1. All Star start to Rogers?: Kenny Rogers won his 11th game yesterday, tying him with Tom Glavine for most wins in either league. But the bigger news is that his success this season could lead him to the All Star game start. That’s right, Ozzie Guillen said he was leaning towards Rogers to start the game over Jose Contreras, the White Sox’s undefeated right-hander. Rogers this year is 11-3 for the division-leading Tigers, though his ERA is just 3.85. But Guillen inferred that the choice was based more on what dates the pitchers would start. Rogers’ start yesterday is his last before the All Star game, while Contreras and most others have another start. Guillen also said that his closer for the game should he need one would be Mariano Rivera instead of Bobby Jenks.
2. First to 50: The American League has already had three teams with 50 wins for a while now, but the National League got their first yesterday. The team? The New York Mets, whose 11.5 game division lead is by far the largest in baseball. The Mets won 5-0 yesterday over the hapless Pirates, with all the scoring coming in the first inning. Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez had his best start of the season, shutting out the Pirates in 7 innings. The Mets are so good because they are so balanced; they have scored the 2nd most runs in the NL and allowed the 3rd fewest.
3. Team of the Future: The Mets may be on top of the NL East now, but the Marlins showed yesterday why they will be the class of the division in about 2 years. They trounced the Nationals 18-9, with all of their young stars coming through on offense. Miguel Cabrera hit a home run and had four RBIs, Dan Uggla went 4-6 with 4 driven in, and Josh Willingham went 4-6 with a homer and 3 RBIs. The Nationals scored some runs of their own, but their pitching completely broke down. Reliever Saul Rivera had one of the best lines of the year, allowing 8 hits and 8 runs in just 0.1 innings pitched. His ERA jumped from 3.44 to 6.75 as a result. The Marlins are 12.5 games back with a 36-45 record, though interestingly they have scored and allowed an identical amount of runs (383).
4. Payback: After the Cleveland Indians demolished the Yankees 19-1 on Tuesday, the Yanks responded with an offensive showing of their own. They beat the Indians 11-3, including an 8-run 4th inning. That inning included a grand slam by Melky Cabrera, who has filled in decently for Hideki Matsui. The Yankees stole 6 bases off Indians catcher Victor Martinez, and 6 different players drove in a run. Meanwhile, Mike Mussina won his 10th game of the year, the 15th year in a row that he has won double digits. Mussina didn’t make the All Star team despite a 3.24 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, both of which rank in the top 5 in the league.
5. A complete mess: That is the only thing that can describe the situation with Barry Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson. Yesterday Anderson was held in contempt of court and sent to prison for an undisclosed amount of time. Anderson, who served three months in prison last year, refused to testify to a grand jury. He was supposed to testify as to whether Barry Bonds committed perjury in December 2003, but he refused to cooperate with the jury. We have a feeling this won’t be the last prison sentence Anderson gets.
