Daily Baseball Update: 8/2

All-Stars update: I am back from Regionals in Greenville, N.C. The 14-U Vienna Babe Ruth All-Star team earned the win against Bull Creek, Columbus, Georgia 9-1. Though we didn't make it to the World Series, we played well in every game.

Did You Know?

Two teams had the great Johan Santana and gave him up way too easily. The Astros had the future Cy Young award winner in their system but failed to have him on the 40-man roster, and the Marlins took him as a Rule 5 pick. Now the Marlins have one of the best pitchers of the 2K on their roster, but trade him to the Twins for Jared Camp the same day. Camp would never appear in a major league game and Santana would go 93-44 with a 3.22 ERA in 8 years with Minnesota. Throw in his years with the Mets and he was 133-69 with a 3.10 ERA. Sometimes, trading prospects can be very risky.

This Day in Baseball History

8/2/1979: At just 32 years old, Yankees catcher Thurman Munson crashes the airplane that he is learning to fly and Major League Baseball loses the 1976 AL MVP. Munson had hit 113 home runs batted .292 over his 11-year career.  

News

Dan Uggla extended his hitting streak to 23 games. Brewers won their 7th straight game.

Game Scores

Indians (54-52) beat the Red Sox (66-41) 9-6. Phillies (69-39) beat the Rockies (51-58) 4-3 (10 innings). Nationals (52-56) beat the Braves (63-47) 5-3. Cubs (44-65) beat the Pirates (54-53) 5-3. Yankees (65-52) beat the White Sox (52-55) 3-2. Dodgers (49-59) beat the Padres (47-63) 6-2. Rays didn't play.

Top Scorer: Indians beat the Red Sox 9-6. Longest Winning Streak: Brewers, 7 games. Longest Losing Streak: Pirates and Giants, 4 games.

Standings

AL East: Red Sox (66-41, .617 WPCT). AL Central: Tigers (57-51, .528). AL West: Rangers (61-48, .560).  

NL East: Phillies (69-39, .639). NL Central: Brewers (61-49, .555). NL West: Giants (61-48, .560). 

AL Wild Card: Yankees (65-42, .607). NL Wild Card: Braves (63-47, .573). Bottom Team: Astros (36-73, .330). 

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Adrian Gonzalez (Red Sox), .356. Home runs: Jose Bautista (Blue Jays), 31. RBI: Adrian Gonzalez, 90. Stolen bases: Michael Bourn (Braves), 39.  

Pitching: Wins: C.C. Sabathia (Yankees), 16. K's: Justin Verlander (Tigers), 178. ERA: Johnny Cueto (Reds), 1.72 (109.2 innings, 21 earned runs). Saves: Brian Wilson (Giants), 33.

Top Performers

Offensive: Dan Uggla (Braves): 3-4, 2 home runs (22), 2 RBI, 2 runs, AVG up .006 from .206 to .212, hitting streak to 23 games (31-88, .352). 

Pitching: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers): Win (13-4), 9 innings, 2 earned runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 4 K's (177), ERA drop: 0.04 runs from 2.72 to 2.68. 

Worst Pitching Performance: Jason Isringhausen (Mets): Loss (2-1), 1 inning, 4 earned runs, 4 hits, no walks, 2 K's (34), ERA jump: 0.88 runs from 2.70 to 3.58. 

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Teams followed in this email: Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves

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