Players Archives

While Miguel Cabrera is happy in Detroit, he misses his Marlins teammates, and even the small crowds and rain delays. He didn't want to leave:

But, since he's asked, yes, he misses the Marlins. And, since he's asked, he never wanted to leave. And, since he's asked, he still doesn't believe they had to part with him.

"They called when they traded me and said, 'We don't have the money to pay you,' " he said. "...That's the excuse they give. They have money.

Yep. He's also happy the team is doing well:

"I said two or three years ago if they let us play together, we'll win," he said. "We grew up together. Now those guys have been around and know how to win. And look at them.

"They don't need me. They're better without me. Amezaga and Hanley talk to me and say, 'Roomie, come on back here.' I say, 'You don't need me.' Look at them. They're in first place."

They would be more likely to stay there with Miguel in the middle of the lineup.

Chipper Jones picked up two more hits tonight, raising his BA to .429. Just to show how precarious .400 is, an 0 for 8 brings him into the .300s. Still he's going in the right direction, and he helped the Braves defeat the Padres 5-2.

The Rockies fell again tonight, losing to the Cardinals 6-5. Chris Iannetta, however, continued his hot hitting, adding a double, homer and three RBI. That raises his OBA to .426 and his slugging percentage to .681. Yes, it's a small number of at bats, but with Torrealba posting a .287 OBA, how can the Rockies not play Chris four out of five games?

Lance Berkman is certainly making a bid to be included in this year's MVP voting. He unleashed five hits tonight, including two doubles. That set up Lee and Pence to drive him in four times as the Astros overcame three Washington home runs to win the game 6-5. Lee doubled in Tejada and Berkman after both singled with two out in the eighth to ice the victory. The Astros win their fifth game in six tries, scoring at least six runs in all six games.

Garrett Anderson is off to an awful start. He came into tonight's game against the Royals with a .258 OBA and a .349 slugging percentage. Tonight he took a step toward turning that around. Anderson record three of the Angels fifteen hits and drove in all five runs with a three-run homer and two singles. That raised his OBA to .270 and his slugging percentage to .382, still horrible numbers for an outfielder or DH. He'll need a few more games like this to look good again.

It's somewhat impressive that Bannister allowed 13 hits in 6 2/3 innings, but was only charged with five runs. KC only turned one double play. If it wasn't for Anderson, the Angels might have wasted all those hits!

Nate McLouth smacked two home runs tonight to help the Pirates to a 12-1 lead over the Giants in the seventh inning. That makes Nate's line for the season .336/.420/.656. His twenty three extra-base hits are more than half his 44 hit total. He hit for power well last season, but at age 26 he's taken his game to a whole new level. With 28 RBI he's now ten behind last year's total, accrued over 137 games.

Should the Pirates trade him? His career averages indicate he'll fall back from these lofty numbers. On top of that, Pittsburgh is a long way from being ready to compete. Maybe the Pirates can trade him to one of the weak hitting AL teams for prospects and restock the farm system a bit.

WaitingForNextYear notes the Indians signed a player with an extremely long middle name.

In what will likely be lost in the shuffle of Bronson Sardinha is his own middle name.

Full Name: Bronson Kiheimahanaomauiakeo Sardinha

That won't even fit on a Scrabble board!

Wladimir Balentien hit his second home run in six games last night, helping the Mariners to a 7-3 win over the Rangers. At the moment, Wlad is showing himself to be an all or nothing player. While his two home runs in 21 at bats are great, he's yet to draw a walk and he struck out eight times. He showed decent selectivity in the minors, so I'm guessing this will change. If the home runs continue, pitchers will start to be more careful with the twenty three year old. That should move him toward walking more as well. Right now, it looks like he's trying to show just how hard he can swing the bat, but swinging at the right pitches is important, too.

(I assume here that he's not watching the ball go by for strike three. If I'm wrong, please let me know.)

The Angels held on to defeat the Orioles 6-5 Sunday afternoon. One reader sends along these comments:

Would appreciate it if you could get Baltimore writer to comment on Brian Roberts horrendous base running. Today he was thrown out at plate by V. Guerrero trying to score on hit in 1st, and in ninth, down a run, he singles to lead-off and gets picked off.

I don't have statistics on players being put out on base besides caught stealings. However, Roberts has reached base fifty times this year and scored sixteen runs, or 32% of the time on base. Among regulars, players with at least 70 plate appearances, the median value is 35%. Sitting at the top of the lineup, he has the power hitters coming up behind him, so he should be scoring lots of runs. If anyone has data on Roberts making outs on the bases, please pass it on.

