Figgins Has 6 Hit Game...Gallardo Wins Major League Debut
| 9
|
by user Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
3000 Hit Countdown: Craig Biggio: 2990 Hits
Six Hits For Figgins
Chone Figgins had 6 hits for the Angels last night with 5 singles and a triple. He entered the game hitting .258 and finished hitting .284. Angels won again defeating the Astros 10-9 while the A's who are playing well won again but not gaining ground because the Angels and A's are both 7-3 in their last ten games. Joe Blanton 7-4 took the win over the Reds yesterday and the A's had some heartening news yesterday as Rich Harden pitched well in a simulated game and will pitch a rehab start Friday for Sacramento in the Pacific Coast League. His return will eliminate either Lenny DiNardo or Joe Kennedy from the rotation. DiNardo has the better ERA at 2.21 while Kennedy has a 3.62 ERA.
Cole Hamels 9-3 pitched his worst game of the season allowing 6 runs in 5 innings as the Indians defeated the Phillies. Phillies have lost three of last four games. Ryan Howard did hit his 15th home run of the season in the contest....Braves defeated the Red Sox 9-4 behind the pitching of Chuck James 6-6 who was shaky at first of game issuing three walks in first two innings but only walked one more the rest of the way. Brian McCann drove in 4 runs for the Braves....Mike Lamb has 13 hits in his last 20 at bats raising his average from .248 to .312 during this time span. He has 3 home runs and 13 RBI's in his last 5 games. Compare those stats with those of Morgan Ensberg the other third baseman who has 7 home runs and 20 RBI's in 60 games. Lamb played first base last night because Lance Berkman was the designated hitter.
Yovanni Gallardo 1-0 won his major league debut pitching 6 1/3 innings and allowed 3 runs and 4 hits. Prince Fielder hit his 26th homer and all the starting lineup for the Brewers including Gallardo had at least one hit and Gallardo's hit drove in a run....Tigers almost blew a 9-1 lead escaping with a 9-8 win over the Nationals. Magglio Ordonez has hit consistently all season hitting .344 in April, .346 in May and an astounding .456 in June. He had 8 homers in May but only one in June but it doesn't matter since he has driven in 15 runs so far this month. His slugging percentages for each month of season have also been consistent with a .622 percentage in April, .692 in May and .632 in June.
John Maine 7-4 won only his second game in his last eight starts as the Mets clubbed the Twins by a 8-1 score. Carlos Delgado had two hits but still is hitting .229. He is finding out that with so many at bats it is not easy to raise an average at this time in the season. Delgado hit .188 in April, .273 in May but now is slumping again hitting only .224 in June. His 11 home runs are 15 less than NL leader Prince Fielder but his RBI total of 41 gives him a chance of having 100 RBI's this season.
Devil Rays used a 16 hit attack to submerge the Diamondbacks 10-2. Jonny Gomes who had received a wakeup call earlier this season being sent down to minors is red hot now with 4 homers and 8 RBI's in his last 5 games and raised his average from .174 to .279. Devil Rays are just 2 games behind the Blue Jays after the win. J.P. Howell starts for Blue Jays. He has made three starts this season. In the first start he gave up one earned run in 8 innings, in the second start allowed 6 runs in 5 innings and in his last start gave up one earned run in 7 innings so he is capable of being a very good starter for Devil Rays.
John Buck of the Royals has 13 homers this season but only 25 RBI's. He has hit 10 of his homers with the bases empty. He is 3 for 35 with more than one runner on base....It looks like the Cardinals season is going down the drain after Braden Looper 6-6 and Jim Edmonds were placed on disabled list yesterday. Adam Wainwright 5-6 lost again yesterday. Cardinals cannot expect to win with the loss of Braden their starter with the most wins. They only have two starters with more than four wins. With two starters in the rotation like Kip Wells 2-11 and Anthony Reyes 0-8 combining for a 2-19 record this team will not have any long winning streaks and they need one to get back to .500.
