Daily Baseball Update: 6/8

Historical Individual Seasons: Barry Bonds 2001

Stat Line: 73 HR, 137 RBI, .328 AVG, 13 SB.

Despite the heavy allegations of Bonds' steroid use and participation in the BALCO scandal, it is indisputable that he was one of the greatest players of all time.  Though I personally would not vote him into the Hall of Fame, by pure numbers, he may be the greatest players ever.  In 2001, he broke the single season record for home runs by crushing 73 in 153 games.  What's even more spectacular is that he did it in just 476 at bats, while McGwire hit his 70 in 509 at bats and Sammy Sosa hit his 66 in 643.  Among every player to hit even 55 home runs in a season, Bonds is the only one with less than 500 at bats.  His greatest month was May, when he hit 17 home runs and batted .369 in 27 games.  From May 17th to the 22nd, he hit nine home runs in six games, as part of games six through eleven of a fifteen game hitting streak.  On May 19th, he had his greatest game of the season, when he went 4-5 with three home runs, a double, three RBI, and three runs scored.  He had ten multi-homer games on the season, including one in each month except April.  He set single season records for home runs and slugging percentage (.863), while leading the majors in homers, walks (177), on-base percentage (.515), slugging, OPS (1.379) and extra base hits (107).  He garnered his fourth MVP award while also winning the Hank Aaron Award and the Silver Slugger.  

News

From the BioGenisis scandal, it is possible that twenty players could be suspended.  Names like Alex Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz, Ryan Braun, Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, and Jhonny Peralta appear under possible suspensions.

In the 2013 First Year Player Draft, the Astros selected Mark Appel, Stanford's Friday night starter, as the first overall pick.  The Cubs selected Kris Bryant second, and the Rockies took Jonathan Gray third.  The Nationals didn't pick until number 68, when they drafted Jacob Johansen, a fastballer from Dallas Baptist University.

Last week, the Mariners were down 5-1 in the 14th inning when Kyle Seager became the first player in history to hit a game-tying grand slam in extra innings.  Seattle ultimately lost 7-5 in 16 innings. 

Top Dodgers prospect Yasiel Puig made his major league debut, going 2-4.  Through his first five games, he hit four home runs and batted .421.

Cardinals were the first team to 40 wins, while Chris Davis was the first player to 20 home runs.

Game Scores

Yankees (35-26) beat the Mariners (27-35) 4-1.

Brewers (23-37) beat the Phillies (31-31) 5-4.

Dodgers (27-33) beat the Braves (37-24) 2-1 (10 innings).

Rays (33-27) beat the Orioles (34-27) 2-1.

Pirates (36-25) beat the Cubs (24-34) 2-0.

Tigers (33-26) beat the Indians (30-30) 7-5.

Nationals and Red Sox got rained out.

Top Scorer: Rockies beat the Padres 10-9.

Standings

AL East: Red Sox (37-24, .607 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (33-26, .559).  AL West: A's (38-25, .603).

NL East: Braves (37-24, .607).  NL Central: Cardinals (40-21, .656).  NL West: Diamondbacks (35-26, .574).

AL Wild Cards: Rangers (36-24, .600) and Yankees (35-26, .574).  NL Wild Cards: Reds and Pirates (36-25, .590).

Bottom Team: Marlins (16-44, .267).  Longest W Streak: Royals, 3 games.  Longest L Streak: Indians, 5 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), .368 (88-239).  Home runs: Chris Davis (Orioles), 20.  RBI: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), 67.  Stolen bases: Everth Cabrera (Padres), 26.

Pitching: Wins: Patrick Corbin (Diamondbacks) and Adam Wainwright (Cardinals), 9.  K's: Yu Darvish (Rangers), 111.  ERA: Clay Buchholz (Red Sox), 1.62 (77.2 innings, 14 earned runs).  Saves: Jason Grilli (Pirates), 23.

Top Performers

Offensive: Jedd Gyorko (Padres): 4-5, double, home run (8), RBI, 2 runs, AVG up .012 from .276 to .288, hitting streak to 3 games (7-13, .538 AVG).

Pitching: Francisco Liriano (Pirates): Win (4-2), 7 shutout innings, 2 hits, 5 walks, 8 K's (47), ERA drop: 0.42 runs from 2.17 to 1.75.

Worst Pitching Performance: Edinson Volquez (Padres): No decision, 2.1 innings, 9 earned runs, 11 hits, 2 walks, 1 K (49), ERA jump: 0.98 runs from 5.35 to 6.33.

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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