitched 7 innings of shutout ball. He struck out 4 White Sox batters, walked 2, and allowed 5 hits. He took a no decision and has 1 win in his last 4 games. With a 5.18 K/9 strikeout rate and a career high 3.76 BB/9 walk rate, Lowe's margin for error is thin.
- Paul Konerko broke up an 8th inning 0-0 tie with a 2-run homer. The homer is his first since June 6th, but 18th overall this season. Konerko's .414 wOBA is 8th highest in MLB, while his .971 OPS is 9th highest.
- Yovani Gallardo was on his game Thursday afternoon, striking out 12 Twins batters in a complete game shutout. He walked none and allowed only 5 hits. Over his last 28 innings, Gallardo has a 38:7 K:BB ratio, 1.61 ERA, and a 0.93 WHIP. If he can cut down on the walks (1 over his last 2 games), the sky is the limit for the young Lamborghini.
- Rickie Weeks might not be stealing bases like he has in the past (career low 4.4 speed score), but he is bringing the power (.435 slugging - 2nd highest of his career). Thursday he went 2-3 and hit his 12th homer of the season. He's now 4 HRs and 3 RBI from tying career highs in both categories. It's probably worth noting he has a .327 BABIP.
- Wandy Rodriguez pitched 6 innings of shutout ball against the Giants, in a win. He struck out 3 batters, allowed 1 walk, and 4 hits. In his last 2 outings, Wandy went a combined 8 innings and allowed 14 earned runs, so this was a much welcomed start for his owners. The decreased effectiveness of his curveball this season has been documented, but for those that may be in the dark, know this: His curveball was 23.9 runs above average last season, tops in all of baseball among starters. It's -11.3 runs above average this season, worst in all of baseball among starters.
- Brandon Morrow pitched 8 shutout innings with 8 strikeouts and 1 walk. Cardinals batters were only able to muster 5 hits off Morrow. Speaking of the number 5, in his last 5 starts, Morrow has 5 quality starts and has allowed a total of 5 earned runs. Oh yeah, Morrow is now 5-5 with the win.
- Vernon Wells smacked his 17th and 18th home runs of the season off of Adam Wainwright. He's now 2 behind league leader and teammate, Jose Bautista.
Save Chances:
- Rafael Soriano, converted (17). Struck out 1 batter in a 1-2-3 9th inning. His first save since June 12th and second since June 1st.
- Jose Valverde, converted (17). Like Soriano, he struck out 1 batter in a 1-2-3 9th. Valverde has 5 saves in his last 5 appearances.
- Bobby Jenks, converted (17). He struck out 1 in a 1-2-3 9th... apparently this and collecting save number 17 were the trends of the day for closers. In 12 appearances this June, Jenks has 10 saves, a 14:1 K:BB ratio, and 1 earned run allowed. So much for all that talk of him being removed from the closer role.
- Matt Lindstrom, converted (17). Gave up 1 earned run on 3 hits. Lindstrom has now converted 6 of his last 7 save opportunities.
- Tom Gorzelanny, converted (1). Struck out the only batter he faced (Michael Saunders) for a 1 out save. Bobby Howry got the first 2 outs in the 13th inning to set him up.
- Jonathan Papelbon, blown (3), win. Blew a 2-run lead on a Brad Hawpe single that scored Todd Helton and Carlos Gonzalez. After Dustin Pedroia hit for the home run hat-trick, he came back out and closed the door on the Rockies, with a 1-2-3 10th. This is now back-to-back blown saves for Papelbon.
Other Closer Outings:
- Huston Street took a loss, after, well you know what Pedroia did by now. Street ended up being the 6th reliever used, after starter Jason Hammel could only go 4 innings. The thinking was that Street would be eased into high leverage situations, but obviously that was not a luxury the Rockies had Thursday night.
- Jonathan Broxton struck out 2 Angels batters in a scoreless 9th.
- Jon Rauch pitched a scoreless 8th inning against the Brewers.
- David Aardsma walked 1 batter in a scoreless 10th inning.
- Carlos Marmol struck out 3 batters and walked 3 batters in 1.1 innings against the Mariners, in extra innings.
Non-Closer Outings:
- Evan Meek got credited with a blown save, his 5th, after he allowed 2 earned runs in the 7th inning, against the Rangers. This is exactly why blown saves can be misleading. Meek would have had to pitch the 7th, 8th, and 9th to get the save, which is pretty unrealistic. If MLB wanted to give more credence to the blown save stat, they could tell the scorers to only issue them when a save opportunity is blown in the 9th inning or final inning, if the game is called early. By the current rules, a relief pitcher could blow a save and never see the 9th inning. Keep this in mind when you see a set-up man's stats and see x number of blown saves. I'm pretty sure Scott Pianowski has harped on this before.
- Frank Francisco pitched a scoreless 9th inning with 1 strikeout and 2 hits. He received a win after Vladimir Guerrero hit a walk-off single that scored Elvis Andrus.
- J.J. Putz picked up his 3rd win of the season, after he pitched a scoreless 8th inning against the Braves.
