Adam Laroche is one streaky hitter. I am starting to wonder if the Nationals will resign Laroche in the offseason with the season he is having. Laroche went 2-4 with 2 more home runs last night to lead the Nationals to a 10-7 win over the Marlins. Laroche scored 3 runs as well, raising his slash line to .275-.348-.531 with 23 home runs and 69 RBI. He leads all National League first baseman in home runs with 23, and has hit more HRs than Mark Teixeira, Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez and Joey Votto thus far, and one can make the case that he is the 2nd best first baseman in the NL going into 2013 drafts.

Felix Hernandez could be a pitcher in high demand this offseason should the Mariners decide to put him on the trade block. With Cole Hamels signing an extension with the Phillies, Zack Greinke is the only true ace on the market, assuming Cliff Lee is dealt today. Hernandez threw a complete game shutout against the Yankees in New York yesterday, limiting them to just 2 hits, 2 walks and striking out 6. King Felix is now 10-5 with a 2.63 ERA, 2.91 FIP, 3.28 xFIP, a 1.11 WHIP and a 159-43 strikeout to walk ratio in 163 innings pitched this season. Seattle may decide not to trade him this offseason, and one couldn't blame them.

I ranked Indians catcher Carlos Santana as my top catcher back in March, and was very skeptical about the return of Giants catcher Buster Posey, who was coming off a serious knee injury. I couldn't have been more wrong about either of them. Posey went 2-6 with a HR and 3 RBI last night, and is now hitting .325-.391-.529 with 16 HRs, 44 runs and 68 RBI. He is on pace for 24 HRs and 100+ RBI, and will more than likely top my fantasy catcher rankings heading into 2013, as I don't see Carlos Ruiz repeating his excellent 2012 season.

Speaking of Carlos Ruiz, he was placed on the 15 day DL yesterday with plantar fascitis and a partial tear in his left foot. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks and could be out for the season with the Phillies being in sell mode. Ruiz was having the best year of his career, hitting .335-.399-.559 with 14 HRs, 47 runs and 58 RBI this season. His .224 ISO ranks second amongst all catchers in baseball behind only White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

More Roundup after the jump:

Rangers prospect Mike Olt started for the second time in three games, playing first base against Royals lefty Will Smith. Olt went 1-2 with 2 RBI and was replaced by Mitch Moreland late in the game. It appears Olt will be playing strictly against left handed starters, but could see time at DH in place of Michael Young as well. Ian Kinsler DH'd on Thursday night with Michael Young DH'ing on Friday and Saturday night.

Note to self: trade for Tigers starter Doug Fister in late June every year. Fister had a great second half last season, and is doing the same this season. Fister threw a complete game 4 hitter vs the Indians yesterday, limiting them to just one run and striking out 6 to win his 6th game of the season. Fister is now 6-7 with a 3.52 ERA, 3.21 FIP, 3.18 xFIP, a 1.18 WHIP, and a 85-20 strikeout to walk ratio in 99.2 innings pitched this season. In his last 5 starts, covering 39 innings pitched, he has given up just 7 earned runs, while striking out 37 and walking just 5 batters.

Phillies starter Roy Halladay silenced the hot Diamondbacks team last night, throwing 7 shutout innings, while giving up just 3 hits, walking one and striking out 5. He is now 5-6 with a 4.02 ERA, 3.32 FIP, 3.53 xFIP, 1.12 WHIP and a 77-17 strikeout to walk ratio in 96.1 innings of work. Halladay was probably one of the top starters off the board in 2012 fantasy drafts, and I wonder where he will fall in 2013 fantasy drafts due to his sub-par 2012 season.

Marlins shortstop Jose Reyes hasn't received much praise in the Roto Roundup this season, but he is quietly having a solid 2012 season. He went 3-4, with a walk and 4 runs scored last night, raising his triple slash line to .288-.352-.433 with 7 HRs, 59 runs scored, 30 RBI and 27 stolen bases in 33 attempts. He is on pace to steal 41 bases this season, which is right around what I expected from him this season.

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper has struggled a bit after a hot first few months in the big leagues. After hitting .271 in May and .274 in June, he hit just .222-.306-.313 in July and that has continued into August. Harper went 1-5 with a HR and 2 runs scored last night, and is now hitting .257-.330-.424 with 10 HRs, 57 runs, 30 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 335 at bats this season. He is on pace for 15 HRs and 20 stolen bases this season, which is about what I expected of him assuming he was called up by May. It will be interesting to see what his numbers look like at the end of the season, and even more interesting to see some of the projections for him in 2013. I could see him putting up a 25 HR - 25 stolen base season in 2013.

Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright hasn't been the Wainwright from 2010 yet, as he has been hit around a few times in his return from Tommy John surgery this season. But, Wainwright gave us a glimpse of his past last night, as he threw a complete game 5 hitter vs the tumbling Brewers. He limited the Brew Crew to just one run, walking none and striking out 7 to raise his record to 9-10, with a 4.03 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. I would not be surprised to see his ERA closer to 3.50 and his WHIP closer to 1.15 by the end of the season.

This is exactly the kind of outing you like to see from the offense a day after being shutout and shut down by a phenomenal pitcher. Yesterday the Yankees did not score a single run. This afternoon the Yankees scored six runs and beat the Mariners 6-2, taking the three game series before hoping on a plane to Detroit to face the Tigers.

Freddy Garcia would be called upon to pitch for the Yankees today. The Garcia call can always be a bit nerve wracking. Freddy's first inning antics did not help calm the nerves after giving up a few hits and a run. Garcia settled down though and soothed the nerves a bit. He only went five innings, but he only gave up five hits and two earned runs while striking out two and walking four batters. The word I'll use for his outing today is serviceable. He's a replacement starter and for the most part pitched well enough to keep the Yankees in the game. Yeah, serviceable is an apt description for Garcia today. Boone Logan, David Robertson, and Rafael Soriano would finish Freddy's day for him without giving up a run.

The offense would not stand for being shut out two days in a row. Except for Nick Swisher, Jayson Nix, and a pinch hitting Andruw Jones, all the Yankees would contribute at least one hit. The big hits would come from Raul Ibanez. Lord Voldemort would contribute three RBI's, including a long dinger to the right field bleachers. The Captain and Teixeira, a new, popular singing duo, also batted some runners in as well. Three of those batted in runs would be due to Chris Stewart deciding to provide some offense and show Russell Martin how it's done. A cheap jab at Russ, but come on. This is Chris Stewart we're talking about here. Ichiro Suzuki would extend his hitting streak to twelve games thanks to the sunny defensive mistake from center fielder Saunders. How it was ruled a hit is just one of those questions I don't like to think about. It hurts my brain to try and make sense of error rulings.

The Yankees head to Motown for a four game series against the Tigers to begin a week long road trip. I look forward to seeing the giant Tiger every time YES comes back from commercial break.

So much for that positive run differential. A weakened Seattle Mariners lineup -- Eric Wedge fielded Munenori Kawasaki without him batting ninth -- put up the trappings of a fight before being mauled 6-2 by the New York Yankees. Yes, the Yankees were also 'weakened', but their number nine hitter, backup catcher Chris Stewart, emerged from the game with a .275 wOBA. The Mariners are sitting at .288 on the season.

This wasn't a game that held my interest throughout. I sure hope it wasn't one that held your interest throughout, even if you were playing. Although the M's scampered out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, they gave it up immediately thanks to a combination of dodgy umpiring, poor pitching from Hisashi Iwakuma and poor defending from Kyle Seager, who got the start at second base. Two of those were the Mariners fault, and although Iwakuma was getting squeezed, I have minimal sympathy for anyone whose pitch tempo is so... glacial.

