5/1 Cubs vs. Astros. With 1 on and none out in the bottom of the 3rd, Crag Biggio comes to bat against Carlos Zambrano. Biggio finds a pitch he likes and hammers it down the left field line. Willy Taveras scores on the play. What is so special about this play? It is Biggio’s 1,000th RBI. Great career Biggio, you belong in the HOF. For those interested, Biggio is still 3 SB shy of 400.
5/2 Dammit. CF Jason Lane’s career is over. At 28, he was a rising star. This season, he was hitting .372 with an OBP of .400. For the time being, Peter Bergeron will be promoted and will play CF. Willy Tavarez will continue to play LF until Lance Berkman comes off the DL.
OK, so I put Lane on Waivers to release him, and both PHI and COL claim him. If they want to pay his salary only to find out his career is over, that’s fine with me.
Another note of interest. John Franco needs to appear in 3 more games to reach the unimaginable number of 1,100 games. Another nice career coming to an end. He also needs 26 saves to reach 450, but I don’t think he will get there.
5/12
Code:
IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
J. Franco 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 10.80
Not exactly an impressive outing, unless you consider that it was the 1,100th of his career. That is an insane number of games for a pitcher to appear in.
5/17 Finally, I get Lance Berkman back. Now my offense should have a little more punch.
5/25 Released Chad Harville. He was having a horrible year for me. While my pitching has been stellar for the most part, there are a couple of pitchers who have been just a bit shaky.
Well, as of the end of the month, we are 25-27, 5.5 GB of Chicago. Our pitching is good, with a team ERA of 3.88 and an opponents AVG of .241. Unfortunately, we have a measly .226 average offensively. We are almost dead last in every offensive category. I have tried juggling the lineup, benching underperforming players, and averything else I can think of, all to no effect. I am starting to think that I just have a terrible offensive team.
Around the League
Awards:
AL Pitcher of the Month: C.C. Sabathia (CLE), 4-0, 1.35 ERA in May
-Interesting award, considering he was injured on 5/16 and will be out 6 weeks.
NL Pitcher of the Month: Matt Morris (STL), 5-1, 2.15 ERA in May
AL Batter of the Month: Gary Sheffield (NYY), .357 AVG, 29 RBI, .738 SLG
NL Batter of the Month: Russ Branyan (MIL), .363 AVG, 22 RBI, .857 SLG
Performances:
5/4 Brad Penny (LA) blanks Philadelphia with a 1-hitter
5/4 Brandon Lyon (ARI) shuts out San Francisco on 2 hits
5/8 Kansas City has no chance in a 2-hitter by Bruce Chen (BAL)
5/9 J.C. Romero (MIN) pitches his 2nd shutout of the season
5/27 Orlando Cabrera (ANA) knocks lights out with three homeruns
5/29 Kansas City has no chance in a 1-hitter by John Lackey (ANA)
Injuries:
5/2 Jason Lane (HOU), Torn Ribcage Muscle, Career Over
5/4 Mark Buehrle (CHW), Pulled Rotator Cuff Muscle, Out 5 Weeks
5/8 Al Leiter (FLA), Inflamed Rotator Cuff Muscle, Out 5 Weeks
5/16 C.C. Sabathia (CLE), Bone Chips Shoulder, Out 6 Weeks
5/19 Mike Lamb (HOU), Pulled Achilles Tendon, Out 5 Weeks (Only DTD @ 90%)
5/20 Grady Sizemore (CLE), Fractured Wrist, Out 7-8 Weeks
5/28 Melvin Mora (BAL), Fractured Hand, Out 6 Weeks
5/29 Jesse Crain (MIN), Torn Tricep Muscle, Out for the Year
Transactions:
5/19 Trade between Philadelphia and San Francisco :
San Francisco gets :
2B Chase Utley
Philadelphia gets :
P Noah Lowry
LF John Bowker
5/29 Trade between Seattle and Tampa Bay :
Tampa Bay gets :
1B Bucky Jacobsen
Seattle gets :
SS B.J. Upton
C Shawn Riggans
5/29 Trade between Pittsburgh and St. Louis :
St. Louis gets :
LF Rob Mackowiak
Pittsburgh gets :
C Brandon Yarbrough
3B Calvin Hayes
Milestones:
Garrett Anderson (ANA) is 9 RBI away from 1,000
Greg Maddux (CHC) is 6 K’s away from 3,000
Trevor Hoffman (SD) is 5 Saves away from 400
Mariano Rivera (NYY) is 4 Saves away from 350