Daily Baseball Blog: 7/22

City of the Day
Dearborn, MI. 11 Players, 2 Active. First player: Chick Lathers (1910-1911).
The Detroit suburb has produced its fair share of ballplayers. At first, Dearborn natives did not have much success, as Chick Lathers, the first Dearborn native, batted just .228 in 70 games for the Tigers. Jack Cassini was next in 1949, but never got an at bat, pinch running eight times. Jim Pagliaroni was the first impact player, hitting 90 home runs and batting .252 over eleven seasons from 1955-1969. Scott Sanderson was probably the second best player from Dearborn, going 163-143 with a 3.84 ERA over 19 seasons from 1978-1996, earning an All Star appearance in 1991 for the Yankees. Perhaps the best and most famous Dearborn native is Derek Lowe, who has won 174 games with a 3.99 ERA. He is a two-time All Star who threw a no-hitter in 2002 with the Red Sox and won 14 games for the famous 2004 squad. His best year was 2002, when he was 21-8 with a 2.58 ERA in 32 starts. The other active Dearborn native is Anthony Bass, a pitcher for the Padres who is 4-7 with a 3.60 ERA over two seasons.
 
News
Astros traded J.A. Happ (7-9, 4.83 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, age 29), Brandon Lyon (0-2, 3.25 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, age 32), and David Carpenter (0-2, 6.07 ERA, 1.92 WHIP, age 27) to the Blue Jays for Francisco Cordero (3-5, 5.77 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 2 saves, age 33), Ben Francisco (0 HR, 2 RBI, .240 AVG, 0 SB, age 30), minor leaguers Asher Wojciechowski (7-3, 3.57 ERA, .261 BAA for High Class A, age 23), Joe Musgrove (0-0, 1.13 ERA, .179 BAA for Rookie League, age 19), David Rollins (6-1, 2.78 ERA, .227 BAA for Class A, age 22), Carlos Perez (5 HR, 40 RBI, .275 AVG, 3 SB at Class A, age 21), and a player to be named later.

Rockies traded Jeremy Guthrie (3-9, 6.35 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, age 33) to the Royals for Jonathan Sanchez (1-6, 7.76 ERA, 2.04 WHIP, age 29).

Astros traded Brett Myers (0-4, 3.52 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 19 saves, age 31) to the White Sox for minor leaguers Matt Heidenreich (9-4, 3.95 ERA, .263 BAA at High Class A and AA, age 21), Blair Walters (4-6, 3.96 ERA, .261 BAA at Class A and High Class A, age 22), and a player to be named later.

Robinson Cano saw his hitting streak end at 23 games.

Ryan Braun recorded his 1,000th career hit.

The Cardinals scored 12 runs in the seventh inning against the Cubs.
 
In a massive, 10-player deal, the Blue Jays and Astros swapped seven pitchers, an outfielder, a catcher and a player to be named later. There was no stand out name, but the Blue Jays earned a trio of pitchers in Happ, Lyon and Carpenter.  Happ, a former Phillies starter who was 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA in 35 games (23 starts) in 2009, looks to fit in to the Toronto rotation. So far this season, he is 7-9 with a 4.80 ERA in 19 games (18 starts), retiring the only two hitters he faced in his Blue Jays debut. Over his six-year career, he is 32-33 with a 4.15 ERA over 107 games (90 starts). Brandon Lyon, a veteran reliever who actually pitched in Toronto from 2001-2002, will solidify the back end of the bullpen. His best year was 2007, when he was 6-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 73 appearances. Over his 12-year career, he is 36-45 with a 4.17 ERA and 78 saves over 505 games (21 starts).  David Carpenter is a young reliever who is just getting his feet wet in the majors.  He made 34 appearances for Houston in 2011 while posting a 2.93 ERA. His 6.07 ERA this year over 30 appearances has bumped his career mark to 4.55, but he is ironing out his skills in the minors. 

