City of the Day

Bradenton, FL. 7 Players, 3 Active.  First Player: Hank Johnson (1925-1939).

Seven players have come out of the Tampa suburb of Bradenton, and every single one has had some success. Hank Johnson, who pitched for the Yankees, Red Sox, A's, and Reds, won 63 games from 1925-1935. In 1928, he helped lead the Bombers staff by going 14-9 with a 4.30 ERA. Another player did not come out of Bradenton until 1990, when Brian Mcrae debuted with the Royals. His best year was 1996, when he hit 17 home runs and batted .276 with 37 stolen bases.  He finished his 10-year career with 103 home runs, 196 stolen bases, and a .261 average. Lance Carter finished his six-year career 13-12 with a 4.15 ERA and 29 saves. As the Devil Rays' closer in 2003, he saved 26 games on a 4.33 ERA. Perhaps the least successful player to come out of the southern Tampa suburb was Eric Dubose, who went 9-15 with a 5.21 ERA over five years, all with the Orioles. In 2006, top Mets prospect Lastings Milledge debuted and hit .241 in his rookie year. His best year was 2008 with the Nationals, when he hit 14 home runs and batted .268 with 24 stolen bases, but has never been the same player since. Chris Perez, closer for the Indians, has a chance to be the best player out of Bradenton. On Aug. 13, he earned his 32nd save of the season and 100th career. He solidified his position as Cleveland's closer by posting a 1.71 ERA and saving 23 games in 2010. In 2011, he saved a career-high 36 games to go along with a 3.32 career mark and currently sports a 3.63 mark this year. Tyler Pastornicky is the most recent player to come out of Bradenton, having debuted back in April. So far for Atlanta, he has two home runs and is batting .256 with a pair of stolen bases in 62 games.

News

The Pirates and Cardinals played a 19-inning game, with each team using eight pitchers. 

Gio Gonzalez set a new Nationals record with his 16th victory, breaking Livan Hernandez' seven-year old club record.

The Astros fired manager Brad Mills and promoted minor league skipper Tony DeFrancesco to serve as interim.

Game Scores

Nationals (75-46) beat the Mets (57-64) 5-2.

Yankees (72-49) beat the Red Sox (59-63) 4-1.

Phillies (56-65) beat the Brewers (54-66) 8-0.

Dodgers (67-55) beat the Braves (70-51) 5-0.

Rays (67-54) beat the Angels (62-60) 8-3.

Rockies (46-73) beat the Marlins (55-67) 3-2.

Reds (74-48) beat the Cubs (47-73) 5-4.

Top Scorer: Rangers beat the Blue Jays 11-2.

Standings

AL East: Yankees (72-49, .595 WPCT). AL Central: White Sox (65-55, .542). AL West: Rangers (70-50, .583).

NL East: Nationals (75-46, .620).  NL Central: Reds (74-48, .607).  NL West: Dodgers (67-55, .549).

AL Wild Cards: Rays (67-54, .554) and Orioles (66-55, .545). NL Wild Cards: Braves (70-51, .579) and Pirates (67-54, .554).

Bottom Team: Astros (39-83, .320). Longest W Streak: Mariners, 5 games. Longest L Streak: Indians and Twins, 5 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Andrew McCutchen (Pirates), .354. Home runs: Adam Dunn (White Sox), 35. RBI: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), 104. Stolen bases: Mike Trout (Angels), 39.

Pitching: Wins: Johnny Cueto (Reds), Gio Gonzalez (Nationals), and David Price (Rays), 16. K's: Justin Verlander (Tigers), 180. ERA: Jordan Zimmermann (Nationals), 2.38 (151 innings, 40 earned runs). Saves: Fernando Rodney (Rays), 38.

Top Performers

Offensive: Aaron Hill (Diamondbacks): 3-4, double, 2 home runs (17), 2 RBI, 3 runs, walk, stolen base (9), AVG up .004 from .294 to .298, hitting streak to 3 games (7-12, .583 AVG).

Pitching: Kyle Kendrick (Phillies): Win (6-9), 8 shutout innings, 3 hits, 1 walk, 7 K's (81), ERA drop: 0.33 runs from 4.53 to 4.20. 

Worst Pitching Performance: Henderson Alvarez (Blue Jays): Loss (7-11), 4.1 innings, 8 earned runs, 12 hits, 3 walks, 3 K's (56), ERA jump: 0.36 runs from 4.48 to 4.84.

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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