The second inning saw the Yankees grab the lead on thanks to a defensive error from Dustin Ackley, and it was pretty obvious where the game was going to go from there. The lineup wasn't really clicking and Iwakuma wasn't particularly effective, and it was very easy to tune out of the game. If you're anything like me, you find the half-innings with the Mariners at the plate inherently more watchable, because only good things can happen, while watching the pitchers just leaves you worried about the score. With the hitters doing nothing, perusing Baseball-Reference became far more interesting than watching the game in the middle innings.

Iwakuma didn't help his cause at all. He was wild, slow deliberate and ineffective, doing a very good impression of Miguel Batista without quite managing the aura of vague creepiness. When the game began, it looked like a thunderstorm was about ninety minutes away from hitting Yankee Stadium, although the promised deluge never quite materialised, and it looked for all the world as though Iwakuma was pitching in hopes of a rainout. That probably would have been more fun.

Mike Saunders and Jesus Montero temporarily perked the game up with two outs in the fifth, with the former hammering a double off the right centre field wall and the latter lining a single the other way to plate a run and make it 3-2. That score didn't last for very long, thanks to this pitch to Raul Ibanez:

Montero was calling for a sinker on the outside corner. Anyway, said pitch ended up here:

Let's blame the ballpark for that one.

Armed with a two-run lead, the Yankees looked nigh-on unstoppable, and ended the match as a contest in the sixth when Ibanez lined a bases-loaded single over Munenori Kawaski's head to make it 6-2. Unsurprisingly, the Mariners never did anything that looked remotely comebacky, and their ninth inning consisted of plate appearances by Trayvon Robinson, Kawasaki and Chone Figgins.

Oh well. Bullet point time!

• This game was essentially Jesus Montero in a nutshell. He hit very well, staying back on the breaking ball and going the opposite way with pitches he couldn't pull, which was most of them. He finished 2-4 with both Mariner RBIs, and both singles were solid line drives to right field. Unfortunately he didn't do much else right. His form behind the plate was as bad as I've seen it in a while, stabbing at balls rather than blocking them, but the most Montero-y part of his afternoon came in the first inning.
  
  After dodging out of the way of a tag from Robinson Cano to advance to second base, Montero tried to score on a Kyle Seager base hit to right field. Everyone in the stadium knew what was going to happen, including third base coach Jeff Datz, whose stop sign Montero trundled through on his way to being tagged out by Chris Stewart, who fathered several children in the time between receiving Nick Swisher's throw and applying the tag. Someone should really teach Montero how to run. After that, we can master stopping.
• This was a very, very boring game. That said, it was still worth watching for the second inning. Quick outs by Eric Thames and Trayvon Robinson brought Munenori Kawasaki to the plate, and he was able to draw a walk off of Garcia. His skip towards first was weird enough, but it got stranger -- having caught Garcia's attention, Kawasaki then proceeded to do... whatever the hell this is:
  
  
  
  There was some speculation in the game thread that he was deliberately messing with Garcia's head, but I don't think Kawasaki thinks things through that carefully. He just can't not be doing something. He runs when he's standing still. If you averaged him and Jesus Montero, you'd have two normal people.
• Although Kawasaki was the story during that Figgins at-bat, we also received this gift, courtesy of MLB Advanced Media:
  
  
  
  Good scouting you guys.
• Ichiro managed to extend his hitting streak to eleven games with a sun-double against Michael Saunders, who can be completely excused for forgetting about the fact that there was a baseball game on account of boring. He also got plunked in the back of the knee in the fifth by what looked like a suspiciously intentional throw from Iwakuma. Ichiro's now been hit twice in six games by Seattle's pitchers, and zero times in his last 335 games by everyone else. Maybe everyone really did hate him.
• Trayvon Robinson led off the top of the ninth inning, having gone 0-3 on the day to that point. He had an ugly strikeout in the second, but his next two at-bats saw a pair of line outs, first to Derek Jeter and then to Mark Teixeira. He continued the festival of line drives by hammering the ball straight into Rafael Soriano's glove without giving him time to move. Robinson grinned ruefully at his luck. The rest of us had some horrifying flashbacks.
• The Mariners have a .467 all-time winning percentage, which is an average record of 76-86 over 162 games. The equivalent calculation for the Yankees gives us 92-70. Hard to get too worked up about this one.
• Jeff's certainly back tomorrow, and he might even return sometime today! Since Lookout Landing started in 2005, the Mariners have gone 560-683, scoring an average of 4.07 runs a game while conceding 4.56. Somehow he's still producing wonderful stuff day in and day out. There are good things about the Mariners -- Felix, Kawasaki and the youngsters spring to mind -- but the best part of being an M's fan is, without a doubt, the fact that we get to read Jeff most days. Shower him with love, for he is wonderful. You can't spell 'Jeff Sullivan is wonderful' without 'Jeff Sullivan'.

Mood Music - True by Spandau Ballet

The Pinstripe Alley Staff; a mystery wrapped in an enigma cooked in a pizza topped with pepperoni. Have you ever thought to yourselves, "Hey it might be nice to get to know the writers of Pinstripe Alley a little better." If you have, then this is the thread for you. If you have not, then I sincerely apologize for wasting your time here on the internet. Today we bring another new feature to the website: naked chocolate pudding pillow fights. Actually we bring you the new weekly Staff Q&A Sunday thread. There will be no naked chocolate pudding pillow fights. Not yet anyway.

Since I am the resident "I like to get to know people better" writer on Pinstripe Alley, I will be your MC for these weekly staff knowledge threads. The writers will be asked a series of questions so you can get to know us more. Some questions will be serious while others will be silly. In addition to the questions I come up with, we are also hoping for some fan participation as well. If you, our loyal readers, can think of any questions you would like to ask us, be it serious or silly, please feel free. Each week we will pick the best questions asked and answer them to the best of our ability. These threads are meant to be informative as well as fun. On behalf of the staff, we hope you enjoy them as much as you enjoy our articles and other such writing and what not.

Staff Q&A after the jump

1. Tell us a little about yourself and your personality. What do you do now? What are your goals and ambitions in life?

Tanya

I'm tiny-sized and I laugh a lot. I'm learning to be a lawyer. My goal is to increase awareness about the hardships of lefties being forced to live in a righty's world.

Rob

By trade, I'm a teacher, and I'd have given Steve Goldman a giant 'F' in red pen for his nonsensical teacher rant (I kid, Steve). I've been married for a little over a year, and am thankful I to have a wife that puts up and supports my daily nonsense and baseball obsession. I have a lot of goals and ambitions. The problem I encounter is selecting one and really honing in on making it happen (partly because I'm over ambitious, and part scatterbrained). Right now, it's saving money to buy a new house.

Andrew

I took a personality test in a college class one time. It came back saying something about me being a high introvert or something to that effect. I'm terrible at taking tests, but that seems pretty accurate. It's not that I dislike being around people, it's that I dislike being around large groups of people I don't know; mainly because I can scientifically prove 73.8% of any large group of people are complete morons. I like being social, but given the choice of having a drink at home or wandering to the bar with Kyle, Tucker, Todd and their bro hordes, more often than not I'm choosing my own company.

That might be why I decided to get into journalism. I'm a journalist by the way, I work in television news. There I pretty much have to interact and be civil with people who usually have no intentions of offering the same courtesy, or be forced to live on the streets with an expensive piece of paper taped to an alley wall. It's good practice in keeping the imp of the perverse locked away for a few extra minutes when you see people walking their children around on a leash in public. For all the crazies, conspiracy theorists, racists and just flat out terrible people I have to speak with, I occasionally get someone who actually has something interesting or useful to say, and that's pretty cool. It doesn't take away scaled up perception, but it helps a little.

As far as goals, the only one I can really think of is to stay out of prison until I die, or at least until I reach such a point where prison becomes a viable option.

Reunited (with a playoff slot) and it feeeeeeeels so good! Yessiree, thanks to those plucky A's defeating the Angels the O's are once again in control of one of the two Wild Card spots.

