THT Daily: AL 10, NL 5

Major League News for June 29

Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Top Minor League Performances
Player News
Stats

Yesterday’s Results
Interleague
BAL     7  PHI     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Bedard: 7 IP, 0 R
NYA     4  ATL     3    (Recap and Boxscore) See below
CHA     4  PIT     3    (Recap and Boxscore) PIT: 13th straight loss
DET     5  HOU     0    (Recap and Boxscore) Verlander: 8 IP, 7 K, 0 BB, 3 H, 0 R
MIN     6  LAN     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Hunter: GS HR, Morneau: 2 2B, Santan: 7 IP, 0 R
BOS    10  NYN     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Beckett: 7.2 IP, 2 R; Pedro blasted
BAL    12  PHI     5    (Recap and Boxscore) Hernandez: 4 RBI, Markakis: 4-4; Howard: 2 H
SEA    10  ARI     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Hernandez: 7 IP, 2 R; SEA: Over .500
TB      3  FLA     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Fossum: 5 IP, 1 R; Olsen: 6 IP, 2 R, 0 ER
TOR     6  WAS     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Lilly: 6 IP, 0 R; Catalanotto: 3 RBI
STL     5  CLE     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Carpenter: 7 IP, 1 R; Sizemore: 4-5
COL     6  LAA     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Francis: 6.2 IP, 2 R; Piedra: 3 RBI
CIN     7  KC      2    (Recap and Boxscore) Harang: 7 IP, 1 R
SD      8  OAK     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Hensley: 7 IP, 1 R; Greene: 3 RBI; Gonzalez: 4-4
SF      5  TEX     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Durham: GS HR, 5 RBI; Lowry: 7.2 IP, 1 R

National League
CHN     6  MIL     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Marmol: 6.1 IP, 1 R, 8 K; Cubs: 5 in the 8th

Today’s Games
National League
 ---------------
 Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM
  (R) Geremi Gonzalez (0-0) vs. (R) Mark Prior (0-2)
 
 Inter-League
 ------------
 Chicago White Sox at Pittsburgh Pirates, 12:35 PM
  (R) Jose Contreras (8-0) vs. (L) Zach Duke (5-7)
 Texas Rangers at San Francisco Giants, 3:35 PM
  (L) John Koronka (6-4) vs. (R) Jason Schmidt (6-3)
 Oakland Athletics at San Diego Padres, 3:35 PM
  (R) Danny Haren (6-6) vs. (R) Jake Peavy (4-8)
 Philadelphia Phillies at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Ryan Madson (7-5) vs. (R) Rodrigo Lopez (5-8)
 New York Mets at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM
  (L) Tom Glavine (11-2) vs. (R) Curt Schilling (9-2)
 Washington Nationals at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) John Patterson (1-1) vs. (R) Roy Halladay (9-2)
 Kansas City Royals at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (R) Bobby Keppel (0-4) vs. (R) Bronson Arroyo (9-4)
 Seattle Mariners at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (R) Gil Meche (7-4) vs. (R) Enrique Gonzalez (2-1)

Standings

The 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 gray 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     47  28 .627    0.0   43      4      
NYA     44  32 .579    3.5   45     -1      
TOR     43  34 .558    5.0   43      0      
BAL     37  42 .468   12.0   36      1      
TB      34  45 .430   15.0   32      2      
American League Central
DET     54  25 .684    0.0   52      2      
CHA     51  26 .662    2.0   48      3      
MIN     42  35 .545   11.0   41      1      
CLE     35  42 .455   18.0   41     -6      
KC      25  51 .329   27.5   25      0      
American League West
OAK     41  36 .532    0.0   39      2      
TEX     40  38 .513    1.5   41     -1      
SEA     40  39 .506    2.0   42     -2      
LAA     35  43 .449    6.5   35      0      

National League East         Pwins Diff
NYN     47  30 .610    0.0   45      2      
PHI     35  42 .455   12.0   35      0      
FLA     34  41 .453   12.0   38     -4      
WAS     33  46 .418   15.0   34     -1      
ATL     33  46 .418   15.0   37     -4      
National League Central
STL     43  34 .558    0.0   40      3      
CIN     42  36 .538    1.5   39      3      
MIL     39  40 .494    5.0   35      4      
HOU     38  41 .481    6.0   36      2      
CHN     29  48 .377   14.0   29      0      
PIT     26  53 .329   18.0   33     -7      
National League West
SD      41  36 .532    0.0   41      0      
LAN     40  38 .513    1.5   44     -4      
COL     40  38 .513    1.5   40      0      
SF      39  38 .506    2.0   40     -1      
ARI     37  41 .474    4.5   37      0      

