Leading Off – Jose Reyes had collected the three toughest legs by the fifth inning and in the eighth, he got the single he needed to become the 226^th player since 1900, and the 250^th overall, to hit for the cycle.  Reyes is riding a nine-game hit streak during which he is 21 for 39 (.538), and has seen his average rise from .251 to .283.  He is batting .387 for the month of June (29 for 75).  The Reds, however, rallied against Billy Wagner and knocked off New York 6-5, and in doing so, ended a 25 game winning streak by teams with players who hit for the cycle. 

 

Trivia Question – Randy Winn was the last player to have hit for the cycle, doing it for San Francisco last August 15, in Cincinnati.  Can you name the most recent player before Winn to have turned the trick?  (answer below)

 

The Future Is Today – Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday the rosters for the All-Star Futures Game.  Among the more prominent players scheduled to play in this year’s prelude to the mid-summer classic are Howie Kendrick, Stephen Drew, Homer Bailey, Philip Hughes, Gio Gonzalez and Alex Gordon for the U.S. squad while Joel Guzman, Wladimir Balentien, Jae Kuk Ryu, George Kottaras and Radhames Liz among others are slated to play for the World team. Gary Carter will manage the U.S. team against fellow HOFer Ferguson Jenkins who will coach the World players.  Connor Jackson and Jeff Francoeur were among the players who played in last year’s game. 

 

To Omaha and Beyond – Cal State Fullerton was eliminated from the College World Series on Wednesday.  North Carolina beat the Titans to advance to the best of three finals beginning on Saturday.  The Tar Heels, undefeated in the double elimination tournament and needing to win just once in two games against Cal State, wasted no time in securing a spot in the championship series, winning the game 6-5.  Oregon State, meanwhile, was in the same situation needing to beat Rice twice to advance.  They came through and knocked off the Owls 5-0 to force a deciding second game on Thursday. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt Ia – The Marlin Express ran into a freight train named Bedard as Florida’s 9 game win streak came screeching to a halt on Wednesday night in Baltimore.  Erik Bedard had his best game of the year, striking out 12 over 8 two-hit scoreless innings, putting an end to what had been the longest current win streak in the majors.  That distinction is now shared by a pair of Sox. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt Ib – The Red Sox won their 6^th in a row last night – the longest current winning streak in the majors – with a David Ortiz grand slam backing 6 impressive innings from rookie Jon Lester.  Lester allowed just 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 10 to earn the win for the second time in his three big league starts.  Trot Nixon had three hits for Boston to raise his batting average in June to .422 (27 for 64). 

 

The Longest Streak Pt Ic – Meanwhile the White Sox poured it on again, scoring 13 more runs against St. Louis and collecting 16 more hits.  Chicago has now scored 33 runs rapped out 40 hits over the last two nights.  Jason Marquis took the brunt of it, allowing all 13 runs along with 14 of the hits in his five innings pitched.  Jim Thome had four hits in the win, snapping him out of a 10 for 49 rut (.204).  Paul Konerko continued his blazing hot streak (.429, 18 RBI in June) by hitting a 3-run first inning HR and driving home four as the White Sox won their sixth straight, tied with Boston for the longest current streak in baseball. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – Atlanta’s misery continued as the Blue Jays beat them 6-3 in Atlanta to extend the Braves’ losing streak to 9 games, the longest current losing streak in the major leagues and the longest for the franchise in 18 years.  The Braves are now 12 games under .500 and in last place, 14 ˝ games back of the Mets in the East.  Speculation is rampant that John Smoltz may be dealt with the right hander saying in a Sunday interview with ESPN that he would open to discussing a trade.  The Braves will face A.J. Burnett on Thursday as the Jays’ expensive free agent makes his return from the DL.  It will be his first start since April 21 and just his third of the season. 