And who's that ominously whistling 'The Farmer and the Dell'? Oh, @*#%! The O's comin'!, cried the Yankees. 10 games out less than 3 weeks ago, them Birds find themselves with just a 4.5 game deficit as of this morning.

Tonight, only a wizened Mentor stands between these Birds and their 60th victory of the season. With the bullpen getting emptied last night / earlier this morning I'd imagine a fresh arm will be recalled from Norfolk. Could we get to witness Steve Johnson's first MLB start? It's not out of the realm of possibilities. Perhaps some link-form reading material will shed some light?

Seattle Mariners vs. Baltimore Orioles - Recap - August 07, 2012 - ESPN
Lead story. I approve of that placement.

Baltimore Orioles beat Seattle Mariners, 8-7, in 14 innings - The Washington Post
Maybe they ought to just play every game into extra innings?

School of Roch: Britton optioned, Steve Johnson starting tomorrow, Flaherty could go on DL
Well...there we go. The Professor of Posts answers our burning questions right in the lede.

Extra! Let's talk about the Orioles - SweetSpot Blog - ESPN
The Worldwide Leader Takin' notice. 'Bout time.

Strop finding success with Orioles | orioles.com: News
Thanks, cannot be said enough, for the last parting gift that Andy Mac left this club.

Steve Melewski: For Pedro Strop, it's no longer about the radar gun
More love for Pedro.

Former Orioles star Cal Ripken Jr. inducted into International League Hall of Fame
What took so long?

An All-Time Baltimore Orioles Team: O's Roster for the Ages - Yahoo! Sports
I'm not sure about this. But, whatevs. Perhaps, someday, Dr. Jones will grace such a list.

One A Day - Stay in the Game | MLB.com: Sponsorship
Some video of Cal talking with Manny at the Futures Game

I recognize nary an O's related name amongst the listed birthdays for this day. And not much of substantial interest happened to the O's on this day in baseball history. But I did learn that there used to be a team named the Baltimore Canaries. So there's your factoid for the day.

When Ivan Nova was coming up through the Yankees system, the knock on him was that he had two pitches, not the three that are usually necessary to succeed as a starter. The results during his first audition in 2010 seemed to bear that out—the fourth or fifth inning came around and Nova was headed for the showers, unable to give the hitters something new to look at.

Flash forward to 2011, and Nova, despite a below-average strikeout rate that again supported the idea of a shallow arsenal, won 16 games. There was more that was surprising and smelled just a bit of a fluke happenstance: an unexpectedly high rate of groundouts to air outs, with a lower-than-average number of those air balls leaving the park.

We can dissect Nova’s season a number of ways, but "Inconsistent" seems to be the fastest route to describing it.

Outside of June, there is a good start/evil start pattern to his appearances. Comparing plots of his pitches between this year and last reveals a pitcher who is missing his location far more often in 2012. Last year’s surprisingly high groundball rate has receded. Fly balls are leaving the park at a higher rate than before. Nova’s average velocity is up slightly, and he’s even walking fractionally fewer batters than last year, but that only illustrates the difference between "command" and "control."

Nova finally has the high strikeout rate that has eluded him, but at the cost of pitching effectively. It’s one of the great ironies of the season. That said, his league-leading 160 hits allowed would be a less staggering total if the Yankees were better at the whole fielding thing. Going into Tuesday’s game, the Yankees were 12th in a 14-team league in defensive efficiency. You know who the culprits are—basically everybody; there are some good gloves here, such as Robinson Cano, but he’s not Bill Mazeroski. As the Mariners showed a couple of years ago, going crazy for good-field/no-hit players doesn’t gets you nowhere in a hurry, but there is also a point when a team is too old and slow to get out of its own way and to the bare minimum it has to do to support its pitching staff. The Yankees might be there now.

Note that the batting average on balls in play against Nova has jumped from .284 in 2011 to .337 this year. He's gone from lucky to unlucky, or, depending on your point of view, from receiving more than his share of defensive support to less.

This isn’t the Yankees’ only problem right now, nor their only long-term problem given a dry farm system which is increasing in aridity on a daily basis (buh-bye for now, Betances and Banuelos) and an insistence on reducing payroll with aging blocks of immovable dough on the roster and more to come, but it does have a place in the discussion of the team's future. When Brian Cashman scoffs at those who criticize the Yankees for being too old, this is the part he’s overlooking.

In the long history of the New York Yankees, only one person has ever had his number retired who never played a game in pinstripes. His name was Charles Dillon Stengel, or simply "Casey" Stengel. Yes, Miller Huggins and Joe McCarthy have been honored in Monument Park, but neither wore a number. Additionally, while Billy Martin's number 1 was retired mostly for what he accomplished as a manager, he played for the Yankees as well. Thus, the "Ol' Perfesser" holds a unique place in Yankees history, at least until the Yankees retire '90s dynasty manager Joe Torre's number 6.

Although Stengel rose to prominence with the Yankees, he was well-known in New York baseball circles for over 35 years prior to his hiring in 1949, having once played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. Surprisingly, he was once a pitching ace for his Kansas City Central High School baseball team in 1910 until one of his first minor league managers, Danny Shay, moved him to the outfield. Stengel nearly followed a friend to dental school until his minor league team gave him a raise. He quickly rose through the ranks, and the Brooklyn team, then called the Superbas, signed him in 1912. There, the kid from K.C. gained his eponymous nickname, Casey, because his teammates just called him "Kansas City" or "K.C." He was a joker, but he played the game very well, hitting .272/.346/.393 with a 119 OPS+ in six seasons with Brooklyn, helping the team win the '16 NL pennant (he also led the NL in OBP in '14 with a .404 mark).

Stengel played eight more years in the league with four different teams after being traded from Brooklyn following the '17 campaign, and one of those stops was a 2.5 year stint with John McGraw's NL stalwart New York Giants. It did not take McGraw long to identify Stengel as a player with a sharp baseball mind, and Stengel had a true mentor. He also had his last highlights as a player, winning a pair of World Series championships over the cross-town Yankees in '21 and '22, and although the Giants lost to them in '23, he made his name known in the Yankee clubhouse. First, he won Game 1 with a ninth inning inside-the-park home run at Yankee Stadium, then hit another homer in a 1-0 victory in Game 3, blowing kisses to the crowd and thumbing his nose at the Yankee dugout as he rounded the bases. Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert was incensed, but little did he know that Stengel would help his beloved Yankee team to uncharted success many years later.

The lessons Stengel learned from McGraw logically led him on a path to become a major league manager. His official playing career ended when his Boston Braves sent him to the minors to become player-manager and president of their Worcester affiliate. Stengel brought the team from the cellar to third place, and soon got a better job as manager of the minor league Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association. Under Stengel for six years, Toledo won a pennant in '27 before plummeting in the standings. He soon found himself as a coach with former teammate Max Carey on his old team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and he was appointed to his first major league managerial job when Carey was fired after the '33 season. The team did not have much talent, and three sub-.500 seasons later, Stengel was fired himself. He was chosen to manage the Boston Braves in '38, his selection likely encouraged by Stengel's valuable oil investments in the team. The team had a winning season that year, but afterwards, the team never had a winning percentage above .440 in five years under Stengel. He only managed half of the '43 season because he was hit by a taxi, breaking his leg and later developing a staph infection.

Stengel resigned from the job after the '43 season and spent the next five seasons managing various minor league teams, from the Chicago Cubs' Milwaukee Brewers in '44 to the Yankees' Kansas City Blues in '45 and finally to the independent Oakland Oaks from '46-'48. With the Oaks, he made the playoff finals each year and won the Pacific Coast League championship in '48 with a group of veterans and a hard-nosed second baseman named Billy Martin, who Stengel took under his wing like McGraw did for him many years ago. George Weiss, who liked Stengel and hired him to manage the Blues in '45 as the Yankees' farm director, was promoted to the position of Yankee general manager, and he fired manager Bucky Harris despite a World Series championship in '47 and a third-place finish in '48. Weiss had recommended Stengel to his bosses every year since longtime manager Joe McCarthy resigned, and he now had the power to hire him. Similar to how fans would ridicule Yankee GM Bob Watson 47 years later for hiring the previously unsuccessful Torre, no one understood why Weiss would want to hire a loser who never did well as a major league manager. Weiss knew Stengel was more than just the clown the press made him out to be though--in Oakland, he achieved success through the use of platoons and never staying comfortable with a regular lineup.

