Welcome Back, Godzilla

 

Hideki Matsui returned to the Yankees lineup after going 3-for-11 with 5 walks while rehabbing for the Trenton Thunder in the Eastern League Northern Division playoffs.  Trenton lost the series 3 games to 1.  Matsui, hitting 8^th as the DH for New York on Tuesday, went 4-for-4 in his return.  He has been out with since May 11 after breaking his wrist on a fly ball hit by Mark Loretta, snapping his consecutive games played streak at 518 major league games and 1,768 combined major league and Japanese league games.  The 518 consecutive games is a record for a player at the start of his career, breaking the record formerly held by Ernie Banks.  He is expected to be the team’s designated hitter for the rest of the season.  Also on Tuesday, Gary Sheffield, originally injured on April 29 in a collision with Shea Hillenbrand, took batting practice with the team.  Joe Torre said he might return later this week as the Yanks fine tune themselves for October.  Mariano Rivera is expected to play catch on Wednesday and depending on how that goes he could have a bullpen session on Friday.  He has been out since August 31 with a muscle strain in his elbow. 

 

In addition to Matsui’s four hits, Bobby Abreu homered and drove in 7 runs – including 6 in the Yankees’ 9-run first inning – in the 12-4 win over the D’Rays.  Derek Jeter drew three walks and was hit by a pitch, thus failing to register an official at bat.  In doing so, he kept his 21-game hitting streak alive.  Mike Mussina improved his Cy Young chances by throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings to up his record to 14-6 and drop his ERA to 3.59.  The nine-run first inning marked the first time the Yankees have accomplished that feat at Yankee Stadium.

 

Cla Watch – Rookie Cla Meredith extended his scoreless innings pitched streak to 33 2/3 innings with another scoreless 1 2/3 innings in the Padres loss to the Reds on Tuesday.  He has not been scored upon since July 17, a span covering 28 outings. 

 

Royal Watching – With a record of 55-90 after Tuesday’s 5-3 win over Cleveland, Kansas City must win 8 of their final 17 games to avoid losing 100 games for the 3^rd straight season, and fourth in the last five.  Once a near-impossible task, KC has gone 18-21 since August 1 and they are 6-4 in September.

 

Noteworthy – Luis Gonzalez became the oldest player in major league history to hit 50 doubles in a season when he hit his 50^th against the Nationals on Tuesday.  Gonzo turned 39 on September 3.  It is the first time in his career that he has hit 50 in a season.

 

The Chase is Wild – Come-From-Behind Style

 

The Twins upped their lead in the Wild Card chase to 2.5 games by scoring 4 times in the 8^th inning against Joe Kennedy in a 7-5 come-from-behind win over Oakland.  It was just the third time this season in 30 appearances that Kennedy has allowed a run, and he saw his ERA jump from 1.05 to 2.36.  Until Tuesday, 3 runs in 1/3 of an inning against Cleveland on May 3 and 1 unearned run back on April 19 were all that marred an otherwise spotless season.  Francisco Liriano is scheduled to make his return to the Twins rotation in the series finale matched up against Dan Haren in a matinee contest. 

 

With the loss, Oakland saw their lead in the AL West shrink to just 4.5 games, as the Angels helped both themselves and the Twins by beating the White Sox 4-3 in 11 innings.  Chone Figgins had the game winning hit off of Bobby Jenks to complete the come-from-behind win. 

 

With the loss, Chicago also fell four games back of the Central-leading Tigers, who got a ninth inning walk-off HR from Carlos Guillen to complete their 3-2 come-from-behind win over Texas and keep Detroit’s lead over Minnesota at a slim game-and-a-half.  Guillen’s second HR of the game followed Marcus Thames’ game tying shot in the seventh.  With 26 HR in 326 AB, Thames is averaging a HR every 12.54 AB.  Craig Monroe had 3 OF assists for Detroit in the win and has 12 on the year.  Alfonso Soriano leads all ML OF with 21.

