Around the majors reports--Aug 25

[nyy26wc]

1) Yesterday's results--

AL
Angels 6, Yankees 2
BlueJays 5, Orioles 0
Whitesox 5, Devil Rays 4
Twins 9, Royals 3
Redsox 7, Rangers 4
Mariners 4, Indians 1
Tigers 8, A's 4

NL
Cardinals 10, Cubs 8
Expos 6, Reds 4
Astros 5, Pirates 1
Marlins 6, Padres 3
Phillies 6, Diamondbacks 5
Mets 4, Giants 3
Dodgers 4, Braves 1
Rockies 12, Brewers 6

2) Standings--

AL EAST WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Yankees 75 54 .581 - 41-25 34-29 36-15 18-12 11-19 LOST 1
Redsox 71 56 .559 3 36-29 35-27 33-22 13-11 15-15 WON 2
BlueJays 62 67 .481 13 31-35 31-32 27-28 11-09 16-20 WON 2
Orioles 54 74 .422 20 1/2 26-36 28-38 23-31 16-16 09-15 LOST 1
Devil Rays 46 83 .357 29 26-36 20-47 17-40 12-18 07-17 LOST 2

AL CENTRAL WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Indians 72 56 .563 - 34-31 38-25 15-09 36-20 14-16 LOST 1
Twins 67 62 .519 5 1/2 39-27 28-35 13-19 35-20 10-14 WON 1
Whitesox 64 63 .504 7 1/2 35-29 29-34 14-10 25-24 13-23 WON 4
Tigers 53 74 .417 18 1/2 31-34 22-40 11-13 17-38 15-15 WON 1
Royals 51 78 .395 21 1/2 26-37 25-41 13-19 22-33 08-16 LOST 4

AL WEST WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Mariners 93 36 .721 - 44-19 49-17 24-09 30-09 27-12 WON 4
A's 73 56 .566 20 36-28 37-28 20-13 25-14 16-23 LOST 4
Angels 68 61 .527 25 34-29 34-32 23-16 20-13 15-24 WON 1
d-Rangers 56 73 .434 37 31-34 25-39 19-20 09-24 20-19 LOST 2

NL EAST WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Braves 70 57 .551 - 31-32 39-25 29-21 18-12 14-15 LOST 1
Phillies 69 58 .543 1 39-23 30-35 29-21 15-15 18-11 WON 1
Marlins 61 66 .480 9 37-23 24-43 22-28 16-14 11-18 WON 1
Mets 59 69 .461 11 1/2 34-29 25-40 26-25 11-19 12-17 WON 1
Expos 55 73 .430 15 1/2 29-33 26-40 20-31 13-18 14-14 WON 1

NL CENTRAL WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Astros 74 54 .578 - 36-29 38-25 18-12 34-22 13-14 WON 2
Cubs 70 58 .547 4 37-25 33-33 11-07 35-27 15-18 LOST 2
Cardinals 70 58 .547 4 43-24 27-34 19-11 34-28 09-12 WON 1
Brewers 56 71 .441 17 1/2 28-35 28-36 15-15 29-31 07-15 LOST 1
Reds 51 77 .398 23 21-45 30-32 10-09 23-38 14-19 LOST 1
Pirates 47 80 .370 26 1/2 29-32 18-48 05-19 23-32 11-22 LOST 1

NL WEST WON LOST PCT GB HOME ROAD EAST CENT WEST STREAK
Diamondbacks 73 54 .575 - 37-29 36-25 16-13 19-14 31-19 LOST 2
Giants 72 56 .563 1 1/2 42-23 30-33 17-12 18-15 27-24 LOST 1
Dodgers 70 58 .547 3 1/2 38-27 32-31 15-14 20-13 29-22 WON 2
Padres 62 65 .488 11 29-36 33-29 14-15 23-10 19-31 LOST 3
Rockies 55 72 .433 18 32-33 23-39 13-15 20-17 20-30 WON 2

d--mathematically eliminated from winning the division title

3) Today's schedule--

AL
Yankees (Roger Clemens 16-1) at Angels (Ismael Valdes 8-7), 4:05 PM
Indians (Chuck Finley 5-6) at Mariners (Freddy Garcia 14-5), 4:05 PM
Tigers (Steve Sparks 9-7) at A's (Barry Zito 9-8), 4:05 PM
Whitesox (Dan Wright 2-1) at Devil Rays (Joe Kennedy 4-8), 4:15 PM
BlueJays (Kelvim Escobar 5-5) at Orioles (Calvin Maduro 2-3), 7:05 PM
Redsox (Frank Castillo 8-7) at Rangers (Rick Helling 9-9), 8:05 PM
Twins (Joe Mays 12-12) at Royals (Kris Wilson 6-3), 8:05 PM