Stengel was an immediate success. The Yankees won the American League pennant in '49 by a game over the rival Boston Red Sox, then defeated Stengel's old Brooklyn Dodger team in a thrilling seven-game World Series. Stengel liked winning so much that his teams would do it again and again. From '49 through '53, his teams averaged 97.4 wins per year and won the World Series each time, a five-year run of World Series success that has never been duplicated. They swept the "Wiz Kid" Philadelphia Phillies in '50, subdued the '51 Giants team that came back to win the NL pennant on Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World," then beat the Dodgers two more times in '52 and '53. His '54 team won more games (103) than any other squad in Stengel's tenure, but they finished in second place, eight games behind the 111-win Cleveland Indians.

Undeterred, Stengel returned to victory and the Yankees won four consecutive AL pennants from '55 through '58. The planets aligned and Brooklyn finally beat the Yankees in '55, but the Yankees avenged the loss with a win in '56 over the Dodgers. Likewise, the Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Braves in '57, then beat the Braves the very next year, becoming just the second team ever to trail a series 3-1 and come back to win it. A disappointing third-place finish in '59 led to questions about the now-69-year-old Stengel's managerial competency, but with the addition of '60 AL MVP Roger Maris, the Yankees won the AL pennant again. They lost a very tough seven-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates wherein they outscored the Buccos 55-27 but watched the series end in defeat on a Bill Mazeroski home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7. Stengel was fired after the loss, and he said, "I'll never make the mistake of being 70 again." The teams largely assembled by Stengel continued to win the AL pennant each year from '61-'63 under Stengel's replacement, former Yankee backup catcher Ralph Houk, with two more World Series championships coming from the success. After one more AL pennant in '64 under Berra, the new manager as Houk moved to the front office, the Yankees went dormant for many years, the farm system now dry without Stengel contributing to its development. Stengel managed the awful expansion New York Mets for 3.5 years, but through his popularity, helped the team gain a strong following despite their lousy play. In appreciation of his contributions the Mets retired his number 37 at the end of the '65 season, an honor the Yankees had yet to grant him. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in '66 by the Veterans' Committee.

The Yankees finally decided to honor Stengel in 1970. Eight days after his 80th birthday, they honored him at Old-Timers' Day by retiring his number 37. At the time, only Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle had been so honored. His old players presented him with his own uniform, and he told fans, "I've got one now. I'll die in it." He passed away five years later in '75, only a year before his old Yankees would finally return to October glory again under Stengel's protege, Billy Martin.

Stengel managed great teams that combined veteran talent like Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, and Tommy Henrich with young stars like Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra. Using his platoon system, he found spots in the lineup for a further variety of players, from former NL superstars Johnny Mize and Enos Slaughter to key role players Hank Bauer, Gene Woodling, and Billy Martin. There were many pitching stars with great nicknames and success like "Superchief" Allie Reynolds and "Bullet" Bob Turley. Other great pitchers like Vic Raschi, Ed Lopat, and Don Larsen led the way for Stengel's great offenses to succeed. Stengel also had an Instructional League that helped the Yankees produce some fine young players that really helped the team as well. In total, Casey Stengel's Yankee teams went 1,149-696, a .623 winning percentage that is only exceeded in team history by McCarthy's .627. No Yankee manager won more AL pennants than his 10, and only McCarthy tied his mark of seven World Series rings.

Casey Stengel deserved every honor he received from the Yankees and Major League Baseball, and his number 37 was retired 42 years ago today.

Managerial record. SABR Bio. News story. MLB.com.

The Philadelphia Eagles announced the launch of the Eagles Spanish Radio Network on Wednesday. The Eagles are the 14th NFL team to have a Spanish broadcast of games.

In Philadelphia, Eagles fans will be able to hear Eagles' broadcasts in Spanish on WTTM (1680 AM). Many games will also be broadcast in Allentown on WGPA (1100 AM). Eagles game coverage in Spanish will begin on Thursday with the first Eagles preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers .

Rickie Ricardo will handle play-by-play duties on the Eagles Spanish Radio Network. Felix DeJesus and Will Kulik will serve as color men on the broadcasts. Ricardo has been with the Phillies' Spanish broadcasting crew for seven seasons. DeJesus is a color commentator on Yankees Spanish broadcasts. Kulik founded the Spanish Beisbol Network in 2001.

For more on the Eagles, please be sure to check out our blog Bleeding Green Nation and SB Nation Philly for all the latest news and updates.

Via the lovely and talented Hardball Talk, baseball's reliever with the spinning odometer may be on the road to the Bronx for the first time since... ever:

General manager Brian Cashman told Erik Boland of New York Newsday that Feliciano has been throwing batting practice at the Yankees’ spring training complex and could be cleared to begin a minor-league rehab assignment "very soon." Cashman did his best to downplay any expectations that Feliciano could make an impact down the stretch, but a September call-up seems likely if he avoid a setback.

As you well know, the Yankees signed Feliciano despite his having pitched 408 games in five years for the Mets. His contract includes a 2013 option that is about death-and-taxes likely to be bought out. Forty-man roster baseball is painful to watch, with managers running pitcher after pitcher in and out of the game, so if the Yankees have a third spot lefty to go with Boone Logan and Clay Rapada, there won't be anything special about it except that it will probably lead to a couple of unnecessary losses (or at least runs) as Joe Girardi chases platoon match-ups that aren't worth pursuing in the first place. In this he is no different than other managers, but just because something is commonplace doesn't mean it's any easier to live with.

Curtis Granderson was having a rough time at the plate entering today's game. From July 28th through yesterday's game, he was mired in a 5-for-42 slump, a .119/.196/.190 triple slash at a time when his team really needed him to step up on offense while they were struggling as a whole. Thankfully, he decided that his ten-game streak of poor play had lasted quite long enough, especially after manager Joe Girardi shuffled the batting order and moved him from the leadoff spot to sixth. In a furious rage (but probably not), Granderson went 3-for-5 with a double and a homer.

The three-run dinger, his 30th of the year, came against recently-acquired Tiger starter Anibal Sanchez, who gave his team three innings of nothing today. Sanchez gave up seven runs on seven hits, earning an admirable Game Score of 17. That generally does not help the team win. Granderson was the wPA star of the game, improving his team's chance of winning by .265. Granderson's efforts gave his team a 7-0 lead, but the Tigers certainly made it interesting against Yankees ace CC Sabathia with a rally powered by a very strange seventh inning.

A string of doubles and singles in the fourth and sixth made the score 7-3, and after the Yankees tacked on another run in the top of the seventh inning, Detroit whittled the lead to just one run in a bizarre seventh inning. Austin Jackson singled to center, then moved to third base with one out when Casey McGehee mishandled a grounder from Miguel Cabrera (McGehee was playing his first game as a Yankee at the hot corner). Yet another grounder, this time toward first baseman Mark Teixeira was muffed but ruled a single, and Jackson scored. Girardi decided to remove Sabathia despite only 94 pitches from the big man, and reliever David Robertson was promptly greeted with three more ground-ball singles and an opposite-field two-run single by catcher Alex Avila to make the score 7-6. It was about the puniest four-run rally possible, but alas.

