Daily Scoring Drought Scorecard: 14 games, 1 rainout
Teams Shutout: 6
Teams w/1 run scored: 2
Teams w/2 runs scored: 2
Teams w/ 3 runs scored: 7
Teams w/ > 3 runs scored: 11
Yankees manager Joe Girardi wrote out Saturday's lineup card and DH Jorge Posada was in the 9th slot. Well, until he met with Girardi and took himself out of the game. I really can't believe a player with the experience of Posada would take himself out of the game. i mean, he isn't J.D. Drew. ESPN' s Buster Olney speculated that the Yankees and Posada could part ways after this incident. Should be interesting. Here are a few tweets from Olney on the Posada issue:
Buster_ESPN Buster Olney
@
@tjap12 Yes, pretty certain a move is not far off unless Posada starts to hit, especially now that they don't view him as a catcher.
33 minutes ago
Buster_ESPN Buster Olney
Bottom line on the whole Posada thing: This episode will accelerate his departure from the team unless he starts producing at the plate ASAP
35 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
Marlins starter Anibal Sanchez shutout the Nationals on 3 hits and 2 walks in 8 innings on Saturday afternoon and struck out 9. He is now 3-1 with a 2.90 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and a 52-19 K/BB rate. He has struck out 20 and walked 2 in his last two starts covering 15 innings, while giving up no runs on 5 hits. He is giving the Marlins an excellent third starter in their 5 man rotation to compete against the rotations of the Phillies and the Braves.
Braves starter Jair Jurrjens held the Phillies to 2 earned runs in 7+ innings on Saturday afternoon, giving up just 3 hits, a walk and striking out 6. He is now 5-0 with a 1.66 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. Jurrjens has benefitted from an extreme 88% LOB% this season, which won't last, so expect to see his ERA rise going forward. His xFIP was 3.41 heading into Saturday's start.
More Roundup after the jump:
Giants beat writer Henry Schulman reported that he thinks Miguel Tejada's days as a starter are over, and that Mark DeRosa and Mike Fontenot will see regular playing time at 3B and SS respectively. Tejada went 0-3 with 2 errors on Saturday and is hitting just .1095-.227-.263 in 133 at bats. When does Brandon Belt get the call?
Cardinals closer Eduardo Sanchez has lost his closer job a day after blowing a save on Friday night. Interesting. The Cardinals have given their closers, except Ryan Franklin earlier this season and the last several years, virtually no leash. It appears Fernando Salas will be the Cardinals closer....until he blows a save. What a mess.
Padres first baseman Brad Hawpe is starting to hit recently. He was 3-5 with a game winning HR on Saturday. He scored 3 runs and drove in 2, and is now hitting .233-.186-.350 with 2 HRs and 9 RBIs.
Padres outfielder Cameron Maybin really likes to hit at Coors, it appears, as he went 2-4 with 2 runs scored on Saturday, and now has 10 hits in the last 3 games. His triple slash line is now up to .280-.356-.455.
The Rockies optioned third baseman Ian Stewart to AAA on Friday, and activated Ty Wigginton as well. Wigginton will play third base everyday for the Rockies, and it appears that Ian Stewart's days as a starter in Colorado are over. I speculated about this during the offseason, after the Rockies added Wigginton and Jose Lopez, and were interested in trading for Rangers third baseman Michael Young.
Wigginton responded to his full-time role by going 2-4 with an RBI and a SB on Saturday. He is hitting .246-.312-.391 with 2 HRs and 11 RBIs for the season.
Athletics starter Tyson Ross continues to pitch well as he held the White Sox to 2 runs on 7 base runners and striking out 8. He is now 3-2 with a 2.50 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. The Athletics rotation is one of the best in the AL this year.
Tigers starter Brad Penny threw 8 shutout innings on Saturday vs the Royals, giving up just 5 hits and striking out 2. Penny has given up 2 runs or less in 4 of his last 5 starts, lowering his ERA from 8.44 to 4.11.
Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista went 1-4 with a HR and 2 RBIs, and is now hitting .358-.517-.798 with 13 HRs and just 23 RBIs. He has an absurd ISO of .433 and is striking out less this year-18% vs 24% last year, and walking more-25% vs. 14.6% last year. He's doing it all, and answering his critics this year. If he keeps this up for about another month, it will be time to give him his due. That is if that time hasn't already passed.
Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley gave up just one hit, and lost. He gave up a 2B to Stephen Drew, who moved to 3B on a botched pickoff move at 2B, and scored on a sac fly by Melvin Mora, who redeemed himself after striking out with two on and two out last night. Billingsley walked 2 and struck out 8 and is now 2-3 with a 3.36 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 50-21 K/BB rate. He has given up 1 run or less in 4 of his 9 starts and has just one win to show for it.
Diamondbacks starter Josh Collmenter, who was making his first major league start, shutout the Dodgers for 6 innings, giving up just 2 hits and striking out 3 in 6 innings of work. I don't know much about Collmenter, but the Dodgers lineup may not be as good as some lineups he faced in AAA this season.
Angels starter Dan Haren continues to pitch well, and he held the Rangers to 2 runs on 6 hits, no walks and 5 Ks in 7 2/3rd innings. Haren did not get the win, but he now owns an ERA of 1.93 a 0.84 WHIP, and a Cliff Lee-like K/BB rate of 61-8.
Red Sox starter Josh Beckett dominated the Jorge Posada-less Yankees on Saturday night, shutting them out for 6 innings on 4 hits, 2 walks and 9 strikeouts. He is now 3-1 with a 1.75 ERA this year, and I admit, I was wrong about Beckett in the preseason. I recall saying R.A. Dickey would have a better season than Beckett, and that call has been awful.
Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong has come out of nowhere to pitch well for the Giants this year. He replaced Barry Zito when Zito was placed on the DL, and if he keeps this up, I could see the Giants sending Madison Bumgarner down to AAA when Zito returns from the DL. Vogelsong shutout the Cubs on 7 hits, a walk and 7 strikeouts in a rain-shortened game vs the Cubs. He lowered his ERA to 2.36 and has a solid 1.05 WHIP in 5 starts this season.