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Indians starter David Huff was hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Alex Rodriguez but the Indians overcame a 9-3 deficit to record a 13-11 victory over the Yankees.

The Yankees had all the ingredients for an easy win. They had a 9-3 lead over the Indians with C.C. Sabathia on the mound after four innings.

However the Indians were not ready to concede and outscored the Yankees 10-2 after the fourth inning. Sabathia allowed only five of the 13 runs to score but failed to win for his fifth straight start and only won once during May on May 3 when the Yankees defeated the last place Orioles.

Sabathia was 5-3 on this date in 2009 and still won 19 games so the Yankees are not too concerned about Sabathia yet. He pitched seven scoreless innings on May 18 against the Red Sox but didn’t receive the decision. In the game before that game and the two games after, he has given up 16 runs and 26 hits.

Indians starter David Huff only allowed three of the Yankees runs before being hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Alex Rodriguez and was carried off the field in a stretcher. Aaron Laffey relieved Huff and allowed six Yankees runs to score.

Joba Chamberlain blew the save when the Indians scored seven times in the seventh inning as Dave Robertson allowed two runs, Sergio Mitre yielded one run, and Chamberlain gave up four runs while retiring only one batter when the Indians took a 12-10 lead, and an eventual 13-11 win.

The Yankees not only lost the game but fell another game behind the Rays and now stand 4.5 games behind the Rays. The Blue Jays and Red Sox also won, moving the Blue Jays to a game within of the Yankees and the Red Sox two games behind them.

Baseball a Dangerous Game

Baseball fans were reminded again how dangerous baseball is when Cleveland pitcher Huff was hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Rodriguez.

Then later in the day, Kendry Morales was celebrating a tenth inning walk-off grand slam that gave the Angels a 5-1 victory and was carried off the field on a stretcher after fracturing his leg during the celebration at home plate. It could be months before Morales returns to action after having surgery today.

The injury turned the celebration into tragedy as the Angels will be without their offensive leader, who led the team in home runs with 11 and in runs batted in with 39. Torii Hunter, who is four home runs behind Morales with seven and 10 runs batted in behind with 29, was hit by a pitch earlier in the game.

It may be a time to re-examine celebrations at home plate and give the players space to touch home plate without a crowd of players gathered around the plate and then celebrate on the way back to the dugout.

Around the Diamond

Thanks to the MLB Network I was able to see the last two innings of Roy Halladay’s perfect game. During those two innings, Juan Castro made two excellent plays one on a hot smash to the third baseman in the eighth inning and and on another ball that appeared to go through the hole, but was slow enough to be flagged down by Castro and thrown to Ryan Howard for the 27th out.

Halladay lowered his ERA to 1.99 as he won his seventh game, while losing three in 2010. It was ironic that Halladay had pitched his worst game of the season in his last start prior to the perfect game allowing the Red Sox six runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Carlos Silva outpitched rookie Adam Ottavino making his Major League debut by pitching seven scoreless innings while allowing two hits and striking out 11 enroute to a 5-0 shutout victory over the Cardinals. Silva is the only pitcher in the majors with seven or more wins who has not lost a game. The win moved the Cubs to within four games of the second place Cardinals in the NL Central race.

The Blue Jays hit four more home runs to extend their home run lead over the Red Sox to 18 as they hit their 85th of the season. They are on a pace to hit 255 home runs this season…The Reds are feasting on Astros pitching as they hit six home runs en route to a 12-2 win pounding out 18 hits.

The Reds had battered Astros pitching on Friday night winning 15-6 behind a 19 hit attack. Reds have hit 10 home runs in the first two games of the series…2010 AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke pitched six innings of one-run baseball, but that run was all the the Red Sox needed for Clay Buchholz to record his fifth win of the season in their 1-0 victory.

The Athletics, Braves, and Reds have the longest current winning streaks with four-game winning streaks. The Diamondbacks have the longest losing streak with six consecutive losses…The Braves are the hottest team with a 8-2 record in their last 10 games, while the Orioles and Pirates have the worst record in their last 10 games with 2-8 records.

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Making a list of the biggest surprises of the 2010 baseball season is risky considering how easy it is to leave a player or event off the list. Still there will be enough surprises to make up for any omissions.

