Rays frustrated about Upton's mistakes
ST. PETERSBURG -- Cliff Floyd was visibly upset after Monday night's game, and it had nothing to do with the outcome of the Rays' 6-4 series-opening win over the Angels.
No, Floyd was venting about the "heart-hurting" frustration caused by outfielder B.J. Upton's performance in recent weeks.
"We shouldn't even be talking about this," Floyd said following Monday's game. "It makes my heart hurt."
Upton was benched on two separate occasions this month for not hustling on the basepaths, and on Monday night the outfielder once again made an offensive blunder. After a two-out single in the fourth inning, Upton tried to advance to second -- nonchalantly jogging to the unprotected base -- but Angels first baseman Mark Teixeira trailed Upton to easily tag him out.
"It bothered me," Floyd said of the play. "You get choked up, because, man, you've got something real special here. [Winning games is] the most amazing thing for this team in a long, long time. We don't need to be talking about this stuff."
While manager Joe Maddon has been vocal about the previous incidents involving Upton, the Rays skipper didn't appear to be angry about Monday's play, just disappointed.
"That's a mental mistake for me right there," Maddon said. "That's not a lack of effort. And again, it's an assumption. You don't believe the ball's going to go there. You are assuming that he's not going to throw there, it's not going to be an out there, etc., etc. And that's a part of our game that I want to get rid of."
Maddon won't seek any discipline -- noting that Upton will start as planned on Tuesday night -- but didn't let the young outfielder's mental lapses go completely scot-free.
"There's also moments in a baseball team, in a clubhouse, when the other 25 people need to take care of some things," Maddon said.
Floyd, a 13-year veteran, agreed.
"You've got a guy who, in my opinion, is going to be different," Floyd said. "I'm going to put my butt on the line by saying that. I'm going to do everything possible, and I think everybody in here is going to do everything possible to make sure it don't happen again. It's not in Joe's hands anymore. It's not in anybody else's hands but ours as players."
"We really haven't put our finger on what it is he's doing. He's going to get it right, trust me. He will get it right before I leave here."
Carlos Pena compared the other players' role to that of a sibling situation, saying the team's "big brothers" would help "little brother" -- the 23-year-old Upton -- in any way they can.
"It absolutely has no reflection on his character," Pena said. "He's a great kid. No one in the world feels worse when something like that happens then him. ... This is going to be handled as a family."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Unexpected sources boost Reds to win
PITTSBURGH -- Alternative fuels are en vogue these days, as Americans look for new sources of energy. Meanwhile, a slumping Reds team that has had to rely on Adam Dunn's power for eight years needed to find other ways to get runs.
In a 5-1 win over the Pirates that snapped the Reds' season-high six-game losing streak, the runs came via home runs by Brandon Phillips and Javier Valentin. Two more RBIs came from a struggling offensive player, Corey Patterson. Edinson Volquez pitched a strong 6 1/3 innings to nab his 14th victory.
Patterson entered the game batting .189. Valentin came in with one homer for the season. The game also featured the first Major League hits for rookies Chris Dickerson and Adam Rosales.
Talk about alternative sources.
"You have to do what you have to do," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We're more of a speed and defense and hopefully, contact team now."
The Reds were 1-9 over their previous 10 games after dealing another key lineup presence, Ken Griffey Jr. Dunn was traded on Monday to the Diamondbacks for three players.
"We need to keep pushing," Valentin said. "I know what's happened last night [with Dunn's trade], but we need to continue to play hard and don't think about anything. This is business. That thing can happen to anybody. Hopefully this win will wake everybody up. We can start a nice winning streak and get confidence."
For the first time since Aug. 6 against Milwaukee, the Reds scored in the first inning and took the early lead. Unlike the previous time, they held it. The runs came against Pirates starter Jeff Karstens (2-1), who came in with 15 shutout innings over his first two starts for the Pirates.
Following rookie Chris Dickerson's leadoff walk and a stolen base that had him reaching third base on a throwing error, Brandon Phillips hit his 18th homer of the season -- a two-run shot to left field for a 2-0 Reds lead.
"He had been outstanding," Baker said of Karstens. "I'm looking at the line scores from his past games. Brandon got us on the board. That's big when a guy has been dealing like that. It's the first time we've had a first inning lead in a long, long time. Boy that was big to get two runs right quick."
Valentin's solo homer to center field in the fourth made it a three-run game.
