February 9, 2010
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THT Daily: A-Rod and Companyby Matthew CarruthApril 24, 2007 Major League News for April 24Today’s LinksPlayer News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Top Minor League Performances You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ THT LinksDaily Closer - News and notes from Deadspin, including Larry Bowa's take on A-Rod. Integrity of the Game - How Torii Hunter risked a three year suspension this past weekend and lived to tell about it. Old Father Time - Let's Go Tribe thoroughly profiles the amazing career of Julio Franco. Just knowing that he's been playing since before I was born ... never gets old (pun intended). Closer Alert - Fish Stripes gives its take on Henry Owensbeing yanked from a save opportunity last night against the Braves. What are the odds... - The Boston Globe takes another look at the Red Sox four home run feat. This has been covered to death, but I nonetheless find this story worth linking, since it tackles the odds of the event and gets far more interesting quotes than the other articles on the subject. Halberstam Killed - To be honest, I've never really read his stuff other than during his brief period at Page 2, since I'm not particularly interested in baseball history, but by all reports he was a great guy and a better journalist. Myers Closing in on Closer role - The writing is basically on the wall at this point. Gary Sheffield: Misunderstood - CBS Sports writer Scott Miller finds that Gary Sheffield isn't a cancer, he's just misunderstood. As apologetic as the column sounds, I do agree with his fundamental point that the media grossly overestimates its insight into players' characters. In their rush to tell a compelling or headline-grabbing story, they consistently take the 20 minutes they spend with a player during a press conference, some third hand gossip and any preconceived notion they might have into a catchy characterization. That's one of the reasons I'm so excited about Curt Schilling's blog, because at least it gives us a chance to get to know a little bit about the man himself without having it filtered through the media. One small step for blogger... - The Devil Rays have done a lot of cool stuff lately, from offering free parking at games to lowering beer prices, so it comes to no surprise that they've also embraced blogging, giving blogger Manny Stiles press passes for a string of recent games. While I agree with the post that you probably wouldn't want bloggers going to the press box all the time, I'm going to say that free tickets to every game and the license to bring my laptop to a game and not look like a complete dork are pretty appealing. The Next Liriano - In our rush to anoint Tim Lincecum the next Francisco Liriano, perhaps we're missing a better candidate: Brandon Morrow. While he doesn't have the minor league track record the other two sport, he does throw ridiculous hard and is off to a great start in the Seattle pen. Not Giving Up - The A's aren't ready to give up on Rich Harden as a starter yet. But would I be surprised if they dealt Huston Street in the offseason and installed Harden? This really does sort of give the other side of the coin in the Jon Papelbon situation, doesn't it. Hughes set to start - Phillip Huges is set to finally take the mound in the majors on Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays. Here's where the hype hits the road. THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at THT Links. Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldAlex Rodriguez hit his 13th and 14th homers, giving him a share of the record for April, in a loss to the Rays on Monday. A-Rod was the fastest ever to both 13 and 14 home runs. He's now tied with Albert Pujols' mark from last season for homers in April. He's up to 34 RBI, and he scored four times tonight, giving him 26 runs in 18 games. If only he had more than one steal, he'd be truly valuable. Mariners placed RHP Felix Hernandez on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 19, with a flexor-pronator strain in his right elbow. The Mariners have penciled in King Felix for a May 4 start against the Yankees. The 21-year-old threw from 75 feet on Monday and is scheduled for four bullpen sessions before returning to throw about 85 pitches against the Bombers. "Felix was expected to miss about 10 days. Even in our best-case scenarios the earliest we had him pitching was May 2," Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said. "This move will not materially change the schedule on Felix and, hopefully, removes any pressure he may feel to try and rush back." Cha Seung Baek is replacing Hernandez in the rotation. Mark Prior will undergo exploratory surgery on his shoulder Tuesday and is likely to miss the rest of the season. Dr. James Andrews will perform the surgery. "He's had some discomfort for a couple years," GM Jim Hendry said. "It's finally gotten to a point where it's probably the right decision to let one of the best people in the world go and have a look around to see if anything can maybe be fixed, if it doesn't need something major. Dr. Andrews has the clearance if something needs to be fixed or tightened up." Even if no major problems are discovered, it's unlikely that Prior will get into a game this season. Blue Jays transferred LHP B.J. Ryan from the 15- to the 60-day disabled list. The Jays said 4-6 weeks initially, but it was obvious right away that it'd be six at least. Now it's going to be at least eight, as he won't be eligible to return before mid-June. Jason Frasor is filling in as the Jays' closer. The Yankees will call up Phil Hughes to start Thursday against the Blue Jays. It's not quite a panic move, but we doubt the Yankees would be going to Hughes already had they just won two out of three against Boston. Hughes' command was quite shaky this spring, and he's only been dominant in one of his starts for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. It's still going to be worth using him in AL-only leagues right away, but expect some inconsistency. Mixed leaguers should pick him up and reserve him initially. Indians placed third baseman Andy Marte on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. The Indians were calling the injury a mild strain and listing Marte as day-to-day. Either they were wrong in their assessment