So Far This Season...
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by user Romiezzo
Well, we're almost done with the All-Star Break. Before the season started, I wanted to start a Season Summary (so to speak). I stopped at the end of June because of the fact that I was so busy with (college) summer courses. Anyways, I wanted to take this time with you baseball fans and take a look back at all of the things that have happened thus far in the season. If you would like to add anything, like videos or pictures to this article, feel free. State your opinions about how the season is going so far.
April 7th: Alex Rodriguez's 2-out, 2-strike, Walk off grand slam against the Baltimore Orioles. The New York Yankees won that game, 10-7.
April 11th: Felix Hernandez's pitched a one-hitter against the Boston Red Sox. He finished the shutout, allowing only 1 hit (single), and 2 walks. He had a no-hitter until the bottom of the eighth inning with no outs against J.D. Drew.
April 15th: Marco Scutaro hit a 3 run homer against Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Oakland Athletics won 5-4.
April 18th: Mark Buehrle throws the first no-hitter of the MLB season of 2007.
April 21st: The Philadelphia Phillies turn the first triple play of the season against the Reds (5,4,3)
April 22nd: The 2007 Boston Red Sox are officially the fifth team to hit four home runs in a row. The batters that hit the home runs were Manny Ramirez (2), J.D. Drew (2), Mike Lowell (2), and Jason Varitek (2).
April 23rd: Alex Rodriguez broke the American League record for the most home runs hit in April in one season.
April 25th: San Diego Padres' Jake Peavy was one strikeout shy of tying Tom Seaver's record for the most consecutive strikeouts by a pitcher (10); He was taken out in the 7th inning with 16 strikeouts. In the bottom of the ninth, with Trevor Hoffman, the all-time leader in saves on the mound, with two outs, and Chad Tracy on first, Stephen Drew hit a two-run shot to send the home crowd happy.
Also, on this day, the Florida Marlins fought back against the Atlanta Braves. Down 3-0, in the bottom of the ninth inning, they came back and won the game 4-3. The final run was on a passed ball by Bob Wickman.
April 26th: Sammy Sosa hit his fifth home run of the season in Jacobs Field in the sixth inning to set an MLB record by going deep in his 44th ballpark. Even though he hit two home runs that game, the Rangers still lost, 9-4.
April 29th: St. Louis Cardinals' relief pitcher, Josh Hancock, a member of the Cardinals' 2006 World Series Champions, was killed in a tragic car accident.
Also, on this day, the Colorado Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki turned the 13th unassisted triple play in the history of Major League baseball. The triple play happened in the top of the 7th inning against the braves on a liner to 'Witzki, as both runners were going. The Rockies won that game on a Matt Holliday 2 run, walk-off home run against Steve Colyer to win 9-7 in the bottom of the 11th inning.
May 3rd: New York Mets' Tom Glavine struck out Arizona Diamondbacks' second baseman Orlando Hudson to notch his 2,500th K of his career.
May 7 th : San Francisco Giants’ Bengie Molina hit two home runs against the Mets in the 5 th inning. He became only the third player in Giants’ history to hit two home runs in the same inning.
May 10th: Cincinnati Reds' Ken Griffey Jr. hits his 569th homer of his career; this home run surpassed Rafael Palmeiro’s record for 9th of all time for home runs.
May 11th: Jake Peavy became the first pitcher in Padres history to strike out 10 batter in 4 starts in a row.
May 12th : After a series of rain delays, combining to 3 hour and 38 minutes, the Washington Nationals came up with 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Florida Marlins to win 7-3. Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk-off grand slam against (then) Marlins’ closer, Jorge Julio.
May 13th : In his 16th Major League Game, 26 year old rookie Fred Lewis became the 21st Giant to hit for the cycle. In chronological order, he doubled, homered, tripled, then singled against the Colorado Rockies. The last person to hit for the cycle was Randy Winn in 2005.
Also, on this day, the Boston Red Sox scored 6 runs in the ninth inning off Baltimore relievers Danys Baez and Chris Ray to win 6-5. Josh Beckett got no decision, which impeded his consecutive wins to 7.
Also, on this day, Omar Vizquel was involved in his 1591st double play, which put him above the former leader, Ozzie Smith, of double plays by a shortstop in a career.
May 17 th : The Florida Marlins made at least five errors in one game for the third time in club history. The last time they made five errors in one game was on July 25th, 2000.
May 24 th : John Smoltz pitched a gem against the New York Mets, winning 2-1, which earned him his 200th victory. He is the 106th pitcher to ever win 200 games. He is now the only pitcher to ever pick up 200 wins and 150 saves.