Bonds Trade Rumors
In the last couple of days have been seeing stories that Barry Bonds may be traded this season. One thing is almost certain and that is that the Giants surely would not trade him before he passes Hank Aaron. If and when that does happen then would not be surprised to see him traded to American League team where Bonds would not have to play the outfield. Giants would love to rid themselves of that huge contract if even for the last two months of the season since it is unlikely that Bonds would pass Aaron until after the All Star game.
The Giants attendance will probably drop off anyway if Bonds has passed Aaron so the Giants would like to cut their losses. Bonds may be one of the most overpaid players in baseball. He may have hit a lot of home runs but for $15.5 million he is not anywhere close to earning that kind of salary. Prince Fielder is making only $415,000 and has 26 homers so Bonds hitting 14 homers for that kind of money makes him tradable if anyone will pick up the remainder of his contract. Fielders home runs are costing the Brewers approximately $15,000 a home run while Bonds home runs are costing Giants over a $1 million each.
Minor League News
Brandon Watson Streak Ends at 43
Brandon Watson went hitless yesterday as his streak end at 43. It will be interesting to see if the Nationals will call him up now that his streak is over.
Time to Call Up Ankiel?
Rick Ankiel is fourth in home runs among all minor leaguers with 19 and only four behind the leader Craig Brazell with 23. Cardinals have nothing to lose by calling up Ankiel. With the Cardinals only having three players with more than 4 home runs it may be time to give Ankiel a chance. He has worked hard to get where he is after giving up pitching to become a hitter and he deserves to be rewarded. Ankiel will be 28 next month.
Ankiel was 11-7 for the Cardinals in 2000 striking out 194 in 175 innings but then in 2001 he encountered control problems pitching 24 innings giving up 25 hits and 25 walks but did strikeout 27 batters. He made it back to majors again in 2004 pitching 10 innings and struck out 9 while walking one batter but hasn't been in the majors since then. With Jim Edmonds on the disabled list this would have been the perfect time to call him up but instead they have called up Skip Schumaker. Readers are welcome to comment if they have heard why Ankiel is not being called up.
Draft Picks of the Past The last three No.1 picks before the draft this year in the amateur draft are still in the minor leagues:
Luke Hochevar (Royals)the No.1 pick in 2006 is 3-6 with a 5.05 ERA with 78 strikeouts in 76 innings for Wichita.
Justin Upton (Diamondbacks) the No. 1 pick in 2005 is hitting .332 with 13 homers and 46 RBI's with 14 stolen bases for Mobile.
Matt Bush (Padres) the top pick in 2004 is hitting .204 with one homer and 17 RBI's and is slugging .276. For him to be in Class A three years after being drafted is not a good sign. Unless he breaks out of this three year slump he may never reach the majors.
Delmon Young (Devil Rays) top pick in 2003 is presently playing with the Devil Rays and is leading all major league rookies in runs batted in with 38.
Bryan Bullington (Pirates) top pick in 2002 is 9-3 with a 2.83 ERA for Indianapolis.
Joe Mauer (Twins) top pick in 2001 won the AL batting championship last year.
Adrian Gonzalez (Marlins) top pick in 2000 playing with Padres is hitting .297 with 14 homers and 50 RBI's leading the team in both categories.
1999 - Josh Hamilton (Devil Rays) playing with Reds and has 9 homers and 20 RBI's.
1998 - Pat Burrell (Phillies) playing for Phillies and hitting .211 with 8 homers and 29 RBI's.
Other No.1 Picks on Active Rosters in MLB 1995- Darrin Erstad 1993 - Alex Rodriguez 1990 - Chipper Jones 1987 - Ken Griffey Jr.
1996 No. 1 pick Kris Benson is on disabled list and playing for Orioles. Summation: In the 20 years since Griffey Jr. was drafted only nine No.1 picks are still playing at the major league level.