That was plenty of breathing room for Volquez (14-5), who gave up one earned run and five hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
"Edinson threw a great game," Baker said. "That's where it starts. He gave us all we needed."
Given two more days of rest than usual, Volquez was in need of a decent outing. He came in winless in three of his last four starts and was 3-3 with a 5.65 ERA over his last eight outings.
Volquez didn't believe the rest benefited him. He felt better in the games he wasn't winning.
"Any time I take too many days off, I feel like I lose my power a little bit," Volquez said. "I started keeping the ball down and making good pitches."
In the bottom of the fourth, Andy LaRoche hit a one-out double to center field that scored Doug Mientkiewicz from second base for Pittsburgh's only run.
The Reds tacked on a run in the sixth after Phillips reached on LaRoche's fielding error at third base. With two outs, Phillips scored on Corey Patterson's RBI single to right field. Patterson added an RBI double off Tyler Yates in the eighth.
Still, the game got tight in the Pirates' seventh. Volquez gave up a one-out walk and exited after notching a strikeout. Bill Bray gave up a double to Nate McLouth and Mike Lincoln walked Luis Rivas to load the bases.
Mientkiewicz smoked a sharp grounder to first base, where Valentin saved the win for Volquez with a diving stop towards the line. Valentin, who also made a nice play earlier in the game tossed to Lincoln at first to notch the rally-killing out.
Whew.
"It got a little hairy there in the seventh," Baker said. "Thanks to Javy, he made a great play down there."
Valentin has spent most of his career as a backup catcher, but has played first base a lot. Was that the best fielding play of his career?
"In the big leagues, yeah," he responded. "The way we're playing, I will have to do anything I can to stop that ball. If it's something close, I'm going to dive. I'm not going to let that ball pass."
Copyright 2008 Sporting Life UK Ltd, All Rights Reserved.
Rockies rally late to beat Nationals
DENVER -- For a majority of Tuesday's game against the Nationals, Colorado's offense played without a pulse.
Then Ian Stewart came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and gave the Rockies new life with one towering swing. Stewart blasted a two-run, pinch-hit home run to tie the game at 2, and Jorge De La Rosa pitched one of his finest outings of the season to help the Rockies beat the Nationals, 8-2, at Coors Field.
The Rockies had mustered just four hits off Washington starter John Lannan when Stewart pinch-hit for De La Rosa. With Clint Barmes on first, Stewart crushed a 1-1 fastball 427 feet into the second deck in right field for his first career pinch-hit home run.
"I hit one, earlier in the year, that went a little bit farther," Stewart said. "But that was probably the best one I hit this year, based on the situation."
Stewart, 23, struggled in his first stint with the Rockies earlier this season, but he has been red hot since being recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs on July 19. He leads all National League rookies in average, on-base percentage, hits, doubles and RBIs since the All-Star break and has hit safely in 14 of his past 18 games at a .386 clip.
"There's been a little bit of a transformation since he's revisited us," manager Clint Hurdle said. "He's moved upon the opportunity with his performance, and his teammates have embraced him."
Stewart's game-tying shot wouldn't have been possible if not for an unusual double play turned by Barmes in the top of the seventh. With runners at the corners, Emilio Bonifacio hit a grounder to Barmes at third. Ronnie Belliard took a step off the bag, and the third baseman tagged him before throwing out Bonifacio at first to end the threat.
"It all happened real fast," Barmes said. "It was pretty exciting."
The Rockies carried the momentum into a wacky eighth inning that featured six runs, three hits, four walks and two hit batsmen.
With one out in the inning, Matt Holliday hit a bloop double that landed just inside of the right-field foul line. Garrett Atkins walked, and Chris Iannetta was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Brad Hawpe. Hawpe hit the go-ahead, two-run single off Luis Ayala (1-7), and the Rockies busted the game open with four more runs against Washington's shaky relief corps.
"That was a strange inning, no doubt about that," Hurdle said. "And it all started so innocently."
The Nats grabbed an early 1-0 lead after Jesus Flores hit a sacrifice fly to score Austin Kearns in the second. The only other run that De La Rosa surrendered was in the fifth, when he threw a wild pitch that allowed Ryan Langerhans to score from third.
De La Rosa, who gave up seven runs in 1 2/3 innings in his previous start, tossed a season-high seven innings on Tuesday. He showed much improved command with his fastball and kept Colorado in the game by striking out six and giving up just those two runs.
"I did a much better job this time," De La Rosa said. "I stayed relaxed and was able to throw first-pitch strikes."