Chipper Jones was a big part of the Braves 14-7 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. He picked up three hits, including a double and his ninth home run, driving in five. That gives him 27 RBI in 28 games played. He raised his slugging percentage over .700, second only to Chase Utley.

At 36 years old, Jones has never had a bad season. The closest was in 2004 when when he posted a .362 OBA and a .485 slugging percentage. That was the only time since 1998 where his OBA was under .400 and his slugging percentage under .500. He's had a remarkable career. The injuries he accrued only slowed his counting stats, not his averages.

Curtis Granderson homered leading off the game against the Twins this afternoon. It was Granderson's twelfth hit in eleven games and his fifth home run. A total of nine of his dozen hits went for extra bases, and the leadoff hitter is slugging .821. That dinger started a very bad inning for Boof Bonser as the Tigers scored six runs, five of them earned.

Julio Franco retired today. However, if no one wants you are you really retiring?

Cristian Guzman drives in six runs today for the second time in his career. He got the day off right for the Nationals with a two-run home in the first, then broke a 5-5 tie with a bases loaded double in the sixth. He's now slugging .458 on the season, following up 2007 in which he slugged .466. Given that his career slugging is .377, this is a pretty impressive run of power for the middle infielder (he did only play 46 games last year). His three home runs surpass his 2007 total of two.

The Cub Reporter makes a much needed addition to WPA.

Jose Reyes almost hit an inside the park cycle Friday night:

Reyes had his 15th career game with at least four hits, a franchise record. When he crushed a shot off the center-field wall in the eighth that ricocheted back toward the infield, Sandy Alomar Sr. waved him home for an inside-the-park homer attempt, but Reyes (three runs scored) was out by plenty at the plate. It was the fourth career two-triple game for Reyes, who is the last Met to hit for the cycle - he did it on June 21, 2006, against the Reds.

"It's always nice when Jose makes a statement early," Willie Randolph said.

The Mets won the game 7-2, hanging the first loss of the season on Micah Owings, who walked in his two plate appearances. Maybe the opposition is afraid to pitch to him. :-) New York has now won 14 of their last 15 games at Chase Field.

Miguel Tejada promised a child with muscular dystrophy that the shortstop would hit a home run. Miguel delivered. Sounds like something out of Pride of the Yankees.

The Dodgers won their seventh game in a row Friday night as they scored eleven runs from the sixth inning on to defeat the Rockies 11-6. Rafael Furcal played another great game, picking up three hits and his fourth home run of the season. Furcal, with a .380 batting average, collected 46 hits this season with twelve doubles, two triples and four home runs. With an OBA of .464 and a slugging percentage of .612, he's certainly the Dodgers MVP, and may be the league's MVP so far as well. It's a tough choice between Furcal, Pujols and Utley right now. Albert's having a Bonds like season, but the two middle infielders are showing power and the ability to get on base from positions prized for their defense. It's a tough call.

Carl Crawford singles in two runs in the top of the seventh inning to give Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead over Baltimore. Crawford is having a good year late in the game. With that single, he's now 13 for 34, .382, with seven of his sixteen RBI from the seventh inning on.

Update: Tampa Bay wins 4-2, and they are all alone in second place. A loss by the Red Sox tonight puts the Rays in first by percentage points.

Who knew Scott Rolen was a deep thinker? He put the two tough Jays losses into perspective:

"I was actually encouraged by the loss we had," Rolen said of Tuesday's effort. "I had encouraging thoughts. There were some people pissed off. There were some people fed up. I didn't see anyone waiting for the next shoe to drop, or whatever the cliché is.

"Down on the field, it wasn't, `How are we going to lose this one?' What I saw was a very strong, competitive game. We had a shot to win in the ninth inning. We were pissed. I saw emotions that a lot of people were angry. I'm not a yeller or screamer, throw-my-helmet, slam-my-bat guy, but there was, to me, good intensity. I think a lot of guys wore that one a little bit," Rolen said.

He goes on quite a bit more, and praises Gibbons for building a winning mentality on the team. Rolen's contributing two, with six hits in five games, five of them for extra bases.

