MLB
Sunday, August 22
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Hot Lines: Today's best MLB bets
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New York Mets at Pittsburgh Pirates (+160, 7.5)
Like so many MLB teams this season, the New York Mets’ offense came to life as soon as the team stepped up to the dish in Pittsburgh. New York scored three runs in the first inning during Game 1 of this series and cruised to a 7-2 victory. It was the first time the Mets had scored more than three runs in seven games.
Now the look to Johan Santana to finish off the Pirates as he goes up against Zach Duke, who hasn’t won in four starts and is now just 5-12 on the season. Duke was working on four scoreless innings against the Florida Marlins before the wheels came off. He allowed four earned runs in the fifth.
"It was tough," Duke told reporters. "I started leaving the ball up and they made me pay. I'm just going to try to erase that one from my memory."
Pick: Under
Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox (-145, 8.5)
If there’s one thing you have to respect about Shaun Marcum, it’s that he may get knocked around, but you know he’ll come back swinging – or more literally in his case, dealing from the rubber.
He gave up four homers and eight earned runs over just four innings of work against the BoSox last week. It was an ugly sight.
So all he did was take a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Oakland A’s the next time he took the mound and finished with a complete-game one-hitter with five strikeouts. He’ll be looking for payback against Boston on Sunday.
Pick: Jays
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Streaking and Slumping Pitchers
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Streaking
Ricky Nolasco (14-8, 4.22 ERA), Florida Marlins
Nolasco is proving to be a solid No. 2 behind Josh Johnson in Florida’s rotation. The former fourth round pick shows first-round talent every time he takes the bump.
The Marlins are 8-2 in his last 10 starts, during which time he’s struck out 79 batters and walked just 12. He’s only pitched six innings in each of his last two appearances but he left both games with the opposition held scoreless.
Dallas Braden (8-8, 3.44 ERA), Oakland Athletics
Braden has already reached his single game, pitching pinnacle but he’s working hard to prove he’s not a one-hit wonder.
He battled through some adversity following his perfect game early this season and has really come on at the tail end of the campaign.
He’s 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA over his last six starts and the A’s are 5-1 during that stretch.
Slumping
Manny Parra (3-9, 5.36 ERA), Milwaukee Brewers
There isn’t much good a pitcher like Manny Parra can do for a staff. You’d think the one thing he could do to help out his team is eat up some innings.
Brewers manager Ken Macha would love for that to happen but Parra averages way too many pitches per inning to give the bullpen any type of relief.
Parra has pitched six innings or more just once in his last 10 starts. Oh yeah, Milwaukee is 2-8 over that period.
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Sunday Night Baseball: Angels at Twins
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Los Angeles Angels at Minnesota Twins
The Angels and Twins conclude their three-game series Sunday night at the new Target Field in Minnesota on ESPN.
TRIPLE THREAT
The first-place Twins’ attack is spearheaded behind All-Star performers C Joe Mauer, 1B Justin Morneau and LF Delmon Young. As a unit, the terrific trio is averaging .331 with 12 home runs and 69 RBIs for the season.
With Morneau still on the DL while dealing with symptoms from a concussion he suffered July 7 in Toronto, contributions from Mauer and Young are crucial at this point of the campaign for Minnesota.
Amazingly, before he homered here Wednesday against the White Sox, Mauer belonged to a small group of players who’d had at least 150 at-bats and a .300 average but no big flies in their home park.
Morneau took batting practice with his teammates on Tuesday prior to the team's game against the White Sox. He hit a few home runs to right field.
"We're just letting him do his thing," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He has had a number of good days. When he goes out on the field and he tells us he's ready, that's when we'll start talking. We're just letting him do his thing, that's all."
Entering this series, the Twins were 15-5 against the AL West, and they captured three of four games from the Angels in the season-opening series in Anaheim. Their next seven games are against Texas and Seattle.
PUT ME IN COACH
During a series at Toronto in early July, Michael Cuddyer played right field, third base and first base. He played first in the series finale because Morneau was out with a concussion, and Cuddyer hasn't played right field or third base since.
Cuddyer has been there all season to fill in for a teammate who gets hurt, or weary, the backup for almost all positions – as he’s doing now with Morneau still residing on the DL.
Most important, he wants to play every day.
"That's what I'm here to do," he said.
And he's been doing it well, with just four errors in 117 games at four positions: center, right, first and third. He also was hitting .342 with seven RBIs in the 10 games before Thursday's loss to Chicago.
"I told him, 'If you ever feel it, Cuddy, you come and tell me,'" Gardenhire said. "He's doing just fine. He wants to play; he loves it."
HEAR YE, HEAR YE
After watching the Angels appear lifeless, OF Tori Hunter knew exactly what he had to do. He couldn't stand what he was seeing from his team.
The veteran, who played for the Twins from 1998-2007, initiated a players-only meeting before Thursday’s 7-2 win over Boston in which they snapped a three-game losing streak.
