City of the Day

Sydney, Australia. 7 Players, 4 Active.  First Player: Joe Quinn (1884-1901).

Joe Quinn was the first player from Sydney, playing 18 years at second base. His best year was 1890 with the Boston Reds, a team in the short-lived Players League, when he hit seven home runs and batted .301 with 29 stolen bases. Over his 18 years, he hit 29 home runs and batted .261 with 268 stolen bases. Another player from Australia did not come around until Craig Shipley in 1986, and another from Sydney did not appear until Trent Durrington in 1999. Durrington played five years for the Angels and Brewers around the turn of the millennium. Over 140 games, he hit two home runs and batted .196 with 14 stolen bases, never seeing his average crawl above .232 in any given year. John Stephens pitched one year for the Angels in 2002, going 2-5 with a 6.09 ERA over 12 games (11 starts). The next player from Australia's largest city was Brad Thomas, who pitched three seasons for the Twins from 2001-2004 and two for the Tigers from 2010-2011. He is 6-6 with a 5.80 ERA in his career, and was 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in 12 appearances last year. Grant Balfour is probably the greatest player to come out of Sydney, pitching nine years in the majors and going 26-14 with a 3.41 ERA and 22 saves. He played a vital role in the Rays' run to the World Series in 2008, going 6-2 with a 1.54 ERA and four saves in 51 appearances. With the A's this year, he is 2-2 with a 2.51 ERA and 12 saves in 57 appearances. Ryan Rowland-Smith pitched four years for the Mariners from 2007-2010, going 12-17 with a 4.57 ERA over 115 games (47 starts). His best year was 2008, when he was 5-3 with a 3.42 ERA in 47 games (12 starts). At AAA Iowa in the Cubs system this year, he is 3-5 with a 4.09 ERA. Trent Oeltjen, who is currently at the Dodgers' AAA affiliate in Albuquerque, has hit five home runs in the majors and owns a .220 average and nine stolen bases.

News

In a back-and-forth battle at Fenway, the Red Sox blew 6-0, 9-8, and 11-9 leads, while the Angels blew 8-6 and 12-11 leads in what turned out to be an extra inning, 14-13 Los Angeles win.

Mets rookie Collin McHugh tossed seven shutout innings in his MLB debut.

Angels center fielder Mike Trout became the youngest player ever with 20 home runs and 40 stolen bases.

Game Scores

Angels (65-60) beat the Red Sox (59-66) 14-13 (10 innings).

Phillies (58-67) beat the Reds (76-50) 4-3 (11 innings).

Rays (70-55) beat the A's (67-57) 5-0.

Giants (70-55) beat the Braves (71-54) 5-2.

Rockies (50-73) beat the Mets (57-68) 1-0.

Nationals, Yankees, Dodgers, and Cubs didn't play.

Top Scorer: Angels beat the Red Sox 14-13 (10 innings).

Standings

AL East: Yankees (72-52, .581 WPCT). AL Central: White Sox (68-55, .553). AL West: Rangers (73-51, .589).

NL East: Nationals (77-47, .621). NL Central: Reds (76-50, .603). NL West: Giants (70-55, .560).

AL Wild Cards: Rays (70-55, .560) and Orioles/Tigers/A's (67-57, .540). NL Wild Cards: Braves (71-54, .568) and Cardinals (68-56, .548).

Bottom Team: Astros (39-86, .312). Longest W Streak: Mariners, 8 games. Longest L Streak: Indians, 8 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Andrew McCutchen (Pirates), .349. Home runs: Adam Dunn (White Sox), 36. RBI: Josh Hamilton (Rangers), 107. Stolen bases: Mike Trout (Angels), 41.

Pitching: Wins: Johnny Cueto (Reds), Gio Gonzalez (Nationals), David Price (Rays), and Jered Weaver (Angels), 16.  K's: Justin Verlander (Tigers), 192. ERA: David Price, 2.28 (170 innings, 43 earned runs).  Saves: Fernando Rodney (Rays), 39.  

Top Performers

Offensive: Dustin Pedroia (Red Sox): 4-6, double, home run (11), 5 RBI, 3 runs, AVG up .005 from .276 to .281, hitting streak to 3 games (6-15, .400 AVG).

Pitching: Collin McHugh (Mets): No decision, 7 shutout innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 9 K's (9), ERA drop: -.-- runs from -.-- to 0.00.

Worst Pitching Performance: Alfredo Aceves (Red Sox): Loss (2-8), 1 inning, 5 earned runs, 6 hits, 1 walk, 1 K (57), ERA jump: 0.66 runs from 3.94 to 4.60.

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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. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched. K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage

Zack Silverman