A night of milestones, millstones, and moments
- Jose Bautista hit his major-league leading 42nd homer and reached the 100 RBI mark for Jays for the second straight season. Bautista became the sixth Blue Jay to have multiple 100+ RBI seasons:
Rk | Yrs | From | To | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Carlos Delgado | 6 | 1998 | 2003 | Ind. Seasons |
2 | Joe Carter | 6 | 1991 | 1997 | Ind. Seasons |
3 | Vernon Wells | 3 | 2002 | 2006 | Ind. Seasons |
4 | George Bell | 3 | 1986 | 1989 | Ind. Seasons |
5 | Jose Bautista | 2 | 2010 | 2011 | Ind. Seasons |
6 | Shawn Green | 2 | 1998 | 1999 | Ind. Seasons |
- In Tampa’s 4-2 loss to Orioles, Johnny Damon stole the 400th base of what I consider a Hall of Fame career to join two very elite groups. First, players with at least 200 homers and 400 steals:
Rk | ▴ | HR | SB | From | To | G |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | Barry Bonds | 762 | 514 | 1986 | 2007 | 2986 |
3 | Bobby Bonds | 332 | 461 | 1968 | 1981 | 1849 |
4 | Craig Biggio | 291 | 414 | 1988 | 2007 | 2850 |
5 | Joe Morgan | 268 | 689 | 1963 | 1984 | 2649 |
6 | Johnny Damon | 229 | 400 | 1995 | 2011 | 2411 |
7 | Marquis Grissom | 227 | 429 | 1989 | 2005 | 2165 |
8 | Paul Molitor | 234 | 504 | 1978 | 1998 | 2683 |
9 | Rickey Henderson | 297 | 1406 | 1979 | 2003 | 3081 |
10 | Roberto Alomar | 210 | 474 | 1988 | 2004 | 2379 |
Secondly, he became part of an even smaller group of players with at least 200 homers, 100 triples and 400 steals:
Rk | HR | SB | 3B | From | To | G | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Johnny Damon | 229 | 400 | 107 | 1995 | 2011 | 2411 | |
2 | Paul Molitor | 234 | 504 | 114 | 1978 | 1998 | 2683 |
- Justin Verlander (23-5) allowed no runs, six hits, struck out six and walked two in seven innings as the Tigers topped the White Sox, 5-0. It was Detroit’s 11 straight victory, its longest winning streak since Sept. 1968. Verlander is the first Tiger since Hal Newhouser in 1946 to win 11 consecutive starts. Verlander, the AL’s first 23-game winner since Barry Zito in 2002, has a 2.36 ERA and has struck out 238 batters. There have only been 30 pitchers who have finished a season with at least 23 wins, 230 strikeouts and less than a 2.40 ERA. Verlander has gone at least six innings and thrown at least 104 pitches in each of his 32 starts this season.
- Shortstop Marco Scutaro of the Red Sox picked up his 1000th career hit. It will be interesting to see what Boston decides to do with Scutaro next season. His contract calls for a $6M club option/$3M player option ($1.5M buyout) next season.
- Adrian Beltre extended his hitting streak to 17 games, matching a career high, when he hit his 24th homer of the season in Texas’ 10-4 win over the Indians.
- Ian Kinsler extended his Rangers record with his 24th consecutive stolen base without getting caught.
- The Indians fell to 72-73. On May 23, they were 30-15 and have gone 42-58 in the 100 games since.
- A.J. Burnett (10-11) was the winning pitcher for the Yankees last night against Seattle by pitching six innings in which he gave up just four hits and two runs. In the process, he threw his 23rd and 24th wild pitches of the season setting a new Yankee record. Tim Leary had thrown 23 for New York in 1990.
- The Diamondbacks defeated the Dodgers last night, 5-4 on a bases loaded walk in the top of the 10th. LA had jumped out to a 4-2 lead at the end of one. It was the Diamondbacks’ 44th comeback victory, tops in the majors.
- The Cardinals defeated the Pirates last night, 6-4. The Redbirds have won six of seven to keep their postseason hopes alive. Meanwhile, the Pirates were 53-47 after 100 games, on July 25. The next night, they were robbed in the 19th inning in Atlanta by a blatantly poor call by the umpire and have never recovered. Since game 100, the Bucs are 14-34, the worst record in the NL and are 67-81 looking at its 19th straight non-winning season.

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Ryan Braun hit a walkoff homer in the 11th to give the Brewers a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rockies. Braun now has three walkoff homers to go with two walkoff singles.
Mark DeRosa had a walkoff single to give the San Francisco Giants a 3-2, 12-inning win over the San Diego Padres. It was DeRosa’s fifth career walkoff hit which includes two homers, but his first walkoff since 9/17/07 when he was playing for Cubs against Cincinnati. The Giants are now13-8 in extra-inning games, 21-17 in their last at-bat and 32-21 in one-run games.
- The Washington Nationals won its third straight by defeating the Mets, 3-2. They are now 69-77, matching their victory total from last year (69-93).