The Mariners released Brad Wilkerson today. Brad represents an important reality check for me. I thought Texas got the better of the deal when they acquired Brad from Washington for Alfonso Soriano. I couldn't have been more wrong. The lesson, there, of course is that all the predictions we make exist in a cloud of probabilities, and we should never be too sure as to which part of that cloud turns out to be closest to reality.

The Cardinals defeat the Reds 5-2 this afternoon to ensure they will at least share first place in the NL Central at the end of the day. Rick Ankiel is on a nice tear as he picks up three hits today and is 8 for his last 13. He had been in a bit of a slump, drawing walks but not hitting. He looks good on the season after today with a line of .290/.372/.520.

Skip Schumaker has turned into a very good leadoff man for the Cardinals. He goes four for five tonight with two runs scored as St. Louis defeats Cincinnati 7-2. He nows sports a .409 OBA. He's scored twenty two runs in twenty seven games, and while not a prolific base stealer, he hasn't been caught in three tries. He's doing a good job setting up the power in the middle of the Cardinals order.

Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman are scuffling this season, but they're both off to a good start this evening. They each have a single and a solo home run as Washington lead Atlanta 2-1. Glavine returns to the mound and the home runs cost him a lead.

MLB FanHouse compares Nick Johnson to Charlie Brown.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and state that Carlos Delgado not taking a curtain call isn't the biggest problem facing the Mets right now.

Frank Thomas missed the cycle last night -- by a home run! Yes, the Big Hurt tripled for the first time since 2002. The whole night was like that for the Angels as the Athletics moved into first place by themselves with a 14-2 win.

Daric Barton picked a good time to hit his first home run of the season. It came with two on and gave the Athletics a 4-1 lead over the Angels. It's the fifth home allowed by Garland so far this season.

Barton, like former Athletics Nick Swisher is getting on base at a great rate but not hitting for power. Why throw anything out of the strike zone to these players? They don't hit that well when they see a pitch they like, so why not reduce their OBA to their batting average by putting the ball in the strike zone?

It's not a good year to be a Hernandez on Baltimore. Luis, the shortstop came into the game hitting .233, although with some walks his OBA was a simply poor .314. Ramon Hernandez didn't start today, nursing a .181 batting average, but with a few extra base hits to make his slugging percentage .347. Ramon pinch hit for Luis at one point and stayed in to catch, and that proved good for the Orioles as he launched a home run in the top of the eleventh to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead. Eight of his fourteen hits have gone for extra bases.

Update: Juan Uribe gets your RBI as he leads off the bottom of the eleventh with a home run off Sherrill. That's George's first blown save of the season.

Update: The infield is in awful shape right now. You can see the puddles, and when Cabrera reached on an error and slid into second, he left a rut of mud.

Update: The game is now delayed in the twelfth.

Update: The game was suspended. I'll see if I can find information about finishing it. This is where I miss the old tie rule.

Update: No date announced yet. The Orioles do not play the White Sox in Chicago again, although they do play in Baltimore. Both teams have an off day on 6/23. The White Sox play the Cubs on the 22nd, and the Orioles are in Milwaukee. Then the Orioles come to Chicago to play the Cubs, while the White Sox fly out to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers. It's possible they could finish the game then, but I bet it happens in Baltimore.

Under the tie rule, they could wait until the end of the season to see if they need to play the game.

Joe Christensen links to a Jayson Stark piece on Delmon Young. Here's Gardenhire on Young's free swinging ways:

"I watched Torii Hunter for like 10 years," Gardenhire said. "You think Torii hasn't swung? You know what? There's nothing wrong with swinging. That's why they give you a bat. This kid's 22 years old. He's got everything ahead of him. So let it fly. Learn as you go. He'll learn the strike zone.

"To start telling a guy to just 'take, take, take,' sometimes that's just not human nature. You don't get to the big leagues, and you don't become a big league player, by 'take, take, take' and get walks. Some people are paid to drive in runs. You think David Ortiz goes up there to walk? He's paid to drive in runs. He walks because we walk him. On purpose. And that's what's going to happen to Delmon as he goes along, too. Right now, they know he's going to chase a little bit, but that's OK. I'll take my chances with him letting it fly."

There are people who get away with batting like this. Kirby Puckett, Joe Carter and Torii Hunter come to mind. I always wonder how successful these players would be if they didn't swing at pitches outside the strike zone. They'd have better hitters counts, they'd force pitchers to come over the plate more, and probably hit for a higher average and more power. They were good, but not as good as they could be.

