Did You Know
MLB has been represented by 46 different countries over its history, including currently non-existent ones such as the Soviet Union, Austria-Hungary, South Vietnam, the Kingdom of Hawaii, and West Germany. Some countries that have harbored ballplayers that you might not expect include Finland, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia.
This Day in Baseball History
4/14/1969: The Cardinals and Expos play the first game ever outside the US. Montreal takes the 8-7 victory, led by a big showing at the plate by Mack Jones, who was 2-4 with a home run and 5 RBI. St. Louis had scored all seven of its runs in the fourth inning against starter Larry Jaster.
Players of the Week
Corey Hart (Brewers): 4 HR, 7 RBI, .350 AVG (7-20) in last seven days.
Hart has just been on a tear to start the season (he was 1-2 eight days ago). He has homered four times in his last six games while collecting seven RBI. His best game was April 7th against St. Louis, when he was 2-3 with two home runs and three RBI. He has been hitless just once, and is currently on pace for 92 home runs, 162 RBI, and 185 hits in 162 games.
Miguel Cabrera (Tigers): 3 HR, 9 RBI, .348 AVG (8-23) in last seven days.
Miggy's nine RBI lead the American League over the last seven days, and he's added three home runs in the process. Most of his production came over a four game stretch from April 7th to the 11th, where he hit three home runs, knocked in nine, and batted .500 by collecting eight hits in sixteen at bats. He is on pace for 69 home runs and 208 RBI.
Josh Willingham (Twins): 3 HR, 5 RBI, .450 AVG (9-20) in last seven days.
Willingham, who has hit three of his four home runs this year since April 9th, has turned out, so far, to be much more than the Twins expected. He homered in three straight games from April 9th to the 12th, and has not been hitless in a single game all year. Since he was 0-2 in his last game of the season in 2011, he is currently on a seven game hitting streak, batting .417.
Starlin Castro (Cubs): 5 RBI, .370 AVG (10-27), 6 SB in last seven days.
Castro is shaking off last year's issues and is off to a scorching start to 2012. Despite being homerless through eight games, he has stolen six bases in his last seven games and is playing great all round baseball. Between April 7th and the 8th, he stole four bases in two games against the Nationals.
Matt Harrison (Rangers): 2-0, 0.64 ERA (14 innings, 1 earned run) in last seven days.
Harrison followed up a sharp opening performance against the White Sox in which he tossed six shutout innings with an even better start in Minnesota. Tossing eight innings, he gave up just one run while allowing seven hits and two walks.
Matt Garza (Cubs): 1-0, 1.23 ERA (14.2 innings, 2 earned runs) in last seven days.
Garza dominated the Brewers on Thursday by falling one out shy of a shutout and giving up just three hits and two walks while striking out nine. It followed a performance against Washington in which he tossed six solid innings.
News
Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury injured his shoulder in a collision with the Rays' Reid Brignac and will be out for six weeks.
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez hit his 630th career home run, tying him with Ken Griffey Jr. for fifth all time.
Nationals outfielder Michael Morse re-injured his lat muscle and will be out for six weeks.
Nationals closer Drew Storen has bone chips in his elbow, and expects to be back before the All Star Break.
Giants starter Matt Cain tossed a one hit, complete game shutout of the Pirates.
Eight games into the season, the Nationals have the best team ERA (1.92) in the major leagues, 0.35 ahead of second place Philadelphia (2.27).
Game Scores
Nationals (6-2) beat the Reds (3-5) 2-1 (13 innings).
Red Sox (2-5) beat the Rays (4-3) 12-2.
Yankees (4-3) beat the Angels (2-5) 5-0.
Mets (5-2) beat the Phillies (3-4) 5-2.
Braves (3-4) beat the Brewers (4-4) 10-8.
Dodgers (7-1) beat the Padres (2-6) 9-8.
Rockies (3-4) beat the Diamondbacks (5-2) 7-6.
Standings
AL East: Orioles, Yankees, Rays, and Blue Jays (4-3, .571 WPCT). AL Central: Tigers (5-2, .714). AL West: Rangers (6-2, .750).
NL East: Nationals (6-2, .750). NL Central: Cardinals (5-3, .625). NL West: Dodgers (7-1, .875).
AL Wild Cards: White Sox (4-2, .667) and O's/Yanks/Rays/Jays (4-3, .571).
NL Wild Cards: Mets/Diamondbacks (5-2, .714).
Bottom Team: Padres (2-6, .250). Longest Winning Streak: Nationals, Dodgers, and Yankees, 4 games. Longest Losing Streak: Pirates, 4 games.
League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Paul Konerko (White Sox), .435 (10-23). Home runs: Corey Hart (Brewers), Ian Kinsler (Rangers), and Josh Willingham (Twins). RBI: Andre Ethier (Dodgers), 13. Stolen bases: Starlin Castro (Cubs), 6.
Pitching: Wins: 14 tied with 2. K's: Aaron Harang (Dodgers) and Felix Hernandez (Mariners), 19. ERA: Barry Zito (Giants), 0.00 (9 shutout innings). Saves: Javy Guerra (Dodgers), 5.
Top Performers
Offensive: Brian McCann (Braves): 4-5, double, home run (2), 4 RBI, run, stolen base (1), AVG up .134 from .158 to .292, hitting streak to 4 games (7-17, .412 AVG).
Pitching: Matt Cain (Giants): Win (1-0), 9 shutout innings, 1 hit, no walks, 11 K's (15), ERA drop: 4.50 runs from 7.50 to 3.00.
Worst Pitching Performance: Adam Wainwright (Cardinals): Loss (0-2), 3 innings, 8 earned runs, 7 hits, 2 walks, 3 K's (9), ERA drop: 6.66 runs from 4.76 to 11.42.
--
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 email me and I will add them.
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