or they just weren't willing to play two men down, with David Dellucci sidelined by a strained calf. Casey Blake will be the regular third baseman with Marte out, making first baseman Ryan Garko the big beneficiary here. Shin-Soo Choo replaced Marte on the roster, giving the Indians another outfielder with Dellucci out. Athletics placed outfielder Milton Bradley on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. His fifth stint on the disabled list since June 2005. The A's will go with Nick Swisher in center field until Bradley returns next month, leaving Todd Walker to get most of the playing time at first base for now. Dan Johnson might beat Bradley back from the DL. Danny Putnam was called up to fill the roster spot, but he doesn't figure to be much of a factor. Yesterday’s ResultsAmerican League OAK 6 BAL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Swisher: 2 HR, 3 RBI; Haren: 7 IP, 1 R, 1.41 ERA TOR 7 BOS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Hill: 4-5, 2 2B, HR; TB 10 NYA 8 (Recap and Boxscore) A-Rod: 4-5, 2 HR; Upton: HR, 4 RBI; Baldelli: 3 RBI CHA 7 KC 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Konerko: 2 HR, 5 RBI; Buehrle: 7 IP, 3 R CLE 7 MIN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) 12 innings; Hafner: 4-4; Sowers: 7 IP, 3 R DET 9 LAA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Granderson: 2B, HR; Weaver: 1.2 IP, 7 R SEA 5 TEX 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Ichiro: 2B, 3B, 3 RBI; Morrow: 3.1 IP, 0 R National League FLA 8 ATL 7 (Recap and Boxscore) Olivo, Uggla: 3 RBI each; Francoeur: 4-5, 4 RBI NYN 6 COL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Maine: 7.2 IP, 1 R; Valentin: 4 RBI PHI 11 HOU 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Rollins: 4-5, 3B, HR; Victorino, Utley: 3 RBI MIL 5 CHN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) See below Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Atlanta Braves at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM (L) Mark Redman (0-3) vs. (R) Rick Vanden Hurk (0-1) Houston Astros at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Woody Williams (0-2) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (0-2) Washington Nationals at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Jason Bergmann (0-1) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (2-1) Colorado Rockies at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Aaron Cook (0-1) vs. (R) Orlando Hernandez (2-1) Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM (R) Jeff Suppan (2-2) vs. (L) Rich Hill (3-0) Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:10 PM (R) Aaron Harang (2-0) vs. (R) Kip Wells (1-3) San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (L) David Wells (0-1) vs. (L) Randy Johnson (0-0) San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Matt Morris (2-0) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (2-2) American League --------------- Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers, 2:05 PM (L) Jarrod Washburn (0-2) vs. (R) Vicente Padilla (0-3) Oakland Athletics at Baltimore Orioles, 3:05 PM (L) Dallas Braden (0-0) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (1-0) Detroit Tigers at LA Angels of Anaheim, 3:35 PM (R) Jeremy Bonderman (0-0) vs. (R) Kelvim Escobar (1-1) Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Roy Halladay (2-0) vs. (R) Julian Tavarez (0-1) New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Chien-Ming Wang (0-0) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (1-1) Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Javier Vazquez (2-0) vs. (R) Brian Bannister (0-0) Cleveland Indians at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (R) Fausto Carmona (0-1) vs. (L) Johan Santana (3-1) StandingsThe graphics next to each team are called "sparklines.” They depict each team’s performance over the last month. Each "up" bar is a victory and a "down" bar is a loss. There are horizontal lines for home games and red bars represent games decided by two runs or less. "PWins" is short for Projected Wins, based on each team’s Run Differential, and is often a better measure of a team’s true strength. Other team graphs and stats can be found on our Team Page.American League East Pwins Diff BOS 12 6 .667 0.0 12 0 Game of the DayDown 4-0 early, the Brewers staged a comeback against the Cubs and won in 12 innings, 5-4. Stars included Prince Fielder, who hit two home runs (including the game-winner) and Craig Counsell, who delivered a key single in the eighth. But the real Brewer heroes were the six relievers who allowed no runs in eight innings, including four shutout innings by Carlos Villanueva. MILWAUKEE (5) VS CHICAGO CUBS (4) - FINAL IN 12 INNINGS
MILWAUKEE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Weeks 2b 6 0 0 0 0 2 3 .243
J Hardy ss 5 1 1 1 1 1 0 .282
P Fielder 1b 6 2 2 2 0 1 2 .267
B Hall cf 6 0 0 0 0 3 0 .261
J Estrada c 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 .274
D Miller c 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 .316
G Jenkins lf 5 0 2 0 0 0 2 .358
G Gross rf 3 1 0 0 2 1 4 .250
C Counsell 3b 5 0 2 1 0 1 3 .244
C Vargas p 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .200
a-T Gwynn Jr ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .462
E Dessens p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-T Graffanino ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200
C Spurling p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Shouse p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
M Wise p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
c-K Mench ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .353
C Villanueva p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
D Turnbow p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 44 5 9 5 5 10 18
a-singled to center for C Vargas in the 5th; b-grounded to third for E Dessens
in the 7th; c-flied out to right for M Wise in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - C Counsell (4, C Zambrano). HR - J Hardy (6, 4th inning off C
Zambrano 0 on, 0 Out), P Fielder 2 (4, 8th inning off S Eyre 0 on, 0 Out, 12th
inning off R Cherry 0 on, 1 Out). S - C Villanueva. RBI - J Hardy (14), T Gwynn
Jr (3), P Fielder 2 (12), C Counsell (7). 2-out RBI - C Counsell. Runners left
in scoring position, 2 out - K Mench 1, C Counsell 1, P Fielder 1, R Weeks 2.