Players

The biggest surprise to me is that Carlos Silva, who was 5-18 over his two seasons in Seattle, is the only pitcher among 18 pitchers with six or more wins to not have lost a game in 2010 with two more days left in the month of May.

Who would have thought that Chipper Jones would only have two home runs and 18 runs batted in after 137 at-bats or that Manny Ramirez wouldn’t hit his third home run of the season till the Dodgers 48th game of the season? He has had only three hits in his last 22 at-bats and is hitting .216 in May after hitting .415 in April.

Who would have thought that Jose Bautista, who has never hit more than 16 home runs in a season, would be leading the majors in home runs with 15 in 226 fewer at-bats than when he hit 16 for the Pirates in 2006?

Who would have thought that Vladimir Guerrero would be leading the AL in runs batted in with 43 after having 50 in 2009 in 199 fewer at-bats? His .342 average is the highest average he has hit for since he hit .345 for the 2000 Expos.

Who would have thought that Alex Rodriguez would only have six home runs with his lowest slugging percentage (.466) since slugging .408 for the 1995 Mariners? At this pace he will finish the season with about 20 home runs since the season will be a third over next week.

Who would have thought that Ty Wigginton would be third in AL in home runs with 13 after hitting 11 home runs in 410 at bats in 2009 which is 247 more at-bats than this season?

Who would have thought that Kelly Johnson would be tied for the NL lead in home runs with 12 after hitting 12 in 547 at-bats for the Braves in 2008 with 381 fewer at-bats this season?

Who would have thought that Vernon Wells would have 12 home runs in 188 at-bats after hitting only 15 in 630 at bats in 2009?

Who would have thought that rookie Jason Heyward, who is sixth in the NL in runs batted in with 35, would have more runs batted in than Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Ryan Braun, Manny Ramirez, Prince Fielder, and Chipper Jones?

Who would have thought that Mike Pelfrey would be 7-1 after posting a 10-12 season in 2009?

Who would have thought that Barry Zito, who is 6-2 this season, would be tied for third most wins in the majors after compiling a 10-13 record in 2009 and a 31-43 record in three seasons with the Giants?

Who would have thought that Ubaldo Jimenez would have allowed seven runs in 71 innings in 2010 after giving up 84 runs in 218 innings in 2009? He is on a pace to give up about 22 runs this season with the season soon being a third over.

Who would have thought that 2009 AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke would be 1-5 after posting a 16-8 season in 2009? He has allowed eight home runs in 2010 in 63 innings after allowing 11 in 218 innings in 2009.

Who would have thought that Mark Teixeira would only have seven home runs in 185 at-bats after hitting 39 in 609 at bats in 2009? Teixeira, who is known for his slow starts, is still hitting only .216 with the season a third over soon and his .378 slugging percentage is almost 200 points lower than his .565 of 2009. His .704 OPS is a career low.

Who would have thought that Javier Vazquez would be 3-5 with a 6.86 ERA after posting a 15-10 record with a 2.87 ERA for the Braves in 2009? At this pace he will be lucky to win 10 games.

Who would have thought Kevin Millwood would have a 0-5 record when he makes his next start in June?

Teams

Who would have thought that Tampa Bay would be 33-16 after being 24-27 on this date in 2009?

Who would have thought Baltimore would be 18 games out of first place after being 5.5 games out on this date in 2009?

Who would have thought Oakland would be a half game out of first place after being 10 games out of first on this date in 2009?

Who would have thought that Washington would be 25-24 and three games out of first after having 14-34 record and 13.5 games out of first on this date in 2009?

Who would have thought that Milwaukee would be 20-28 in 2010 after being 28-20 at this time last year and tied for first place with the Cardinals?

Who would have thought that Colorado would be 25-23 and 2.5 games out of first place after being 19-28 on this date in 2009 and 8.5 games out of first place.

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Ubaldo Jimenez has been pitching like he is from another planet this season. He won his ninth game yesterday, pitching eight scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks who fell to the Rockies by a 7-3 score.

His record now stands at 9-1 with a 0.88 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP all of which lead the NL. He has pitched a quality start in all 10 of his starts. He has allowed two earned runs only twice this season. He has allowed one earned run three times and he has held his opponents scoreless in the other five starts.

