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Two years ago, Blue Jays‘ rookie relief pitcher, Steve Delabar, was a substitute teacher in a small town in Kentucky.

Now the 29-year-old finds himself in the history books after an impressive outing on Monday night against the White Sox. 

The game was tied at two a piece at the end of the ninth, and the Jays turned to Delabar to start the extra frames. 

Leading off the inning for Chicago was left fielder Dayan Viciedo, who Delabar greeted with three pitches to send him back to the bench. 

Tyler Flowers came up next and went down swinging to make it two consecutive punch outs for the Jays relief man. The ball scooted away from catcher Jeff Mathis which resulted in Flowers finding himself safe at first on the play. 

No harm, no foul, however, as Delabar proceeded to strike out the next batter Gordon Beckham and then got leadoff man Alejandro De Aza as well to get out of the inning unscathed. 

He officially faced four batters in the top of the tenth and sat them all down swinging. When a pitcher gets four K’s in one inning, it’s obviously something special and unique.

This instance was even more rare than any other though, seeing that this was the first time in MLB history a pitcher has accomplished this feat in extra innings. 

Delabar came out again for the top of the 11th where he continued his dominance by striking out two of the three batters he faced. The Jays rallied in the bottom half of the frame, earning the rookie his third win on the season. 

Picking up a win, fanning six and becoming the first player in the history of your sport to do something—not too bad for a day’s work. 

*Stats are from ESPN.com. 

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On Thursday the Houston Astros made a rather odd move by sending a player to be named later and some cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for utility man, Tyler Greene. 

Apparently they saw something out of the 28-year-old, with a career .218 batting average, that no one else could. 

In his Astros debut on Friday night, Greene saw limited action as a pinch runner in the bottom of the ninth. With Houston down 3-2, the newcomer stole second, his 10th of the season, and then took third as a result of a wild pitch by Brewers‘ closer John Axford. 

Greene was then driven home by Steve Pearce to even the game up at three a piece. Two batters later, Pearce scored the game-winning run. 

It would be hard to follow up his debut in which he was key in his new team’s come from behind win, but Greene decided he would try anyways. 

Starting at shortstop, the newly acquired Greene was slated in the lead-off spot. In his first career at bat as a member of the Astros, rocking the teams throwback jerseys, he laced a double down the left field line. The four-year veteran came around to score once again thanks to another single by teammate Steve Pearce. 

Two times Greene had reached base and both times he found himself crossing the plate. After lining out to right in his second plate appearance, he decided he liked the whole scoring thing. So he sent a drive over the yellow line in deep left center field in his next at bat for his fifth homer of the season. 

In 179 at bats with the Cards, he only made it all the way around a total of 16 times. In just three plate appearances, Greene had three runs scored. 

He came to the plate two more times, striking out once in the seventh and then again with two outs in the ninth to send the game into extras. 

With a full game under his belt, Greene’s stat line is: .400 AVG, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 runs, and 1 stolen base. 

Most importantly though, after they won via walk-off for the second straight night, Houston is now 2-0 since they made the move for Tyler Greene. 

*All stats from ESPN.com. 

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Derek Jeter has been writing his name in the history books for a while now, and after a RBI ground-rule double today against the Blue Jays, he found himself there once again. 

The two-bagger was The Captain’s second hit of the game, and it put him at exactly 150 on the year. This was the 17th straight season in which Jeter has reached the 150-hit plateau, tying him with Hall of Famer Hank Aaron for the most all time. 

Jeter’s streak started in 1996, in which he brought home Rookie of the Year honors and the first of his many World Series titles. He is currently signed through the 2013 season with a player option for ’14, which gives him the chance to break the tie between him and Aaron. 

Aaron’s streak started in his second professional year, 1955 and ended in 1971—five years before he retired. 

The 38-year-old was thought to have been slowing down after a “down” year in the previous season. As of right now, he needs only 13 more hits to surpass his season total from 2011. With the way Jeter has been hitting this year, he could get there within the week. 

