Baseball Today
SCOREBOARD
Monday, July 13
No games scheduled. The All-Star game is Tuesday night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
STARS
Sunday
— Josh Beckett(notes), Red Sox, threw a three-hitter for his 100th career victory as Boston beat Kansas City 6-0.
— Clete Thomas(notes), Tigers, finished a double short of the cycle and drove in five runs in Detroit’s 10-1 rout of Cleveland.
— Pedro Feliz(notes), Phillies, hit a first-inning grand slam in Philadelphia’s 5-2 win over Pittsburgh.
— Carlos Gomez(notes), Twins, finished a triple shy of the cycle, drove in a career-high five runs and scored three times in Minnesota’s 13-6 win over the Chicago White Sox.
— Brad Hawpe(notes), Rockies, homered and drove in the winning run with a double in the ninth inning of Colorado’s 8-7 victory over Atlanta.
— John Lackey(notes), Angels, allowed six hits and two runs over seven innings, striking out six in Anaheim’s 6-4 win over the New York Yankees.
— Kevin Kouzmanoff(notes), Padres, went 4 for 5 with a homer and three RBIs in San Diego’s 10-4 win over San Francisco.
— Josh Johnson(notes), Marlins, allowed one earned run and struck out seven pitching into the seventh inning of Florida’s 8-1 win over Arizona.
WE ARE THE WORLD
Rene Tosoni and Dayan Viciedo(notes) hit consecutive RBI doubles to cap a four-run comeback that carried the World team past the United States 7-5 in a Futures Game delayed more than 4 hours in the first inning by a heavy storm. The game, an annual showcase for top minor league talent, was shortened to seven innings because of the delay.
ROTTEN APPLE
Even the Mets’ iconic home run apple wasn’t prepared for their power surge. Fernando Tatis’(notes) home run came too quickly after Brian Schneider’s(notes) shot in a 9-7 win over Cincinnati, so the apple didn’t have the required 2 1/2 minutes it needs to reset before popping out of a hole in the outfield wall again. Fans chanted “Apple! Apple!” until it rose after the inning was finished.
HAPPY CENTURY MARK
Josh Beckett’s 100th career victory may have been his best, a three-hitter that allowed him to join teammate Tim Wakefield(notes) as the only 11-game winners in the AL after Boston’s 6-0 win over the Royals. Beckett retired the first nine batters, five on strikeouts, in his second shutout and complete game of the season. He beat Atlanta 3-0 on June 20.
CATCHING THE FIRST FAN
Cardinals star Albert Pujols(notes) will catch the ceremonial first pitch from President Barack Obama before Tuesday night’s All-Star game in St. Louis. Obama will use a special glove manufactured by Wilson Sporting Goods with “Obama 44” in script and an American flag. The glove will go to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
ALL-STAR BOUND
Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman(notes), Pittsburgh starter Zach Duke(notes) and Tampa Bay first baseman Carlos Pena(notes) are headed to the All-Star game. They were picked Sunday to replace players unable to participate in Tuesday night’s game. Hoffman is 1-1 with 20 saves and a 2.05 ERA, Duke is 8-8 with a 3.29 ERA and three complete games, and Pena leads the AL with 24 homers.
TAKING THE PULSE
An Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll released Sunday showed that, by a margin of 56 percent to 42 percent, fans don’t believe the All-Star game should be used to determine which league’s champion gets to open the World Series at home. Among the other results, more than half the fans said every team shouldn’t have a guaranteed roster spot; and 82 percent said players penalized under MLB’s drug policy shouldn’t be allowed in the All-Star game during the year they are punished, such as if Manny Ramirez(notes) would have been voted onto the team.
NUMBERS GAME
The Yankees are 5-15 this season against four teams in first at the break: Boston, Detroit, Anaheim and Philadelphia. … Jim Thome(notes) hit his 555th career homer in the White Sox’s 13-7 loss to the Twins. … Oakland (37-49) last went into the break with a sub .500 record during the 1999 season (43-44).
SPEAKING
“I was going to go home and sit on my butt for a few days, but that won’t happen now. I’m excited. It’s such an unexpected honor for me. I wasn’t counting on it, but I’ll enjoy every moment. I’ll immerse myself in it.”—Pirates starter Zach Duke on getting picked to replace the Giants’ Matt Cain(notes) in the All-Star game.