Alex Rios missed the cycle Sunday afternoon by a home run, picking up two singles, a double and a triple. He scored three of the five Blue Jays runs as the team snaps a six-game losing streak, defeating the Royals 5-2. Rios is doing a great job of getting on base with his OBA now over .400, but he's not coming around to score that often. He now has 16 runs in 24 games. With that kind of OBA, however, you'd expect him to be closer to one run per game.

Nate McLouth swatted two home runs today as the Pirates downed the Phillies 5-1. Adding in a walk, Nate raised his OBA to .414 and his slugging percentage to .627. Those numbers might actually be better served in the middle of the order, although their is something to be said for having your leadoff man have the best OBA on the team.

What the Pirates lack right now is someone who can get on base that isn't a slugger. Bay, Doumit and Nady are all middle of the order hitters, and everyone else in the lineup has an OBA under .300. McLouth in the #1 slot is probably the best deal for the Pirates right now.

Paul Maholm throws a two-hitter. He was a bit wild, issuing four walks, but the Philies couldn't get good wood on the ball as they were 2 for 24 putting the ball in play.

Carlos Delgado broke out this afternoon, walking twice and hitting two home runs as the Mets defeated the Braves 6-3. Delgado's strengths as a hitter are his selectivity and his power, so to see both showcased in one game is a positive sign for the slugger. His averages are still very low, but fixing his bat makes the Mets a much more competitive team.

Update: Paul Konerko combined for the same number of walks and home runs. Like Delgado, his averages remain low, but there's been less concern about Paul's numbers since the White Sox are:

1. Playing well as a team.
2. Not in New York.

Adam Wainwright threw behind Brad Ausmus Saturday after a Cardinals player was hit by a pitch. Since MLB recently established that offense requires a suspension, will Adam have to ride the pine? Also, since Wainwright is a starter, shouldn't the suspension be ten days, so he has to miss two starts? It would be silly to suspend a pitcher for three games, since he'll appeal, then drop the appeal the day after a start.

I know it's just seventeen at bats, but can Curtis Granderson be any hotter? He not only went 2 for 5 today, but homered and doubled. That give him three home runs and four of his six hits for extra bases. If the Tigers needed a spark, he's certainly supplied it as they defeat the Angels today 6-4. He's earned his way on base ten times and scored eight runs, exactly what you want from a leadoff hitter.

David Ortiz was in the original Boston lineup, but was later scratched.

Via MLB Fanhouse, a great column by Doug Glanville on veterans stepping aside for younger players.

In theory, I had come to the Yankees ready to play ball "from Day One." The idea that my history didn't give me the benefit of the doubt was disconcerting. Because there was this younger kid, who played a little better than I did that spring and who would certainly be less expensive. I'd had a bad week, and he'd had a good week, and that made all the difference.

I understood that I was now entrenched on the other side of the bell curve. I was sliding downward into the "long in the tooth" spiked pit. My competition's relatively minimal major league experience had become more valuable, in a way, than my library of experience. Somehow I had missed the transition point in my career where my value to a team had intersected with the value of a new kid on the block.

Doug is very realistic about this, and even says for the good of the game vets should step aside when timeless players (like A-Rod) come along.

I'm quietly enjoying the start of Melky Cabrera's season.

Miguel Tejada may be older, but he's hitting better. With his conscious clear of the age lie, the Houston shortstop picked up four more hits tonight as the Astros defeated the Padres 11-7. Since confessing his real age on 4/17, Tejada is 14 for 27 with two home runs and eight RBI.

Eric Hinske is due up second in the bottom of the eighth in Orlando. He needs a single for the cycle.

Update: Hinske strikes out, but he's helped the Rays to a 6-4 lead over Toronto.

Correction: They're playing at Disney tonight.

Alex Rodriguez and his wife are the proud parents of a baby girl. I hope they name her Alexa and keep her away from hawks.

Dave Cameron suggests Carlos Delgado is a more worrisome player than Frank Thomas.

Felix Pie, off to a dismal start, picked up his first extra-base hit tonight. He hit a three-run homer in the eighth to cap a five run innings and send the Cubs to a 7-1 victory.

It was a close game for seven innings as Maine pitched well through six, striking out six as he allowed just two runs. His only mistake was to Aramis Ramirez, who followed a Lee single with a two run shot. That was all the Cubs really needed as Zambrano held the Mets to one run over seven innings. Carlos's ERA drops to 2.57, and Marmol and Wood combine to throw two perfect innings to ice the game. Only the Diamondbacks own a better record than the Cubs in the majors.