 

AL Wild Card

Minnesota        – 85-59 –

Chicago            – 83-62 2.5

 

The Reds and Giants were the big winners in the NL Wild Card chase on Tuesday.  Cincinnati did all the teams chasing San Diego a favor by beating the Padres 5-4 in 11 innings, having gotten a walk-off home run from Jason LaRue to drop their deficit in the WC to 2.5 games.  The Reds had taken a 3-1 lead on a Rich Aurilia 3-run homer in the third, but had to rally after giving up the lead in a 3-run sixth. 

 

San Francisco, meanwhile, saw the Rockies take an early 4-0 lead against rookie Jonathan Sanchez before scoring six runs in the third in their 10-6 come-from-behind win that left them in second place in the Wild Card chase, just a game and a half behind San Diego.  The surging Giants (19-8 since August 14) are also just 3 games behind the division leading Dodgers after the Cubs beat Los Angeles 9-8 in 11 innings. 

 

L.A. led 7-0 after just three innings, but Chicago rallied to take a 8-7 lead in the 8^th before watching Ryan Dempster blow his 8^th save in 32 chances.   Former Dodger Cesar Izturis came through for the Cubbies in the extra frame with the game winning single to cap the wild come-from-behind win. 

 

The Marlins fell a half a game behind San Francisco – and 2 behind SD – when their bullpen failed to hold a late inning lead, watching the Mets rally for 6 runs in the final three innings (including 4 in the 8^th) to notch a 6-4 come-from-behind win in Florida.  Rookie of the Year and Cy Young award contender Josh Johnson threw five shutout innings before yielding a 4-0 lead to the pen.  Carlos Delgado’s 3-run homer in the 8^th tied it and David Wright and Cliff Floyd followed with back-to-back doubles to give the Amazin’s the lead.  For Delgado, the 407^th HR of his career tied him with Duke Snider for 41^st all-time.  The Mets’ magic number to win their first division title since 1988 is now down to 3.

 

For Atlanta, the Mets’ win ended their record run of 14 consecutive division titles (excluding the 1994 strike season).  The Braves are five games behind San Diego in the Wild Card after seeing their game with the Phillies rained out Tuesday.  With the Padres loss, Philadelphia also gained a half a game and sit tied with the Marlins, 2 games back.

 

The Astros remained 4.5 games back of the Padres after Albert Pujols victimized Brad Lidge yet again, this time with a game-winning two-run double in the bottom of the ninth to complete the Redbirds’ dramatic 6-5 come-from-behind win.  Andy Pettitte had to leave the game after 2 2/3 with a strained left elbow and is listed as day-to-day.  In the win, Braden Looper got his ninth victory of the year to tie Julio Mateo for the major league lead.  St. Louis now leads the Central by 5 games over the Reds and by 7 over Houston.

 

NL Wild Card

San Diego        – 74-69   –

San Francisco   – 73-71 1.5

Philadelphia      – 72-71 2.0

Florida             – 73-72 2.0

Cincinnati         – 72-72 2.5

 

Quick Hits – Hot and Cold

 

Chris Duffy has hit safely in 6 straight games and 7 of his last 8, batting .464 (13-for-28) since September 4.

 

Chris Denorfia has just 3 hits in his last 28 at bats (.107) since July 29.

 

Travis Lee, released by the D’Rays on Sunday while batting just .224 for the season, had hit safely in his last 7 games and had been batting .289 (22-for76) since August 4. 

 

Jason Repko is hitless in September (0-for-7) and is batting just .163 (7-for-43) since August 2.

 

Corey Hart has hit safely in 7 straight, 12-of-13 and 20-of-his-last-24 games.  He is batting .320 (31-for-97) and slugging .629 since August 14.  In those seven games, he’s slugged 1.038.

 

Despite going 1-for-4 with a HR on Tuesday, Dan Johnson has just 10 hits in his last 62 at bats (.161). 

 

Despite going 0-for-3 Tuesday, Matt Holliday has hit safely in 26 of 30 games and is batting .386 (44-for-114) with 8 HR and 30 RBI since August 8th.

 

Eric Hinske is 0-for-his-last-11 since doubling against his former team on September 1.

