Kuzul

NL All-Star manager Charlie Manuel said he was told to include a utility player on the NL roster, so he has chosen Omar Infante of the Braves.

Infante is a very versatile player who can play all the infield and outfield positions, but he has one home run and 22 runs batted in this season. He is a good player, but he is not an All-Star player.

His teammate Troy Glaus, who has hit 14 home runs and driven in 56 runs, would have been a much better choice, not to mention the NL home run leader Joey Votto, who has hit 21 home runs.

It had been my understanding that the NL wanted to win the All-Star Game this season, but now I am doubtful after seeing Votto have to win a final vote to make the team and a pitcher like Carlos Silva being left off the squad.

Manuel did what most All-Star managers do, picking his own player Ryan Howard over Joey Votto, even though Votto was among the NL home runs leaders at the time while Howard was 10th.

Adrian Gonzalez was chosen as a reserve first baseman despite Votto having more home runs, runs batted in, and a higher batting average. He should have been on the final vote ballot while Votto should have been on the team to start with.

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Edwin Jackson of the Diamondbacks pitched the fourth no-hitter of the 2010 season in the Diamondbacks 74th game of the season.

Edwin Jackson pitched the fourth no-hitter of the 2010 season yesterday defeating the Rays 1-0 on a home run by Adam LaRoche. The 26 year old Jackson in his eighth major league season walked eight batters in the contest but was the beneficiary of three double plays.

He made 149 pitches which is almost unheard of in these days of pitch counts. His no-hitter was the 19th since 1999.  Four of those have come in the first half of the 2010 season and a near no-hitter by Armando Galarraga was lost by an umpire’s call.

Seven no-hitters were thrown during 2000-2005. Eight were thrown between 2006-2009.  In the first year of this decade there are already four in half a season.

Three were thrown in 2001 and 2007 but those were in entire seasons. There are only five hitters in the NL hitting higher than .308 during the 2010 season. 12 NL hitters are hitting between .300 and .308.

In contrast, the AL has 14 hitters hitting .308 or higher and has only seven hitting between .300 and .308.

Coming into the 2010 season, there had been only six perfect games since 1988 and only two since 1999. In less than two months of this season Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay pitched perfect games. Armando Galarrago narrowly missed pitching a perfect game on June 2 which would have been less than two months after the season started.

Hitters are not hitting with the power they have in the past. Alex Rodriguez, who hit 54 home runs in 2007, probably due to steroids, has only 10 this season. Albert Pujols led the NL in home runs with 47 in 2009. He only has 15 so far in 2010 and is on a pace to hit less than 35 home runs this season.

Six AL hitters have more than 15 home runs as of today. The NL has five hitters with more than 15 home runs.

Who would have thought that on July 26 that Jose Bautista with 20 home runs and Corey Hart with 18 would be leading the AL and NL in home runs?

It will be interesting to see if any more no-hitters are pitched during the 2010 season in a year in which the pitchers seem to have the advantage.

Eleven pitchers finished the 2009 season with an ERA under 3.00. This season 22 pitchers have ERA’s under 3.00.

The five lowest ERA’s this season have been posted by NL pitchers. The Dodgers had the lowest ERA of the 2009 season with a 3.41 mark. The Padres lead the majors in 2010 with a 3.03 ERA.

We will see as the 2010 season unravels if this is a first half trend or if the pitchers continue to post good numbers at the expense of the batters.

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Strasburg has not walked a batter in three of his four starts. His strikeout to walk ratio sin those games: 31:0.

Despite having pitched well in all four of his outings, the Nationals have only won one of those games. The offense scored 14 runs his first two starts, but have scored just one run over his last two. The youngster is a big draw regardless; the Nationals have welcomed 112,553 fans to home games in which Strasburg started.

He will face Tim Hudson and the Braves on Monday, 7:10 ET, on ESPN2.

Jimenez Pitches Worst Game of the Season; Rockies Win on Giambi Walk-off Homer.

