Daily Baseball Update: 4/27

Historical Individual Seasons: Ross Barnes 1876

Stat Line: 1 HR, 59 RBI, .429 AVG, - SB.  Age 26.

It takes a hard pressed baseball fan to know anything about Ross Barnes, but he was one of the game's first superstars.  He dominated the National Association from 1871-1875, then moved to the newly formed National League in 1876 where was what would have been the game's MVP if they had one.  In just 66 games, he hit .429 with 21 doubles and 14 triples while scoring 126 runs.  Those 126 runs in 66 games set a single season record for runs per game by one player at 1.91, a record that still stands 137 years later.  He was the National League's first leader in runs (126 over the second place 72), hits (138 over 111), doubles (tied at 21), triples (14), walks (20), average (.429 over .366), on-base percentage (.462 over .384), slugging percentage (.590 over .545), OPS (1.052 over .929), total bases (190 over 146), and extra base hits (36) for a total of eleven categories.  He led the Chicago White Stockings (later the Chicago Cubs) to a 52-14 record, earning a spot six games over the second place Hartford Dark Blues, who went 47-21. 

News

Starter Anibal Sanchez set the Tigers single-game record with 17 strikeouts against the Braves.

All Star balloting is open, so vote for all the Nationals (not really, but at least be a little biased towards them).

Game Scores

Nationals (12-11) beat the Reds (13-11) 1-0.

Red Sox (16-7) beat the Astros (7-16) 7-3.

Yankees (13-9) beat the Blue Jays (9-15) 6-4.

Phillies (10-14) beat the Mets (10-11) 4-0.

White Sox (10-12) beat the Rays (10-13) 5-4.

Dodgers (11-11) beat the Brewers (11-10) 7-5.

Tigers (11-10) beat the Braves (15-7) 10-0.

Cubs (8-14) beat the Marlins (5-18) 4-2.

Rockies (15-8) beat the Diamondbacks (13-10) 6-3.

Top Scorer: Tigers beat the Braves 10-0.

Standings

AL East: Red Sox (16-7, .696 WPCT).  AL Central: Royals (11-8, .579).  AL West: Rangers (16-7, .696).

NL East: Braves (15-7, .682).  NL Central: Cardinals (14-8, .636).  NL West: Rockies (15-8, .652).

AL Wild Cards: Orioles (14-9, .609) and Yankees (13-9, .591).  NL Wild Cards: Pirates/Diamondbacks/Giants (13-10, .565).

Bottom Team: Marlins (5-18, .217).  Longest W Streak: Cardinals, 4 games.  Longest L Streak: Twins, A's, and Giants, 3 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Chris Johnson (Braves), .403 (27-67).  Home runs: Justin Upton (Braves), 11.  RBI: Mike Napoli (Red Sox), 27.  Stolen bases: Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox), 11.

Pitching: Wins: Clay Buchholz (Red Sox), 5.  K's: Yu Darvish (Rangers), 49.  ERA: Matt Moore (Rays), 1.04 (26 innings, 3 earned runs).  Saves: Jason Grilli (Pirates) and Jim Johnson (Orioles), 9.

Top Performers

Offensive: David Ross (Red Sox): 4-4, 2 home runs (3), 2 RBI, 3 runs, AVG up .121 from .120 to .241, hitting streak to 1 game (4-4, 1.000 AVG).

Pitching: Jordan Zimmermann (Nationals): Win (4-1), 9 shutout innings, 1 hit, no walks, 4 K's (19), ERA drop: 0.67 runs from 2.67 to 2.00.

Worst Pitching Performance: Paul Maholm (Braves): Loss (3-2), 3.2 innings, 8 earned runs, 10 hits, 3 walks, 3 K's (28), ERA jump: 2.27 runs from 1.03 to 3.30. 

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers

If your team is not included, please leave a comment.

HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage

Zack Silverman