Tag: Atlanta Braves

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MLB General

The Full Count: Dice-K can’t catch a break


1. Bad Roll of the Dice: Daisuke Matsuzaka is perhaps the unluckiest pitcher in baseball this season. He has lost two starts in a row despite pitching a quality start in both games. Dice-K was simply outpitched by Felix Hernandez a week ago and Gustavo Chacin on Tuesday. Chacin improved to 2-0 for the Blue Jays after allowing one run into the seventh inning. Matsuzaka, meanwhile, allowed three runs and struck out 10 but didn’t get any support from the offense. With the win the Blue Jays passed the Sox for first place in the AL East, and there are still two games left in this series.

2. Powerhouses: Everyone knows Alex Rodriguez is great. He is having an April like Albert Pujols did last year, as he leads the majors in homers (8) and RBIs (21). Last night A-Rod was part of a Yankees offensive rampage that led to eight runs in the firs two innings and a 10-3 rout of the Indians. While it shouldn’t surprise too many people that Rodriguez is having this type of season, what is surprising is the second-most-powerful player in baseball–Ian Kinsler of the Rangers. Kinsler, a fantasy breakout pick by many this year, has provided a monstrous 7 homers and 13 RBIs, including 1 and 3 in the Rangers’ 8-1 romp over the White Sox. Also in that game, Sammy Sosa hit his third homer of the year, a three-run blast that gave him 10 RBIs. While nobody should expect Sammy to hit above .250, he could have a 30-homer season if healthy.

3. Beasts of the East: The Braves and Mets have been exchanging wins recently as they crush their divisional competition. The Braves beat the Nationals on Tuesday, led by Chipper Jones’ 4th homerun and four hits by leadoff man Kelly Johnson. The Mets, meanwhile, manhandled the Phillies 8-1. Moises Alou of all people had 2 homers and 3 RBIs for New York. The Braves and Mets are a half-game separated in the divisional race, with their next series against each other this weekend.

Player of the Day: Carlos Lee, Astros: 3-4, HR (5), 4 RBIs (16), and 2 runs in a 6-1 win over Florida. If there had been a Full Count on Saturday, Lee would have won this as well with a 3-homer, 6-RBI performance.

Walk Off: The Detroit Tigers are showing this year that their 2006 run was no fluke. They are 9-5 and are standing out in the crowded AL Central race. While their strength of schedule hasn’t been too impressive–they’ve played the Blue Jays twice, Orioles, and Royals twice–they are beating the teams they should beat while going 3-3 against the potent Blue Jays. The Tigers have crushed Kansas City a combined 19-11 the past two nights, showing that they have more ways to win than a pitchers duel. And the top half of their rotation–Verlander, Robertson, and Bonderman–have been fantastic. Detroit was my preseason pick to win the division, and they haven’t showed anything that would make me change my mind.

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New York Mets

The Full Count: Mets still holding a grudge


1. NLCS Revenge: Remember last year when the Mets had a much better team but lost to the Cardinals in the playoffs? Well, New York started off this season with some sweet revenge. They swept the Cardinals in three games while outscoring them 20-2, including a 10-0 embarrassment last night. Carlos Beltran hit his first two homeruns of the season and drove in four runs, and Jose Reyes also went yard for the visiting Mets. But most importantly, John Maine showed his potential in the rotation by allowing just one hit in seven shutout innings. For the Cardinals, Albert Pujols just went 1-10 in the series.

2. Comeback kids: The Braves have won two extra-inning contests in a row over the Phillies, and last night’s comeback was fueled by their young talent. The Phillies got seven shutout innings from Cole Hamels and led 2-0 going into the 9th, but Brian McCann launched a two-run homer off Phils closer Tom Gordon. Then in the 11th, obscure pinch hitter Scott Thorman hit a solo shot to give the Braves the lead. Atlanta at 2-0 is one of eight undefeated teams left in the majors, while Philly is among the eight winless.