Ubaldo Jimenez pitched his worst game of the season a day after going home sick before Tuesday’s game. The Rockies staked Jimenez to an early 4-0 after three innings, but the Red Sox countered with two runs in the fourth and two in the sixth to give them a 6-5 lead that lasted until the ninth.

Daniel Nava, who hit a grand slam in his first major league at-bat earlier this season, demonstrated once more that he can hit at the major league level with two doubles and three RBIs off the best pitcher in the majors, raising his batting average to .382. Fellow outfielder Darnell McDonald drove in two runs with a home run in the sixth inning to give the Red Sox a 6-5 lead. Marco Scutaro singled in the remaining run in a game in which the Sawx’s 3-4-5 hitters didn’t drive in any.

Ian Stewart and Jason Giambi hit ninth inning home runs off Jonathan Paplebon to give the Rockies a 8-6 come-from-behind win.

Around the Diamond…

Kerry Wood blew his third save in eight chances after giving up a ninth inning walk-off two-run homer to Jimmy Rollins.The Phillies won 7-6. Wood’s ERA after the game: 7.98. The Marlins won their first game since Fredi Gonzalez was fired yesterday, 7-5 over the Orioles. The win moved them 6.5 games behind the first place Braves in the NL East.

Adam LaRoche drove in all five runs for the Diamondbacks, but the Yankees won the game 6-5 on a tenth inning home run by Curtis Granderson. For the Mets, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (6-0) won his sixth consecutive game after pitching eight shutout innings to beat the Tigers, 5-0; he’s had only one winning season (2003, 9-8) in his eight major league seasons, but seems to have finally mastered the knuckleball in 2010.

Chris Carpenter (9-1) had won 51 games in his first three seasons with the Cardinals, but has only posted 26 wins in the last four, including the 2010 season. He showed again yesterday that he is back after defeating the Blue Jays 1-0.

The Rangers won their tenth game in a row with a 13-3 demolition of the Pirates behind a 17-hit attack that moved them 3.5 games up on the Angels in the AL West.

Carlos Quentin led the White Sox to their eighth consecutive win with two home runs and three RBIs, giving him three home runs and six RBIs for the first two games of their series with the Braves. Mark Buehrle took the 4-2 win for the White Sox for his third consecutive victory. The White Sox are now within two games of the Tigers and 3.5 games of the first place Twins in the AL Central. They are 13-2 in their last 15 games.

Cliff Lee (6-3) scattered nine hits in a complete game win over the Cubs, 8-1. Lee continued his pinpoint control with no walks, giving him a total of four for the year paired with 76 strikeouts. He has walked a batter in only three of his 11 starts.

The Cubs are now tied for third place with the Brewers and haven’t had a winning record all season. Starter Randy Wells was 3-0 on April 30, but hasn’t won since then and is now 3-6.

With ten games left until the 81-game halfway point, Ichiro Suzuki has 98 hits, putting him on track for another 200 hit season. He has been very consistent so far with a .344 average in April, a .336 average in May, and a .333 average in June-good for a .338 average for the year.

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Jamie Moyer was bombed on June 11, allowing nine runs and nine hits in one inning in a loss to the Red Sox. However since then, in two starts against the Yankees and the Indians, he has allowed only three runs and five hits in 16 innings.

He is currently tied with Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey with 266 lifetime wins, good for 36th on the all-time wins list. He needs three wins to pass Jim Palmer, who has 268 wins, and he needs five wins to pass Mike Mussina and Burleigh Grimes with 270 wins each.

The White Sox were the only team in the American League Central to win yesterday. The White Sox moved to within three games of the second place Tigers and four-and-a-half games behind the first-place Twins. The White Sox, with a 35-34 record, have their first winning record since opening day.

Mat Latos of the Padres pitched 50.2 innings in his rookie season, making him ineligible for the Rookie of the Year award in 2010 since he needed to pitch fewer than 50 innings to be eligible. Otherwise he would have been a strong candidate with his 8-4 record and 2.93 ERA. His most impressive stat is that he has allowed 26 fewer hits than innings pitched.

