Did You Know

After never homering in his first 9 seasons in the major leagues, Cliff Lee has now homered twice in 2011 while also batting a career-high .226. Though his pitching is on par with his usual dominance, he is having a breakout season at the plate. 

This Day in Baseball History

8/10/1981: Pete Rose connects for career hit No. 3,631, setting the new National League record. The historic hit, which surpasses Stan Musial's total, comes off of Mark Littell, who would finish with a 3.32 ERA. Ironically, Littell was pitching for the Cardinals, Musial's former team. 

News

Dan Uggla (Braves) extended his hitting streak to 30 games. Brian Bogusevic (Astros) hit his first career home run. Bobby Abreu (Angels) hit a go-ahead, two run home run off of Mariano Rivera in the 9th inning to propel the Angels to a 6-4 win.  

Game Scores

Red Sox (72-43) beat the Twins (51-65) 4-3. Nationals (56-59) beat the Cubs (49-67) 3-1. Phillies (76-40) beat the Dodgers (52-63) 2-1. Braves (68-49) beat the Marlins (55-61) 4-3 (11 innings). Rays (61-54) beat the Royals (49-67) 4-0.

Top Scorer: Diamondbacks beat the Astros 11-9.  Longest Winning Streak: White Sox and Brewers, 5 games. Longest Losing Streak: Twins and Marlins, 6 games. 

Standings

AL East: Red Sox (72-43, .626 WPCT). AL Central: Tigers (61-54, .530). AL West: Rangers (66-51, .564).

NL East: Phillies (76-40, .655). NL Central: Brewers (66-50, .569). NL West: Giants (64-53, .547). 

AL Wild Card: Yankees (69-45, .605). NL Wild Card: Braves (68-49, .581). Bottom Team: Astros (38-78, .328). 

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Adrian Gonzalez (Red Sox), .351. Home runs: Jose Bautista (Blue Jays), 33. RBI: Adrian Gonzalez, 92.  Stolen bases: Michael Bourn (Braves), 42. 

Pitching: Wins: C.C. Sabathia (Yankees) and Justin Verlander (Tigers), 16.  K's: Justin Verlander, 186.  ERA: Jered Weaver (Angels), 1.78 (176.2 innings, 35 earned runs).  Saves: Craig Kimbrel (Braves), 36. 

Top Performers

Offensive: Aubrey Huff (Giants): 3-4, double, home run (11), 2 RBI, run, AVG up .005 from .244 to .249, hitting streak to 3 games (5-9, .556).

Pitching: Cliff Lee (Phillies): Win (12-7), 8 shutout innings, 4 hits, 2 walks, 10 K's (177), ERA drop: 0.13 runs from 2.96 to 2.83.  Also added home run.

Worst Pitching Performance: Alexi Ogando (Rangers): No decision, 2.2 innings, 6 earned runs, 8 hits, 2 walks, 0 K's, ERA jump: 0.34 runs from 2.88 to 3.22. 

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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

If your team is not included or you would like to be included on the original email that I send out every morning, please add a comment and I will take care of it.

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