Friday, April 29, 2011

Stat Line of the Day: April 29th

B. Zobrist (TB): 7-10, 10 RBI, 5R, 2 2B, 2 HR, SB vs. Twins
Zobrist single-handedly dominated the
Twins in a doubleheader on Thursday
Well, it's Stat Line of the Day--doesn't mean it has to be just one game! Ben Zobrist had himself quite a day against the Twins in Minneapolis. First, he goes 4-for-6 with 8 RBIs, including 4-for-5 with RISP, along with one home run. That was a three-run shot that made the first game 10-1 in the sixth inning, and he added four more RBIs in the last three innings to finish out game one. In game two, Zobrist went 3-for-4 with another home run, a two-run shot that put the first runs on the board in an eventual 6-1 Rays victory. Suddenly, after the doubleheader sweep, the Rays are 13-11--just eighteen days after they were 1-9! Zobrist hadn't exactly been a part of that so far--coming into the day yesterday, the 29-year-old second baseman was hitting just .205/.272/.482. In fact, as recently as April 22nd, Zobrist was batting .183/.266/.394 with just with three home runs and seven RBIs. Now he's up to .258/.314/.602 with seven home runs and 25 RBIs--the most RBIs in the entire American League. In his last five games, Zobrist has gone 11-for-22 (.500) with four homers and 18 RBIs--a ridiculous stretch, but it balanced out his first 18 games, that's for sure. Don't expect Ben Zobrist to lead the AL in RBIs this year, but he certainly enjoyed himself yesterday.

Honorable Mention

R. Dempster (CHC): 0.1 IP, 4 H, 7 R (7 ER), 4 BB @ ARI
It's really a shame that this wasn't Ryan Dempster's first start of the year, because his ERA would have been a lovely 189.3 after his failure to get more than one out yesterday in Arizona. After starting the game giving up a double, a walk, hitting Justin Upton with a pitch and then having Stephen Drew hit a grand-slam, Dempster got Miguel Montero to ground out, and it seemed like he might settle down. Then he promptly walked the bases loaded to bring up pitcher Barry Enright...who promptly hit a single, picking up his 7th career RBI. After Chris Young got his second hit of the inning, a two-RBI single to left, that was the end of the day for Dempster--he should consider himself lucky reliever Justin Berg got the next two men out!

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