Daily Baseball Update: 7/24

My Vienna All Star team over Glen Allen. It was our ninth straight victory and improved our overall record to 10-1. We advance to the Southeast Regional Tournament in Ocala, Fla.

City of the Day

Arlington.  10 Players, 0 Active. First Player: George McQuinn (1936-1948).

Arlington does not have any active baseball players, but quite a few stellar names came from the town. George McQuinn, a first baseman for the Browns, was first. The seven-time All-Star hit 135 home runs and batted .276 over his 12-year career. His best year was 1939, when the 29-year-old hit 20 home runs, knocked in 94, and batted .316 while playing all 154 games. In 1947, he helped the Yankees to the World Series Championship by hitting 13 home runs and batting .304. Bill Dailey, who pitched four years for the Indians and Twins, had one shining year. For Minnesota in 1963, he was 6-3 with a 1.99 ERA and 21 saves in 66 appearances. Dave Leonhard compiled a 16-14 record and 3.15 ERA in six seasons with the Orioles from 1967-1972. Jay Franklin, who pitched for the Madison Warhawks in high school, was drafted second overall in 1971, but finished his major league career 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA over just three games. However, the best pitcher to come out of Arlington is Bobby Witt, who pitched 16 seasons in the majors from 1986-2001. In 1988, he completed 13 of his 22 starts to finish 8-10 with a 3.92 ERA. In 1990, he was named Rangers Pitcher of the Year by going 17-10 with a 3.36 ERA over 33 games (32 starts). He won double-digit games seven times over his career, and finished with an overall record of 142-157. His 1,955 strikeouts are just 45 short of 2,000.  

News

Mariners traded Ichiro Suzuki (4 HR, 21 RBI, .261 AVG, 16 SB, age 38) to the Yankees for D.J. Mitchell (0-0, 3.86 ERA, 2.14 WHIP, age 25) and minor leaguer Danny Farquhar (2-3, 3.33 ERA, .212 BAA, 5 saves at AA and AAA, age 25).

Marlins traded Anibal Sanchez (5-7, 3.94 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, age 28), Omar Infante (8 HR, 33 RBI, .287 AVG, 10 SB, age 30), and their competitive balance pick to the Tigers for Jacob Turner (1-1, 8.03 ERA, 1.95 WHIP, age 21) and minor leaguers Rob Brantly (3 HR, 30 RBI, .287 AVG, 0 SB at AA and AAA, age 23) and Brian Flynn (8-5, 3.95 ERA, .285 BAA, at High Class A and AA, age 22) and their competitive balance pick.

The Cubs traded Ryan Dempster to the Braves for Randall Delgado, but is pending Dempster's approval.

Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis is out for the season with an elbow injury. Astros lost their seventh straight game.

An era comes to an end in Seattle. Ichiro Suzuki, who played the first 11-and-a-half years of his career with the Mariners, is now moving on to the Yankees. The Ichiro Era began in 2001, when the highly touted 27-year-old Japanese star moved over to the USA and hit .350 with eight home runs and 56 stolen bases. By 2004, he was already setting records. In 704 at bats, he banged out 262 hits for a .372 average, breaking George Sisler's old mark of 258. His 15 home runs in 2005 were a career high, and he batted .351 in 2007. In the midst of a 2009 season in which he hit .352 with 11 home runs, he garnered his 2,000th career hit. In 2010, he set a record with 10 straight seasons with at least 200 hits. But now, he's a Yankee. He went 1-4 with a single in his first game in a Bronx uniform, fittingly against the Mariners. For now, he looks to play right field alongside Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher.

In return, the Mariners got pitchers D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar. Mitchell pitched four games for the Yankees this year, tossing 4.2 innings and giving up two runs. At AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre last year, he was 13-9 with a 3.18 ERA. He hasn't fared as well this year at AAA, going 6-4 with a 5.04 ERA. Danny Farquhar has already pitched for four minor league teams this year, including Blue Jays AA New Hampshire, Yankees AA Trenton, A's AAA Sacramento, and Yankees AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre. He has pitched well for all but one of those teams, holding a 3.33 overall ERA. He spent the majority of his time with AA New Hampshire, posting a 2.97 ERA over 20 appearances.

