Monday's streaking and slumping starters
By JUSTIN BANKS
Streaking
Johan Santana, New York Mets (12-7, 2.70)
Santana, who has been sizzling, is 2-0 and has a 1.23 ERA in his last three. In fact, his last two triumphs were shutouts over the Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Santana has relinquished three earned runs in his last three starts. He has 18 strikeouts against a mere four walks in that stretch.
Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros (12-9, 4.11)
Oswalt is 2-1 and has a 1.57 ERA in his last three and has relinquished eight earned runs in his last four overall.
Oswalt has just two setbacks in his last 10 starts and is 1-1 in his last three road starts. He is also 11-11 and has a 4.09 career-ERA against the Chicago Cubs.
In his last road start, a triumph over the Cincinnati Reds, he surrendered just one earned and struck out six in eight IP.
Slumping
Jonathan Sanchez, San Francisco Giants (8-9, 4.53)
Sanchez, who has just two wins in his last 10 starts, is 0-3 with a shaky 5.06 ERA in his last three overall.
Sanchez is 0-3 in his last three road starts, including a recent setback to the Houston Astros in which he conceded two earned runs on five hits. He is 2-4 and has a 4.26 ERA on the road this season.
The left-hander also has a lofty 7.00 career-ERA against the Colorado Rockies.
Baseball Today
SCOREBOARD
Monday, Sept. 1
Chicago White Sox at Cleveland (7:05 p.m. EDT) John Danks (10-7, 3.30 ERA) tries to keep the White Sox atop the AL Central while surprising Cy Young candidate Cliff Lee (19-2, 2.43) tries to become the first 20-game winner in the American League.
STARS
Sunday
-CC Sabathia, Brewers, pitched a one-hitter in his latest dominant start, allowing only an infield single by Andy LaRoche in the fifth inning of a 7-0 victory over Pittsburgh.
-Aaron Boone, Nationals, failed to lay down a sacrifice, then slammed a three-run, eighth-inning home run to lift Washington to its season-high sixth straight win, 8-4 over the Braves.
-Miguel Cabrera, Tigers, homered and drove in four runs in a 4-2 win over Kansas City.
-Joey Votto, Reds, went 4-for-4 with four RBIs, helping Cincinnati beat San Francisco 9-3 to complete its first three-game sweep of the Giants at home in 14 years.
-Adrian Beltre, Mariners, homered twice in a 6-4 win over Cleveland that finished a sweep.
NO NO-HITTER
CC Sabathia limited the Pirates to Andy LaRoche's infield single leading off the fifth inning, on a play Milwaukee manager Ned Yost argued was an error on the pitcher, and the Brewers beat Pittsburgh 7-0 for their eighth victory in nine games. The Brewers said they plan to send a DVD of the play to Major League Baseball, asking that the call be overturned. However, according to baseball's rulebook, only the official scorer may change a judgment scoring call.
NO HALLADAY FOR YANKEES
Roy Halladay became the first pitcher to beat the New York Yankees four times in a season since Chuck Finley went 4-0 for the Angels in 1996. He improved to 4-1 with a 2.50 ERA in five starts against the Yankees this season. He won twice in the Bronx, making a few lasting memories before New York moves into its new ballpark next year.
FATIGUED
Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano was scratched from his start against the Philadelphia Phillies to give him some time to rest his tired arm. A 13-game winner this season, Zambrano is 1-1 over his last five starts and twice failed to get out of the fifth inning. He has seen a drop-off at times in his velocity. Leading the NL Central and with the best record in the majors, the Cubs want a fresh Zambrano for the final month. He went through a similar episode a year ago when he was winless in August before rebounding to go 4-1 in his final five regular-season starts.
TRADED
David Eckstein was traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Arizona Diamondbacks, giving the NL West leaders a late-season spark plug with impressive October credentials. The 2006 World Series MVP with St. Louis, Eckstein batted .277 with a homer and 23 RBIs for Toronto. Known for his all-out hustle, the 5-foot-7 infielder also helped the Angels win the 2002 World Series.