The centerpiece returns to Houston were Francisco Cordero and Ben Francisco.  Cordero has a solid track record of success: 329 saves over 14 seasons. Toronto signed him after a successfull run in Cincinnati where he saved 150 games over four seasons, but he didn't provide the same results for the Blue Jays. In 41 appearances, he posted a 5.77 ERA and was just 2-5 in save opportunities.  He logged a perfect inning in his Astros debut. Ben Francisco has had an up-and-down career. His best season was his rookie 2008, when he hit 15 home runs and batted .266 in 121 games for Cleveland. He hit 15 home runs again in 2009, but fell into a pinch-hitting role in Philadelphia and then ended up in Toronto. Over his six-year career, he has 45 home runs, a .260 average, and 30 stolen bases. Houston also acquired four minor leaguers, most notably Asher Wojciechowski, a former first round pick who is now pitching in AA. With a mouthfull of a last name, Wojciechowski is 18-12 with a 4.05 ERA in 46 games (43 starts) in the Toronto system and won't turn 24 until December.

The Royals and Rockies swapped starters that both needed changes of scenery. I do think Kansas City got the upper end of the deal. Jeremy Guthrie was 9-17 with a 4.33 ERA for the Orioles in 2011, but struggled after his trade to Colorado, going 3-9 with a 6.35 ERA in 19 games (15 starts). His best year was 2008, when he was 10-12 with a 3.63 ERA for Baltimore. Jonathan Sanchez burst onto the scene in 2009 with his no-hitter, and has thrived in San Francisco ever since. After going 13-9 with a 3.07 ERA in 2010, 2011 was a disappointment after he was just 4-7 with a 4.26 ERA. Looking for a bounceback season, he was moved to Kansas City, where he struggled mightily. He gave up at least four runs in eight of his twelve starts, including a horrific outing against Seattle on July 16 when he gave up seven runs in jist 1.1 innings, raising his ERA to 7.76.
 
Game Scores
Braves (52-41) beat the Nationals (53-39) 4-0.
Nationals (54-39) beat the Braves (52-42) 5-2.
Blue Jays (47-47) beat the Red Sox (48-47) 7-3.
A's (50-44) beat the Yankees (57-37) 2-1.
Giants (53-41) beat the Phillies (41-54) 6-5 (10 innings).
Dodgers (51-44) beat the Mets (47-47) 8-5.
Rockies (36-57) beat the Padres (40-56) 8-6 (12 innings).
Cardinals (49-45) beat the Cubs (38-55) 12-0.
Top Scorer: Cardinals beat the Cubs 12-0 and Diamondbacks beat the Astros 12-3.
 
Standings
AL East: Yankees (57-37, .606 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (51-44, .537).  AL West: Rangers (56-37, .602).
NL East: Nationals (54-39, .581).  NL Central: Reds (54-40, .574).  NL West: Giants (53-41, .564).
AL Wild Cards: Angels (51-44, .537) and Orioles/White Sox/A's (50-44, .532).  NL Wild Cards: Pirates (53-40, .570) and Braves (52-42, .552).
Bottom Team: Astros (34-61, .358).  Longest W Streak: Orioles, Tigers, A's, and Pirates, 4 games.  Longest L Streak: Astros, 5 games.
 
League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Andrew McCutchen (Pirates), .371.  Home runs: Adam Dunn (White Sox) and Josh Hamilton (Rangers), 28.  RBI: Josh Hamilton (Rangers), 78.  Stolen bases: Mike Trout (Angels), 31.
Pitching: Wins: R.A. Dickey (Mets) and David Price (Rays), 13.  K's: Felix Hernandez (Mariners), 143.  ERA: Ryan Dempster (Cubs), 2.11 (98 innings, 23 earned runs).  Saves: Jim Johnson (Orioles), 29.
 
Top Performers
Offensive: Jason Kubel (Diamondbacks): 3-5, 3 home runs (20), 6 RBI, 3 runs, AVG up .005 from .289 to .294, hitting streak to 1 game (3-5, .600).
Pitching: Rick Porcello (Tigers): Win (7-5), 8 innings, 1 earned run, 5 hits, no walks, 4 K's (66), ERA drop: 0.26 runs from 4.66 to 4.40.
Worst Pitching Performance: James Russell (Cubs): 0.2 innings, 6 earned runs, 4 hits, 2 walks, 0 K's, ERA jump: 1.18 runs from 2.45 to 3.63.

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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 RockiesJ
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. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched. K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage

Zack Silverman