Baseball Etcetera...A-Rod hits 6th HR, Francoeur drives in 5 runs
| 6
|
by user Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
Braves Lose Hampton For Rest of Season
With Mike Hampton out for the year after his latest surgery it is a wonder the Braves continue to pay $14 million a year to a pitcher who may or not pitch next season. At the end of this season they will have paid $28 million to a pitcher who hasn't made a pitch in two seasons.
Since the start of the 2005 season Hampton has won 5 games at a cost of in the neighborhood of $43 million. Hampton will be 35 when the 2008 season starts so time is running out on him. The Braves have gone the extra mile for Hampton understanding he is a great competitor but he can't win any games on the sidelines.
How much longer will the Braves pay a pitcher that is not pitching? After this season they will have paid him a total of $70 million to win 32 games which comes out to about $2 million a win. Hampton started out his career injury free for his several years in majors but now it is apparent that he is more than likely finished as a starting pitcher. Not sure how long his contract is for but if it runs out this season the Braves will have to sign him to a incentive laden contract next time to protect themselves. They may get some of the money back through insurance this season but that is yet to be seen.
Baseball Daily Digest
The old Jeff Weaver of last season showed up in Boston yesterday giving up 7 runs and 7 hits in 2 innings while his ERA ballooned to 31.50 in the Red Sox 14-3 victory over the Mariners who hadn't played since Wednesday of last week....Indians who hadn't played since Thursday of last week edged the Angels 7-6 behind the pitching of C.C. Sabathia who scattered ten hits over seven innings while allowing one earned run....Alex Gordon picked up his first major league homer and first two RBI's yesterday but his average is still only .077 after having only 2 hits in 26 at bats....Rangers have been 4-1 since their 0-3 start and are only 1 game behind Angels after defeating the Devil Rays 12-9.
Jon Garland saw his possible 1-0 win evaporate in the ninth inning when Bobby Jenks who had only given up 1 hit in his previous four outings gave up 4 hits and a walk as the A's took a 2-1 victory over the White Sox. Chad Gaudin pitched 5 2/3 innings for A's allowing only 1 run and 3 hits which were the only 3 hits of the game for the White Sox as the A's bullpen kept the game in reach. Yankees bombed the Twins 10-1 behind the pitching of Andy Pettitte who pitched 6 scoreless innings and the hitting of Alex Rodriguez who hit his sixth homer of the season and now has 15 RBI's. Kevin Thompson drove in two runs in his first at bat this season as he saw action as a pinch runner, designated hitter and centerfielder all in the same game.
Chris Sampson notched his first victory of the season as Astros defeated the Cubs 4-2 and moved them into a last place tie with the Cubs. NL Central appears to be as weak as it was last season with no team in division having a winning record....Brewers had a bummer yesterday when they tied up the game with Marlins in 9th inning but game was suspended by rain in the tenth inning. If they had won the game last night four teams would be tied for first place in NL Central with 4-4 records. Cardinals, Reds and Pirates are currently tied for first place in the division. If the Cubs had won their game it would have been a five way tie for first place with five teams having 4-4 records.
Looks like Tim Hudson is back this season pitching 7 scoreless innings of 3 hit ball in the 8-0 win over the hapless Nationals. Jeff Francoeur drove in 5 runs for the Braves....Cardinals nipped the Pirates 3-2 when Skip Schumaker drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 12th innings. The 3-4-5 hitters for the Cardinals...Albert Pujols, Scott Spiezio and Preston Wilson combined for a 1 for 15 night at the plate with Pujols 0 for 5 in the game dropping his average to .167. The red hot Diamondbacks won their sixth consecutive game defeating the Reds 5-4. Josh Hamilton hit his first home run of the season while picking up his first hit of the season. Reds need to get Hamilton more playing time. He had only had 2 at bats in the first 7 games of the season. Reds always seem to have too many outfielders but Hamilton deserves to play at least two games a week with his power....Brett Tomko pitched 6 innings of 1 hit ball but Chad Billingsley allowed the Rockies to tie the game before the Dodgers won 2-1.
Stats Corner
Alex Rodriguez continues to dominate the stats of major league hitters leading in homers with 6 and RBI's with 15, total bases with 31, slugging percentage at 1.107 and extra base hits with 9....Orlando Hudson leads in hits with 15....Tony Pena leads in triples with 4 after 8 games....Felix Hernandez and Chris Sampson lead in ERA with perfect 0.00 ERA's....Jae Seo leads in hits allowed with 19 in 9 innings.
Standings Highlights
Yankees, Blue Jays and Red Sox are in a three way tie for AL East lead....The division with the tightest race is the NL Central with Cardinals, Pirates and Reds tied for first and the last place Cubs and Astros are only one game back....Nationals are already 5 and half games back of first place Braves after only playing seven games....Yankees lead in runs scored with 51 while Nationals have scored the fewest runs having scored 18 runs in 8 games. Mariners have scored only 15 runs but have played in four fewer games than Nationals.
Mets have allowed fewest runs scored with 16 in seven games while Devil Rays have allowed the most with 54 runs by their opponents.... The Diamondbacks six game winning streak is three more than the Cardinals, Braves and Marlins have won in a row....Nationals with 5 straight losses and Devil Rays with 4 straight losses have the longest losing streaks.
Today's Matchups
Daisuke Matsuzaka and Felix Hernandez face each other in the best matchup of the day. Hernandez struck out 12 hitters in his first game of season while Matsuzaka posted 10 strikeouts in his last game. Hernandez comes into the game with a perfect 0.00 ERA while Matsuzaka enters the game with a 1.29 ERA. On paper this looks like a pitcher's battle but with power hitters like Richie Sexson, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in the game it may turn out be a higher scoring game than it looks like now....Mike Mussina tries to lower his 13.50 ERA when he faces the Twins and Ramon Ortiz in the Metrodome....Braves try to pad their lead in the NL East as Chuck James tries for his second win of the season over the Nationals and Jerome Williams....Oliver Perez tries to build on his first game victory over the Braves which has been the only loss this season for the Braves. Adam Eaton like Mussina will try to lower his 13.50 ERA as Phillies play the Mets.