Brennan Boesch of the Tigers has hit consistently since making his major league debut with the team. He hit .261 in April, .345 in May, and .366 in June. He has not had a prolonged slump, unlike most rookies who hit well at the start and then struggle when the pitchers figure them out.

They still haven’t figured out Boesch, since he hit three home runs and drove in 15 runs in May but has hit even better in June with seven home runs and 17 runs batted in with seven days remaining in the month. He has an incredible .438 OBP for June and is slugging .718 for the month for a 1.156 OPS in June. He is a left-handed hitter hitting .462. His numbers are amazing for a rookie.

Boesch leads all players with at least 150 at-bats in slugging with a .635 slugging percentage, and his 1.027 OPS is third in the majors behind Justin Morneau and Miguel Cabrera.

Josh Hamilton is proving he is an All-Star again, since he is hitting .476 in June with a .878 slugging percentage for the month and has hit eight home runs and driven in 26 runs with seven days remaining in the month….Prince Fielder has half as many RBI as the Brewers’ team leader Corey Hart, who has 54. Fielder is fifth for the Brewers in runs batted in.

Andy Pettitte (9-2) is on track for a 20-win season. His 2.48 ERA is the third lowest of his 16 year career….Tim Lincecum (8-2) lost back-to-back games in May to the Nationals and the Rockies but since then has allowed only seven runs in his last four starts.

Roy Halladay allowed only three home runs in his first 101 innings. However, he has allowed five in his last 14 innings and is 1-3 since his perfect game against the Marlins on May 29.

Stephen Strasburg faces a test today starting against the the Royals, the best-hitting team in the majors with a .280 average.

Ubaldo Jimenez puts his 13-1 record on the line against the Red Sox, who are hitting .278, the second highest average in the majors. John Lackey (8-3) will take the mound against Jimenez and the Rockies.

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Freddy Garcia’s 2010 season started slowly as he ended April with an 0-2 record and an ERA of 5.87 after four games. Since then he has won eight of his last nine starts and has been a stabilizing force for the White Sox starters.

Garcia was 3-4 and posted a 4.34 ERA for the White Sox while making only nine starts for the team in 2009. When spring training started he was expected to battle Dan Hudson for the fifth spot in the rotation, but Hudson was sent to the Charlotte Knights during spring training.

Nobody is calling Garcia the ace of the staff but he has pitched like one this season with his 8-3 record and a 20 win season within the realm of possibility for the 33-year-old Venezuelan right-hander.

He has pitched at least six innings in 10 of his 13 starts and has been 5-1 against first or second place teams.  He has been the stopper for the White Sox with seven of his eight wins coming after a loss. Yesterday was his first win of the season coming after a win.

The White Sox were hitting .225 earlier this season but were among the team leaders in home runs. Now they are hitting fewer home runs, but the team is hitting .247.

The low point for the 2010 White Sox was on June 5 when they were 23-32. Since then they have played 11-2 baseball.

Mark Buehrle, Jake Peavy, and John Danks have won their last two starts while Gavin Floyd hasn’t won in his last five starts but has allowed only three runs in his last three starts encompassing 22 innings.

Juan Pierre is hitting 50 points lower than last season with his .248 average but has stolen 27 bases—he has to improve on his .194 average in the last 10 games.

Alexei Ramirez still isn’t hitting well with only a .238 average in his last 10 games.

Alex Rios has hit consistently with a .344 average in May and a .328 average in June. With 20 stolen bases and 13 home runs he has the best chance of any major leaguer to join the 30-30 club this season.

Paul Konerko hasn’t homered in his last ten games but is hitting .366 and has driven in 10 runs in his last 10 games. He hit only .233 in May but is hitting a torrid .390 in June.

Gordon Beckham still can’t quite get going in the 2010 season. He is hitting .205 but one encouraging sign for Beckham is that he is hitting doubles again after not hitting one in a stretch from April 29 till June 9. He had a period in June where he hit five doubles in eight games.

Carlos Quentin is hitting .270 in his last 10 games but hasn’t homered since June 11. He is only hitting .216 for the season but is second on the the White Sox behind Konerko in RBIs with 37.

