by Todd Lammi
One cannot underestimate the importance of having a solid closer on a major league team and the impact it has on a pitching staff. Since Trevor Hoffman has returned to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Brewers have gone 16-4 with Hoffman picking up 10 saves. Despite missing the first 19 games of the season, Hoffman is currently second in the National League in saves. I don’t know if that is the most amazing stat, or that he currently has a zero ERA with a 0.27 whip ratio. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Tuesday…
Hitters:
Alex Rodriguez homered for the fourth consecutive game and drove in two runs. Rodriguez has made his hits counts since returning from injury; collecting five home runs and two singles on the season.
Mark Teixeira homered for the fourth time in his last four games and drove in two runs. I don’t think it is any coincidence that since A-Rod has returned to the lineup that Teixeira has picked up his hitting. Since May 8th, Teixeira in 11 games has hit six home runs, driven in 15 runs and raised his batting average roughly 50 points.
Hanley Ramirez hit his seventh home run of the season and is now batting .348 on the year, good for seventh place in the National League.
Scott Hairston hit his fifth home run of the season and stole his fourth base. Hairston is now hitting .354 and is starting to see more playing time as he continues to hit left and right-handed pitching at an over .300 clip.
Pitchers:
Joel Piniero pitched a complete game shutout against the Chicago Cubs to move to 5-3 on the season. Piniero allowed three hits and struck out five and has now gone three consecutive starts without allowing a walk.
Jair Jurrjens allowed one run in seven innings with eight strikeouts to pick up his fourth win of the year. Jurrjens lowered his ERA to 1.96 and has allowed more than two runs in only one start all season.
Dontrelle Willis tossed 6 1/3 shutout innings with five strikeouts to pick up his first win of the season. The win was the first for Willis since September of 2007.
CC Sabathia allowed one run in seven innings and struck out seven to up his record to 4-3. Sabathia has allowed three runs in his last 24 innings while reeling off three consecutive victories.
Tim Wakefield silenced the hot hitting Toronto Blue Jays, allowing one run in eight innings with three strikeouts. Wakefield improved to 5-2 on the year and has give up four runs in 21 innings in his three home starts this season.
Cole Hamels seems back on track, notching his second win of the year, while giving up three runs in six innings and fanning seven. Hamels has now struck out 23 hitters in his last 19 innings.
Mark Buehrle picked up his sixth win of the year, allowing one run in seven innings with three strikeouts. He has allowed two runs or less in all five of his home starts this season.
The Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays went to 11 innings, before the A’s pulled out a 4-1 win. Both starting pitchers were unscored upon before leaving the game. James Shields hurled 8 1/3 scoreless innings and struck out five. Josh Outman pitched six shutout innings and struck out six.
Closers:
Kerry Wood allowed four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to cough up the win for Cliff Lee, who allowed two runs in eight innings. AL only owners shoudl take note, several names are already floating out there from the Cleveland Indians as possible trade candidates, with Victor Martinez and Mark DeRosa being mentioned as candidates to be trade if the Indians continue to under perform.
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