Notable Transaction

 

The Angels on Wednesday found a taker for Jeff Weaver, pawning him off on the St. Louis Cardinals in return for minor league OF Terry Evans.  Weaver was 6-10 with 6.29 ERA in 16 starts for Los Angeles and had his spot in the rotation taken by his younger brother Jared.  Evans has hit 22 HR in 81 games combined this season in both Class-A and AA ball.

 

Comical Transaction

 

On Monday, Jose Canseco made his debut for the San Diego Surf Dawgs – Rickey Henderson’s old haunts – going 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts.  On Wednesday, Canseco was traded.  Citing child custody issues involving his 9-year-old daughter, the author of Juiced demanded a trade to a team closer to his Los Angeles home and the Dawgs appeased the slugger, trading him to the Long Beach Armada, who are managed by former major leaguer Darrell Evans.  In return, the Surf Dawgs get 27-year-old Cuban pitcher Yoankis Turino.  Turino arrived in Los Angeles just last month after having defected from Cuba, where he was a member of the famed Havana Industriales.  Canseco is set to make his Armada debut on Friday.

 

Quick Hits

 

Kenny Rogers is now 25-4 all-time, and 23-1 since 1995, when pitching at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland.  He picked up his 11^th win of the season in the Tigers 10-4 victory over the A’s on Wednesday.

 

Neifi Perez is batting .400 (20-for-50) since June 11.

 

Juan Uribe is batting .341 (28-for-82) since June 11.

 

Justin Morneau is batting .427 (41 for 96) with 11 HR and 33 RBI since June 9.

 

From April 21 through May 9 (a span covering 18 games) Kevin Mench hit .366 with 10 HR in 71 AB, including home runs in seven consecutive games to begin the stretch.  Since then, Mench is batting .247 (37 for 150) with 1 HR (including 0 in his last 63 AB).

 

Prince Fielder has just 4 hits in his last 35 AB (.114).

 

Brad Ausmus’ 4^th inning single on Wednesday snapped an Astros club record 0-for-40.

 

The Royals, 10-8 in IL play this year, have won 12 of 19 since June 14.

 

Pedro Feliz has homered 5 times in his last 7 games, batting .300 (9-for-30) and slugged .900.  

 

The Longest Streak Pt I – Backed by Bartolo Colon’s 4-hit shutout, the Angels beat the Mariners on Wednesday 4-0 to win their 5^th straight game, the longest current win streak in the majors.  Robb Quinlan provided the big blow with a three-run, 5^th inning homer and Orlando Cabrera capped the scoring outburst with his 6^th homerun, extending his streak of reaching base safely to 62 consecutive games.  Ted Williams holds the major league mark with 84 straight.  Though still in last place in the AL West, Los Angeles is now just 4 games behind the division leading Athletics.

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – The streaky Reds continued their current cold streak with their 5^th consecutive loss, the longest current losing streak in the majors.  Cincinnati’s pen blew leads in the 10^th and 13^th innings in the 6-5 loss to Milwaukee, Rickie Weeks coming through with the game winner.  The Reds, however, remain two games behind the Cardinals, who have lost 7 of their last 10. 

 

Milestones

 

Since we last checked in here at DN&N, Ken Griffey has hit two more long balls, giving him 18 on the year and 554 in his career, leaving the future HOF’er 9 shy of tying Reggie Jackson for 10^th all-time.  His shot on Saturday against Cleveland was also his 6^th this year against the AL, giving him 41 career in IL play, tying him with Rafael Palmeiro for 4^th all-time.  Then on Monday, he homered against Brian Shouse, who in giving up the blast became the 354^th pitcher to give up a home run to Junior.

 

Roger Clemens’ journey up the career victory list continued with the future HOFer beating the Cubs on Monday to earn the 342^nd win of his career, tying him with Tim Keefe for 8^th all-time.  Clemens was backed by two HR by Lance Berkman and one by Craig Biggio.  Biggio’s shot came leading off the first.  It was the 4^th time this year, and 48^th overall, that he has homered to lead off a game.  He is second all-time behind Rickey Henderson, who did the deed 80 times.

 

While Griffey and Clemens were ascending the charts over the weekend, three other pitchers failed to advance.  Greg Maddux earned a no-decision against the White Sox on Saturday in his 4^th try for win number 326, remaining one behind Eddie Plank for 12^th all-time.  Randy Johnson on Saturday was knocked around by the Mets as he went for career win number 272 (31^st all-time).  Then on Monday, Tom Glavine got a no-decision against the Phillies, stalling in his attempt at career win number 287 and keeping him even with Robin Roberts for 26^th all-time, one behind Bert Blyleven.

 

Also of note, on Tuesday, Billy Wagner reached a significant milestone of his own, tying HOFer Bruce Sutter for 20^th on the all-time list with his 300^th career save.  And on the same day, Jose Contreras won his 17^th straight decision to move to within 3 of Roger Clemens’ AL record.  Carl Hubbell holds the major league record with 24 straight. 

