Daily Baseball Blog: 8/25

City of the Day

Sandusky, OH.  8 Players, 3 Active.  First Player: Jerry Upp (1909).

Eight players have come out of the Lake Erie town halfway between Toledo and Cleveland, including players from all eras. Born into a town known for its islands and bays, Jerry Upp became the first player to represent Sandusky when he debuted with the Naps (later the Indians) in 1909. He pitched only seven games in his career, but was quite successful, going 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA. Elmer Miller was next, debuting with the Cardinals in 1912. After batting .189 in a twelve game cup of coffee, Miller didn't return to the majors until 1915 with the Highlanders (later became the Yankees). He found success as a utility outfielder in New York, and finished his career with 16 home runs, 151 RBI, 29 stolen bases, and a .243 average in 413 games. Two players from Sandusky debuted in 1914, the less successful of which was Al Halt. After batting .245 with six home runs over two seasons in the Federal League, Halt moved over to the major leagues when the FL folded and batted .174 for the Indians in 1918. The more successful player was Elmer Smith, who hit 70 home runs and batted .276 with 54 stolen bases in 1012 games. His best two years were 1920 and 1921, where he averaged 14 home runs and 94 RBI per season while batting .303. Another player from Sandusky didn't appear until 1978, when Bobby Sprowl debuted for the Red Sox. He moved to the Astros after three starts, and finished his career in Houston 0-3 with a 5.44 ERA over 22 games (4 starts). There was another large gap, and then Brian Bixler debuted with the Pirates in 2008. Bixler hit two home runs and batted .189 with nine stolen bases over parts of four seasons with the Pirates, Nationals, and Astros. Matt Maloney is 5-9 with a 5.74 ERA over 31 games (11 starts) for the Reds and Twins since 2009. In nine appearances for Minnesota this year, he was 1-0 with an 8.18 ERA. The most recent player from Sandusky is Brad Snyder, an outfielder who batted .167 with five RBI over 20 games for the Cubs from 2010-2011. He is batting .298 with 19 home runs in 112 games for Houston's AAA affiliate on Oklahoma City.

News

The Red Sox and Dodgers are working on a deal that could send Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, and Josh Beckett to Los Angeles for a slew of players that may include James Loney and Rubby De La Rosa.  

Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre hit for the second cycle of his career.

Orioles first baseman Chris Davis jacked three home runs. Cardinals traded Tyler Greene (4 HR, 19 RBI, .218 AVG, 9 SB) to the Astros for a player to be named later.

The Mariners lost to snap their eight-game winning streak, while the Indians lost their ninth straight game.

Game Scores

Phillies (59-67) beat the Nationals (77-48) 4-2.

Red Sox (60-66) beat the Royals (55-69) 4-3.

Yankees (73-52) beat the Indians (54-71) 3-1.

Cubs (48-76) beat the Rockies (50-74) 5-3.

A's (68-57) beat the Rays (70-56) 5-4.

Dodgers (68-58) beat the Marlins (57-70) 11-4.

Giants (71-55) beat the Braves (71-55) 5-3.

Top Scorer: Dodgers beat the Marlins 11-4.

Standings

AL East: Yankees (73-52, .584 WPCT). AL Central: White Sox (69-55, .556). AL West: Rangers (74-51, .592).

NL East: Nationals (77-48, .616). NL Central: Reds (76-51, .598). NL West: Giants (71-55, .563).

AL Wild Cards: Rays (70-56, .556) and Orioles/A's (68-57, .544). NL Wild Cards: Braves (71-55, .563) and Cardinals (69-56, .552).

Bottom Team: Astros (40-86, .317). Longest W Streak: Giants and Padres, 5 games. Longest L Streak: Indians, 9 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Andrew McCutchen (Pirates), .349. Home runs: Adam Dunn (White Sox), 38. RBI: Josh Hamilton (Rangers), 107. Stolen bases: Mike Trout (Angels), 41.

Pitching: Wins: Johnny Cueto (Reds), Gio Gonzalez (Nationals), David Price (Rays), and Jered Weaver (Angels), 16. K's: Justin Verlander (Tigers), 192. ERA: David Price, 2.28 (170 innings, 43 earned runs). Saves: Jim Johnson (Orioles) and Fernando Rodney (Rays), 39.

Top Performers

Offensive: Chris Davis (Orioles): 3-4, 3 home runs (23), 4 RBI, 3 runs, AVG up .005 from .251 to .256, hitting streak to 2 games (4-8, .500 AVG).

Pitching: Matt Harrison (Rangers): Win (15-7), 8 shutout innings, 2 hits, 2 walks, 5 K's (101), ERA drop: 0.15 runs from 3.19 to 3.04.

Worst Pitching Performance: Nathan Eovaldi (Marlins): Loss (4-9), 3 innings, 6 earned runs, 7 hits, 2 walks, 3 K's (50), ERA jump: 0.51 runs from 4.03 to 4.54.

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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