Sluggers Archives

The Florida Marlins keep winning. Dan Uggla hit his seventh home run of the season and the sixty sixth of his career. He started playing in 2006, and since that time, here's the list of players with more or as many homers as Uggla. It's not very long.

Renyel Pinto pitched two scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 0.76. He's cementing his status as the greatest baseball player named Pinto.

Joey Votto goes deep three times off three different pitchers as the Reds are now out to a 9-0 lead. He drives in four with the three shots.

For those of you who believe Dusty Baker wears out young pitchers, Edinson Volquez starts the seventh. He's close to 100 pitches, the field is wet due to rain, and the lead is not in jeopardy. The Cubs announcers questioned the wisdom of letting him start the inning.

Update: I believe that Dusty didn't have anyone up in the bullpen, either. Volquez has allowed two base runners this inning and Brenly noticed Edinson's body language says he's tired. He's already past his career high in pitches (112), and the Reds are leaving him in the game.

Update: He gets a strikeout to end the inning, setting a career high with 118 pitches thrown.

Update: Votto leads off the eighth with a chance for a four home run game.

Update: He grounds out to short.

Royals Authority is looking for the next Jack Cust.

Richie Sexson hit his seventh home run of the season tonight, tying him for second place among AL home run hitters. He's not hitting for a high average, but half his hits have gone for extra bases. If you're going to be an unproductive hitter, that's the way to do it.

The Astros came into the series against Milwukee with 30 home runs in 29 games. The bats came to life Friday as each home run raised money for muscular dystrophy, and continued as they hit nine homers in the three games. They use that power to sweep the Brewers, outscoring them 21-12 and are just 3 1/2 games out of first place pending the outcome of the Cubs/Cardinals game.

Pat Burrell won some Philadelphia hearts tonight as he hits a two-out, two-run homer to defeat the Giants 6-5 in ten innings. San Francisco scored in the top of the inning, as former Phillie Aaron Rowand hit a solo shot. After an Utley single and a Howard strikeout, Burrell hit the first long ball of the season off Brian Wilson. All six Phillies runs scored on two-run homers as Utley and Feliz went deep earlier.

Chase Utley hit home run number twelve tonight, bringing his major league leading total for the year to twelve. That's four more than any other player in the majors. He's picked a good year to try to lead the league in long balls, as no one else seems to be off to a great start.

He's hitting more than home runs as well. He also has ten doubles and a triple for twenty three extra base hits, more than half of his forty two hits. He's walked eleven times to push his OBA well over .400. He's the complete hitter this season.

The Tigers sweep the Yankees with an 8-4 victory tonight. The middle of the order did a lot of damage tonight as Ordonez, Cabrera and Guillen combined to go seven for thirteen with two walks, and Sheffield added two walks from the third spot. Magglio and Carlos picked up doubles, while Cabrera added a triple and a homer. The Quartet scored and drove in five runs as they were too much for Kennedy and Albaladejo, who each gave up four runs. This is exactly what the Tigers were expecting when they assembled this lineup.

I'm watching the San Diego feed of the Padres-Phillies game. As Howard steps up to lead off the bottom of the eighth, they run a graphic showing that he's hit the most home runs since the start of the 2006 season. As the announcer intones that stat, the first pitch comes in and Ryan deposits in the rightfield stands for a 3-2 Phillies lead. Producers love those moments, although as San Diego broadcasters, I bet they want that moment back.

Adrian Beltre hits his fifth home run of the season, a three-run shot in the top of the ninth to break a 2-2 tie with the Indians. Betancourt gave up three straight hits to start the inning, ending with the home run. That's three home runs allowed by Rafael in 11 1/3 innings.

Beltre is living up to his contract this season with a BA over .300, an OBA over .400 and a slugging percentage over .500.

Carlos Quentin ties the game 1-1 with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth. That's his third home run off Orioles pitching this season, half of his total. He's now slugging .605 on the season, proving to be a valuable pickup.

Daniel Cabrera is lucky to have allowed just one run so far. He's put ten men on base via a hit, walk or hit by pitch, but the White Sox left the bases loaded in one inning and two on in two other innings.

Troy Glaus's power took a dive this April. Coming into this season, Glaus had career totals of 277 homers and 241 doubles. He only played two season in which he collected more doubles than homers. In 2008, however, he started with eleven doubles and no homers. He was hitting the ball hard, just not out of the park. That changed today as he picked up his first tater of the season, a two-run shot to cap a four run Cardinals fifth inning. This is similar to what happened to David Ortiz last year, where he lost nineteen homer but picked up twenty three doubles.