 

On Deck – HOFer Greg Maddux (7-8, 5.00) will take his fifth crack at career win number 326 on Thursday.  He will be opposed by All Star final vote candidate Chris Capuano (9-4, 3.45).  Capuano was 4-0 with a 2.57 ERA in five June starts – including 8+ shutout innings to beat Maddux on June 26 – but gave up 6 runs on 11 hits over 4 innings in his last outing against the Twins.  Maddux, the subject of increasing trade rumors, is 2-8 with a 6.82 ERA since beginning the year 5-0 with a 1.35 ERA

 

Final Interleague Leaderboard

 

With Interleague play now firmly in our rearview mirror for another season, it’s time to review the final IL Leaderboard.  As we all know, the AL dominated Interleague play this year, posting a 154-98 record and winning the overall series for the third straight season.  In the process, the AL also took over the all-time lead in IL play with 1,250 wins to the NL’s 1,202.  All three AL divisions finished at .500 or better while all three NL divisions finished no better than .467. 

 

The best division, of course, was the AL Central which went a combined 63-27 (.700) while the NL Central went 31-62 (.333) to compile the worst composite record among all divisions.  The AL Central’s performance raised their all-time winning percentage from .494 to .515 while the NL Central’s dismal showing dropped them from .489 to .472, the worst overall record in IL history.  The AL East, which had been last coming into this year, improved to .488 overall with a .611 showing this season. 

 

Top Three Records

Boston/Minnesota – 16-2, .889

Detroit – 15-3, .833

Chicago (AL)/Seattle – 14-4, .778

 

Bottom Three Records

Pittsburgh – 3-12, .200

Chicago (NL)/Arizona – 4-11, .267

Philadelphia – 5-13, .278

 

Individually, Michael Young got off to a great start in IL play, going 21 for 43 to push his all-time IL batting average to .362 before slumping in his final 8 games (4 for 28) to end up at .347, just 1 point higher than the .346 he entered this season with.  Greg Maddux entered IL play this year with 19 career wins, the most all-time, but failed in three attempts at win number 20, ending up in a four-way tie for the most.  Here’s a look at the top finishers in several major categories through the end of IL play this year:

 

Batting Average (min 400 AB)

1. Michael Young - .347

2t. Darin Erstad - .340

2t. Mike Piazza - .340

 

Earned Run Average (min 150 IP)

1. Johan Santana – 2.40

2. Freddy Garcia – 2.45

3. Jamie Moyer – 2.54

 

Home Runs

1. Jim Thome – 52

2t. Carlos Delgado – 43

2t. Manny Ramirez – 43

 

Wins

1t. Greg Maddux – 19

1t. Aaron Sele – 19

1t. Mike Mussina – 19

1t. Freddy Garcia - 19

 

Runs Batted In

1. Carlos Delgado – 133

2. Manny Ramirez – 129

3. Jim Thome – 126

 

Saves

1. Mariano Rivera – 49

2. Trevor Hoffman – 36

3. Troy Percival – 34

 

Hits

1. Derek Jeter – 227

2. Johnny Damon – 208

3. Garrett Anderson – 201

 

Final Interleague Standings

2006

AL East	W	L	Pct.	NL East	W	L	Pct.
Red Sox	16	2	0.889	Marlins	9	9	0.500
Devil Rays	11	7	0.611	Mets	6	9	0.400
Yankees	10	8	0.556	Nationals	7	11	0.389
Orioles	9	9	0.500	Braves	5	10	0.333
Blue Jays	9	9	0.500	Philadelphia	5	13	0.278
	55	35	0.611		32	52	0.381
AL Central	W	L	Pct.	NL Central	W	L	Pct.
Twins	16	2	0.889	Brewers	6	9	0.400
Tigers	15	3	0.833	Reds	6	9	0.400
White Sox	14	4	0.778	Astros	7	11	0.389
Royals	10	8	0.556	Cardinals	5	10	0.333
Indians	8	10	0.444	Cubs	4	11	0.267
	63	27	0.700	Pirates	3	12	0.200
					31	62	0.333
AL West	W	L	Pct.	NL West	W	L	Pct.
Mariners	14	4	0.778	Rockies	11	4	0.733
A's	8	10	0.444	Giants	8	7	0.533
Rangers	7	11	0.389	Padres	7	8	0.467
Angels	7	11	0.389	Dodgers	5	10	0.333
	36	36	0.500	D'Backs	4	11	0.267
					35	40	0.467

 

All-Time Interleague Records

AL East	W	L	Pct.	NL East	W	L	Pct.
Yankees	103	71	0.592	Marlins	96	72	0.571
Red Sox	93	82	0.531	Braves	91	75	0.548
Blue Jays	83	92	0.474	Nationals	88	87	0.503
Devil Rays	67	93	0.419	Mets	83	83	0.500
Orioles	73	102	0.417	Phillies	78	91	0.462
	419	440	0.488		436	408	0.517
AL Central	W	L	Pct.	NL Central	W	L	Pct.
White Sox	100	75	0.571	Cardinals	78	67	0.538
Twins	95	79	0.546	Astros	78	71	0.523
Indians	93	82	0.531	Cubs	70	75	0.483
Tigers	86	89	0.491	Brewers	64	75	0.460
Royals	76	99	0.434	Reds	61	78	0.439
	450	424	0.515	Pirates	52	84	0.382
					403	450	0.472
AL West	W	L	Pct.	NL West	W	L	Pct.
A's	103	73	0.585	Giants	86	75	0.534
Mariners	98	78	0.557	Dodgers	80	81	0.497
Angels	90	86	0.511	Padres	74	87	0.460
Rangers	82	94	0.466	D'Backs	65	77	0.458
	373	331	0.530	Rockies	66	79	0.455
					371	399	0.482