 

Rafael Furcal has hit safely in 13-of-his-last-14 games, batting .434 (23-for-53) over that period.

 

After going 2-for-2 with two walks in the first five innings on September 3 to raise his season average to .390 (16-for-41), Chris Snelling has just 1-for-his-last-19 to drop his batting average to .283. 

 

Ramon Hernandez has 4 homeruns in his last three games after hitting just 1 in his previous 48 games.

 

Carlos Lee is averaging a home run once every 43.5 AB since joining the Rangers, including just 2 in 71 AB at hitter friendly Ameriquest Field.

 

David Aardsma in September – 5 G, 9.2 IP, 2 H, 5 BB, 12 K – 0.00 ERA

 

2006 Cy Young Award Preview

 

Last week we took a look at the leading contenders for the Rookie of the Year Award in both leagues and next week we’ll look more closely at the AL and NL Most Valuable Player Award choices.  This week – through a bevy of statistics – we’ll take a side by side look at the top pitchers in both leagues vying for the coveted Cy Young award.  In two weeks, DN&N will unveil our choices for each of these post-season awards. 

 

AL Starters	TM	W	L	ERA	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	WHIP	G	GS	CG	SO
Santana	Min	18	5	2.75	212.7	166	69	65	22	43	230	0.98	31	31	1	0
Halladay	Tor	16	5	3.21	207.7	196	78	74	19	32	126	1.10	30	30	4	0
Mussina	NY	14	6	3.59	180.7	168	79	72	20	33	159	1.11	29	29	1	0
Sabathia	Cle	11	9	3.24	172.3	161	73	62	16	40	153	1.17	25	25	6	2
Haren	Oak	13	11	3.95	198.3	197	93	87	26	39	159	1.19	30	30	2	0
Schilling	Bos	14	7	4.13	192.0	207	88	88	28	24	171	1.20	29	29	0	0
Johnson	NY	17	10	4.84	193.3	179	115	104	26	56	159	1.22	31	31	2	0
Rogers	Det	15	6	3.86	184.3	175	87	79	22	53	92	1.24	30	30	0	0
Contreras	ChW	13	7	3.97	188.3	179	90	83	18	51	129	1.22	28	28	1	1
Verlander	Det	16	7	3.27	172.0	165	64	61	17	54	117	1.27	27	27	1	1
Lackey	LAA	11	9	3.53	198.7	185	90	78	14	68	170	1.27	30	30	3	2
Wang	NY	17	5	3.60	200.0	208	84	80	11	50	65	1.29	31	30	2	1
Garland	ChW	17	4	4.28	185.0	208	89	88	24	36	98	1.32	29	28	1	1
Zito	Oak	15	9	3.86	200.3	190	91	86	25	88	137	1.39	31	31	0	0

 

AL Relievers	TM	W	L	ERA	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	WHIP	G	HD	S	BS
Papelbon	Bos	4	2	0.92	68.3	40	7	7	3	13	75	0.78	59	0	35	6
Nathan	Min	6	0	1.82	59.3	35	12	12	3	13	82	0.81	55	0	31	2
Ryan	Tor	1	2	1.38	65.3	37	10	10	3	20	78	0.87	58	1	32	4
Rivera	NY	5	5	1.90	71.0	57	16	15	3	11	49	0.96	59	0	33	3
Rodriguez	LA	2	2	1.71	63.3	46	14	12	6	21	80	1.06	60	0	41	3
Jenks	ChW	3	4	3.91	66.7	61	30	29	5	29	72	1.35	64	0	40	4

 