"I thought it was time to call a meeting."
"I couldn't sleep at night," Hunter said. "The way we were playing, we were down every night. The last five games we were dead, no energy. Guys would strike out and just go sit on the bench. It was sad."
Veteran OF Bobby Abreu joined Hunter in leading the attempt to snap the Angels out of their funk.
"We can play better than we are now, so we had a little chat to find ways to start winning some games," Abreu said. "It was good that we talked. Everybody understands what we are looking for.
"We still have a lot of games left. One inning, one play, one pitch can turn a game around."
The result of the closed-door session was apparent.
"We had a little more energy, a little more bounce in our step," Hunter said. "There's music playing, cracking jokes in the dugout. That's what you've got to get back to: having fun."
The meeting gave the Halos a renewed "sense of purpose," said manager Mike Scioscia.
"I think there are a lot of different things that can come out of a players-only meeting," Scioscia said. "One thing is for guys to understand there's a lot of baseball left and how important it is for us to bring our game onto the field and win or lose with that.
"We have some powerful voices in that clubhouse, and I'm sure that's part of the message that was delivered."
BON JOURNO
Rookie CF Peter Bourjos is struggling at the plate but is leaving quite an impression in the field.
Bourjos laid down a bunt single against the Red Sox on Thursday to snap an 0-for-16 slump. Bourjos entered the weekend hitting .133 (6-for-45).
"I felt like I was watching a young Torii out there. I was, like, 'Wow. This is what it looked like?' Only now I'm seeing it live in real time," commented Angel outfielder Hunter.
Hunter has switched to right field with Bourjos attempting to take over the center field position.
RIGHT ON
A battle of promising right-handers will meet at the Target Center tonight when the Angels send Jered Weaver (11-8, 3.11) up against Scott Baker (10-9, 4.85) and the Twins.
Baker enters tonight’s fray 5-0 with a 3.77 ERA in his last five-team starts. He is also 15-5 in his last 20 home-team starts, including 8-4 here in the Target Center.
The Twins have captured seven wins in a row behind Baker during the month of August, including six in a row at home.
However, Baker has struggled against the Angels, going 1-7 with a 5.82 ERA in eight career team-starts.
Weaver is 5-2 with a 3.65 ERA in seven career team-starts against Minnesota.
The Angels have dropped four of Weaver’s last five starts during the month of August, while he’s posted a 5.64 ERA in those efforts.
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This Day in Baseball
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On August 22 in Baseball History...
1886 - Just as he reaches the ball on a long hit by Jimmy Wolf, Reds center fielder Abner Powell's pants are grabbed by a stray dog. Wolf circles the bases with the homer that wins the game for Louisville 5-3 in eleven innings.
1917 - Pittsburgh's Carson Bigbee set a major-league record — since tied — with 11 at-bats in a 22-inning game against Brooklyn. Pirate Elmer Jacobs pitched 16 2/3 innings in relief. The game was also the fourth consecutive extra-inning game by the Pirates for a total of 59 innings, a National League record.
1926 - After three games with the Tigers are rained out at home, Connie Mack and Tom Shibe get a court injunction and play the first Sunday game ever seen in Philadelphia. A light rain holds the crowd to 10,000 while Lefty Grove defeats the White Sox 3-2. A court later rules that Sunday baseball is still illegal; it will be 1934 before the law changes in Philadelphia.
1933 - William Veeck, president of the Chicago Cubs, urges a midsummer series of interleague games. He also proposes a split season. While some owners are in agreement on interleague play, Washington owner Clark Griffith opposes it.
1934 - Pitcher Wes Ferrell hit two home runs to give the Boston Red Sox a 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox in 12 innings. Trailing 2-1, Ferrell hit a home run in the eighth inning to tie the score and with two out in the 12th, Ferrell connected again for the game-winner.
1946 - Clubs approve a change to a 168-game schedule, but they will rescind the decision at another meeting September 16. Television is first recognized, with clubs given rights to their own games. Players jumping to outlaw leagues will not be allowed to apply for reinstatement for five years.
1961 - Roger Maris becomes the first player to hit his 50th home run in the month of August, as the Yankees lose to the Angels 4-3.
1965 - San Francisco's Juan Marichal, batting against Los Angeles' Sandy Koufax, complains that catcher Johnny Roseboro's return throws are too close. He then turns and attacks Roseboro with his bat. A 14-minute brawl ensues before Koufax, Willie Mays, and other peacemakers can restore order. Roseboro suffers a considerable cut on the head. Juan Marichal is suspended eight playing days and levied a National League-record $1,750 fine.
1984 - New York Mets right-hander Dwight Gooden, at 19, fanned nine San Diego Padres to become the 11th rookie to strike out 200 batters in one season.
1989 - Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson in the fifth inning of a 2-0 loss to Oakland to become the first pitcher in major league history to strike out 5,000 batters.
