Hurricane Irene wreaked all sorts of havoc all over the Eastern Seaboard yesterday, and here's hoping our readers out there are all safe and sound. It did nearly the same to the schedule, as both games in Philadelphia, both games in Baltimore, and one game in New York were all postponed. The A's and Red Sox managed to slog through a double header yesterday, although it took nearly 11 hours to do so. But there were still games yesterday, and lots to report.
Justin Verlander became the first pitcher to win 20 games this year, as the Tigers defeated the Twins. Verlander was a bit off of his usual dominant self, allowing 11 baserunners and 4 runs in 6 innings. Realistically, I think that the Cy Young race in the AL is Verlander at the front, and everyone else trying to catch up. I think that unless Verlander misses significant time in September, he'll run away with it.
David Ortiz went 3 for 4 with his 27th home run of the season. He's now up to .311/.396/.587 on the season, and is on pace to get to 100 RBI again. He's a free agent at the end of the season, and I have to imagine that someone may be willing to give him a multi-year contract.
Yovani Gallardo was dominant against the Cubs yesterday, striking out 10 and allowing just 1 unearned run en route to the victory. Gallardo is up to 15 wins on the season, as well as a 3.37 ERA. His WHIP is even better than his career number, which has usually been one of the things that keeps him from being an elite fantasy starter. It's still not quite amazing (1.25), but improvement is good to see.
Jose Valverde recorded his 39th save of the season, and has now recorded 41 straight dating back to last season. He's been having a better year than I had realized, and could have a slight chance of reaching 50 saves before the end of the year.
Despite being activated from the disabled list, Huston Street appears to not be returning immediately to the closer's job. Rafael Betancourt has pitched well for the most part, although did take a blown save on Saturday night. We'll have to see who gets the next save chance, but I think it's going to be Betancourt.
Jim Thome hit his 13th home run of the season last night in just his 2nd game back with the Indians. If you are in need of power, Thome could be a great source the last few weeks. He is likely to play most days with Travis Hafner on the disabled list for the foreseeable future.
Giants' pitching prospect Eric Surkamp made his major league debut last night, throwing 6 innings of 1 earned run ball. He was making a spot start as Jonathan Sanchez was not ready to come back yet, but it remains to be seen whether or not he will get another one.
Ichiro extended his hitting streak to 10 games last night, and I'll be extremely interested to see if he can find a way to get up to 200 hits for the season. He's currently at 149 hits on the season, and has had months with over 40 hits in the past. He'll have to keep hitting a lot to get there though.