Low & Outside: AL Notes

We've all seen replays of Jon Lester raising both fists in the air and his Boston Red Sox teammates racing to mob him after his no-hitter. But what about the Kansas City Royals, the team that went without a hit Monday night?

Kansas City Star columnist Joe Posnanski described the scene surrounding the Royals this way: "There are not many places in the world that are quieter than the losing clubhouse after a no-hitter. Everyone speaks in whispers. Televisions are dark. The stereo is mute."

"I wouldn't say it's embarrassing," Royals rightfielder Mark Teahen said. "Everybody was grinding out their at-bats. But if a guy is on top of his game, he's on top of his game. You never want to get no-hit, but it happened. So we have to get over it."

And how about Royals second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, a 14-year major-league veteran who was part of a no-hitter for the first time in 1,720 career games?

"It's freaky," he said.

The designated hitter is a bit of a misnomer in the American League this season.

According to the Seattle Times, AL designated hitters were batting .243 through Sunday, compared with .268 for all of 2007. Their on-base percentage (.333) and slugging percentage (.403) also were down from the previous year.

The Mariners have had the toughest time of it, with a .193 mark.

A significant amount of New York Yankees memorabilia, including Thurman Munson's World Series rings, MVP trophy, and uniform he wore for his final home game before he died in a 1979 plane crash, will be auctioned in connection with the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

Also to be offered at auction on July 14 and 15 will be Lou Gehrig's warm-up jacket from the final game in his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, and the ball from Babe Ruth's 712th home run.

Minnesota reliever Bobby Korecky got his first major-league win and first big-league hit Monday night in a 12-inning victory over Texas. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last American League pitcher to record both his first major-league win and first major-league hit in the same American League (non-interleague) game was the California Angels' Ryan Hancock, on June 9, 1996, at Cleveland. . . .Twins manager Ron Gardenhire pinch-hit for second baseman Alexi Casilla and shortstop Adam Everett in the ninth. Those decisions forced him to move Brendan Harris from designated hitter to shortstop in the 10th, thereby forfeiting the DH. . . . Oakland's Frank Thomas hit a home run Monday night, against Tampa Bay, to break a stretch of 102 at-bats without one. Elias said it marked the longest homerless streak by a member of the 500-home-run club since 1986, when Reggie Jackson, then with California, had 130 empty at-bats before connecting for No. 538 on July 11.