Daily Baseball Update: 7/4

Historical Individual Seasons: Nap Lajoie 1901
Stat Line: 14 HR, 125 RBI, .421 AVG, 27 SB.  Age 26.
The American League was first formed in 1901, and as the National League had been active since 1875, it was obvious that the level of play in the Junior Circuit was just a little lower than that in the Senior Circuit.  Now, what happens when you take what would be an All Star (the All Star Game didn't begin until 1933) from the National League who had yet to bat lower than .326 in any of the first five seasons of his career (a number that would reach eleven before he hit .301 in 1907) and put him in the American League?  Answer: a triple crown and some eye-popping numbers.  Playing for the new Philadelphia Athletics, he hit 14 home runs (which was a high number in the Dead Ball Era), drove in 125 runs, and batted .421 with 27 stolen bases.  He led the major leagues in runs scored (145), hits (229), doubles (48), average, on base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.643), OPS (1.101), total bases (350), and extra base hits (76) for a total of nine categories.  If you scale it down to just the American League, you can add the categories of home runs and RBI to push the total to eleven categories.  Despite his fantastic season, the Athletics finished 74-62 (.544 WPCT), nine games behind the pennant winning Chicago White Sox, who went 83-53 (.610). 

News
Tigers starter Max Scherzer became the first pitcher to start a season 13-0 since Roger Clemens in 1986.
Cubs traded Carlos Marmol (2-4, 5.86 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, 2 SV, age 30) to the Dodgers for Matt Guerrier (2-3, 4.80 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, age 34).
Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia won the 200th game of his career, while Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco earned the 1000th strikeout of his career.
The Indians' Jason Kipnis and the Dodgers' Hanley Ramirez both extended their hitting streaks to 14 games.
The Angels snapped their seven game winning streak.

Game Scores
Brewers (34-49) beat the Nationals (42-42) 4-1.
Red Sox (52-34) beat the Padres (40-45) 2-1.
Yankees (45-39) beat the Twins (36-45) 3-2.
Pirates (52-31) beat the Phillies (40-45) 6-5.
Dodgers (40-43) beat the Rockies (41-44) 10-8.
Astros (31-54) beat the Rays (45-40) 4-1.
Cubs (36-46) beat the A's (49-36) 3-1.
Tigers (45-38) beat the Blue Jays (41-43) 6-2.
Top Scorer: Cardinals beat the Angels 12-2.

Standings
AL East: Red Sox (52-34, .605 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (45-38, .542).  AL West: A's (49-36, .576).
NL East: Braves (49-35, .583).  NL Central: Pirates (52-31, .627).  NL West: Diamondbacks (43-41, .512).
AL Wild Cards: Rangers (48-36, .571) and Orioles (48-37, .565).  NL Wild Cards: Cardinals (50-33, .602) and Reds (49-36, .576).
Bottom Team: Astros (31-54, .365).  Longest W Streak: Dodgers, 4 games.  Longest L Streak: Padres, 5 games.

League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), .364 (119-327).  Home runs: Chris Davis (Orioles), 32.  RBI: Miguel Cabrera, 85.  Stolen bases: Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox), 33.
Pitching: Wins: Max Scherzer (Tigers), 13.  K's: Yu Darvish (Rangers), 151.  ERA: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), 1.93 (130.1 innings, 28 earned runs),  Saves: Jim Johnson (Orioles), 29.

Top Performers
Offensive: Hanley Ramirez (Dodgers): 4-5, double, home run (7), RBI, 3 runs, AVG up .024 from .388 to .412, hitting streak to 14 games (27-54, .500 AVG).
Pitching: Kyle Lohse (Brewers): Win (4-6), 8 innings, 1 earned run, 4 hits, 1 walk, 7 K's (66), ERA drop: 0.20 runs from 3.63 to 3.43.
Worst Pitching Performance: Jerome Williams (Angels): Loss (5-4), 1.2 innings, 7 earned runs, 4 hits, 4 walks, 2 K's (55), ERA jump: 0.68 runs from 3.21 to 3.89.

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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