Game of the Day

Alex Rodriguez showed skeptics that he can indeed be a clutch hitter with a two-run homer in the 12th inning, rallying the New York Yankees to a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves. Marcus Giles had put Atlanta ahead with a solo shot in the top half.

Jorge Sosa (2-10) walked Jason Giambi with one out. Rodriguez, in a 2-for-20 slump, then drove a 3-1 pitch way over the left-field fence for his 16th home run. Most of the game was a pitching duel between John Smoltz and Chien-Ming Wang.

ATLANTA (3) VS NY YANKEES (4) - FINAL IN 12 INNINGS 

ATLANTA                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
M Giles 2b              5  1  1  1   1  2   1  .238
E Renteria ss           6  1  1  0   0  0   0  .300
C Jones 3b              6  1  3  0   0  0   0  .288
A Jones cf              5  0  2  1   1  0   1  .282
B McCann c              5  0  2  1   0  0   0  .353
 P Orr pr               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .211
 S Thorman 1b           0  0  0  0   1  0   0  .120
J Francoeur rf          6  0  2  0   0  0   7  .254
A LaRoche 1b            4  0  0  0   0  1   2  .241
 a-M Diaz ph            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .339
 T Pratt c              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .195
W Betemit dh            5  0  0  0   0  0   4  .268
R Langerhans lf         4  0  0  0   1  1   0  .239

Totals                 46  3 11  3   4  4  15

a-hit by pitch for A Laroche in the 11th.

BATTING: 2B - E Renteria (15, C Wang); A Jones (15, C Wang); C Jones (14, S 
Proctor). HR - M Giles (5, 12th inning off S Proctor 0 on, 1 Out). RBI - A 
Jones (65), B McCann (23), M Giles (25). 2-out RBI - B McCann. Runners left in 
scoring position, 2 out - W Betemit 2, J Francoeur 4. GIDP - M Giles. Team LOB 
- 12. 
 
BASERUNNING: CS - M Giles (4, 2nd base by M Rivera/J Posada). 

NY YANKEES             ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
J Damon cf              5  0  0  0   1  0   0  .295
M Cabrera lf            5  1  1  0   1  1   2  .261
D Jeter ss              5  0  1  0   1  1   1  .331
J Giambi dh             4  1  2  1   2  0   2  .271
 K Reese pr             0  1  0  0   0  0   0  .429
A Rodriguez 3b          5  1  2  3   1  0   2  .279
B Williams rf           3  0  0  0   2  1   1  .276
 B Crosby pr-rf         0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .245
A Phillips 1b           5  0  1  0   0  2   4  .289
M Cairo 2b              5  0  1  0   0  1   4  .229
K Stinnett c            2  0  0  0   0  1   1  .224
 a-J Posada ph-c        3  0  0  0   0  2   1  .288

Totals                 42  4  8  4   8  9  18

a-lined out to shortstop for K Stinnett in the 7th.

BATTING: 2B - D Jeter (17, J Smoltz). 3B - A Phillips (3, J Smoltz). HR - J 
Giambi (23, 8th inning off K Ray 0 on, 1 Out), A Rodriguez (16, 12th inning off 
J Sosa 1 on, 1 Out). RBI - A Rodriguez 3 (55), J Giambi (62). Runners left in 
scoring position, 2 out - A Phillips 1, B Williams 1, J Giambi 1, A Rodriguez 
1, M Cairo 1, M Cabrera 1. Team LOB - 12. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - M Cabrera (3, 2nd base off C Paronto/B McCann). 
 
FIELDING: E - A Rodriguez (13, ground ball). DP: 1 (D Jeter-M Cairo-A 
Phillips). 

