Chasing the Hammer – Barry Bonds on Saturday walked into the Giants clubhouse and tore the lineup card – the one without his name on it – off the wall.  He then proceeded to slam the 719^th home run of his career, leaving him 36 shy of Hank Aaron for the most all-time.  In giving up the blast (Bonds’ 39^th all-time in Interleague play), Dan Haren became the 425^th different pitcher to surrender a home run to the future HOFer.  On Sunday, Bonds (who stole his 507^th career base on Friday) left the game with pain in his troublesome right knee after scoring on a double by Steve Finley. 

 

Chasing Mr. October – Ken Griffey Jr. on Sunday hit the 549^th home run of his HOF career, moving him past Mike Schmidt and into sole possession of 11^th place on the all-time home run list.  Next up on the list for Junior is Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson, with 563.

 

Chasing 300 – Tom Glavine won his major league leading 11^th game of the season on Friday in the Mets’ 6-1 win over Toronto.  For the future HOFer, it was also the 286^th win of his career, tying him with Robin Roberts for 26^th on the all-time win list.  Bert Blyleven is next up with 287, followed by Tommy John at 288.  By passing John, Glavine will become the 5^th winningest left hander of all-time.

 

To Omaha and Beyond – After North Carolina (54-14) won the opener of the best of three College World Series finals on Saturday, Oregon State (49-16) used a seven run 4^th inning to erase a 5-0 deficit and take game 2 on Sunday by a score of 11-7.  The Tar Heels had won the opener after scoring the go ahead run on a passed ball in the 8^th inning.  The deciding game three will be played on Monday night in Omaha.  

 

The Amazing Gabe Kapler – Redux – Right on cue, Gabe Kapler on Friday night snapped his 84 at bat homerless streak, blasting a 3-run shot in the 8^th off of Ryan Franklin to cap the scoring the Sox 10-2 win over Philadelphia.  It was the 63^rd home run of Kapler’s big league career in 2,303 at bats. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt I – Despite Tad Iguchi’s 3-run 8^th inning home run and his 9^th inning game tying grand slam, the Astros finally beat the White Sox, winning a wild one on Sunday 10-9 in 13 innings.  The loss ended the White Sox win streak at 9 games.  That leaves Boston, winners of 8 straight, with the longest current win streak in the majors.  The Red Sox won the first two games of their series with Philadelphia before getting rained out on Sunday.  It was the sixth time this year Boston has been rained out.   On Friday, Kapler’s bomb supported Josh Beckett who tossed 8 3-hit innings for his 9^th win of the year and then on Saturday, the Sox extended their streak to 8 by winning in 10 innings behind 2 1/3 scoreless frames of relief from rookie closer Jonathan Papelbon, who lowered his impressive ERA to 0.24. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – The Braves finally won an Interleague game and in the process, ended their longest losing streak in 18 years at 10 games.  The Pirates meanwhile, were swept over the weekend by the Dodgers, and can now lay claim the dubious distinction of the longest current losing streak in the majors at 11 games.  They have been outscored during the streak by a total of 83 to 41 and were even swept by the suddenly resurgent Royals.

 

Weekend Notables

 

Jose Contreras beat Houston on Friday to improve his record to 8-0, and extend to 16 his streak of consecutive winning decisions. 

 

Mike Mussina’s win over the Marlins and Dontrelle Wills on Sunday was his 19^th career victory in Interleague play, tying him with Greg Maddux and Aaron Sele for first all-time.

 

Derrick Lee returned to the Cubs lineup for the first time since April 19 and went 1 for 4, but it wasn’t enough as the Cubs were swept by the red hot Twins, losing Sunday 8-1 as Brad Radke had his best outing of the year, throwing 7 scoreless for the win.

 

Jose Reyes extended his hitting streak to 13 games over the weekend, collecting 9 hits in 14 at bats versus Toronto, including back to back 4 hit games Saturday and Sunday.  Reyes is now batting .508 (32 for 63) during that stretch with 11 multi-hit games, including four 4-hit games.  He is batting .430 (40 for 93) in the month of June and has raised his average from .246 before his streak, to .302 after Sunday’s contest.

 

Tony Womack is just 6 for 33 (.182) in June.