Andruw Jones has seen his average drop each month of the season from .259 in May, .208 in April and .107 in June with three hits in 28 at-bats this month.

A.J . Pierzynski has shown improvement each month going from a .169 average in April, .241 in May to .333 in June.

Mark Kotsay has been all over the place this season with his average hitting .108 in April, .261 in May and back down to .194 in June.

Omar Vizquel has caught fire in his last 10 games hitting .333. He is hitting .400 in day games and .222 at night. Most right-handed hitters thrive when facing left-handers but not Vizquel—he is hitting only .176 against left-handers.

The six game winning streak may have come at the expense of last place teams with three game sweeps of the Pirates and Nationals, but the wins have to be confidence boosters for the White Sox.

They will face a real test when they host the Braves coming in for a three game series starting on Tuesday. They will be starting John Danks, Mark Buehrle, and Gavin Floyd then they face the Cubs with Jake Peavy, Freddy Garcia, and John Danks taking the mound.

It was only a week or two ago that it looked like the White Sox would finish no higher than third place in 2010, but after this current hot streak they look like they are ready to be serious contenders for the AL Central crown.

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You would think major league teams would learn from previous ill conceived giveaways and promotions gone awry.

The most famous promotions gone wrong are the Cleveland Indians selling Stroh’s Beer in eight ounce cups for 10 cents and Disco Demolition Night at a Chicago White Sox game.  The offer included an all you can drink deal so by the time the disco demolition was about to take place, most of the 25,134 fans were full of alcohol and chaos ensued at Municipal Stadium.

When the the Indians and Rangers became embroiled in a brawl, the fans swarmed the field wielding knives and chains and some were throwing bottles at the Rangers.

Back to last night, the players on both teams were not happy with the sound of the 15,000 airhorns given to fans by the Marlins. You would think Marlins management would have known they were asking for trouble and they got it when their manager Fredi Gonzalez was tossed from the game over a lineup card dispute which may be blamed on a lack of communication due to the excessive noise.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300619128

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Stephen Strasburg had another excellent quality start last night in Washington but was a victim of no run support in the 2-1, 11-inning loss to the White Sox. The Nationals didn’t score a run until Strasburg made his exit after the top of the seventh.

The Nationals had defeated the Pirates 5-2 and the Indians 9-5 in his two previous starts. Strasburg had issues with the mound in the game with the Indians which probably caused him to walk five batters. He struck out 14 while walking none against the Pirates and struck out 10 while walking none against the White Sox.

After his first 19 innings he has struck out 32 and walked only five. He has held opposing hitters to a .149 batting average and has a 0.78 WHIP. His 14.90 K/9 innings is the sixth best in the majors and the best among starters.

There has been some talk of him pitching in the All-Star game, but I can’t see that happening with him making his major league debut in June.

He should have had three wins if he had any kind of run support last night, but Gavin Floyd pitched well giving up only one run in eight innings. The White Sox won the game in 11 innings 2-1 on a throwing error by Ryan Zimmerman allowing the winning run to score.

The White Sox, who had won more than one game in a row only three times before winning eight of their last nine games, moved to within five and a half games of the Twins and are only two games under .500. Their only loss in that span was the 1-0 loss to the Cubs in which Ted Lilly and Gavin Floyd pitched seven innings of no-hit baseball.

Strasburg will pitch next on Wednesday, July 23 against the Royals, who are currently the best hitting team in the majors with a .279 average and so should be a good test for Strasburg. He won’t get to pitch against the Orioles, the worst team in the majors, but should start the first or second game in Atlanta against the Braves during the last week of June.

Around the Diamond

The Twins were 31-20 at the end of May but have played 7-9 baseball in June. Joe Mauer was hitting .364 on May but his average has fallen to .307 after last night’s game. He has hit only two home runs this season after hitting 28 in 2009.

Justin Morneau was hitting .377 on May 27 but is now hitting .337 and after hitting .400 in May is only hitting .204 in June. He has not homered since June 4 and has not driven in a run since May 11.

