A-Rod blasted his 537th homer today to move past Mickey Mantle into sole possession of 13th place on the All-Time Home Run list. Rodriguez took a 3-2 pitch from Blue Jays pitcher Brian Tallet and smacked it off the left field foul pole in the fourth inning for his 19th of the season and 537th of his career.
Toronto is very familiar with watching A-Rod circle the bases after a home run, he's been their victim 47 times in his career. Only the Los Angeles Angels have given up more homers -- 58 -- to New York's third baseman.
TOP 15 ALL-TIME HOME RUN LIST
1. Barry Bonds - 762
2. Hank Aaron - 755
3. Babe Ruth - 714
4. Willie Mays - 660
5. Sammy Sosa - 609
6. Ken Griffey Jr. - 606
7. Frank Robinson - 586
8. Mark McGwire - 583
9. Harmon Killebrew - 573
10. Rafael Palmeiro - 569
11. Reggie Jackson - 563
12. Mike Schmidt - 548
13. Alex Rodriguez - 537
14. Mickey Mantle - 536
15. Jimmie Foxx - 534
BOLD = Active
Another Chicago Cub is out for Tuesday's All-Star Game -- closer Kerry Wood has a blister on his right index finger and will not be available. Manager Clint Hurdle, already forced to replace injured Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano, now must pick a suitable replacement for Wood.
Hurdle faces an interesting dilemma with three of his available starters -- Brandon Webb, Tim Lincecum and Edinson Volquez -- all in action on Sunday which most likely means they are likely to face limited availability for Tuesday's game. Some of the pitchers often mentioned on the "snubbed" list for this year's National League roster include Cole Hamels of the Phillies, Jair Jurrjens of the Braves, Jake Peavy of the Padres, Jose Valverde of the Astros, Kyle Lohse of the Cardinals and Brandon Lyon of the Diamondbacks.
While the move would be criticized widely, an unlikely candidate might be on his own Colorado Rockies. Middle reliever Taylor Buchholz has a 1.83 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP in 44 1/3 innings this season. Typically, All-Star spots do not go to middle relievers and are usually reserved for starters or closers but Buchholz has the credentials to earn a spot.
Another player who joined the "snubbed" list with a hot streak over the past few weeks is Philadelphia's Ryan Howard. Howard is the National League leader in home runs with 28 and RBI with 84. In the likely event that Howard is not given the latest spot opened and no other spot opens up, Howard will become the first National Leaguer since Hank Sauer in 1948 to lead the National League in home runs at the All-Star break and not make the All-Star team. It happened just three times in the American League when Dave Kingman in 1984, Frank Howard in 1967 and Hank Greenberg in 1935 were denied All-Star roster spots despite leading the AL in homers at the break.
WOOD'S PLAYER PAGE ON BASEBALL DIGEST DAILY
The Boston Red Sox lost the services of shortstop Julio Lugo for at least two weeks and most likely longer. Lugo went on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday due to a severely strained left quadriceps muscle. Shortstop Jed Lowrie was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket to take his place on the roster.
Manager Terry Francona said, based on MRI results, the team expects Lugo to miss four to six weeks. Lugo suffered the injury during Friday's game with the Orioles on an infield single in the ninth.
Lowrie was in the lineup for today's game and will share time with veteran Alex Cora who will start on Sunday. Earlier this season, Lowrie played in 17 games with the Red Sox and hit .310 with a home run and seven RBI.
LUGO'S PLAYER PAGE ON BASEBALL DIGEST DAILY LOWRIE'S PLAYER PAGE ON BASEBALL DIGEST DAILY CORA'S PLAYER PAGE ON BASEBALL DIGEST DAILY
Things were sailing along for New York's Pedro Martinez but left Saturday's game after four scoreless one-hit innings with shoulder stiffness. The good news for the Mets -- the bullpen came on to pitch five innings of scoreless and hitless ball and the Mets closed to within 1/2 game of the division-leading Phillies extending their winning streak to eight games.
The Mets -- already hampered by injuries to Ryan Church, Moises Alou, Angel Pagan and Luis Castillo on the hitting side and Tony Armas, Matt Wise, Orlando Hernandez and Jason Vargas on the pitching side -- will wait and see how serious this latest injury to the oft-injured Martinez is. Most likely this injury could make the Mets a buyer as the trade deadline approaches. GM Omar Minaya has already deflected Barry Bonds rumors by stating he's happy with the current players on the team and it will be interesting to see if he continues to take the same approach if Martinez's injury keeps him out for an extended period of time.
So far this season, the Mets have dodged a bullet when using pitchers outside of the original five-man rotation. They are 6-5 in 11 starts, most coming in place of Martinez who was hampered by a hamstring injury earlier this season. Martinez, on the other hand, is 3-2 this season and the team is 4-5 in his nine starts.
MARTINEZ'S PLAYER PAGE ON BASEBALL DIGEST DAILY