The Cardinals defeated the Astros 5-1 as Kyle Lohse continues to be one of the best signings of the winter.

Matt Kemp picked up five RBI in the first inning tonight. His first time up he hit a sacrifice fly to cut the score in half 2-1. In his second plate appearance of the inning, his grand slam put the Dodgers up 10-2. Since April 15th, the Dodgers, seem to be an all or nothing team. The either score a ton of runs or very few. I guess the offense switch was set to on this evening.

Jason Giambi hits his second home run of the night, both to right center. He's now batting .190 but slugging .500. Eight of his eleven hits, three doubles and five homers, have gone for extra bases. With an .851 OPS, that's about the most productive .190 you'll ever see.

The Brewers defeat the Phillies 5-4, but Chase Utley is the first player to reach ten home runs. My SportingNews.com column today addresses the rarity of a second baseman leading the majors in home runs.

My latest column at SportingNews.com looks at why it's been 82 years since a second baseman led the majors in home runs.

Chase Utley extended his home run streak to five games with a solo shot in the sixth. He's trying to tie Long, Mattingly and Griffey with streaks of home runs in eight straight games.

The Phillies lead 9-5 going to the bottom of the ninth. Werth and Burrell also went deep.

Chase Utley just hit his second home run of the game to put the Phillies up 4-0. He's driven in all four runs with a solo shot in the first and the three-run homer in the fifth. His homer in the first extended his home run streak to four straight games.

Chase is now slugging .795, with sixteen of his twenty five hits going for extra bases. Six of his eight home runs, however, came at home.

Update: It's a good thing Utley hit the home run when he did. Reyes leads off the sixth with a triple, and three more hits later the Mets have scored three and they have a man on with none out.

Update: With one out, Beltran steals second, then scores on a bloop single to right. The game is tied at four.

Chipper Jones hit two home runs for the second game in a row, this time against the Dodgers. Jones has had a pretty consistently powerful career. Only three times since his first full season in 1995 has he slugged under .500. He now eight home runs away from 400, and is a .300/.400/.500 hitter for his career.

Chipper's 38 multi-homer games rank ninth since 1995. Sammy Sosa leads the pack with 58 in that time frame.

Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez go back to back in the first inning to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead over the Red Sox. (Girardi let Wang pitch to Ramirez in the first inning with a man on second and two out, and Manny doubled.) Alex moves ahead of Williams and McCovey and claims 15th place on the all-time home run list for his own. He's now a dozen behind Foxx for 14th place.

Travis Buck drives in all three Oakland Athletics runs as the A's take the game against Toronto in twelve innings, 3-2. Buck's doubles give him six on the season.

For his career, Buck averages a double every 11.5 at bats. That would be 52 in a 600 at bat season. Given that he's still young and should be improving, we might see 60 doubles from Travis someday.

Miguel Tejada makes a good first impression on the Houston fans as he hits a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Cardinals 5-3. After eight shutout innings by Rodriguez and Brocail, Valverde blows a three run lead in the ninth. He gave up two walks, two singles and a double.

Lee, however, singled to start the inning and Miguel hit the first pitch for a home run. The Astros hit four dingers tonight after hitting seven in their first seven games.

Chris Young started hitting home runs in bunches on August 14 of 2007. Starting on that date, he leads the National League in long balls. Saturday's two home runs against Colorado marked the fourth time in that span of 47 games that Chris went deep twice. With that kind of power you wonder how long the Diamondbacks can afford to keep him in the leadoff spot.

David Ortiz and Jason Varitek both homered today as the Red Sox defeat Oakland 5-0. Those two seemed most discombobulated in Japan. Varitek got his first hits last night, and two more today. Big Papi finally delivered for the Red Sox this afternoon.

Harden was a bit wild but kept Boston off the scoreboard for five innings. The bullpen couldn't hold the fort, however. Meanwhile, Lester, Corey and Delcarmen had an easy time with the Athletics. The usually selective A's only managed three walks in the game.

Tom Tango looks at the reasons for the increase in home runs from 1993 on, and comes down on the ball. It's important to know that the ball is not technically juiced, but is manufactured at the high end of the allowable range. My theory (which I could never get ESPN to pursue) was that there was a change in manufacturing practices that produced a more consistent ball. That consistency was set at the high end.

