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Baseball fan following baseball since 1955. Have been fortunate enough to have seen Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Johnny Bench, Roberto Clemente and Dale Murphy play baseball in Kansas City and Houston. Served in Army in Hawaii and Vietnam with 25th Infantry Division.More By Niteowl049
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Baseball Notebook: Red Sox Win in 13 Innings
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Red Sox Win 5-3 On Youkilis Walkoff Homer
Yesterday, I didn't turn the Red Sox/Cardinals game on until I finished watching the Braves/Mariners game. It was the 9th inning and the Red Sox were winning against the Cardinals 3-2 with Jonathan Papelbon coming in from the bullpen to nail down the win. Instead, Papelbon got down to one strike from winning the game when Adam Kennedy hit a liner over the head of Coco Crisp that drove in the tying run and sent the game into extra innings.
The two teams remained tied until the bottom of the 13th inning when Tony LaRussa brought in Mike Parisi, and when they showed his stats on the screen I had a feeling he would lose the game since batters were hitting .347 against him and his ERA was over 7.00. Kevin Youkilis came up to bat with a runner on and drove a towering homer over the fence to win the game.
Pettitte, Giambi Lead Yankees To 4-1 Win Over the Reds
Andy Pettitte (8-5) pitched six scoreless innings, as he pitched the New York Yankees to a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds to avoid a sweep, and are 8-2 in their last ten games. The other 8-2 teams are the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, and Kansas City Royals; coincidentally, all three teams are in the AL Central division. Pettitte has won 5 of his last 7 starts with the other two games no decision contests. He hasn't lost since May 17th with only one start remaining in June. Pettitte has not given up a homer in his last three starts.
Jason Giambi was the hitting star for the Yankees with a 3-for-3 day and drove in his 41st and 42nd runs of the season. Darrell Rasner (4-4) is slated to start against Tom Gorzelanny (5-6) on Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 601st home run off of Kyle Farnsworth for the only run by the Reds. Johnny Cueto (5-8) took the loss, but pitched well, giving up only one run in five innings while striking out seven and walking none.
Teixeira Hits Three Homers In Braves 8-3 Defeat of Mariners
Mark Teixeira hit three homers yesterday in the Atlanta Braves' 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners. Tim Hudson (8-5) took the win by hurling seven shutout innings while allowing four hits. Carlos Silva (3-9) took the loss, and is on his way to his third straight season with a losing record.
The Braves will try to even their record at 39-39 when they face the Brewers, who will be in town, but it won't be easy with Ben Sheets (8-1) taking the mound for the Brewers against Jo-Jo Reyes, who currently has a 3-4 record.
Ichiro Suzuki was 0-for-5 and lowered his season average to .288. With the Mariners having only six games left this half, Suzuki needs 10 hits to have 100 hits. He is trying to have 200 hits for the eighth straight season.
Around the Bases
Prince Fielder hit his 15th and 16th homers in the 7-3 win by the Milwaukee Brewers against the Baltimore Orioles. Manny Parra (7-2) took the win, as the Brewers climbed to within two games of the second place St. Louis Cardinals.
Carlos Lee hit his 17th homer, as the Houston Astros defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2. Evan Longoria hit his 12th homer, tying him with Eric Hinske for the team lead.
The Minnesota Twins won their sixth game in a row with a 5-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Livan Hernandez (8-4) took the win over Brandon Webb (11-4). Webb has lost his last two starts, and in those starts, he pitched 10 innings allowing 12 runs and 17 hits. His earned run average for the month of June is 6.04.
The Kansas City Royals defeated the San Francisco Giants in a 11-10 slugfest. Tim Lincecum pitched his worst game of the season, as he gave up 5 runs in 5 innings. It was the first time Lincecum failed to pitch into the sixth inning.
Justin Duchscherer (8-4) pitched the Oakland Athletics to a 7-1 win over the Florida Marlins. Emil Brown drove in two runs, which were his first RBI's since May 25th, and he is now hitting .160 in June. Ryan Sweeney was the only A's player hitting higher than .279 among the starters with his average of .292. The A's had seven players hitting .250 or lower in yesterday's game. The A's pitchers have the best ERA in the Majors with a 3.43 ERA.
