Mormon Baseball

Its an old story in baseball. The pitcher performs extremely well, but the team behind him doesn’t, and the pitcher ends up with a loss. That was the story for the Toronto Blue Jay’s Josh Johnson last week.
Over 5 innings Johnson pitched fairly well. He gave up 1 earned run and 7 hits while striking out 5 and walking just 2. While that perhaps isn’t a great performance, it should be sufficient to win the game. What’s missing is that the the team gave up a total of 6 runs, 5 of which were unearned, due to errors made by Johnson’s teammates.

In contrast to Johnson’s troubles, Jacoby Ellsbury’s performance at the plate remains stellar. He has hit over .350 in each of the past 3 weeks and now has hit safely in 17 games, which is right were hitting streaks start to become serious and get noticed. His batting average is now above .300, and he still leads the majors in stolen bases. At the moment, at least, he is the Mormon in baseball to watch.

Meanwhile, Bryce Harper has returned from the DL, and has struggled a bit. After hitting a home run in his first at bat back, Harper went 0 for 19 before again looking sharp. He ended the week with 4 runs scored, 6 rbis, 5 walks and 3 stolen bases (he had two before last week). It will be interesting to see how well he does this week, given the all-star break.

Roy Halladay remains on the DL, expected back in late August, and two of the Mormons in the majors have been demoted. Clayton Mortensen (Red Sox) was designated for assignment and then, when he wasn’t claimed off of waivers, assigned to AAA Pawtucket. And Brandon Lyon (Mets) was also designated for assignment, and is expected to be claimed by someone.

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Hitting Stats Leaders:

• Jacoby Ellsbury — 36 stolen bases (1st)

Pitching Stats Leaders:

• [none]

Fielding Stats Leaders:

• [none]

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Current Roster Players:

• Darwin Barney—second base—Chicago Cubs
  1 for 21 (.048), 0 runs, 1 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 1 so
  YTD: .215, 27 runs, 19 rbi, 4 hr, 18 bb, 3 sb, 30 so in 261 at bats.
• John Buck — starting catcher — New York Mets
  4 for 17 (.235), 2 runs, 4 rbi, 1 hr, 4 bb, 0 sb, 6 so
  YTD: .210, 34 runs, 43 rbi, 14 hr, 20 bb, 2 sb, 76 so in 267 at bats.
• Jacoby Ellsbury — starting outfielder — Boston Red Sox
  9 for 25 (.360), 4 runs, 1 rbi, 1 hr, 1 bb, 4 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .301, 55 runs, 30 rbi, 2 hr, 32 bb, 36 sb, 47 so in 356 at bats.
• Kyle Farnsworth — reliever (right handed) — Tampa Bay Rays
  0-0, 0.00 era, 0 hits, 0 er, 1 bb, and 3 k in 2.2 innings
  YTD: 2-0, era 4.68, 28 hits, 13 er, 6 bb and 14 k in 25.0 innings
• Jeremy Guthrie — starting pitcher (right handed) — Kansas City Royals
  0-0, 7.11 era, 5 hits, 5 er, 3 bb, and 3 k in 6.1 innings
  YTD: 7-6, 4.29 era, 110 hits, 51 er, 39 bb and 52 k in 107.0 innings
• Roy Halladay— starting pitcher (right handed) — Philadelphia Phillies
  60-day DL – did not pitch – Last pitched May 5th, underwent surgery May 15th, will begin throwing in mid July
  YTD: 2-4, era 8.65, 33 hits, 33 er, 17 bb, 35 k in 34.1 innings.
• Bryce Harper — left field — Washington Nationals
  5 for 25 (.200), 4 runs, 6 rbi, 1 hr, 5 bb, 3 sb, 7 so
  YTD: .274, 33 runs, 29 rbi, 13 hr, 30 bb, 5 sb, 37 so in 175 at bats.
• Elliot Johnson — infielder — Kansas City Royals
  1 for 7 (.143), 2 runs, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .215, 19 runs, 9 rbi, 2 hr, 6 bb, 11 sb, 39 so in 135 at bats.
• Josh Johnson — starting pitcher (right handed) – Toronto Blue Jays
  0-1, 1.80 era, 7 hits, 1 er, 5 k, 2 bb in 5.0 innings
  YTD: 1-3, 4.89 era, 66 hits, 29 er, 54 k, 20 bb in 53.1 innings.
• Matt Lindstrom — right handed bullpen pitcher – Chicago White Sox
  0-1, 13.50 era, 2 hits, 2 er, 2 k, 0 bb in 1.1 innings
  YTD: 2-3, 3.21 era, 33 hits, 12 er, 25 k, 16 bb in 33.2 innings.
• Brandon Lyon — right handed bullpen pitcher — New York Mets
  (Designated for assignment)
  0-0, 3.86 era, 4 hits, 1 er, 1 k, 1 bb in 2.1 innings
  YTD: 2-2, 4.98 era, 43 hits, 19 er, 23 k, 13 bb in 34.1 innings.
• Clayton Mortensen — right handed bullpen pitcher —Boston Red Sox
  Did not pitch — Designated for assignment
  YTD: 1-2, 5.34 era, 32 hits, 18 er, 21 k, 16 bb in 30.1 innings
• Adam Rosales — 2B — Oakland A’s
  2 for 6 (.333), 0 runs, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 0 so
  YTD: .200, 11 runs, 8 rbi, 4 hr, 9 bb, 0 sb, 30 so in 130 at bats.
• Eric Sogard — infielder — Oakland A’s
  4 for 18 (.222) 3 run, 4 rbi, 1 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 3 so
  YTD: .261, 28 run, 13 rbi, 1 hr, 19 bb, 7 sb, 29 so in 199 at bats