Kansas City (10-35), on Friday night, had Scott Elarton (0-5) on the mound facing Mike Mussina (6-1) and the Yankees (26-19), having lost their last 13 games overall, 20 out of 22 on the road, and their last 14 consecutive in the house that Ruth built dating back to the 2002 season.  Naturally, the Royals won 7-6.   

 

Chasing the Babe – Caught!  Barry Bonds, on Sunday, finally hit career home run number 715. Rockies pitcher Byun-Hyun Kim gave up the blast and will forever be linked with Al Downing in the history books.  Bonds hit his historic blast at home at AT&T Park, in front of a sellout crowd of 42,395 cheering faithful who called him out for two curtain calls and gave him another standing ovation as he took the field following the inning.  DN&N salutes and congratulates Bonds on a truly remarkable achievement.

 

Chasing the Hammer – Bonds, now 40 home runs behind Henry Aaron on the all-time list, said on Monday that he will play in 2007 if his health holds up.  He is in the final year of his contract.

 

Chasing Bonds – Albert Pujols has homered in each of his last two games giving him 25 for the season, and putting him on pace shatter Bonds’ single season home run record with 79.

 

Chasing Hack – Pujols, with 6 RBI in his last 2 games, now has 64 for the season and is on pace to drive in 202, giving him a realistic chance to break Hack Wilson’s single season record of 191, set back in 1930. 

 

Trivia Question – What player holds the single season record for the most RBI by a left handed hitter? (answer at end)

 

Milestones

 

Derek Jeter, on Friday night in the loss to Kansas City, recorded his 2,000^th major league hit.

 

Curt Schilling beat Tampa Bay on Saturday, and became the 104^th pitcher to record 200 career wins.

 

Also on Saturday, Tom Glavine recorded his 283^rd career victory in a 7-4 win over Dontrelle Willis (1-6) and the Marlins.

 

Randy Johnson got back on track on Monday, shutting out Detroit for six innings to get the 270^th win of his career.

 

Health Notes

 

Coco Crisp returned from a fractured hand on Sunday, a day earlier than expected.  He is 3 for 9 with a home run after his first two games back.

 

On the same day, the Red Sox placed reliever Mike Timlin (3-0, 1.40) on the DL with a right shoulder strain.

 

Sean Casey returned to the Pirates on Monday, after missing six weeks with fractures in his back.  He was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI in Pittsburgh’s 14-3 win over Milwaukee.

 

David DeJesus went 0 for 5, but Kansas City hung on to beat the struggling A’s Monday in the CF’s return from a hamstring injury. 

 

The Nationals, on Saturday, placed Jose Guillen on the disabled list, bringing to ten the number of players on Washington’s injured list, the most in the majors. 

 

The Phillies activated catcher Mike Lieberthal from the DL on Monday.  He was 0 for 1 in the 11-2 win over Washington, pinch hitting in the second inning for starter Jon Lieber who was placed on the DL after the game with a strained left groin.

 

Mark Prior threw 44 pitches in a two inning rehab outing on Monday.  His velocity was down, but he was not concerned, telling reporters, “A lot of times during spring training, I'm down, and then I come around, so I'm not really worried about it.”  No word yet on when his next start will be.

 

The Blue Jays placed shortstop John McDonald on the DL on Monday with a strained groin.  To replace him on the roster, the team purchased the contract of former Angel Edgardo Alfonso and inserted him into the starting lineup at second base.  He was 0 for 3 to lower his season average to .094 (5 for 53).  To make room on the 40-man roster, Toronto moved A.J. Burnett to the 60-day DL.  He is expected back in late June.

 

Brad Penny was pitching with a sore shoulder on Monday, which was incurred in his last start against Colorado, causing a serious drop in velocity.  “It just hurts, that's all,” Penny told reporters after the game. “That's probably the slowest I've thrown in my whole career. They wanted me to go back out there [last week]. I said I couldn't. I'll just get treatment. I don't think it's anything real serious. Right now, I don't have velocity. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.”

 

Meanwhile, Eric Gagne finished a rehab stint with Las Vegas and pronounced himself ready to return.  He pitched two scoreless innings for the 51s, picking up two saves, and the Dodgers are expected to activate him likely on Wednesday or Thursday.

 

The Longest Streak Pt I – Both the Mets and Yankees have won three straight and can lay claim to the longest current winning streak in the majors.  The Yankees took the final two against Kansas City after being embarrassed in the opener and then, backed by the Big Unit, beat Detroit on Monday.  The Mets used a dramatic come from behind walk-off win against Arizona on Monday to tie the Yankees for the longest winning streak after winning the last two in their weekend series in Florida. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – The Mariners ran into a buzz saw named John Rheinecker on Monday, losing 2-0 as the rookie allowed just 4 hits in 8.1 innings to get his first major league win.  This extended Seattle’s losing streak to 5 games, currently the longest in the majors.

 

Hot and Cold

 

Giants pitcher Matt Cain has allowed just 3 hits and 1 run in his last 16.2 IP (0.54 ERA/1.61 H/9).

 

Todd Walker of the Cubs has 10 hits in his last 21 at bats (.476) and is hitting .309 on the year.

 

Rockies SS Clint Barmes has just 3 hits in his last 34 AB (.088) and is batting just .100 for the month (8 for 80), lowering his overall average to just .191. 

 

Miguel Cabrera has hit safely in 6 straight for Florida, going 10 for 19 (.526) with 2 HR and 7 RBI.  His .343 batting average leads the NL. 

 

Carl Crawford has 15 hits in his last 31 at bats (.484) with 3 HR, raising his average from .261 to .297.

 

Runelvys Hernandez was demoted to the minors on Monday, after lasting just 2/3rds of an inning on Sunday against the Yankees.  In his last 5 starts, Hernandez allowed 23 runs on 39 hits in just 19 innings (10.89 ERA).

 

The Oakland A’s have lost 9 of their last 10 games, including 6-4 to the Royals on Monday.

 

Every team in the NL West has finished above .500 each of the last 10 days, and 12 of the last 13.  No NL West team has been under .500 since May 15 (San Francisco, 19-20). 

 

Jason Bay had his streak of six consecutive games with a HR snapped on Monday, but nevertheless has 10 HR in his last 11 games and is batting .404 (19 for 47) during that span.

 

The Angels have won 5 of 6 games since recalling 1B Kendry Morales.  Morales is batting .333 (9 for 27) despite going 0 for 5 on Monday.

 

Hold This Pt I – Detroit’s Joel Zumaya and Brandon Lyon of the D’Backs share the major league lead with 12 holds each.  The disabled Timlin, Luis Vizcaino of Arizona and Philadelphia’s Arthur Rhodes have 11 apiece and Jose Mesa (Col) and Scott Shields (LAA) are tied for fifth with 10.

 

Hold This Pt II – Oscar Villarreal of the Braves has appeared in the most games as a reliever without registering a hold at 25.  Houston’s Mike Gallo and Joey Eischen have pitched 22 times each without getting a hold.  Brian Sweeney (SD), at 19 games, is fourth, and the D’Backs’ Jason Grimsley, and Todd Wellemeyer of Florida are tied for fifth with 18 games each. 

 

Trivia Answer – Lou Gehrig drove in 184 runs in 1931, the second most in history and the most ever by a left handed batter.  Gehrig, in fact, has the top three marks in history by a lefty and in 1927 he drove in 175 to break the single season record held previously by Babe Ruth (whose 171 RBI in 1921 stands as the fourth most ever by a lefty).  It was that mark that Hack Wilson beat in 1930 when he drove in 191.