Mike Pelfrey (4-6) won his second straight start after losing 6 in a row earlier, as the New York Mets won 3-1 over the Colorado Rockies.
The Los Angeles Angels defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 and sent the Phillies to their fifth straight defeat. All five Phillies' starters each lost in those five games. Jered Weaver (7-7) took the win for the Angels while Cole Hamels (7-4) took the loss.
Vicente Padilla (10-3) pitched the Texas Rangers to a 5-3 win over the Washington Nationals. The Rangers have four players who have a chance of driving in 100 runs this season with the season almost half over: Josh Hamilton (76), David Murphy (51), Milton Bradley (48), and Ian Kinsler (47).
Dustin McGowan (5-4) defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-5 in the Toronto Blue Jays win.
The Chicago Cubs defeated the Chicago White Sox 7-1 with Ryan Dempster (9-2) taking the win, and Javier Vazquez (7-6) taking the loss for the White Sox. The White Sox could only mangage two extra base hits in the contest. Aramis Ramirez hit his 14th homer of the season, and the Cubs won their 14th straight game at Wrigley Field. The Twins moved to within a game and a half of the White Sox. Since June 9th, the White Sox have lost a 3 game series to the Tigers, lost 2 of 3 to the Rockies, swept the Pirates in 3 games series, and now have been swept themselves by the Cubs in a 3 game series.
Justin Verlander (4-9) won his second straight decision, as the Detroit Tigers defeated the San Diego Padres 5-3. Verlander walked five and struck out 10. The Tigers are in third place and 5 games behind the first place White Sox. They are three games under .500 and on June 1st they were 8 games under .500 and 6 games behind the White Sox, so they are not making much headway in trying to get past the second place Twins who have won six in a row. Ivan Rodriguez hit his 2nd homer of the season in 218 times at bat. Adrian Gonzalez hit his 21st homer for the Padres.
Chad Billingsley (6-7) pitched the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Indians.
Rookies at Halfway Mark
With the season almost half over very soon, this is a good time to see how the rookies are doing in 2008.
American League:
Hitting:
Jacoby Ellsbury leads AL rookies in hitting among qualified players with a .276 average.
David Murphy leads in hits with 81 and doubles with 21.
Evan Longoria leads in homers with 12, and Murphy leads in RBI's with 51, with Longoria second with 37. You have to consider Longoria doing better in the RBI category though, as he has about 70 less times at bat than Murphy.
Ellsbury is far ahead in stolen bases with 34. In second place is Ryan Sweeney (6).
Ellsbury also leads in on base percentage with a .354 mark. Longoria leads in slugging at .480 and OPS at .811.
Daric Barton leads in walks with 38.
Longoria leads in strikeouts with 62.
Pitching:
Greg Smith leads AL rookies in ERA with a 3.51 mark, but Armando Galarraga has a 3.03 ERA. He should have enough innings to qualify soon and will probably be the leader then.
Smith also leads in walks allowed (36) and in strikeouts (64).
Galarraga leads in wins with 7.
Smith and Luke Hochevar lead in losses with 5.
Masahide Kobayashi leads in saves with 4.
National League
Hitting:
Kosuke Fukudome leads NL rookies in hitting with a .297 average with Joey Votto next with a .289 average.
Fukudome also leads in hits with 78.
Geovany Soto leads in doubles with 20.
Soto and Votto are tied for the NL rookie home run lead with 12 each.
Soto leads in RBI's with 43.
Eugenio Velez leads in stolen bases with 8.
Fukudome also leads in walks with 48.
Soto also leads in strikeouts with 65.
Fukudome leads in on base percentage with a .404 mark.
Soto leads in slugging at .508 and OPS at .866.
Pitching:
Jair Jurrjens and Manny Parra are tied for the NL lead in wins with 7.
John Lannan and Johnny Cueto have the most losses with 8 each.
Jurrjens also has the lowest ERA with a 3.20 mark.
Phil Dumatrait has the most walks with 40 and Cueto has most strikeouts with 81.
Manny Acosta leads in saves with 3.