Dayan Viciedo will make his major league debut for the Chicago White Sox today in Washington. He will probably play third base even though he played first base mostly for the Charlotte Knights of the International League most likely in preparation for Paul Konerko being dealt this summer or during the winter.

He has made eight errors at first base which is a lot for a first baseman. The 21 year old Viciedo was hitting .290 for Charlotte when called up and has hit 14 home runs and has driven in 34 runs.

Alex Rios is the only major leaguer as of today to have a shot at a 30-30 season with the season about two weeks from being half over. He has 19 stolen bases and 13 home runs. Shane Victorino has the next best chance with 16 stolen bases and 11 home runs.

Carlos Silva (8-2) pitched well but lost his second straight start. He allowed three runs in six innings but the Cubs defense committed three more errors as Jeff Baker made two bad throws while Derrek Lee made another one. The Cubs rallied in the ninth inning behind a three run homer by Tyler Colvin, but lost 7-6 to the Angels.

Cliff Lee showed why the Yankees and other teams are interested in acquiring him before the trading deadline by pitching a complete game shutout win over the Reds 1-0. It was a typical Lee game in which he walked no batters while striking out seven. He has an amazing 67-4 strikeouts to walks ratio this season.

Mike Stanton broke an 0 for 12 slump by hitting a first inning grand slam in the Marlins 7-4 win over the Rays. It was the first home run of Stanton’s career.

The Red Sox were 11-14 on May 2 but have rebounded to play 30-14 baseball since then and now are only one game behind the Yankees and Rays who are tied for first place in the AL East.

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The 2010 baseball season has already had two perfect games and a no-hitter plus an imperfect perfect game. This article updates how those pitchers have done since their historic games.

Ubaldo Jimenez (Rockies) – No-hitter on April 17, 2010 – Colorado 4 Atlanta 0

Jimenez was 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA after pitching his no-hitter. He has been 9-0 since the no-hitter and his ERA is an even lower 1.16 two months later.

Dallas Braden (Athletics) – Perfect game on May 9, 2010 – Oakland 4 Tampa Bay 0

Braden has not fared as well as Jimenez since his no-hitter. His record was 4-1 with a 3.33 ERA after his perfect game. He has been 0-5 since then and he has 4 wins and six losses and a 3.95 ERA.

In his last 18 innings encompassing three starts Braden has allowed 13 runs and 28 hits and his ERA in June is 6.00

Roy Halladay – Perfect game on May 29, 2010 – Philadelphia 1 Florida 0

Halladay was 7-3 with a 1.99 ERA after his perfect game. His record since the perfect game is 1-2 and his ERA now stands at 2.36. His season record is now 8-5.

Armando Galarraga – Imperfect game on June 2, 2010 – Detroit 3 Cleveland 0

If there had been instant replay on June 2 Galarraga would have had a perfect game on June 2 but since there wasn’t instant replay we will call his game an imperfect game since the umpire Jim Joyce made a bad call on a bang-bang play at first base and Galarraga lost his perfect game.

The honesty of Joyce to admit not making the right call and the ability of Galarraga to to handle the situation in a very gracious manner kept a bad situation from turning into an even worse situation. If there had been another pitcher and another umpire involved this may not have ended in a handshake the next day. I have a world of respect for Galarraga and Joyce for shaking hands at home plate the next day. It was a shining moment for baseball when Joyce fighting back tears shook hands with Galarraga.

The Galarraga stats afterthe imperfect game were 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA. His won-loss record remains at 2-1 and his ERA is 2.67 after two no-decisions since his imperfect game. Opposing batters are hitting .211 against Galarraga and he has a 0.98 WHIP.

Around the Diamond

The Yankees and Rays remained tied for first place in the AL East as both teams lost. The Red Sox and Blue Jays took advantage of those losses to move to within three and six games of the leaders respectively.