May 29th : The Toronto Blue Jays’ Aaron Hill stole home off Yankees’ pitcher, Andy Pettite. It was the first home steal of the season.
May 30th : The New York Yankees’ Johnny Damon collected his 2000th career hit on a line drive to left center field.
June 1st : During a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves, Michael Barrett and Carlos Zambrano fought in the middle of the fifth inning in the dugout. It was said to be one of the most heated on-field exchanges between teammates.
June 5th : The Toronto Blue Jays won a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays where they were once trailing by seven runs. They scored six runs in the ninth as they won 12-11. Matt Stairs scored the game winning run.
June 6th : Trevor Hoffman became the first Major League pitcher to save 500 games. Greg Maddux earned the win as the San Diego Padres beat the Dodgers 5-2.
June 12 th : Justin Verlander pitched a no hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Detroit Tigers won 4-0 while Verlander put 4 batters on base with walks.
June 14th : Ben Sheets strikes out Detroit Tigers’ Mike Rabelo for his 1000th strikeout of his career. In the same game, Craig Monroe tied the record for the most strikeouts by a batter in a nine inning game (5).
Also, on this day, the Boston Red Sox’s pitcher, Josh Beckett lost his first game today against the Colorado Rockies, as they lost 7-1. His record was then 9-1.
June 16th : Chicago Cubs’ Derrek Lee and San Diego Padres’ Chris Young fought in a brawl where they were eventually suspended for 5 games each.
June 19th : The Arizona Diamondbacks were able to retaliate against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with a shocking upset by beating them after they were down by six runs. They were able to come back and win it in the tenth inning with Chris Young’s walk off blast (10-8) sending the home crowd happy.
June 20th : In the fifth in inning of a Texas Rangers’ game, Sammy Sosa becomes the fifth player in MLB history to hit 600 home runs. It is a coincidence that the team he hit the home run was against his former team where he hit 545 home runs with: the Chicago Cubs; he hit it off Jason Marquis, who became his 346th home run victim.
June 22nd: Miguel Tejada of the Baltimore Orioles was put on the 15 Day Disabled List due to a broken wrist, which ended his 1,152 consecutive game streak, which is fifth longest in MLB History.
June 28th : Houston Astros’ Craig Biggio becomes the 27th player to ever hit 3000 hits. He achieved this prestigious milestone by hitting a single into center field in the seventh inning, but unfortunately, was out trying to stretch his hit into a double. He celebrated with his family along with his long-time friend, Jeff Bagwell. He was 5-6 that game and was one of the runs that scored when team-mate, Carlos Lee hit a walk off home run in the bottom of the 11 th inning to win the game 8-5.
Also, on this day, Frank Thomas became the 21st player in major league history to hit 500 home runs, but the Twins rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-5; unfortunately for Thomas, he got ejected in the ninth inning.
July 3 rd : Roger Clemens picked up his 350th career win against the Minnesota Twins. He is the first pitcher to earn 350 wins since Warren Spahn on September 29, 1963. He won the game (5-1), as well as retired the last 15 Twins he faced.
July 6th: Ken Griffey Jr. belted his 586th home run off right hander Micah Owings of the Arizona Diamondbacks; he is currently tied with Frank Robinson for sixth on the all time home run list. The Cincinnati Reds went on to win the game by a landslide (8-1).
July 9th : Vladimir Guerrero wins the Home Run Derby. He advanced to the semi-finals with 5 home runs, and survived a great 4 man home run contest between himself, Matt Holliday, Alex Rios, and Albert Pujols; Holliday hit 8, followed by Alex Rios who hit 12, followed by Vlad who hit 10, followed by Pujols who hit 9. Finally, Alex Rios hit only 2 home runs, which took some pressure off Vladimir Guerrero, where he was crowned Home Run Derby Champion of 2007 when he hit 3 home runs with 7 outs in the finals. He became the third Dominican Republic to win the home run derby (the other two were Sammy Sosa and Miguel Tejada).
July 10th : The American League wins the All Star Game in AT&T Park. The National League is now tied for the most consecutive years in a row where a league hasn’t won an all-star game. Ichiro was named MVP after hitting the first inside the park home run in All-Star Game history, and of his career; he was 3-3 in the mid-summer classic as well.
There are still several milestones yet to be written in the books yet. Just to name the big ones: the Phillies' 10,000 lost games, Barry Bonds's 756 home rusn, Ken Griffey Jr.'s 600th home run, A-Rod's 500th home run, Tom Glavine's 300th victory, and possibly Jim Thome's 500 home runs (I don't think he'll quite make it this year). Give me your thoughts. I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