He is pitching on another level having three more wins than any other NL starter. ESPN.com is projecting him to finish with a 32-4 record and to allow 148 hits in 250 innings. Currently he has allowed only 42 hits in 71 innings.

The most amazing stat to me for Jimenez is that he has faced 267 batters in 71 innings and has allowed only one home run.

Even when he lost his one game this season he pitched superbly, allowing one run and two hits in seven innings in a 2-0 loss to the Dodgers on May 9.

Opposing batters are hitting .176 against Jimenez, which is a major league best. Jimenez is particularly effective in night games, with an ERA of 0.24 and allowing one run in 37 innings. The power-laden Diamondbacks who lead the NL in home runs with 58 have been held scoreless by Jimenez in 14 innings this season.

It is ironic that he pitched a no-hitter against the Braves in a 4-0 win while walking six batters in his third start of the season on April 17. He usually has much better control and has walked two or less batters in seven of his 10 starts.

121 major league pitchers have allowed more hits than Jimenez while 272 major league pitchers have allowed more earned runs than his seven allowed in 10 starts encompassing 71 innings.

At the rate he is going Jimenez could have 15 wins by the All Star game. Baseball fans will wait in anticipation for each Jimenez start and we may not know how long he can pitch at this level, but for today it is safe to say he is the best starting pitcher in the major leagues.

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Vladimir Guerrero is back after an injury-riddled 2009 season in which he played in only 100 games.

Last night he took over the RBI lead for the majors when he homered twice and drove in five runs in an 8-7 defeat of the Royals.

His .347 batting average is second in the AL behind Justin Morneau, who is hitting .383.

Guerrero has been on fire in May while hitting 10 home runs and driving in 29 runs. He has been held hitless only twice during the month of May. He needs only three homers and eight RBI to reach his 2009 numbers while batting 207 fewer times than he did last season.

He needs 690 hits to reach the 3,000-hit plateau, and he has a real shot at 3,000 if he can stay healthy since he is 35 and could play four or five more seasons. His .322 lifetime average is fifth best among active players.

Guerrero has hit 419 home runs, which places him sixth on the list for active players, but is only 11 home runs behind Chipper Jones, who has hit only two home runs so far this season, so he has a chance to move ahead of Jones into fifth place.

Baseball-reference.com compares his numbers to Hall of Famers Duke Snider, Chuck Klein, Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Mize, and Orlando Cepeda, so he is almost a lock for the Hall of Fame already and can only add to his great numbers before he retires.

Nelson Cruz has picked up where he left off before going on the DL and was the AL Player of the Week. He has three home runs and 13 RBI in his last 10 games. Since his return on May 14 he has hit three home runs and driven in 17 runs in 11 games.

The New York Mets and Oakland Athletics traded Cruz before he ever played a major league game for them, and the Brewers played him in only eight games before trading him to the Rangers in the Carlos Lee trade.

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Once again the All Star voting is proving to be a popularity contest with almost no correlation to how well a player is performing on the field.

A case in point is Ken Griffey Jr. who is third in voting for designated hitter. Although he is the only DH who hasn’t hit a home run and is 19th among 22 DHs with seven RBI, his .252 OBP is 21st ahead of only Randy Ruiz, who signed with a Japanese team last week.

Griffey’s .186 batting average is 20th on the team and he is only hitting .136 with runners in scoring position. This is not a vendetta against Griffey who may or may not actually play in the game, but a stand for other players who are more deserving but have less a chance of making the team with so many votes going to Griffey.

Jose Guillen is an example of a player being left out in the voting. He is leading all DHs in home runs with 11 and second in RBI with 31 but is not even in the top five of the voting. I understand Vladimir Guerrero being the top vote getter for DH since he has the best numbers across the board.

Pat Burrell is fourth in voting but has had such a terrible season he has been released by Tampa Bay. He is fourth in voting but is hitting .202 and is slugging .292.

The first base position voting also shows a case where popularity is ruling the voting. Mark Teixeira leads Justin Morneau by almost 140,000 votes even though Morneau is having a much better season. Granted Teixeira is near the top of the first baseman in RBI with 30 but is hitting only .209 while Morneau is hitting .383 and 31 points ahead of second place Ichiro Suzuki. Morneau is slugging .701 while Teixeira is slugging .378.

