News

 

Houston We Have Liftoff – The biggest news of the day came out of Houston where Newsday reported that the Astros and Roger Clemens had agreed on a one-year deal worth about $3.5 million per month.  Astros officials and Clemens’ agents were quick to deny any deal had been struck, though Rangers owner Tom Hicks admitted that he was told that the Rocket would not be signing with Texas.  Yankee and Red Sox officials also denied any deal was done, so all signs are now pointing to a mid to late June liftoff for the Rocket in Houston. 

 

The Mets on Tuesday placed Xavier Nady on the DL with an emergency appendicitis and recalled top prospect Lastings Milledge.  Milledge has been highly sought after by other clubs, but the Mets have declared him all but untouchable.  He was 1 for 4 with a double in his big league debut, which came at 21 years and 55 days old.  In an ironic twist, former Met Darryl Strawberry made his ML debut on May 6, 1983 also at 21 years and 55 days old.

 

The deadline for the Dodgers to sign their 2005 draft pick and college pitcher of the year, Luke Hochevar, expired yesterday without the two sides reaching a deal.  Represented by super agent Scott Boras and currently pitching in the independent leagues with the Fort Worth Cats, Hochevar will now re-enter the 2006 draft scheduled for June 6-7.

 

Eric Gagne was activated from the DL on Tuesday and will first serve a two game suspension left over from an incident last season.  He’ll then be ready to go as the Dodgers return home to face Philadelphia on Thursday. 

 

A day after saying he would play in 2007 if his health held up, Barry Bonds was scratched from the starting lineup on Tuesday with a sore back.  It is not believed to be serious, though Bonds may not play again until the team travels to New York on Friday. 

 

Faced with a May 31 deadline, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays opted not to change their name for the 2007 season, team president Matt Silverman announced Tuesday.  They will continue to explore their options, and the name may still be changed in time for the 2008 season. 

 

Rookie Leader Board – Pitching Pt I – Detroit’s Justin Verlander leads all major league rookies with 7 wins.  John Koronka and Josh Johnson have four apiece and several others are tied with three each.

 

Rookie Leader Board – Pitching Pt II – Of the six rookies with enough innings pitched to qualify for the leader board, Verlander is once again at the top with a 2.55 ERA.  The rest are Clay Hensley (3.90), Koronka (4.06), Paul Maholm (4.58), Sean Marshall (5.03) and Matt Cain (5.07).  

 

Rookie Leader Board – Pitching Pt III – Jonathan Papelbon is far and away the leader among rookies in saves with 18.  Kenny Ray and Takashi “Sammy” Saito have 2 each and seven others have one.

 

Hot and Cold

 

Alfonso Soriano has not let his transition to the outfield or pitcher friendly RFK Stadium bother him at the plate.  At home, the erstwhile 2B is batting .319 and slugging .736 with 11 of his 18 home runs (in 91 at bats/1 every 8.27).  Overall, he is batting .294 and is tied with Ryan Howard for second in the NL in home runs. 

 

David Ortiz hasn’t homered since May 19, a span of 11 games and 39 at bats, and is hitting just .255 with 4 HR for the month. 

 

Steve Finley is either in a slump or he is showing his age.  The 41-year-old OF leads the majors with 8 triples but has just one since May 9 and is batting just .167 (11 for 66) during that span.  For the season, Finley has hit just 1 HR in 149 at bats.

 

White Sox super sub Rob Mackowiak began the season hitting just .179 (10 for 56) but is batting .425 (17 for 40) since then.

 

D’Backs closer Jose Valverde has allowed 9 runs and 14 hits in his last 3.2 innings (22.07 ERA), blowing saves in each of his last two outings. 

 

Eric Byrnes meanwhile extended his hitting streak to 13 games with his 3^rd HR in two days.  After hitting .237 in April, Byrnes has hit safely in 20 of 22 games in May and is batting .376 with 8 HR and 16 RBI for the month.

 

Mark Ellis has just 4 hits in his last 40 at bats, including an 0 for 2 Tuesday, as the A’s lost again at home to the Royals, their 10^th loss in 11 games overall.

 

Giants rookie Travis Ishikawa was 5 for 10 with 3 doubles and a triple in place of the injured Lance Niekro.  As if a fire had been lit underneath him, Niekro returned from the DL on Tuesday and was 3 for 4 with 2 HR.

 

Rookie Leader Board – Hitting Pt I – Prince Fielder leads all qualified rookies in batting with a .326 average.  The Marlins middle infield duo of Dan Uggla (.318) and Hanley Ramirez (.315) are second and third respectively. 

 

Rookie Leader Board – Hitting Pt II – Fielder and Ryan Zimmerman lead all rookies with 9 HR each.  Josh Willingham is next with 7 and his teammates Mike Jacobs and Dan Uggla have 6 each. 

 

Rookie Leader Board – Hitting Pt III – Completing the triple crown, Fielder is leading all rookies with 33 RBI.  Willingham and Zimmerman have 32 each. 

 

Notes

 

Vernon Wells had the first three homer game of his career Tuesday night as the Blue Jays beat Josh Beckett and the Red Sox 8-5.  Beckett served up 4 home runs in the game (two each to Wells and Troy Glaus) as his record dropped to 7-2 and his ERA rose to 4.46.

 

C.C. Sabathia upped his record to 5-1 on the year and is now 5-0 in head to head match-ups against White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle as the Indians beat Chicago 4-3.

 

The Pirates beat Milwaukee 12-1 and have now scored 26 runs in the first two games of the series, 58 runs in their last six, and over their last 14 they are averaging over seven runs per game.

 

Greg Maddux finally won his 324^th career game on Tuesday, tying him with Don Sutton and Nolan Ryan for 13^th on the all-time list.  It was his first win since April 28, a span of five starts after winning his first five starts of the year.

 

Attempting to throw the majors’ first no-hitter in over two years, Chris Young took a no-hitter into the 8^th last night before Brad Hawpe broke it up with a double leading off the inning.

 

The Longest Streak Pt I – Rookie Alay Soler gave up 7 runs in five innings as the Mets saw their modest 3 game win streak snapped Tuesday night.  The Yankees, meanwhile, scored 5 runs in the 11^th inning after blowing an early 5-0 lead to beat the Tigers and extend their winning streak to 4 games, the longest current streak in the majors. Melky Cabrera had four hits (including 3 legs of the cycle) in the win for the Yanks.

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – 6 was the number as the Mariners gave up 6 runs in the 3^rd (Brad Wilkerson providing the big blow with a grand slam) and then watched as Kevin Millwood made it stand up for his 6^th win of the year.  For Seattle, it was their 6^th consecutive loss, the longest current losing slide in the majors.

 

Chasing the Hammer – Bonds, of course, did not play on Tuesday and remained 40 shy of Hank Aaron on the all-time home run list, but that didn’t stop Craig Biggio from hitting his 624^th career double to tie Aaron for 9^th place on the all-time doubles list. Honus Wagner is next up for Biggio at 640.

 

On Deck – Wednesday’s marquee match-up pits D’Backs ace Brandon Webb (8-0, 2.18) against Pedro Martinez (5-1, 2.79) and the Mets in a battle of first place teams.