He is on pace to exceed 200 hits this year, a feat he hasn’t accomplished since 2009. It would be the eighth time Jeter has reached the mark. 

After today’s 2-for-5 performance, Jeter’s all-time hit number sits at 3,238. That is good enough for 14th in the history of Major League Baseball and puts him five base knocks away from No. 13. If Jeter does make it to 200 by season’s end, he will find himself moving past Willie Mays in the 11 spot. 

And not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but if Jeter does in fact break the record next season between him and Hammerin’ Hank, he will be sitting pretty at No. 6 all time and only 700 hits or less away from being the top dog. 

*Stats are from ESPN.com and Baseball-Reference.com. 

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In yet another “Year of the Pitcher”, the Seattle Mariners‘ ace Felix Hernandez finds himself at the top of the class. 

King Felix, the 2010 Cy Young Award winner, has been lights out all season long and continues to become more dominant as the year progresses. 

On Saturday night, against Major League Baseball’s best offense, the Texas Rangers, the King tossed perhaps his most impressive game of the season. 

With some rare and very unusual first-inning run support mixed with the huge crowd in the “King’s Court“, it was a night fit for something miraculous. The 26-year-old righty did not disappoint. 

Hernandez cruised through the highly-potent offense en route to his second shutout of the season. On the way he also collected 12 strikeouts, one shy of his season high. Of the 12 k’s, three of them were handed to the AL MVP front runner Josh Hamilton, along with three more to slugger Nelson Cruz. All in all, Hernandez struck out seven of the nine Rangers’ starters. 

After this inspiring performance by Felix, his record has improved to 7-5 on the year. It’s his third win in his past five starts, and he has not pitched a loss in over a month; June 12th against the Padres, to be exact. 

For those still stuck in the past, thinking wins are all that matters, one must first realize that this is the same guy who won the Cy Young in 2010 with a record of 13-12, and then take a look at the fact that he has the third lowest run support in the entire MLB. 

This was also the 11th time, out of 19 starts, that Hernandez has given up one run or less with at least seven innings pitched. 

Along with improving his record, Hernandez also moved into the lead for overall strikeouts at 140 for the year. This moved him out of a three way tie with fire-ballers Justin Verlander and Stephen Strasburg. This was the third time he had reached the 12-strikeout plateau, including a 13 K’s against the Red Sox just four games ago. It was also his fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season. 

The complete game win also tied him for most innings pitched, also held by Verlander, at 132.2. For all the talk about how the Tigers‘ ace is a workhorse, people tend to forget that Hernandez has pitched more innings than him in the past three and a half seasons combined in the same amount of starts. 

If having a double-digit strikeout lead isn’t impressive enough, Hernandez also lowered his ERA to sub-3.00 after tonight. His 2.92 mark places him at sixth overall in the American League. It’s the firs time since his last start against Texas on May 21th that his ERA has been in the 2.00 range. His recent surge of excellence has seen his average drop from his season high 3.70 on June 12th, all the way down to where it sits now, in just six games. 

In those past six starts he’s gone 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA and recorded 56 punch outs. 

If Hernandez can continue to roll like this, only divine intervention can block him from hoisting up the Cy Young yet again. 

*Stats are from ESPN.com. 

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As if the Diamondbacks pitching wasn’t good enough as it is, it seems they have an even brighter future ahead of them. 

On Thursday night in the Low-A baseball season opener for the South Bend Silver Hawks, the No. 7 overall pick in last year’s draft, Archie Bradley, lived up to expectations. 

Though taking the loss to the Tampa Bay Rays affiliate, the Bowling Green Hot Rods, Bradley stood out in his five innings pitched. He probably could have gone a few innings longer with the way he had the batters guessing up there, but his pitch count got high quick due to his amount of strikeouts. With this being his first start, the manager planned on playing it safe and getting him out fast to begin with. 

Bradley’s final line was 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 Ks and 1 BB. That brings him to 1-0 on the season with a 1.80 ERA. 