SHELLACKED
Arizona starter Brandon Webb failed in his second bid to become the majors' first 20-game winner. Unable to command his fastball and sinker, Webb allowed six earned runs, eight hits and five walks in 3 1-3 innings, matching his shortest outing of the season.
STATS
Jose Valverde picked up his 37th save in 43 chances for the Astros. He has recorded saves in each of his last 10 appearances, the longest streak in the NL this season and a club single-season club record. ... Minnesota's Justin Morneau homered and drove in four runs to become the ninth Twins player since 1961 to reach 500 RBIs for his career.
SPEAKING
"To tie Mickey Mantle, you're speechless. What do you say? It's really hard to talk about because when you throw Mickey Mantle's name around. That's probably one of the greatest home run hitters of all time.'' - White Sox slugger Jim Thome, after tying Mantle for 14th place on the career home run list in Chicago's 4-2 win over Boston.
Sept/Oct Pitchers Report
By Marc Lawrence
September/October Good Month And Bad Month Pitchers
In keeping with our game plan of acknowledging good pitchers and avoiding bad pitchers during their GOOD and BAD months of the season, below is the list of arms to watch throughout the month of September. Note that the W-L records are those of the team in which the listed pitcher started over the previous three seasons.
Thanks to my good friend Tom Freese, handicapper par excellence, I present a list of the BEST and WORST pitcher performance records during the months of September/October over the past three years. And, hey beer man, two more for the road. Enjoy...
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER PITCHERS
Josh Beckett - Boston: 14-5
Boof Bonser - Minnesota: 7-3
Jose Contreras - Chicago White Sox: 15-6
Rich Hill - Chicago Cubs: 10-3
Chuck James - Atlanta: 8-3
Cliff Lee - Cleveland: 8-3
Roy Oswalt - Houston: 16-5
Kenny Rogers - Detroit: 14-6
C.C. Sabathia - Milwaukee: 13-6
Jeff Suppan - Milwaukee: 15-7
Dontrelle Willis - Detroit: 13-6
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER BAD PITCHERS
Eric Bedard - Seattle: 3-9
Kyle Davies - Kansas City: 2-10
Tom Gorzelanny - Pittsburgh: 3-7
Edwin Jackson - Tampa Bay: 3-7
Noah Lowry - San Francisco: 3-8
Matt Morris - No Team 5-13
Scott Olsen - Florida: 3-8
VegasInsider.com
INDIAN COWBOY'S MLB RESEARCH
Baltimore vs. Boston
Only lean here is on the Boston Run-Line given how well Byrd has pitched of late, 6-1 over his last 7 starts and Olson has a 7.41 era on the road this year, having said that, I take no team that has a public backing of over 70%.
White Sox vs. Cleveland
Richard has a 8+ era on the road this year, of course he has won back to back starts to his credit, he has yet to face Cleveland which is to his advantage as the pitcher gets the advantqage the first time around with the hitters, Lee is 8-0 with a 2.39 era at home, he has a bit of revenge from a 2-3 no decision against the white sox that his team went on to lose, he is 5-0 over his lats 5 starts, with no start having over a 2.6 era, He should be the Cy Young Winner this year in the AL without a shadow of a doubt, and if he is not, Baseball is foolish. Tell me any other starter, that has gone 19-2 with a 2.43 era, heck, this was the same pitcher that went 5-8 with a 6.48 era last year. . Lean on the Indians RL although I hate rl by nature and taking a rl against a team like the whitesox that can put up runs in a hurry is risky.
Seattle vs. Texas
Silva has given up 27 runs in 22 innings of late, he has been horrible and that is over 5 starts. He is 2-1 against Texas with his team winning 2 of those 3 ballgames, as he shows up against the Rangers and on a bounce-back against them, having said that, he is 2-7 on the road with a 6.58 era, Harrison has trouble putting together back to back starts and he comes off a 1.35 era great start, lean on the over here. Hence, this is why the total would be set at 11.5.