NL
Diamondbacks (Miguel Batista 8-7) at Phillies (Dave Coggin 4-2), 1:15 PM
Cardinals (Woody Williams 10-8) at Cubs (Jon Lieber 16-5), 1:15 PM
Dodgers (Luke Prokopec 6-6) at Braves (Jason Marquis 3-4), 7:05 PM
Rockies (John Thomson 1-5) at Brewers (Jamey Wright 9-8), 7:05 PM
Padres (Junior Herndon 1-2) at Marlins (Jesus Sanchez 2-3), 7:05 PM
Reds (Chris Reitsma 5-13) at Expos (Mike Thurman 6-9), 7:05 PM
Astros (Dave Mlicki 4-0) at Pirates (Todd Ritchie 9-11), 7:05 PM
Giants (Jason Schmidt 9-7) at Mets (Steve Trachsel 7-11), 7:10 PM

4) Yesterday's HRs--

Luis Gonzalez--#47
Shawn Green--#40
Todd Helton--#39
Larry Walker--#32
Vladimir Guerrero--#31
Bret Boone--#29
Reggie Sanders--#26 & #27
Paul Konerko--#27
Rich Aurilia--#27
Aramis Ramirez--#26
Trot Nixon--#20
Marquis Grissom--#20
Pat Burrell--#19
David Justice--#17
Edgardo Alfonzo--#14
Sean Casey--#13
Devon White--#13
Preston Wilson--#12
Jason LaRue--#12
Jeremy Giambi--#11
Luis Rivas--#7
Tom Prince--#7
Jose Offerman--#7
Jose Ortiz--#7
Jay Payton--#5
Jeff Davanon--#4
Damian Rolls--#2
Juan Uribe--#2
Mike Coolbaugh--#2

5) HR leaders--

AL
1) Jim Thome--43
T2) Manny Ramirez--38
T2) Alex Rodriguez--38
4) Carlos Delgado--36
5) Rafael Palmeiro--34
6) Troy Glaus--33
7) Juan Gonzalez--30
T8) Jason Giambi--29
T8) Bret Boone--29*
10) Tino Martinez--28

NL
1) Barry Bonds--55
2) Sammy Sosa--49
3) Luis Gonzalez--47*
4) Shawn Green--40*
5) Todd Helton--39*
T6) Jeff Bagwell--32
T6) Chipper Jones--32
T6) Larry Walker--32*
T9) Phil Nevin--31
T9) Lance Berkman--31
T9) Vladimir Guerrero--31*

*--hit 1 yesterday

6) The Cardinals tied the Cubs for 2nd place in the NL Central.

7) David Justice tied Kent Hrbek for 94th place on the all time HR list, with 293.

8) Shawn Green reached 40 HR for the 2nd time in his career, as he previously hit 42 in 1999.

Green became the first left handed hitter in LA Dodgers history to reach 40 HR. Duke Snider was the only other Dodgers left handed hitter to reach 40, doing it 5 times in Brooklyn.

9) Larry Walker set the Rockies career record with his 204th HR, breaking the mark of 203, set by Vinny Castilla.

10) On Thursday, the Mariners set a team record with their 92nd win, breaking the mark of 91, set in 2000.

[nyy26wc]

1) Astros 1B Jeff Bagwell passed 100 R for the season and became just the 4th player to have 30+ HR, 100+ RBI and 100+ R in at least 6 consecutive years.

2) The Indians placed P Charles Nagy on the 15 day DL and recalled P Jake Westbrook.

Nagy reaggravated an elbow injury that's bothered him for more than a year and will miss the rest of the season. He had surgery on the elbow in May 2000 and didn't return until this June.

Nagy finishes the season with a 6.40 ERA and -11 RSAA, along with a 5-6 record, in 15 games (13 starts). It's the 3rd time in the past 4 years that he's had a double digit negative RSAA, having -15 and -20 marks in 1998 and 2000, respectively, and the 4th time he's done it in a career. Nevertheless, he does still have a positive career RSAA, with a total of 38.

3) David Wells may be changing his mind, again. Earlier in the year, he made enough disparaging remarks against the Whitesox to indicate that he wasn't even going to wait to become an ex member of the team before he took out his lighter to burn the bridge. Now, he says he would consider returning to the team, with an incentive laden contract. In one of the most interesting comments of the year, considering what's happened with him, Wells says, "I had a great time in Chicago."