Nats fire manager Manny Acta
WASHINGTON (AP) -Manny Acta is out as manager of the Washington Nationals.
Acting general manager Mike Rizzo confirmed the firing Monday morning in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
The Nationals went into the All-Star break with the worst record in the majors at 26-61.
Acta told ESPNdeportes.com on Sunday that he'd been let go.
``I thank the Nationals for giving me this opportunity and I'm sorry that things didn't work out as expected. It's normal for the manager to pay the price when the team is not doing well,'' Acta said.
Acta is the third manager in the major leagues to be let go this season. Colorado's Clint Hurdle and Arizona's Bob Melvin were previously fired.
It was unclear who would replace Acta in Washington. Bench coach Jim Riggleman has managed the Padres, Cubs and Mariners.
Acta was 158-252 in 2 1/2 seasons, and the team's winning percentage dropped progressively from Year 1 until now.
From the outset of spring training in February, he called the current team the most talented he's had, but significant problems in the bullpen, an untested starting rotation and the worst defense in the majors were part of a series of miscues in 2009.
The Nationals started 0-7 and never came close to approaching .500. When the team was hitting well, the pitching was a mess, and the team kept shuffling its bullpen with little change. Once the pitching became serviceable, the hitters suddenly became less productive.
This was Acta's first major league managerial job, and he always preached patience and emphasized the importance of keeping an even keel - so much so that some wondered whether he needed to be a bit less willing to publicly abide his players' mistakes.
From the outset, working for a franchise he knew was undertaking a rebuilding process, Acta repeatedly said he would rather be an optimist than a realist, refusing to acknowledge that his team wasn't ready to be competitive.
In 2007, Acta's first season as Frank Robinson's replacement, Washington finished 73-89, fourth in the NL East but a two-win improvement over 2006 and better than was expected. Acta even received votes for NL Manager of the Year.
But the team took a step backward in 2008, going 59-102 for a .366 winning percentage, the worst record in the major leagues. And there was even more regression this season - not only are the Nationals still the worst team in baseball, but their .299 winning percentage is far lower than any other team.
A 5-0 loss at Houston on Sunday was Washington's seventh in 10 games. The Nationals rank last in the NL with a 5.21 ERA and they have committed the most errors in the majors (82).
When Acta was hired in November 2006, he was 37, and no manager in the majors was younger. He was coming off two seasons as the New York Mets' third-base coach, and before that, Acta held the same job under Robinson from 2002-04, when the Nationals were still the Montreal Expos.
Acta had managed eight seasons in the minors and five in the Dominican Winter League, and he led the Dominican Republic to the semifinals at the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
When the Nationals introduced Acta as their new manager, president Stan Kasten gushed, ``I knew within 30 minutes that this could be the next manager, that he had the right stuff,'' and then-general manager Jim Bowden brought up Jim Leyland's name, saying Acta was ``going to be very special.''
Now, less than three full seasons later, Acta says he is gone.
As it is, his staff had undergone a complete overhaul already, with every coach other than pitching coach Randy St. Claire fired at the end of last season - and St. Claire was dismissed at the beginning of June.
Acta's firing is only the latest example of the constant upheaval and instability surrounding the Nationals since Kasten and local developer Ted Lerner took over the club - a sale that was supposed to finally bring a semblance of normalcy to the franchise.
Instead, there is now uncertainty on the bench to go along with an acting GM who took over day-to-day duties shortly after Bowden resigned during spring training. Rizzo still does not have the full title.
http://www.thespread.com/ap-news-mlb-500/nats-fire-manager-manny-acta-acting-gm-confirms.html
Lincecum, Halladay to start All-Star game
ST. LOUIS (AP) -Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay have been selected as the starting pitchers for the All-Star game.
Last year's NL Cy Young Award winner, Lincecum is 10-2 with a 2.33 ERA for the San Francisco Giants. He will get the ball Tuesday night at Busch Stadium, NL manager Charlie Manuel announced Monday.
Lincecum was chosen for last season's All-Star game at Yankee Stadium but was unable to pitch because he was ill.
Halladay, who is 10-3 with a 2.85 ERA for the Toronto Blue Jays, was selected to start by AL Joe Maddon.
Halladay could be on the trading block soon. Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi recently said he'll listen to offers for the 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner.