Kuzul

The Yankees are on fire. After tonight's win against Toronto, they are now 56-34, holding the best record in the MLB. Their current lead in the AL East is 9 games over Tampa Bay and Baltimore.New York is coming off a month in which they went 20-7 and outscored opponents by 44 total runs. They are playing consistently well on the road (27-17) and at home (29-17). There have been several integral parts to the Yankee's success. The veterans on their bench: Andruw Jones, Raul Ibanez, Eric Chavez, Chris Stewart and Dewayne Wise are all playing well. Girardi is doing a very admirable job managing a bullpen that lost Mariano Rivera to injury. The starting pitching has also been consistent recently.The Yankees team ERA stands at 3.79, tenth lowest in the majors. They have the most home runs (144) and highest slugging (.465) and OPS (.802) in the MLB.A big constant ...

In yet another "Year of the Pitcher", the Seattle Mariners' ace Felix Hernandez finds himself at the top of the class. King Felix, the 2010 Cy Young Award winner, has been lights out all season long and continues to become more dominant as the year progresses. On Saturday night, against Major League Baseball's best offense, the Texas Rangers, the King tossed perhaps his most impressive game of the season. With some rare and very unusual first-inning run support mixed with the huge crowd in the "King's Court", it was a night fit for something miraculous. The 26-year-old righty did not disappoint. Hernandez cruised through the highly-potent offense en route to his second shutout of the season. On the way he also collected 12 strikeouts, one shy of his season high. Of the 12 k's, three of them were handed to the AL MVP front runner Josh Hamilton, along with three more to slugger Nelson ...

Ryan Braun had a pair of home runs in the Brewers' 10-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates last night. It was Braun’s 16th career multi-HR game and the fourth this season. The Brewers are 4-0 this season in games during which Braun hits two or more home runs, and they have won the last seven games in which Braun has had multiple home runs. It is also the third multiple-home-run game for Braun in his last 21 games. For those of you wondering if Braun’s 16 multi-HR games is a team record, the answer is no. Braun’s 16 ranks him third in team history behind Prince Fielder with 22 and Gorman Thomas with 19 multi-HR games. Following is a look at Brewers players who have hit two or more home runs in five or more games with the Brewers. 22: Prince Fielder 19: Gorman Thomas 16: Ryan Braun 14: Robin ...

Billy Hamilton is on fire—fittingly, he plays for the Bakersfield Blaze, High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. Hamilton has reached a feat that would even catch Rickey Henderson's attention. No, really.In Monday night's game against Lake Elsinore, Hamilton stole his 100th base of the season.On July 2nd.The Blaze played its 78th game on Monday. Going into the night, Hamilton had 98 steals. Nothing was going to stop him, and, over the spring and summer, nobody has had the ability to.This kid is lightning-fast. He could run down the whole California coast as fast as it takes Mo Vaughn to go from the batter's box to first base.Hamilton clearly leads all of professional baseball in steals. The league he plays in is the California League. In the Cal League, the next two closest stolen base leaders combine to have 88 steals.The top four in the steals department in the Triple-A Pacific ...

If history has anything to say about the chances of the Brewers making the playoffs this year, there is a slim to none chance it is going to happen. In the two recent years that the Brewers did make the playoffs (2008 and 2011) both teams were above .500 at the All-Star break. The Brewers are currently 34-42, eight games under .500. They have nine more games on the schedule until the All-Star break and could run off a streak of nine straight wins to get above .500 before the break. But even then, the chances of a playoff run are not looking good…again, based on history. Since 1995, the Brewers have been at least one game above .500 at the All-Star break in six seasons and at .500 in one other season. They have been at least one game under .500 in the other ten seasons. Here are the ...

Last night, Zack Greinke got the win in the Brewers' 1-0 extra-inning win over the Chicago White Sox by tossing nine innings of three-hit ball.Greinke improved his record to 8-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.81 for the season. With the All-Star Game a little over two weeks away, there is a distinct possibility that Greinke will represent the Brewers at this year’s game.Brewers pitchers have actually had a great deal of success at the All-Star Game in the franchise’s 43-year history. Twenty-three Brewers pitchers have been selected to an All-Star team since 1969 with 16 of them getting a chance to pitch in the game. Brewers hurlers have a combined 0-1 record (Rollie Fingers took the loss in the 1981 contest), but they have a 1.50 ERA with 14 hits allowed and nine strikeouts in 18 innings of work. Here’s a look at my 10 greatest pitching performances by ...

One St. Louis Cardinal is rapidly making his way toward a rather exclusive club this season. Carlos Beltran is within hitting distance, no pun intended, of the 300-300-2000 club. This status is reserved for players who have hit 300 home runs, stolen 300 bases and amassed 2,000 hits over their career. Lots of talk has floated about Beltran hitting 300-300, but the 2,000 hasn’t gotten much attention. As of Tuesday, June 12, 2012, Beltran has 320 home runs, 299 stolen bases and 1,977 hits. Barring a major injury, he will make the club in 2012 without breaking a sweat.Following are the few players who have made the club, including a few near-misses.Begin Slideshow

After Bryce Harper feasted on the Boston Red Sox Friday at Fenway Park, LA Angels rookie outfielder Mike Trout went to work against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Nine innings and one Angels 7-2 victory later, Trout found himself just a few at-bats short of qualifying for the American League batting title race. With his 3-for-4 performance against the Rockies, Trout is batting .340 (50-for-147). He also has five home runs and 22 RBI to go with nine doubles, three triples and 11 stolen bases. Trout’s OBP/SLG/OPS is .398/.544/.942. In the last 10 games, Trout is batting .439 (18-for-41). He has six multi-hit games to just three strikeouts. In June, Trout is hitting .500 (14-for-28) with a .531/.643/1.174  line. Pretty impressive numbers for this 20-year-old, to say the least. For the record, Trout’s teammate Mark Trumbo is batting .330 (60-for-182). This is good for third in the AL behind ...

Batting average is not an overvalued statistic. When you compare Ichiro Suzuki's 2004 season with Eddie Stanky's 1950 season, it illustrates the importance of a player’s batting average when you evaluate him. Suzuki batted .372 with a .414 on-base percentage and a .455 slugging average. Stanky batted .300 with a .460 on-base average and a .412 slugging average. I must point out that singles, not extra base hits, created Suzuki's higher slugging average. Suzuki hit 24 doubles, five triples and eight home runs. He hit 225 singles. Stanky hit 25 doubles, five triples and eight home runs. He hit 120 singles. Ichiro had 105 more singles than Stanky. The difference in on-base percentage between the two came from the fact that Stanky walked 144 times and Ichiro walked 49 walks. Stanky had 95 more walks. Adding Ichiro’s 225 singles and 49 walks results in his getting credit for reaching first base 274 ...

Fans of the Milwaukee Brewers have watched many of their favorite players on the All-Star Game stage since the team came to Milwaukee in 1970. Players like Cecil Cooper, Paul Molitor, Robin Yount and Ryan Braun have made multiple appearances in the midseason classic over the past 40-plus years. But there have also been a handful of players who have worn the Brewers uniform who had short careers in Milwaukee; for some, their stay in the Brew City was only one season. But in that season, they represented the Brewers in the All-Star Game. Following is a look at the 10 players who represented the Brewers in the All-Star Game, yet played in Milwaukee for only three seasons or less.  Tommy Harper, Infielder, 1970 All-Star: Harper came to Milwaukee in 1970 as a member of the Seattle Pilots. He played for the Brewers two seasons before he was traded to ...