The Rocket Has Landed – The Rocket touched down in Lexington on Tuesday as Roger Clemens made his 2006 debut.  The future HOFer pitched three innings, allowing 3 hits and one run (on a home run) while striking out six.  He did not walk a batter.  His next outing will be on June 11 in Corpus Christie for the Double-A Hooks.  He will then make one more tune up, on June 16 at Round Rock, before making his season debut with the Astros on June 22 against the Twins. 

 

John Drennen of the Lake County Captains got the thrill of his professional career when he took Clemens deep in the first inning.  Koby Clemens returned from a broken pinkie and was 1 for 3 with a double and an RBI in the Legends 7-4 win.

 

The Rocket’s return can’t come soon enough for the free falling Astros who have lost 15 of their last 21 and placed Roy Oswalt on the DL with a strained back.  The move was retroactive to May 30 and Oswalt is expected back on June 14.  Left hander Phillip Barzilla (2-3, 4.13 in 9 starts) was purchased from Triple-A Round Rock to replace him on the roster and Brandon Backe was moved to the 60-day DL to clear space for Barzilla on the 40-man roster. 

 

Proof of Existence? – On 6/6/06, the Angels clobbered the Devil Rays as Scott Kazmir gave up 6 ER in 6.1 IP.  The Angels had 17 hits to back Ervin Santana who struck out 7 over 7 innings.

 

Trivia Question – Mike Marshall pitched in 106 games in 1974 for the Dodgers to set the major league record for most appearances in a single season.  What pitcher holds the American League record?  (Answer below)

 

What a Relief – Redux – Endurance

 

Salomon Torres leads all relievers in appearances, having pitched in 36 times in the Pirates first 59 games.  That puts him on pace to pitch 98 times this year which would break the Pirates single season record of 94, set by Kent Tekulve in 1979. 

 

Major League Leaders in Games/Innings Pitched by Relievers

 

Games Pitched		Innings Pitched
Torres (Pit)	36	Scott Proctor (NYY)	39.0
Mike Stanton (Wsh)	32	Torres (Pit)	38.2
Jon Rauch (Wsh)	31	Gary Majewski (Wsh)	36.0
Jose Mesa (Col)	31	Duaner Sanchez (NYM)	35.2
Gary Majewski (Wsh)	30	Chad Qualls (Hou)	34.0
Mike Remlinger (Atl)	30	Jon Rauch (Wsh)	33.2
Francisco Cordero (Tex)	30	Ruddy Lugo (TB)	33.2
Luis Vizcaino (Ari)	29	Aaron Heilman (NYM)	32.2
Shawn Camp (TB)	29	Todd Coffey (Cin)	32.0
Andrew Sisco (KC)	29	Elmer Dessens (KC)	31.1
		Aaron Fultz (Phi)	31.1

 

Hot and Cold

 

Reds backup catcher David Ross has a 10 game hitting streak during which he is batting .464 (13 for 28) to raise his season average to .339. 

 

As for the Reds’ other two catchers, Jason LaRue is 0 for his last 26 and batting .171 for the season while Javier Valentin is just 4 for his last 29 (.138) and hitting .226. Last year the two combined to hit 28 HR and drive in 110.

 

Miguel Tejada opened the season hitting .422 in the month of April, only to slide down to just .224 in May.  Thus far in June, Tejada is showing signs of bouncing back by batting .444 (12 for 27) through the first six games of the month.  With a 2 for 5 last night in a 6-4 loss to Toronto, Tejada extended his hitting streak to 9 games.

 

Edgardo Alfonzo is just 2 for 23 as a Blue Jay and is batting .096 (7 for 73) for the season.

 

Ken Griffey Jr. is on a serious roll, collecting 16 hits in his last 34 at bats (.471) with 4 HR and 8 RBI, lifting his season average to .298.  He currently has a 7-game hitting streak.

 

Prince Fielder, after an 0 for 4 on Tuesday against San Diego, is now just 1 for 18 in June and 1 for his last 22 overall, dropping his batting average under .300 (.298) for the first time since April 13.

 

White Sox closer Bobby Jenks has not allowed a run in his last 8 appearances, covering 9.2 innings, dropping his ERA to 3.33.  Over that span Jenks has six saves in six ops to go with 16 strikeouts while allowing just 3 hits and 4 walks.

 

On Tuesday…

 

Two of the American League’s top hitters put on a hitting clinic in Seattle Tuesday night.  Ichiro had four more hits to give him 17 in his last 31 at bats (.548) and raise his average to .350 for the year, good for third in the AL.  And on the other side of the diamond, Joe Mauer went 4 for 4 to raise his average to a major league leading .368. Seattle won the game 4-2.