The Marlins and Tigers engaged in a big trade. Seven years after being a small piece of the trade that sent Josh Beckett to Boston and Hanley Ramirez to Florida, Sanchez was a centerpiece. He's been inconsistent over his career, going 44-45 with a 3.75 ERA. As a rookie in 2006, he was 10-3 with a 2.83 ERA and even threw a no-hitter. After struggling with injuries over the next few seasons, he bounced back to go 13-12 with a 3.55 ERA in 2010. So far this season, he is 5-7 with a 3.94 ERA for Miami. He looks to figure into a Detroit rotation that has been riddled with injuries and inconsistency. Omar Infante played for Detroit from 2002-2007, and now rejoins them after spending 2008-2012 with Atlanta and Miami. His best year from his Tigers days was 2004, when he hit 16 home runs and batted .264 with 13 stolen bases. He broke out with Atlanta in 2010 by hitting eight home runs and batting .321 with seven stolen bases, earning a trip to the All-Star Game. A hot April and May left him with six home runs, 21 RBI, and .317 average with seven stolen bases through the first third of the season, but he has since cooled off, batting .256 with two home runs and three stolen bases over June and July. He's still having a strong season in regards to his eight home runs and .287 average. He looks to fill in at second base, where Ramon Santiago and Ryan Raburn have been ineffective.  

The centerpiece return to Miami is Jacob Turner, Detroit's top prospect who owns a 3.21 career minor league ERA. So far in the minors this season, he is 5-4 with a 2.77 ERA over 14 starts.  One tough start skewed his major league stats, and he is 1-2 with an 8.28 ERA in the bigs dating back to 2011.  Not set to turn 22 until next May, Turner has a bright future in Miami. The Marlins also acquired catcher Rob Brantly, who hit .311 at AA Erie before a promotion to AAA Toledo. He has hit 20 home runs over 248 minor league games. Brian Flynn was the final player, a lefty who was 8-4 with a 3.71 ERA at High Class A Lakeland before a call-up to AA Erie. The Tigers and Marlins also swapped Competitive Balance picks, which are new to baseball this year. They are picks at different intervals of the first round of the draft. The Tigers were supposed to pick at number 73 overall, but now pick at 37, while the situation for the Marlins is vice versa.

Game Scores

Nationals (56-39) beat the Mets (47-49) 8-2 (10 innings).

Rangers (57-38) beat the Red Sox (48-49) 9-1.

Yankees (58-38) beat the Mariners (42-56) 4-1.

Phillies (43-54) beat the Brewers (44-51) 7-6.

Dodgers (53-44) beat the Cardinals (50-46) 5-3.

Diamondbacks (48-48) beat the Rockies (36-59) 6-3.

Marlins (45-51) beat the Braves (52-44) 2-1.

Cubs (39-56) beat the Pirates (54-41) 2-0.

Rays didn't play.

Top Scorer: Rangers beat the Red Sox 9-1.

Standings

AL East: Yankees (58-38, .604 WPCT). AL Central: Tigers (52-44, .542). AL West: Rangers (57-38, .600).

NL East: Nationals (56-39, .589). NL Central: Reds (56-40, .583). NL West: Giants (54-42, .563).

AL Wild Cards: Angels (53-44, .546) and A's (51-44, .537). NL Wild Cards: Pirates (54-41, .568) and Dodgers (53-44, .546).

Bottom Team: Astros (34-63, .351). Longest W Streak: Tigers, A's, Reds, and Dodgers, 5 games. Longest L Streak: Astros, 7 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Andrew McCutchen (Pirates), .373. Home runs: Adam Dunn (White Sox), 29. RBI: Josh Hamilton (Rangers), 80. 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), 30.

Top Performers

Offensive: Carlos Gomez (Brewers): 2-2, home run (6), 3 RBI, 3 runs, walk, 2 stolen bases (17), AVG up .009 from .233 to .242, hitting streak to 1 game (2-2, 1.000).

Pitching: Jeff Samardzija (Cubs): Win (7-8), 8 shutout innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 5 K's (114), ERA drop: 0.32 runs from 4.57 to 4.25.

Worst Pitching Performance: Francisco Liriano (Twins): Loss (3-10), 2.2 innings, 7 earned runs, 7 hits, 1 walk, 2 K's (109), ERA jump: 0.50 runs from 4.81 to 5.31.

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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