The Yankees needed to tack on a few more runs to ensure the victory, and their offense kept up the great work against Tigers pitching. Line drive singles by Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano against dearly-departed former Yank Phil Coke gave Tex a chance to bring some runs home, and he did just that. A single to left scored Swisher, then Cano crossed home plate on a ground-out by Eric Chavez, who apparently thinks the year is 2002 rather than 2012 (.462/.500/.885 in 28 plate appearances since July 30th). A pair of runs in the ninth after a surprising Omar Infante solo blast for Detroit gave the Yankees 12 runs on the day, and Rafael Soriano pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to finish the job. It was a great day all-around for the offense, as everyone in the starting lineup got a hit, and Granderson was joined by Derek Jeter, Swisher, Cano, Teixeira, and Chavez on the multi-hit parade for the game. Even Jayson Nix got a hit in his one at bat, and he entered the game in the eighth inning for defense.

The Yankees look to split the series in Detroit tomorrow as Hiroki Kuroda pitches for New York against Doug Fister.

Box score. Graph score. Highlights.

Some dude who's the son of some other dude who did something sometime a long time ago started for the O's tonight. Ho hum....Oh...the dude who's the son of some other dude who did something sometime a long time ago was making his 1st career start tonight. Whatevs....And the dude who's the son of some other dude who did something sometime a long time ago happens to be a local kid. Well isn't that special?

I kid, of course. Steve Johnson, son of former Oriole and current MASN personality Dave Johnson, turned in a fantastic performance in his big league starting debut, 23 years to the day from when his pops earned his first career major league Win. His performance, coupled with a nicely balanced offensive attack, secured a sweep of the Mariners, and a 5th straight win for the O's, their 60th on the season.

The offense did some work of their own in the bottom half of the 1st against former Mentor, Kevin Millwood. Home plate umpire Brian Knight tried to help old man Millwood out, giving him an ample strike zone with which to work. Nick Markakis was nonplussed with the dimensions of said zone as he K'd looking to lead off. A pessimist might see this and think 'gonna be a long night for the O's offense.' They would be wrong. J.J. Hardy would lace a single to left and be followed by a Chris Davis BB after an extended at bat. After an Adam Jones fielders choice ground out left men on the corners, Matt Wieters would step to the plate with 2 down. Matt Wieters caught all 14 innings of last evening's game. Buck Showalter said he was very close to giving the Switch Hitting Jesus the night off tonight as a result, but Matty was persistent that he wanted to catch Steve Johnson's first start and Buck yielded. Good decision. Matt would work a full-count before driving a ball to deep right field. Marcus Thames attempted a leaping catch just before the warning track in front of the scoreboard but the ball bounced off his glove, allowing Hardy and Jones to score. 37 pitches later and the offense had put up some run support for the Rookie! Always a good thing!

Johnson would come out for his 2nd inning with a 2-0 lead, but some of the adrenaline that carried him through the 1st must have worn off. He gave up a bloop single and a walk before inducing a grounder back up the middle that J.J. Hardy managed to field and toss to Omar Quintanilla for the force at 2nd base. After another walk which loaded the bases, Stevie would get a gift out from the always entertaining Munenori Kawasaki when he attempted a non-sacrifice bunt that bounced right back to the mound. Johnson would flip to Wieters for the force play at home to record the 2nd out of the inning. A couple of pitches later and Dustin Ackley would pop out to Omar in shallow right field. Crisis averted, lead still intact, inning over.

From there on out it was pretty smooth sailing for Johnson as he would work his command of the zone to the tune of 9 Ks and a 3:6 GO:FO ratio! He would ultimately go 6 IP, allowing 5 hits, 2 walks, and 2 earned runs via a fence-scraper HR off the bat of Kyle Seager in the 6th inning. Bravo, kiddo! Get used to that Major League paycheck!

Overshadowed by young Mr. Johnson will be the performance of the offense tonight. 5 players managed multi-hit efforts (Markakis, Hardy, Jones, Wieters, Quintanilla) and the team would manage to get on base 17 times in 41 plate appearances and score 9 runs. A lot of runs left on the base paths to be sure. But it's nice to see this team just getting men on the base paths in the first place. Home runs from Nick Markakis and Mark Reynolds, a 3 hit night for Dr. Jones, along with a 5 RBI night from Matt Wieters provided the bulk of the oomph on this night. Let's keep this train a'rolling, Gents!

With the victory tonight, the O's remain 4.5 games off the pace set by the Yankees. However, they are now in a three way tie for the 1st Wild Card slot along with the Tigers and A's, while the Rays and the Angels are 1.5 games off the Wild Card pace. 60 wins down. 30 more to go. But why stop there? Dan O'Hare, methinks you set your sights too low! Why such a pessimist!?!

The Detroit Tigers home winning streak ended at 10 games, falling to the New York Yankees 12-8.The 2 teams combined for 31 hits, 18 by the Evil Empire.

C.C. Sabathia (12-3) pitched into the 7th inning for the Yankees, gaining the victory. Anibal Sanchez's 3rd start as a Tiger was not the charm, allowing 7 runs in 3 innings, falling to 1-2

The Tigers' offense was led by Jeff Baker and Brennan Boesch, each with 2 hits and 2 RBI. Omar Infante added his 2nd AL home run of the season. Yankees CF Curtis Granderson had 3 hits and 4 RBI for the Yankees, including a 3 run homer.

Sanchez's mistakes bit him in the ass in the 1st, and it only got worse from there...

Nick Swisher walked with 1 out, Mark Teixeira was hit by a pitch with 2 out. Newest Tiger Killer Eric Chavez increased his BABiP dropping a dying quail in front of Austin Jackson or an RBI single. Tigers ex-pat Granderson, who had been having an awful series (0-10, 5 K), singled to right, giving the Evil Empire a 2-0 lead.

The Tigers threatened in their half of the inning, Miguel Cabrera walking and Prince Fielder being hit by a pitch for 2nd time in 3 games. But Delmon Young did what he does so well, frustrate fans to no end, by flying out to end the inning.

The game spun out and crashed...hard...for Sanchez in the 3rd. He hit Robinson Cano in the keister with 1 out, prompting home plate umpire Tim Welke to rush out from behind the plate and issue warnings (of course, he didn't bother when Fielder was plunked after Sanchez hit Teixeira). Cano stole 2nd, Chavez walked, setting the table for Granderson. He cleared both the bases and the right field wall, hitting his 30th home run of the season, giving the Yankees a 5-0 lead.

As the Tigers were doing nothing with the super-sized Sabathia, the Yankees were knocking Sanchez out of the game. Casey McGehee led off the 4th with a double. Derek Jeter and Swisher singled, scoring McGehee and sending Sanchez to the showers.

Jim Leyland remembered he hadn't used Duane Below in nearly 2 weeks, and figured no time like the present to get the cobwebs off. Below allowed a pair of fly balls, the 2nd a Teixeira sacrifice fly making it a 7-0 game.

Jeff Baker had his first hit as a Tiger in his 2nd at bat, lining a double into the right field corner with 2 out in the 4th. He scored his first run as a Tiger when Brennan Boesch singled. Of course,all this came after Young grounded into a double play.

Baker continued to make friends in the 6th. Fielder legged out a single (Yes, the big man had an infield single), Young following with a double. Baker brought them both home, looping a Sabathia breaking ball into left for a 2 RBI single, bringing the Tigers to within 4 runs at 7-3. Cano's error on Boesch's ground ball inspired hope of a big inning, putting Baker in scoring position, but the rally petered out as Gerald Laird flew out and Ramon Santiago went down swinging.

In the 7th, Granderson's bat punished the Tigers again. He led off with a double, ultimately scoring on Ichiro's swinging bunt to make it an 8-4 game.

The Tigers countered, as Granderson's replacement triggered a rally. Jackson singled, went to 3rd when McGehee misplayed Cabrera's double play ball, scoring on Fielder's RBI ground out. That ended the fat man's night, to be replaced by (not the basketball player or former Tiger) David Robertson.

Robertson proceeded to get BABiPed, putting the Tigers back in the game.