3. The Next Ace: Rich Harden has never had trouble on the mound; the key for him is simply staying healthy. He showed his potential last night as the A’s avoided a sweep by the Mariners. Harden went seven innings with 7 strikeouts and no runs allowed. If Harden stays healthy and other A’s pitchers improve, they have a shot at winning the no-man’s land AL West.

Player of the Day: Curtis Granderson, Tigers: 2-5, 3B, HR, 5 RBI in the Tigers’ 10-9 win over the Blue Jays.

Stat of the Day: Six different starting pitchers went at least 7 innings and allowed one or less earned runs on Wednesday. Three others added 7-inning, 2-run performances in a night dominated by pitching.

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MLB General

Oct 19 in Sports History: When Kenny Rogers sucked


In 1999: Current postseason hero Kenny Rogers wasn’t so much in Game 6 of the 1999 NLCS. With the Mets attempting to come back from a 3-0 series deficit to force a seventh game, Rogers walked in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th to give the Braves their fifth pennant of the decade. The Mets had fought back with a dramatic game-winning grand slam by Robin Ventura in Game 5 and overcame Braves’ leads of 5-0 and 7-3 in Game 6 to force extra innings. Rogers’ walk of Andruw Jones was the only series in history to end on a base on balls.

In 1981: Rick Monday of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the hero in the NLCS with a dramatic, two-out, solo home run of Montreal’s Steve Rogers to give the Dodgers the pennant in the deciding fifth game. The game was played in what was believed to be the coldest temperatures ever for a postseason game, and it was quickly dubbed “Blue Monday,” due to the facts that the game was played on a Monday and Rick Monday (who coolly stopped two morons from attempting to burn a flag in the outfield a few years earlier) almost single-handedly knocked the Expos out of their only postseason appearance.

In 1987: Billy Martin was hired by George Steinbrenner to manage the New York Yankees for the fifth time. Martin replaced the fired Lou Pinella, whom he had spent the entire season criticizing from the broadcast booth. Pinella, in a strange twist, was named General Manager. Martin lasted until halfway through the 1988 season when he was fired and replaced by
Lou Pinella.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Trevor Hoffman is the all-time saves leader



Someone get him some coffee

1. 479: Is Trevor Hoffman the best closer ever? It’s a tough argument, but Hoffman now has the ultimate in closing records: the all-time saves record. Hoffman saved his 479th career game on Sunday, breaking Lee Smith’s mark. It was his 43rd save of the year, which has arguably been the second-best season of his career (in 1998 he saved 53 in 54 chances). He closed out the last two games of the Padres sweep of the Pirates, giving the team a one-and-a-half game lead in the division. Hoffman deserves some serious consideration for the NL Cy Young; he has a 1.95 ERA, .93 WHIP, and .198 opponent’s batting average. Even more impressive, he’s done all this as a 38-year old without a true out pitch. One pitch, a changeup, has made Hoffman an all-time record holder.

2. Speaking of closing: The A’s have almost clinched the AL West division title. The Angels, the only team that could possibly pass Oakland, stayed alive for two more days. They beat the A’s twice in a row over the weekend to keep them from clinching the West. Oakland’s magic number remains at 1.

3. The Inevitable: Detroit has been leading the American League Central division every single day since May. Though they had been the best team in the MLB most of the summer, the Tigers had been fading recently. Still, they were able to finally clinch a playoff spot yesterday, finally securing what had seemed inevitable for a while. They clinched the postseason after a three-game sweep in Kansas City, routing the Royals a combined 33-11. Justin Verlander, who has led the Tigers for most of the season, improved to 17-9. Detroit, who is 94-62, still hasn’t wrapped up the division. They likely will, though, and in they will probably face the A’s in the first round of the playoffs.

4. The only race left: Almost every postseason spot has been clinched or is on the verge of being clinched. The lone race remaining is the three-team shootout for two NL playoff spots. The Phillies, Dodgers, and Padres are going at it for the Wild Card and the West division title. All three teams won yesterday. The Phils hit five homers, including two by Chase Utley, to rout the Marlins 10-7. Jamie Moyer, the former Mariner, improved to 4-2 as a Phillie. The Dodgers won in more dramatic fashion. They were tied with the D-Backs 1-1 in the ninth inning. Then Nomar Garciaparra hit a walk off grand slam, his 19th homer of the year. Garciaparra is the obvious choice for NL comeback player of the year and has produced many clutch hits this year. He’s kept the Dodgers, who are a half-game back of the Phillies, in the race.

5. The Braves are officially done: With only six games left, the Braves were officially eliminted from the postseason for the first time in 14 years with a loss to the Rockies. Even with a 7-0 lead in the fourth, the Braves couldn’t hold on to win. The chances of Atlanta making the playoffs were slim to none but now Slim has officially left the building.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Watch out for the Twins


1. The Most Dangerous Team: Going into the playoffs, the scariest team in the American League isn’t even a division leader. It is the Wild Card-leading Minnesota Twins, who have been rolling since the All Star break. Even with only one great starter in Johan Santana, their pitching staff has found a way to get the job done. Yesterday, Boof Bonser won his third straight decision to lead the Twins to an 8-2 victory over the Red Sox. Torri Hunter continues to be a man on a mission and has hit 5 homers and 15 RBIs in his last 10 games. Despite David Ortiz’s 50th homer of the year, the Red Sox lost again and are virtually out of the playoff hunt. The 90-61 Twins, meanwhile, will win the Wild Card barring a total collapse. Watch out for this team in the postseason.

2. The Last Battle: The Detroit-Chicago season series has finally come to a close. Chicago beat them 12 out of 19 times, but take out the first five games between these teams and they each won 7. The Tigers got the last laugh, as they won the final series 2-1. They beat the White Sox 6-2 yesterday behind a strong outing from starter Jeremy Bonderman. Bonderman, who had been inconsistent recently and lost 4 of his last 5 decisions, pitched six innings, allowed two runs, and got just enough run support to get the job done. Pudge Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez each homered for the Tigers, who got 12 hits and 5 runs off the White Sox’s best starter, Jon Garland. The ChiSox are 5.5 games out of the Wild Card with 10 games left to play, meaning they have virtually no chance. The Tigers are just holding off the Twins by a half game.

3. Tying it up: The Phillies had been looking for the Wild Card lead for a while, and now they’ve finally found it. The Phils tied the Dodgers and Padres, who each share the WC lead at this point. Philly beat the Cubs yesterday 6-2 behind an outstanding pitching performance by Brett Myers. Myers went for a complete game, allowing 2 runs and striking out 12 in the process. He got homeruns from Chas Utley and Pat Burrell, which was enough for the Phils to win. But can they hold onto the Wild Card? Probably; the team plays Florida six times, Washington three times, and Houston once the rest of the season. If they take seven of those games, the Phillies will make the postseason.

4. Falling in: Would you celebrate in this circumstance? The Yankees lost 3-2 to the Blue Jays yesterday, but they clinched the AL East division title via a Red Sox loss. While it’s hard to celebrate after a loss, this would be the best time to do so. This is the team’s ninth straight year winning the division, and they certainly deserve it. Despite the losses of Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui in addition to a somewhat mediocre pitching staff, this team is as good as any. The Yanks are 92-60 and should be a force come the playoffs. If only people would just shut up and realize that A-Rod is a damn good player. He has more RBIs than any other thirdbaseman in the game. With 34 homers, 116 driven in, and 14 steals, A-Rod is still one of the best all-round threats in baseball. The media should just let him play like everybody else.

