Around the majors reports--Aug 13

[nyy26wc]

1) Yesterday's results--

AL
A's 4, Yankees 2
Devil Rays 4, Twins 3 (12)
Royals 6, Tigers 4
Redsox 12, Orioles 10
Angels 6. BlueJays 5
Mariners 2, Whitesox 1
Indians 13, Rangers 2

NL
Cardinals 4, Mets 1
Diamondbacks 9, Braves 1
Expos 5, Brewers 0
Rockies 7, Reds 6
Phillies 3, Dodgers 2
Pirates 7, Padres 6
Giants 7, Cubs 6
Astros 10, Marlins 5

2) Standings--

AL EAST WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Yankees 69 49 .585 - 37-23 32-26 33-15 18-12 08-14 LOST 3
Redsox 65 51 .560 3 34-25 31-26 32-20 13-11 10-12 WON 1
BlueJays 55 63 .466 14 28-32 27-31 26-28 08-08 13-17 LOST 1
Orioles 49 69 .415 20 24-34 25-35 20-27 14-15 09-15 LOST 1
Devil Rays 41 77 .347 28 23-34 18-43 15-36 09-16 07-17 WON 3

AL CENTRAL WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Indians 65 52 .556 - 30-29 35-23 15-09 33-20 10-12 WON 1
Twins 64 53 .547 1 37-22 27-31 11-13 34-17 10-14 LOST 3
Whitesox 57 59 .491 7 1/2 32-26 25-33 13-10 22-23 10-20 LOST 2
Tigers 48 68 .414 16 1/2 28-31 20-37 11-13 15-37 12-10 LOST 4
Royals 48 70 .407 17 1/2 25-33 23-37 12-17 20-27 08-16 WON 4

AL WEST WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Mariners 85 33 .720 - 40-18 45-15 20-07 26-08 27-12 WON 2
A's 68 50 .576 17 35-24 33-26 19-11 21-10 16-23 WON 11
Angels 62 56 .525 23 32-26 30-30 21-13 16-11 15-24 WON 1
Rangers 52 66 .441 33 29-31 23-35 15-16 09-21 20-19 LOST 1

NL EAST WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Phillies 65 52 .556 - 37-21 28-31 29-21 12-09 17-11 WON 3
Braves 64 53 .547 1 29-30 35-23 29-21 18-12 08-11 LOST 5
Marlins 59 58 .504 6 35-21 24-37 22-28 16-14 09-10 LOST 1
Mets 54 64 .458 11 1/2 31-28 23-36 26-25 11-19 07-12 LOST 3
Expos 49 69 .415 16 1/2 27-31 22-38 20-31 12-18 09-10 WON 1

NL CENTRAL WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Cubs 66 50 .569 - 35-21 31-29 11-07 31-22 15-15 LOST 2
Astros 66 51 .564 1/2 31-27 35-24 16-11 28-20 13-14 WON 1
Cardinals 61 55 .526 5 36-24 25-31 16-11 28-25 09-12 WON 4
Brewers 49 66 .426 16 1/2 27-32 22-34 14-13 23-29 07-14 LOST 1
Reds 48 68 .414 18 18-41 30-27 10-08 20-30 14-19 LOST 1
Pirates 45 71 .388 21 27-30 18-41 05-19 23-27 09-18 WON 1

NL WEST WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Diamondbacks 66 51 .564 - 31-29 35-22 16-12 12-12 31-19 WON 3
Giants 66 52 .559 1/2 38-21 28-31 11-08 18-15 27-24 WON 2
Dodgers 65 53 .551 1 1/2 36-23 29-30 10-09 20-13 29-22 LOST 4
Padres 57 60 .487 9 25-34 32-26 09-10 23-10 19-31 LOST 1
Rockies 49 68 .419 17 28-31 21-37 08-11 19-17 20-30 WON 1

3) Today's schedule--

AL
Twins (Kyle Lohse 3-4) at Devil Rays (Nick Bierbrodt 0-2), 12:15 PM

NL
Cubs (Jason Bere 8-5) at Astros (Shane Reynolds 10-10), 8:05 PM
Reds (Elmer Dessens 8-8) at Cardinals (Bud Smith 3-1), 8:10 PM
Pirates (Jimmy Anderson 6-12) at Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson 15-5), 10:05 PM

