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Rangers' Hamilton day-to-day with sore knee

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Run Carlos, Run
06/25/2008
BY Aaron Gleeman

Manager Jerry Manuel continued to make headlines Monday, suggesting that Carlos Beltran's historically excellent success rate on stolen bases has kept him from running more often. Beltran is 11-for-12 swiping bases this season and 261-for-296 during his career, which is good for an 88 percent success rate that ranks first in the history of baseball among players who've attempted at least 200 steals."I would hope Carlos runs into a couple of outs, just to get that percentage thing out of his mind," Manuel said. "That's going to be addressed, because that's an important part to what we're going to try to do here going forward." Whether or not Beltran upping his steal attempts will actually have a positive impact on the Mets is debatable, but there's no question that Manuel's prodding has the potential to give his fantasy value a huge boost. Since signing with the Mets in 2006, Beltran is 69-for-81 (85.1 percent) while averaging one steal attempt per 6.3 games. Prior to arriving in New York he went 192-for-215 (89.3) while averaging one steal attempt per 4.1 games. In other words, over the past four years he's run less often and been slightly less effective when he does go for a steal. Age and injuries have a lot to do with that, but Beltran clearly still has the ability to steal more if he's willing to see his success rate dip. While Manuel ponders whether convincing Beltran to take more chances on the bases will require "going gangster" or not, here are some other notes from around baseball .

One of the topics yesterday in this space was Ben Sheets staying healthy and potentially tying his career-high in wins by the All-Star break. Interestingly, shortly after moving to 9-1 with a 2.59 ERA by throwing his league-leading third complete game Monday, the impending free agent announced plans to test the market following the season regardless of whether the Brewers come to him about a new contract. "That's the direction I'm headed now," Sheets said. Sheets' lengthy injury history and corresponding lack of jaw-dropping win totals will no doubt hurt his earning potential, but he doesn't turn 30 years old until next month and has posted a sub-4.00 ERA in each of the past five seasons. Since the beginning of last year he's 21-6 with a 3.30 ERA in 39 starts, posting a fantastic 190-to-58 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 246 innings. C.C. Sabathia has gotten all the headlines thus far, but he's not the only stud pitcher hitting the market soon.
Few pitchers can boast a more impressive minor-league track record than Kevin Slowey, who posted an amazing 1.94 ERA and even more ridiculous 361-to-52 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 366.2 innings prior to being called up to Minnesota last season. Throughout his dominance in the minors Slowey had plenty of skeptics, because many people felt that his high-80s fastball and supposed lack of a "out pitch" wouldn't translate particularly well against big-league hitters. Slowey has turned in some rough outings that tend to include multiple homers allowed, but for the most part he's shown that pinpoint control and uncommon intelligence on the mound can go an awfully long way. He tossed a gem Tuesday, shutting out the Padres for six innings while racking up a season-high seven strikeouts, and is 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 16-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in three starts since being knocked around for eight runs by the White Sox on June 8.If you remove that one ugly game from Slowey's record he has a 2.97 ERA and 42-to-8 strikeout -to-walk ratio in 10 starts this year. Even with the clunker against Chicago included, he's 8-7 with a 4.35 ERA, 93-to-20 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 1.26 WHIP over 130 career innings. Serving up 26 homers during that time is behind the mediocre ERA and he doesn't project as a future ace, but his performance has been impressive for someone who turned 24 years old last month.

AL Updates:
Zack Greinke racked up a season-high 10 strikeouts Tuesday as the Royals won for the ninth time in 10 games . After examining Shaun Marcum's injured elbow Monday, Dr. James Andrews determined that he won't require surgery . Gary Sheffield homered in his return from the disabled list Tuesday, which is encouraging after he hit just three homers through 163 plate appearances prior to the injury . R.A. Dickey went 0-3 with a hideous 14.11 ERA through his first three starts, but the knuckleballer shut out the Mets for seven innings Tuesday . George Sherrill loaded the bases with no outs Tuesday, but managed to wriggle out of trouble to close out a two-run lead for his 26th save in 29 chances . Alex Rios collected four hits Tuesday, including his first homer since May 1 . Josh Hamilton exited Tuesday's game with knee inflammation, but is considered day-to-day . Andy Marte star ted Tuesday for the first time in 17 days, striking out twice before being lifted for a pinch-hitter . With his wife set to give birth Jason Bartlett will be away from the team Wednesday and Thursday, so Ben Zobrist will be starting fresh off the DL.

NL Updates:
Thanks to Reed Johnson heading to the disabled list Tuesday with back spasms, Eric Patterson could emerge with short-term value in NL-only leagues . Nick Johnson will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery Tuesday to repair a torn wrist ligament, leaving Dmitri Young with little competition for playing time . After taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning last week, Dave Bush tossed seven innings of one-run ball Tuesday and has sliced his ERA from 6.56 to 4.94 over the past six starts . Bronson Arroyo turned in a disastrous start Tuesday as the Blue Jays pummeled him for 10 runs, knocking him out of the game in the second inning after 12 of 15 batters reached base . An anal fissure sidelined Kaz Matsui earlier this season, but Tuesday's trip to the DL was due to a strained hamstring . Sean! Marshall totaled seven strikeouts Tuesday while subbing for Carlos Zambrano, but took the loss by allowing four runs in 4.2 innings . Adam Kennedy started at first base against a left-hander Tuesday despite never playing the position previously and hitting .250/.307/.333 against southpaws for his career.