Snake Bit – Redux – The fallout from the Jason Grimsley scandal continued to rock the baseball world Thursday with the former D’Backs’ agent telling reporters that the feds were pressuring his client to cooperate with them in an attempt to implicate Barry Bonds.  He told reporters that agents wanted his client to wear a wire to record conversations with other players in order to help the government nab the record breaking superstar.  A copy of the affidavit filed by the agent who interviewed Grimsley, Jeff Novitsky, can be found at thesmokinggun.com.

 

Duck! Er…Uh, Seagull! – Bringing back memories of Randy Johnson and Dave Winfield, a seagull was struck by a Jason Childers pitch during a minor league game last Sunday between the Durham Bulls and the Buffalo Bisons.  The bird managed to survive the beaning and is listed as day to day.   

 

Home and Away

 

Taking a look at the best home and road records in baseball through Thursday, we find the top three teams at home are the White Sox (22-9, .710), the Red Sox (16-8, .667) and the Yankees (18-10, .643).  On the road, the top three teams are Detroit (21-9, .700), followed by Texas (17-11, .607) and Cincinnati (20-13, .606). 

 

And on the flip side, among the 8 teams with losing records at home, Florida and Kansas City have the worst records (9-17, .346) followed by the Nationals (11-13, .458).  The worst team on the road is Pittsburgh at 5-25 (.167).  The Royals – winners of 4 of their last 10 roadies – are now 6-26 (.188) away from Kaufman Stadium while the Twins are just 10-24 (.294) away from the Met. 

 

The Pirates, with their league worst road record and a 17-14 (.548) home record, also have the largest disparity between home and road games with a 381 point difference in winning percentages.  The Twins (16-9, .640 at home) are next with a 346 point margin while Milwaukee (20-13 home – 9-19 road) and Houston (21-13 home – 9-18 road) both sport 285 point differences. 

 

Looking at the divisions in home games, we find the AL Eastern division sports the best collective record at 86-61 (.585) while the NL East has the worst combined record at 69-71 (.493).  Only the AL West (61-62, .496) is also under .500 collectively at home. 

 

On the road, the NL Western division is the only one with a joint record above .500.  Together, the teams in the West are 76-69 (.524).  The worst division in road games is far and the NL Central with a combined 68-108 (.386) mark, a record that includes the Reds at 20-13. 

 

Around the Horn – Thursday

 

The hitting clinic continued in Seattle as both Ichiro and Joe Mauer had three more hits each.  Mauer raised his average to .379 while Ichiro now stands at .362.  The two are 1-2 in the majors in hitting.  Ichiro has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 (31 for 58, .534) while Mauer has hits in 16 of his last 17 games (36 for 71, .507).  Johan Santana allowed just 1 run in 5 innings to get the win and snap the Twins’ four-game losing streak. 

 

The Pirates showed why they are the worst team in baseball away from home by losing for the 13^th time in 14 one-run road games.  And they did so in dramatically ugly fashion.  After the Giants tied the game at 4 in the 8^th, Damaso Marte saw two tough, but catchable pop ups dropped to start the 9^th.  After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Matt Capps then wild pitched home the winning run.  Coming into the game, Capps had pitched 29 innings and walked just three batters – one intentionally – and had thrown just 1 wild pitch. 

 

The Red Sox scored three in the 6^th and five in the 7^th to salvage the final game of the series with the rival Yankees and help Curt Schilling earn his 9^th win of the year.  Schilling gave up just 4 hits in 8 innings and Jonathan Papelbon reduced his ERA to 0.31 with a scoreless 9^th in a non-save situation.

 

Alfonso Soriano hit his 23^rd home run in his only official at bat and scored 4 times in the Nats 5-1 win over Philadelphia.

 

In Kansas City, there were 35 hits and 28 runs scored, yet surprisingly, the Royals managed to come out on the positive side, beating Texas 16-12.  And despite blowing his sixth save of the year and seeing his ERA rise to 7.90 just one night earlier, Ambiorix Burgos came on and threw just six pitches to get the final three outs.  Mark Teahen had four singles in the win for K.C.  In fact, of the 35 hits in the game between the two clubs, 26 were singles.

 

Detroit, baseball’s best road team, beat the White Sox, baseball’s best home team, on the road in Chicago 6-2 as Jon Garland struggled again (6 ER in 7 IP) while Kenny Rogers won his 8^th of the year for the Tigers.  Rob Mackowiak was in centerfield for the second straight night for the Sox as rumors swirled that Brian Anderson (2 for his last 29) will soon be sent to the minors.  

 

The Longest Streak Pt I – Glendon Rusch held Bronson Arroyo without a home run for the first time in three games this year but it was not nearly enough as the scorching hot Reds won their 8^th straight behind superb the pitching of Arroyo (7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER).  The streak is the longest currently in the majors.  With the victory, the Reds also moved into first place, a half game ahead of the Cardinals.  David Ross extended his hitting streak to 11 games in the win (14 for 30, .467). 

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – El Duque held his former team to just 1 run and 3 hits in a complete game victory.  Hernandez was just 2-3 with a 6.11 ERA and averaged just over 5 innings pitched in his 9 starts for Arizona.  In three games for the Mets he is 2-1 with a 4.05 ERA and is averaging 6.2 innings per start.  It was the Diamondbacks fourth straight setback, and coupled with the Twins win, gave them the longest current losing slide in baseball. 

 

Health Notes

 

Eric Gagne has been shut down for a few days after experiencing tightness in his pitching arm after recording his first save of the year on Tuesday against the Mets.  An MRI performed Wednesday reportedly showed inflammation but no structural damage and the Dodgers closer is listed as day to day.  Takashi “Sammy” Saito, not Danys Baez, will likely handle the closing duties in Gagne’s absence. 

