Giants' Tim Lincecum (8IP 0R) tops players for Sunday, May 3

Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum is Sunday’s Player of the Day.

Lincecum pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits, in the 5-0 win over the Angels.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of May 3.  


 Player Pos Team BTP
1 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 6.0
2 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 6.0
3 Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 5.0
4 Cabrera, Miguel 1776 1b det al 4.7
5 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.7
6 Gray, Sonny 3259 pi sp oak al 4.7
7 Harvey, Matt 3075 pi sp nym nl 4.7
8 Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 rf fla nl 4.5
9 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp cin nl 4.4
10 Upton, Justin 2411 lf sd nl 4.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

Lincecum earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season. He now has 111.3 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 46th among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). With his points Sunday, he passed three players on that list—Jon Lester (111.1), Tom Glavine (110.6) and Jeff Kent (109.7). He ranks 32nd among all pitchers since 1995 and ninth among active pitchers currently in the NL.

American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing two hits, in the 7-1 win over the Rangers. Gray rises to sixth place in Box-Toppers player rankings—he earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season.

American League Batter of the Day—Evan Gattis of the Astros hit two home runs and went 2-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four, in the 7-6 win over the Mariners.

National League Batter of the Day—Justin Upton of the Padres homered and hit two doubles, scoring twice and driving in three, in the 8-6 win over the Rockies. Upton rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers player rankings. He earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season. He ranks second among NL batters, behind Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins (4.5 Box-Toppers points).

Rankings—Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers rises to fourth place in Box-Toppers player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday (HR 3-4 R 2BI in the 6-4 win over the Royals). Cabrera earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.7 for the season. He leads all AL batters.

With Sunday’s point, Cabrera now has 132.9 career Box-Toppers points, ranked 25th among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began). He is just behind two players with 133.4 Box-Toppers points—David Ortiz and Jason Giambi.

Streak—Aramis Ramirez of the Brewers achieved two Box-Toppers milestones Sunday—he became the 65th player with 100 or more Box-Toppers points and also has now earned at least 1.0 Box-Toppers point for 16 straight seasons.

Ramirez was Player of the Game in Sunday’s 5-3 win over the Cubs (HR 2-3 R 3BI) and earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, his first of the season.

Ramirez earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2000 with the Pirates. His best season was 2005 with the Cubs when he had 11.7 Box-Toppers points, fifth among NL batters. In 2014, he had 5.0 Box-Toppers points with the Brewers, most among NL third basemen.

Ramirez has 100.8 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 62nd among all players (since 1995 when Box-Toppers record keeping began). With Sunday’s point, he passes three players on that list—Paul Konerko (100.7), Jeff Bagwell (100.4) and Larry Walker (100.1). Ramirez ranks 21st among all batters since 1995 and sixth among active batters currently in the NL.

Debut—Cardinals pitcher Miguel Socolovich made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Socolovich (1IP 0R K W in the 3-2, 14-inning win over the Pirates) made his Major League debut July 14, 2012, and was playing in his 13th career game. He is the 3,456th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Lincecum earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Gray earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Gattis and Upton each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

5/3 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 8.0 Giants Tim Lincecum (W, 2-2) - - - - - - 8.0 3 0 0 1 4
AL 7.2 Athletics Sonny Gray (W, 4-0) - - - - - - 6.2 2 0 0 7 10
7.0 Braves Julio Teheran (W, 3-1) - - - - - - 6.0 3 0 0 2 6
5.2 Twins Ryan Pressly (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 2.2 0 0 0 0 3
BAT 5.0 Astros Evan Gattis DH 4 3 2 4 0 0 - - - - - -
5.0 `Dodgers Brett Anderson - - - - - - 6.0 5 0 0 0 4
4.1 Nationals Doug Fister (W, 2-1) - - - - - - 6.1 5 0 0 0 3
4.0 Indians Jason Kipnis 2B 5 3 4 2 0 0 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 Padres Justin Upton LF 4 2 3 3 0 1 - - - - - -
3.0 Brewers Aramis Ramirez 3B 3 1 2 3 1 0 - - - - - -
2.1 Orioles Zach Britton (S, 5) - - - - - - 1.1 0 0 0 1 2
2.0 Yankees Jacoby Ellsbury CF 4 2 4 0 1 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Tigers Miguel Cabrera 1B 4 1 3 2 0 1 - - - - - -
2.0 Cardinals Miguel Socolovich (W, 1-0) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
1.0 Phillies Ryan Howard 1B 4 1 2 2 0 2 - - - - - -
`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.