4) Redsox P Pedro Martinez says he'll be on a 60 pitch count when he returns to the mound tomorrow.

5) Reds SS Barry Larkin had his hernia surgery and is still expected to be ready for spring training.

6) The Royals picked up the $6 million option on P Roberto Hernandez for next season.

Hernandez has a 3.96 ERA and 6 RSAA in 48 games this season. He'll have to go on a hot streak to match the 14 RSAA he had in each of the 2 previous seasons.

7) The Marlins signed INF Andy Fox to a contract extension, for the 2002 season.

Injuries have limited Fox to just 28 games this season, and in that very small sample size, he's been very bad. He's hitting just .188 SLG, .237 OBA, .424 OPS, -4 RCAA, .116 OWP, 1.86 RC/G, 2 RC. But, by being injured enough that he could only cost the team 4 runs, this year has been a big improvement on 2000, when he was healthy enough to cost the Diamondbacks and Marlins 15 runs. Coming into the season, his .688 career OPS was terrible when compared to both his league average of .782 and his positional average of .753, with the gap increasing this year.

8) The Brewers placed P Lance Painter on the 15 day DL and recalled P Allen Levrault.

Painter has a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow.

9) The Orioles placed utilityman Mike Kinkade on the 15 day DL and activated OF Luis Matos from the DL.

Kinkade has a left shoulder contusion.

10) The Rockies sent P Todd Belitz to the minors, to make room on the roster for newly acquired C Gary Bennett.

[nyy26wc]

1) Hank Sauer died after collapsing on a golf course in Burlingame, California yesterday. The cause of death will not be known until an autopsy is performed.

Sauer had a .496 SLG, .347 OBA, .843 OPS, 143 RCAA, .585 OWP, 6.20 RC/G, 839 RC in his 1399 game career. He was most known for winning the 1952 NL MVP award, with the Cubs, when he hit .531 SLG, .361 OBA, .892 OPS, 34 RCAA, .661 OWP, 6.89 RC/G, 110 RC. He also played for the Reds, Cardinals and Giants, during a career that spanned from 1941-59, excluding military service in 1943-44.

2) Cubs P Kerry Wood will throw on the side today and if he has additional pain in his rotator cuff, he could be out for the season of the season.

3) Astros P Pedro Astacio will miss his scheduled start tomorrow, due to right shoulder stiffness, with Ron Villone taking his spot.

Astacio will have a precautionary MRI when he's evaluated by the team doctor on Monday.

4) Cardinals 1B Mark McGwire missed yesterday's game, due to a sore right hamstring, and is day to day.

5) Brewers P Jimmy Haynes, who had to leave Thursday's start after the 1st inning, due to a muscle strain, is expected to miss his next start.

6) Phillies 3B Scott Rolen missed yesterday's game, due to a strained left rib cage, and is day to day.

7) After leaving Wednesday's game in the 2nd and missing Thursday's game, Rangers C Ivan Rodriguez returned to the lineup.

8) Instead of activating Kevin Brown tomorrow, and have him work a little out of the bullpen, the Dodgers will activate him before Tuesday's game and return him to the rotation.

9) Astros MGR Larry Dierker says Julio Lugo and Jose Vizcaino will share the SS for the rest of the year, with the decision based on matchups and "instinct."

Giving the choice between (A) Vizcaino and (B) Lugo, I'll take choice 3--go find another choice.

This season, Vizcaino's hitting .332 SLG, .324 OBA, .656 OPS, -14 RCAA, .300 OWP, 4.03 RC/G, 23 RC in 86 games. Lugo's hitting .386 SLG, .318 OBA, .704 OPS, -26 RCAA, .327 OWP, 4.32 RC/G, 53 RC in 109 games. Lugo's tied for the 4th worst RCAA in the NL. But, he also has more than 246 more PA than Vizcaino and if we prorated Vizcaino's performance out to the same amount of PA, he would tie teammate Brad Ausmus for the worst RCAA in the majors, with -30.

Lugo's been less bad in terms of career value. He came into the year with only -10 RCAA, which he accumulated as a rookie in 2000. Vizcaino came into the year with a perfect record of 12 negative RCAA figures in 12 years, a total of -152, 4 years of -20 or worse (including 2 in a row and 3 of the past 4 years) and 7 years of double digit negative RCAAs. Vizcaino can't even compare well to other SS, as his .657 career OPS pales in comparison to the SS average of .700 and is more than 100 points under his overall league average of .761.

10) Mariners P Kazuhiro Sasaki's right thigh is bothering him. He was hit by a ball off Yankees C Jorge Posada's bat last week, and he's not expected to be available today.

