In a game Sunday against the White Sox, Kevin Correia made a valiant attempt at something no Twins starter had yet accomplished in 2013: a start with eight strikeouts. Correia would last seven innings, and he recorded his seventh strikeout to lead off the bottom of the fifth, when he fanned Tyler Flowers. The Twins’ TV broadcast started talking about Correia’s season and career strikeout highs. Correia would work through 10 more plate appearances before yielding to Jared Burton. None of the 10 wound up a strikeout. Correia remained stuck at seven; Twins starters remained stuck at zero.

Except for Minnesota, every team has at least one starter with at least eight strikeouts in a game. In fact, every other team has at least four starts with eight Ks. The Tigers have 31. The Rangers have 27. The Red Sox have 25. Chad Gaudin has three. Nick Tepesch has two. Charles Leesman has one. The Twins, of course, have zero. But the Twins do have five starts with seven strikeouts. The Twins have long had a reputation for putting together pitch-to-contact starting rotations, so in that way what they’ve done in 2013 is hardly surprising. But this year, the Twins have kicked it up a notch. Or down a notch. However you want to put it, the Twins no longer are at the same notch as before. Read the rest of this entry »

Ben, Sam, and guest Zachary Levine mull over four questions about Miguel Cabrera, then talk about the World Series odds of the Tigers and other teams.

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A July 8 article in the Sun-Sentinel by Juan C. Rodriguez asked, “Is Justin Ruggiano the next Marlin to go?” The same things that made him desirable to Miami made him desirable to contenders. He was versatile, he could hit a little bit, he was inexpensive, and he was under team control. The Marlins might’ve been motivated to move him on account of their upcoming outfield prospects. The Marlins additionally might’ve been motivated to move him on account of being the Marlins. It made sense to ask the question about Ruggiano, but the trade deadline came and went, and Ruggiano stuck. He made an appearance for the Marlins just Sunday.

Another thing about this past July 8 — that’s the last day Justin Ruggiano had a hit. In the fifth inning of a game against the Braves, he singled to left off Mike Minor. It was a liner, and it drove in a run. Sunday, Ruggiano pinch-hit and faced Minor, and he grounded out. His hitless streak is alive, and it’s up to 42 at-bats. Ruggiano doesn’t have a hit in more than a month. He’s not a starter anymore, but he’s still on the team, playing sometimes, and he probably can’t remember the last time he had fun playing. This streak is approaching a record, and to Ruggiano, it feels like it.

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The Orioles are in the thick of a playoff race once again After their dominating performance last night in San Francisco, they are just 1.5 games out of their second wildcard appearance in a row. Some of this year’s Orioles heroes are the same: Chris Davis, Adam Jones, Wei-Yin Chen. Manny Machado has used last season’s call-up as a springboard for a tremendous 2013. Nate McLouth has been a tremendous budget pickup.

Few would name Nick Markakis to the list of big contributors to the current run. In 2012 Markakis had his best wRC+ (125, .298/.363/.471) since his tremendous 2008 (138, .306/.406/.491). Thus far this year, Markakis is having the worst offensive season of his career, with just a 95 wRC+ (.284/.339/.377). The primary cause appears to be a serious power outage.

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For all the talk about the Royals, Braves, and Tigers, the hottest team in baseball over the last 30 days is actually the Los Angeles Dodgers. During that stretch, the Dodgers are 21-4 and have outscored their opponents 115-63. And as with any stretch of .840 baseball, it’s been a collective effort of great performances.

When it comes to run scoring, the Dodgers non-pitchers have posted a 124 wRC+, best in baseball during that stretch. On the run prevention side of things, their 61 ERA- is #2 in MLB during the past 30 days, trailing only the ridiculous pitching staff up in Detroit. You win 21 of 25 by scoring a lot of runs and not allowing your competitors to do the same, which is exactly what the Dodgers have done.

When it comes to individual performances, you’ve heard about Yasiel Puig — now drawing a bunch of walks, by the way — and Hanley Ramirez on offense and some guy named Clayton Kershaw on the mound. The Dodgers stars have been ridiculously great, justifying most of the big expenditures the front office made after new ownership took over. Brandon League and Josh Beckett might be overpaid and lousy, but despite all the jokes about the Dodgers reckless spending, most of the high paid players on the roster are earning their paychecks.

However, there are a couple of players in LA who have been a significant part of their recent dominance, and probably don’t get as much credit for the team’s success as they should. So, with all due respect to the Kershaws and the Puigs, let’s save a little recognition for Mark Ellis and Hyun-Jin Ryu.

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Daniel Norris seemed intrigued when I suggested he might be the next Drake Britton. It is an apples-to-orange comparison — the latter underwent Tommy John surgery and Norris‘s worst malady has been a forearm strain — but the southpaws share notable things in common. For one, they saw their professional careers get off to slow starts.

Norris, one of the top prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays system, has gone 3-11, 6.19 since being taken in the second round of the 2011 draft. Two years ago, in high-A, Britton went 1-13, 6.91. He is now in the big leagues with the Red Sox.

The 20-year-old Norris is showing indications he may be ready to turn a similar corner. In his last two starts for the low-A Lansing Lugnuts, he has thrown nine scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts. More importantly, he has begun pitching with more poise and confidence. Norris talked about his development — including what he has learned from his struggles — late last week. Read the rest of this entry »

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Mariano Rivera is in the process of completing a farewell tour, getting recognition even within rival ballparks. Just on its own, this tells you a few things. One, Rivera is on the verge of retirement, preparing to officially hang up his spikes, figuratively if not literally. Two, Rivera has been great. Great and beloved and unanimously respected, but mostly, great. Players who weren’t great don’t get the Rivera treatment. Few players, really, get the Rivera treatment. Fans in other cities are saying goodbye to one of the greatest pitchers the game’s ever seen. Three, Rivera’s seen a whole lot. He’s had a long enough career to establish himself as a hall-of-famer — and to make an impression on every place he’s been to — so there aren’t many things Rivera hasn’t seen, that he hasn’t experienced. He’s given everything he’s had to baseball, and he’s squeezed baseball for everything it’s worth.

Some of the only things Rivera hasn’t experienced are different varieties of failure. He has, simply, been too good, too consistently and reliably good, to fail often. He has failed before, sometimes memorably, but there have been plenty of ways in which he hasn’t failed, and ways in which he never will. At the moment, though, Rivera’s experiencing something he’s never experienced before. For the first time in his big-league career, Rivera’s blown three consecutive saves. He hasn’t been through everything, but he’s been through one more thing than he had been.

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Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes.

1. Danny Salazar Night in America
2. Other Notable Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Danny Salazar Night in America
The Purpose of This Post
The purpose of this post is to announce that Cleveland right-hander Danny Salazar, of the Santo Domingo Salazars, is starting tonight (Monday) at 8:10pm ET against Minnesota — a game which is available gratis, care of MLB.TV.

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Episode 370
Joe Panik is a 22-year-old middle-infield prospect — with excellent control of the strike zone — currently playing for San Francisco’s Double-A affiliate Richmond. He’s also the guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio, recorded live on tape in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximately 11 min play time.)

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