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JUNE
2001
IN THE NEWS: In a rarity at Yankee Stadium, Cleveland starter C.C. Sabathia earns a win despite pitching only four innings. The game is called because of rain after five innings with the Tribe ahead, 7–2. The rules state that in a 5-inning game, a starter need not go the full five to earn a victory, Retrosheet's David W. Smith notes that there are just five other cases since 1978 to match C.C.
The Cubs sign Korean high school P Jae Kuk Ryu. He turned 18 two days ago.
IN THE NEWS: The red-hot Cubs push their winning streak to 12 games, beating Milwaukee, 10–4. Matt Stairs hits a 3-run homer, while Sosa and Rondell White add 2-run shots, all off Paul Rigdon. Kevin Tapani is the winning pitcher. The streak is the longest by the Cubbies since they won 15 in 1936. The streak ends tomorrow.
IN THE NEWS: The Dodgers edge the Astros, 9-8 in 10 innings. OF Tom Goodwin gets five hits for LA, including a double.
IN THE NEWS: Seattle 2B Bret Boone drives home seven runs in the Mariners' 11-6 win over the Rangers. Boone's four hits include a double and two home runs.
IN THE NEWS: The Red Sox edge the Tigers, 4-3, in 18 innings on Shea Hillenbrand's home run over the Green Monster. Tim Wakefield, with a scoreless inning, is the winner. Sox DH Manny Ramirez is handed four intentional walks, tying the AL mark set by Roger Maris, on May 22, 1962. Maris did it in a 12 inning game. The major-league record is 5, by Andre Dawson, in a 16 inning game, on May 22, 1990.
At Coors Field, Mike Hampton (8–2) beats Houston, 9–4, and hits a pair of homers. Hampton, who came into the season homerless, now has four dingers: The Mets, Hampton's team last year, have a combined five homers from their outfielders.
Greg Maddux outduels Javier Vazquez to give the Braves a 3–1 win over the Expos. The lone Expo run comes in the 4th inning when Maddux throws two wild pitches, the only time in his career he's thrown two in the same inning. Maddux lost his last outing a week ago to Vazquez, but will go undefeated in June and July.
The Phillies trade P Paul Byrd to the Royals for P Jose Santiago.
IN THE NEWS: In Boston's 8–1 win over the Tigers, the Sox lose C Jason Varitek when he breaks his right elbow diving for a pop bunt in the 7th inning. Varitek earlier hit a homer. Carl Everett drives home five to back Tim Wakefield's 4th win.
The Padres pound Russ Ortiz (7-4) and outslug the Giants, 10–7, to snap their 8-game losing streak. Cesar Crespo hits his 1st ML homer for the Pads, while his brother Felipe, playing 1B for the Giants in J.T. Snow's absence, hits a pair. It was the 9th time that brothers on opposing teams had both homered in the same game. The last time was when Bret and Aaron Boone did it last year. Barry Bonds hits #32, his 13th homer in 18 games. Mike Darr has four hits and four RBIs for SD.
The Cubs complete sweep of Cardinals, winning 4–3, and posting their 15th win in 16 games. Cub fans haven't seen that since 1945. Matt Morris takes a no hitter into the 7th before Matt Stairs 2-out double opens the door. Rondell White's single in the 10th inning drives home Sammy Sosa for the winner. Chicago takes a five game lead over St. Louis in the Central Division with the win.
IN THE NEWS: The Tigers defeat the Brewers, 9-4, as Damion Easley hits for the cycle and drives home four runs. Easley is the 9th player in team history and the first since Travis Fryman, on July 28, 1993, to cycle.
The Mariners (47-12) swamp the Padres, 7-1, for their 15th straight victory. Paul Abbott (7-2) gets help in the 1st inning when Edgar Martinez and Bret Boone homer off Kevin Jarvis.
Ismael Valdes pitches six 2/3 innings and Garret Anderson homers off Giovanni Carrara to give the Angels a 1–0 win over the Dodgers.
The Diamondbacks trim the Royals, 11-4, as OF Luis Gonzalez hits three home runs.
Tigers owner Mike Ilitch names himself team president, replacing John McHale, who became the CEO of the Devil Rays.
IN THE NEWS: Bobby Jones stops Seattle's 15-game winning streak with a 6–3 victory over the M's. Rickey Henderson drives in three runs as the Padres hand Freddy Garcia his 1st loss of the year.
IN THE NEWS: Nick Regilio of the Port Charlotte Rangers fires a perfect game against the Jupiter Hammerheads, striking out nine and allowing only two balls to reach the outfield in a 3-0 victory.
IN THE NEWS: Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy fires Cam Bonifay. Seven losing seasons and several ill-fated free-agent signings do in the long-time GM. New GM Dave Littlefield will start July 13 and wholesale housecleaning will start soon thereafter.
IN THE NEWS: The Mariners defeat the Rockies, 10-9, as nine home runs are hit at Coors Field, six by Seattle and three by Colorado. Mike Cameron, drilled in the 7th inning following Bret Boone's 2nd home run of the game, hits the go-ahead homer in the 9th. The M's bullpen blows a lead and Aaron Sele (8–0) misses a W.
IN THE NEWS: Adam Walker, pitcher for Reading (AA) throw the first 9-inning no-hitter in the 35-year history of Reading, blanking the New Haven Ravens, 4–0. I his last start, against Altoona, Walker allowed a leadoff single, then held the next 29 batters hitless. The 27th round draft choice has no hit his last 59 batters. According to SportsTicker, the last pitcher to throw back-to-back no hitters was Vancouver's Tom Drees, in 1989, beating Calgary and Edmonton by 1–0 scores.