5. Wait till next year: The Braves are officially done this year. But what will the team look like in 2007? Their bullpen at least will have a closer. That’s because Bob Wickman just re-signed with the team through next season. This means they probably won’t be amongst the league leaders in blown saves anymore. Wickman has saved 15 games in 16 chances for the Braves this year and has a 1.19 ERA since joining the team. The team’s biggest problem will be a former strength: starting pitching. They have no one reliable outside of John Smoltz, and he is getting older. There’s one thing for sure though: the team will not be as bad as this year’s mediocre 74-78 club.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Chipper comes off the DL with a bang



3 HR night

1. Chip off the old block: Chipper Jones wasted no time returning to form after his stint on the DL for the Braves. Jones hit 3 homeruns at RFK stadium against the Nationals in just his second game back. It was his first career three-homer game and brings his career total to 350. Chipper went 4-5 to up his title-contending average to .339. Also for the Bravos, Matt Diaz went 4-5 and at one point had a hit in 10 consecutive at-bats. Diaz had gone 2-2 on Saturday and 4-4 on Sunday. His 10 hits in a row streak tied an NL record. The Braves won 10-4. They are still a whopping 16 games back in the division but trail by only 5.5 in the Wild Card race.

2. Run over by a train: We’re not sure if Pedro Martinez and the Mets were altogether ready for last night’s game against Philadelphia. While they lead the Phillies by more than a dozen games and have practically guaranteed themselves a playoff berth, the Mets still need to put on better showing than they did yesterday. They were dominated 13-0 by the Phils. Pedro Martinez only lasting the first inning, in which the Phillies scored 6 runs. According to ESPN.com, it was the first time in 10 years that Pedro had not gone at least 3 innings in any given start. Leadoff man Jimmy Rollins continued his hot streak by going 3-3 with 3 RBIs. Chas Utley added two more ribbies, while Abraham Nunez drove in three himself. The Phillies also got an excellent start from Cole Hamels, who put together his fourth consecutive quality start. He is 3-1 during those starts with 34 strikeouts.

3. Mean streak: The schedule-makers did not give the Detroit Tigers a very easy ride in August. After series last week against the Twins and White Sox, they now travel to Boston to face the Red Sox. They had lost five straight games, their longest such streak of the season, before last night’s much needed 7-4 edging of the BoSox. Sean Casey drove in two runs while Dimitri Young added three hits. Starter Nate Robinson picked up his 11th win with a quality start. For the Red Sox, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez combined to go 1-6, which is probably the reason they lost. The Tigers still lead the charging White Sox (who beat the Royals 12-2) by 5.5 games.

4. Making their run: Has there ever been a season that the A’s haven’t performed well in the second half? It’s certainly hard to remember, as there has been more of the same this year. The A’s have quietly won 9 of their last 10 games. They are now 14 games over .500 and lead their division by 5.5 games. This is all despite having narrowly outscored their opponents on the year, 530-525. in fact, the A’s offense simply stinks; that total is the second-lowest runs scored of any team in the AL. But when your pitching staff has a 4.16 ERA, you don’t need to worry about trivial matters like hitting. It looks to me like the A’s, who won 5-4 yesterday with Frank Thomas and Nick Swisher homeruns, will return to the playoffs this year.

5. Combined effort: Most shutouts might involve one or two pitchers. Not with the Giants yesterday. Starter Brad Hennessey was taken out after 5.2 innings and 70 pitches, but five relievers held up the 0. Armando Benitez, who had blown three consecutive save opportunities, held up in this one.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Cardinals open a can of whoop ass


1. One team show: The St. Louis Cardinals showed yesterday that they aren’t ready to give up their stranglehold over the NL Central division. Playing on the road against the second place team, the Reds, St. Louis blew them across the Ohio River. They won 13-1, knocking out Reds starter Elizardo Ramirez in two innings. Ramirez allowed 7 runs, while St. Louis starter Jeff Weaver had his best start since joining the team. Weaver had an 8.68 ERA coming into the game but held Cincy to one run. The Cardinals offense gave him all the support he could get. Scott Rolen went 3-3 with a homer, while Pujols added three runs and two RBIs. The rout extended the Cardinals lead to 4.5 games, and their overall winning streak to 3 games after an eight-game losing streak crumpled the team.

