Archives for September 2009

International baseball officials are starting to get over the shock of being shut out of the Olympics, and the recently concluded World Cup was hailed as a success in spreading the sport's reach in Europe.
The United States beat Cuba 10-5 in Sunday's final to cap a 22-team tournament spread over seven countries, several of which were almost completely new to baseball. Canada downed Puerto Rico 6-2 to capture third place.

"New stadiums were built in Sweden, facilities were renovated in Croatia. It has certainly contributed to the development of baseball in Europe," said Italian baseball federation president Riccardo Fraccari, who plans to run for the presidency of the International Baseball Federation later this year.

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The playoff-bound New York Yankees wrapped up the American League East title with their 100th victory of the season, a 4-2 triumph over arch-rivals Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

The Yankees (100-56) surged ahead on designated hitter Hideki Matsui's two-run single in the sixth inning to win their fifth consecutive game and sweep the weekend series.

"When you contribute to the actual win of the game, anytime, it's a great feeling," Matsui, speaking through an interpreter, told reporters. "But to clinch the division like this, it couldn't be better."

The Yankees will have home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs because they have baseball's best record.

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Ian Kinsler homered to become a 30-30 player for the first time, Julio Borbon had three hits and the Texas Rangers clung to their slim playoff hopes, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 8-3 on Friday night. Kinsler is the third second baseman in major league history with 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season. Alfonso Soriano, who has done it three times, and Brandon Phillips are the others. His 30th homer was a three-run shot in the eighth that put Texas up 8-3. Kinsler stole his 30th base Thursday. The Rangers trail Los Angeles by 6 1/2 games in the AL West. The Angels, whose magic number is four, hosted Oakland on Friday night. Texas moved within 7 1/2 games of Boston, which played the New York Yankees on Friday, in the wild card.

David Ortiz homered and drove in three runs, and Clay Buchholz took a shutout into the seventh inning to help the Boston Red Sox move closer to the postseason with a 10-3 win over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night. Jacoby Ellsbury had four hits and two RBIs, Victor Martinez extended his hitting streak to 23 games and Dustin Pedroia pushed his to 16 games, lowering Boston's magic number for clinching the AL wild card to three.

The Red Sox had 15 hits and have won 12 of 16 with a weekend road series against the AL East-leading Yankees up next. Royals starter Anthony Lerew (0-1) had a solid return to the majors and Billy Butler hit a two-run homer for Kansas City. The rest of the Royals unraveled around them with five errors — two by shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt — six unearned runs and two ejections.

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Juan Uribe hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs and San Francisco's bullpen backed Jonathan Sanchez with 3 2-3 innings of scoreless relief as the Giants gained a game in the NL wild-card race with a 5-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night.

San Francisco (82-70) remained in a tie with Atlanta, four games behind wild card leader Colorado with 10 games to play. Florida is 4 1/2 games back. Uribe's homer off Arizona starter Kevin Mulvey (0-2) in the sixth inning was his 14th of the season and gave the Giants a 3-0 lead. He also had an RBI double in the second. Both times he drove in Pablo Sandoval after he was walked.

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Leading the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks by three runs in the third inning, the Colorado Rockies looked as if they would solidify their hold on the NL wild card lead. "And then nothing," Colorado manager Jim Tracy said. "That was the end of the road."

Gerardo Parra doubled in the go-ahead runs, and Brandon Allen and Ryan Roberts homered as the Diamondbacks rallied to beat the Rockies 7-5 Friday night, sending the NL wild card leaders to their fifth loss in six games. Colorado's wild card lead fell to 2 1/2 games over San Francisco when the Giants later beat the Dodgers.

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Brian McCann hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the fifth inning and the Atlanta Braves beat the reeling New York Mets 7-3 on Thursday night for their first seven-game winning streak since 2006. McCann's fifth four-RBI game of the season helped the Braves move 10 games over .500 for the first time since May 16, 2007. Atlanta (78-68) is 4 1/2 games behind NL wild card-leading Colorado.

New York (63-84) has lost five straight and nine of 10 to fall 21 games under .500 for the first time since Oct. 2, 2004, when it was 70-91. The Mets have 20 fewer wins than at the same point of the 2008 season, when they were 83-64 and in first place in the NL East. Jair Jurrjens (12-10) worked seven solid innings for Atlanta, allowing two runs, one earned, and six hits, while lowering his ERA to 2.75.

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Hideki Matsui hit a tying, two-run homer in the eighth inning off Scott Downs, Francisco Cervelli hit a winning single in the ninth and New York beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 Wednesday night. A day after brawling in the Bronx, the Blue Jays and Yankees made it through nine innings calmly on the first chilly night of late summer.

New York was held to four hits through seven innings, then tied it on Matsui's 25th homer, a drive over the manual scoreboard on the right-field wall.

Brett Gardner singled off Jason Frasor (6-3) leading off the ninth, stole second, took third on Derek Jeter's grounder and scored on Cervelli's sharp single to left.
Mariano Rivera (3-2) pitched a one-hit ninth for the win.

Alberto Callaspo, David DeJesus and Miguel Olivo all hit three-run homers and the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 11-1 on Tuesday night.

The last-place Royals have beaten the AL Central-leading Tigers five straight times, four in the last eight days.

Robinson Tejada (3-1) beat the Tigers for the second time in less than a week, allowing one run and two hits in five innings.

Jarrod Washburn (9-9) allowed four runs in one inning — the shortest outing of his career. Washburn, who has been hampered by a sore left knee, is 1-3 with a 7.33 ERA in eight starts since being acquired from Seattle on July 31.

Michael Cuddyer's tying three-run homer rescued the Minnesota Twins in the eighth inning, ruining a fine start for Cleveland by Jeremy Sowers in a 6-3 victory over the Indians on Monday night. Sowers stymied the Twins with his jerky left-handed delivery and left with a 3-0 lead after seven innings. Reliever Tony Sipp let the first two batters reach base in the eighth, though, the first coming on an error by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera.

Indians manager Eric Wedge summoned the right-handed Chris Perez to face Cuddyer, who crushed a fastball into the stacks of football seats behind center field. Cuddyer flipped his bat with a flick of the wrist as he strided toward first and handed out several hard high-fives on his approach to the plate and return to the dugout.

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