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Week 13 MLB Review
Who’s in first?
AL East: Red Sox (50-29)
AL Central: Tigers (56-26)
AL West: Athletics (42-39)
NL East: Mets (48-33)
NL Central: Cardinals (44-36)
NL West: Padres (43-39)
Who’s in last?
AL East: Devil Rays (35-47)
AL Central: Royals (27-53)
AL West: Angels (37-44)
NL East: Nationals (35-48)
NL Central: Pirates (28-55)
NL West: Diamondbacks (40-42)
No singles for Saturday cycles: The Tour de France opened on Saturday, July 1, with plenty of cycles while a pair of major leaguers missed their cycles by a lousy single.
In their 8-6 loss to the White Sox, Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez fell a single short of the rare event. Ramirez opened the game with a double in the first, sliced a 2-out triple in the third and connected for a 3-run tater in the fifth. All three hits were off White Sox starter Javier Vazquez. But Ramirez failed to get the single he needed when he popped to short in the seventh and grounded back to Bobby Jenks on the mound in the ninth to end the game. The last Cub to hit for the cycle was Mark Grace over 13 years ago.
In Houston’s 7-0 blanking of Texas, Mike Lamb also fell a single short plus was robbed by Rangers center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. of a second home run in the game. Playing first base in this one, Lamb doubled in the first off John Wasdin, also tagging the Texas starter for a homer in the third. He flied to left in the fifth before tripling against Ron Mahay in the seventh. In the top of the eighth, Lamb drove a Bryan Corey pitch to deep center with two aboard and looked destined to have his second clout of the contest before Mathews leaped and made an incredible over the wall snag. Only six Astros have accomplished the cycle, with Craig Biggio early in 2002 the most recent.
This week's dogs: I’m veering off from my normal route here and giving the bow-wow award to the yahoo’s with MLB who have decided to once again award World Series home field advantage to the team from the league that wins the All-Star Game. It’s asinine, I tell you. Then again, considering the whole deal is being done half-ass, it makes perfect sense for major league management.
Oh brother!: In what has to be the strangest transaction of the season, the Angels designated right-hander Jeff Weaver for assignment and gave that roster and rotation slot to Weaver’s younger brother, Jered. The move came on Friday, June 30, giving the Angels 10 days to either trade the elder Weaver or release him outright.
Jeff signed a 1-year free agent deal last winter worth more than $8 million. He was 3-10 in 16 starts for Anaheim with a 6.29 ERA.
Jered was up previously this season filling in for Bartolo Colon in the rotation. The young Weaver won all four of his starts, striking out 22 and walking just four in an out over 26 innings.
Injury & Trade News: In the rest of last week’s transaction, making their way back on an active MLB roster from the DL were Blue Jays right-hander Pete Walker, Reds right-hander Matt Belisle, Cubs right-hander Scott Williamson, Giants first baseman Lance Niekro, White Sox right-hander Cliff Politte, Athletics DH Frank Thomas and second baseman Mark Ellis, Twins outfielder Shannon Stewart, Cubs infielder Angel Pagan, Braves right-hander Chris Reitsma, Nationals right-hander Pedro Astacio, Rangers right-hander John Wasdin and Padres right-hander Woody Williams.
Among those placed on the DL last week were Robinson Cano (NYY-hamstring), Moises Alou (SFG-back), Rondell White (MIN-shoulder), Shawn Hill (Was-elbow), Alex Rios (TOR-leg infection) and Tim Worrell (SFG-neck).
Toronto optioned right-hander Josh Towers to their Triple-A club in Syracuse … The Dodgers and Devil Rays hooked up in a swap of pitchers and catchers. Los Angeles sent right-hander Jae Seo and catcher Dioner Navarro to Tamp in exchange for righty Mark Hendrickson and catcher Toby Hall … The Cubs sent Tony Womack to Triple-A Iowa … Following his arrest for an argument with his wife that turned very ugly, Philadelphia put right-hander Brett Myers on the inactive list, transferring him to their Single-A Clearwater roster … The Texas Rangers released Marshall ‘Six Fly’ McDougal from their Triple-A club in Oklahoma City … The Mariners sent a minor league infielder to the Indians for first baseman Eduardo Perez.
Fantasy Studs & Duds: I can assure that none of the studs are on any of my rosters after my five fantasy teams went a combined 12-35-7 last week.