Barry Svrluga offers a good analysis of Ryan Zimmerman's problems:

But I'll go back to a point Acta made last week: Zimmerman is too often satisfied to swing at a strike, even if it's a pitcher's pitch on the low-and-outside edge of the zone. Zimmerman, at this point, sees himself driving those balls to right field and thinks it's a good at-bat. Acta's point is that the balls you truly drive go where players aren't - either over the walls or to the gaps. My scorebook has only two lineouts on this road trip for Zimmerman.

Some other interesting Zimmerman facts:

He has 86 plate appearances, and has had two strikes on him in 40 of those appearances.

He is 6 for 40 (.150) with two strikes on him.

He is 0 for 7 with a full count.

He has taken a ball one 27 times, or fewer than one in three plate appearances.

What does this mean? Pitchers are attacking him early in the count, and then - and this is my observation - getting him to chase after that. To this point, he's been too willing to chase.

Selectivity is a tough think to teach a major league player. Sammy Sosa learned it late in his career, but few do. He wasn't bad his first two years, drawing 61 walks each season. He's on a pace to draw about half that in 2008, so he needs to make some kind of adjustment.

U.S.S. Mariner does a good job of explaining Old Player Skills.

Update: In a related post, The Baseball Crank looks at attrition rates of players.

Out in the Desert wonders what kind of deal the Diamondbacks might get for Chad Tracy.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with keeping Tracy on the team. You never know when one of your regulars is going to go down with an injury, and Chad gives you flexibility on the bench.

The Brewers took the Reds 5-3 in extra innings this afternoon. Jason Kendall went two for three to raise his batting average to .360. This likely makes him the greatest number nine hitter in the history of the National League. :-)

Torii Hunter spent some of his free agent wealth on a new car. It's not so new now:

The accident took place about 2:15 local time while Hunter was waiting for the light to change on Katella Avenue.

"I saw him in the rearview mirror, but I didn't know what he was doing," Hunter said. "He put his signal light on to go into the right lane, which was stopped already, then he turned around and looked to see if anybody was coming from behind. Then he turned back around and had to jam on the brakes, and I caught the tail end of the stop.

"His bumper hit my bumper and messed up my rims," Hunter added. "My Bentley's pretty much in bad shape. She's going to have to go in the hospital for a while. You would think some lawyers would pull up after seeing a Bentley on the side of the road. It would be like, 'Aw, hell, let me go represent him.' "

He's feeling a little stiff but okay.

Connor Jackson comes up in the bottom of the sixth needing a double for the cycle. He hits one deep to center. Jim Edmonds runs back looks like he's going to reach it, but it just ticks off the top of his glove. Jackson doesn't stop running and ends up a third with his second triple of the game! He could have stopped, but with one out he gains the extra base and scores on a sacrifice fly. That's a serious ballplayer!

With the score 9-0 in favor of the Diamondbacks, Greg Maddux is taking one for the team. With the rest of the pitching staff gassed, Maddux is just taking a pounding. He's about at 100 pitches at the end of six, so we'll see how much longer he stays in.

Prince Fielder is off to a slow start, but he picked up his eighth RBI this afternoon. He blooped a double down the rightfield line, which given his low batting average, he'll take them anyway he can get them.

Fielder has hit in one situation, however, with men in scoring position. With Weeks on second for the hit, Fielder is now 7 for 13 in the situation. Given that he only has twelve hits on the season, he's really making them count.

Miguel Tedaja admitted he lied about his age.

Miguel Tejada told the Astros today that he's been lying about his age, and that he's actually 33, not 31. And he's telling the Astros this himself because he didn't want them to find it out from someone else.

Like someone else who? The Feds? Because they're investigating him for perjury?

A lot ages were corrected when immigration restrictions were put in place after 9/11.

Tejada's career trajectory looks pretty normal, I would not have guessed he was two years older.

Dave Cameron is very excited that it was Chris Snelling who ignited the Phillies rally Tuesday night.

However, the inning started with a comeback of its own, and one that won't get nearly as much attention. Chris Snelling hit a home run to right field to make it a 3-1 ballgame, starting the rally that would lead to the Phillies win. And while a solo home run might not seem like much, it was a triumphant moment for people like me who have been rooting for Snelling for the better part of ten years. And really, anyone who knows any part of his story should be rooting for this kid. The former Mariner prospect's career has been derailed by injuries, but he hasn't lost the quirky personality or love for baseball that made rational analysts form the Cult of Doyle.

