Daily Baseball Blog: 6/18

Note: After a quick detour to New Jersey, I am back and ready to start putting the update out with much higher frequency now that school is out.

Did You Know

Tug McGraw, a longtime closer for the Mets and Phillies from 1965-1984, didn't know he had a son until 1978, when the son was 11.  His former partner informed him his son was Samuel Timothy Smith, who didn't take on McGraw's last name until he found out that year. He would come to be known as Tim McGraw, one of the greatest country singers of all time. Tug would save 180 games over his 19-year career, including 27 for the 1972 Mets, and would win the World Series with the Phillies in 1980. His career ERA sat at 3.14.

News

Many draft picks, including the Astro's Carlos Correa, the Twins Byron Buxton, the Rockies' David Dahl, the White Sox' Courtney Hawkins, the Padres' Max Fried, the A's' Addison Russell, and the Giants' Chris Stratton.

Giants starter Matt Cain tossed a perfect game against the Astros last week.

Braves pitcher Brandon Beachy hit the DL with elbow issues.

Yankees won their ninth straight game.

Royals shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt homered in the 15th inning to send Kansas City to a 5-3 win.

Players of the Week

Trevor Plouffe (Twins): 5 HR, 7 RBI, .391 AVG (9-23), 7 runs in last seven days.

Plouffe has been crushing the ball as of late, hitting seven of his 24 career home runs in the last nine games since June 8. Going 15-34 (.442 AVG), he has hit seven home runs, knocked in 12 runs, scored 12 and struck out only once. His AVG has jumped from a dismal .186 to .243, with the highlight of his stretch coming against the Brewers on Friday, as he homered twice in four at bats. 

Brandon Moss (A's): 5 HR, 10 RBI, .348 AVG (8-23), 8 runs.

Moss homered five times in a four game stretch between Tuesday and Friday, driving in 10 runs and knocking his average from .154 to .308 before seeing it dip back down to .300. He homered twice in four at bats on the 12th, then was 3-5 with a home run and three RBI on the 14th. Over just four games, his season totals jumped from 1 HR, 1 RBI, .154 AVG to 6 HR, 11 RBI, .300 AVG.

Joey Votto (Reds): 2 HR, 6 RBI, .476 AVG (10-21), 5 runs.

Over Votto's last 21 games, dating back to May 25, he has hit five home runs, knocked in 16, and batted .507 (38 hits in 75 at bats). He has had 11 multi-hit games, five 3+ hit games, and a pair of four-hit games. His average has jumped from .295 to .366, and his highlight was June 2 against the Astros, when he was 4-4 with a home run and two RBI.

Ivan Nova (Yankees): 2-0, 0.61 ERA (14.2 innings, 1 earned run), .231 BAA.

Nova's last three starts have been superb. On June 6 against the Rays, he tossed eight innings and gave up just one run on four hits. Then, on June 11, he went seven shutout on five hits. Yesterday against the Nationals, he tossed 7.2 and gave up just one run. His ERA has lowered from 5.60 to 4.32 and his record has improved from 6-2 to 9-2.  

Matt Cain (Giants): 1-0, 0.00 ERA (9 shutout innings), .000 BAA.

Over Cain's last four starts, he has been 4-0 with a 0.59 ERA. Each game was better and better. On May 27, he limited Miami to one run through 6.2 innings. On June 2 against Chicago, he went eight strong, giving up just one run while striking out seven. In San Diego on the 7th, he tossed seven shutout and K'd 9. To top it off, on June 13, he tossed the 22nd perfect game in major league history, striking out 14 Astros in one of the greatest pitching performances of all time. Since his May 27 start, his ERA has dropped from 2.94 to 2.18.

Game Scores

Yankees (40-25) beat the Nationals (38-26) 4-1.

Red Sox (33-33) beat the Cubs (22-44) 7-4.

Blue Jays (34-32) beat the Phillies (31-37) 6-2.

Rays (37-29) beat the Marlins (33-33) 3-0.

Dodgers (42-25) beat the White Sox (35-31) 2-1 (10 innings).

Orioles (39-27) beat the Braves (35-31) 2-0.

Tigers (32-34) beat the Rockies (25-40) 5-0.

Top Scorers: Pirates beat the Indians 9-5 and Rangers beat the Astros 9-3.

Standings

AL East: Yankees (40-25, .615 WPCT). AL Central: White Sox (35-31, .530). AL West: Rangers (40-27, .594).

NL East: Nationals (38-26, .594). NL Central: Reds (38-27, .585). NL West: Dodgers (42-25, .627).

AL Wild Cards: Orioles (39-27, .591) and Rays (37-29, .561). NL Wild Cards: Giants (37-30, .552) and Braves (35-31, .530).

Bottom Team: Cubs (22-44, .333). Longest Winning Streak: Yankees, 9 games. Longest Losing Streak: Nationals, Mets, Phillies, and Astros, 3 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Joey Votto (Reds), .366. Home runs: Adam Dunn (White Sox), 23. RBI: Josh Hamilton (Rangers), 62. Stolen bases: Tony Campana (Cubs), 23.

Pitching: Wins: R.A. Dickey (Mets) and Lance Lynn (Cardinals), 10. K's: Justin Verlander (Tigers), 103. ERA: Brandon Beachy (Braves), 2.00 (81 innings, 18 earned runs). Saves: Chris Perez (Indians), 21.

Top Performers

Offensive: Pedro Alvarez (Pirates): 3-4, double, 2 home runs (12), 6 RBI, 2 runs, AVG up .011 points from .196 to .207, hitting streak to 2 games (5-8, .625 AVG).

Pitching: Jose Quintana (White Sox): Win (2-1), 8 shutout innings, 5 hits, no walks, 6 K's (20), ERA drop: 0.46 runs from 1.98 to 1.53.

Worst Pitching Performance: Fernando Rodriguez (Astros): Loss (1-7), 0.2 innings, 4 earned runs, 1 hit, 3 walks, no K's, ERA jump: 1.27 runs from 4.97 to 6.23.

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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 to request coverage.

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