To Omaha and Beyond – Cal State Fullerton came from behind to eliminate number one seed Clemson, beating them 7-6 to advance on to play North Carolina on Wednesday.  The Titans will need to beat the Tar Heels twice in order to advance to the best two out of three finals which begin on Saturday.  Similarly, Oregon State, which eliminated Miami on Wednesday, will need to beat Rice two times to advance. 

 

News and Notes

 

Dayton Moore made his first big move as GM of the Royals on Tuesday, acquiring the speedy Joey Gathright from Tampa Bay in exchange for lefty pitcher J.P. Howell, a 1^st round draft pick of the Royals in 2004.  Kansas City also gets utility infielder Fernando Cortez in the deal.  Howell will pitch for Durham for the time being.  He will be joined there by Seth McClung, who will pitch out of the bullpen after being optioned out by Tampa on Tuesday.  By moving the promising Howell, Moore is attempting to improve his pitching staff by improving his team’s defense.  Gathright will play center in KC with David DeJesus moving to left.  Reggie Sanders remains the right fielder.

 

Milton Bradley went on the DL for the 8^th time in his big league career, and the second time this season, this time with a strained shoulder.  He missed 35 games earlier season with a sprained knee and strained oblique and has played in only 28 games this year, batting just .213.

 

Derrek Lee took BP on Tuesday for the first time since breaking his wrist but Dusty Baker was non-committal when asked if he could return this week.  Meanwhile, Kerry Wood threw a simulated game with mixed results, making unlikely the possibility of him starting this weekend.

 

Albert Pujols took ground balls and swung in the batting cage prior to the Cardinals game on the South Side.  Tony LaRussa said he would not likely go on a rehab assignment, though the manager and trainer Barry Weinberg would not speculate on when Pujols might be activated.  He is eligible to come off the DL at any time. 

 

Cesar Izturis was activated from the DL and will be the Dodgers everyday third baseman for the time being.  Bill Mueller’s recovery from knee surgery has been slow and the 3B is not close to being activated.  Izturis was 0 for 1 in a pinch hitting appearance on Tuesday, his first AB since last August 22.

 

Around the Horn – Tuesday

 

Matt Morris lowered his June ERA to 2.79 with 6 effective innings, scattering 7 hits and 3 walks while allowing just 1 run and doubling in two as the Giants beat the Angels 3-2.  John Lackey (4-5) took the loss, something DN&N has waited a long, long time to say.

 

With one monster game, Ryan Howard tied Pujols for the lead league in home runs (25) and surpassed him in RBI (66).  Howard’s 2 HR and 7 RBI provided all of Philadelphia’s offense, but it wasn’t enough as the Yankees scored 4 in the 8^th off of Arthur Rhodes to give New York a 9-7 win.  T.J. Beam got his first major league win in just his second big league appearance and Bernie Williams went 5 for 5 to help offset Howard’s big game.  Mike Mussina, however, gave up 5 runs in 5 innings and now has a 6.84 ERA in June (23.2 IP, 18 ER). 

 

Joe Nathan blew his first save of the year in 11 chances, giving up a ninth inning home run to Preston Wilson, but improved his record to 5-0 when Justin Morneau hit his 17^th home run of the year in the 10^th.  It was the Twins 8^th straight win.  Morneau had earlier extended his hitting streak to 11 games, a stretch during which he is batting .413 (19 for 46) with 6 HR and 19 RBI. 

 

The A’s came into Colorado the hottest team in baseball having won their last 10 straight.  They have now been shut out on back to back nights at Coors field, losing 6-0 on Tuesday, as the Rockies improved their record over the A’s in Colorado to 8-2.  The Athletics are 7-1 all-time against the Rockies in Oakland.  Before Monday’s 7-0 loss, the last time Oakland played in Coors Field, the Rockies won 18-3 as Mark Mulder gave up 10 runs in 4 innings…

 

The White Sox battered the Cardinals with 24 hits and 20 runs, pounding Mulder for 9 runs on 10 hits in just 2 1/3.  Sidney Ponson gave up 6 runs in a single inning of work as Chicago beat St. Louis 20-6.  Javier Vazquez got the win and improved to 8-4 on the year.