Then there is the case of Paul Konerko who is leading the majors in home runs but is not even in the tope five in voting. Carlos Pena who is fourth in voting has no business being ahead of Kendry Morales who has more home runs and RBI than Pena. Also Morales is outhitting Pena .288 to .191.

I am not saying the Rays are stuffing the ballot box but it sure looks that way with the Rays placing a player in the top five at each position.

The outfield voting shows Vernon Wells, who is leading the AL outfielders in home runs with 11 and in RBI with 33 in 11th place, with the Yankees having Curtis Granderson fifth, Nick Swisher seventh, and Brett Gardner eighth in voting.

Alex Gonzalez leads all shortstops in home runs with 10 and in RBI with 30 and is slugging .538 which is 138 points higher than second place J.J. Hardy. Derek Jeter is first in the voting and 520,000 votes ahead of Gonzalez who has had the better first half so far.

Wells and Gonzalez may be victims of poor attendance with the Blue Jays, one of the worst drawing teams in 2010, and with a smaller fan base, there will be fewer votes cast at the ballpark for their players.

The Yankees lead in three of the four infield positions with Alex Rodriguez second in the voting at third base behind Evan Longoria. Jorge Posada is second in the voting as catcher behind Joe Mauer.

I am resigned to the fact that the fans will continue to be allowed to vote for their favorite players but still hope that there will be a more equitable way for players who are from smaller markets and have posted better stats to take the field for their leagues in All Star games.

The manager will add some of these players who are not first in the voting for their position but they most certainly won’t be on the field when the game starts.

The  AL All Star voting to date:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100524&content_id=10391982&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

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Paul Konerko and Jose Bautista are outslugging several of the most prominent sluggers in major league baseball this season, with 14 home runs each entering Monday night’s game between the White Sox and the Indians.

Alex Rodriguez (6), Chipper Jones (2), Todd Helton (1), Manny Ramirez (2) and Ken Griffey Jr. (0) have combined to hit only 11 home runs between them this season. It is strange that Rodriguez and Ramirez both were found to have used steroids during 2009 and now all of a sudden they are not hitting home runs, with Rodriguez having 6 in 192 plate appearances and Ramirez having 2 in 100 plate appearances.

This was going to be the year Rodriguez passed Sammy Sosa who has 609 home runs,but instead he still needs 20 more with the season being a third over next week.

Just When You Think You Have Seen It All Department

I thought there is no possible way anyone could come up with a new stat (new to me at least) and that stat is the time it takes for a player to run the bases after hitting a home run.

There is a chart keeping track of the slowest and fastest home run trots of the season. It is called the Tater Trot Tracker.

David Ortiz has the slowest home run trot of the season, timing out at 29.81 seconds and the fastest home run trot was by Angel Pagan when he hit an inside the park home run on May 19.

Adam Rosales has rounded the bases faster on a non-inside park home run than four of the players who hit inside the park home runs.

Around the Infield

Carlos Silva of the Chicago Cubs is the favorite to be the NL Comeback Player of the Year.  He is the only pitcher in the majors with at least six wins who has not lost a game.

Albert Pujols has hit only one home run in May after going deep seven times in April. He slugged .655 in April but is slugging only .385 in May. He started the month of May hitting .345 but his average is down to .303 after going hitless against the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend.

The Philadelphia Phillies were the first team to draw 1 million fans in 2010 with a total of 1,037,638 fans while the Cleveland Indians have drawn the least fans with 299,722 fans this season.

Rafael Soriano with 13 saves and Matt Lindstrom with 10 saves are the only closers with at least 10 saves to not have blown a save in 2010.

Carlos Marmol of the Cubs has struck out an amazing 17.5 batters per 9 innings. The most strikeouts per 9 innings by a starter is Randy Johnson when he struck out 13.4 batters per 9 innings in 2001.

Kelly Johnson has matched his entire home run output of 2008 when he hit his 12th home run of the 2010 season. It took only 152 at bats this season while it took 547 at bats in 2008. He hit a home run every 45.6 at bats in 2008 and homered every 12.7 at bats in 2010.

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