Sunday Trends and Indexes 6/21 ( MLB, WNBA, Misc.)

[Udog]

Baseball Today


SCOREBOARD

Sunday, June 21

Toronto at Washington (1:35 p.m. EDT). One of the few bright spots in an awful season for the Nationals has been the pitching of 22-year-old Shairon Martis, who is 5-1 for a team with the worst record in baseball.

STARS

Saturday

-Josh Beckett, Red Sox, allowed just five singles for his first shutout since joining Boston in a 3-0 win over Atlanta.

-Brian Roberts hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth off fill-in closer Ryan Madson to lead Baltimore to a 6-5 win over Philadelphia.

-Adam Kennedy, Athletics, tied his career high with four hits, including a home run, in Oakland's 6-3 win over San Diego

-Khalil Greene and Albert Pujols, Cardinals. Greene hit a late three-run homer and Pujols hit a two-run shot to lead St. Louis to a 7-1 win over Kansas City.

-Todd Helton, Rockies, hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning and Colorado won its fourth in a row, beating Pittsburgh 9-7.

-Carlos Pena, Rays hit a tiebreaking homer off Johan Santana in the seventh inning of Tampa Bay's 3-1 win over the Mets.

-Josh Johnson, Marlins, pitched seven innings of three-hit ball and Florida beat the Yankees.

DUEL DUD

Jeff Weaver outpitched little brother Jered in a duel that was mostly a dud and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-4 on Saturday night. The much-anticipated Weaver vs. Weaver matchup didn't last too long as neither 26-year-old Jered nor 32-year-old Jeff made it through the sixth inning.

ROUGH REUNION

Kerry Wood's return to Wrigley Field went from bad to worse Saturday, when he blew a save for the second straight night, allowing a game-tying single to Andres Blanco in the 13th and following it with a wild pitch that allowed Blanco to score the winning run as the Chicago Cubs rallied for a 6-5 victory. Friday night he allowed a ninth-inning homer to Derrek Lee before Cleveland lost in 10.

HANG ON!

Two games Saturday ended on wild pitches in extra innings. Nate Schierholtz scored the winning run for San Francisco on a wild pitch by Jason Jennings with two outs in the 11th inning and the Giants beat the Texas Rangers 2-1 Saturday night. Earlier, the Chicago Cubs beat Cleveland 6-5 in 13 innings when Andres Blanco came home on Kerry Wood's gaffe.

RIGHT IN THERE

Emilio Navarro, who at 103 is believed to be the oldest living professional baseball player, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Oakland Athletics-San Diego Padres game on Saturday night. He was a guest of the Padres as part of the team's annual salute to the Negro Leagues. Navarro made the throw on the fly from about 25 feet to Padres utilityman Edgar Gonzalez.

FLU BALL

Phillies slugger Ryan Howard extended his consecutive games streak by hitting a three-run homer as a pinch-hitter on Saturday night, hours after he was hospitalized with flu symptoms. The 2006 National League MVP has played 343 straight games since May 25, 2007, the longest active streak in the majors. With the Phillies trailing 3-2 in the seventh, Howard came up with two runners on and two outs. He connected against reliever Danys Baez for a healthy sock into Philadelphia's bullpen to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead. It was his fifth career pinch-hit homer.

ROCK ON

The Rockies have won 15 of 16 after Todd Helton hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning, giving Colorado a 9-7 win Saturday night.

LITTLE HELP

Johan Santana (8-5) took the loss in the Mets' 3-1 setback against Tampa Bay on Saturday, even though he didn't allow a hit until the fifth.

SPEAKING

"Albert hits good pitches hard and bad pitches even harder. When he gets in the batter's box, you start praying. If you don't pray, you think about starting.'' - Brian Bannister, who gave up a two-run homer to the Cardinals' Albert Pujols in Kansas City's 7-1 loss Saturday night.

SEASONS

June 21

1916 - Rube Foster of the Red Sox pitched a 2-0 no-hitter against the New York Yankees. Foster struck out three and walked three and pitched the first no-hitter at Fenway Park.

1941 - Lefty Grove's 20-game consecutive win streak at Fenway Park ended with a 13-9 loss to the St. Louis Browns. The streak spanned from May 3, 1938, to May 12, 1941.

1956 - In a rare double one-hitter, Chicago's Jack Harshman outdueled Connie Johnson and George Zuverink of Baltimore as the White Sox beat the Orioles 1-0.

1964 - Jim Bunning of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a perfect game against the New York Mets on Father's Day. The no-hitter gave Bunning one in each league. The Phillies' Gus Triandos became the first catcher to handle no-hitters in both leagues.