----------------------------------------------------
    ATLANTA         - 000 101 000 001   --   3
    NY YANKEES      - 000 001 010 002   --   4

One out when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------

ATLANTA                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Smoltz                      7       6   1   1   2   5   0   3.73
K Ray (B, 3)                    1/3   1   1   1   2   0   1   3.03
C Paronto                     1 1/3   0   0   0   2   3   0   3.57
M McBride                       1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   4.56
O Villarreal                  2       0   0   0   1   1   0   4.14
J Sosa (L, 2-10; B, 1)          1/3   1   2   2   1   0   1   5.45

NY YANKEES                   ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
C Wang                        8       7   2   2   1   2   0   4.01
M Rivera                      2       1   0   0   1   2   0   1.88
K Farnsworth                    2/3   1   0   0   0   0   0   4.89
M Myers                       0       0   0   0   0   0   0   0.67
S Proctor                     1       2   1   1   1   0   1   4.22
R Villone (W, 1-1)              1/3   0   0   0   1   0   0   2.18

M Myers pitched to 1 batter in the 11th.

WP - R Villone. IBB - D Jeter (by C Paronto), A Jones (by S Proctor). HBP - M 
Diaz (by M Myers). Pitches-strikes: J Smoltz 110-73; K Ray 16-6; C Paronto 
28-13; M McBride 2-2; O Villarreal 22-15; J Sosa 14-7; C Wang 91-60; M Rivera 
33-23; K Farnsworth 10-8; M Myers 5-2; S Proctor 24-12; R Villone 6-2. Ground 
balls-fly balls: J Smoltz 7-9; K Ray 0-1; C Paronto 0-1; M McBride 0-1; O 
Villarreal 3-2; J Sosa 1-0; C Wang 19-3; M Rivera 3-0; K Farnsworth 2-0; M 
Myers 0-0; S Proctor 0-3; R Villone 0-1. Batters faced: J Smoltz 29; K Ray 4; C 
Paronto 6; M McBride 1; O Villarreal 7; J Sosa 3; C Wang 31; M Rivera 7; K 
Farnsworth 4; M Myers 1; S Proctor 6; R Villone 2. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Randy Marsh. 1B--Angel Hernandez. 2B--Hunter Wendelstedt. 
3B--Sam Holbrook. 

T--3:59. Att--54,186. 
Weather: 83 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 9 mph, right to left.

The following graph tracks the game’s Win Probability, courtesy of Fan Graphs.

image

Yesterday’s Home Runs

The following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its “standard” distance, which is corrected for weather conditions.

Hitter                   Pitcher                     True Dist.  Std. Dist.  HR #
Howard, Ryan       PHI   Rleal, Sendy       BAL           434        442      27
Griffey Jr., Ken   CIN   Sisco, Andrew      KC            415        442      15
Lopez, Felipe      CIN   Elarton, Scott     KC            409        432       8
Piazza, Mike       SD    Flores, Ron        OAK           420        426      11
Rodriguez, Alex    NYY   Sosa, Jorge        ATL           446        425      16
Lee, Derrek        CHC   Kolb, Dan          MIL           416        419       4
Burrell, Pat       PHI   Birkins, Kurt      BAL           429        413      19
Utley, Chase       PHI   Benson, Kris       BAL           414        412      15
Reed, Jeremy       SEA   Gonzalez, Edgar G  ARI           422        410       6
Rolen, Scott       STL   Westbrook, Jake    CLE           416        409      10
Hernandez, Ramon   BAL   Fultz, Aaron       PHI           410        407      15
Hall, Bill         MIL   Howry, Bob         CHC           401        404      16
Delgado, Carlos    NYM   Beckett, Josh      BOS           429        403      22
Hernandez, Ramon   BAL   Hamels, Cole       PHI           418        400      14
Aurilia, Rich      CIN   Elarton, Scott     KC            388        400      10
Durham, Ray        SF    Rheinecker, John   TEX           394        395       8
Buck, John         KC    Harang, Aaron      CIN           377        395       7
Hunter, Torii      MIN   Perez, Odalis      LAD           396        392      12
Howard, Ryan       PHI   Benson, Kris       BAL           393        391      26
Pierre, Juan       CHC   Bush, Dave         MIL           393        390       1
Hatteberg, Scott   CIN   Elarton, Scott     KC            364        386       6
Giles, Marcus      ATL   Proctor, Scott     NYY           393        377       5
Dellucci, David    PHI   Benson, Kris       BAL           377        375       4
Roberts, Brian     BAL   Hamels, Cole       PHI           389        373       1
Valentin, Jose     NYM   Beckett, Josh      BOS           387        369       8
Cameron, Mike      SD    Blanton, Joe       OAK           360        369       9
Victorino, Shane   PHI   Birkins, Kurt      BAL           383        368       4
Bautista, Jose     PIT   Garcia, Freddy     CWS           389        360       9
Giambi, Jason      NYY   Ray, Ken           ATL           343        359      23
Burnitz, Jeromy    PIT   Garcia, Freddy     CWS           366        346      12
Gonzalez, Alex     BOS   Martinez, Pedro    NYM           367        335       5