 

David Wright has 10 home runs in June. 

 

Steve Finley on Sunday hit the first home run of his career at AT&T Park in his 256^th at bat there.

 

Rickie Weeks extended his errorless streak to 18 straight games.  He has 20 on the year.

 

Omar Vizquel extended his errorless streak to 55 straight games.  He has 1 on the year

 

The Dodgers lineup on Friday began with SS Rafael Furcal leading off, followed by former SS and current 3B Cesar Izturis batting second and then former SS turned 1B Nomar Garciaparra hitting third.  2B Jeff Kent, who hit fourth in the lineup, was later replaced by Ramon Martinez who has played more games in his career at SS than any other position.

 

Since being recalled from the minors on June 12, Russ Adams is hitting .186 (8 for 43).

 

Morgan Ensberg is batting just .167 (8 for 48 with 1 HR and 5 RBI) in June and only .201 (32 for 159) overall since hitting .329 in April. 

 

Austin Kearns has just 3 hits in his last 17 AB.

 

Bobby Jenks in his last 17 games has posted a 0.46 ERA (19.2 IP, 1 R, 9 H, 8 BB, 25 K) to lower his season ERA from 5.52 to 2.62.

 

Armando Benitez blew his fourth save in 10 chances on Friday night.  The Giants closer in 18 appearances this year has allowed at least one hit in 14 games and at least one walk in 9 to post a gaudy 1.69 WHIP.  He has recorded just three 1-2-3 innings all season.

 

The Royals have won 7 of their last 9 and 8 of their last 11 games.

 

Interleague Team Leaders

 

The top team in baseball so far in Interleague play has been the Boston Red Sox.  The BoSox are 10-1 in play against the National League through Sunday.  Two teams, the Pirates and Diamondbacks have been the worst so far in IL play at 1-8.  The top team in the NL has been the Rockies who are 7-2.  Aside from Colorado, only the Mets (5-4) are over .500. The AL in fact has dominated IL play, winning 103 of 167 games.  The strongest division in baseball during IL play has been the AL Central (41-19, .683) with the White Sox, Tigers and Twins all posting 10-2 records going into Monday’s action and even the Royals are 7-5.  The worst division has been the NL Central at 21-42 (.333). 

 

On Deck – Matchups to watch on Monday include Greg Maddux (7-7 overall - 2-7, 6.83 ERA since April) going for career win number 326 against Chris Capuano (8-4) and the Brewers and Randy Johnson (8-6) going for career win number 272 against Tim Hudson (6-6) and the struggling Atlanta Braves.  Johnson, the 8^th winningest left hander in baseball history, is 2 wins behind Red Ruffing for 32^nd place all-time

 

Current Interleague play standings through Sunday, June 25

 

AL East	W	L	Pct.	NL East	W	L	Pct.
Red Sox	10	1	0.909	Mets	5	4	0.556
Devil Rays	9	3	0.750	Marlins	6	6	0.500
Orioles	6	6	0.500	Nationals	5	7	0.417
Yankees	6	6	0.500	Philadelphia	3	8	0.273
Blue Jays	4	8	0.333	Braves	2	7	0.222
	35	24	0.593		21	32	0.396
AL Central	W	L	Pct.	NL Central	W	L	Pct.
White Sox	10	2	0.833	Brewers	6	6	0.500
Tigers	10	2	0.833	Astros	5	7	0.417
Twins	10	2	0.833	Cardinals	3	6	0.333
Royals	7	5	0.583	Reds	3	6	0.333
Indians	4	8	0.333	Cubs	3	9	0.250
	41	19	0.683	Pirates	1	8	0.111
					21	42	0.333
AL West	W	L	Pct.	NL West	W	L	Pct.
Mariners	10	2	0.833	Rockies	7	2	0.778
A's	7	5	0.583	Padres	5	7	0.417
Rangers	6	6	0.500	Giants	5	7	0.417
Angels	4	8	0.333	Dodgers	4	5	0.444
	27	21	0.563	D'Backs	1	8	0.111
					22	29	0.431
AL East	35	24		NL East	21	32
AL Central	41	19		NL Central	21	42
AL West	27	21		NL West	22	29
Total	103	64		Total	64	103