Daily Baseball Update: 9/3

Did You Know?

Ever hear of the Mendoza Line? If a player is batting below .200, then he is batting below the Mendoza Line. That term came from light-hitting shortstop Mario Mendoza, who batted just .215 with 4 home runs over his 9-year career. The defensive-minded shortstop's best year came in 1980 with the Mariners, when he hit 2 home runs and batted .245 with 3 stolen bases. The term was coined by the great George Brett, who would say "The first thing I look for in the Sunday papers is who is below the Mendoza Line". 

This Day in Baseball History

9/3/1928: 41-year-old Ty Cobb, the second most prolific hit collector in baseball history, collects his final hit, No. 4,191. The double came off of Bump Hadley, who would win 161 games in his career, finishing with a 4.24 ERA. 

News

Diamondbacks snapped their 9-game winning streak. The Yankees took over first place from the Red Sox. Padres lost their 8th straight game. 

Game Scores

Dodgers (67-70) beat the Braves (81-56) 8-6. Rangers (79-60) beat the Red Sox (83-54) 10-0. Yankees (83-53) beat the Blue Jays (69-69) 3-2. Mets (67-69) beat the Nationals (63-73) 7-3. Phillies (88-46) beat the Marlins (60-77) 5-3. Pirates (63-75) beat the Cubs (59-79) 3-1. Orioles (55-81) beat the Rays (74-63) 3-2. 

Top Scorer: Twins beat the Angels 13-5. Longest Winning Streak: Phillies and Dodgers, 5 games. Longest Losing Streak: Padres, 8 games.  

Standings

AL East: Yankees (83-53, .610 WPCT). AL Central: Tigers (76-62, .551). AL West: Rangers (79-60, .568). 

NL East: Phillies (88-46, .657). NL Central: Brewers (82-57, .590). NL West: Diamondbacks (78-60, .565). AL Wild Card: Red Sox (83-54, .606). NL Wild Card: Braves (81-56, .591). Bottom Team: Astros (47-91, .341). 

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Adrian Gonzalez (Red Sox), .342. Home runs: Jose Bautista (Blue Jays), 39. RBI: Curtis Granderson (Yankees), 107. Stolen bases: Michael Bourn (Braves), 49. 

Pitching: Wins: Justin Verlander (Tigers), 21. K's: Justin Verlander, 224. ERA: Jered Weaver (Angels), 2.28 (201.1 innings, 51 earned runs). Saves: Craig Kimbrel (Braves), 42. 

Top Performers

Offensive: Carlos Beltran (Giants): 4-4, triple, home run (17), 3 RBI, run, AVG up .006 from .284 to .290, hitting streak to 1 game (4-4, 1.000). 

Pitching: Derek Holland (Rangers): Win (13-5), 7 shutout innings, 2 hits, no walks, 6 K's (133), ERA drop: 0.17 runs from 4.30 to 4.13. 

Worst Pitching Performance: Andrew Miller (Red Sox): Loss (6-2), 1.1 innings, 6 earned runs, 5 hits, 4 walks, 1 K (40), ERA jump: 0.85 runs from 4.42 to 5.27. 

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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

If your team is not included or you would like to be included on the original email that I send out every morning, please leave a comment and I will take care of it.

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