Daily Baseball Update: 5/12

Historical Individual Seasons: Ted Williams 1941

Stat Line: 37 HR, 120 RBI, .406 AVG, 2 SB.  Age 22.

Everyone's heard about Ted Williams' incredible 1941 season.  What many didn't hear of is that he was just 22 years old and in his third major league season.  Coming off his first All Star Game, he had huge expectations for 1941.  It's safe to say he reached them.  In 143 games, he hit 37 home runs and batted .406, becoming the still-most recent player to reach .400 in a season.  Interestingly, on the last day of the season (which happened to be a double-header), he was hitting .400, so Boston manager Joe Cronin offered to sit Williams to protect his mark.  Ted pointed out that in fact he was not truly hitting .400, as if you extend his average out to four digits, it was .3996.  He played and went 6-8, bringing his average up to the now famous .406.  He finished the season leading the majors in runs scored (135), home runs, walks (145), average, on-base percentage (.551), slugging percentage (.735), and OPS (1.286).  During the All Star Game that season, he went 1-3 in his first three at bats before stepping to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning.  The American League was down 5-4 with two runners on base.  The 22 year old Williams was their last hope, and he delivered with a three run, walk off home run to win the game.  The home run came against Claude Passeau, who in 1940 had gone 20-13 with a 2.50 ERA. 

News

The St. Louis Cardinals tied the all time record for most consecutive batters retired from one team at 40.  Shelby Miller retired 27 in a row on Friday before Adam Wainwright set down 13 in a row to start Saturday's game.

Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

Dodgers snapped their eight game losing streak.

Game Scores

Cubs (14-22) beat the Nationals (20-16) 8-2.

Blue Jays (14-24) beat the Red Sox (22-15) 3-2.

Yankees (22-13) beat the Royals (18-15) 3-2.

Phillies (17-21) beat the Diamondbacks (21-16) 3-1.

Rays (18-18) beat the Padres (16-20) 8-7.

Dodgers (14-21) beat the Marlins (11-26) 7-1.

Indians (19-15) beat the Tigers (20-14) 7-6.

Top Scorers: Reds beat the Brewers 13-7.

Standings

AL East: Yankees (22-13, .629 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (20-14, .588).  AL West: Rangers (23-13, .639).

NL East: Braves (21-15, .583).  NL Central: Cardinals (23-12, .657).  NL West: Giants (22-15, .595).

AL Wild Cards: Orioles and Red Sox (22-15, .595).  NL Wild Cards: Reds and Diamondbacks (21-16, .568).

Bottom Team: Astros (10-27, .270).  Longest W Streak: Yankees and Rays, 4 games.  Longest L Streak: Rockies, 4 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), .376 (53-141).  Home runs: Justin Upton (Braves), 12.  RBI: Miguel Cabrera, 40.  Stolen bases: Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox) and Juan Pierre (Marlins), 12.

Pitching: Wins: Clay Buchholz (Red Sox), Yu Darvish (Rangers), Matt Moore (Rays), and Jordan Zimmermann (Nationals), 6.  K's: Yu Darvish, 80.  ERA: Matt Harvey (Mets), 1.28 (49.1 innings, 7 earned runs).  Saves: Jason Grilli (Pirates), Jim Johnson (Orioles), and Mariano Rivera (Yankees), 14.

Top Performers

Offensive: Jean Segura (Brewers): 4-5, double, home run (6), RBI, 3 runs, stolen base (9), AVG up .019 from .333 to .352, hitting streak to 2 games (6-9, .667 AVG).

Pitching: Adam Wainwright (Cardinals): Win (5-2), 9 shutout innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 7 K's (55), ERA drop: 0.42 runs from 2.72 to 2.30.

Worst Pitching Performance: Hiram Burgos (Brewers): Loss (1-1), 3 innings, 12 runs (10 earned), 11 hits, 3 walks, 2 K's (12), ERA jump: 3.86 runs from 3.00 to 6.86.

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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