Monday's streaking and slumping starters
By JUSTIN BANKS
Streaking
Armando Galarraga, Detroit Tigers (12-4, 3.17)
Galarraga is 3-0 and has a 2.75 ERA in his last three starts and has not surrendered more than four earned in any of his last 10 overall.
In his last home start, a victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, Galarraga relinquished just one earned run in eight innings and had six strikeouts against two walks. He is also is 3-0 and has a 3.57 career-ERA against the Cleveland Indians.
The Tigers are 5-1 in Galarraga’s last six home starts and are 14-1 in their last five home meetings with the Tribe.
Slumping
R.A. Dickey, Seattle Mariners (3-8, 5.55)
Dickey has just two wins in his last 10 and is 0-2 in his last three with 12.21 ERA. He has relinquished 10 earned runs on nine hits in that period in just four IP.
Dickey, who is winless at home, is 0-2 in his last three at Safeco Field and has relinquished 13 earned runs and four homers in that stretch. He also has a 6.43 career-ERA against the Minnesota Twins.
The Mariners are 2-5 in Dickey’s last seven starts and are 3-7 in their last 10 home games against the Twins.
Baseball Today
Arizona at San Diego (10:05 p.m. EDT). In a marquee matchup, Arizona's Dan Haren (14-6) faces San Diego's Jake Peavy (9-9).
STARS
- Pedro Feliz, Phillies, hit a tying RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and delivered a three-run homer with two outs in the 11th to beat the Dodgers, 5-2.
- Ricky Nolasco, Marlins, allowed three hits, struck out 10 and hit an RBI double while pitching into the eighth inning of a 5-2 victory over Arizona.
- Robinson Cano, Yankees, went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a home run, driving in two in an 8-7 win over the Orioles.
- Bengie Molina, Giants, finished a triple shy of his first cycle, driving in five runs in a 7-4 victory over the Padres.
- Mark Teixeira, Angels, hit his third home run of the series and seventh in 23 games since joining Los Angeles, finishing 3-for-4 in a 5-3 win over the Twins.
- Rich Harden, Cubs, gave up two hits and a run over seven innings, striking out 11 in a 6-1 win over the Nationals.
- Mike Cameron, Brewers, went 5-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs in a 4-3, 12-inning victory over the Pirates.
- Jim Thome, White Sox, went 3-for-4 with a home run in a 6-5, 10-inning win over the Rays.
CLOSING IN
Francisco Rodriguez earned his 50th save Sunday, striking out two in a scoreless ninth inning to secure the Los Angeles Angels' 5-3 victory over Minnesota. Rodriguez is seven saves shy of Bobby Thigpen's single-season record.
LONG TIME COMIN'
Brandon Duckworth tossed five shaky innings for his first major league win as a starter in more than two years, helping Kansas City beat Detroit 7-3 to end a seven-game skid. Duckworth (1-0), called up Sunday from Triple-A Omaha, allowed seven hits and four walks. He did not record a strikeout in earning his first big league win as a starter since beating Milwaukee on June 24, 2006.
COOPERSTOWN COMPANY
White Sox slugger Jim Thome hit his 534th homer, tying Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx for 15th on the career list, to help Chicago beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5 in 10 innings. ... Minnesota's Justin Morneau homered and drove in three runs during a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, reaching the 100-RBI mark for the third straight season. The 2006 AL MVP joined Harmon Killebrew as the only players in franchise history with three consecutive 100-RBI campaigns. Both won the AL MVP award in the first year of their respective streaks.
RICH REWARDS
The Cubs' acquisition of Rich Harden has paid off considerably. He matched a career high with 11 strikeouts Sunday in a 6-1 victory over Washington, the fifth time in eight starts sincing joining Chicago that he's racked up double-digit Ks. By contrast, he struck out more than 10 only twice in 89 starts with the A's. Harden is 4-1 with a 1.47 ERA since July 8.
PRINCE ALBERT
Albert Pujols homered and singled his first two at-bats, then walked three times in the Cardinals' 6-3 win over the Braves. He also moved ahead of Chipper Jones in the race for the NL batting crown, before Jones got an eighth-inning double to retake the lead. Jones is hitting .3594, while Pujols is at .3586.
FUTURE IS BRIGHT
This is what the Indians were looking for when they acquired Anthony Reyes from the Cardinals last month. Even though he got a no-decision in a 4-3 Cleveland win, Reyes pitched seven strong innings and left with a 3-1 lead. The right-hander who won a World Series game for St. Louis in 2006 threw a season-high 107 pitches, allowing one run and four hits with four strikeouts and four walks.
SPEAKING
``I have a bunch of guys that just gave their hearts and souls to that game, and I hope you understand that. I wish I would have had about 15 more minutes to sit out there with my team instead of come out here as quickly as I did. That's how tough it is for me to process.'' - Orioles manager Dave Trembley, after an 8-7 loss to the Yankees.