 

Brother can you spare a run? Pt I – Looking at the pitchers who have received the most run support while on the mound, we find that Javier Vazquez (8-4), beneficiary of those 20 White Sox runs on Tuesday, leads the majors in run support at a whopping 9.47 runs per start.  Randy Johnson (8-6) hasn’t seen his Yankee mates having much trouble scoring runs.  He is second in the league, getting 8.20 runs per game in his starts this year.  Paul Byrd (5-5) is third in the majors at 7.76 while Wandy Rodriguez (8-4) and Jeff Suppan (6-4) are tied for the NL lead at 7.16. 

 

Brother can you spare a run? Pt II – By comparison, Mark Hendrickson (4-7) has seen just a trickle of run support as the Devil Rays have given him just 2.87 runs per game.  Brett Myers (5-3) is getting the least support among NL pitchers, and second overall, at 3.48 runs per game.  He is followed by Jeff Francis (5-6) at 3.49, Taylor Buchholz (4-6) at 3.61 and Tim Wakefield (5-8) at 3.64 runs per start. 

 

Notable

 

The Red Sox acquired Jason Johnson from the Indians a day after he was designated for assignment by the tribe.  He was accompanied by cash (Cleveland will pay most of his ’06 salary) and was obtained in return for the infamous PTBN and/or cash.

 

Orlando Cabrera reached base safely for the 50^th consecutive game on Wednesday.

 

Ichiro had two hits and extended his hitting streak to 20 games.  It is his fourth streak of 20 or more games in his career, tying him with Nomar Garciaparra for the most since divisional play began

 

Johnny Damon went 3 for 3 and now has 201 career hits in Interleague play, second all-time to Derek Jeter’s 214.

 

Edgar Renteria has just 2 hits in his last 21 AB (.095).

 

Brandon Webb is 0-3 with a 4.05 ERA in four June starts after finishing May with 25 consecutive scoreless innings.     

 

Vladimir Guerrero is just 4 for 29 (.138) this season in Interleague play, dropping his career mark from .329 to .319.  He is also just 2 for his last 22 (.091), 6 for his last 42 (.143) and 8 for his last 55 (.145) overall. 

 

Garrett Anderson 6 for his last 37 (.162) overall, including 4 hits in his last 28 AB (.143).

 

Michael Young is 12 for 22 (.611) in IL play since last Friday, raising his career mark to .360 (135 for 375), the highest all-time.  He is 16 for his last 34 (.484) overall and 32 for 88 (.369) in June, hitting safely in 18 of 19 games.

 

Dannys Baez is 1-2 with an 8.71 ERA in June.  He has thrown 10.1 innings allowed 10 runs on 13 hits.

 

Jonathan Broxton, in his last 8 games, has a 9.82 ERA (7.1 IP, 8 ER, 12 H, 8 K, 3 BB) after posting a 0.93 mark in his first 16 games (19.1 IP, 11 H, 2 ER, 23 K, 6 BB).

 

Trivia Answer – Mark Grudzielanek was the last player before Randy Winn to have hit for the cycle. He did it on April 27 of ’05 at Busch Stadium.  Brad Wilkerson was the only other player to hit for the cycle last season, having done it on April 6 in Philadelphia.  For Wilkerson, it was the second time he had achieved the feat.  He first did it back on June 24 of 2003 in Montreal, coincidentally enough, the site of the last Met to have hit for the cycle, Eric Valent, who did it on July 29, 2004.  Valent’s was the last cycle ever hit at Stade Olympique. 

 

On Deck – No doubt about today’s marquee match-up.  The Rocket takes flight for his 23^rd and quite possibly final (???) season at sold-out and energized Minute Maid Field beginning at 8:05 EST time.  And as if a game with this type of magnitude actually needed more hype than is already generated by the HOFer’s return, Clemens will be opposed on Thursday by Minnesota phenom Francisco Liriano.  The 22-year old has been outstanding since joining the rotation, going 5-1 with a 1.50 ERA (6 ER, 36 IP) in six starts and hasn’t allowed more than 2 runs or 5 hits in any of his five wins.  In his last two starts, he as allowed just 2 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 17 in 14 innings.  Clemens, who turns 44 on August 4, has gone 31-12 with a 2.43 ERA in two seasons for his hometown team, including a league-best 1.87 ERA last year.  In 2004 he won his 7^th Cy Young award.