GIDP - G Jenkins. Team LOB - 9.
FIELDING: E - R Weeks (1, ground ball). DP: 2 (R Weeks-J Hardy-P Fielder, J
Hardy-P Fielder).
CHICAGO CUBS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Soriano lf 6 2 2 0 0 1 3 .268
C Floyd rf 2 1 0 0 1 2 1 .250
a-M Murton ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .270
S Eyre p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Howry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
e-R Theriot ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .340
R Dempster p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
f-J Marquis ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .273
R Cherry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
D Lee 1b 6 0 3 2 0 1 2 .360
A Ramirez 3b 3 1 1 2 2 1 2 .339
J Jones cf-rf 5 0 1 0 0 1 3 .286
M DeRosa 2b 5 0 1 0 1 2 4 .254
H Blanco c 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 .182
c-D Ward ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .200
R Cedeno pr-ss 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .103
C Izturis ss 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 .174
d-M Barrett ph-c 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .271
C Zambrano p 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .273
W Ohman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
M Wuertz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-F Pie ph-cf 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 .200
Totals 43 4 11 4 6 10 24
a-grounded to third for C Floyd in the 7th; b-reached on bunt single to first
for M Wuertz in the 7th; c-intentionally walked for H Blanco in the 8th;
d-lined out to left for C Izturis in the 8th; e-flied out to center for B
Howry in the 9th; f-struck out swinging for R Dempster in the 11th.
BATTING: 2B - D Lee (8, C Vargas); M DeRosa (3, E Dessens); F Pie (2, C
Villanueva). HR - A Ramirez (4, 3rd inning off C Vargas 0 on, 2 Out). S - J
Jones. SF - A Ramirez. RBI - D Lee 2 (13), A Ramirez 2 (14). 2-out RBI - A
Ramirez. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - H Blanco 1, M Barrett 1, D
Lee 2, J Marquis 1, R Cedeno 1. GIDP - C Izturis, J Jones. Team LOB - 11.
BASERUNNING: CS - D Lee (2, 3rd base by C Vargas/J Estrada).
FIELDING: PB - H Blanco. DP: 1 (M DeRosa-D Lee).
----------------------------------------------------
MILWAUKEE - 000 110 020 001 -- 5
CHICAGO CUBS - 202 000 000 000 -- 4
----------------------------------------------------
MILWAUKEE ip h r er bb so hr era
C Vargas 4 6 4 4 1 2 1 4.76
E Dessens 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 6.75
C Spurling 1/3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0.00
B Shouse 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.37
M Wise 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.52
C Villanueva (W, 1-0) 4 2 0 0 3 3 0 4.22
D Turnbow (S, 1) 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 1.80
CHICAGO CUBS ip h r er bb so hr era
C Zambrano 5 1/3 5 2 2 3 7 1 6.91
W Ohman (H, 1) 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 5.40
M Wuertz (H, 1) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
S Eyre (B, 2) 2/3 3 2 2 1 1 1 15.00
B Howry 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.97
R Dempster 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 2.45
R Cherry (L, 0-1) 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 9.00
WP - C Zambrano, C Spurling. IBB - D Ward (by C Villanueva). Pitches-strikes:
C Vargas 68-41; E Dessens 33-19; C Spurling 16-10; B Shouse 2-2; M Wise 6-3; C
Villanueva 68-37; D Turnbow 13-11; C Zambrano 103-62; W Ohman 10-9; M Wuertz
11-8; S Eyre 19-11; B Howry 13-8; R Dempster 18-12; R Cherry 13-7. Ground
balls-fly balls: C Vargas 5-4; E Dessens 3-2; C Spurling 0-0; B Shouse 1-0; M
Wise 0-0; C Villanueva 3-6; D Turnbow 0-1; C Zambrano 8-2; W Ohman 0-1; M
Wuertz 1-1; S Eyre 0-1; B Howry 1-3; R Dempster 5-1; R Cherry 0-3. Batters
faced: C Vargas 18; E Dessens 7; C Spurling 3; B Shouse 1; M Wise 1; C
Villanueva 17; D Turnbow 4; C Zambrano 24; W Ohman 2; M Wuertz 3; S Eyre 6; B
Howry 4; R Dempster 7; R Cherry 4.