AL Starters	K/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9	1ST ½ WHIP/ERA	BAA	OBP	SLG	OPS	IP/GS	GB/FB	GDP	RS
Santana	9.73	1.82	7.02	0.93	2.95/1.00	0.212	0.256	0.356	0.612	6.86	1.04	9	5.25
Halladay	5.46	1.39	8.49	0.82	2.92/1.03	0.252	0.284	0.377	0.661	6.92	2.33	22	6.24
Mussina	7.92	1.64	8.37	1.00	3.24/1.04	0.249	0.289	0.383	0.672	6.23	1.08	18	6.20
Sabathia	7.99	2.09	8.41	0.84	3.51/1.14	0.245	0.293	0.367	0.660	6.89	1.31	15	4.54
Haren	7.22	1.77	8.94	1.18	3.52/1.13	0.264	0.309	0.430	0.739	6.61	1.28	15	4.81
Schilling	8.02	1.13	9.70	1.31	3.60/1.09	0.276	0.301	0.467	0.768	6.62	0.92	15	5.58
Johnson	7.40	2.61	8.33	1.21	5.13/1.28	0.255	0.315	0.415	0.730	6.24	1.02	12	7.82
Rogers	4.49	2.59	8.54	1.07	3.85/1.19	0.250	0.304	0.404	0.708	6.14	1.55	19	6.29
Contreras	6.16	2.44	8.55	0.86	3.38/1.18	0.248	0.304	0.385	0.689	6.73	1.21	10	5.54
Verlander	6.12	2.83	8.63	0.89	3.07/1.17	0.257	0.318	0.389	0.707	6.37	1.24	20	6.59
Lackey	7.70	3.08	8.38	0.63	2.88/1.02	0.256	0.327	0.379	0.706	6.62	1.07	17	5.07
Wang	2.93	2.25	9.36	0.50	4.00/1.30	0.283	0.329	0.377	0.706	6.67	3.16	31	5.94
Garland	4.77	1.75	10.12	1.17	5.37/1.42	0.295	0.332	0.463	0.795	6.61	1.09	21	6.76
Zito	6.15	3.95	8.54	1.12	3.29/1.29	0.265	0.353	0.425	0.778	6.46	0.91	28	5.03

 

AL Relievers	K/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9	1ST ½ WHIP/ERA	BAA	OBP	SLG	OPS	IP/GS	GB/FB	GDP
Papelbon	9.88	1.71	5.27	0.40	0.59/0.72	0.167	0.206	0.249	0.455	----	0.75	1
Nathan	12.44	1.97	5.31	0.46	1.75/0.81	0.172	0.224	0.265	0.489	----	0.82	1
Ryan	10.75	2.76	5.10	0.41	0.84/0.70	0.167	0.235	0.216	0.451	----	0.80	8
Rivera	6.21	1.39	7.23	0.38	1.76/0.91	0.221	0.262	0.291	0.553	----	2.00	10
Rodriguez	11.37	2.98	6.54	0.85	2.89/1.10	0.201	0.271	0.345	0.616	----	0.83	3
Jenks	9.72	3.91	8.23	0.67	2.83/1.11	0.247	0.329	0.360	0.689	----	2.68	7

 

NL Starters	TM	W	L	ERA	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	WHIP	G	GS	CG	SO
Carpenter	StL	14	6	2.84	199.7	168	68	63	19	39	164	1.04	29	29	4	3
Webb	Ari	15	6	3.00	207.0	194	78	69	15	47	153	1.16	29	29	3	2
Capuano	Mil	11	10	3.49	198.3	194	84	77	24	37	163	1.16	30	30	3	2
Oswalt	Hou	12	8	3.15	191.7	192	70	67	16	32	145	1.17	29	28	2	0
Smoltz	Atl	12	9	3.86	203.0	192	89	87	22	47	185	1.18	31	31	3	1
Arroyo	Cin	13	9	3.29	213.3	200	84	78	29	52	165	1.18	31	31	3	1
Young	SD	10	5	3.77	157.7	129	69	66	27	59	148	1.19	28	28	0	0
Schmidt	SF	11	8	3.45	195.7	171	84	75	18	70	167	1.23	29	29	3	1
Lowe	LA	14	8	3.77	198.0	199	92	83	13	50	107	1.26	32	31	1	0
Francis	Col	11	11	4.01	179.7	168	89	80	17	65	107	1.30	29	29	1	1
Jennings	Col	7	12	3.48	196.7	182	80	76	16	75	138	1.31	29	29	3	2
Zambrano	ChC	14	6	3.50	193.0	149	83	75	19	104	188	1.31	30	30	0	0
Johnson	Fla	12	7	3.10	157.0	136	63	54	14	68	133	1.30	31	24	0	0
Harang	Cin	13	10	3.83	202.3	214	97	86	24	53	189	1.32	32	31	4	2
Penny	LA	15	8	4.21	171.0	179	82	80	17	48	126	1.33	30	29	0	0
Glavine	NY	13	6	3.98	172.0	181	84	76	20	55	113	1.37	28	28	0	0

