Toronto has without a doubt the best catching in the major leagues with the duo of Benjie Molina and Greg Zaun. They have 9 homeruns and 27 RBI’s in the first 4o games and Zaun has been on fire with 16 hits in 16 games, including 5 round trippers and 15 RBI’s.
CF Vernon Wells was charged with his third error of the season Tuesday when he bounced a throw to second base in the opening inning after a single by Julio Lugo. Last season, he was perfect in the field with zero errors in 363 total chances.
Halladay, 6-1 in nine starts, has not lost since Tampa beat him back on April 9. Since that time, he’s gone 5-0 with two no-decisions and in each of those wins he’s allowed no more than one run and a total of four.
Texas SS Michael Young’s two-out, run-scoring single in the seventh inning Monday pushed his season average to .500 (11-for-22) with two outs and runners in scoring position. Since the start of the 2005 season, he leads the majors with a .463 average (38-for-82) in those situations.
First basemen Phil Nevin has gone 20 games without a homerun and for his effort has received $1.3 million which is 1/8 of his $10.4 million salary this year.
Anaheim is 21-7 versus the Rangers since 2004 and Ranger pitchers allowed the Angels’ Vladimir Guerrero a pair of hits Tuesday, extending his amazing hitting streak against Texas to 41 games. Guerrero has hit in every game he’s ever played against the Rangers. Guerrero now has a .447 career average against Texas.
The Rangers’ bullpen was charged with its 13th blown save in 22 chances Tuesday night when Francisco Cordero allowed a pair of eighth-inning runs in the a 7-6 loss to the struggling Angels. The Rangers’ 40.9 save percentage ranks 13th in the AL.
Cordero had blown five saves in the closer’s role before being moved to a setup role. He’s been quite effective in the setup role. Since May 1, he had allowed just one earned run in 10 1/3 innings (0.87 ERA). He had held hitters to a .205 average in that role.
The Mariners are streaking and teams should consider using a left handed starter if they have one as of the Mariners’ 35 home runs this season, 30 have come against right-handed pitching.
1B Richie Sexson struck out three times, matching his season high, done four times previously. He’s about a week ahead of last season’s strikeout pace, when he went on to fan 167 times.
RHP Joel Pineiro was the AL Pitcher of the Week the first week of May, but since then he’s thrown 14 innings and allowed 17 runs (16 earned) as his ERA has climbed from 3.72 to 5.25.
45 – Percent of base stealers A’s catcher Jason Kendall has thrown out, 9-of-20, through May 18. Kendall threw out 15.1 percent of would-be base stealers last year.
A’s 1B Dan Johnson, dropped back to ninth in the order, grounded out weakly to the right side four times in Tuesday’s game. He left two on base in the second inning and three in the third inning. Johnson started the year in a 1-for-37 (.027) slump, went 12-for-32 (.375) over his next nine games, but is now 8-for-48 (.167) over his last 15 games.
The Yankees have no pitching and horrible defense which is a recipe for disaster. In the last 14 games they have botched 22 balls!
Twins LHP Johan Santana had his roughest start since mid-April Tuesday, allowing five runs (four earned) in seven innings against Cleveland and leaving without a decision. The five runs were the most he has allowed against Cleveland in 21 career appearances, including 11 starts.
RHP Bob Wickman’s win in the Indians’ 3-2 victory over Pittsburgh Sunday was his first win since Aug. 10, 2002. Wickman went 105 consecutive appearances without a win. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that was the longest current streak of its kind among active pitchers. The longest winless streak now among active pitchers is held by Colorado’s Tom Martin, who has pitched in 100 games since his last win, which came on Sept. 23, 2003.
Bob Acton