 

Gary Sheffield will undergo surgery on his troublesome wrist and miss at least two months, likely returning in September at the earliest.  GM Brian Cashman told reporters that the injury is not expected to be season ending.

 

Mark Prior made likely his second to last rehab start on Thursday, throwing 5 innings and allowing three runs on four hits.  He is expected to pitch one more time, at Triple-A Iowa, before making his ’06 debut with the Cubs.   

 

Jeff Nelson’s career is possibly over after the White Sox announced that the reliever will undergo surgery on a nerve in his elbow.  The recovery time for this type of procedure is 3 months and Nelson has said that this would be his final season.  He ranks sixth on the active list with 798 career appearances. 

 

Esteban Loaiza came off the DL on Thursday, taking the roster spot of Rich Harden who went back to DL for the second time.  The fragile Harden strained a ligament in his right elbow in his last start against Minnesota.  Loaiza, in his return, held the Indians to just one run on 4 hits over 7 innings to lower his ERA from 8.35 to 6.39. 

 

Pick Me! Pick Me!! – Redux Pt I – Among the players with recognizable bloodlines chosen in the second day of baseball’s amateur draft held this past Tuesday and Wednesday:

 

Jeremy Barfield, son of Jesse, brother of Josh.  Mets

Kurt Bradley, son of Phil.  Dodgers

David Cash – Son of Dave.  Orioles

Cirilo Cruz, son of Tommy, nephew of Jose and cousin of Jose Jr.  Astros

Lance Durham, son of Leon.  Tigers

Riley Etchebarren, nephew of Andy.  Diamondbacks

Jonathan Fernandez, son of Tony.  Blue Jays

Chad Gross, son of Kevin.  Red Sox

Kevin Gunderson, nephew of Eric.  Braves

Tyree Hayes, son of Charlie.  Devil Rays

Zach Helton, cousin of Todd.  Rockies

Trent Henderson, son of Dave.  Astros

Joshua Lansford, son of Carney, brother of Jared.  Cubs

Bryce Lefebvre, son of Jim.  Padres

Marcus Lemon, son of Chet.  Rangers

Candy Maldonaldo, son of Candy.  Devil Rays

Kyle Page, son of Mitchell.  Nationals

Twins Jeremy and Josh Papelbon, brothers of Jonathan.  Cubs and Red Sox

Benjamin Petralli, son of Gino.  Tigers

Stephen Puhl, son of Terry.  Mets

Kanekoa Texeira, cousin of Shane Victorino.  White Sox

Chad Tracy, son of Jim.  Rangers

Kyle Williams, son of White Sox GM, Ken.  White Sox

 

Pick Me! Pick Me!! – Redux Pt II – Other notables from the draft’s second day:  Baltimore was not the only team that passed on Jeffrey Maier.  So did all 29 other teams, who also took a collective pass on that legendary little leaguer, Danny Almonte.  Division I batting champ Mike Goetz (.493) dropped to the 25^th round where he was taken by Milwaukee.  And Charles Matthews of the Athens Academy in Georgia became baseball’s Mr. Irrelevant when St. Louis took him with the final pick of the draft (1,502 overall).  Matthews’ father is a scout for the Cardinals.

 

Pick Me! Pick Me!! – Redux Pt III – The Brewers have moved quickly, already signing seven of their draft choices, including Goetz (a Wisconsin native and lifelong Brewer fan) and their top pick, Jeremy Jeffress.  Jeffress, 18, signed on Thursday just two days after the Brewers made him the 16^th overall pick.  Last season for Halifax County Senior High in Virginia, he was 5-1 with a microscopic 0.19 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 47 innings. 

 

On Deck – Friday night’s marquee match-up comes to us from Cincinnati where Greg Maddux goes for career win number 325 against the red hot Reds.  Elizardo Ramirez goes for Cincy against the future HOFer.  Ramirez is just 2-4 with a 3.95 ERA, but he allowed just 2 runs on 3 hits in 6 innings in his last start versus Houston.  Since beginning the year 5-0 with a 1.35 ERA, Maddux has struggled, allowing 5 or more runs in 5 of 7 starts. 

 

In The Hole – In Arizona on Saturday, Brandon Webb (8-0) will once again go for his ninth win of the year; this time he’ll be opposed by Mets rookie Alay Soler who was brilliant in his last start against the Dodgers, allowing just 1 run in 7 innings to get his first major league win.  Webb’s 2.14 ERA leads the majors. 

 

The weekend’s top match-up takes place in the Bronx on Sunday where Barry Zito goes up against Mike Mussina.  Prior to his last start (6 runs over 7 innings in a win against Cleveland), Zito had been 4-1 with a 1.12 ERA in seven starts since May 1.  Mussina is 8-1 on the year with a 2.67 ERA, second best in the AL. 

 

Back Breaker – The PAMF slow pitch softball team’s playoff hopes took a major hit on Thursday, losing 13-12 to Slonkers in extra innings.  It was a bitter pill to swallow for yours truly with a mental error in the field that possibly contributed to the loss.  At the plate, though, there was a rebound from last weeks 0 for 3 as DN&N collected two hits in four trips, including a hit in the 7^th that tied the game at 11.  For the season, DN&N is batting .667 (12 for 18) with 7 RBI in 6 games

 

Phew!  That was a long one today.  Have a great weekend and remember, if you see something interesting that we missed, e-mail us here and maybe we’ll included it in the next Daily News and Notes.