JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here is your player of the day for Monday, August 2, 2010:

• LF Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers went 5-for-7 (all singles) with 2 RBIs in an 18-1 massacre of the Chicago Cubs, lifting his season batting average seven points to .281. Braun’s only other five-hit game came on 4/21/2009, when he went 5-for-5 with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs in an 11-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Braun started the 2010 season on fire but has cooled off considerably since then, batting .355 in April, .286 in May, .264 in June, and .200 in July. He hit .320 in 2009. According to Martin Abramowitz of Jewish Major Leaguers, the record for hits in a single 9-inning game by a Jewish batter is six, shared by Texas Rangers 2B Ian Kinsler and Shawn Green. Kinsler went 6-for-6 and hit for the cycle last year against the Baltimore Orioles (4/15/2009), driving in 4 runs and crossing the plate 5 times. Green, then in right field for the Los Angeles Dodgers, went 6-for-6 with four home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers on 5/23/02, with 7 RBIs and 6 runs scored.
  

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