Chicago White Sox: 64-64, 2nd place AL Central.

Pitching Match-ups:

Tonight: Mark Buehrle vs. CC Sabathia

Saturday: TBD vs. Sergio Mitre

Sunday: Freddy Garcia vs. Joba Chamberlain

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AJ Burnett was looking for a little redemption and the Yankees were hoping to pick up the series win, as they took on the Texas Rangers in the final game of the series this afternoon. Burnett’s control was much better than it has been of late, however, the Yankees’ offense was unable to capitalize on their many opportunities and the Rangers walked away with the series, winning 7-2. This is just the second series, since the All-Star Break, that New York has dropped.

Burnett came out dealing, striking out two in the top of the first and pitching eleven of his twelve pitches for strikes. The Yankee offense looked aggressive as Damon walked and stole second. Teixeira connected with an RBI single to center and the Yankees had the 1-0 lead. The Yankees had runners on in the second and managed to load the bases in the third, but failed to score. Meanwhile, AJ piled up the Ks and kept the Rangers from reaching base.

In the fourth, AJ struck out the first two batters he faced. On the 2-2 pitch to Hamilton, Burnett appeared to catch him looking, but the pitch at the knees was called a ball and the next pitch landed in the dirt giving Texas their first baserunner. AJ seemed to lose his focus and walked the next batter before giving up a three-run bomb to Ian Kinsler, putting Texas on the board and in front 3-1. In the bottom of the fourth, the Yankees got a run back after Jeter and Damon both walked. The Captain distracted Nibbert by stealing third and Teixeira sent the next pitch into right for another RBI single. AJ pitched 1-2-3 fifth and sixth innings, but the Pinstripes’ offense failed to bail him out.

Coke relieved Burnett in the top of the seventh and immediately gave up a ground-rule double to Murphy. The next batter put down a nice bunt towards third. Alex should have called Coke off, but the pitcher grabbed the ball and sent a throw to first that pulled Cano off the bag. Unfortunately, that was not the last mistake Coke would make, as he gave up a three-run homer to Davis, giving the Rangers the 6-2 edge. In the bottom of the seventh, the Bombers threatened. Damon and Teix both got on base, but A-Rod, Matsui and Swisher each struck out. Ian Kinsler sent his second homerun out of the park in the eighth, to cap off the Rangers’ rout of New York.

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There are many ways of making a statistical generality to say someone is a good hitter. Examples include ‘he’s a forty homer guy’ or ‘ he’s a 30-30 kind of player.’ One of the more meaningful ones is to say that a player is hitting or has the ability to post a .300/.400/.500 slash line. That means, of course, that a batter hits three hundred, gets on base forty percent of the time, and is slugging five hundred. It isn’t the best way of measuring hitting ability, but it is a quick indicator to see how good a hitter is at the three basic hitting qualities: hitting for average, getting on base, and hitting for power. Entering today, there were only eight players in the entire major leagues posting a 3/4/5 line (min. 360 PA’s.) A couple others are percentage points from earning the distinction, but coming in to today, there were only eight. Seven of those players you would expect, or at least not be surprised to know were on this list: Hanley, Pujols, Cabrera, Utley, Fielder, Mauer, and Youkilis. The eighth was a huge surprise to me. I mean, did anyone not watching Nationals baseball on a near daily basis know that Josh Willingham was posting a .300/.407/.578 slash line?

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