Two very welcome notes lead today’s daily news.  First off, Hall of Fame sportswriter and ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons on Monday was released from the hospital and moved to a Boston area rehabilitation center to continue his recovery from a brain aneurism suffered June 27 at his Cape Cod home.  Doctors said that they are pleased with the progress he has made so far.

 

And also on Monday, it was announced that Japanese baseball legend Sadaharu Oh underwent successful surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his stomach.  Doctors released a statement stating that the operation “ended successfully.”  Oh hit 868 home runs in his storied professional career, a career that DN&N thinks was one of the top 50 of all-time in any league. 

 

Over the Weekend…

 

Chasing the Hammer – Barry Bonds hit the 721^st home run of his career on Sunday, pulling him to within 34 of Hank Aaron’s all-time mark of 755, and to within 12 of the Hammer’s NL record of 733.  The home run was served up by the embattled Brett Myers – making his first start since his June 23 arrest for domestic violence – who in giving it up became the 427^th pitcher to surrender a home run to the future HOFer.  

 

Chasing Rickey? – Bonds, facing a possible perjury indictment this week, made other news over the weekend when he stole a base in consecutive games for the first time since 2003.  Bonds in fact has been successful on all but one of his 17 SB attempts since ’03, and on 64 of 75 (85%) since 1999.  He now has 509 in his career, tying him with Harry Stovey for 32^nd on the all-time SB list.  Only Kenny Lofton among active players has more.  Lofton is tied with George Van Haltren for 19^th all-time with 583, just 3 behind Maury Wills.  Eric Young is next behind Bonds on the active list with 464, good for 44^th all-time.  Young began the season in 46^th place with 457, four behind the late Bobby Bonds. 

 

Chasing Mr. Smith Pt I – Mariano Rivera on Sunday became the fourth reliever in major league history to notch 400 career saves when the veteran closed out the Yankees series sweep of the White Sox.  Rivera then picked up his 401^st on Monday and is now just 23 behind John Franco, 60 behind Trevor Hoffman and 77 behind all-time leader, Lee Smith. 

 

Chasing Mr. Smith Pt II – Hoffman, meanwhile, got back on track, closing out the Friars 8-6 win over Philadelphia on Monday to record the 461^st save of his career, just 17 behind Smith.

 

Padres/Braves – By the numbers – The Padres and Braves played a wild one last Friday night in San Diego with Atlanta winning 15-12 in 11 innings.  Here’s a closer look, by the numbers.

 

Length of Game: 4 hours and 23 minutes.

Hits: 36 (SD 19, Atl 17)

Extra base hits: 18 (SD 10, Atl 8)

HR: 8 (2 each by Adrian Gonzalez, Chipper Jones and Adam LaRoche). 

Total Pitchers Used: 17 (SD 9, Atl 8)

Total Pitches/Strikes: 471/279 (SD 259/155, Atl 212/124)

LOB: 16 (SD 10, Atl 6)

Inherited Runners Scored: 1 (Sikorski – SD) 

 

The 3-7 hitters in the Braves lineup were a combined 14 for 29 with 5 HR and 13 RBI, while the 4-8 batters in the San Diego lineup were 12 for 24 with 3 HR and 10 RBI.  Hoffman, in his first appearance since blowing the NL lead in the All-Star game, got just two outs and suffered just his second blown save of the year.  He had pitched exactly one inning in all 35 of his previous appearances.

 

On Monday…

 

The Longest Streak Pt Ia – The Cardinals’ major league best 7-game win streak came to a screeching halt on Monday as the Braves gave Jeff Weaver a rude welcome back to the National League, blasting out a season high 20 hits to extend their own winning streak to a season best 6 straight.  Weaver gave up 6 runs on 8 hits in 4 innings, including a Brian McCann grand slam, in his Cardinals debut.  The Braves had 8 extra base hits in the game – including 4 home runs – although not one of them belonged to Chipper Jones, who saw his record-tying streak of 14 straight games with an extra base hit come to an end.  Paul Waner set the record playing for Pittsburgh in 1927.  Jones did nonetheless hit 3 singles, extending his hitting streak to 17 games.  During this streak, he his batting .536 (37 for 69) with 8 doubles, 1 triple, 7 home runs and is slugging .986.  Among the Braves who did leave the yard was Jorge Sosa, who homered for the third time this season to tie for the major league lead among pitchers.  The Braves’ 6-game winning streak, however, is not the longest currently in the majors; that distinction belongs to …

 

The Longest Streak Pt Ib – …the Los Angeles Angels who jumped all over Cleveland on Monday, rapping out 17 hits to beat the Indians 10-5. Rookie Dustin Mosely got the win in his major league debut and extended their winning streak to 7 straight games.  Mosely wasn’t great, giving up 4 runs on 10 hits in 5 innings, but he was just good enough. He capitalized on the Halo’s revitalized offense which has precipitated L.A. winning 12 of 13 games in July while batting .322 (146 for 453) during that span.  Vladimir Guerrero led the charge on Monday with 3 more hits and has busted out of his slump by going 27 for 58 (.466) with 4 HR and 14 RBI since June 28.  The Angels, with the win, moved past Texas into second place and now trail Oakland in the AL West by just a half a game.

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – The Rockies meanwhile remained winless in the season’s second half, dropping their 8^th straight, 3-1 to Pittsburgh, as Kip Wells pitched 7 strong innings and allowed just 1 earned run.  Wells entered the game 0-4 with a 12.42 ERA though he did not get a decision as the game remained tied at 1 until back to back doubles and a bases loaded walk in the 8^th gave the Pirates the lead.  The losing streak is the longest currently in the majors. One bright spot for the Rockies has been Clint Barmes, who has batted .321 (9 for 28) during the losing streak to up his batting average to .218. 