Reliever Manuel Corpas (2-3) induced an inning-ending double play with two on in the top of the eighth to earn the win.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Dodgers deliver another blanking
LOS ANGELES -- The role of Dodgers staff ace the past few years has passed from Kevin Brown to Jeff Weaver to Derek Lowe to Brad Penny. So many in such a short time, it's like not having one at all.
Chad Billingsley seems like the latest successor. He beat the Giants on Wednesday night, 4-0, his first Major League shutout lifting the Dodgers above .500 for the first time in two months.
One day after turning 24, Billingsley (11-9) pitched eight stifling innings then a ninth that turned fundamental baseball on its ear. The game ended with Jose Castillo, waved home from second base by third-base coach Tim Flannery on Randy Winn's two-out single, thrown out at the plate by left fielder Andre Ethier.
Catcher Russell Martin, who had a pair of RBI singles earlier, blocked the plate and applied the tag, or the Giants would have had the tying run on deck, Billingsley probably would have been yanked and Jonathan Broxton would have been pitching with the game on the line instead of saving his arm for Thursday night's opener of the showdown series with first-place Arizona.
But things are going the Dodgers' way lately. They've won five of the last six games, four by shutout, although manager Joe Torre said things really started to click nearly a month ago when Jeff Kent's extra-inning homer beat Houston. The Dodgers' 10 shutouts lead the league.
Things clicked for Billingsley on June 17 when he beat San Diego, beginning a 7-2 run with a 2.21 ERA over his last nine starts. He took a three-hitter into the ninth against the Giants, struck out eight without a walk and now leads the staff in victories and innings pitched and is second in the league with 145 strikeouts. He's on pace to be the first Dodgers pitcher to crack 200 strikeouts in a season since Chan Ho Park in 2001.
"I know opponents don't want to face him," Martin said of Billingsley, whose overall ERA fell to 3.05. "Everything he throws moves. Even in a hitter's count, it doesn't matter, because he's not giving them an easy pitch to hit. He's a tough at-bat. He's getting swings and misses because he's got so much movement and he's not always throwing as hard as he can. He's adding and subtracting, purposely. That's what he did in the Minor Leagues. Now, he gets it."
It's not what he always did upon his arrival in the Major Leagues, or what he was doing this Spring Training, when he must have been trying to impress the new manager, but instead had him a little worried about a 6.85 ERA.
"My first exposure to him in Spring Training, he didn't pitch very well, he struggled, he was fighting himself," said Joe Torre. "Give him the ball now and you expect him to do something like this."
Billingsley agrees that he's a different pitcher.
"When I first came up, everything was 96, 95 [mph]," he said. "Right now, I know I can have success at 90-93 and if I need it, I can still dial it up. I'm learning. It's just pitching."
Billingsley had a cushion to work with early. Dodgers rallies in the first and third innings off Jonathan Sanchez had the same look and feel, beginning with walks to Matt Kemp (leading off with Juan Pierre resting) and soon followed by Martin's RBI singles. The third-inning scoring continued with Jeff Kent's RBI double and James Loney's sacrifice fly. In addition to the two walks and two runs, Kemp had two stolen bases and extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a fifth-inning single.
Billingsley enjoyed defensive gems from center fielder Andruw Jones, third baseman Casey Blake, shortstop Angel Berroa and Kent's late replacement at second, Pablo Ozuna, in the ninth inning. He retired the first 12 Giants hitters and another seven straight before Castillo doubled off the top of the wall in right field just before Winn's single led to the game-ending play.
"When Winn hit his, I said, 'Oh, man,'" said Billingsley. "Then Andre got there and made a great throw and Russell blocked the plate and put the tag. It was a weird way to end a shutout, but I'll take it."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Ziegler finds himself in elite company
ANAHEIM -- A representative of the A's public-relations department passed out ballots on Tuesday to select members of the media who help determine the American League's monthly award winners.
Upon hearing that his name was on the Rookie of the Month ballot, right there along with nationally known newcomers such as Evan Longoria of the Rays, Jacoby Ellsbury of the Red Sox and Joba Chamberlain of the Yankees, A's reliever Brad Ziegler shook his head a little -- and smiled a lot.
"A month ago I was just hoping to be called up," Ziegler said before the second game of Oakland's three-game showdown at Angel Stadium. "There's a lot of great rookies in the American League this year, so just to be mentioned with them is pretty special in itself."