This has been a good season for close division races so far. The already mentioned AL East and NL Central both have ties for first place with the Reds and Cardinals tied for the NL Central lead…The Mets are only a half game behind the Braves in the NL East. The Mets are the hottest team in the majors now with a six game winning streak and a 9-1 record in their last ten games.

The Milwaukee Brewers are the only NL Central team with a winning record in their last ten games with a 6-4 record while the Pittsburgh Pirates are 0-10 in their last ten games and need a 19 game winning streak to get back to .500 baseball. The Dodgers hold a slim half game lead over the Padres and a game lead over the Giants.

Tim Lincecum (7-2) won his second game in June after winning only once in May while striking out 10 in 6-3 win over the Orioles….Vernon Wells hit his 16th home run of the 2010 season yesterday surpassing his 15 home runs hit in 2010.

Tommy Hanson (7-3) is back on track after giving up 13 runs and 15 hits combined in April 15 and April 20 starts against the Diamondbacks and Reds. Since then, he has allowed only seven runs in his last five starts and has been 4-0 in those starts lowering his ERA from 4.18 to 3.38….Jamie Moyer who will be 48 in November won his 265th career victory last night in a win over the Yankees.

MLB.com doesn’t list the White Sox pitcher who will face Stephen Strasburg tomorrow night. Mark Buehrle starts tonight in place of an injured Jake Peavy and was originally scheduled to face Strasburg so now either Gavin Floyd who pitched last on Sunday or another starter will face Strasburg.

The White Sox have now won six of their last seven games but don’t meet head to head with the first place Twins in the AL Central till they play a four game series in Minnesota on July 15….Josh Hamilton continued his torrid hitting by hitting his 16th home run on a 4 for 5 night against the Marlins in the ninth inning.

Brennan Boesch of the Tigers hit his ninth home run of the season and is leading AL rookies in hitting with a .344 average, in home runs with nine, in RBI with 34 and is slugging .631 also leading AL rookies. An amazing stat for Boesch is that the lefthanded hitting Boesch is hitting lefthanders at a .485 clip so he is not intimidated by facing lefthanders.

Starlin Castro of the Cubs is in the midst of his first slump since his six RBI debut.  He is hitting .212 in his last ten games. He has only 10 RBI in 35 games and 125 at bats since his debut. He hit .310 in May but is hitting only .186 in May. It will be interesting to see how he handles this slump. I expect Castro start hitting again soon.

ESPN.com lists all players who have played at least ten years with the same club. Chipper Jones leads all players with 16 years with the Atlanta Braves. Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter are next with 15 years each with the New York Yankees.

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In his last 10 games Josh Hamilton has hit .389 with five home runs and 17 RBI’s.

Josh Hamilton, who played in only 89 games in 2009 for the Texas Rangers, has played in 62 of the 64 games in 2010 and is hitting better each month of the season.

In April Hamilton hit three home runs with 11 RBI’s in while hitting .265 for the month. In May he hit six home runs and drove in 16 runs.

He completed the first half of June yesterday and already has six home runs and 20 RBI in the month. He is on pace to have 40 RBI in June.

So far in the month of June he is hitting .426, has an OBP of .466, slugging .852 and has an OPS of 1.318. He is fourth in the AL All-Star voting for outfielders, with Nelson Cruz of the Rangers 86,735 votes ahead of him.

His 15 home runs this season gives him five more home runs than he had the entire 2009 season in 90 fewer at-bats.

Around the Diamond

Roy Halladay had allowed only three home runs in 101 innings before last night’s game with the Yankees. It took only five innings to match that total, giving up home runs to Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, and Mark Teixeira.

Freddy Garcia is one of the hottest pitchers in baseball winning seven of his last eight starts and is 7-3 on the season.

It wasn’t surprising that David Price (10-2) came out the winner after facing Kenshin Kawakami as the Rays defeated the Braves 10-4. Kawakami has pitched better than his 0-9 record indicates, posting a 4.42 ERA this season.

Carlos Zambrano pitched better than the score showed in a 9-5 Cubs loss against the Oakland A’s. He only allowed two earned runs in six innings but a shoddy defensive game by his teammates allowed three unearned runs to score. Derrek Lee and Tyler Colvin both made two errors in the contest.