 

The Longest Streak Pt I – Dontrelle Willis (4-6) won his third straight decision as the Marlins matched their franchise best winning streak at 9 games.  Dan Uggla hit his 13^th home run, second among all rookies, as Florida won for the 19^th time in 25 games.  With his 50^th career victory, Willis also became the Marlins’ franchise leader in wins.  His ERA over his last 7 starts is just 2.14.  Ricky Nolasco (2-1, 1.71 in three June starts) goes on Wednesday as the Fish try to make it an even ten in a row.

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – Toronto won their first Interleague game of the year, beating Atlanta 6-5 to send the reeling Braves to their 8^th straight loss.  B.J. Ryan earned his 18^th save with 1 1/3 hitless innings, lowering his season ERA to 0.51 (35 IP, 2 ER, 14 H, 7 BB, 42 K).  In the month of June, Ryan has not allowed a run in 9 games (9 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 11 K).  Neither Josh Towers (1-8) nor Jorge Sosa (1-9) figured in the decision.  Tim Hudson (5-3, 3.00 ERA in his last 10 starts) will try to end the bleeding on Wednesday, and is opposed by Ted Lily (6-7).

 

Quick Hits

 

Ichiro went 1 for 3 to extend his hitting streak to 19 games.

 

Alex Cora has 8 hits in his last 14 AB (.571) and 9 in his last 19 (.474) to raise his average from .250 to .304.

 

Todd Hollandsworth began the year 7 for 16 but has just 8 hits in his last 55 AB (.145) since.

 

Eric Byrnes homered for the second time in three games and has 8 hits in his last 19 AB (.421).

 

Paul Konerko is batting .417 in June (25 for 60) after hitting just .234 (25 for 107) in May.

 

Beginning to show modest improvement, Brian Anderson has 8 hits in his last 27 AB (.296) to raise his average 26 points to .178. 

 

Reed Johnson is hitting .432 (19 for 44) and slugging .773 in June.

 

Free Swinger Update Pt I – Last year Jeff Francoeur, DN&N’s favorite free swinger, had 127 at bats before drawing his first walk against San Diego; a feat made even more remarkable by the fact that it was an intentional walk.  He finished the year with 11 walks in 257 at bats, a rate of one every 1 every 23.63 AB.  This season, Francoeur went 132 AB before drawing his first free pass and now, after drawing a walk last night, has just 6 in 292 at bats for a rate of 1 every 48.67 AB.  For his career he has only 17 walks in 549 AB, 1 every 34.29 AB.  He has drawn walks in consecutive games just once in his short career – a stretch of 4 consecutive games last season from Aug. 28 – Aug 31 – and has had just one multi-walk game (2) which occurred last September 26.  

 

Free Swinger Update Pt II – Francoeur’s teammate Matt Diaz went 81 at bats this season before he drew his first walk.  He now has 4 total (including 2 in one game on June 13) in 105 at bats (1 every 26.25 at bats) this season, and a total of 10 in 224 career at bats, a rate of 1 every 22.4 AB.  Brayan Pena, currently at Triple-A Richmond, has one walk in 28 AB this season, and 2 in 67 career AB. 

 

Free Swinger Update Pt III – In the spirit of Francoeur, Robb Quinlan leads all major leaguers in at bats without a walk.  Quinlan has batted 94 times without drawing a walk.  Mike Redmond (77), Vance Wilson (61) and Sandy Alomar (53) are 2-4, while Anderson Hernandez, 5^th overall and once among the leaders in this obscure statistic, has been stuck on 41 since he was placed on the DL April 20 and later sent to the minors. 

 

On Deck – Today’s marquee match-up features a rematch between the White Sox and Cardinals as Jason Marquis (9-4, 4.55) will face off against Mark Buehrle (7-4, 3.13).  Marquis, 6-0 with a 3.31 ERA in his last 7 starts, will take the mound trying to quiet the White Sox bats after Tuesday’s drubbing.  Buehrle has pitched 7 innings or more in 9 of his 14 starts this season, and 8 or more in 6 of those.  In his last two starts, Buehrle has allowed just 4 runs in 16 innings.