2. One man show: For some reason, the Giants’ Jason Schmidt just knows how to defeat the Diamondbacks. After getting the win last night over Arizona, he is now undefeated in his last 15 starts against the team. The streak dates back to 2003. Last night Schmidt improved to 9-7 while hitting his first homer of the season. That was one of 5 dingers on the night for San Fran, including two by Pedro Feliz and one by newly acquired Shea Hillenbrand. The loss for Arizona coupled with a Dodgers win knocked them back to third place in the NL West, while the Giants are still in last. It’s worth noting that LA has won 10 straight games while the rest of the division is on snooze control.

3. Make it double digits: Somehow, someway, the Tigers just keep finding a way to win. The team even could beat Francisco Liriano of the Twins. Liriano had allowed two earned runs or less in 11 of his 13 starts on the season, but the Tigers got to him and knocked him out in four innings, his shortest start of the year. In all fairness, “Fan”-cisco was hurt. He missed his last scheduled start due to forearm soreness, and he said that he wasn’t feeling well by the second inning. Either way, Detroit ousted their divisional rivals 9-3, while the White Sox lost again. Chicago is now 10 games off their divisional rivals’ blistering pace.

4. Road-sick: Who has the worst home record in the majors, you might ask? Is it the Royals? Nope. The Pirates? Na. The Cubs? Wrong again. It’s the Braves, whose struggles at home have highlighted their downfall from divisional power. They are 22-29 at Turner Field after losing there last night to the Phillies. The Royals (23 wins) and Cubs (25) are both slightly better than Atlanta at home winning. The Braves are now tied for 9th in the NL Wild Card standings, and after a hot end-of-July run they have stumbled back to their June struggles. Meanwhile, Philadelphia has looked very good as of late. They have won 7 of their last 10, and last night Ryan Howard hit his 39th homer and 101st RBI. Both lead the National League and are just off David Ortiz’s major-league best pace.

5. Comeback Nominees: The nominees for the MLB Comeback Player of the Year award were announced yesterday. The finalists ranged from the highly publicized to a few unheralded players. For the American League, Jim Thome, Corey Patterson, Magglio Ordonez, Curt Schilling, Frank Thomas, and perennial All Star Rafael Soriano were the nominees. Thome, who has 34 homers, 85 RBIs, and a .304 average, appears to be the far-and-away favorite. The National League finalists include Carlos Beltran, Nomar Garciaparra, Johnny Estrada, Edgar Renteria, Scott Rolen, and Joe Borowski. This one’s a little tougher. Beltran has blown everyone away with 33 homers and 97 RBIs, but Nomar had been among the batting average leaders the entire season. Don’t count out All Star selections Rolen and Renteria either. Our choice would be Beltran right now.

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MLB General

July 20 in Sports History: Baseball starts charging



New York Nine

In 1859: At the Fashion Race Course near Flushing, NY (close to where Shea Stadium is today), spectators paid to see a baseball game for the first time. It was also considered the first “All-Star” game. About 1,500 fans paid fifty cents each to watch the New York Nine defeat the Brooklyn Nine (more creative names were to come, I guess) 22-18 in a game that benefited the city’s fire departments. No word on whether there were hot dog launches, sausage races or A-Rod heckling.

