MLB
Friday, September 10
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Streaking and Slumping Pitchers
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Streaking
Carlos Zambrano (7-6, 4.23 ERA) Chicago Cubs
Maybe all the Cubs' pitchers should go through anger management counseling. It certainly has worked for the formerly hot-headed Zambrano.
Z is 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA since returning to the Cubs' rotation and he has won three straight starts for the first time in more than a year.
The hard-throwing righty has 23 strikeouts to only seven walks over his last three outings.
J.A. Happ (6-2, 2.86 ERA) Houston Astros
Happ has found a happy home at Houston, where he is 3-0 at home and 3-0 in his last three starts overall after being traded to the Astros from the Phillies.
Happ had a complete-game sutout against the Cardinals last week to improve to 4-0 with a blistering 0.84 ERA at Minute Maid Park this season.
Slumping
Roy Halladay (17-10, 2.36 ERA) Philadelphia Phillies
Halladay hasn't been his same dominant self over his last three starts, going 1-2 with a 4.29 ERA over that span.
Those numbers might not land most pitchers on the slumping list but you have to grade Halladay on a curve. He's allowed 23 hits, 10 earned runs and seven homers during those 21 innings. In his previous six starts he allowed only seven earned runs and one homer.
Jered Weaver (11-11 3.14 ERA) Los Angeles Angels
Weaver has lost four consecutive decisions but hasn't exactly been getting much run support from his teammates.
Weaver has allowed 14 earned runs over his last 26 innings. The Halos have scored just one run in those games.
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Hot Lines: Today's best MLB bets
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Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays (-130, 9)
Rays manager Joe Maddon set a lofty goal for his starting rotation before the season - 1,000 total innings. The Rays are on target, but that's no necesasrily a good thing.
Starting pitching has carried the Rays this season bu signs of fatigue are starting to show. Only one starter has lasted more than six innings in their last eight games.
"Our pitching has carried us all year, if you ask me," Rays outfielder B.J. Upton said. "They set expectations for themselves in spring training, and so far, they've lived up to them."
James Shields takes the hill today after recently becoming the team's all-time wins leader, but he was hammered by Baltimore in his last outing and lasted just 4 1/3 innings.
Toronto counters with young lefty Brett Cecil, whom the Jays have carefully paced this season. The Rays are batting just .196 against lefties in their last 10 games.
Pick: Blue Jays
Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets (210, 7.5)
The Phillies relied on pitching to get them a tough stretch of injuries and a long slump in hitting, but the team is starting to get healthy and hot at the right time.
The Phillies have won 11 of their last 14 games overall and 12 of their last 14 on the road to overtake the Atlanta Braves for the lead in the NL East. And their just getting started.
"I definitely feel like we've got a good run in us," Phillies amanager Charlie Manuel said. "I feel like we can play better than we have at any time this year because we have all of our players back. We're more solid. We're more equipped to do that."
A resurgent offense deserves much of the credit. They are batting .288 and averaging almost six runs per game over their last 10 outings.
Shane Victorinia (.444), Chase Utley (.368) and Ryan Howard (.316 with five homers) have increased their production during that stretch and should keep swinging a hot stick against Mets' reliever Jenrry Mejia, who is making his first start of the season.
Phillies starter Roy Halladay has been struggling lately, allowing 10 earned runs and seven homers in his last three starts, but should get enough run support in this one.
Pick: Over
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This Day in Baseball
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On September 10 in Baseball History...
1881 - In a game in Albany, Troy's Roger Connor hits the first grand slam in National League history. The blow comes off Worcester's Lee Richmond with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning and wins the game 8-7.
1889 - New York Giants pitcher Mickey Welch strikes out as the first pinch hitter in Major League history.
1918 - Players on both sides threaten to strike the World Series unless they are guaranteed $2,500 to the winners and $1,000 each for the losers. They back off, however, when told they will appear greedy while their countrymen are fighting World War I. On the field, Hippo Vaughn comes back with two days of rest for the Cubs and blanks the Red Sox 3-0 in Game Five.
1919 - Cleveland's Ray Caldwell pitched a 3-0 no-hitter against the New York Yankees.
1924 - At the Polo Grounds, the Giants rip the Braves 22-1 in the opener of a doubleheader. Frankie Frisch goes six-for-six before grounding out.
1950 - Joe DiMaggio became the first to hit three home runs in one game at Griffith Stadium as the New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 8-1.
1969 - The New York Mets swept the Montreal Expos in a doubleheader at Shea Stadium, 3-2 in 12 innings and 7-1. The victories moved the Mets into first place in the National League East for the first time ever on top.
1974 - Lou Brock tied Maury Wills' single-season stolen base record with a steal in the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies. He broke the record with steal No. 105 in the seventh inning.
1977 - Roy Howell hit two home runs, two doubles and a single and drove in nine runs as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees, 19-3.
1978 - The Red Sox throw 22-year-old Bobby Sprowl at the Yankees and the lefty last just two-thirds of an inning as the Yankees win 7-4. New York outhits the Red Sox 67-21, and outscores them 42-9, in a sweep that leaves the teams in a tie for first place, and caps a remarkable march to the top from fourth place, 14 games out.
1980 - Bill Gullickson struck out eighteen - the most ever by a rookie - as the Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2.
1989 - Five days after hitting a home run for the Yankees in a 12-2 win over the Mariners, Deion Sanders returns a punt 68 yards for a touchdown in his NFL debut with the Atlanta Falcons. He is the first player to accomplish both these feats in the same week at the professional level.
1997 - Mark McGwire joined Babe Ruth as the only players in Major League history with consecutive 50-homer seasons by hitting a 446-foot shot off Shawn Estes in the third inning of St. Louis' game against at San Francisco. McGwire, who hit a Major League-leading fifty-two homers for Oakland last season, became the first player with back-to-back 50-homer seasons since Ruth did it in 1927 and 1928.