 

NL Relievers	TM	W	L	ERA	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	WHIP	G	HD	S	BS
Saito	LA	5	2	1.99	68.0	40	16	15	3	21	90	0.90	62	7	18	2
Hoffman	SD	0	2	1.87	53.0	42	12	11	2	10	41	0.98	55	0	37	4
Wagner	NY	3	2	2.17	66.3	50	20	16	6	21	86	1.07	64	0	37	5

 

NL Starters	K/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9	1ST ½ WHIP/ERA	BAA	OBP	SLG	OPS	IP/GS	GB/FB	GDP	RS
Carpenter	7.39	1.76	7.57	0.86	3.08/1.20	0.226	0.273	0.349	0.622	6.89	2.11	14	5.27
Webb	6.65	2.04	8.43	0.65	2.65/1.11	0.260	0.305	0.385	0.690	7.14	3.88	28	5.74
Capuano	7.40	1.68	8.80	1.09	3.21/1.18	0.255	0.292	0.422	0.714	6.61	1.05	16	4.17
Oswalt	6.81	1.50	9.02	0.75	3.15/1.24	0.265	0.298	0.407	0.705	6.85	1.51	20	5.26
Smoltz	8.20	2.08	8.51	0.98	3.60/1.18	0.254	0.301	0.408	0.709	6.55	1.39	17	5.32
Arroyo	6.96	2.19	8.44	1.22	3.12/1.18	0.255	0.302	0.414	0.716	6.88	0.92	11	5.06
Young	8.45	3.37	7.36	1.54	3.12/1.09	0.230	0.308	0.426	0.734	5.63	0.48	7	4.89
Schmidt	7.68	3.22	7.87	0.83	2.78/1.11	0.236	0.305	0.371	0.676	6.75	0.87	11	4.37
Lowe	4.86	2.27	9.05	0.59	3.88/1.29	0.268	0.318	0.367	0.685	6.39	3.89	23	5.41
Francis	5.36	3.26	8.42	0.85	4.05/1.25	0.258	0.333	0.416	0.749	6.20	1.14	20	5.26
Jennings	6.32	3.43	8.33	0.73	3.67/1.35	0.248	0.318	0.371	0.689	6.78	1.24	18	3.75
Zambrano	8.77	4.85	6.95	0.89	3.24/1.26	0.212	0.318	0.359	0.677	6.43	1.24	16	5.50
Johnson	7.62	3.90	7.80	0.80	2.21/1.27	0.244	0.330	0.380	0.710	6.54	1.36	13	5.80
Harang	8.41	2.36	9.52	1.07	3.70/1.30	0.274	0.323	0.437	0.760	6.53	1.07	13	5.12
Penny	6.63	2.53	9.42	0.89	2.91/1.21	0.271	0.326	0.421	0.747	5.90	1.30	18	5.68
Glavine	5.91	2.88	9.47	1.05	3.48/1.32	0.273	0.332	0.429	0.761	6.14	1.44	16	5.86

 

NL Relievers	K/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9	1ST ½ WHIP/ERA	BAA	OBP	SLG	OPS	IP/GS	GB/FB	GDP
Saito	11.91	2.78	5.29	0.40	2.14/0.86	0.172	0.244	0.267	0.511	----	0.81	5
Hoffman	6.96	1.70	7.13	0.34	1.03/0.91	0.211	0.252	0.281	0.533	----	0.74	4
Wagner	11.67	2.85	6.78	0.81	2.43/1.11	0.206	0.280	0.296	0.576	----	1.93	2

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.