Daily Baseball Update: 5/19

Historical Individual Seasons: Albert Pujols 2006

Stat Line: 49 HR, 137 RBI, .331 AVG, 7 SB.  Age 26.

Albert Pujols had many great seasons, but 2006 may have been his finest.  Despite playing in just 143 games, he homered 49 times and drove in 137 runs.  Batting .331 helped him score 119 times and gave him a .431 on base percentage.  He got off to a hot start, hitting 14 home runs and batting .346 in the month of April alone, which would put him on pace for 84 homers.  By the end of May, he had hit 25 home runs and driven in 65 runs while batting .315 despite being just a third of the way through the season.  A June injury hampered him, but he came back strong in the second half by batting .344.  He was as clutch as you could get, hitting nine home runs and batting .357 in 56 at bats in late/close games.  On April 16th, he went 3-4 with three home runs and five RBI against Cincinnati.  On June 23rd, he went 4-4 with two singles, a double, and a home run in Detroit.  On September 3rd, he went 3-4 with three homers and five RBI again.  After the season came the NLDS, where he homered and hit .333.  He homered again in the NLCS and hit .318, then added a third postseason homer in the World Series to help the Cardinals defeat the Tigers.  Despite his magnificent season, he barely missed out on the NL MVP to Ryan Howard, who hit 58 home runs with 149 RBI and batted .313 for the Phillies.

News

Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche extended his hitting streak to 15 games.

Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro extended his hitting streak to 17 games.

Marlins lost their 7th straight game.

Game Scores

Padres (19-23) beat the Nationals (23-20) 2-1.

Red Sox (26-17) beat the Twins (18-21) 12-5.

Yankees (27-16) beat the Blue Jays (17-26) 7-2.

Reds (26-17) beat the Phillies (20-23) 10-0.

Braves (24-18) beat the Dodgers (17-24) 3-1.

Rays (22-20) beat the Orioles (23-19) 10-6.

Cubs (18-24) beat the Mets (16-24) 8-2.

Rangers (28-15) beat the Tigers (23-18) 7-2.

Top Scorer: Red Sox beat the Twins 12-5.

Standings

AL East: Yankees (27-16, .628 WPCT).  AL Central: Indians (24-17, .585).  AL West: Rangers (28-15, .651).

NL East: Braves (24-18, .571).  NL Central: Cardinals (27-15, .643).  NL West: Diamondbacks (25-18, .581).

AL Wild Cards: Red Sox (26-17, .605) and Tigers (23-18, .561).  NL Wild Cards: Reds (26-17, .605) and Pirates (25-18, .581).

Bottom Team: Marlins (11-32, .256).  Longest W Streak: Red Sox and Diamondbacks, 4 games.  Longest L Streak: Marlins, 7 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), .373 (63-169).  Home runs: Justin Upton (Braves), 14.  RBI: Miguel Cabrera, 42.  Stolen bases: Everth Cabrera (Padres), 15.

Pitching: Wins: Yu Darvish (Rangers), Matt Moore (Rays), and Jordan Zimmermann (Nationals), 7.  K's: Yu Darvish, 86.  ERA: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), 1.40 (64.1 innings, 10 earned runs).  Saves: Jason Grilli (Pirates) and Mariano Rivera (Yankees), 16.

Top Performers

Offensive: David Ortiz (Red Sox): 3-4, 2 home runs (7), 6 RBI, 3 runs, walk, AVG up .018 from .344 to .362, hitting streak to 6 games (10-23, .435 AVG).

Pitching: Brandon McCarthy (Diamondbacks): Win (1-3), 9 shutout innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 K's (37), ERA drop: 0.89 runs from 5.63 to 4.74.

Worst Pitching Performance: Jim Johnson (Orioles): Loss (1-4), 0.1 innings, 5 earned runs, 3 hits, 2 walks, blown save, ERA jump: 2.18 runs from 1.80 to 3.98.

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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