Did You Know

Kevin Youkilis, a former cornerstone of the Red Sox franchise, has now played his 953rd and final game with the team, going 2-4 with an RBI triple. He batted over .300 in three straight seasons from 2008-2010, but has since batted .258 and .233 in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The 33-year-old Cincinnati native is on pace for the worst year of his career, having hit just four home runs and batted .233.  However, over his last four games, he has gone 6-14 (.429 AVG) with an RBI, a pair of runs scored, a triple and two doubles for a .714 slugging percentage. If Youkilis starts and bats fifth as projected, that leaves the middle of the Chicago lineup with Adam Dunn (age 32), Paul Konerko (age 36), Youkilis (age 33), Alex Rios (age 31) and A.J. Pierzynski (age 35). With an average age of 33.4 for their 3-7 hitters, GM Ken Williams might want to rethink what he is calling "rebuilding." The Red Sox earned a couple of solid players in Brent Lillibridge, a solid defender who also has stolen 30 bases over his four year career, and Zach Stewart, a 25-year-old pitcher who tossed a one hit shutout against the Twins in 2011.

This Day in Baseball History

6/25/1988: Cal Ripken's consecutive game streak reaches 1,000 games, and he goes 2-4 with his 172nd career home run in a 10-3 loss to the Red Sox. The game was tied until the eighth, when the Red Sox rallied to score seven runs highlighted by Mike Greenwell's pair of singles, including a two-run single to score Wade Boggs and Marty Barrett to complete the damage. Four future Hall of Famers, including Ripken, Eddie Murray, Wade Boggs and Jim Rice appear in the game.  

News

Red Sox traded Kevin Youkilis (4 HR, 14 RBI, .233 AVG, 0 SB, age 33) to the White Sox for Brent Lillibridge (0 HR, 2 RBI, .175 AVG, 7 SB, age 28) and Zach Stewart (1-2, 6.00 ERA, .320 BAA, age 25).

A's catcher Derrick Norris hit his first career home run, a walkoff to beat the Giants.

Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey saw his scoreless streak snapped at 44.2 innings.

Padres bullpen coach Darrel Akerfelds, who was in his 11th year with the team, died at 50 after a long battle with cancer. He also had a brief major league career, going 9-10 with a 5.08 ERA over five seasons with the A's (1986), Indians (1987), Rangers (1989) and Phillies (1990-1991).

Game Scores

Orioles (41-31) beat the Nationals (41-29) 2-1.

Red Sox (38-34) beat the Braves (38-34) 8-4.

Yankees (43-28) beat the Mets (39-34) 6-5.

Rays (40-32) beat the Phillies (34-40) 3-2 and 7-3.

Angels (40-33) beat the Dodgers (43-30) 5-3.

Rangers (45-28) beat the Rockies (27-44) 4-2.

Diamondbacks (37-35) beat the Cubs (24-48) 5-1.

Top Scorer: Cardinals beat the Royals 11-8.

Standings

AL East: Yankees (43-28, .606 WPCT). AL Central: White Sox (38-34, .528). AL West: Rangers (45-28, .616).

NL East: Nationals (41-29, .586). NL Central: Reds (39-32, .549). NL West: Dodgers (43-30, .589).

AL Wild Cards: Orioles (41-31, .569) and Rays (40-32, .556). NL Wild Cards: Giants (40-33, .548) and Pirates (38-33, .535).

Bottom Team: Cubs (24-48, .333). Longest Winning Streak: Diamondbacks, 4 games. Longest Losing Streak: Cubs, 4 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: David Wright (Mets), .360. Home runs: Jose Bautista (Blue Jays) and Adam Dunn (White Sox), 23. RBI: Josh Hamilton (Rangers), 64. Stolen bases: Tony Campana (Cubs), 24.

Pitching: Wins: R.A. Dickey (Mets), 11. K's: Justin Verlander (Tigers), 113. ERA: Brandon Beachy (Braves), 2.00 (81 innings, 18 earned runs). Saves: Chris Perez (Indians), 23.

Top Performers

Offensive: Mike Moustakas (Royals): 3-5, 2 home runs (12), 3 RBI, 2 runs, AVG up .006 from .274 to .280, hitting streak to 4 games (6-15, .400 AVG).

Pitching: Wade Miley (Diamondbacks): Win (9-3), 8 innings, 1 earned run, 3 hits, 1 walk, 7 K's (64), ERA drop: 0.11 runs from 2.30 to 2.19.

Worst Pitching Performance: Tim Collins (Royals): Loss (4-2), 1.2 innings, 5 runs (4 earned), 3 hits, 3 walks, 0 K's, ERA jump: 0.86 runs from 2.27 to 3.13.

-- 
Teams followed in this update: Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies

If your team is not included, please leave a comment.

HR: home runs. RBI: runs batted in. AVG: batting average. SB: stolen bases. ERA: earned run average. BAA: batting average against. K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage

Zack Silverman