Daily Baseball Blog: 9/2

City of the Day

Cape Girardeau, MO. 4 Players, 1 Active.  First Player: Elam Vangilder (1919-1929).

Historic Cape Girardeau has only produced four players, but they have been successful. First was Elam Vangilder, who pitched for his hometown St. Louis Browns for nine seasons before moving to Detroit for the final two years of his career. His best year was 1923, when he was 16-17 with a 3.06 ERA over 41 games (35 starts). The only thing that kept him from a better record was the lowly Browns offense, which couldn't support the pitcher who was third in the American League in ERA. Vangilder, whose career was interrupted early in 1929 after a solid 1928 where he was 11-10 with a 3.91 ERA, was forced to retire after a knee injury that 1920's medicine could not fix. He finished 99-102 with a 4.28 ERA over 367 games (187 starts). The next player form the Cape was Leon Brinkopf, who only played one year in 1952 for the Cubs. He batted .182 with two RBI in nine games for Chicago. Mark Littell, the first player with a normal name, was next, pitching his entire nine year career for Missouri teams. As Kansas City's closer in 1976, he went 8-4 with a 2.08 ERA and 16 saves in 60 games. He would be a closer for four years, including 1979, when he was 9-4 with a 2.19 ERA and 13 saves for St. Louis. He finished 32-31 with a 3.32 ERA and 56 saves over 316 games (19 starts). The only active player is Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis, who is enjoying a breakout year in Los Angeles. After never playing in more than 44 games in a season and totaling just two home runs from 2008-2011, Ellis bursted out with 11 homers, 41 RBI, and a .279 average in 108 games this year. Just days ago on Aug. 29, he went 2-4 and blasted a grand slam.  

News

As rosters expanded from 25 to 40 players, the Nationals added John Lannan, Mark DeRosa, Eury Perez and Sandy Leon to the major league roster.

Other notable call-ups included Eduardo Nunez (Yankees), Tony Campana (Cubs), Adrian Cardenas (Cubs), Javy Guerra (Dodgers), Avisail Garcia (Tigers), and Didi Gregorius (Reds).

Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer was the first player to 200 strikeouts.

A's won their 8th straight game.

Players of the Week

Pedro Alvarez (Pirates): 4 HR, 8 RBI, .522 AVG (12-23), 6 runs scored.

Alvarez has been incredibly hot over the past week, homering four times since the 28th. During his seven-game hitting streak, he has recorded five multi-hit games and one monster game Aug. 28.  Against the Cardinals, he went 4-5 with two home runs and 4 RBI. His season line before the stretch: 23 HR, 63 RBI, .233 AVG. After: 27 HR, 71 RBI, .252 AVG.

Carlos Gomez (Brewers): 2 HR, 6 RBI, .375 AVG (9-24), 6 SB.

Carlos Gomez has been hot since Aug. 26. He is 9-24 with a pair of home runs and six stolen bases. His best game came on Aug. 27, when he was 4-5 with a home run and a stolen base. His average has jumped .010 from .247 to .257 and his six over the week led the majors.

Torii Hunter (Angels): 0 HR, 4 RBI, .565 AVG (13-23), 1 SB.

If it weren't for an 0-6 stretch at the beginning of the week, Hunter would be looking solely at a 13-17 stretch. Over his past four games, he is batting a torrid .765, knocking his average up .020 from .288 to .308. He has had at least three hits in each of his last four games, including a 4-5 performance Aug. 31. 

Max Scherzer (Tigers): 2-0, 0.60 ERA, 18 K's in 15 innings.

It's not just Scherzer's last week, but his last four starts that have been incredible. Since Aug. 15, he is 4-0 with a 0.62 ERA and 36 K's in 29 innings. He has gone at least seven innings, given up zero or one run, and struck out at least eight in each start. Scherzer's ERA plummeted from 4.65 to 3.93. His best start was yesterday, when he tossed eight shutout innings on four hits and nine K's.

Game Scores

Cardinals (72-61) beat the Nationals (80-52) 10-9.

Phillies (64-69) beat the Braves (74-59) 5-1.

A's (75-57) beat the Red Sox (62-72) 7-1.

Yankees (76-56) beat the Orioles (73-59) 4-3.

Dodgers (71-63) beat the Diamondbacks (66-68) 2-1.

Rays (72-61) beat the Blue Jays (60-72) 5-4.

Rockies (54-77) beat the Padres (62-72) 9-1.

Giants (75-58) beat the Cubs (51-81) 5-2.

Top Scorer: Cardinals beat the Nationals 10-9.

Standings

AL East: Yankees (76-56, .576 WPCT). AL Central: White Sox (72-60, .545). AL West: Rangers (78-54, .591).

NL East: Nationals (80-52, .606). NL Central: Reds (81-53, .604). NL West: Giants (75-58, .564).

AL Wild Cards: A's (75-57, .568) and Orioles (73-59, .553). NL Wild Cards: Braves (74-59, .556) and Cardinals (72-61, .541).

Bottom Team: Astros (41-92, .308). Longest W Streak: A's, 8 games. Longest L Streak: Red Sox, 5 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Melky Cabrera (Giants), .346. Home runs: Adam Dunn (White Sox), 38. RBI: Josh Hamilton (Rangers), 112. Stolen bases: Mike Trout (Angels), 42.

Pitching: Wins: Johnny Cueto (Reds), R.A. Dickey (Mets), and Gio Gonzalez (Nationals), 17. K's: Max Scherzer (Tigers), 204. ERA: Johnny Cueto, 2.48 (181.2 innings, 50 earned runs). Saves: Jim Johnson (Orioles), 41.

Top Performers

Offensive: Coco Crisp (A's): 3-4, double, home run (10), RBI, run, walk, stolen base (30), AVG up .005 from .255 to .260, hitting streak to 1 game (3-4, .750 AVG).

Pitching: Max Scherzer (Tigers): Win (15-6), 8 shutout innings, 4 hits, 1 walk, 9 K's (204), ERA drop: 0.20 runs from 4.13 to 3.93.

Worst Pitching Performance: Luke Hochevar (Royals): Loss (7-13), 1.2 innings, 8 earned runs, 6 hits, 4 walks, 3 K's (119), ERA jump: 0.41 runs from 4.93 to 5.34.

Writer's Note: School is starting soon, so while I get everything sorted out, blogs may only be posted on the weekends.

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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