Yet, there's no question that Ziegler, a 28-year-old right-hander with a submarine style delivery reminiscent of former A's righty Chad Bradford, belongs in such company.
After starting the season at Triple-A Sacramento and posting cartoonish numbers -- 2-0 with eight saves, a 0.37 ERA and an opponents' batting average of .174 -- in 19 appearances for the River Cats, he's been even better for the A's since being called up on May 30.
Ziegler, who worked two perfect innings on Tuesday, has made 14 appearances without allowing an earned run over 15 innings, putting him two-thirds of an inning away from setting Oakland's record for the most scoreless innings to start a career. Steve Chitren set the mark at 15 1/3 innings in 1990.
"He's been incredible," said A's starter Justin Duchscherer.
He's also been something of a shot in the arm for Oakland's bullpen, too. Although the overall numbers remain impressive, with a record of 13-7 and a 3.28 ERA, they've taken a hit in the wake of injuries to early season standouts Santiago Casilla and Joey Devine.
Casilla started the season with a 17 1/3-inning scoreless streak, but he struggled before suffering a right elbow injury that put him on the disabled list May 16, and he hasn't looked quite the same since returning to action June 19. Since the scoreless streak ended, he'd allowed six earned runs on 10 hits over four innings in six appearances through Monday.
Devine, who was 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA before being put on the DL with right elbow inflammation, isn't expected back until after the All-Star break.
Oakland's bullpen, prior to getting a breather thanks to Greg Smith's complete game on Monday night, had gone 1-2 with two blown saves and a 5.19 ERA in its previous 14 games.
The key to Ziegler's success is no mystery. He keeps the ball down, throws a lot of strikes and gets a ton of ground balls.
"That formula would work well in the fifth inning or the eighth inning," A's manager Bob Geren said, and that explains why Ziegler probably leads the Majors in bullpen innings -- i.e., times he had to get "hot" in anticipation of an appearance in the game that never materializes -- in the span since he was called up.
"I don't mind it, really. It's kind of encouraging, because it means they trust me," Ziegler said. "And at the same time, if I eventually don't get into the game, it means the starters are getting out of the jams that got me up hot in the first place.
"The guys in the bullpen have been telling me to just stand on the [bullpen] mound whenever someone gets in trouble to kind of calm things down."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Big Z throws, Fukudome sits
CHICAGO -- Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano threw off flat ground on Thursday, and if all goes well, will have a bullpen session on Sunday, but outfielder Kosuke Fukudome did not start for the second straight day as a precautionary measure.
Zambrano, on the disabled list since June 19 because of a mild strain in his right shoulder, threw to bullpen catcher Edgar Tovar in left field while pitching coach Larry Rothschild and athletic trainer Mark O'Neal watched.
"I feel good," Zambrano said. "I'm ready to keep doing my exercises and see what is scheduled for me."
Sunday will be his first bullpen session since his last start June 18 against Tampa Bay, which he left after 6 2/3 innings because of discomfort.
"One thing I learned from this was it's good when you work harder than normal," Zambrano said. "You never give up -- you should keep working, working, working. Sometimes you come and you're lazy and you don't want to do nothing, but that's the day you have to do more. My arm will appreciate anything I can do to keep up my arm strength."
The right-hander, who is 8-3 with a 3.13 ERA, ranks among the NL leaders in ERA and innings pitched. He was projected to miss two starts and would be eligible to come off the DL during the Cubs' series in St. Louis July 4-6.
He could be one of the pitchers chosen for the All-Star Game, along with teammate Ryan Dempster.
"I want to pitch in the All-Star Game," Zambrano said. "I want to help the National League, so if we are in the World Series, we can have [home-field] advantage. A little help from me or [Brandon] Webb or [Edinson] Volquez, we can finally win one after four, five years."
Fukudome, who was scratched from Wednesday's game because of tightness in his left calf, ran in the outfield Thursday to test his leg.
"I didn't go full speed, so I couldn't really tell," Fukudome said through interpreter Ryuji Araki.
The pain is believed to be related to playing on artificial turf in Toronto and Tampa Bay for six straight games. He was available to pinch-hit Thursday, and may be back in the lineup this weekend for the Cubs' Interleague series against the White Sox.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Home runs, great start in Brewers' win
MILWAUKEE -- Brewers manager Ned Yost read through the scouting report on Tuesday and could see why his front office bosses so coveted Blue Jays right-hander Dustin McGowan a few years ago, when they were working out the Lyle Overbay trade.