IN THE NEWS: Matt Morris strikes out 11 in the Cardinals 3–2 win over the Dodgers, and Mark McGwire clubs a solo homer off Jose Lima to pass Reggie Jackson on the all-time homer list. McGwire's homer is his 563rd, putting him 6th on the home run list.
Phil Nevin hits his 2nd homer of the game, a grand slam in the 8th, to give the Padres a 6–4 win over Oakland.
IN THE NEWS: The Mariners defeat the Padres, 8-4, to run their mark to 51-14. No AL team has ever won as many of their first 65 games of the year.
The Reds acquire OF Ruben Mateo and 3B Edwin Encarnacion from the Rangers for P Rob Bell. Bell, 0–5 at Cincy, tries changing his luck by wearing #6. The Rangers also claim C Marcus Jensen off waivers from the Red Sox.
IN THE NEWS: Brad Penny (7 innings) and Ricky Bones (2 innings) combine to shut out the Devil Rays, 11-0, on one hit. C John Flaherty's single is the only Tampa Bay safety.
The Mariners trip the Padres, 9-2, as Seattle 1B John Olerud hits for the cycle. It is the 2nd time in his career that Olerud has cycled even though he has hit just 12 triples in his 13-year career, by far the fewest number of triples by a player with more than one cycle. Wally Westlake is 2nd on the list with 33.
The Blue Jays recall veteran Tony Fernandez, signed a week ago to a minor league contract with Syracuse after the Brewers released him May 30. Tony hits a 6th inning pinch single. For Fernandez, it is his 4th tour of duty with the Jays making him just the second player since Bobo Newsom to make four tours of duty with one team. Bobo made five separate appearances for the old Senators, the last in 1952. The other player is Rickey Henderson, who has done four tours of duty with the A's.
Miami defeats Stanford, 12–1, to win the College World Series. It is the Hurricanes 4th national title. Miami's Charlton Jimerson, a 5th round draft pick of the Astros, is named the CWS Most Outstanding Player.
IN THE NEWS: Royals fireballer Blake Stein fans eight straight Brewers, and 11 in five 2/3 innings, but Milwaukee defeats Kansas City, 5-2. Only Nolan Ryan (twice), Ron Davis and Roger Clemens have struck out eight in a row in the AL. Tom Seaver holds the major-league record with 10 straight K's, in 1970.
The Cubs edge Minnesota, 5–4 for their 13th straight home win and a sweep of the 3-game series with the Twins. Kerry Wood wins over Brad Radke. Ricky Gutierrez again leads the way with a home run, the 3rd straight game he's gone deep. Sosa scores his 1,000th career run, a mark he's already topped in RBIs.
IN THE NEWS: Well, it's not Wrigley. The Cubs lose their 12th straight in St. Louis as the Cards beat them 6–2. Mark McGwire and Jim Edmonds match homers with Sammy Sosa and Eric Young. Back home, the Cubs announce plans to renovate Wrigley Field, adding more than 2,200 seats.
The Washington Post reports that Baltimore's Cal Ripken will retire at the end of the season.
Major League Baseball fires umpire Al Clark. Speculation is that he had been asking players for a large number of autographs with implicit threats of retaliation in terms of close calls if they didn't agree.
IN THE NEWS: The Twins defeat the Indians, 10-9 in 12 innings, despite five hits, including a double and three home runs, by Cleveland OF Ellis Burks. A two-run 2B by A.J. Pierzynski in the 12th allows the Twins to win the opener of the 3-game set with the Tribe.
Trailing 2–0 with two outs in the 9th and an 0–2 count by Robb Nen, San Diego scores three runs and wins in the 15th, 4–3. Rich Aurilia's throwing error with two out allows Phil Nevin to score in the 15th. Barry Bonds belts his 37th homer, setting a mark for dingers before the All-star game. Pinch running, Rickey Henderson steals 3B, snapping a swipe drought of 24 games, his longest. Rickey will still top 20 steals this year for the 23rd straight time.
IN THE NEWS: Using the long ball, the Cubs record first win at Busch Stadium in 13 tries over last two seasons. beating the Cards, 9–4. Sammy Sosa belts a 2-run homer and a grand slam, and makes a diving catch to save a run. Gary Matthews, Jr. adds a 3-run homer.
IN THE NEWS: The Diamondbacks roll past the Astros, 14-5, as rookie 2B Junior Spivey goes 5-for-6 with three RBIs and three runs scored.
The Giants beat the Padres, 8-6, as OF Barry Bonds hits his 38th home run to set a new mark for homers hit before the All-Star break.
In the annual Congressional baseball game, the Republicans defeat the Democrats, 9-1. Republican Congressman Steve Largent of Oklahoma, a former NFL great, strikes out eight while allowing just six hits and no walks. The Dems can breathe easier next year since Largent will be resigning his seat to run for governor. The elephants have compiled a 26-14 record since the Congressional newspaper, Roll Call, began sponsoring the game in 1962. Before 1962, the game was played intermittently beginning when former major-leaguer John Tener, then a Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania, organized the first contest in 1909.
IN THE NEWS: The Giants double the Cardinals, 10-5, despite a home run by Mark McGwire. It is the first meeting between teams sporting 500-HR hitters (Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire) since 1976.
The Braves send controversial P John Rocker and IF Troy Cameron to the Indians in exchange for pitchers Steve Karsay and Steve Reed.
At Wrigley, Milwaukee beats the Cubs and Kerry Wood, 2–1, snapping Chicago's home win streak at 12 games, their longest win streak since 1936. It's their first loss since May 18, snapping their longest win streak since 1936. James Mouton's infield single in the 9th drives home the winner.
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