My guess is that under older manufacturing techniques, hundreds of thousands of balls were manufactured before they were tested. I'm guessing as time went on, these balls became looser, and overall the balls tended to fall in the mid range of the specification. With the introduction of control charts into US manufacturing in the late 1980s, however, testing is done every 100 balls or so, and the second they get a little out of whack, the process is corrected. I talked to the manufacturer in 1993, and they told me at that time they were producing the most consistent ball ever. What they needed to do, however, was produce the mid-range ball, not the high range ball.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 54th home run tonight, driving in three and scoring twice. That gives him a new career high in runs scored (142) to go with his RBI high. He needs four more runs or RBI to reach a combined total of 300 for the season.

It's an interesting level to reach because it tells us something about the player and the team. To both score and drive in lots of runs, a player must get on base often and hit for power. You have to provide the batters behind you with opportunities for RBI, plus provide the power to drive in the runners on base when you come to the plate. But for both runs and RBI to be this high, you need a great team around you. The table setters need to be great at getting on base. The batters behind need to supply plenty of power themselves. So when you see a batter with these run and RBI numbers, you know you're seeing a great player in the middle of a great offense.

Update: Alex gets his third hit and fourth RBI of the night, giving him 155 on the season and a combined RBI + Runs of 297.

David Ortiz ended his streak of nine consecutive hits in the sixth inning tonight when he grounded out. Earlier in the game, he picked up his fifty second double of the season. With a .445 OBA and a .617 slugging percentage, imagine what Ortiz would have done with a healthy leg!

Prince Fielder goes deep to the opposite field as he delivers his second home run of the game and reaches the 50 home run mark. He and his dad Cecil become the first father-son combination to each reach 50 homers. Cecil hit 51 in 1990 for the Detroit Tigers. The Brewers lead 9-1 in the seventh as they try to gain a game on Chicago.

Alex Rodriguez, after a long drought, hits home run 53 on the season. It's a big one, too, a grand slam that puts the Yankees up 5-0 in the third as they try to clinch a playoff spot. That takes him to 151 RBI and 139 runs scored, a total of 290 on the season.

By the way, no player has ever ended a season with 53 home runs. There were seven 52 home runs seasons and five 54 home run seasons, but never a 53. Maybe that will change this year.

Carlos Pena hit his 40th home run today, putting him in a class with Tiger slugger Hank Greenberg. In 1936, Hank played just 12 games and hit one home run. He came back in 1937 to hit 40. Last season, Pena played 18 games and hit just one home run.

That's not the biggest difference between two seasons. McGwire hit three in his cup of coffee season of 1986, then game back to win Rookie of the Year honors with 49. Killebrew did something similar, although he played small parts of five season before becoming a regular in 1959, going from 0 to 42 home runs. But for players well into their careers, the 39 home run difference is a record.

Tampa Bay wins game number 63, avoiding 100 losses this year.

Vlad Guerrero goes deep in the first inning to plate the only run of the game so far as LAnaheim leads Chicago 1-0 in the third. The home run gives Vlad 25 on the season, the tenth season in a row Vlad reaches 25 home runs. It's also the fourth time he's reached 120 RBI in a season.

Prince Fielder set a new franchise record for home runs last night as his 46th of the season is the new Brewers mark. His teammates are calling for for him to be the Most Valuable Prince:

Prince Fielder's teammates describe him with words such as charismatic, special and unbelievable.

Francisco Cordero has other ideas.
"To me, he's got to be the MVP," Cordero said. "I think Prince is going to be the MVP in the National League."

If recent impressions help the voters decide, then Fielder may indeed get the nod. He's leading the National League in slugging percentage in September, with a very healthy batting average and OBA to go with it (although he's no Jack Wilson). With the Brewers winning last night and the Cubs splitting the double header with St. Louis, Milwaukee is back to one game out in the NL Central. A few more key home runs by Fielder over the last two weeks, and the votes and the division title my fall his way.

(The award should go to Hanley Ramirez or David Wright, although I wouldn't have a problem if Fielder took home the trophy. If Fielder does hit fifty home runs and Ramirez wins the MVP, he'll have two things in common with his dad, hitting 50 homers and losing the MVP award to a power hitting leadoff man.)

Alfonso Soriano hits a late game home run to give the Cubs a 3-2 lead over the Cardinals. That's his seventh home run in fifteen games this month. Of course, since he's hitting them from the leadoff spot he's only driven in 13 runs.

Update: Cubs win 3-2. Looper pitched a great game, giving up one run in seven innings, striking out five. But the bullpen gave up the big fly to Soriano, and that's all the Cubs needed. They now lead the Brewers by two with another game coming up tonight.