Chone Figgins went two for four with a walk today to raise his OBA to .507. In his career, Chone's OBA was pretty tightly linked to his batting average. He would walk about the same amount every year, so a good or bad OBA depended on how well he hit. For his career, coming into this season, Figgins walked once every 14.1 at bats. This season, it's every 4.3 at bats. At little more selectivity has gone a long way for Chone as he helped the Angels to a 7-4 win over Texas today.

Kurt Suzuki just picked up his second hit of the game to put the Oakland Athletics up 1-0 in the top of the fourth. That raises his batting average to .341 and his OBA to .420. He posted a high OBA in the minors with a good average. It looks like he's improving in the majors. He doesn't have much power, but if he's on base that much, he'll be a productive hitter, especially as a catcher.

6-4-2 Links to a list that makes playing Matt Kemp a no-brainer.

Sabernomics points out there may be more than small sample size to Kelly Johnson's slow start.

Jon Weiman on Juan Pierre:

In the fourth inning Saturday, Pierre walked and stole second. With Ethier at the plate, Pierre broke for third - he had the base stolen easily. But Ethier launched a rocket toward Academy Road.

Pierre popped up from his slide to see the ball in air. He took a couple of steps back toward second base, on the theory that if the ball were caught, he'd need to go back. But in the next second, he realized that he was getting a free ride to home plate. He bowed his head and began the slow jog home.

I'm not going to begin to project what Pierre's reaction was - for all I know, he could have been doing cartwheels in his mind that Ethier had just knocked Young out of the game. I'm just talking about the image I saw, the image of a home run being hit and the basestealer looking disappointed.

I actually heard someone describe Tony Gwynn as selfish because he would swing when Roberto Alomar was trying to steal, rather than letting Alomar earn the SB. Of course, Gwynn would get hits on lots of those swings. With the infielders moving, it's a great time to hit.

Howie Kendrick went three for four today in a 10-5 rout of the Seattle Mariners. He's now 18 for 36 on the season, a .500 batting average. He's two plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting average race, but he's still off to a great start. With Figgins hitting .404 after his 2 for 5 day, the Angels boast two of the highest average hitters in the league. Two of Howie's hits were doubles, raising his slugging percentage to .694.

Update: Looks like Kendrick pulled a hamstring.

Justin and BJ Upton are both off to great starts. BJ is doing a great job of getting on base this season, and his three-run homer today gives him eleven RBI in twelve games. Justin is tied for the NL lead in home runs and drove in eleven in eleven games. With their seasonal ages 20 and 23, these two have a chance to be one of the great bother hitting duos of all time. Who do you think is the best? Joe and Dom DiMaggio or Paul and Lloyd Waner? Or George and Ken Brett? :-)

The Baseball Zealot notes that Jacoy Ellsbury has a great vertical leap.

When I was a freshman in high school (Central HS, Bridgeport, CT) out basketball team won the state championship. Our tallest player was 6' 3", but they all could out jump taller players. This was the era before possession arrows, so there were plenty of jump balls. Our players would coil themselves close to the floor, which gave them extra power (think of the way Rickey Henderson generates power uncoiling from his crouch). They easily won jumps against players two or three inches taller.

They also won the states on a buzzer beater after trailing by 10 with five minutes to go in the game.

Andre Ethier goes three for three against San Diego's Chris Young, knocking him out of the game with a two-run home in the bottom of the fourth. Ethier's three hits raises his stats against Young to nine for nineteen with four home runs and two doubles. The Dodgers lead 7-1.

The five and six hitters for the Diamondbacks, Mark Reynolds and Justin Upton are lighting up the scoreboard. With his fifth home run today, Upton ties Reynolds and Mike Jacobs for the NL lead in long balls. They've combined to drive in 26 runs, over one-third of the runs scored by the Diamondbacks. Offense hasn't bee a problem for Arizona this season, and these two are a big reason why.

Bleeding Blue and Teal wants the Mariners to bench Kenji Johjima over his pitch calling. He makes the argument that Seattle pitchers give up fewer hits when Jamie Burke catches, and the same was true when Torrealba was the backup.

Jon doesn't go far enough in his article to show that the defensive versus offensive tradeoff really hurts the team. Since the