UMPIRES: HP--Paul Nauert. 1B--Brian Gorman. 2B--Tom Hallion. 3B--Mike
Everitt.
T--4:08. Att--33,920.
Weather: 47 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 11 mph, in from center.The following graph tracks the game's Win Probability, courtesy of Fan Graphs. You can also view live WPA graphs at Fangraphs during any ballgame all season long.  Top Minor League GamesThe following list, provided by First Inning, includes the top minor league batting (based on Runs Created) and pitching (based on Game Score) performances from yesterday.ORG LVL PLAYER POS AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes BAL A Brandon Snyder 1B 4 4 1 0 0 1 0 3 runs scored BOS AA Jeff Natale DH 5 4 2 0 0 0 0 CHC AA Jorge Cortes RF 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 COL AA Joe Gaetti RF 4 3 3 0 0 1 1 FLA AA Dante Brinkley LF 5 4 2 0 0 0 1 .52 OBP during past week MIL AAA Ryan Braun 3B 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 NYY A C. Malec 1B 4 3 0 0 2 0 1 NYY AA Matt Carson RF 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 OAK AA Landon Powell C 2 2 1 0 1 2 0 PIT AA Andrew McCutchen CF 4 3 2 1 0 1 0 4 runs scored ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes ARI A Anthony Barnette 7.0 4 0 0 5 0 0 KC AA Michael Connolly 6.0 2 0 0 4 2 0 MIL A+ Rafael Lluberes 6.0 1 0 0 8 4 0 MIN A+ Ryan Mullins 7.0 4 2 1 10 1 0 NYM A+ Deolis Guerra 6.0 2 0 0 4 0 0 NYY A Michael Dunn 7.2 4 1 1 6 2 0 0.90 ERA over past month STL AAA Chris Narveson 9.0 5 1 1 7 1 1 TB AAA A. Sonnanstine 7.0 5 1 1 7 0 1 Access THT’s stats here…
Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email. Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. Do you have a general question or comment for one of THT's writers? Send it in to our weekly mailbag We also welcome unsolicited op-ed pieces of approximately 500 words for consideration. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and consistency of style. Please include your whole name and location to be considered. If you have a comment about this specific article, please email the writer. Next Article: Baseball Injury Report>> <<Previous Article: The Strange Career of Wes Ferrell (SP Leverage, Part 4) | |||||||
BAL 11 8 .579 1.5 11 0 
TOR 9 10 .474 3.5 10 -1 
NYA 8 10 .444 4.0 11 -3 
TB 8 11 .421 4.5 8 0 
American League Central
DET 11 8 .579 0.0 11 0 
MIN 11 8 .579 0.0 10 1 
CLE 9 7 .563 0.5 8 1 
CHA 10 8 .556 0.5 9 1 
KC 6 13 .316 5.0 7 -1 
American League West
OAK 10 9 .526 0.0 10 0 
LAA 9 10 .474 1.0 8 1 
TEX 8 11 .421 2.0 8 0 
SEA 6 9 .400 2.0 6 0 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 12 6 .667 0.0 14 -2 
ATL 12 7 .632 0.5 10 2 
FLA 9 10 .474 3.5 10 -1 
PHI 7 11 .389 5.0 9 -2 
WAS 6 13 .316 6.5 5 1 
National League Central
MIL 12 7 .632 0.0 10 2 
HOU 9 9 .500 2.5 9 0 
CIN 9 10 .474 3.0 8 1 
STL 8 10 .444 3.5 8 0 
PIT 7 10 .412 4.0 7 0 
CHN 7 12 .368 5.0 11 -4 
National League West
LAN 13 6 .684 0.0 13 0 
SD 11 8 .579 2.0 11 0 
SF 9 8 .529 3.0 8 1 
ARI 10 10 .500 3.5 10 0 
COL 8 12 .400 5.5 8 0 