Power pitcher. Fastball at 94-97 mph with good action. Offspeed pitches include a curveball, a slider and a changeup that acts like a split-fingered fastball.
"The paper reports on him make him sound unhittable," Yost said. "We'll see."
The skipper liked what he saw. Prince Fielder, Craig Counsell and Russell Branyan all homered off McGowan to back the Brewers' own young starter, Manny Parra, and the Brewers sailed to a 7-0 win in the opener of a three-game Interleague series at Miller Park.
Ryan Braun homered twice against Jays relievers and drove in three runs, giving him 152 career RBIs in 182 games. Braun reached the 150-RBI milestone faster than any Major Leaguer since Boston's Walt Dropo needed only 155 games from 1949-51.
"I think I was seeing the ball in high definition tonight," Braun said. "This is an extremely difficult game and sometimes it's hard to explain. Tonight was one of those nights where the ball kind of slowed down for me and for my teammates as well."
The pitching certainly helped.
"We're good when we get good starting pitching," said Counsell, who homered for the first time since last July 25. "Home runs are great, but if you ask me, the starting pitching is what makes us a good team. Manny did a great job tonight."
Parra (6-2) worked seven shutout innings and struck out five for his fifth straight win. All four of the Blue Jays' hits off Parra were singles and he didn't allow a runner past second base until the seventh inning, when Parra struck out Jays leadoff man Alex Rios with pitch No. 108 to strand Toronto catcher Rod Barajas at third base.
It was the Brewers' fifth consecutive quality start of six or more innings with three or fewer earned runs, and their 16th over the last 20 games. Parra & Co. are 11-4 in that stretch with a 2.98 ERA (42 earned runs in 127 innings).
"I felt pretty good about the way I kept the ball down," Parra said.
That was the key, according to Yost. Parra walked four batters but was consistently missing below the strike zone. He issued three of his walks in the first two innings, and was already at the 43-pitch mark by the time the game moved into the third.
"The problem -- and it was a great problem -- was that he was missing down," Yost said. "I've got no problem any time he misses down. He just made a slight adjustment and started getting the ball back up again a little bit. It wasn't much of anything."
Since allowing a season-high six runs in a no-decision at Washington on May 25, Parra is 4-0 with a 2.49 ERA in four starts. He was stuck with a 1-2 record as late as May 19 but now ranks second on the team to Ben Sheets with six victories.
"He's really starting to take steps," Yost said. "It's a sign of having a little success and backing up just a little bit, relaxing, and having the confidence in yourself to be able to [make adjustments]. ... He's gone through the, 'Boy, I need to be great on every pitch I throw.' He's starting to understand the life of a Major League starter, the mind-set and what it takes to pitch every five days at this level and be successful."
Parra, 25, outpitched McGowan, 26, who fell to 6-14 in career road starts but was coming off a complete-game win over the Mariners.
Anticipating a steady dose of mid- to upper-90's fastballs, Braun and Fielder used smaller bats against the hard-throwing McGowan. Did that mean Counsell used a bigger one?
No, but he had been getting the business from Fielder about his warning track power in batting practice.
"I can't hit a ball out in BP," Counsell said. "I'll take five swings, hit the wall three times. He's been on me to add a little bit more."
Fielder hit a first-pitch, 95-mph fastball for a home run leading off the second inning for a 1-0 Brewers lead, Counsell made it 2-0 when he hit a full-count, 97-mph fastball in the third inning and Branyan extended the advantage to 4-0 with a two-out, two-run home run in the fourth on a 95-mph heater with a 2-and-2 count.
Branyan nearly joined Braun in the multi-homer club when he lifted an offering from left-handed reliever Jesse Carlson toward right field in the seventh inning. The baseball stayed foul and landed in the fourth deck.
Even with that near-miss, Branyan has hit eight home runs in 56 at-bats since a promotion from Triple-A Nashville. Not bad for a guy who didn't have a job until after the start of Spring Training, and then only got a Minor League deal.
"He's given us a big boost," Yost said. "That's an understatement. To be honest with you, when we signed him, I thought he was through. I really did. I just never thought he'd make it back to the big leagues. But he's worked hard and he's been a very, very productive piece of our offense."
Braun was pretty good, too. Even if he needed a history lesson.
"I don't know or pay attention to the historical stuff, but any time you're mentioned in a historical sense in this game, it's pretty amazing," he said when asked about the comparison to Dropo, the 1950 American League Rookie of the Year. "I'd never heard of him. I had no idea I was approaching his mark."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
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