The Seattle Mariners are running away with the American League West. Heading into the weekend, they had a 17-game lead over their nearest rivals, the Anaheim Angels. The Mariners put together two terrific months, going 20-5 in April and 20-7 in May, and they were undefeated the first week of June. To put the magnitude of their lead in perspective, if Seattle played .500 baseball (going 52-52) the rest of the season, the Angels would have to play .667 ball (70-35) just to tie them. The Mariners’ lead is the largest ever accumulated by such an early date.
The late-late show
Shea Hillenbrand of the Boston Red Sox homered off Dave Borkowski of the Detroit Tigers in the bottom of the 18th early Wednesday morning to become the 29th major-leaguer to hit a game-ending home run in the 18th inning or later. According to home run expert David Vincent, the 11 home run heroes in 20 innings or more were:
%% PLAYER TEAM YEAR INNG.
Ken McMullen Senators 1967 20
Tommy Harper Pilots 1969 20
Joe Lahoud Red Sox 1969 20
Larry Doyle Giants 1914 21
Dick Allen White Sox 1973 21
Merv Rettenmund Padres 1977 21
Ben Oglivie Brewers 1984 21
Jack Reed Yankees 1962 22
Rick Dempsey Dodgers 1989 22
Pedro Munoz Twins 1993 22
Harold Baines White Sox 1984 25
%%
Managed care
When the Montreal Expos named Jeff Torborg to succeed Felipe Alou as manager, Torborg became the 21st man to manage in the majors in four decades. Five managers (Bobby Cox, Jim Fregosi, Tony LaRussa, Jack McKeon and Joe Torre) reached that milestone last year. Connie Mack holds the record, having managed in seven decades.
Caught in the act
Jason Kendall of the Pittsburgh Pirates has been caught stealing 10 times this season, easily the most in the majors. According to David Smith of Retrosheet, no catcher since 1978 has led a league in caught stealing. Ivan Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers is the catcher who came closest to leading a league when he was caught stealing 12 times, two fewer than leader the Mike Caruso of the White Sox in 1999.
