Around the Diamond

Ubaldo Jimenez improved his 2010 record to 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA after defeating the Twins 5-1 with his 13 wins out of 14 starts. His only loss was on May 9 when he lost to the Dodgers, 2-0, in a game in which Jimenez allowed one earned run in seven innings.

Charlie Manuel is almost certain to name Jimenez the starting pitcher for the 2010 All Star game.

Mark Buehrle (5-6) won his second consecutive start as the White Sox won for the seventh time in their last eight games with a 5-4 win over the Pirates. Their only loss in the eight games was on Sunday when Ted Lilly of the Cubs outpitched Gavin Floyd , almost throwing a no-hitter in the 1-0 Cubs win.

Tonight Floyd will face Stephen Strasburg in Washington which should be a great game if both pitchers pitch as well as they did in the their last starts.

David Ortiz had one home run and four runs batted in at the end of April but hit 10 homeruns and drove in 27 runs during the month of May and has three homeruns and 12 runs batted in so far in June.

Jason Heyward has hit a rough patch in his 2010 season, hitting .206 and slugging .279 in June after hitting .337 in May and slugging .628.

Vladimir Guerrero has been a picture of consistency during the 2010 season hitting .333 in April, .330 in May and .347 in June. He already matched his 2009 output in homeruns of 15 home runs and 50 runs batted in with 15 homeruns and 55 runs batted in this season in 141 fewer at bats.

Major league attendance has seen a huge drop in the last few days. Attendance is down 623,101 compared to this point in the 2009 season. I doubt baseball commissioner Bud Selig can put a positive spin on those numbers. Even his hometown Milwaukee Brewers are drawing less fans with 80,145 less fans than 2009 and 2,672 less fans per game.

Thirteen teams have drawn over 1,400 less fans at the turnstiles in 2010.  The Blue Jays, Indians and Mets are drawing over 5,400 less fans per game. The Mets have the largest drop for the season with 231,146 less fans. They are on a pace to have a half million fewer fans in 2010.