- Brandon Lyon pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning.
- Brian Duensing hurled 3.1 scoreless innings, in relief of Nick Blackburn. He struck out 3 Brewers and allowed 3 hits.
- Brandon League struck out 3 and issued 1 walk in 2 scoreless innings.
- Joel Zumaya gave up 2 hits in a scoreless 8th.
- Shawn Camp struck out 1 in a 1-2-3 9th.
- The Giants bullpen pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, in relief of Matt Cain, who got torched.
Tough Days:
- Ted Lilly pitched 6 innings of 1 run ball against the Mariners. He struck out 6 batters, walked none, and allowed 5 hits. He also did not receive a win. In Lilly's 12 starts this season, he has 9 quality starts, 2 wins, 6 losses, and 4 no decisions. A 3.28 ERA and 2 wins...
- Adam Wainwright, Matt Cain, Scott Kazmir, Fausto Carmona, Jason Hammel, Nick Blackburn, Hisanori Takahashi, Nate Robertson, and Charlie Haeger all pitched less than 5 innings and allowed at least 4 earned runs. I haven't seen this many fails since I looked at Paris Hilton's IMDB page. You didn't know there would be jokes, did you?
- The Rockies bullpen pitched 6 innings and allowed 8 earned runs, clearly not their best night.
Lineup-ology:
- Matt Joyce was finally brought up from the minors. He'll serve as OF depth initially, but he should could start to eat into Hank Blalock's time at DH. Dioner Navarro was sent down to make room.
- Rafael Furcal was activated from the bereavement list.
- Buster Posey was back in the lineup for the Giants. He had been dealing with a sore wrist.
- Adam Lind hit 5th in the Blue Jays lineup for the first time all season.
- Mike Cameron was in the Red Sox lineup, while J.D. Drew (hamstring) was not.
- Kevin Youkilis, a 1.000 OPS hitter mind you, was not in the Red Sox lineup. David Ortiz manned 1st in his place.
- Lastings Milledge was back in the Pirates lineup.
- Jake Fox hit out of the DH role for the Orioles. His glove plays nicely there.
- Ryan Raburn started at 2B for the Tigers.
- Johnny Damon sat again, as the Tigers were in a NL park. Once they get back to the junior circuit, Damon should slide back into his OF role.
- Pablo Sandoval got the day off and Juan Uribe played 3rd for the Giants.
- Pedro Feliz manned 3B for the Astros. The newly called up Chris Johnson got the day off.
- Dayan Viciedo started at 3B, while Omar Vizquel got the day off for the White Sox.
Comings/Goings:
- Coming: Daisuke Matsuzaka (Red Sox), Matt Joyce (Rays), Oswaldo Navarro (Astros), Josh Thole (Mets), Steven Jackson (Pirates), Justin Thomas (Pirates), Josh Banks (Astros), Nelson Figueroa (Phillies), Aaron Laffey (Indians), & Jason Repko (Twins).
- Going: Dioner Navarro (Rays), Chin-lung Hu (Dodgers), Greg Dobbs (Phillies), Renyel Pinto (Marlins), Brendan Harris (Twins), Luis Valbuena (Indians), Jensen Lewis (Indians), & Shane Lindsey (Indians).
Injuries:
- Watch: Erick Aybar (knee).
- DL Bound: Felipe Paulino (right shoulder tendinitis), Mike Lowell (strained right hip), Tommy Manzella (fractured left index finger), Zach Duke (sore left elbow), & Chad Durbin (strained right hamstring).
- Back Soon: Aramis Ramirez (wrist), J.D. Drew (hamstring), Koji Uehara (elbow), Bud Norris (bicep), & Tim Stauffer (abdomen).
Chicks Dig the Long Ball:
- Vernon Wells (17 & 18), Paul Konerko (18), Carlos Pena (16), Prince Fielder (14), Dustin Pedroia (10, 11, AND 12), Mike Napoli (12), Rickie Weeks (12), Hunter Pence (11), Adam Jones (11), Adrian Beltre (11), Magglio Ordonez (10), Adam Lind (9), B.J. Upton (7), Pat Burrell (6), Miguel Tejada (5), Trevor Crowe (2), Ryan Raburn (2), Jason Donald (2), Oscar Salazar (2), Kelly Shoppach (1), Dane Sardinha (1), & Jason Castro (1).
Stolen Bases:
- Elvis Andrus (20), Chone Figgins (16), Hanley Ramirez (14), Will Venable (14), Tony Gwynn Jr. (13), Evan Longoria (11), Austin Jackson (11), Carlos Gonzalez (9), Franklin Gutierrez (8), Josh Hamilton (6), Chase Utley (5), Lance Berkman (3), Jose Tabata (3), Mike Sweeney (2), & Ryan Raburn (1).
Caught Stealing:
- Torii Hunter (8), Juan Pierre (7), Bobby Abreu (6), Garrett Jones (3), Lastings Milledge (3), Jonathan Herrera (1 & 2), Reggie Willits (2), Skip Schumaker (2), & Casey Blake (2).