In 1993: The Atlanta Braves caught fire. Literally. A pre-game blaze in the Fulton County Stadium press box delayed the start of the Braves-Cardinals game. Trailing the San Francisco Giants by 10 games in the N.L West, newly acquired Fred McGriff (perhaps the best midseason pick-up in recent history) hit a two-run homer to ignite a rally from a 5-0 deficit in the late innings. The Braves won, 8-5, and never cooled down. They went 51-17 after the All-Star break and eventually overtook the Giants to win their third of 14 consecutive division titles.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Chipper’s streak ended



Not that kind

1. Streak vs. Streak: 3 streaks were on the line when the Braves traveled to St. Louis yesterday. Each team had winning streaks to keep up, as both came into the game undefeated in July. But the most important streak on the line was Chipper Jones’ 14 straight games with an extra-base hit, tying a major-league record. Unfortunately, Chipper could not break the 80-year-old record, “only” managing 3 singles on the day. But that was the only bad news for the Braves, as they routed the Cardinals 15-3. This marked the fourth game in a row the Braves had scored in double digits; they have 51 runs in those games. Brian McCann homered for his third straight game (a grand slam), Wilson Betemit had 4 hits and drove in 5, and red-hot Adam LaRoache went 4-4 with a homer. The Braves piled up 20 hits in all, crushing Jeff Weaver in his first start as a Cardinal. Though Chipper may not have extended his streak, he’s now hitting .333, good for third in the NL. The Braves are now closing in fast on the Wild Card lead, and though 7 teams are ahead of them, none seem as dangerous as the perennial playoff contenders.

2. Different Directions: That’s where the Cleveland Indians and the LA/Anaheim Angels are headed. The Angels, despite starting the year in last place, have won 7 in a row and are only a half-game back of the division-leading A’s. Meanwhile, the Indians are further away from playoff contention than you are, having lost 8 of their last 10 games. Last night (as always in baseball) the hottest team prevailed, as the Angels doubled up on the Tribe 10-5. Jake Westbrook was shattered for seven runs in just 3.2 innings, as the Angels 3-4-5 hitters drove in 2 runs a piece. The Indians are now 21 games out of first place after narrowly missing the playoffs last year.

3. Stung by the D’Backs: In the NL West division this year, things can change very quickly. That has been showcased by the remarkable emergence of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who started the month in last place but are now in second. Last night they beat up on divisional foe Los Angeles 8-3, with rookie Enrique Gonzalez winning his third major-league start. Eric Byrnes homered with 3 RBIs for Arizona as they cruised to another victory. So now, despite being 46-46 and outscored on the season, the Diamondbacks find themselves 3 games back of the Padres for the division lead. The bottom half of the West–the Giants, Dodgers, and Rockies–are all on significant losing streaks.

4. E for Everybody: Monday’s slate of games featured many more errors than usual. The Yankees committed 4–including 3 by A-Rod–and still beat the Mariners (3 errors). Texas had 3 missteps themselves, and it showed as they were pummeled by Toronto 10-1. But it doesn’t end there. The Royals, Giants, Nationals, and Phillies committed 2 errors each–and all of them lost. So on the day 12 of 24 teams had at least one error, and those teams went 4-8. It just shows how important defense is in baseball and how sloppy teams usually don’t win.

5. Superstar available–for a price: It is by now common knowledge that Philadelphia outfielder Bobby Abreu is on the trading block. But teams will have to have deep pockets in order to acquire him. Abreu’s current contract includes a full no-trade clause, and for him to waive it he’s going to need something in return. That will either be an extension on his current 5 year, $64 million contract or an agreement to pick up his $16 million option for 2008. That means only large-market or playoff-contention teams should be in the running for Abreu. As usual, the Yankees and Red Sox will be potential suitors, in addition to the Mets and Tigers. Wherever he lands, he isn’t the best player available. That title goes to Alfonso Soriano, though he will likely be equally expensive.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Sweeps season