Joe Mauer continues to blaze in the batter’s box after a 14-for-21 (.667) week lifted his major league leading average to .392. The Minnesota backstop had 9 RBI, three doubles and a triple to go along with the blistering average.
Ryan Howard barely hit .200 (6-for-29), and he struck out 11 times. But half of his six hits were homers to move him into the MLB lead with 28 on the season. All three of Howard’s shots were of the solo variety.
David Ortiz hit .375 (9-for-24) and banged 4 HR last week. The Boston DH drove in nine runs and is the MLB leader in that category with 75 RBI.
Francisco Liriano won both of his starts during the most recent run through the calendar, upping his season mark to 9-1 and giving him five straight wins. The Minnesota southpaw struck out 20 in his 15 innings of work, allowing just two runs in dropping his ERA to a crisp 1.99.
Braves 3B Chipper Jones batted .500 (12-for-24) with 3 HR and 8 RBI … Orioles OF Nick Markakis was 13-dor-22 (.591) with six runs scored … Blue Jays 1B Lyle Overbay hit 4 HR and batted .423 (11-for-26) … New York lefty Ron Villone won three games out of the Yankees’ pen last week … Chicago’s Bobby Jenks and Seattle’s JJ Putz were the only two relievers to pick up three saves during the week.
Finding the duds is real easy since all I have to do is check out a couple of my fantasy rosters where said duds are grouped. Oakland’s Nick Swisher went 1-for-26 (.038) with 11 Ks last week … Detroit’s Curtis Granderson hit a buck-seventy-nine for three of my teams … Texas shortstop Michael Young, also on three of my five squads, went 3-for-21 (.143) with no runs scored … Milwaukee’s Rickie Weeks, who I have on four teams, batted .111 (3-for-27) though he did manage to steal a couple of bases.
On the bad pitching side of the coin, Baltimore’s Kris Benson managed to pick up a win despite a 7.20 ERA over his 10 innings of work … Houston’s Wandy Rodriguez also added a dubya to his bubble gum card even though he recorded a 9.00 ERA in his two starts covering 12 frames … Ditto for Chicago’s Mark Buehrle who followed up a nice winning performance early in the week with a 5-inning, 13-hit, 3-HR, 10 earned run job Sunday.
Quote(s) of the Week: "Bueno." - - - Astros outfielder Willy Taveras when asked how he felt after he suffered a bruised thigh in an outfield collision with Chris Burke on Friday (June 30).
"It was nice. At same time it's just one game, just one win. But for all the stuff I've been through this weekend and everything that has gone on, it was kind of nice." - - - White Sox catcher AJ Pierzynski after his 3-run homer in the ninth rallied the South Siders to an 8-6 win over the North Side Cubs on Saturday (July 1).
On Deck: Now that interleague play is over, the grind within each division picks back up. The week opens with a few crucial series beginning in the NL West where all five teams are stacked just three games apart from top to bottom.
Barry Bonds and San Fran travel to Colorado for a 3-game set beginning Monday. The Rockies and Giants are currently second and third in the division behind San Diego who travels to Philadelphia to take on the Phillies in yet another big matchup.
Meanwhile the Diamondbacks will be in Los Angeles taking on the Dodgers during the first half of the week.
The Dodgers will also host the Giants next weekend in yet another crucial NL West series, this one covering four games between the longstanding rivals.
Next weekend also finds the Cardinals in Houston taking on the Astros in a rematch of the last two NLCS contests. It could be do-or-die time for Houston as they’re looking for a lift out of their recent doldrums heading into the break.
Over in the AL, a matchup of two division leaders opens the week as the Tigers travel to Oakland. Tuesday’s pitching matchup looks the best to me as Justin Verlander goes for the Tigers and Danny Haren takes the hill for the A’s.
Speaking of do-or-die time, that might fit the 4-game series in Cleveland beginning Monday between the Yankees and Indians. New York finds themselves 6-games behind the White Sox in the present AL Wildcard standings. And if Cleveland is going to get back into that race they will need to get on their horses soon.
Next weekend finds another key series in the Junior Circuit when the Red Sox take on the White Sox in Chicago. Josh Beckett goes for Boston on Saturday against Chicago’s Freddy Garcia. Sunday’s pitching matchup finds Curt Schilling facing Jose Contreras.
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Originally Posted by Willie Bee