Milton Bradley hit his third home run in his last six games for the Mariners last night in their loss to the Cardinals. He has 25 RBI this season after 45 games. Last season, he drove in 40 runs in 124 games for the Cubs. ESPN.com projects Bradley to finish the season with 19 home runs and 79 runs batted in.

Mat Latos of the Padres has won six of his last eight starts and has given up more than two runs in only one of those starts when he allowed three runs….Prince Fielder who hit his 13th home run in last night’s win by the Brewers over the Angels is fourth on the Brewers in RBI with 26 and is only eight ahead of Alcides Escobar who has 18.

The Astros blew a 6-3 lead in the fourth inning as the Royals came back to win the game 15-7 as they pounded out 20 hits in the contest with four doubles and 16 singles….Jose Bautista, the major league home run leader, hit his 18th and 19th home runs on June 4 but has not homered since then. He hit 12 home runs in May but only has two in 46 at-bats in June.

The Phillies continue to slide in the NL East standings. They are in third place and only two games ahead of the Marlins. They were 26-15 on May 17 but since then they have played 6-15 baseball going from 11 games over .500 to two games over .500.

They have been shutout in five of those losses, one run in two losses and only a run in one win in the 21 game span.  In addition they scored twice in two of those losses while scoring three runs in four losses. They scored more than three runs only once in the 15 losses.

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Kevin Millwood, pictured here, is 0-8 with a 5.91 ERA after his first 14 starts of the 2010 season after being traded to the Baltimore Orioles.

The 2010 baseball season has not been kind to the Baltimore Orioles, and a big part of their failure has been Kevin Millwood failing to win a game this season. His 0-8 record and 5.91 ERA were not what the Orioles expected when acquiring him in a trade that sent Chris Ray and Ben Snyder to the Texas Rangers.

Millwood has taken the mound 14 times this season, and has yet to win a game as of June 14th. The Orioles are paying him $9 million of his $12 million this season. He is in the last year of a five-year contract he signed with the Rangers for $60 million.

He leads all major league pitchers in most home runs allowed with 19. He posted a 13-10 record in 2009, but is tied with Kenshin Kawakami of the Atlanta Braves for the worst record in the majors among pitchers who have not recorded a win with a 0-8 record.

Millwood’s contract ends in 2010 and unless he improves over the rest of the season his career may be ending as well.

Zack Greinke

2009 AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke probably won’t win again in 2010, since he was 8-2 with a 1.72 ERA on this date in 2009. So far in 2010, he is 2-8 with a 3.94 ERA.  He finished the 2009 season with a 16-8 record and a 2.16 ERA.

This season, he has already lost eight games and has given up 10 home runs before the halfway mark. Last season, he allowed 11 home runs in the entire 2009 season.

Scott Feldman

Last year was a breakthrough season for Scott Feldman of the Texas Rangers. After not winning more than six games in a season previously in his career, he posted a 17-8 record and a 4.08 ERA in 2009. After 13 starts in 2010 Feldman’s record is 4-6 with a 5.28 ERA.

Felix Hernandez

After posting a 19-5 record and a 2.49 ERA in 2009, it looked like Felix Hernandez was finally ready to live up to the hype surrounding him. Instead he is 4-5, while posting an ERA of 3.61 in 2010.

The Mariners were supposed to have one of the best top of the rotations in the majors with the acquisition of Cliff Lee, combined with the returning 19 game winner in Hernandez. Instead, Hernandez and Lee have combined for an 8-8 record thus far in 2010.

Wandy Rodriguez

Wandy Rodriguez had a breakout season in 2009 for the Houston Astros, posting a 14-12, 3.02 season. However, he has hit a wall in 2010 and after 13 starts he is 3-9 with a 5.60 ERA.

Trevor Hoffman

Trevor Hoffman has imploded this season for the Brewers after converting 37 of 41 saves in 2009. This season, he has already blew five saves in 10 save opportunities. His 9.90 ERA is 19th among 20 pitchers who have pitched for the Brewers at some point in the 2010 season.

