Notables:
- Jon Lester won his 18th game of the season, after he shutout the Blue Jays for 7 innings. He walked 4, struck out 4, and scattered 4 hits. He's top ten in the AL in innings pitched, wins, strikeouts, and ERA.
- Andy Pettitte held the Orioles to 1 run over 6 innings, in his first start since coming off the DL with a groin injury. He walked 1, struck out 2, and allowed only 3 hits in what was going to be a win, until Mo Rivera uncharacteristically blew the lead in the 9th inning.
- Bobby Abreu went deep twice off of Tampa Bay pitching to help the Angels win 6-3. He's now up to 20 homers, 75 RBI and a .255 batting average.
- Shin-Soo Choo hit his 20th homer and stole his 20th base against the Royals. With 82 RBI and a .295 batting average, he's been great in fantasy leagues this season.
- Bobby Cramer won his second career MLB start against the Twins. Cramer allowed 2 earned runs over 5.2 innings with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. He did give up 2 homers, but they were both solo shots. In 41.2 innings at Triple-A this season he had a 1.94 ERA with a 35/11 K/BB ratio.
- Doug Fister got a win over the Rangers after he held them to just 1 run over 7 innings. He allowed 9 hits, 1 of which was a solo shot by Nelson Cruz. Coming into this one, Fister had a 3.42 ERA in 100 innings at home this season.
- Austin Jackson, Will Rhymes, Casper Wells, and Gerald Laird all collected 2 RBI in the Tigers 9-7 win over the White Sox.
- Derrek Lee hit a grand slam off of Manny Acosta to give the Braves a 6-2 lead and help Derek Lowe to get his 14th win. Lee now has 2 homers and 16 RBI since joining the Braves. In three starts this month (all wins), Lowe has now given up only 3 earned runs.
- Dan Uggla hit his 31st homer and collected his 95th and 96th RBI on the season against the Cubs. Since when do second basemen hit 31 homers?
- Jayson Werth hit a walk-off 2-run homer against the Nationals to give the Phillies a 7-6 win. Philadelphia scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th for the comeback win. The team is 9-1 in their last 10 and maintains it's 3 game lead over the Braves in the NL East.
- Daniel Hudson turned in another great performance on Sunday. He pitched 6.1 innings, allowed only 1 run, and struck out 6 batters against the Pirates. He has allowed more than 2 earned runs only once in ten starts as a member of the D-Backs.
- Brett Myers pitched 7 shutout innings against the Reds in a win, his 13th. He struck out 5, walked 1, and lowered his ERA to 2.76. Whatever you paid for him on draft day, it was well worth it.
- Adam Wainwright won his 19th game after he held the Padres to 1 run for 8 innings. He's now 2nd in innings pitched, third in strikeouts, first in wins, and second in ERA in the NL. He's almost a lock to finish in the top 3 of the NL Cy Young race. I'd go with Roy Halladay because he has 27 less walks than Wainwright, but I'm nitpicking. The Padres are now a 1/2 game back of the Giants in the NL West. As for the Cardinals, they're closer to the Astros than they are to the Reds in the NL Central standings.
- Barry Zito lowered his ERA under 4 in a win over the Brewers. He pitched 6 innings, allowed 2 earned runs, and struck out 3 batters. The Giants will head to Chicago for 3 games on Tuesday.
- Matt Kemp & Andre Ethier each hit their 23rd homer of the season in the Dodgers 7-6 win over the Rockies at home. Colorado had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the 9th, but Huston Street couldn't protect a 1 run lead. The Rockies head to Arizona for 3 games, before a huge series at home with the Giants that starts on Friday.
Save Chances:
- Joakim Soria, converted (39). Struck out 1 in a clean 9th.
- David Aardsma, converted (31). Walked 2 in a scoreless 9th.
- Ryan Franklin, converted (25). Struck out 2 in a scoreless 9th.
- Brandon Lyon, converted (18). Pitched a scoreless 9th with 2 strikeouts.
- Evan Meek, converted (3). Struck out 1in a clean 9th.
- Craig Kimbrel, converted (1). Struck out the side in the 9th.
- Jordan Walden, converted (1). The youngster got the final out against Tampa Bay. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get more chances down the stretch with how Rodney has been pitching lately.
- Daniel Schlereth, converted (1). Got the last 2 outs in the 11th inning against the White Sox.
- Huston Street, blown (5). Walked 1 and gave up 1 earned run over 2 innings.
- Mariano Rivera, blown (4). Gave up a solo shot to Luke Scott in the 9th.
- Drew Storen, blown (2). Gave up a 2-run single to Ryan Howard and then a 2-run homer to Jayson Werth.
- Robbie Weinhardt, blown (2). Phil Coke came in with a 4-run lead in the 9th, but quickly gave up 2 runs. Weinhardt came in and couldn't get the last 2 outs as Alexei Ramirez hit into a fielder's choice that scored Brent Morel and Alejandro De Aza scored on a wild pitch by Weinhardt.
Other Closer Outings:
- Koji Uehara struck out the side in the 10th.
- Joel Hanrahan go a vulture win after he got 2 outs to end the 8th, 1 of which was via strikeout.
