Daily Baseball Update: 4/28

Historical Individual Seasons: Sandy Koufax 1963

Stat Line: 25-5, 1.88 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 306 K's in 311 innings.  Age 27.

From 1963-1966, Sandy Koufax posted four straight legendary seasons.  The one that started it off may have been his best.  In 40 starts in 1963, he went 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA and let opponents bat just .189 against him.  He went the distance in 20 of his 40 starts and tossed 11 shutouts, which remains the single season record for a lefty.  On May 11th, against the star-studded and hated rival Giants, Sandy tossed the second no-hitter of his career.  The lineup that he set down included Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Orlando Cepeda, all future Hall of Famers.  He led the majors in wins, ERA, strikeouts (306), WHIP, shutouts, and strikeouts to walks ratio (5.28 to 1).  In the World Series, he went 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in two starts, completing both of them and helping the Dodgers claim the series title by winning World Series MVP.  Combined with his regular season, he was 27-5 with a 1.86 ERA in 42 starts.  After the season, he won the MVP and Cy Young awards.

News

Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak to 16 games.

Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli broke his hand and will miss at least six weeks.

The Pirates' Jason Grilli and the Orioles' Jim Johnson became the first players of the 2013 season to reach ten saves.

Game Scores

Nationals (13-11) beat the Reds (13-12) 6-3.

Red Sox (17-7) beat the Astros (7-17) 8-4.

Yankees (14-9) beat the Blue Jays (9-16) 5-4.

Phillies (11-14) beat the Mets (10-12) 9-4.

Rays (11-13) beat the White Sox (10-13) 10-4.

Brewers (12-10) beat the Dodgers (11-12) 6-4.

Cubs (9-14) beat the Marlins (5-19) 3-2.

Tigers (12-10) beat the Braves (15-8) 7-4.

Top Scorers: Rays beat the White Sox 10-4.

Standings

AL East: Red Sox (17-7, .708 WPCT).  AL Central: Royals (12-8, .600).  AL West: Rangers (16-8, .667).

NL East: Braves (15-8, .652).  NL Central: Cardinals (14-9, .609).  NL West: Rockies (15-9, .625).

AL Wild Cards: Orioles (15-9, .625) and Yankees (14-9, .609).  NL Wild Cards: Pirates and Diamondbacks (14-10, .583).

Bottom Team: Marlins (5-19, .208).  Longest W Streak: Red Sox, 4 games.  Longest L Streak: A's and Giants, 4 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Torii Hunter (Tigers), .380 (35-92).  Home runs: Justin Upton (Braves), 12.  RBI: Mike Napoli (Red Sox), 27.  Stolen bases: Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox), 11.

Pitching: Wins: Clay Buchholz (Red Sox) and Matt Moore (Rays), 5.  K's: Yu Darvish (Rangers), 49.  ERA: Jake Westbrook (Cardinals), 0.98 (27.2 innings, 3 earned runs).  Saves: Jason Grilli (Pirates) and Jim Johnson (Orioles), 10.

Top Performers

Offensive: Omar Infante (Tigers): 3-4, double, home run (1), 3 RBI, 2 runs, stolen base (1), AVG up .025 from .282 to .307, hitting streak to 5 games (10-21, .476 AVG).

Pitching: Ervin Santana (Royals): Win (3-1), 7 shutout innings, 6 hits, no walks, 5 K's (31), ERA drop: 0.48 runs from 2.48 to 2.00.

Worst Pitching Performance: Robert Carson (Mets): No decision, 1 inning, 5 earned runs, 4 hits, 1 walk, 1 K (2), ERA jump: 12.34 runs from 3.86 to 16.20.

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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