Prince Fielder hits his forty fifth home run of the season, reducing the deficit to two as the Reds lead 5-3 in the top of the eighth. With his 1 for 2 tonight, Fielder is hitting .415 in September with six home runs and an .854 slugging percentage. He's five home runs away from repeating his dad's feat of fifty home runs in a season. They'd be the first father-son duo to accomplish that.

David Wright hits a home run in the first inning to put the Mets up 1-0 on the Phillies. The Mets third baseman continues to have a fine second half, raising both his OBA and slugging percentages 100 points vs. before the All-Star break.

Alex Rodriguez failed to hit a home run against Toronto last night, bringing his odds of passing Maris down again. If he plays all sixteen remaining games, Alex should get about 71 more plate appearances. With his home run rate this season .0811 HR/PA, the probability of his hitting at least ten more home runs is 0.06, or about 1 in 16.

David Ortiz is back. He hit two home runs tonight, the second a two-run shot with one out in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-4. It was a very high fly ball into the first row of the seats in right. Delmon Young seemed to lose track of the ball; it was the kind of fly that he could have leaped and caught if he was in the right position. Ortiz drives all five runs and now has 40 RBI in his last 39 games.

Jim Thome hit his 499th career home run this afternoon to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead over the Indians. He's looking to become the twenty-third player to crack the 500 home run level, and the third this season. It looks like Manny Ramirez, the other player with a good shot at 500, will need to wait until next year.

Alex Rodriguez did not homer last night. Given his stats this season, he should come to the plate eighty more times in 2007. With a home run rate of .0821 per plate appearance, the probability of him hitting at least ten more home runs in those eighty PA is .1192.

Hanley Ramirez knocked out two home runs and a double Tuesday night to bring his extra-base hit total for the season to seventy-seven. It's very likely he'll end the year with eighty or more extra-base hits. There was a time when that was an impressive accomplishment. Take a look at the period from 1982-1992, the eleven non-strike seasons leading up to the offensive boom of the 1990s:

Players with 80+ extra base hits, 1982-1992

Player	Season	EXBH
Robin Yount	1982	87
Kevin Mitchell	1989	87
Don Mattingly	1985	86
Don Mattingly	1986	86
Cal Ripken Jr.	1991	85
George Bell	1987	83
Hal McRae	1982	81
Mark McGwire	1987	81
Juan Samuel	1987	80
Dave Parker	1985	80
Howard Johnson	1989	80

Just one dozen players accomplished the deed, and three of those came in the big home run year of 1987. From 1993 to 2006, players reached 80 extra-base hits 112 times, including three such seasons in the strike shortened 1995 season. (We've had two reach that level already in 2007.) Twenty years ago, a season like this would win Hanley the MVP, now it's a common occurrence.

Bengie Molina just hit his second home run of the game, both hard shots off Livan Hernandez. That gives him five home runs in seven September games. He hasn't hit more than four in any other month this season. The Giants lead 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth.

Alex Rodriguez went deep again today, hitting four home runs in the three game series at Kansas City and five in six games at Kauffman Stadium this season. Alex came up in 1994 but didn't hit his first home run in KC until 1999, and now has thirteen at the park. I'm sure after this weekend, Alex would like to finish the season hitting there.

The Yankees win 6-3, and it turns out to be a good weekend for their AL Wild Card hopes. The Mariners won today over Detroit, so with the Yankees sweeping Kansas City, they increased their lead over both the Tigers and Seattle. Wang won his eighteenth, keeping pace with Beckett.

Alex needs ten more home runs to break Maris' single season AL home run record. With A-Rod expected to get 85 more plate appearances this season and a home run rate (HR/PA) of .0828, he now has a 16.5% chance of at least 62 homers this year.

The two home runs tonight really boosted Alex's chances of hitting 62 home runs this season. I estimate he has 89 plate appearances left, and with his current rate of .0819 HR/PA, the probability of him hitting at least eleven more dingers is 11.1%. It was about 3% this morning.

Alex Rodriguez just hit his fiftieth home run of the season, a shot just over the fence in dead center field. He's the first Yankees right-hander to hit fifty in a season, and the first since Maris and Mantle in 1961. That's six for Alex in the first eight days of the month. If he can keep up that pace for sixteen more days he'll set a new AL single season record. It's the third time Alex broke the 50 barrier. He did it previously in his first two years with Texas.

Update: Alex goes deep again, a solo shot leading off the sixth inning. This time, he pulls it into the Yankees bullpen. He should turn his ankle more often. It's his eighth multi-homer game of the season. In addition, the broadcast said he set the record for a third baseman with 49. Schmidt hit 48 as a third baseman in 1980.

The two runs scored gives Alex 130 on the season. It's the third time he's both scored and driven in 130 runs. He could easily end up 140-140.

Update: It's the 63rd time a player reached 130-130 in a season. Babe Ruth is the only member of the 170-170 club. The last to reach 140-140 was Sammy Sosa in 2001, the twenty third player to accomplish the feat. However, you have to go back to 1949 and Ted Williams to find the penultimate accomplishment of the feat.

Update: Rodriguez is now the only player to set a single season major league record for home runs at two positions, shortstop and third base.

Alex Rodriguez hit his forty ninth home run of the season in a 3-2 Yankees victory over the Kansas City Royals. Breaks his record for most Yankees home runs by a right-handed batter, and increases his odds of break Roger Maris' AL record to 0.032, or 3.2%.

David Ortiz homered for the Red Sox tonight, a solo shot to tie the game at six. In 48 games since the All-Star break, Big Papi has hit 13 home runs and driven in 44. That compares to 14 home runs and 52 RBI in 91 games before the break. He was slugging well in the first half due to lots of doubles, but now he's adding the homers as well and his slugging percentage is up about 50 points in the second half.

The score remains six-all in the bottom of the sixth. Buchholz is in and walked the first batter he faced. We'll see how long he goes before allowing a hit.

Update: That didn't take long. Tyke Redman, the second batter in the inning picks up the safety.

Update: I forgot to mention that with the score tied and Wakefield out, he'll pick up his first no decision of the season.

Correction: I misread the line score. Papi's home run tied the game. I've modified the post to reflect that.

Alex Rodriguez still has a small chance at breaking Roger Maris' American League home run record. After hitting two home runs last night, Alex needs fourteen long balls to reach sixty two. Based on his performance this year, the probability of Alex hitting a home run in any given plate appearance is .0783 (48/613). He averages 4.44 PA per game, so with twenty two games left, he should get another 98 plate appearances. The probability of his hitting fourteen home runs in those 98 PA is 0.0205, or about 2%. The odds are double that for him at least tying Maris.

The Colorado Rockies lost to the San Francisco Giants last night 5-3. Barry Bonds hit his twenty sixth home run at Coors Field in the game. Barry's the all-time leader among visitors at Coors, although Sammy Sosa just didn't get enough games there.

Alex Rodriguez homers in the bottom of the seventh off Washburn to tie the Yankees-Mariners game at two. He also ties Mel Ott on the all-time list with 511 career home runs. He's about to move up the ranks fast, as his next long ball ties him with Eddie Mathews and Ernie Banks for 17th on the all-time list. He also keeps pace with Barry Bonds, who hit number 762 this evening.

Update: The Yankees load the bases with one out, bringing up Posada as a pinch-hitter. He walks to force in the go-ahead run as the Yankees take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh.

Update: A-Rod hits two home runs in one inning as he starts and ends the scoring, hitting a two-run shot as the Yankees score eight in the seventh. They've added one in the eighth to make the score 10-2. In one night, Alex ties three greats, Ott, Mathews and Banks. He also ties his Yankees record for most home runs by a right-handed batter, 48.

Correction: Mathews, not Williams. Ted is the next person to tie at 521.

With 22 games left can he hit fourteen more and set a new AL record? It would be quite a finish to his season.

Wily Mo Pena hits his fifth home run in fifteen games for the Washington Nationals, the same number he hit with the Red Sox in 73 games. He's not hitting for any higher an average or getting on base much more, but he is smacking the ball when he hits it. The Natonals are up 6-1 on Florida in the seventh.

Alex Rodriguez hit home run number 45 today as he drove in four runs after having his bat confiscated.

Tampa Bay had Rodriguez's bat confiscated in a classic case of gamesmanship - one inning after umpires took away Akinori Iwamura's unusual model when Yankees manager Joe Torre questioned if it was legal.

"It's just retaliation. There's nothing wrong with Alex Rodriguez. He's a great player. It was tit-for-tat entirely," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I said, 'It's an illegal bat.' I said, 'I can't see inside it, but there might be something inside that bat. I don't have X-ray vision. He's got 45 home runs, it's Sept. 1.' That was my argument."

Both confiscated bats were sent to the commissioner's office for inspection.

Iwamura didn't have that luck, going 0 for 4 with a walk.

Alex's home run was his 164th since joining the Yankees in 2004. There's very tight race for most home runs in that time span between four players. Just six home runs separate David Ortiz from Adam Dunn, with Pujols and A-Rod in between. With all four over 160, each member of the quartet has a good chance to producing over 200 home runs in a five year span.

Ryan Howard delivers a home run in the bottom of the tenth to finish a 4-2 comeback victory over the Mets. It was a massive shot, hit the opposite way to left field, putting the Phillies just four games behind the Mets. The Mets bullpen wastes a stellar effort by Tom Glavine who pitched a short shutout, giving up eight hits (all singles) over seven innings, but walking none. But Philadelphia tied it off Feliciano in the eighth, then won it off Mota in the tenth.

Adam Eaton pitches okay, giving up two runs in 5 2/3 innings. He's now given up six runs to the Mets in 18 2/3 innings this year. But the bullpen allowed just one hit over 4 1/3 innings of work, keeping the Phillies in it until the home run heroics of Howard.

For the seventh consecutive season, Albert Pujols reaches the thirty home run level. That also represents Albert's entire career. He's now homered in five straight games and six of his last seven. The Cardinals might want to put some people on base however, as he only has eight RBI over the seven games. St. Louis leads the Marlins 6-4 in the eighth.

Luis Vizcaino manages to put two runners on base with two out, giving Anderson a chance to set a major league record for RBI if he hits a home run.

Update: Anderson hits the ball up the middle, but Betemit grabs it and throws him out to end the inning. Still a remarkable night for Garret Anderson. He sets an Angels record for RBI in a game and the club record for career grand slams.

I just turned on the Yankees-Angels game before going to bed, just in time to see Garret Anderson hit a grand slam. He's 4 for 5 tonight with two doubles and two homers, and he's driven in ten runs. The grand slam was his eighth as an Angel, breaking the record held by Garret and Joe Rudi. The Angels lead the Yankees 18-5 as the teams go to the top of the seventh.

Update: Anderson is one RBI away from the AL record held by Tony Lazzeri and two from the ML record. The Angels also scored five runs in an inning three times tonight.

In what's turning into a slugfest in Anaheim, Alex Rodriguez picked up his second RBI of the night, giving him 120 on the season. It's the eighth time he's reached that plateau. That's tied for third all-time. Jimmy Foxx and Joe DiMaggio each had eight 120 RBI seasons. Ruth is the all-time leader with eleven, and Gehrig is right behind him with ten. I guess it helps to be a Yankee.

Prince Fielder's HR tie with Alex Rodriguez doesn't last long, as A-Rod hits a two run shot in the top of the sixth in Anaheim to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. He reaches the 40 home run plateau for the 8th time in his career.

Milwaukee leads the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-0 in the fifth inning. The Brewers have three home runs so far, one by the pitcher Gallardo, one by Hall and one by Price Fielder. The young Fielder's 39th ties him with Alex Rodriguez for the Major League lead. It's his ninth home run in August.

During their 21-6 run, the Diamondbacks have lost by five or more runs four times. It's a big reason their run differential is negative for the season.

With the Cardinals up 5-4, Lou Piniella brings in Carmen Pignatiello to face Rick Ankiel. The lefty-lefty matchup doesn't work as Ankiel takes the first pitch of the seventh inning deep the other way for his fourth home run. Ankiel is two for four today with a double and a homer, and has homered every 7.75 at bats. McGwire is the career leader in that category at 10.6. Bonds in 2001 and McGwire in 1998 were the only two players to be under 8.0 for a full season.

Update: The rain keeps coming down, and the tarp is out in the bottom of the seventh.

Update: The game resumes and the Cardinals hold on to win 6-4. They manage to cut their losses to one game in the standings to Chicago.

It's been a down home run year for David Ortiz, but he hits a big one tonight. Down 5-0, the Red Sox score two in the fifth, then load the bases for Big Papi. He delivers a grand slam that puts the Red Sox in the lead 6-5. Not a walk-off, but I'm sure it will do. :-)

Update: In the bottom of the sixth, Youkilis limps off the field, and he grabs at his hamstring.

Moises Alou is making the most of his time back from the disabled list. He hit his seventh home run of August tonight, tying Prince Fielder for the most in the majors this month. That's almost half of the Mets total of 16 in August. The Mets lead 4-1 in the fourth.