A.L. East Recap for 05/07/06

The last couple of days I've done a recap of the Sox games and of a few other games in the league that have been of interest. A quick recap of every game here would be nice, but it'd take quite a few people and it would dominate the site with recap posts. Anyone have any thoughts about the possability of 6 daily recaps for baseball each night, one for each division? I'd be more than happy to do an AL East recap on a nightly basis. I might as well start with this one....

Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles fell once again on Sunday afternoon and wound up on the losing side of a sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox. They've lost 5 straight. Starter Kris Benson was hit hard for 9 runs in 4.1 IP as the O's went on to lose the game 10-3. The Orioles managed just 4 hits in the game, but did manage to draw 8 walks. The free passes did add up to one run when they managed to draw 4 straight two-out walks in the first inning to score their first run off Sox starter, Lenny DiNardo.

Bruce Chen worked out of the bullpen for the first time this year as O's manager Sam Perlozzo decided to skip Chen's turn in the rotation. According to the manager it was a one time thing to get Chen straightened out and he will be taking his next turn in the rotation. Despite a less than impressive track record, the journeyman did manage to put together a very respectable season in 2005. But I don't think anyone is surprised that he's struggling this year. He's currently 0-4 with a 8.42 ERA and he did allow a run in his only inning of work on Sunday although he did work himself out of a bases loaded, one out jam.

Boston Red Sox
Sure, they were only facing the lowly Orioles, but the Red Sox, winners of four straight (and 11 straight against Baltimore), have to be happy with their recent results. Their offense is finally coming alive and Sunday afternoon, a 10-3 win over Baltimore, was one of their best offensive showings of the year. Jason Varitek got things going with a grand slam in the 1st inning. It was the 2nd HR of the year for the struggling Varitek who, so far, is only batting .247/.333/.393 for the year. He did go 1-4 with a walk, 2 runs, and 4 RBI on Sunday.

When the dust cleared the Red Sox ended up with 11 hits and 7 walks.Kevin Youkilis went 3-5, scoring twice, to raise his AVG to .330 on the year. The struggling Mark Loretta seems to be getting things together as he is 8-16 in the last four games. He was 3-4 on Sunday with a walk and 2 runs scored. Manny Ramirez was 2-2 with 2 walks and 2 runs scored. There is talk of him having a slow start because he has only 5 home runs so far on the year, but if you look past that his year has been great up until now with a .314/.459/.495 line. Trot Nixon was on base 3 times with a 1-2 showing and 2 walks. He scored twice and knocked 2 in.

There were only two negatives for the Sox on the day. David Ortiz went 0-4 and is now 1 for his last 16 and has seen his season line drop to .256/.364/.579. And Wily Mo Pena, who has been seeing a lot of playing time lately, saw his 7 game hitting streak snapped as he went 0-2 with a walk and a sac fly to earn an RBI. Despite striking out 23 times in 69 AB's, Pena is batting .319/.359/.522 on the year.

Lenny DiNardo earned his first major league win on the day with a 5 inning outing. He was shaking in the 1st, walking the bases loaded with two outs and then walking in a run, but he allowed just 2 runs on the day and only 1 of them was earned. He is now 1-1 on the year with a 6.17 ERA.

New York Yankees
Joe Torre earned his 1000th career win as the Yankees finished a weekend sweep of the Texas Rangers with a 8-5 win over them on Sunday. Chien-Ming Wang got the win by allowing just 3 runs in 6 IP to improve to 2-1 with a 4.83 ERA on the year.

The biggest blow to the Rangers came off the bat of Hideki Matsui in the form of a 3 run home run. He was 2-2 with 3 BB's, 2 R's, and 3 RBI on the day. Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Kelly Stinnett and Bernie Williams each had two hits.

Gary Sheffield is nursing a sore wrist and has appeared in only 2 games since an April 29th collision witih Shea Hillenbrand. According to Sheffield his wrist is not feeling any better and he may end up on the DL. A decision about that will likely be made on Tuesday.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Johnny Gomes was all the Rays needed on offense on Sunday has his 3-5, 2 double, 2 RBI performance lead the team to a 3-2 win over the Oakland A's. Gomes has been one of the lone bright spots for the Rays so far this year with a .308/.445/.664 line so far. His 11 homers puts him among the AL league leaders. In the game Carl Crawford scored twice. Julio Lugo and Aubrey Huff, both fresh off the DL, each had a hit.

Mark Hendrickson gave a strong performance to earn the win, going 6 IP allowing only 1 run, a solo shot to Mark Ellis. He is now 2-2 with a 2.39 ERA so far this year. Tyler Walker, the Rays' closer this week, notched his 3rd save of the year with a scoreless 9th as he struck out 2 and lowered his season ERA to 12.66 (no...12.66 is not a typo).

Toronto Blue Jays
Casey Janssen, a 4th round pick in 2004 made his 3rd career major league start and got his 1st career win in a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. The 25 year old righty went 7.1 IP and allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 3 and did not allow a run. Before the season Baseball America listed Janssen as Toronto's 6th best prospect. In 200 minor league innings prior to this year he has a 2.52 ERA with 181 K's and just 30 walks.

[[B.J. Ryan allowed his 1st run of the year, but still managed to record his 7th save with a 1.2 inning performance.

Troy Glaus had a solo shot and Russ Adams added 2 hits and scored twice.

Date
Sun 05/07/06, 7:13 pm EST

Source

 * mlb.com