 

Will the real Corey Patterson please stand up? 

 

The erstwhile Cubs CF – a .211 career hitter in July – is back to his usual self in Baltimore, much as DN&N suspected he would be, hitting just.191 this month (9 for 47) with only 1 HR, 2 RBI, 11 K and just 1 SB in 2 attempts.  He has 3 hits in his last 26 AB (.115) and hasn’t drawn a walk in 18 games since June 24. 

 

Quick Hits

 

Alex Rodriguez, 0 for 4 in the Yanks win over Seattle on Monday, is 1 HR away from 450 for his career and 4 hits shy of 2,000. 

 

Ichiro was 1 for 5 in the loss and is batting just .186 (8 for 43) since July 3. 

 

Seattle was 14-4 against the NL but is just 30-45 against the AL.

 

Adam Dunn is batting .378 (17 for 45) since July 3 with 4 HR and 11 RBI and is hitting .343 (25 for 73) since June 25 with 7 HR and 21 RBI.

 

David Ortiz tied his career high (achieved five previous times) with his 1^st stolen base of the year on Monday.  It was the 6^th career theft for Big Papi, who has only been thrown out twice (both in 2002).    

 

Eric Bedard has won his last six starts with a 1.07 ERA, including a 0.50 ERA (2 ER, 20 H, 35 IP, 6 BB, 38 K) since June 21. 

 

Adrian Gonzalez hit his 6^th and 7^th home runs in his last 7 games on Monday and is batting .387 (12-for-31) during that span after hitting .330 with 6 HR in June.  He has 18 HR on the year.

 

Aaron Harang, an .046 career hitter (7 for 152) coming into the year, is 0-for-his-last-12 after beginning the year 7-for-31 (.226). 

 

The Next Babe Ruth?

 

Today DN&N takes a look at the best and worst hitting pitchers in the majors this season.  In the NL, Chan Ho Park has had a pretty good year at the plate, batting .313 in 32 AB to lead the league (min 20 AB). In the AL, during Interleague play, Josh Beckett showed his hitting skills by going 3 for 7 to lead all AL pitchers (min 5 AB).  Beckett was also one of three AL hurlers to have hit a home run while Carlos Zambrano was leading all pitchers by himself with three before Sosa hit his third of the year on Monday.  Sosa is now 3-for-20 on the year with all three hits leaving the yard.  Maybe it’s in the name.  The Cubs, meanwhile, lead all ML teams with 4 home runs from their pitchers (Sean Marshall has the other). 

 

On the flip side of that coin are the league’s worst hitting pitchers.  In the NL, again with a minimum of 20 AB, Brett Myers is the league’s most futile hitter among pitchers, having gone just 1 for 33 (.030) on the year.  Jon Lieber, however, has the most hitless AB with 19 so far this year.  And despite Cole Hamels getting his first major league hit on Monday (he’s now 1 for 12), Philadelphia has by far the worst hitting staff in the NL, batting just .089 (14 for 157) this season.  In the AL, Dan Haren had the most hitless AB (7) to sport the worst average (min 5 AB) and that helped to lead Oakland to the worst numbers as a staff in the AL (0 for 18, 0 base runners). 

 

Here is a more complete look at the best and worst hitting pitchers.

 

National League (min 20 AB)                       American League (min 5 AB)

Team Batting

1. St. Louis – .167/.214/.238 (29 for 173)                            1. Cleveland – .261/.261/.304 (6 for 23)

16. Philadelphia – .089/.145/.110 (14 for 157)    14. Oakland - .000/.000/.000 (0 for 18)

Highest Batting Average

1. Chan Ho Park .313/.313/.313 (10 for 32)                        1. Josh Beckett .429/.429/.857 (3 for 7)

2. Mark Mulder .280/.379/.480 (7 for 25, 1 HR) 2. Scott Shields .375/.429/.857 (3 for 8)

3. John Thomson .267/.267/.333 (8 for 30)                        3. C.C. Sabathia .222/.375/.375 (2 for 9)

Lowest Batting Average

1. Brett Myers .030/.059/.030 (1 for 33)                             1. Dan Haren .000/.000/.000 (0 for 7)

2. Josh Fogg .033/.147/.033 (1 for 30)                                2. John Koronka .000/.000/.000 (0 for 6)

3. Taylor Buchholz .037/.071/.037 (1 for 27)                     3t. Millwood/Loaiza .000/.000/.000 (0 for 5)

Home Runs

1t. Carlos Zambrano – 3                                                      1t. Josh Beckett – 1

1t. Jorge Sosa - 3                                                                  1t. Kris Benson – 1

3. Bronson Arroyo - 2                                                         1t. Jon Garland – 1

Runs Batted In

1. Carlos Zambrano – 8                                                       1. Josh Beckett – 3

2. Brandon Webb – 7                                                          2t. Russ Ortiz – 2

3. Bronson Arroyo – 6                                                        2t. C.C. Sabathia – 2

                                                                                                2t. Kris Benson – 2

                                                                                                2t. Jon Garland – 2

 

 

On Deck – Tuesday’s marquee match up features two of the most promising young left handers in the game today: fellow ten-game winners Scott Kazmir (10-6, 3.27) and Francisco Liriano (10-2, 2.12).  Liriano is coming off of his worst start of the year in which he allowed 5 runs (4 earned) in just 5 innings, including 3 home runs, two less than he had allowed all season.  Previous to that, he had not allowed a run in July.  Kazmir has allowed just 2 ER in 15.1 innings this month after posting a 5.23 ERA in June.  He is just 5-4 with a 4.47 ERA on the road while Liriano is 4-1 with a 1.94 mark at home.

Questions or comments for Richard? Richard Van Zandt is a staff writer for Baseball Evolution who lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at richard@baseballevolution.com.