Baseball Digest Daily

Game Notes (Courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)

ATHLETICS NOTES:
· The Athletics improved to 12-12 in their sixth ALDS appearance.
· Barry Zito improved to 2-0, 2.57 (14.0 ip, 4 er) while allowing just nine hits in two career postseason games vs. the Twins.,,.he is 4-2, 2.43 (40.2 ip, 11 er) in six career postseason starts…the 8.0 innings pitched matches his postseason career-high, 10/13/01 vs. N.Y.Y.
· Frank Thomas hit his second career postseason home run in the second inning and first since Game Four of the 1993 ALCS against the Blue Jays…he came into the game batting .375 (6-16) with two homers and four RBI in his regular season career off Santana…he becomes the first A’s player to hit two home runs in a postseason game since Terrance Long hit two on 10/10/01 vs. N.Y.Y.
· Frank Thomas has hit a home run in his first Spring Training at-bat, regular season at-bat, his first at-bat in return to Chicago and his first postseason at-bat this season….he has a career .300 (9-30) batting average with three homers and five RBI in 10 career postseason games.
· Jay Payton has a seven game postseason hitting streak going dating back to the 2000 playoff run with the New York Mets…he is batting .310 (9-29) with four runs scored, one home run and three RBI in that span.

TWINS NOTES:
· The Twins have lost five straight payoff games at the Metrodome…their last win at home in the playoffs was Game One of the 2002 ALCS vs. the Angels…it was their first game one loss since they lost Game One of the 1969 ALCS at Balt.
· Johan Santana became the Twins All-Time postseason strikeout leader with his second strikeout of the game…he passed Frank Viola (25 in 1987 playoffs)….his eight strikeouts in today’s game sets his postseason career-high, previous was seven last Oct. 9, 2004 vs. N.Y.Y…his 8.0 innings pitched was also his postseason career-high, previous was 7.0 on 10/5/04 at N.Y.Y.
· Santana fell to 0-1, 3.27 (11.0 ip, 4 er) allowing eight hits and 10 strikeouts in three career postseason appearances (1 start) vs. the A’s…it was the first time Santana lost a start at the Metrodome since 8/1/05 vs. Oak.
· Rondell White has appeared in two career postseason game and has hit a home run in both of them, last 10/1/02 vs. Anaheim as a member of the Yankees.
· The announced attendance of 55,542 for today’s game is the seventh largest crowd in the Metrodome history.

FIRST PITCH: 12:10 pm
FIRST PITCH TEMP: 69 in, 67 out
GAME TIME: 2:19
ATTENDANCE: 55,542

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Indians Exercise Options on Westbrook and Blake

by Joe Hamrahi on Tue 03 Oct 2006 01:03 PM EDT

CLEVELAND, OH --- The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has exercised the 2007 club options on RHP JAKE WESTBROOK & OF/I NF CASEY BLAKE.

Westbrook, who just turned 29, compiled a record of 15-10 with a 4.17 ERA in 32 starts for the Indians in 2006 (211.1IP, 247H, 98ER, 55BB, 109K).

Blake, 33, raised his average 41 points in 2006, hitting .282 (113-401) with 20 doubles, 1 triple, 19 homers and 68 RBI in 109 games. Blake, who was leading the American League in batting at .366 as late as May 20th, had his season interrupted twice by stints on the disabled list after straining his left oblique in June and spraining his right ankle in August.

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