1. Bring out the Brooms: Sunday’s games featured 5 teams that completed a sweep. Two of them are the aforementioned Yankees and Braves, while the others are the LA Angels, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds. The Angels crushed the D-Rays by a combined 20-7 in the series, including a 7-5 win yesterday. Howie Kendrick, their highly touted prospect, went 3-4 with two RBIs. The team is now above .500 for the first time in months and appears to have finally recovered from their awful start to the season. Meanwhile, the Reds completed a Rockies sweep with a 6-4 win. All four of this series’ games were decided by two runs or less, meaning this is one of the closest sweeps you’ll ever see. Adam Dunn hit his 30th homer of the year, becoming the third-fastest Red ever to reach that mark in a single season. For the Rockies Jose Mesa blew his 6th save of the year. The final sweep was in St. Louis, as the Cards used a 4-5, 3-RBI performance by Albert Pujols to finish off the Dodgers. Brad Penny, in his first start since the All Star game, allowed 6 runs and 10 hits in five innings. The combined score of that series was 21-6.

2. Another Braves Streak: The Braves’ 14-year division title streak arguably isn’t the most important 14-game streak for the team right now. Chipper Jones, the former All-Star and NL MVP, notched an extra-base hit for the 14th consecutive game last night. He did so by nailing a homerun and going 3-3 in the Braves’ 10-5 win over the Padres. The win gave the Braves a much-needed road sweep of San Diego, with a total of 36 runs in the series. Chipper’s extra base hit streak has tied an 80-year-old major league record, first set in 1927 by Paul Waner. Jones is now hitting .564 with a remarkable 1.836 OPS in July. He has raised those stats from .291/.839 going into the month to .329/.976 now, both good for fifth in the NL. Jones has also hit 6 of his 15 homeruns and 18 of his 57 RBIs this month and is a sure-fire lock for NL Player of the Month. Atlanta is still a dozen games behind the Mets, though they are just 5.5 back in a loaded NL Wild Card race.

3. The worst beats the best: Kansas City, who owns the worst record in the AL, had yet to beat the division-leading Tigers on the season going into Sunday’s game. Well that finally changed, as the Royals edged Detroit 9-6. Before the loss the Tigers were 11-0 against the Royals on the season with 3 series sweeps. They narrowly missed out on their fourth as they were up 3-0 in the series until yesterday’s loss. Leading the Royals was Joey Gathright, a Devil Rays outcast, who hit 4 RBIs and a triple. Underrated David DeJesus, likely the Royals’ best hitter, went 4-6 on the day to improve his average to a team-best .309. The loss ruined a great day by the Tigers’ Marcus Thames, a breakout player this year who homered twice and drove in 5 runs. It’s not that this game truly matters–the Tigers still own a 29.5 game lead over incompetent Kansas City.

4. Ready for battle: Many thought the Red Sox owned the AL East going into the All Star break. The Yankees changed that kind of thinking when they completed a sweep of the defending champion White Sox on Sunday. That moved New York to a mere half-game back of the stumbling Red Sox, who went 1-3 against the A’s over the weekend. The Yanks defeated the White Sox 6-5, 14-3, and then 6-4 yesterday to capture the sweep. The big news from Sunday’s game was Mariano Rivera, who worked two innings to complete his 400th career save. He is one of only four players–including Padres All-Star Trevor Hoffman–to reach that mark. 21 of Rivera’s saves have come this season and he has a 2.02 ERA. His career ERA is just 2.31 with a 1.04 WHIP. While many closers–including the all-time saves leader, Lee Smith–have struggled getting into the Hall of Fame, Rivera is one who will be first-ballot.

5. O Brother, Where art thou?: While rookie Jered Weaver is tearing it up for the Angels with a 1.12 ERA and 6-0 record, his brother Jeff is just trying to start over. Big Weaver was recently traded to the Cardinals for a minor-leaguer, and he will have to prove that he is even worth that. He went 3-10 with a 6.29 earlier this year for the Angels, and he will make his first start for his new team tonight against the red-hot Braves. Weaver is one of the most overpriced players in the majors this year, with the above performance for an 8 million dollar price tag. The Cardinals need him to perform, as Mark Mulder is on the DL and much of their staff has struggled.