[nyy26wc]

1) Barry Bonds says he may take a little less to re-sign with the Giants when he becomes a free agent after the season. Meanwhile, owner Peter Magowan says he thinks how the team finishes the season will affect whether they sign Bonds. According to Magowan, "The farther we go, I think the better chance there might be."

2) After missing 5 games with a bruised thumb, Mets 3B Robin Ventura returned to the lineup yesterday.

3) The New York Post reports the Mets may move Edgardo Alfonzo from 2B to 3B for next season, but Alfonzo's not crazy about the idea and it may not happen.

4) Brewers prized young P Nick Neugebauer had to leave yesterday's game due to a strained shoulder.

5) Indians 2B Roberto Alomar recorded his 1000th career RBI.

6) There's a good article on Barry Bonds, at http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/bp/1243532.html

[nyy26wc]

DODGERS LEFT HANDED HITTERS WITH 40+ HR, SEASON

1 Duke Snider 1956 43
T2 Duke Snider 1953 42
T2 Duke Snider 1955 42
T4 Duke Snider 1954 40
T4 Duke Snider 1957 40
T4 Shawn Green 2001 40

[nyy26wc]

MOST HR, ROCKIES, CAREER

1 Larry Walker 204
2 Vinny Castilla 203
3 Dante Bichette 201
4 Andres Galarraga 172
5 Todd Helton 146
6 Ellis Burks 115
7 Neifi Perez 43
8 Jeff Reed 36
9 Charlie Hayes 35
10 Eric Young 30

[nyy26wc]

30+ HR, 100+ RBI AND 100+ R FOR 6+ CONSECUTIVE YEARS

Lou Gehrig 1929-37 9
Jimmie Foxx 1932-40 9
Babe Ruth 1926-32 7
Jeff Bagwell 1996-01 6

[nyy26wc]

SECOND BASEMEN WITH 1000+ RBI

1 Charlie Gehringer 1427
2 Nap Lajoie 1370
3 Eddie Collins 1298
4 Rogers Hornsby 1293
5 Bobby Doerr 1247
6 Tony Lazzeri 1160
7 Joe Morgan 1133
8 Lou Whitaker 1084
9 Frankie Frisch 1019
10 Ryne Sandberg 1007
11 Roberto Alomar 1000

This covers seasons in which the player's primary position was 2B.

[NetShrine]

Lee - will you be adding Wild Card Standings to your reports soon?

[nyy26wc]

With my some hatred of the wild card, I don't want to. But, I might give in in the middle of September.

[NetShrine]

I was totally against the wildcard at one point - mostly due to the fear baseball would become like hockey and basketball - where half+ of the league makes the post-seaon. But, as long as they keep it at one per league, I like it. Gives many cities something to fight for..........like Oakland and Boston this year.

[nyy26wc]

What do you think of that great 3 way race in the AL East, between the Yankees, Indians and Redsox?

How about that unbelievable race in the NL West, which features 5 teams all within 4 games--Diamondbacks, Astros, Giants, Dodgers and Braves.

Meanwhile, what about that 3 team race in the NL East, between the Cubs, Cardinals and Phillies.

Oh, wait a minute. The wild card took these races out of existence.

I've already written a column in which I discussed how so many classic pennant races over a 20 year period would have been wiped out of existence, either by the wild card necessitating the 3 division format and the teams being moved to separate divisions or the do or die race replaced by a who cares, they both go to the postseason situation. Meanwhile, with all of those races being wiped out, they have been replaced by very few newly created races if the wild card had been in place at the time.

Later tonight, I'll have to find that column.

[NetShrine]

I see your point Lee - - but, I think it (the realignment) is the result of having so many teams. That's what brought cause to go from one league to 2 DIVs and then from two DIVs to three.

I think if there were an even number of groups, there would be no wildcard and then it would be nothing but races.

[Duque]

Originally posted by nyy26wc
MOST HR, ROCKIES, CAREER

1 Larry Walker 204
2 Vinny Castilla 203
3 Dante Bichette 201
4 Andres Galarraga 172
5 Todd Helton 146
6 Ellis Burks 115
7 Neifi Perez 43
8 Jeff Reed 36
9 Charlie Hayes 35
10 Eric Young 30

Who would've ever thought you'd see Neifi Perez's name on a list for "Most HRs"? :D

[NetShrine]

Originally posted by Duque
Who would've ever thought you'd see Neifi Perez's name on a list for "Most HRs"? :D

I thought the same thing about E.Y. still being on the list. He was traded 4 1//2 years ago. You would think that he would have been knocked off the list in that time.