Top Minor League Games

The 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
ARI A   Will Crouch        1B  5  4  2  0  1  0  0  4 runs scored
ATL AAA Michael Ryan       RF  3  3  1  0  1  0  0   
HOU A   Ole Sheldon        DH  5  4  0  0  1  0  1   
HOU A   Ryan Reed          RF  3  2  0  1  1  1  1   
NYM A   Nicholas Evans     1B  4  3  0  0  2  1  1  3 runs scored
PHI A+  J.J. Johnson       RF  4  3  0  1  1  0  0  5 RBI
SD  A-  David Freese       3B  3  3  1  0  1  0  0  4 runs scored
SD  A-  Chad Huffman       LF  4  3  1  0  1  0  0  4 RBI
STL AAA John Nelson        SS  3  3  1  0  1  2  0  3 runs scored
                                           
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
CHW A   Richard Brooks     6.0  2  0  0  5  0  0   
COL A-  Tomas Santiago     7.0  2  0  0  5  2  0   
HOU AA  Chance Douglass    9.0  5  0  0 10  0  0   
LA  A   David Horlacher    5.2  1  0  0  6  3  0  18 K over last 15 IP
LA  A+  Scott Elbert       7.2  1  1  1 13  4  0  1.01 ERA over past month
MIL AA  Tim Dillard        8.1  4  2  2  8  2  0   
SEA AAA Cesar Jimenez      9.0  1  0  0  4  2  0   
TB  AA  Tony Peguero       7.0  1  0  0  7  3  0   
TOR AAA Jamie Vermilyea    7.0  5  1  1  6  0  0   
WAN AAA Billy Traber       7.0  5  1  1  6  0  0  

Player News

Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.
  • Ryan Howard hit two homers to take the major league lead with 27. He was 2-for-3 with two RBI in the game.
  • Juan Pierre went 2-for-5 with a homer. Pierre had gone 643 at-bats without a homer — his previous one came on July 7, 2005, against the Brewers. It was the second-longest homerless streak in the majors behind Houston’s Willy Taveras, who hasn’t homered in 657 at-bats.
  • Derrek Lee’s first homer in almost three months came at the best possible time for the reeling Chicago Cubs. His long, two-run shot into the left-field bleachers tied the score in the eighth inning, and the Cubs scored three more runs to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3.
  • Joe Mauer went 2-for-3 with a walk to improve his major league-best batting average to .392. He went 11-for-13 in the three-game sweep and had hits in eight consecutive at-bats before grounding out in the second inning. He is batting .484 (46-for-95) in June.
  • Mike Cameron homered for the fourth time in five games.
  • Johan Santana finished June 5-0 in six starts with a 1.05 ERA.
  • Milwaukee reliever Matt Wise was hoping to pitch soon after being unavailable for two games following a freak accident. Wise got a cut on the middle finger of his right hand when he reached into a bowl Sunday and caught his finger on salad tongs. “I was going after a salad,” Wise said.
  • The Giants recalled first baseman Lance Niekro from Triple-A Fresno on Wednesday. Niekro had been on a rehab assignment and hit two home runs earlier in the day for the Grizzlies.
  • The Giants scratched right fielder Moises Alou from the starting lineup Wednesday night, then quickly placed him on the disabled list with strained lower back. The move is retroactive to June 18.
  • The commissioner’s office suspended San Diego Padres catcher Josh Bard one game for his aggressive actions during a game against Seattle on Sunday. Bard was ejected Sunday by plate umpire Paul Nauert after taking a called third strike in a 9-4 loss to the Mariners. After being tossed, Bard argued with Nauert and pointed his bat at the umpire’s face. The catcher had to be restrained by third base coach Glenn Hoffman.
  • Dan Uggla pinch hit in the ninth inning and grounded out to third on Wednesday against Tampa Bay. He had missed the last seven games with a hamstring injury.
  • Michael Barrett’s 10-game suspension for punching A.J. Pierzynski ends Friday just in time for the Cubs’ catcher to play in what promises to be an emotionally charged rematch with the White Sox. “I just reacted,” Barrett said Wednesday, looking back on his punch that set off a brawl May 20. “Like I said, I’m not happy about what happened. … You know we all make mistakes, we all do things that certainly when you look back on, hindsight is 20-20. But it’s time to move on and play baseball.”
  • Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers was placed on the temporary inactive list Wednesday and optioned to Class-A Clearwater, one day after asking for a leave of absence following his arrest on charges of hitting his wife in the face.
  • The Phillies called up right-hander Adam Bernero from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Bernero will start Friday in Toronto. “I don’t know much about him, but that I saw him pitch last year in Atlanta,” Manuel said.
  • With a doubleheader Wednesday and Brett Myers on leave until, the Phillies are hoping Jon Lieber (strained groin) could return to start Sunday in Toronto, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • Randy Wolf (elbow, hand) has a hairline fracture in his hand after being hit by a liner in his rehab assignment, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • RHP Matt Belisle was activated off the 15-day DL after recovering from a strained back. He could get a chance to pitch in a set-up role in Cincinnati’s struggling bullpen.