It was a tough break for him seeing that his team couldn’t put a run on the board in support, but as a minor-league player, that’s not what the big-league scouts are concerned about.

What they are looking for is speed, command and being able to control a game; and that’s just what they saw from Bradley in what seems to be the start of a very long and productive career for this 19-year-old stud. 

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I know it’s only the third game of the season, but you can’t help but get your hopes up when watching a game like this one. 

On Friday night, in what felt like the real season opener, the Mariners bats came alive. They put up seven runs on 13 hits against the Oakland A’s, including seven hits and five run against ace Brandon McCarthy. And no bat was bigger than new leadoff man Chone Figgins, who finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBI. 

After a rough two games in the Tokyo Dome last week, where he only recorded one hit in eight at-bats, Figgins seemed to be more focused at the plate back on domestic soil. Granted, two of his hits were bunts and the other was a bloop single, but he still got on base. And that’s all that manager Eric Wedge and M’s fan can ask for after his struggles at the plate over the past two years. 

When Figgins gets on base it opens up many opportunities thanks to his speed, as shown when he recorded his first stolen base of the young season. It also gives Dustin Ackley the chance to thrive in the situations he was made for, which he also did against the A’s in going 3-for-5. If those two can get on base as well as they did Friday night, then it sets up the ideal situation Seattle was hoping for when they moved 10-year leadoff man, Ichiro, to the three hole. 

Though Ichiro was hitless on the night, he came through with a sac fly to bring in the team’s seventh run of the game. If he can get productive outs on an off night, wait till he’s playing like the Ichiro we all know and love with runners on (career .334 with RISP). 

When the top three players in your lineup have the potential to be three of the best in the league when playing at their best, you are guaranteed to see the numbers soar in the win column. Once the young power trio of Justin Smoak, Jesus Montero and Mike Carp (who bat 4-6 in the lineup) all get into their grooves, the Mariners will be one team to watch out for.

The key for me is Figgins though, and if he can get on base by any means necessary like he did in Oakland, then things are looking good for the Seattle Mariners. 

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At 12:34 the Cincinnati Reds announced today via Twitter that they had completed a deal with the San Diego Padres, acquiring right-handed pitcher Mat Latos. Was what they gave up for him really worth it?

The Reds gave up four players in this deal: Yonder Alonso, Edinson Volquez, Brad Boxberger, and Yasmani Grandal. I can understand getting rid of the first two, but all four is puzzling to me.

Alonso and Volquez are both very good players, but if you look at their situation, it makes sense. Alonso has been forced to play left field due to the fact that Joey Votto is the starter in his natural position of first base. With Volquez, his run was nearing an end in Cincinnati one way or the other. He’s been so inconsistent numbers wise, along with being suspended 50 games for violating the MLB‘s rules of performance-enhancing drug-use. Not to mention his attitude hasn’t been the best in his time there either. 

After that though, if you take a look at what Boxberger and Grandal have done thus far throughout their Minor League careers, you have to stop and wonder if this trade was really a good deal or not. Boxberger, a RH pitcher, split time between AA Carolina and AAA Louisville last year and posted a 2.03 ERA and averaged 13.5 SO/9. Grandal, a rare switch-hitting catcher, spent his time last year on each level at High A Bakersfield, AA Carolina, and AAA Louisville. Overall he batted .305 with 14 HR and 68 RBI while posting a .401 OBP. Those are extremely solid numbers from both prospects. 

Now don’t get me wrong, Mat Latos is an excellent pitcher in his own right. He will be one of the best in the league for years to come. He’s been a victim of a poor offense so his W-L isn’t so pretty, but a career 3.37 ERA and 413 K’s through 72 starts is very impressive. As impressive as it is though, I can’t bring myself to understand what the Reds were thinking by giving up so much talent for one player.

On the other hand, the Padres are big winners and this is a big step in their rebuilding process. 

All stats are from www.baseball-reference.com

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