Teixeira must have learned how to play 1st by watching Fielder, as he went too far to his right on Young's dribbler, unable to make a play. With runners on 1st and 3rd, Andy Dirks pinch hit for Baker. Of course the hero of the Caribbean Series delivered, doubling down the left field line, scoring Cabrera. Boesch followed with a swinging bunt infield hit, Young scoring. Alex Avila sliced a liner off his fists into short left, Dirks racing home.

The Tigers batted around, scoring 4 runs on 5 hits.What was a 7-0 Yankees blowout was now an 8-7 nail-biter.

Phil Coke took over in the 8th, and he pitched as he has for the past month. Badly. After the Tigers put 4 runs on the board, Coke gave 2 right back. Singles by Swisher, Cano and Teixeira and a Chavez ground out (after an 11 pitch battle) bumped the Yankees lead to 10-7...not quite as nail-biting.

But the never say die Tigers...didn't. Infante got a run back with 1 out in the 8th, drilling a solo shot into the bullpen, his 2nd home run in 4 games.

Brayan Villarreal took the mound in the 9th, and got 2 quick outs. But as it happens with Villarreal, if things go bad, they go bad quickly. Jayson Nix singled, as did Jeter. Villarreal helped things along by balking Nix home, putting the Yankees back up 11-8. Cano's single made the final score 12-8.

Yankees closer Rafael Soriano didn't allow the Tigers to even smell a hit, setting them down 1-2-3 to end what was a wild, crazy, exciting...loss.

You would think fans would have learned after Sunday's furious comeback. Under Jim Leyland, the Tigers never say die. Once again, those fans who gave up on the Tigers (there were plenty, going by bitching on the social networks) when they went down 7-0 missed out on several excellent performances. Too bad not enough of them were from pitchers.

Jim Leyland put the game succinctly: "We just didn't pitch." He said in 4 words which takes me 1600.

Bullets:

• If you were caught up in the web of MLB.TV not working and unable to see the first half of the game...consider yourself lucky. That was the worst part of the evening.
• The Royals knocked off the White Sox 2-1, so the Tigers remain 1/2 game behind the Sox in the AL Central standings at 60-51. They are also tied with the A's and Orioles for the 2 wild cards, all 3 teams playing .541 ball.
  
• The Tigers' winning streak ended at 6 games and home winning streak ended at 10 games. Their 10 game streak was their longest since an 11 game streak back in the sepia toned days of August 1949. The record remains safe..for the time being.
  
• C.C. Sabathia is living, obese proof fat guys can be great ballplayers. But Omar the Tent Maker instead of Majestic has to make his uniform.
• I have to make fat jokes so I can laugh through the frustration. Sabathia was good. Sanchez wasn't.
• Sanchez's line: 3 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 2 K, 1 HR. His ERA as a Tiger is now 7.80...which is still lower than Jacob Turner's. Just sayin'... Sanchez will get sorted out, the track record says as much.
• By the way, Infante now has a 9 game hitting streak. I'm so happy to have a legitimate 2nd baseman in the lineup.
• In case you were wondering if Duane Below was still a Detroit Tiger, you got your answer in the 4th. The buried in the depths of the bullpen Below made his first appearance since July 27th, only his 4th since the break.
• Granderson hit his 30th home run of the season for the Yankees. He averaged 17 homers a season for the Tigers, 31 as a Yankee. What a difference a little league short porch makes.
• Things haven't gone better with Coke in some time. Phil Coke's streak of appearances allowing a base runner has reached 9 consecutive games, and at least 1 run in the last 4 . The last time he had a 1-2-3 inning was July 8th. Since then he has a 7.56 ERA.
  
• The worst part of playing the Yankees? Their games take FOREVER, and feel longer. Tonight's game time was a slow ass 3:38.
• Possible reliever alert: Recently promoted Bruce Rondon made his first appearance for the Mud Hens tonight, pitching a scoreless 9th inning, walking 1, striking out 2,
  

Screen caps of the night:

2nd baseman Omar Infante made his best defensive play...at 1st base, bare handing Prince Fielder's throw. Unfortunately, it didn't mean a thing, as Ichiro was safe. But it was one Hell of a play by Infante.

All sensitive Nick Swisher wants is a hug from Fielder, who complied while tagging him out.

3 ROARS:

I could give them to most everyone with a bat, but here goes...

Jeff Baker: Showed what the Tigers have been missing off the bench from their right hand bats with 2 hits, 2 RBI, and a run scored.

Brennan Boesch: The only other Tiger to equal Baker, with 2 hits and 2 RBI.

Duane Below: Kept the Yankees within spitting distance with 3 innings of 1 run relief.

BONUS ROAR:

Andy Dirks: His necking out a pinch hit double has him hitting a lofty .347.

3 HISSES:

Anibal Sanchez: He was picked up in hope of giving filling a gaping hole in the Tigers' rotation. The jury is still out, with 2 bad starts (12 ER in 9 IP) to a single good appearance (2 ER in 6 IP).

Phil Coke: He committed the Cardinal Sin of pitching. Allowing runs after a big offensive inning. Coke has been awful for more than a month. At this rate he'll soon be down with Daniel Schlereth in Tigers fan's hated lefty relief pitcher.rankings.

MLB.TV: Went in the tank for the first half of the game, just like Sanchez.

GAME 110 PLAYER OF THE GAME:

Rick Porcello was good, so was Andy Dirks. But Miguel Cabrera was great. His amazing 2nd half continued with a home run, double and 3 RBI, which gives him another BYB PotG win.

Josh Hamilton has struggled in a big way over the last few months, but he might be breaking out of his slump now. He went 3-5 with a HR, a triple and 4 RBI in the Rangers 10-9 win over the Red Sox. Hamilton's June and July were absurdly bad, and here is what his slash lines looked like:

June: .223-.318-.436, 4 HRs, 16 RBI

July: .177-.253-.354 , 4 HRs, 11 RBI

For 2012, he is now hitting .288-.351-.575 with 30 HRs, 66 runs, and 95 RBI, and he is on pace to hit 44 HRs and drive in 140. Over his last 10 games, he is 15-46 with 2 HRs and 12 RBI. I wonder if his possible free agency is wearing on him? I think Texas will allow him to walk this offseason.

Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is definitely hot, but it certainly took him quite awhile to start hitting. AGonz went 3-5 with 3 runs and 3 RBI last night, and is now hitting .310-.353-.465 with 11 HRs, 34 doubles, 58 runs and 72 RBI. Over his last 10 games, he is 17-37 with a HR and 10 RBI, and has multiple hits in 6 of those 10 games. Heading into 2013, he will certainly drop in my first base rankings after the huge drop in home runs this season.

Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez had a slow start to the 2012 season, hitting just .214-.264-.381 in April, but since then his worst month was May where he hit .274-.364-.484 with 3 HRs and 20 RBI. Here are his slash lines for June through August:

June: .295-.374-.523, 4 HRs, 15 RBI

July: .373-.409-.608, 4 HRs, 21 RBI

August: .353-.353-.824, 2 HRs, 4 RBI

So, it pays to be patient with some hitters and ARam is one of the more streaky hitters in the game. I remember another fantasy baseball writer at another site, telling readers that Ramirez would have a down season hitting in Milwaukee. Well, right now, he is hitting .294-.357-.515 with 15 HRs, 61 runs and 70 RBI for the season. He is third amongst all third baseman in RBI, tied for 6th in HRs, and is 5th in batting average. Not bad.

More Roundup after the jump, including news about Dylan Bundy:

Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton had a monster night at the plate last night, going 4-5 with 2 HRs, 2 runs and 4 RBI. Stanton missed a month but looks like he hasn't missed time at all. He is now hitting .290-.367-.577 with 21 HRs, 48 runs, 55 RBI and 5 stolen bases thus far in 2012. He is on pace for 30 HRs this season, but I think that projection is underselling his power for the rest of the season.

As I was checking out Twitter last night, I came across this tweet about Orioles pitching prospect Dylan Bundy:

On the radio right now but hearing that Bundy is headed to Bowie and will start there next Tuesday.

— Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) August 9, 2012

I am hoping there are a few rainouts next week, so Bundy makes his first AA start in Trenton, as I will be attending the Trenton-Bowie game next Friday.

When he was promoted to the big leagues, some prospect experts questioned how long Mark Trumbo would last in the big leagues, as he was prone to the strikeout and didn't take the free pass too often. Trumbo had a solid rookie season in 2011, hitting .254-.291-.477 with 29 HR, 65 runs and 87 RBI. This season, he has proven his critics wrong, as he has increased his walk rate, and while still striking out around 22% this season, he is hitting .291-.346-.574 with 29 HRs, 54 runs and 73 RBI, and is on pace to hit 42 home runs and drive in 100+ runs.

Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson is having another excellent season at the plate, and that continued last night as he went 3-5 with a HR, a double, 2 runs and 4 RBI. Granderson is triple slashing .244-.338-.498 with 30 HR, 78 runs, 66 RBI and 8 stolen bases, but has struck out in just under 28% of his at bats this season. After hitting 41 home runs last season, many expected him to struggle to duplicate that power surge, yet he is on pace for 44 HRs this season. Hitting in the new Yankee Stadium has been especially kind to the Grandyman.

Orioles catcher Matt Wieters is catching fire at the plate of late, and he went 2-5 with 2 doubles and 5 RBI last night to help the Orioles beat the Mariners 9-2. Wieters is now hitting .246-.320-.424 with 15 HRs, 42 runs and 57 RBI. Over his last 10 games, Wieters is 13-42 with 2 HRs and 11 RBI.

The Giants traded for Marco Scutaro after third baseman Pablo Sandoval landed on the DL and Scutaro has been playing third base ever since. Last night, Scutaro went 3-6 with a HR, a double, a run scored and 7 RBI to help the Giants trounce the Cardinals 15-0. He has multi-hit games in 4 of his last 9 games, and is now hitting .279-.331-.376 with 5 HRs, 52 runs, 43 RBI and 7 stolen bases in 11 attempts. He will be moving over to second base when Sandoval returns from the DL.

Games of Note: It's Red Sox versus Yankees on August 9, 1949, and Dom Dimaggio's 34-game hitting streak is on the line. Dom's brother, Joe, is well-known for his major-league record hit-streak of 56 games, and he ends up being the reason that Dom's ends at 34 contests.

Boston's Dimaggio began the game 0-for-4, with Yankee hurler Vic Raschi setting him down each time up despite this being a game where he was knocked around for six runs on 10 hits. In Dimaggio's final at-bat, he hits a sinking liner to Joe, who catches the ball at his shoe tops, ending the streak at 34. Oddly enough, this 34-game hit streak began in the game following another hit-less effort against Vic Raschi and the Yankees, and it ended there, too.

Dimaggio put together a .352/.430/.503 line in those 34 games, going deep three times while smacking 11 doubles. He rarely hit for that kind of power in his career, as he owned a career Isolated Power of .121, but apparently the Dimaggios were capable of long bouts of focused excellence.

Transactions: This is a quiet day historically for Red Sox transactions. The busiest was August 9 of 2005, when Boston traded for Mike Remlinger and cash, sending minor-league pitcher Olivio Astacio in exchange for that package. Astacio never appeared in the majors, and was out of baseball at age 22 in 2007, but the Cubs didn't mind, as Mike Remlinger was awful for Boston. He threw 6-2/3 innings with a 14.85 ERA and as many walks as strikeouts.

This wasn't the only move the Sox made, as they also signed free agent Ricky Bottalico. It was less damaging than the Remlinger acquisition, as Bottalico only pitched in Pawtucket, tossing 8-1/3 innings there to finish out his career.

Birthdays: It's Matt Young's 54th birthday. Young was drafted by the Red Sox in 1978 in the second round, but didn't sign, and instead ended up with the Mariners the next year. He would eventually make it to Boston, though, as the Sox signed him before the 1991 season.

Young threw just 159 innings with the Sox between 1991 and 1992, posting an 87 ERA+. Besides his inability to throw the ball accurately to first base, Young is also known for throwing an eight-inning no-hitter that he lost, and subsequently did not receive credit for -- the Hall of Fame rejected the game ball when Young sent it to them, saying it wasn't a pure no-hitter like your normal nine-inning variety. It's not Young's fault his team was losing on the road, cutting him out from tossing the ninth -- he had a no-hitter going. Well, okay, he does own a share of the fault, as he also walked seven batters and, along with his catcher, failed to stop six stolen base attempts.

The Red Sox would cut Young before the 1993 season, and the lefty would pitch for the Indians in the majors and the Blue Jays in the minors before calling it a career.

Today is the anniversary of Mickey Mantle's death. I am too young to have seen Mantle play, but like all fans I know the story, his disappointment, our shared pain. Thinking of him recalled to mind this piece I wrote on another anniversary, that of Billy Martin's death, more than ten years ago, on the subject of Mantle, Martin, Casey Stengel, and how all of them were deeply involved with alcoholism.

It's Christmas Eve, and despite the tinsel and cheerful holiday atmosphere around the office, I'm obsessed with melancholy thoughts. Tomorrow it is not just Christmas day, but also the tenth anniversary of Billy Martin's death. On December 25, 1989, a car accident claimed the life of the five-time Yankee manager.

Initially I had planned to talk about Martin's abilities as a manger, but remembering him also brings to mind two other Yankees to whom he was close, Mickey Mantle and Casey Stengel. The three will always be connected in Yankees history. Stengel, the manager, and Martin and Mantle, best friends and the players who considered themselves Stengel's spiritual sons.

Derek Lowe came into tonight's game with a 5.52 ERA. That means that he has allowed 0.613 earned runs per inning that he has pitched. The Rangers have scored the most runs in baseball, and outside of Mike Napoli, this was their A lineup. A highly conservative estimate would put the Rangers at a 50% chance to score at least one run in every inning that Derek Lowe pitched to them. Derek Lowe pitched four innings and the Rangers didn't score.

If we take that conservative estimate to be somewhat close to reality, there's about a six percent chance that Derek Lowe would pitch four shutout innings against the Rangers. Derek Lowe.

The starting pitcher was David Phelps and he did pretty well too, surrendering only two runs over five frames. It's hard not to be over the moon about what Phelps has been able to do this season, and a solid showing against an elite offense is another notch in his belt. Phelps has made four starts this year and in those four starts he has allowed only five earned runs over eighteen innings. That's a 2.50 ERA.

A Nick Swisher third inning grand slam turned the game for the Yankees, changing an 0-2 deficit to a 4-2 lead. Eric Chavez would add another impressive home run later in the game to pad the lead and the Yankees were 4-5 with runners in scoring position. From this, I have determined something playoffs and something something heart.

Tomorrow, Hiroki Kuroda will be asked to pitch. I expect that he will, but Derek Lowe has taught me not to assume things.

A sad year for Red Sox Nation just got much sadder. Rest in peace, Johnny Pesky. You will be missed.

Johnny Pesky's passing yesterday was the big news. Here's a round-up of Pesky pieces:

• Peter Abraham's write up on Johnny Pesky in the Globe (Peter Abraham; The Boston Globe)
• Peter Gammons on Johnny Pesky. (Peter Gammons; MLB.com)
• The Great Johnny Pesky. (Alex Speier; WEEI.com)
• Why is the Pesky Pole called The Pesky Pole? (Dan Shaughnessy; The Boston Globe)
• Remembering Johnny Pesky. (Jay Jaffe; SI.com)
• Former Red Sox players say that Pesky was a prince of a man and will be missed. (Peter Abraham; The Boston Globe)
• Even the Yankees, in a classy move, held a moment of silence in Pesky's memory before their game with the Texas Rangers yesterday. (Peter Abraham; The Boston Globe)
• Ian Browne's Pesky remembrance. (Ian Browne; RedSox.com)
• Bud Selig issued a statement. (Bud Selig via The Boston Globe)

More after the jump...