THT Stats

Stolen bases are good, getting caught stealing is bad. As a general rule of thumb, getting caught stealing is about twice as bad as stealing a base, which means that normal stolen base totals or even stolen base percentages aren’t the best way to judge a basestealer.

Here’s a good method for ranking basestealers: Net stolen bases, or stolen bases minus 2 times caught stealing. Corey Patterson and Ichiro are the league leaders in this category; in fact, I didn’t realize just how outstanding Patterson has been on the bases this year. I’ve expanded the list to include anyone with at least three net stolen bases so that you can see how certain players (Scott Podsednik is one example) can be overrated by simple stolen base counts.

Last       First    Team      SB     CS     SB%   Net SB
Patterson  Corey    BAL       29      4     88%       21
Suzuki     Ichiro   SEA       25      2     93%       21
Reyes      Jose     NYN       34      8     81%       18
Figgins    Chone    LAA       27      6     82%       15
Crawford   Carl     TB        26      6     81%       14
Ramirez    Hanley   FLA       22      4     85%       14
Phillips   Brandon  CIN       14      0    100%       14
Roberts    Brian    BAL       19      3     86%       13
Roberts    Dave     SD        19      4     83%       11
Jeter      Derek    NYA       15      2     88%       11
Pierre     Juan     CHN       24      7     77%       10
Lopez      Felipe   CIN       22      6     79%       10
Rollins    Jimmy    PHI       18      4     82%       10
Cabrera    Orlando  LAA       12      1     92%       10
Freel      Ryan     CIN       17      4     81%        9
Sizemore   Grady    CLE       13      2     87%        9
Damon      Johnny   NYA       16      4     80%        8
Cameron    Mike     SD        12      2     86%        8
Abreu      Bobby    PHI       15      4     79%        7
Weeks      Rickie   MIL       15      4     79%        7
Wright     David A  NYN       11      2     85%        7
Crosby     Bobby    OAK        7      0    100%        7
Beltran    Carlos   NYN       12      3     80%        6
Lee        Carlos   MIL       10      2     83%        6
Beltre     Adrian   SEA       10      2     83%        6
Byrnes     Eric     ARI        8      1     89%        6
Barfield   Joshua L SD         8      1     89%        6
Mauer      Joe      MIN        7      1     88%        5
Blake      Casey    CLE        5      0    100%        5
Podsednik  Scott    CHA       24     10     71%        4
Soriano    Alfonso  WAS       18      7     72%        4
Renteria   Edgar    ATL        8      2     80%        4
Furcal     Rafael   LAN       17      7     71%        3
Wells      Vernon   TOR        9      3     75%        3

Access all of THT’s stats here…

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Dave Studeman was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Follow his sporadic tweets @dastudes.

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