Leading Off – For the 50^th time in his big league career, Craig Biggio led off a game with a home run.  Biggio is second all-time in major league history behind only Rickey Henderson who led off a game with a home run 80 times in his HOF career.  Biggio hit his milestone shot off of Bronson Arroyo on Wednesday to give the Astros an early lead, but the Reds would jump ahead 5-1.  Houston, however, rallied for 6 runs in the 5^th to take a lead they would not relinquish.   

 

Trivia Question Pt I – Biggio hit the first of his 50 leadoff home runs against Dave Burba, then of the Giants, on April 20, 1992 (his fifth ML season and 25^th ML HR).  Can you name the pitcher who surrendered Henderson’s first leadoff jack?

 

Trivia Question Pt II – How about the pitcher who surrendered Henderson’s 80^th, and final leadoff jack? (answers below)

 

The Longest Streak Pt Ia – The Marlins scored 5 runs off of John Smoltz on Wednesday night, the final run coming on an 8^th inning Dan Uggla home run that gave the Fish the lead.  But it was not enough as Andruw Jones and Adam LaRoche both went deep to return the lead to Atlanta and snap the Marlins win streak at 4 games.  Bob Wickman then came on in the 9^th to nail down his second save since coming to Atlanta and helped pull the Braves to within 4.5 games of the Wild Card leading Reds.  The Marlins trail now in the WC by 6 games.

 

The Longest Streak Pt Ib – It was another story altogether in Washington, as Ryan Zimmerman got yet another big 9^th inning hit in a come-from-behind win as the Nats extended their win streak to 5 straight games, the longest currently in the majors. Zimmerman’s third hit of the game tied it up against Armando Benitez who blew his second consecutive save opportunity (and sixth of the year) while picking up his second loss of the season.  Two batters later, Austin Kearns came up with the bases loaded, and brought home the winning run with a sacrifice fly to give the Nationals an exciting 4-3 win. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – The Padres continued to put a hurting on the Dodgers by pounding out 15 hits in their 10-3 win over Los Angeles on Wednesday.  It was the 1^st place Padres’ 4^th straight win and sent the last place Dodgers to their 8^th straight loss and their 13^th defeat overall in their last 14 games.  Brad Penny took the beating, giving up 6 runs over 5 innings.  Even closer Takashi Saito got into the act, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits in just 2/3 of an inning to see his ERA balloon to 2.54.  One bright spot for LA has been shortstop Rafael Furcal, who had 3 more hits in the loss, including a double and a home run, and is batting .348 (40-for-115) since June 25.  Jake Peavy backed himself with a double, a home run and 4 RBI to help collect his first win since May 28 (a span of 8 winless starts) and up his record to 5-10.   

 

The Longest Streak Pt III – Chase Utley smoked his 19^th home run of the season – and 3^rd in the last two days – in the second inning of Philadelphia’s 6-4 win over Arizona.  The 3-run shot off of Brandon Webb proved to be the winning margin and extended his hitting streak to 26 straight games, the longest hitting streak in the majors this year.  He was 2 for 5 on the night and is now batting .398 (45 for 113) with 7 HR and 23 RBI since the streak began. 

 

15’ll get you 10 – Angels 2^nd inning – By the numbers

The Angels and Devil Rays combined to score 21 runs on Wednesday, 17 of them in the first two innings.  Los Angeles did the majority of the damage in a wild 2^nd inning that followed a 4-run Tampa Bay first and saw them set season highs for runs and hits in a single inning.  Here is a closer look at that Angel second inning, by the numbers.

 

Los Angeles Batters – 15

Tampa Bay Pitchers – 3

Runs – 10

Hits – 9

Errors – 1

Unearned runs – 3

Doubles – 4

Walks – 2

Infield Singles – 1

Batters faced by Edwin Jackson – 8

Batters retired by Edwin Jackson – 1

L.A. starters who scored a run – 9

Hits by Macier Izturis – 2

Runs scored by Robb Quinlan – 2

Minutes – 34

 

Going Deep

 

Today we’ll look at the home run leaderboard and see which teams have hit the most and the fewest long balls in the majors, as well as which teams have surrendered the most and fewest deep flies.

