Elias Says...

Buehrle

BUEHRLE'S 20TH WIN VS. ROYALS
Mark Buehrle got the win against the Royals tonight to improve to 208 in his career against Kansas City. Buehrle, who is 23-13 against the Twins, is the only active pitcher with 20 or more wins against two teams.
Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals

METS COME BACK VS. PIRATES
The Mets came from five runs down to defeat the Pirates on Thursday. Coming into the game the Mets had lost their last 21 games in which they trailed by more than one run, dating to an 8-6 win in San Francisco on May 15. That's the longest streak of that kind for any team this season.
New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates

NOT MANY HITS AT HOME FOR PADRES
Through 40 games at PETCO Park this season the Padres have a .212 team batting average and a .342 slugging average. That's the lowest batting average by any team through its first 40 home games of a season since 1982 (Athletics, .205 ) .
San Diego Padres

Lee

BIG GAME FOR LEE
Derrek Lee had two home runs and seven RBIs in the Cubs' win over the Brewers on Thursday. The last two-homer, 7-RBI game by a Cubs first baseman was 40 years ago, when Ernie Banks did it in a 19-0 win against the Padres at Wrigley Field on May 13, 1969.
Chicago Cubs

Dempster

DEMPSTER ALMOST AUTOMATIC AT WRIGLEY
Ryan Dempster's win on Thursday was his 18th at Wrigley Field since he rejoined the starting rotation at the start of the 2008 season. Over the last 15 years the only other Cubs pitcher to win as many as 18 games at Wrigley in a two-year span was Jon Lieber over the 2000-01 seasons. Dempster has two more home wins than any other major-league pitcher since the start of last season.
Chicago Cubs

Branyan

IT WENT FAR ENOUGH TO COUNT FOR TWO
Russell Branyan hit his 20th home run for the Mariners on Thursday in his 69th game for Seattle. That's by far the fewest games any player has needed to hit his first 20 games for the Mariners. Branyan broke the record set by Richie Sexson in 2005 (85 games).
Seattle Mariners

Suzuki

ICHIRO: SO HOT RIGHT NOW
As hot as Ichiro is--he's hitting .433 (65 for 150) over his last 35 games--it's almost common for him. He's also had at least 65 hits over 35 games in 2007, 2006, 2004 (two distinct spans) and 2003.
Seattle Mariners

Abreu

2 HOMERS FOR ABREU
Bobby Abreu hit two home runs on Thursday, both against Jeremy Guthrie. It was the eighth time that Abreu has hit two homers in one game off the same pitcher; three of the previous seven instances came against Javier Vazquez.
Baltimore Orioles, Anaheim Angels

Votto

VOTTO COMES THROUGH IN CLUTCH AGAIN
Joey Votto had the game-ending hit with the bases loaded for the Reds on Thursday. Votto struggled with the bases loaded early in his career, going 2 for 13 with 5 RBIs in his first 13 bases-loaded plate appearances. But Votto now has six hits in his last seven bases-loaded at-bats, plus a walk and a hit by pitch, giving him 15 RBIs in his last nine bases-full plate appearances.

Votto is now 10 for 20 in Late Inning Pressure Situations this season, second-highest in the major leagues (minimum: 15 at-bats in LIPS), behind Mark DeRosa (.528, 19 for 36).
Cincinnati Reds

Zito

ZITO STILL WINLESS VS. CARDINALS
Barry Zito fell to 0-4 against the Cardinals with a loss on Thursday. Zito is winless against only two other major-league teams: the Athletics (0-3 in 3 starts) and Pirates (0-2 in 2 starts).
San Francisco Giants

Pujols

2 MORE IBB FOR PUJOLS
Albert Pujols was intentionally walked twice on Thursday, giving him 28 on the season. The only player who has drawn as many IBBs (which have been officially recorded since 1955) before the All-Star break in one season is Barry Bonds, who did it five times, with a high of 71 in 2004. Pujols had been tied with Willie McCovey, who had 26 in 1970.
St. Louis Cardinals

Jurrjens

JURRJENS SCORES GO-AHEAD RUN FOR BRAVES
Jair Jurrjens scored the go-ahead run as a pinch-runner in the 8th inning of the Braves' win over the Phillies tonight. Only one other pitcher has scored a go-ahead run as a pinch-runner that late in a game this season: Clayton Richard did it for the White Sox on June 14.
Atlanta Braves

MARLINS BACK INTO FIRST PLACE
The Marlins moved into a tie for first place in the NL East with the Braves win over the Phillies last night. Florida won the World Series as a wild-card team in 1997 and 2003, but this is the first time the Marlins held a share of first place this late in the calendar year.

The latest date on which the Marlins were in first place didn't even occur in one of their championship seasons. It was through games of June 27 in 2004. Florida last time in first place in 1997 was through games of April 13 (11 games). The Marlins were never in first place in 2003.
Florida Marlins