MLB
Monday, September 13
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Streaking and Slumping Pitchers
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Streaking
Brett Myers (11-7, 2.91 ERA), Houston Astros
Myers has blanked two of his last three opponents heading into Monday’s start against the Milwaukee Brewers and has a 1.35 ERA over those three games. He will be looking for some revenge after dropping a 5-2 decision the last time he faced Milwaukee, allowing four runs on seven hits over six innings pitched.
Slumping
Bronson Arroyo (14-10, 4.09 ERA), Cincinnati Reds
Arroyo is coming off a nasty 9-2 loss against the Colorado Rockies in which he gave up seven runs and three homers over just 4 1/3 innings of work. He has now lost three straight games and has a 6.75 ERA over that slump. Arroyo has allowed eight home runs over his last six outings.
Luke Hochevar (5-4, 5.11 ERA), Kansas City
Hochevar is working on a 5.00 ERA over his last three outings. He came out of the pen to work three innings of relief against the Twins the last time he took the hill, allowing three runs on five hits. It was his first MLB appearance since mid-June.
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Hot Lines: Today's best MLB bets
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New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays (+105, 8)
Two of the game’s most dominating left-handed starters square off on Monday night as New York’s CC Sabathia goes head-to-head with Tampa Bay’s David Price on Monday.
Price has allowed more than three earned runs only once over his last nine starts, but has only five wins over that span. Sabathia has allowed five runs in two of his last three outings, but sandwiched an eight-inning shutout of the Oakland A’s in between.
You won’t see a better lefty-lefty matchup around so we’ll stick with the betting playbook and play the under.
Pick: Under
Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles (-121, 9)
The Baltimore Orioles have been a completely different team since Buck Showalter took over managerial duties. After a terrible start to the year, Baltimore is putting some runs on the board and isn’t an automatic loss when playing on the road.
Baltimore dropped a 6-2 decision at Detroit on Sunday but had won six of seven before that.
Pick: Orioles
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This Day in Baseball
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On September 13 in Baseball History...
1909 - Ty Cobb clinches the American League home run title with his ninth round-tripper. It is an inside-the-park drive against the Browns. In fact, all his nine home runs this season are inside the park, including two in one game on July 15. He is the only player in this century to lead in home runs without hitting one out of the park.
1925 - Brooklyn's Dazzy Vance threw a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies in the first game of a doubleheader as the Dodgers won 10-1.
1927 - Babe Ruth hits two home runs to give him 52 for the year as the Yankees win a pair from Cleveland to clinch the American League pennant. It is Miller Huggins' fifth pennant, tying him with Connie Mack. The Yankees win the nightcap 5-3, as Waite Hoyt wins his 20th.
1932 - The New York Yankees clinched the American League pennant as Joe McCarthy became the first manager to win flags in both leagues.
1934 - Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis sells the World Series broadcast rights to the Ford Motor Company for $100,000. Previously no fee had been charged.
1936 - Bob Feller, just seventeen, beat the Philadelphia A's 5-2 on two hits. The Cleveland youngster fanned an American League-record seventeen batters.
1938 - A special committee names Alexander Cartwright to Baseball's Hall of Fame for originating the sport's basic concepts. Henry Chadwick, inventor of the box score and the first baseball writer, is also honored.
1946 - The Boston Red Sox clinch the American League pennant, edging the Cleveland Indians 1-0 on Ted Williamss inside-the-park home run, the only one of his career. Williams punches the ball over the shift when left fielder Pat Seerey pulls in behind the shortstop position.
1951 - The Cards split a rare doubleheader with two different teams, defeating the Giants 6-4 in the first game in the afternoon and losing to the Braves in the nightcap. The Cards manage just one hit in losing to Warren Spahn 2-0. It is the first time a team in the National League has played two different teams in the same day since the early years of the century.
1958 - Warren Spahn becomes the first lefty to win twenty or more games nine times, as the Braves beat St. Louis 8-2. Eddie Plank and Lefty Grove each won twenty games eight times.
1963 - Jim Bouton's 20th win clinches the Yankees 28th pennant. It's a 2-0 shutout in Minnesota.
1964 - St. Louis becomes the first National League club to score in each inning since the Giants did it on June 1, 1923. They coast 15-2 at Wrigley Field.
1965 - Willie Mays hit his 500th career home run off Houston's Don Nottebart in a 5-1 San Francisco victory.
1969 - Bobby Bonds becomes the fourth 30-homer, 30-steal player in Major League history, but the Reds beat the Giants 6-4.
1971 - Frank Robinson hit his 500th career home run off Detroit's Fred Scherman. The ninth-inning shot gave the Baltimore Orioles a split of a doubleheader against the Tigers.
1978 - The New York Yankees beat the Tigers 7-3 at Detroit to move into sole possession of first place for the first time after being 14 games out.
1983 - Oakland's Rickey Henderson steals three bases in a 6-5 win over Texas to give him 101 for the season. It is his third season with one-hundred or more steals.
1986 - Texas hit a club record seven home runs, including two each by Darrell Porter and Ruben Sierra, as the Rangers routed the Minnesota Twins 14-1. The Rangers rocked starter Bert Blyleven for five home runs, raising his season total to forty-four and breaking an American League record.
1989 - Fay Vincent is elected baseball's eighth commissioner, succeeding the late Bart Giamatti, whom he served as deputy commissioner.
1991 - A 55-ton block collapses in Montreal's Olympic Stadium. The Expos, already in last place, will have to play the rest of their home games on the road.
1995 - Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, the middle infield of the Detroit Tigers, set an American League record when they played in their 1,915th game together.
1998 - Sammy Sosa becomes the second player of the week to break the home run record of Roger Maris. Sosa, who had watched Mark McGwire tie and set the mark against the Cubs on September September 8, launches two home runs against the Brewers at Wrigley Field. The second one breaks the record, sets off a mad dash of fans chasing the ball on the street outside the ballpark, and sets up a game-tying rally against the Brewers in the ninth inning. Mark Grace later wins the game for the Cubs 11-10 with a home run.