- Hong-Chih Kuo struck out 3 over 2 scoreless innings.
Non-Closer Outings:
- Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless 8th with 1 walk and 1 strikeout.
- Jake McGee struck out 2 in a clean 9th.
- Jon Rauch got 2 outs, 1 via strikeout.
- Brandon League walked 1 and struck out 2 in a scoreless 8th.
- Ryan Perry struck out 2 over 2 clean innings.
- Carlos Torres struck out 4 over 2 clean innings.
- Jonny Venters pitched a scoreless 8th.
- Ernesto Frieri struck out 1 in a scoreless 8th.
- Santiago Casilla pitched 1.1 clean innings.
- The Orioles bullpen (Matt Albers, Mark Hendrickson, Jim Johnson, Koji Uehara, & Mike Gonzalez) pitched 7.1 scoreless innings in relief of Chris Tillman.
- The A's bullpen (Brad Ziegler, Michael Wuertz, & Craig Breslow) combined to pitch 3.1 scoreless innings.
- The Cubs bullpen (Marcos Mateo, Thomas Diamond, & Scott Maine) pitched 3 scoreless innings.
- Leo Nunez struck out 1 in a scoreless 8th.
- The Dodgers bullpen (Ronald Belisario, Kenley Jansen, Hong-Chih Kuo, Jonathan Broxton, & George Sherrill) threw 7 scoreless innings.
Tough Days:
- Andrew Miller got only 4 outs and gave up 5 earned runs in the process against the Cubs. He walked 4, struck out 1, and is starting to make me think the Marlins lost that trade with the Tigers (Miguel Cabrera & Dontrelle Willis for Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, & others).
- Chris Tillman gave up 3 earned runs over 3.2 innings to the Yankees. His control was pretty off with 6 walks and 1 strikeout.
- Clayton Kershaw walked 4, struck out 2, and allowed 6 runs (4 earned) against the Rockies in 4 innings of work. It was his lowest strikeout total since mid-July.
- Jeff Niemann allowed 5 earned runs over 4.1 innings to the Angels, in a game the Rays needed to keep pace with the Yankees. He served up a solo shot to Bobby Abreu and a 3-run homer to Peter Bourjos. Niemann had allowed 26 earned runs over his last 4 starts (all losses) coming into this one. Is it Hell Boy's turn yet?
- Chris Narveson allowed 6 earned runs over 4.2 innings to the Giants. After not allowing more than 3 earned runs over his last 9 starts, this is probably not what his owners were expecting today.
- Shaun Marcum served up homers to J.D. Drew & Victor Martinez, on his way to allowing 6 earned runs to the Red Sox over 5.1 innings.
- John Danks allowed 1 earned run to the Tigers for 6 innings, but then came the 7th. In the 7th he gave up a 2-run homer to Casper Wells, a 1-run double to Gerald Laird, and a 1-run single to Austin Jackson, before being pulled from the game. JJ Putz did him no favors by allowing Laird and Jackson to come around and score. All told it was 6.1 innings and 7 earned runs for Danks.
Lineup-ology/Injuries:
- Sam Fuld, Darwin Barney, Jeff Baker, Micah Hoffpauir, Tyler Colvin, Bobby Scales, Brad Snyder, & Welington Castillo started for the Cubs as all the starters got a day off... That or the Cubs are worse than I thought.
- Michael Bourn is dealing with an oblique injury. He might miss a couple of days this week.
- Joe Mauer jammed his knee, but not to worry, he's considered day-to-day. He'll probably rest some this week.
- Coco Crisp has a fractured left pinky finger. He'll go to a hand specialist and is considered day-to-day for now.
- Lastings Milledge is done for the year with a strained left oblique.
- Geovany Soto will have his right shoulder scoped and is done for the year.
Home Runs:
- Dan Uggla (31), Luke Scott (27), Jayson Werth (24), David Wright (24), Jim Thome (24), Colby Rasmus (23), Ryan Braun (23), Matt Kemp (23), Andre Ethier (23), Nelson Cruz (21), Shin-Soo Choo (20), J.D. Drew (19), Jose Guillen (19), Victor Martinez (18), Derrek Lee (18), Pat Burrell (18), Andrew McCutchen (16), Michael Cuddyer (13), Neil Walker (12), Michael Morse (11), Chris Johnson (10), Willie Harris (9), Ramon Hernandez (7), Kelly Shoppach (5), Danny Espinosa (4), Mark Ellis (4), Scott Sizemore (3), Casper Wells (3), Ryan Roberts (2), Hector Luna (2), & Welington Castillo (1).
Stolen Bases:
- Will Venable (27), Corey Patterson (21), Shin-Soo Choo (20), Ian Desmond (16), Jayson Werth (11), Jason Bartlett (11), Brian Roberts (11), Nate McLouth (6), Placido Polanco (5), Raul Ibanez (4), Jonathan Herrera (2), Mitch Maier (2), & Yuniesky Betancourt (1).
Caught Stealing:
- Rajai Davis (10), Stephen Drew (4), Jack Cust (2), Adam Dunn (1), & Esteban German (1).