His seven home runs allowed are ranked third among the starters for the Brewers. It took him only 20 innings to allow those home runs, after allowing only two home runs in 54 innings in 2009. He has already doubled the number of runs allowed in 2009 from 11 in 2009 to 22 in 2010.

He has issued 11 walks after issuing 14 in 34 more innings last season. Opponents hit .183 against him in 2009 but are hitting .333 this season and is 432nd in the majors. His 1.95 WHIP is listed 422nd in the majors by mlb.com.

Any dreams Hoffman had of saving his 600th game this season have gone out the window with him needing five saves to reach 600. He should still be voted into the Hall of Fame someday, but it may be time for the 42-year-old Hoffman to retire before our memory of him is tarnished any more than it has been this season.

Around the Diamond

Stephen Strasburg may have walked five batters yesterday in the Nationals 9-4 win over the Indians, but he still won his second major league start and lowered his ERA from 2.57 to 2.19. The mound not being to his liking visibly perturbed him, and it appeared he lost his focus and started walking batters.

Still he allowed only two hits in 5 1/3 innings while striking out eight. He has struck out 22 in his first 12 1/3 innings. Opponents are hitting .143 against Strasburg, and he has posted a 0.89 WHIP. Only Tommy Hunter of the Rangers has a lower WHIP with a 0.87 mark among major league pitchers with at least two starts.

His next start should be next Saturday against the White Sox.

The six game home run streak of Carlos Pena ended at six games yesterday. If rumors that Cliff Lee may be traded to the Yankees before the trading deadline, it will probably mean Javier Vazquez would be included in that trade.

These are 2010 records for Yankee starters:

Phil Hughes—9-1, 3.11

Andy Pettitte—8-1, 2.46

C.C. Sabathia—6-3, 4.01

A.J. Burnett—6-4, 3.86

Javier Vazquez—6-5, 5.43

Vazquez has pitched better recently winning his last three starts and is 3-0, 2.57 in June, but he still is no Cliff Lee and may be the victim of the numbers game.

Lee has an amazing strikeouts to walks ratio of 60 strikeouts to four walks, and has allowed only two home runs in 68 innings. Surprisingly, Felipe Paulino 1-7 of the Astros has allowed only two home runs in 75 innings, but has walked 38 batters, which is fourth highest in the majors.

Andres Galarraga has pitched well, allowing four runs combined in his last two starts since his near perfect game, but didn’t receive the decision in either game. Josh Hamilton is back to being the player he was in 2008 with a .405 average in his last 10 games, while hitting six home runs and driving in 17 runs. Hamilton now has 15 home runs and 46 runs batted in for the season.  It should be a contest between Hamilton and Carlos Pena for the AL Player of the Week last week.

Yesterday’s game between the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox was old-school baseball in which the starters Ted Lilly and Gavin Floyd both pitched six innings of hitless baseball, before Floyd gave up the first hit of the game in the seventh inning.

Lilly, who had been getting little run support despite pitching well lately, got the one run he needed to win his second game of the season but lost his no-hitter in the ninth on a pinch hit single by Juan Pierre. The Cubs had scored a total of nine runs in his last five games that resulted in a loss by the Cubs.

Prince Fielder hit two solo homers for two of the three hits by the Brewers in their 7-2 loss to the Rangers.

Troy Glaus homered twice in the Braves 7-3 win over the Twins. Glaus has hit 11 homers and driven in 40 runs since April 30. He is leading the NL in runs batted in with 49.

The Yankees were the only AL East team to win yesterday, as they moved into a first place tie with the Rays.

All five NL East teams won yesterday. The Braves have to improve on their 18-21 road record if they hope to hold onto the NL East lead, thankfully they have been 19-6 at home.

The Cubs were the only NL Central team to win as they moved to within 7 1/2 games of the first place Reds. Any hopes the Pirates had of having their first winning season since 1992 are evaporating as the 23-40 Pirates are mired in an eight game losing streak.

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