Monday's MLB Research
By Indiancowboy
Whitesox vs. Baltimore
There are five total games for Baseball on the card today, action starts with the Whitesox vs. Baltimore, note that yesterday, the Whitesox managed to win 6-5, that's fine they won, just irritates me they scored 1 run in the bottom of the 9th to cause my free pick to go to the wind as I had the under 9.5, which caused it to go to a 5-5 tie and extra innings, just goes to show it is a pain in the behind to take an under with the whitesox at times, despite the fact that 4 of those runs came in 1 inning, Richard goes for the Whitesox, he comes off a shutout performance in his last start, before that he had given up 26 hits in 13 innings, not lasting 5 innings in any of those ballgames, he has not faced Baltimore this year, the Orioles put on an extended effort to make a comeback against the Yankees in their last ballgame against Rasner and fell just short 7-8, Waters for the Orioles is on a bounce-back, note the Sox have never faced him, but also note that Waters had a 7+ era in his last start so he is in for better start (he did win that start though), but the one thing about the kid is that he gives up an average of 8 hits the last 5 inns or so, so he does get hit, nonetheless, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Richard on a let down and Waters pitch a bit better today than he did against the Red Sox.
Cleveland vs. Detroit
Detroit lost 3-7 on the road to KC in the last ballgmae, Cleveland won 4-3 on the road at Texas once again as they played great ball in Texas and now look to carry that to Detroit. Jackson has had back to back 5 eras at home against Kansas City and Baltimore, the kid does give up his fair share of hits, both ballgames went well over that he started in, Galaraga is 5-1 over his last 6 starts, he has beat the Indians 3 times this year, but the last time, he had a 5+ era against them, giving signs that the Indians are getting a beat on the kid, the Indians have evidence that they are getting better by the following trend:
Galarraga in about 7 inns gave up 1 hit in his first start,
Galarraga in about 6 inns gave up 4 hits in his next start,
Galarraga in his last start in about 5 1/3 inns gave up 5 hits with a 5+ era.
I bring that up to say maybe the Indians have their day here and they have been playing well on the road, but Galarraga is 12-4 with just above a 3 era overall this year as well. It is quite possible that both teams could have some success hitting the ball today.
Texas vs. Kansas City
Note, that Texas had a rough go against the Indians, now hit the road here against KC, Feldman is 0-2 over his last 5 starts, has over a 6 era on the road, had a 4.5 era against KC in his last start, Meche is 4-0 over his last 7 starts, had a 1.5 era in his last start vs. Texas but the Royals still came out on the losing end, he's a 10 game winner and the royals have won 6 of his last 7 starts, he has pitched 6 of 7 quality starts, and frankly, there is no reason why the Royals would be at this small of a price here, I actually had them around -155 prior to the line being released as they have the pitching edge today, if anything a lean on the Royals as Meche has been solid and the Royals did put up a 7 spot on Detroit yesterday winning 7-3. Feldman does have control problems giving up 21 walks in the last 7 ballgames.
Oakland vs. Angels
Angels had a great come back against the Devil Rays to take a game at home, they were down for most of that game and Seattle hit the RL against Oakland winning 8-4, a game they I mentioned about the RL, but didn't want to take it with Felix although it made sense for several reasons, Braden has only had relief appearances against the Angels in 5 innings, and 3 of those 4 outings were sound but the Angels did get to him once for 2 runs in a relief appearances, he is on a bounce-back of sorts here today after a 4.44 era at Minny which is a tough place to pitch in general, Weaver has had a questionable patch of starts of late going 1-4-1 in quality starts according to my numbers, and he is only a 10 game winner this year with the Angels which has raised some eyebrows this year, do the Angels really deserve to be this much of a favorite, frankly, I don't think so and the A's aren't too far off from being able to hit the +1.5 runs here, very tempting to take the the run and look for a 1 run loss or the A's to win it outright, I have that at a 58% chance of happening.
Minny vs. Seattle
Minny hits the road to Seattle and note the Twins are 74-56, but Seattle has not quit yet and they still continue to play well in spots such as their win 7-3 against the Tigers yesterday, Liriano hasn't given up a run in 12 inns and its very rare to see a road chalk by this much here as he is, and of course over 70% is still riding him similar to Santana when he was with the Twins, Lirianao gave up 2 hits to Seattle at home earlier this year in a 7 hit shutout, having said that, note that Liriano does have a 10+ era on the road where he does struggle at times, even in his win at KC he had a 4.77 era in the midst of his 3 shutout starts, Batista struggled at home against Minny in his last start as well, I don't make it a habit of going against the Twins, but I'm simply saying that with over 70% of the public riding Minny and Liriano having his trouble at times on the road, this seems to be a mine that I'm willing to avoid.