4) Yesterday's HRs--

Manny Ramirez--#37
Jeff Bagwell--#31
Lance Berkman--#30
Jason Giambi--#29
Albert Pujols--#28
Aramis Ramirez--#25
Rich Aurilia--#24
Miguel Tejada--#23
Garret Anderson--#21 & #22
Tony Batista--#20 & #21
Mark McGwire--#21
Torii Hunter--#20
Bubba Trammell--#19
Eric Chavez--#18
Vinny Castilla--#18 (#16 in NL)
Brad Fullmer--#14
Scott Rolen--#14
David Ortiz--#12
Carl Everett--#12
Sean Casey--#12
Matt Lawton--#12 (#2 in NL)
Preston Wilson--#11
Matt Williams--#10
Steve Finley--#9
Daryle Ward--#8
Mike Lansing--#7
Chris Gomez--#5
Adam Dunn--#5
Doug Mirabelli--#4
Mike Redmond--#4
Nomar Garciaparra--#3
John Flaherty--#3
Bengie Molina--#3
Clay Bellinger--#2
Denny Neagle--#1
Andy Fox--#1

5) HR leaders--

AL
1) Jim Thome--39
2) Manny Ramirez--37*
T3) Alex Rodriguez--33
T3) Carlos Delgado--33
5) Troy Glaus--32
6) Jason Giambi--29*
T7) Rafael Palmeiro--28
T7) Juan Gonzalez--28
T9) Tino Martinez--26
T9) Bret Boone--26

NL
1) Barry Bonds--50
2) Luis Gonzalez--43
3) Sammy Sosa--41
4) Todd Helton--35
5) Shawn Green--32
T6) Jeff Bagwell--31*
T6) Phil Nevin--31
T8) Chipper Jones--30
T8) Larry Walker--30
T8) Lance Berkman--30*

*--hit 1 yesterday

6) On Saturday, Mark McGwire passed Harmon Killebrew into 5th place on the all time HR list and then hit another yesterday. McGwire has 575 and is 11 behind Frank Robinson, for 4th place.

7) On Saturday, Barry Bonds hit his 50th HR of the season. It was the 544th of his career, putting him 4 behind Mike Schmidt, for 8th place.

Bonds reached 50 HR in the Giants's 117th game. The fastest to reach 50 was Sammy Sosa, who did it 121 games in 1999, while it took McGwire 126 in 1998.

At age of 37, Bonds became the oldest player to have a 50 HR season, breaking the mark set by McGwire, who turned 36 right before the end of the 1999 season.

8) On Friday, Fred McGriff tied Andre Dawson for 26th place o the all time HR list, with 438.

9) On Saturday, Sammy Sosa passed Billy Williams and tied Cal Ripken for 29th place on the all time HR list, with 427.

10) Jeff Bagwell's homered in each of the past 3 games, moving him past Jack Clark, Boog Powell, Dave Parker and Don Baylor into 66th place on the all time HR list, with 341.

Bagwell's HR on Saturday was his 30th of the season. It's the 7th time and 6th consecutive year that he's hit at least 30.

11) On Friday, Mike Piazza passed Gary Sheffield into 87th place on the all time HR list, with 305.

12) On Friday, Larry Walker passed Chuck Klein and tied Rogers Hornsby and Ron Gant for 89th place on the all time HR list, with 301.

It was Walker's 30th HR of the season, making this the 4th time he's reached 30. Walker's never had back to back 30+ HR seasons, but has done it in each of the last 4 odd numbered years.

13) On Saturday, Jose Cruz Jr. reached 100 career HR and also added #101 in that game.

14) Yesterday, Lance Berkman reached 30 HR for the 1st time in his career.

[nyy26wc]

1) The Indians passed the Twins into 1st place in the AL Central.

2) The Diamondbacks passed the Dodgers into 1st place in the NL West, with the Dodgers dropping to 2nd and the Giants dropped to 3rd.

3) The Reds say Jose Rijo will be called up on Friday, and will be placed in their bullpen.

4) The Cubs placed P Kerry Wood on the 15 day DL, retroactive to August 4.

Wood has tendinitis in his right shoulder. In 23 starts, Wood has a 3.50 ERA and his 21 RSAA rank 10th in the league.

5) The Devil Rays placed P Jeff Wallace on the 15 day DL, retroactive to August 7, and called up P Bobby Seay.

Wallace has tendinitis in his elbow.

Seay, 23, is a perfect example of why it's a stupid idea to give a player a $3 million signing bonus coming out of high school. Coming into the year, he had a 4.15 ERA in 4 minor league seasons and has had a 6.14 ERA in 2001, his first time in AAA.

If a player succeeds, he'll make his money based on what he accomplishes in the pros. If he fails, he doesn't deserve the money based on what he did in high school. Meanwhile, for those who succeed, their pay should be based on professional accomplishments, not professional accomplishments plus a bonus for that difficult feat of getting through high school.

6) The Phillies placed P Rheal Cormier on the 15 day DL and are expected to activate P Dennis Cook from the DL prior to tomorrow's game.

Cormier has a sore left shoulder.

7) The Royals sent P Tony Cogan to the minors and called up P Scott Mullen.

Mullen, 26, was ranked as the Royals's #19 prospect by Baseball America. He came into the season with a 4.07 career ERA in 5 minor league seasons and had a 6.62 ERA in 48 relief appearances in AAA this year. He appeared in 11 games with the Royals last season, with a 4.35 ERA and 1 RSAA.

8) The Reds designated P Scott Winchester for assignment and activated P John Riedling from the DL.

9) The Twins sent P Brad Thomas to the minors and recalled P Adam Johnson.

10) On Saturday, Jim Thome reached 100 RBI for the 5th time and 3rd consecutive year. It was the 5th time in 6 years that he's done it, missing only in 1998, when he had 85, in just 123 games.

[nyy26wc]

Friday's roster moves--

1) The Cubs called up Ps Will Ohman and Joe Borowski.

2) The Marlins activated CF Preston Wilson from the DL and sent OF Chad Mottola to the minors.

Despite what his 30/30 season made people believe, Wilson was only around a league average player last season, posting just 2 RCAA and a .817 OPS. He's around that level around this year, hitting .458 SLG, .323 OBA, .781 OPS, -2 RCAA, .476 OWP, 5.35 RC/G in 79 games.

3) The Astros called up P Brian Powell and designated INF Mendy Lopez for assignment.

In 27 games (21 starts) with the 1998 Tigers and 2000 Astros, Powell has a 6.19 career ERA and -19 RSAA.

4) The Brewers placed 2B Ron Belliard on the 15 day DL, retroactive to August 9, and called up INF Mike Coolbaugh.

Belliard has a sprained right ankle.

5) The Pirates claimed OF Gary Matthews Jr. off waivers from the Cubs.

Mathews, who came into the season with an awful .571 OPS, .252 OWP and -14 RCAA in 103 games, was having a bad year with the Cubs, hitting just .365 SLG, .318 OBA, .683 OPS, -13 RCAA, .352 OWP, 4.25 RC/G in 108 games.

6) The Cardinals claimed 2B Miguel Cairo off waivers from the Cubs.

Cairo is hitting .371 SLG, .362 OBA, .733 OPS, -2 RCAA, .444 OWP, 5.23 RC/G in 67 games. It is a sad commentary on his career to report that those numbers make this the best season of his career. Cairo came into the year with a .672 OPS, an awful figure compared to his league's average of .784 and the 2B average of .736. Meanwhile, while it's not good to cost your team runs, only having a -2 RCAA is a lesser evil than the -24, -14 and -19 he's had during the 3 previous seasons in which he had any kind of significant playing time.

Saturday's roster moves--

7) The Brewers placed C Raul Casanova on the 15 day DL and called up C Kevin Brown.

Casanova has cartilage damage in his left knee.

No, the Dodgers's Kevin Brown didn't change positions and get himself traded. This Kevin Brown has 66 games of major league experience, with the 1996-97 Rangers, 1998-99 BlueJays and last year's Brewers. Almost all of his playing time came in his 52 games with the 1998 BlueJays. He can honestly say he has 2 1.000+ OPS seasons to his credit, but those were extremely small sample sizes--5 AB with the 1997 Rangers and 9 with the 1999 BlueJays.

8) The Pirates sent 1B-OF Alex Hernandez to the minors, moved RF Armando Rios from the 15 to the 60 day DL, to make room on the roster for Matthews.

9) The Cardinals sent INF Stubby Clapp to the minors, to make room on the roster for Cairo.

10) The Rangers activated DH Ruben Sierra from the DL and sent P Brandon Villafuerte to the minors.

[nyy26wc]

1) Greg Maddux's NL record streak of 72 1/3 IP without a walk ended when he intentionally walked Steve Finley in the 3rd inning of yesterday's game.

2) Jason Giambi reached 1000 career hits.

3) Angels C Shawn Wooten left the team, after his father died yesterday, and he's not expected to rejoin the team until late in the week, at the learliest.

4) Pirates P Mike Lincoln is expected to either miss 4-7 games, or go on the DL, due to a strained right hip flexor.

5) Reds MGR Bob Boone approached Danny Graves about becoming a starter next season and Graves says he'll consider it.

6) Indians MGR Charlie Manuel says the team has to make a decision on Russ Branyan--either commit to him as an everyday player or trade him.

After having a .871 OPS and 4 RCAA in 67 games as a rookie in 2000, Branyan's hitting .484 SLG, .318 OBA, .802 OPS, 0 RCAA, .502 OWP, 5.75 RC/G in 90 games this season.

7) Redsox P Rolando Arrojo had to leave yesterday's game after 2 innings, due to pain in his shoulder.

8) A's P Jim Mecir had arthroscopic knee surgery over the weekend. The surgery revealed some minor cartilage damage, which is expected to keep him out for about a month.

9) Dodgers P James Badwlin strained his rib cage muscle on Friday and could be headed for the DL. But, there is still the possibility he could start this Saturday.

10) Expos P Bobby Munoz experienced tightness in his forearm during his start on Saturday. He could be headed for the DL when Carl Pavano is activated to start on Wednesday.

11) Dan Plesac passed Gene Garber into 10th place on the all time G list, with 932.

12) The Rangers tied the major league record, on Saturday, for going a whole game without an outfield putout.

[nyy26wc]

Yesterday, I was in Cooperstown. While I do not recognize their membership list, it is a great museum, so I went for that purpose.

By listening to comments people made, I heard a lot of stupidity award material. Here are some of the highlights--

1) Pete Rose had the most hits ever, so he was the greatest player ever.

2) Counting his time in the Negro Leagues, Satchel Paige pitched in more than 40 seasons. (The person obviously missed the 12 year gap between Paige ending his career in 1953 and then making a 1 game comeback in 1965.)

3) Person 1--Did you see Barry Sanders's World Series rings?

Person 2, in a tone of complete sincerity--Yes. They were incredible. I wish I had a set of jewelry that nice.

4) I knew the Yankees had no chance of winning the 1976 World Series because, in Game 1, someone hit a routine fly ball that was caught.

5) Child--banging head on the display glass

Parent--How many times are you going to bang your head?

Child--Bang

6) Child 1, looking at baseball cards from the early '80s--These cards are from before I was born, so they never played.

Child 2, looking at the same cards--I can't remember whether I can remember watching players from before I was born.

7) Child--That's a huge trophy.

Adult--That's big. But, I've been to the Hockey Hall of Fame and saw the Stanley Cup. That's huge.

Child--Is it bigger than Daddy?

Adult--No.

Child--Does that mean Daddy is bigger than it?

8) Jose Canseco is closing in on 600 HR.

9) From the same person--When Canseco reaches 600, they better raise the standard for election to 700.

10) That can't really be an umpire's suit. There's a bowtie.

[NetShrine]

Lee - :loud: on the Cooperstown observations. Great stuff. Don't listen too hard when you're at the park - some of the stuff you'll hear will really shock you. I don't mind folks who don't know things - - it's the ones that think they do or make it up that really make me bonkers. Switching gears -

"Reds MGR Bob Boone approached Danny Graves about becoming a starter next season and Graves says he'll consider it. "

Why? On both ends!