by Todd Lammi
Travis Hafner of the Cleveland Indians was placed on the 15-day disabled list with soreness in his right shoulder. There is a chance that rookie Matt LaPorta could be recalled for the weekend games if the Cleveland Indians decide they need a jolt of offense. In other news around the fantasy baseball diamond on Wednesday…
Hitters:
Torii Hunter hit his 8th home run of the season and is now hitting .329 on the year. With Vladimir Guerrero out of the lineup, Hunter has become the main RBI man for the Los Angeles Angels as he has driven in runs in 7 of his last 8 games.
Jorge Cantu hit his third home run in two nights giving him six long balls on the season with 18 RBI. Cantu currently leads the National League is slugging percentage at .741.
Carlos Quentin hit his 8th home run of the season and drove in two runs in a Chicago White Sox win. The home run was the first for Quentin in the last 10 days.
Adrian Gonzalez hit two home runs and drove in three runs in a San Diego Padres loss. Gonzalez is now hitting .329 on the season with 19 RBI. It will be interesting to see if the Padres fall out of the race if Gonzalez is moved at the trade deadline.
Nick Swisher is heating up again for the New York Yankees. Swisher hit two home runs and drove in four runs Wednesday. Swisher now has seven home runs on the season and 19 RBI.
Threes were wild for the Minnesota Twins as the top three hitters in their lineup knocked out three hits apiece; Denard Span, Brendan Harris and Justin Morneau. All three are batting over .300 on the season plus Jason Kubel.
Billy Butler went 4 for 5 with four runs scored and four RBI, including his first two home runs of the season.
The Oakland A’s placed both Mark Ellis and Nomar Garciaparra on the disabled list. Eric Patterson was recalled from Triple-A to fill in.
Pitchers:
Zack Greinke’s scoreless inning streak came to an end at 29 when he allowed a run in the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays. For the game, Greinke allowed two runs in seven innings with eight strikeouts.
Yvoni Gallardo tossed eight scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts and helped his cause by hitting a home run in a 1-0 win. Gallardo’s whip ratio now stands at 0.87.
Johan Santana pitched seven innings, allowing two runs and seven strikeouts in a no decision. He was in line for the win before J.J. Putz allowed two runs in the 8th inning. Santana currently leads the NL in strikeouts with 44 on the year.
Doug Davis hurled seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts to pick up his second win of the season. The control problems that have occurred the previous two seasons have not surfaced yet in 2009, leaving Davis with a current whip ratio of 1.18.
Joba Chamberlain picked up his first win of the season, allowing one run in seven innings with six strikeouts. His ERA stands at 3.13 but he has been less than dominant with a 13/17 walk to strikeout ratio.
It’s a good thing Edison Volquez reads my website and decided to pick up his performance. Volquez allowed one hit in eight scoreless innings to go with six strikeouts.
Closers:
Carlos Villanueva picked up the save for the Milwaukee Brewers instead of Trevor Hoffman closing back to back games since he just returned from the disabled list.
Huston Street struck out the side in the ninth inning for his second save of the year in place of Manny Corpas who was getting a day off. With Corpas suffering losses in two of his last four appearances, the closer role could change hands once again.
Carlos Marmol returning after missing time with a sore knee did not look 100% in his outing Wednesday. Marmol walked 4 batters in a third of an inning. Of the 22 pitches he threw, only five were for strikes. Kevin Gregg also struggled in a mop up role, walking three and allowing a hit in the eight inning before he was pulled.
Ryan Franklin continues to roll, picking up his 5th save in the last nine days. Jason Motte continues to set up in the 8th inning so if Franklin ever needs a night off, Motte might get that chance.
Julian Tavarez picked up his first save of the year for the Washington Nationals. Kip Wells set him up with a scoreless eighth inning. It is nice to see the Nationals are trying to solve their bullpen woes, trading for Logan Kensing of the Florida Marlins and demoting Jason Bergmann to Triple-A. Kensing currently has a 9.82 ERA for Florida, while Bergmann’s ERA was 3.60.