 

Cole Hamels got his first major league win last night as the Phillies spoiled the return of Russ Ortiz to Arizona’s rotation.  The rookie allowed just 3 hits over 5 2/3 and has now allowed just 9 hits in 17 big league innings.  Terry Mulholland, the only lefty on the D’Backs roster, was returned to the DL 3 days after he came off it.

 

After scoring 13 runs on Monday night – including two 3-run second inning home runs –

the Yankees used a bases loaded walk to beat the Red Sox for the second straight night in a nail-biter 2-1. 

 

The NL pitcher of the month for May, Jason Schmidt (4-0, 1.17), started his June right where he left off.  The Giants’ ace carried a no-hitter into the fifth and allowed just 7 hits and one run (on a Josh Willingham HR) while tying HOFer Christy Matthewson’s all-time franchise record (set in 1904) with 16 strikeouts.  He also bested the San Francisco Giant record of 15 set by HOFer Gaylord Perry in 1966.  Schmidt is now 6-0 with a 1.31 ERA in his last 8 starts.

 

And in Tuesday’s marquee game between the Mets and Dodgers, Pedro Martinez had his worst outing of the year, allowing 7 runs on 8 hits in just 5 innings as he took his second loss of the season.  The runs and hits were both season highs and his innings total was a season low.  Jonathan Broxton struggled for L.A., allowing 3 runs without retiring a batter and watched his ERA jump from 0.93 to 2.33.  Eric Gagne pitched a perfect ninth with 2 strikeouts to earn his first save of the season.

 

Pick Me! Pick Me!! Pt I – The Royals backed away from both Andrew Miller and Brad Lincoln, and instead choose Luke Hochevar with the first overall pick in the 2006 First Year Player Draft.  Hochevar was a supplemental pick (40^th overall) by the Dodgers last year, but the two sides could not come to terms and the pitcher re-entered the after pitching most recently for the independent Fort Worth Cats in the American Association.  He throws hard and has been compared to Kevin Brown.  Baseball America had ranked Hochevar as the 7^th best pitching prospect in the draft and the 8^th best player overall. 

 

Pick Me! Pick Me!! Pt II – Following the Royals selection of Hochevar, Colorado surprised everyone by taking Stanford pitcher Gregory Reynolds instead of Long Beach third baseman Evan Longoria.  Longoria was then selected by Tampa Bay with the third overall pick.  Rounding out the top ten picks were – Brad Lincoln (Pit), Brandon Morrow (Sea), Andrew Miller (Det), Clayton Kershaw (LAD), Robert Stubbs (Cin), William Rowell (Bal) and Timothy Lincecum (SF). 

 

Pick Me! Pick Me!! Pt III – Kyle Drabek, son of former major leaguer pitcher Doug Drabek, was selected at #18 by the Phillies and Preston Mattingly, the son of the former Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly, was selected by Los Angeles with the first pick in the supplemental round (31^st overall).  Meanwhile, the Rangers signed a draft and follow pick from last year, Kevin Gossage.  Gossage is the nephew of former major leaguer Goose Gossage.

 

Pick Me! Pick Me!! Pt IV – There were 18 pitchers taken in the first round, including 7 of the first ten picks overall.  Only three infielders were among the first 30 chosen and just 13 players in total were selected out of high school.  The A’s, who did not have a first round pick, selected Trevor Cahill out of Vista high school with their top pick, the 66^th overall. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt I – The Reds, backed by the hitting of Ross and Griffey and the pitching of Eric Milton, pulled to within a game of St. Louis in the Central with a 7-0 win over the Cards.  That win, coupled with Washington’s loss to Atlanta, gave Cincinnati sole possession of the longest winning streak in the majors at 6 games.

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – The Rockies snapped their six game losing streak Tuesday by beating Pittsburgh 5-4.  That, along with Minnesota’s loss to Seattle, gives the Twins the longest current losing streak in the majors at 3 games. 

 

Trivia Answer – Trick question!  In a three year span from ’72-‘74, Mike Marshall pitched in 263 games as a reliever for the Dodgers, winning 43 games and saving 70.  In 1974, in addition to pitching in a record 106 games, Marshall threw an astounding 208.1 innings (also a record) and became the first reliever to win the Cy Young award with a 15-12 record and 21 saves.  Then in 1979, while pitching for Minnesota, Marshall appeared in 90 games to set the AL record for appearances in a single season.

 

On Deck – Jose Contreras goes to the mound for Chicago in Wednesday’s marquee match-up on the south side, looking once again for his 14^th consecutive win.  Contreras (5-0) spent two weeks on the DL in May and has not won since May 4 against Seattle.  He’ll be facing the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander, the AL rookie pitcher of the month in May.  Verlander, who has actually pitched much better on the road this year (4-1, 1.82) than at home (3-2, 4.54), will be going for his 8^th win of the year.