Daily Baseball Blog: 6/26

Did You Know

There are only two players in Major League history to both start 25 games as a pitcher in one season, and hit 25 home runs as a batter in another. The first was Babe Ruth, who started 148 games over his career, topping out at 41 in 1916. He then eclipsed 25 home runs for the first time in 1919, then never looked back with 15 straight seasons of reaching the mark. The player to manage the feat is a little less obvious. A Cardinals starter, back in 2000, went 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA over 31 games (30 starts). In 2007, Rick Ankiel returned as a hitter, then hit 25 home runs in 2008 to join Ruth in the exclusive club.

This Day in Baseball History

6/26/1916: Members of the Cleveland Indians wear numbers on their sleeves, marking the first time in baseball history that players are marked with numbers. I could not find details for the game.

News

Orioles released Jamie Moyer by mutual agreement.

Down 6-1 in the eighth inning, the Cardinals rallied to tie the game in the ninth then win it in the 10th over the Marlins, 8-7.

Arizona State beat South Carolina in the College World Series to be crowned champions.

Players of the Week

Adrian Beltre (Rangers): 2 HR, 5 RBI, .591 AVG (13-22), 5 runs over last seven days.

Opposing pitchers cannot get Beltre out. Of his last eleven games, he has eight multi-hit games and a trio of three hit games. By going 21-41 (.512 AVG), he has jumped his season average up from .296 to .328 while hitting three home runs along the way. On June 19, he fell just a triple shy of the cycle by going 3-4 with a single, double and home run.

Will Middlebrooks (Red Sox): 3 HR, 10 RBI, .550 AVG (11-20), 6 runs.

It was Middlebrooks' emergence at third base that pushed Kevin Youkilis out of Boston, and with good reason. In five games from June 19 to the 23, Middlebrooks was 10-14 (.714 AVG) with three home runs and nine RBI. His season average jumped from .289 to .331, his best game coming on the June 21 against Miami. He was 3-4, including a home run and 4 RBI. 

Jimmy Rollins (Phillies): 4 HR, 7 RBI, .393 AVG (11-28), stolen base, 9 runs.

Rollins has homered in four of his last five games and collected 11 hits in his last seven. Throw in games dating back to June 12, he is 22-56 (.393 AVG) with four home runs, 10 RBI and a pair of stolen bases. His average has jumped from .240 to .268, and his slugging percentage has spiked from .341 to .417. In the first game of a June 24 doubleheader, he was 3-5 with a home run and a stolen base.

Luke Hochevar (Royals): 2-0, 0.00 ERA (16.2 shutout innings), .207 BAA.

Hochevar, once a top prospect for Kansas City, has seen back-to-back dominating starts. In Houston on June 19, he tossed 7.2 shutout innings on just five hits, then against the Rays yesterday, he fired a complete game shutout. His ERA tanked from 6.27 to 5.07 in just the two starts.

Game Scores

Rockies (28-44) beat the Nationals (41-30) 4-2.

Blue Jays (38-35) beat the Red Sox (38-35) 9-6.

Yankees (44-28) beat the Indians (37-35) 7-1.

Phillies (35-40) beat the Pirates (38-34) 8-3.

Giants (41-33) beat the Dodgers (43-31) 8-0.

Royals (32-39) beat the Rays (40-33) 8-0.

Cubs (25-48) beat the Mets (39-35) 6-1.

Braves didn't play.

Top Scorer: Blue Jays beat the Red Sox 9-6.

Standings

AL East: Yankees (44-28, .611 WPCT). AL Central: White Sox (38-35, .521). AL West: Rangers (45-29, .608).

NL East: Nationals (41-30, .577). NL Central: Reds (40-32, .556). NL West: Dodgers (43-31, .581).

AL Wild Cards: Orioles (41-31, .569) and Rays/Angels (40-33, .548). NL Wild Cards: Giants (41-33, .554) and Braves/Pirates (38-34, .527).

Bottom Team: Cubs (25-48, .342). Longest W Streak: Cardinals and Diamondbacks, 4 games. Longest L Streak: Indians, Mets and Brewers, 3 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: David Wright (Mets), .358. Home runs: Jose Bautista (Blue Jays), 24. RBI: Josh Hamilton (Rangers), 66. Stolen bases: Tony Campana (Cubs) and Dee Gordon (Dodgers), 24.

Pitching: Wins: R.A. Dickey (Mets), 11  K's: Stephen Strasburg (Nationals), 118. ERA: Brandon Beachy (Braves), 2.00 (81 innings, 18 earned runs). Saves: Chris Perez (Indians), 23.

Top Performers

Offensive: David Ortiz (Red Sox): 2-3, 2 home runs (20), 3 RBI, 3 runs, walk, AVG up .004 from .300 to .304, hitting streak to 1 game (2-3, .667).

Pitching: Erasmo Ramirez (Mariners): Loss (0-2), 8 innings, 1 earned run, 3 hits, 1 walk, 10 K's (23), ERA drop: 1.22 runs from 5.40 to 4.18.

Worst Pitching Performance: Justin Grimm (Rangers): Loss (1-1), 1 inning, 6 earned runs, 8 hits, 1 walk, 0 K's, ERA jump: 7.07 runs from 4.50 to 11.57.

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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. BAA: batting average against. K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage

Zack Silverman