City of the Day

Reno, NV. 6 Players, 3 Active. First Player: John Gamble (1972-1973).

So far, none of the six players from Reno have had prolonged careers, but there are three active who have a shot at it. John Gamble was the first player from Reno, but had just three at bats for the Tigers over 13 games from 1972-1973, going hitless and scoring one run. Rob Richie, who actually found a bit of success over his 19-game career, was next. In 49 at bats, also with the Tigers, he homered, drove in 10, and batted .265. Randy Messenger was the first player to find some success. He pitched five years in the majors from 2005-2009, going 4-12 with a 4.87 ERA over 173 appearances. His best year was 2007, when he went 2-4 with a 4.20 ERA over 60 appearances for the Marlins and Giants. Nate Schierholtz is arguably the most successful player from Reno, as he owns a .268 average with 24 home runs. His best year was 2011 with the Giants, when he hit nine home runs and batted .278 with seven stolen bases over 115 games. In 88 games between the Giants and Phillies this year, he is batting .246 with six home runs. Scott Cousins was next, and he is still trying to find his stroke in the majors. In 121 games over three years with the Marlins, he has two home runs and is batting .186 with two stolen bases. Joe Wieland just debuted this year, and he is looking for a solid bounce back from Tommy John Surgery next year. In five starts before the surgery, he went 0-4 with a 4.55 ERA. 

News

Red Sox traded Adrian Gonzalez (15 HR, 86 RBI, .300 AVG, 0 SB, age 30), Josh Beckett (5-11, 5.23 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, age 32), Carl Crawford (3 HR, 19 RBI, .282 AVG, 5 SB, age 31), and Nick Punto (1 HR, 10 RBI, .200 AVG, 5 SB, age 34) to the Dodgers for James Loney (4 HR, 33 RBI, .254 AVG, 0 SB, age 28), Ivan DeJesus (0 HR, 4 RBI, .273 AVG, 1 SB, age 25), minor leaguer Allen Webster (6-8, 3.55 ERA, .260 BAA at AA, age 22) and two players to be named later. 

Newly acquired Dodger Adrian Gonzalez homered in his first at bat in Los Angeles.

Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier set a new Los Angeles Dodgers record with hits in 10 consecutive at bats.

In an Independent League game, Roger Clemens tossed 3.1 shutout innings on one hit and no walks.

Indians minor leaguer Justin Toole played all nine positions in a game for Class A Carolina.

Indians snapped their nine-game losing streak with a win over the Yankees.

Astros have been eliminated from the NL Central race.

This is one of the largest, if not the largest, waiver trade of all time. Eleven All Star appearances, two Silver Sluggers, and four Gold Gloves are going to the Dodgers alone. The whole trade has two very big issues involved. The Red Sox are trying to just hit the reset button and reassemble a team that had very little chemistry. The core of Pedroia-Ellsbury-Ortiz is still there, but the stars — and their huge contracts — that were built around them are gone.

For the Dodgers, the new regime in charge wants to turn Los Angeles baseball into a winning brand of baseball and lift the Dodgers into first place. The main player in the star studded deal is Adrian Gonzalez, who still has five years left on his contract. He will replace an underachieving James Loney at first base, taking his 211 career home runs with him. Gonzalez, whose 2011 season (27 HR, 117 RBI, .338 AVG) brought him a Silver Slugger award at a premium position for offense, is the only player who goes to the Dodgers that hasn't underachieved this year. His power numbers are down, but his 37 doubles place him third in all of baseball and his .299 average is higher than the averages of both the players ahead of him. Carl Crawford is the second of three huge players to go to Los Angeles. He also has five years left on his contract, but is going to miss the rest of this season to Tommy John surgery. The change of scenery should help Crawford, who has underachieved mightily since moving over to Boston. His 432 stolen bases are still third most among active players, and his 114 triples lead all active players. In 2013, he will look to regain the form he had in 2010 that helped him to 19 home runs, a .307 average, and 47 stolen bases. Josh Beckett is another severely underachieving star, as he is on pace for the worst year since 2010 and other than that disaster in which he was 6-6 with a 5.78 ERA, his worst year of his career. His five wins so far are his lowest total since he won two back in 2001. The Dodgers are hoping they get 2011 Josh, who was 13-7 with a 2.89 ERA. The player who gets no love in this trade is Nick Punto, who will help the Dodgers scuffling infield. 

The only established major leaguer heading to Boston is James Loney, who is another player looking for a change of scenery. After a huge first full season in 2007 in which he hit 15 home runs and batted .331 in just 96 games, Loney has struggled to find his stroke since. He held his own up until this year, when his offensive numbers dropped off the table. He is on track for career full season lows in virtually every category, and at just 28 years old, still has time to turn everything around. Ivan DeJesus is a young infielder and son of former shortstop Ivan DeJesus Sr. Junior holds a .297 career minor league average, and he is hoping that'll translate into major league success.  At AAA Albuquerque this year, he has three home runs and is batting .295 over 60 games. Boston also acquired minor league pitcher Allen Webster, who ranks at No. 65 on mlb.com's top 100 prospects and now ranks third on Boston's top 20. He is 6-8 with a 3.55 ERA at AA Chattanooga this year. Rubby De La Rosa and Jerry Sands were originally going to be included in the deal, but instead Boston gets two players to be named later.

Game Scores

Phillies (60-67) beat the Nationals (77-49) 4-2.

Royals (58-69) beat the Red Sox (60-67) 10-9 (12 innings).

Indians (55-71) beat the Yankees (73-53) 3-1.

Rockies (51-74) beat the Cubs (48-77) 4-3.

Dodgers (69-58) beat the Marlins (57-71) 8-2.

A's (69-57) beat the Rays (70-57) 4-2.

Braves (72-55) beat the Giants (71-56) 3-1.

Top Scorer: Royals beat the Red Sox 10-9 (12 innings).

Standings

AL East: Yankees (73-53, .579 WPCT). AL Central: White Sox (70-55, .560). AL West: Rangers (75-51, .595).

NL East: Nationals (77-49, .611). NL Central: Reds (77-51, .602). NL West: Giants (71-56, .559).

AL Wild Cards: Rays (70-57, .551) and Orioles/A's (69-57, .548). NL Wild Cards: Braves (72-55, .567) and Cardinals (69-57, .548).

Bottom Team: Astros (40-87, .315). Longest W Streak: Padres, 6 games. Longest L Streak: Blue Jays, 7 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Melky Cabrera (Giants), .346. Home runs: Adam Dunn (White Sox), 38. RBI: Josh Hamilton (Rangers), 107. Stolen bases: Mike Trout (Angels), 41.

Pitching: Wins: 5 Players tied with 16.  K's: Justin Verlander (Tigers), 192. ERA: David Price (Rays), 2.28 (170 innings, 43 earned runs). Saves: Jim Johnson (Orioles) and Fernando Rodney (Rays), 39.

Top Performers

Offensive: Andre Ethier (Dodgers): 4-4, double, home run (14), RBI, 2 runs, AVG up .007 from .284 to .291, hitting streak to 3 games (10-12, .833 AVG).

Pitching: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers): Win (12-7), 8 innings, 2 earned runs, 3 hits, 2 walks, 8 K's (183), ERA drop: 0.03 runs from 2.87 to 2.84.

Worst Pitching Performance: Brian Duensing (Twins): Loss (3-9), 2.1 innings, 9 earned runs, 10 hits, 1 walk, 3 K's (53), ERA jump: 0.62 runs from 4.46 to 5.28.

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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