Roy Halladay Outpitched By Carl Pavano

Carl Pavano (12-11) outpitched Roy Halladay (14-9) limiting the Blue Jays to one run in six-and-a-third innings in the 4-1 win by the Twins. Halladay has a 4-8 record since June 7 when he had a 10-1 record.

The trade rumors swirling around Halladay before the trading deadline may have affected him because he hasn’t been the pitcher he was in the first two months of the season.

Pavano has been 3-3 since joining the Twins and his ERA with the Twins has been 3.65 compared to the 5.37 ERA he compiled with the Indians.

Only 11,159 fans showed up for the game, which is only 22.5 percent of capacity. It was the lowest home attendance for the Blue Jays this season.

Last Saturday 31,295 fans attended the game when the Yankees defeated the Blue Jays 6-4.

 

Diamond Notes

• The White Sox stayed alive in the AL Central with a 4-3 walkoff win over the A’s. A.J. Pierzynski delivered a game winning double to give the White Sox the victory.

Scott Podsednik had four hits and the first four hitters in the White Sox lineup were 10-for-23 in the contest. The bottom of the lineup was 4-for-28.

Freddy Garcia pitched well for his second consecutive start and has allowed only three runs in his last 12 innings. In his previous three starts he had allowed 11 runs in 16 innings.

The win moved the White Sox to within six-and-a-half games of the Tigers who lost their second straight game. The Twins stayed in second place and are now five-and-a-half games back of the Tigers with their win yesterday over the Blue Jays.

• It is unlikely the Rays will be in the playoffs this season after posting a 1-9 record in their last 10 games and losing eight games in a row. They are 18-and-a-half games behind the Yankees in the AL East. They are also nine-and-a-half games back of the Red Sox in the AL wild card race.

• Scott Feldman (16-4) pitched seven scoreless innings as the Rangers shut out the Indians 10-0 and kept alive their hopes of winning the AL West or the AL wild card race. He is tied with C.C. Sabathia and Justin Verlander for AL lead in wins with 16.

Feldman has a chance to win the 2009 AL Cy Young Award but his 95 strikeouts, compared to the 230 of Verlander, may give the edge to Verlander or Sabathia who has the advantage of pitching in New York.

The Rangers are two games behind the Red Sox in the wild card race and four-and-a-half games behind the Angels in the AL West.

Feldman is definitely in the running for AL Comeback Player of the Year award after posting a 6-8 record in 2008.

• Feldman defeated Fausto Carmona (3-10) who has had an up and down career with the Indians as can be attested by these won-loss records:

2006 – 1-10, 5.42

2007 – 19-8, 3.06

2008 – 8-7, 5.44

2009 – 3-10, 6.48

In 2007 he allowed 16 homers in 215 innings, but Carmona has given up 13 homers in 101 innings this season.

• The Red Sox defeated the Orioles 7-5 behind a 15 hit attack that included two doubles and 13 singles.

Brian Roberts hit his 50th double of the season giving him 50 doubles for the third time in his career. Another noteworthy event in the game was rookie Nolan Reimold throwing out Jacoby Ellsbury and Kevin Youkilis at home plate.

Jason Bay drove in his 99th and 100th run for the Red Sox for his fourth 100 RBI season.

• The Cubs took an 8-5 win over the Pirates but not before a scare in the eighth inning when reliever Kevin Gregg let the Pirates back into the game after the Cubs had taken a 8-2 lead in the top of the same frame.

Gregg gave up three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. It was the third straight appearance by Gregg in which he allowed at least two runs. His ERA for the month of September is 27.00.

He has pitched two-and-a-third innings in September and given up seven runs and six hits and allowed three walks.

Time is running out for the Cubs since the Cardinals also won and still remain 11-and-a-half games ahead the Cubs. They are eight games behind the NL wild card race leading Rockies.

• Adam Wainwright (18-7) now has two more wins than any other major league pitcher and merits consideration for the NL Cy Young Award.

The Cardinals topped the Brewers 5-1 behind the pitching of Wainwright and the two home runs by Albert Pujols giving him 47 homers for the season.

• The Marlins and Phillies both won yesterday leaving the Marlins six games back of the Phillies. The Phillies blew a six-and-a-half game lead with 12 games left in 1964. So they can’t feel too safe with a six game game lead and 25 games left.

• The NL West race got even tighter yesterday with the Rockies moving to within two-and-a-half games of the Dodgers as the Rockies won their sixth consecutive game.

The Rockies have an 8-2 record in their last 10 games while the Dodgers above them and the Giants below them have 5-5 records. The Rockies extended their lead over the Giants in the NL wild card race to four games.

 

Pujols Takes Aim At 50 Home Runs

Albert Pujols hit his 46th and 47th home runs of the 2009 season. If he hits five more home runs this season he will have 52 home runs, which is the most since Ryan Howard hit 58 in 2006.

The NL has had a player hit 50 homers or close to 50 homers every year since 1995. No home run leader missed by more than three homers of having 50 homers in that time span.

The players and how many homers starting with 1996 season:

1996: Andres Galarraga 47

1997: Larry Walker 49

1998: Mark McGwire 70, Sammy Sosa 66

1999: Mark McGwire 65, Sammy Sosa 63

2000: Sammy Sosa 50, Barry Bonds 49

2001: Barry Bonds 73, Sammy Sosa 64

2002: Sammy Sosa 49

2003: Jim Thome 47

2004: Adrian Beltre 48

2005: Andruw Jones 51

2006: Ryan Howard 58

2007: Prince Fielder 50

2008: Ryan Howard 48

2009: Albert Pujols 47 with 21 games remaining

We have seen the players listed above miss hitting 50 homers a season by only 15 homers in 14 seasons when including the three Pujols needs this season.