Even more barf-worthy was that Lowe pitched in pinstripes last night and did very well. Figures. (Zach Schonbrun; The New York Times)

Is the injury to Will Middlebrooks really a lesson in holding on to depth? (The Common Man; The Platoon Advantage)

A scouting look at some of the starting pitching in the Red Sox farm system. (Chris Mellon; Sox Prospects)

The Red Sox have a knuckleballer! Looking at the newly-acquired Steven Wright. (Matt Huegel; Sox Prospects via ESPN Boston)

Cole Hamels: Good Pitcher! (Carson Cistulli; Fan Graphs)

Sometimes pitchers get sick. Sometimes they pitch anyway. What happens? (Ben Lindbergh; Baseball Prospectus)

If you haven't noticed, major league teams are getting more and more comfortable calling up top prospects a few months earlier than expected. Earlier this season, the Nationals called up Bryce Harper when their lineup needed a jolt. Recently, the Orioles called up Manny Machado and even moved him to third base upon his call up. So, it should come as no surprise that the Rangers are considering promoting the top prospect in baseball, Jurickson Profar. Here is T.R. Sullivan from MLB.com on that possibility:

The Rangers could promote Double A Frisco infielder Jurickson Profar to the big leagues when they go back to a four-man bench. Club officials said Monday "it’s been discussed" and Profar is one of the candidates who could get the call.

Sullivan went on to the team elected to add another pitcher in their bullpen with the call up of Mark Lowe and sending down Alberto Gonzalez. He also quoted manager Ron Washington saying that he wants a middle infielder when the team returns home next Monday, so be on the watch for news on a Profar call up by the weekend.

And here is Evan Grant on the possible callup, via Twitter:

Jurickson Profar has homered today. Re-engage callup talks. I expect he is here a week from today.

— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) August 14, 2012

Once he is called up, I don't see Profar playing everyday with Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler playing every day in the middle of the Rangers infeld. Of course, he will be eligible to play in the postseason if called up before the end of the month. Like Mike Olt, he is better than any player they have in AAA right now, so it makes sense for the team to call him up to keep their starters fresh and get them ready for the postseason.

The Giants activated third baseman Pablo Sandoval in time for their game vs the Nationals last night, but he did not start. Sandoval has disappointed fantasy owners this season, as his power is down and he has missed about half of the season due to various injuries, most recently a hamstring injury. He is hitting a respectable .299-.352-.491 this season, with just 8 HRs, 36 runs and 33 RBI in 234 at bats.

Rays second baseman Ben Zobrist is having another Zobrist-like season with double digit home runs and stolen bases and a solid OBP. He is hitting .256-.373-.444 with 12 HRs, 61 runs, 43 RBI and 13 stolen bases thus far in 2012. Pretty decent production for a second baseman, and he is on pace for 17 HRs, 86 runs, 61 RBI and 18 stolen bases. These stats look even better for a shortstop, which is where Zobrist has been playing of late. He has played 3 games at shortstop thus far, and manager Joe Maddon has stated that Zobrist will be his every day shortstop, so Zobrist will be that much more valuable come draft day 2013.

More Roundup after the jump:

Phillies ace Cole Hamels threw his second consecutive complete game shutout last night, giving up 7 hits, walking none and striking out 5. He is now 13-6 with a 2.91 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and a 158-41 strikeout to walk ratio in 163.2 innings pitched this season. He has given up 2 runs or less in 6 of his last 10 starts, and has worked at least 7 innings in 9 of those 10 starts.

Rangers starter Ryan Dempster probably wanted to pitch for a winner, so one can't blame him for accepting the deal to the Rangers, but he certainly has been a different pitcher in the American League than he was in the National League. While in the NL, Dempster was leading the league in ERA, but he has proven to be hittable in the AL. Last night, he got knocked around for 8 runs on 9 hits, 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. and took the loss in the 8-2 drubbing at the hands of the Yankees. Since the deal to Texas, Dempster is 1-1 with a 8.31 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP.

Garret Jones seems to like hitting against the Dodgers. He went 4-4 with a double and 3 RBI last night, but it wasn't enough to get by the Dodgers. Jones is now hitting .282-.314-.526 with 17 HRs, 50 runs, and 57 RBI this season, and is on pace to hit 24 HRs and drive in 80. Since his abysmal month of May where he hit, .206-.231-.397, Jones has hit .300 in June, .283 in July and .324 in August thus far.

Twins catcher/outfielder/DH Ryan Doumit had a big night at the plate last night, as he went 3-4 with a HR, 2 runs and 3 RBI. Doumit is now hitting .297-.343-.497 with 14 HRs, 40 runs and 59 RBI. He has hit in 9 of his last 10 games, going 15-38 with 4 HRs and 10 RBI.

The New York Yankees have signed a pair of left-handers out of Nicaragua, Luis Garcia and Corby McCoy, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America.

New York signed the 16-year-old southpaw McCoy, who Badler considers to be one of the top pitchers from Nicaragua in this year’s July 2 class, for $150,000. He’s listed at 6-foot-3, 170 pounds with what Badler calls "an athletic, projectable body." Badler notes that McCoy’s velocity has been inconsistent, ranging from 85-88 mph, but the teenager has recently hit as high as 91 mph on the radar gun. Badler says McCoy’s breaking ball is "in its nascent stages."

Garcia, also 16 years old, was signed for $50,000. Badler lists him as "a raw, projectable lefty with a 6-foot-4, 185-pounds frame and an 85-88 mph fastball."

Beyond Garcia and McCoy, the Yankees also signed two of Baseball America’s top-five international prospects earlier this summer; catcher Luis Torrens and outfielder Alexander Palma.

AAA Empire State Yankees: W 6-4 vs. Syracuse Chiefs

Kevin Russo 1-5, 2B, 3 RBI

Corban Joseph 1-5, RBI, K - six game hitting streak

Ronnier Mustelier 0-5, K

Brandon Laird 2-5, 2 K - 13 for his last 42

Austin Romine 2-4, K

Melky Mesa 0-4, K - 5 for his last 38

Michael O'Connor 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, BB, 4 K - 57 of 87 pitches for strikes

Cory Wade 2.1 IP, 1 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K - gave up a home run, earned third AAA save

AA Trenton Thunder: L 4-8 vs. Reading Phillies

Abraham Almonte 0-4, RBI, K

Jose Pirela 0-5, K, 2 E4 - 10th and 11th errors of the season

David Adams 1-4, 2B, RBI, BB - seven game hitting streak, 14 for his last 40

Zoilo Almonte 0-4, BB, 3 K

Luke Murton 2-4, 2 K

Addison Maruszak 1-3, BB, K

Adonis Garcia 2-3, 2B, RBI, BB - batting .351 with Trenton

Vidal Nuno 5.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R/4 ER, 5 K - 4th loss of the season, 2.57 ERA this year

Josh Romanski 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, K

High A Tampa Yankees: Off

Low A Charleston RiverDogs: L 3-4 vs. Asheville Tourists in 10 innings

Ali Castillo 0-4, RBI, BB, K - batting .327 this season

Cito Culver 1-3, 2 RBI, BB, CS - twelve game hitting streak

Ben Gamel 1-4, K

Dante Bichette Jr. 0-3, BB, K

Saxon Butler 0-4, 2 K - 6 for his last 27

Casey Stevenson 1-4, K

Francisco Arcia 0-4, PB

Eduardo Sosa 0-1, 3 BB, E7

Matt Bashore 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R/0 ER 2 BB, 6 K

Brett Gerritse 3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 K

Nick Goody 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, BB - second loss of the season

Short Season Staten Island Yankees: Off

Rookie Gulf Coast Yankees: Suspended in the 9th inning w/ GCL Yankees up 7-6 vs. GCL Pirates