1970 - Detroit Tigers shortstop Cesar Gutierrez had seven hits in seven at-bats in a 9-8, 12-inning victory over the Cleveland Indians. Gutierrez had six singles and a double.

1989 - Carlton Fisk set an American League record for homers by a catcher and drove in three runs to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 7-3 victory over the New York Yankees. Fisk hit his 307th homer as a catcher to pass the Yankees' Yogi Berra.

2000 - Eric Chavez hit for the cycle in Oakland's 10-3 win over Baltimore. Chavez doubled in the second inning, singled in the fourth, tripled in the fifth and finished off the cycle with a homer in the seventh.

2002 - Luis Castillo singled in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to 35 games, tying Ty Cobb and two others for the 10th-longest streak in baseball history.

2005 - Jeff Larish matched a College World Series record with three homers, and J.J. Sferra drove in the game-winning run with a bloop single in the 11th inning as Arizona State rallied for an 8-7 victory and eliminated hometown favorite Nebraska. Larish's record-tying third homer tied it in the bottom of the ninth, and Sferra's single in the 11th punctuated the 4-hour, 7-minute game.

2005 - The New York Yankees scored 13 runs in the eighth inning, sending 16 batters to the plate, to help overcome an early eight-run deficit and defeat Tampa Bay 20-11.

2006 - Jose Reyes hit for the cycle in the New York Mets' 6-5 loss to Cincinnati.

Today's birthday: Jeff Baker 28.

[Udog]

This Day in Baseball


On June 21 in Baseball History...

1939 - The New York Yankees announce Lou Gehrig's retirement, based on the report that he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The 36-year-old star will remain with the team as captain.

1950 - Joe DiMaggio gets his 2,000th hit, a seventh-inning single off the Indians Chick Pieretti, as the Yanks win 8-2. DiMaggio joins Luke Appling and Wally Moses as the only active players with 2,000 or more hits.

1964 - On Father's Day at Shea Stadium, Jim Bunning pitches the first perfect game (excluding Don Larsen's 1956 World Series effort and Harvey Haddix's 1959 extra-inning loss) since Charlie Robertson's on April 30, 1922. He also becomes the first pitcher to win no-hitters in both leagues and drives in 2 runs as Philadelphia beats the Mets 6-0. Gus Triandos becomes the first catcher to catch a no-hitter in each league. The Mets don't fare much better in the nightcap as rookie Rick Wise wins his first game and gives up just 3 hits for an 8-2 win.

1970 - Detroit's Cesar Gutierrez goes seven-for-seven to tie a record set in 1892 in a 12-inning, 9-8 win over Cleveland. Mickey Stanley's home run wins it for the Tigers. Gutierrez will collect just seven hits in all of 1971, and 128 hits for his career.

1971 - Indians slugger Ken Harrelson announces his retirement from baseball to join the pro golf tour.

1986 - Bo Jackson, college football's Heisman Trophy winner in 1985 and the first pick (by Tampa Bay) in the NFL draft, stuns observers nationwide by signing with the Kansas City Royals instead.

1989 - The Yankees trade outfielder Rickey Henderson back to the A's for journeymen pitchers Eric Plunk and Greg Cadaret and outfielder Luis Polonia.

[Udog]

MLB
Write-Up


Sunday, June 21

With interleague play here, remember there are DHs in games played in the American League parks, no DHs in National League parks. Under is 43-29-3 in NL parks, 40-30-5 in AL. As far as wins/losses go, the AL leads the NL, 80-73

Hot Pitchers
-- Pirates won four of Maholm's last five road starts.
-- Mets won eight of Pelfrey's last ten starts. Tampa Bay is 9-2 in last eleven Niemann starts (scored 8+ runs in seven of last eight).
-- Red Sox won all six of Wakefield's starts at Fenway Park.
-- Martis has a 2.50 RA in his last three starts. Romero is 1-1, 3.10 in his last three starts.
-- Hamels is 1-0, 2.70 in his last three starts.
-- Harang has a 1.59 RA in his last three starts.
-- Minnesota won four of last five Perkins home starts.
-- Brewers won four of last five Gallardo starts (3-1, 1.72). Verlander is 7-1, 1.69 in his last ten starts.
-- Wainwright is 4-3, 2.66 in his last seven starts. Meche is 2-0, 0.41 in his last three starts.
-- Braden is 1-0, 2.42 in his last four starts. Correia is 2-1, 2.25 in his last three starts.
-- Hernandez is 2-0, 0.91 in his last four starts.
-- Millwood is 3-0, 1.30 in his last four starts.
-- Sabathia is 3-1, 2.61 in his last four road starts.
-- Kershaw has a 2.84 RA in his last six starts.

