1. Special K vs. Frosted Flakes: One of the best pitching battles so far this season took place when Minnesota’s Johan Santana and Detroit’s Justin Verlander dueled Wednesday night. The game was scoreless through seven innings, until Santana made his only mistake of the game, allowing a homerun to the Tigers’ Vance Wilson. Santana was marvelous up until then, with 12 K’s and only four hits allowed on the night. But Verlander, with 8 innings pitched, 6 hits and no runs allowed, and no walks or strikeouts. If Verlander had gone the distance, it would have been the second time this month that a pitcher had no K’s or walks in a complete game. On May 1, Joel Pineiro of Seattle became the first to do this since 1992. Santana fell to 4-4, though he leads the majors in strikeouts with 70 and innings pitched with 61.1. Verlander has contributed to Detroit’s pitching success with a 5-3 record and a 3.18 ERA. The Tigers (26-13) share the best record in the majors with the White Sox.
2. Pitcher’s duel no. 2: In an unexpectedly low-scoring game, the Mets fell to St. Louis, 1-0. Mark Mulder and Steve Trachsel both pitched excellently, but Mulder (5-1) picked up the win. Trachsel allowed the lone run of the game in the sixth when Scott Rolen drove in Albert Pujols. Mulder allowed 4 hits in 8.1 innings and K’d five Mets. St. Louis closer Jason Isringhausen relieved Mulder with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth, but he quickly recorded two outs to earn his 12th save. Both teams have two-game leads in their respective divisions.
3.Victory at last: As we said earlier this week, the Baltimore Orioles have struggled mightily against the Boston Red Sox this season. Coming into yesterday’s game, the O’s had a 13 game losing streak against the team. Yesterday, in Baltimore’s last game against Boston until August, they ended the streak with a narrow 4-3 victory. Erik Bedard pitched seven innings and only allowed two hits to the powerful Boston lineup. David Ortiz was their only offensive success, driving in all 3 Red Sox runs. Baltimore’s Kevin Millar homered and drove in two, and Miguel Tejada scored a key run on a wild pitch in the seventh. Once again, the Red Sox are tied with the Yankees for the division lead.
4. They’re still the Royals: The Kansas City Royals may have fooled us last week by sweeping the Indians, but in this week’s series, they have reminded us that they are still the Royals. Last night was one of those games where Kansas City’s weak hitting and poor pitching were completely exploited. Cleveland starter Jake Westbrook owned their lineup, allowing no runs and six hits in a complete game effort. Four of Cleveland’s five runs came on Travis Hafner’s grand slam in the third. At least the Royals were smart enough to walk Hafner in his next three plate appearances. They still lost, 5-0.
5. Coming back yet?: As we all know by now, Roger Clemens has a pretty nice life. He is extremely rich, currently retired, being pursued by four major league teams, and each want to pay him $4 million a month. But is he coming back or not? This decision is getting more annoying than Brett Favre’s. Well, according to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, Roger is “accelerating his workout program” and “could be back within three weeks.” Of course exactly when he will come back and which team he will play for are still mysteries. The Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Astros are the biggest suitors. We’ll just have to wait and see…
2 replies on “Full Count for Thurs May 18 2006: Pitching Duels”
I know the Mets are doing well… — but Steve Trachsel in your rotation does not bode well for postseason hopes. Minaya better be willing to do anything for Billy Beane to get Zito. I mean anything.
Clemens — There’s no doubt in my mind that Clemens is coming back to the Astros. He’s preparing to pitch and he doesn’t really want to leave home. Although returning to the Sox would make his story more emotional than “The Rookie.”