 

Notables include Kansas City hitting the fewest dingers in the majors and allowing the second most.  Also we found the Reds both hitting and allowing the most in the NL, and the White Sox very nearly matching that feat in the AL.  And given their home ballparks, DN&N was very surprised to see Colorado and Texas having allowed the fewest home runs and even more so to find that the Rockies have hit the second fewest in the majors as well.  Here is a more complete look at this home run leaderboard. 

 

Home Runs Hit – American League

1. Chicago White Sox – 151

2. Toronto Blue Jays – 142

3. Boston Red Sox – 131

 

Home Runs Hit – National League

1. Cincinnati Reds – 142

2. Atlanta Braves – 141

3. New York Mets – 136

 

Home Runs Hit – American League

14. Kansas City Royals – 75

13. Minnesota Twins – 93

12t. Los Angeles Angels – 99

12t. Baltimore Orioles - 99

 

Home Runs Hit – National League

16. Los Angeles Dodgers – 82

15. Colorado Rockies – 92

14. Chicago Cubs – 94

 

Home Runs Allowed – American League

1. Texas Rangers – 97

2t. Detroit Tigers – 101

2t. New York Yankees – 101

 

Home Runs Allowed – National League

1. Colorado Rockies – 85

2. San Francisco Giants – 95

3. Florida Marlins – 96

 

Home Runs Allowed – American League

14. Baltimore Orioles – 138

13. Kansas City Royals – 134

12. Chicago White Sox – 126

 

Home Runs Allowed – National League

16. Cincinnati Reds - 133

15. Chicago Cubs - 132

14. Philadelphia Phillies – 124

 

 

Trivia Answer Pt I – Rickey Henderson hit the first of his 80 leadoff home runs in his rookie season on September 17, 1979, against Steve Comer of the Texas Rangers.  The leadoff jack was also Henderson’s very first major league home run. 

 

Trivia Answer Pt II – Henderson hit the 80^th and final leadoff home run of his ML career almost 24 years later on July 20, 2003 against Woody Williams, then of the Cardinals.  The leadoff jack was also the 297^th and final home run of Rickey Henderson’s Hall of Fame career.

 

Quick Hits

 

Ronny Cedeno since June 20 – 13-for-97 (.134) – 27 K, 3 BB

 

David Wright since June 27 – 21-for-86 (.244) – 3 HR

 

Justin Verlander since June 28 – 4-0, 0.78 ERA – 3 ER in 34.2 IP

Since June 12 – 6-0, 1.72 ERA

 

Jhonny Peralta July 1 – July 22 - .333 (23-for-69) – since then 1-for-12

 

Yorvit Torrealba since June 30 – 18-for-58 (.310) – 2 HR, 14 RBI

 

Joe Nathan in July – 10 GM, 10 IP, 0 R, 7 H, 2 BB, 16 K – 1-0, 7/7 SV

Since June 16 – 16 GM, 17 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 10 H, 2 BB, 27 K – 2-0 12/13 SV

 

Brandon McCarthy – last 6 games – 8.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R

Since June 6 – 22.2 IP, 5 ER, 17 H – 1.99 ERA

 

Huston Street since July 1 – 11 GM, 10.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 11K, 1 BB – 2-0, 2/2 SV

 

Rob Mackowiak since June 18 – 24-for-61 (.393)

 

Jeff Suppan in his last 3 starts – 20 IP, 15 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 BB, 11 K – 0.90 ERA 

 

Nick Punto since June 26 – 38-for-97 (.392)

 

Sean Casey since June 24 – 29-for-89 (.326) – 0 HR since May 31 (166 AB)

 

Tony Gwynn Jr. – Went 0-for-1 on Wednesday to snap a string of 4 straight AB with a hit.  He is now 4-for-7 in his ML career (.571)

 

On Deck – Today’s light schedule doesn’t leave a lot of marquee options but we’ll focus on the matinee match-up between San Francisco rookie Matt Cain (7-6, 4.67) and former Giant Livan Hernandez (7-8, 5.80 ERA), who could be making his final start as a National in the series finale.  Cain has lost just once since the Giants gave him a time out from the rotation back in May, going 6-1 with a 3.43 ERA in his last 11 starts, while Hernandez, who’ll be making his last start before the trade deadline, has gone from bad to worse in his last 7 starts, posting a 7.71 ERA over 35 innings and winning just twice since June 5.  Nevertheless, he has drawn plenty of interest from pitching starved teams looking to add depth and a good outing at the right time could bring a couple of good prospects for the one-time NLCS and World Series MVP.

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.