Cold Pitchers
-- de la Rosa is 2-5, 7.47 in his last nine starts.
-- Jurrjens is 0-3, 4.20 in his last three starts.
-- Guthrie is 0-4, 8.53 in his last four starts.
-- Wells is 0-3, 3.73 in his last five starts. Sowers is 0-5, 6.30 in his six starts this season.
-- Rodriguez is 0-4, 9.12 in his last five starts.
-- Buehrle is 0-1, 5.76 in his last three starts.
-- Zito is 2-5, 5.28 in his last seven starts.
-- Volstad is 0-4, 8.85 in his last four starts.
-- Arizona lost four of last five Davis road starts.
-- Lackey is 2-2, 6.34 in his last six starts.

Hot Teams
-- Rockies won 15 of their last 16 games.
-- Cubs are only fifth team in last 30 years to win three straight days in walkoff fashion when they trailed in 8th inning or later.
-- Tigers won four in a row at home, scoring 30 runs.
-- Angels won five of their last six home games. Dodgers are 12-5 in their last seventeen road games.
-- Nationals won last four games, allowing total of six runs.
-- Orioles won their last four games, scoring 24 runs.
-- Reds won eight of their last twelve home games. White Sox are 9-4 in their last thirteen road games.
-- Red Sox won six of their last eight home games.
-- Cardinals won four of their last five games.
-- Twins won 15 of their last 21 home games. Astros are 7-2 in rubber game of a series.
-- A's won three of their last four games.
-- Giants are 11-4 in their last fifteen home games.
-- Mariners won six of their last seven home games.

Cold Teams
-- Pirates lost four of their last five games.
-- Indians lost last five games, allowing 45 runs.
-- Blue Jays lost six of their last nine games.
-- Brewers lost eight of their last twelve games.
-- Marlins are 11-18 in their last 29 home games. Bronx is 4-7 in its last eleven games.
-- Phillies lost seven of their last eight home games.
-- Mets lost seven of their last ten games. Rays lost 10 of their last 13 road games.
-- Braves lost seven of their last ten games.
-- Royals lost their last four games, giving up 41 runs.
-- Rangers are 7-11 in their last eighteen games.
-- San Diego lost seven of its last eight games.
-- Diamondbacks lost five of their last seven games.

Totals
-- Over is 3-1-1 in Pirates' last five road games.
-- Cubs' last three games went over the total.
-- Over is 8-3 in Milwaukee's last eleven road games.
-- Seven of last nine Dodger road games stayed under the total.
-- Six of last seven Tampa Bay road games stayed under the total.
-- Last nine Washington home games stayed under the total.
-- Five of Phillies' last seven home games went over the total.
-- Under is 6-2-2 in last ten Florida home games.
-- Six of last nine Cincinnati home games stayed under the total.
-- Under is 12-4-1 in last seventeen games at Fenway Park.
-- Over is 5-2-3 in Cardinals' lst nine road games.
-- Four of last five Houston road games stayed under the total.
-- Under is 13-4 in Rangers' last seventeen road games.
-- Four of last six San Diego games stayed under the total.
-- Over is 11-4 in Arizona's last fifteen games.

Umpires
-- Pitt-Colo-- Underdog is 9-4 in Reilly games this season.
-- Clev-Chi-- Last four Barksdale games went over the total.
-- Mil-Det-- Favorite won three of four Kulpa games.
-- LA-LA-- Three of last four Carlson games stayed under the total.
-- TB-NY-- Home team is 11-2 in Crawford games behind plate.
-- Tor-Wsh-- Eight of last eleven Bucknor games stayed under total.
-- Balt-Phil-- Road team won nine of last twelve Reliford games.
-- NY-Fla-- Under is 4-0-2 in last six Timmons games; favorite is 8-2 in his last ten games behind dish.
-- Chi-Cin-- Five of last seven Bell games stayed under the total.
-- Atl-Bos-- Underdog is 3-2 in Hohn's last five games.
-- StL-KC-- Seven of last ten Nauert games went over the total.
-- Hst-Min-- Four of last five Randazzo games stayed under the total.
-- Tex-SF-- Nine of last twelve Miller games stayed under the total.
-- A's-SD-- Last five Knight games went over the total.
-- Az-Sea-- Underdogs won Johnson's last four games behind plate.

[Udog]

That should do it, guys! Your trends crew wishes all our members and guests who are fathers a terrific day!

Happy Father's Day and good luck, everybody!