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THT Daily: AL Resasserts Itselfby Matthew CarruthJune 18, 2007 Major League News for June 18Today’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 LinksIn Support of Detroit - Al Doyle recently took a trip and saw the Tigers in Detroit. He reports back on the pleasentness of said trip.Johnson Back - Josh Johnson is coming back to Florida at the expense of Reggie Abercrombie, who is no big loss to Florida. Pop Culture - This is the queen of descriptions about the current situation around the Rockies. Chipper Hits 2,000 - Is there a more underrated star than Chipper Jones? He has a hall of fame peak and a legendary streak of playing through pain to avoid the DL. And now he has 2,000 career hits. Piazza to Catch - Upon his return from the DL, the A's are expected to push Mike Piazza behind the plate, likely a reaction to the horridness that has been Jason Kendall. 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 . Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldJustin Morneau capped a wild game with a walkoff homer in the bottom of the ninth Sunday, giving the Twins a 9-8 win over the Brewers. The Twins blew a 9-2 lead, with Juan Rincon giving up three in the eighth and Joe Nathan surrendering two in the ninth, one of them coming on Prince Fielder's inside-the-park homer, a flyball that was lost in the roof by Lew Ford. Morneau, though, played the hero, leading off the bottom of the ninth with his 20th blast of the year. He's the third major leaguer to that mark this season, following Alex Rodriguez and Fielder. He also doubled and walked twice in the contest. Barry Bonds homered, singled and walked Sunday in a loss to the Red Sox. Bonds went 3-for-9 with three walks in his first ever series at Fenway Park. He had been 0-for-8 against one-time Pirates teammate Tim Wakefield before the single and the homer today. It was the 748th homer of his career and his first off a knuckleballer since 2001. The Dodgers are no longer committed to starting Jason Schmidt on Thursday and may be leaning towards placing him back on the DL. "Right now, we're evaluating," said manager Grady Little. "We're on hold right now." The Dodgers made a mistake activating Schmidt after just one rehab start, and though Schmidt was effective in his return, he's had little to attack hitters with his last two times out. Mark Hendrickson, Brett Tomko and Chad Billingsley are all possibilities to replace Schmidt against the Blue Jays on Sunday. A.J. Burnett felt pain in his right shoulder during a throwing session Sunday and was scratched from his next scheduled start. Another injured pitcher handled poorly by the Blue Jays. Burnett should have gone on the DL the day after he left his start with a strained shoulder. It probably will happen on Tuesday. The Jays could call on John Thomson, Victor Zambrano or Jesse Litsch as a replacement for Burnett on Saturday. Manager Jim Leyland said that if Kenny Rogers (shoulder) tells him he's ready to pitch after his bullpen session on Monday, he'll start Friday night against the Braves. Rogers, who's been on the disabled list since the start of the season, allowed three runs, two of them unearned, on seven hits in five innings Friday night for West Michigan in his second rehab start. "I'll be really excited if two days from now, I'm not very stiff and my bullpen session goes well," Rogers said. "That's going to be a telltale sign." Ian Snell will miss his scheduled start Tuesday with a burn blister on his right index finger. Snell burned his finger while grilling chicken for a salad he was preparing for himself. He thought he'd be able to pitch Tuesday anyway, but the Pirates aren't going to take any chances. With the off day Monday, he can easily be pushed back to Saturday. Tom Gorzelanny will be moved up to get the start on Tuesday. Torii Hunter left Sunday's game with a bruised left hand after getting hit by a pitch in the first inning. X-rays weren't expected to be necessary. Lew Ford replaced him in the game against the Brewers. Hunter will probably be ready to go by Monday or Tuesday. The A's are pushing back Mike Piazza's return from the disabled list so that he'll be able to come back as a part-time catcher. This is hard to believe. It's one thing to envision Piazza as a catcher, but it's another not to take advantage of his bat as a DH while his shoulder continues to get stronger. The A's must feel that Jack Cust is just as good of an option there. Piazza could return during the first week of July. Cust and Jason Kendall will retain fantasy value for now. Yesterday’s ResultsInter-League ARI 6 BAL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Webb: 7 IP, 3 R BOS 9 SF 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Ortiz: 2 2B; Manny: 2B, HR NYA 8 NYN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) A-Rod: 2B, HR; Wang: 8.2 IP, 2 R WAS 4 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Bowie: 6 IP, 2 R CLE 5 ATL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Carmona: 7 IP, 2 R KC 5 FLA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Willingham: 2 2B MIN 10 MIL 9 (Recap and Boxscore) See below STL 10 OAK 6 (Recap and Boxscore) Ludwick: 3-5, 5 RBI; Crosby: 2 2B TEX 11 CIN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Byrd: 2B, HR; Dunn: 2 HR; Millwood: 6 IP, 10 K HOU 10 SEA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Lamb: 2B, GS HR; Ichiro: 4-5 PIT 8 CHA 7 (Recap and Boxscore) McLouth: 2 2B, 4 RBI TB 7 COL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Gomes: 2B, 2 HR; Crawford: 4-5 LAA 10 LAN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Escobar: 7 IP, 3 R DET 7 PHI 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Ordonez: 33rd 2B, 3 RBI National League SD 11 CHN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Gonzalez: 3 2B, HR; Cameron: 2 HR
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- San Francisco Giants at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (L) Noah Lowry (6-5) vs. (R) Yovani Gallardo (0-0) Inter-League ------------ Boston Red Sox at Atlanta Braves, 7:05 PM (R) Curt Schilling (6-3) vs. (L) Chuck James (5-6) Philadelphia Phillies at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (L) Cole Hamels (9-2) vs. (L) Cliff Lee (3-4) Detroit Tigers at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM (L) Mike Maroth (4-2) vs. (L) Matt Chico (3-4) Minnesota Twins at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Carlos Silva (4-7) vs. (R) John Maine (6-4) Kansas City Royals at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:10 PM (L) Odalis Perez (3-7) vs. (R) Adam Wainwright (5-5) Florida Marlins at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) Josh Johnson (0-0) vs. (R) Jose Contreras (4-7) Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Edwin Jackson (0-8) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (5-4) Cincinnati Reds at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Kyle Lohse (3-8) vs. (R) Joe Blanton (6-4) Houston Astros at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Chris Sampson (6-5) vs. (R) John Lackey (10-4) 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 44 24 .647 0.0 42 2 Game of the DayCrazy good game. Morneau almost won the game all by himself; WPA tally of .450. See Retrosheet’s description above for more info.MILWAUKEE (9) VS MINNESOTA (10) - FINAL
MILWAUKEE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Hart rf 6 2 3 3 0 2 2 .301
J Hardy ss 5 1 2 1 0 1 3 .282
R Braun 3b 5 0 0 0 0 2 2 .294
P Fielder dh 4 1 1 1 1 1 0 .290
B Hall cf 4 1 3 0 1 1 0 .273
J Estrada c 5 0 1 0 0 0 5 .291
T Gwynn Jr pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .301
D Miller c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .217
G Jenkins lf 4 2 3 0 1 0 0 .285
T Graffanino 1b 5 1 1 2 0 2 4 .237
C Counsell 2b 3 1 1 2 1 1 0 .246
Totals 41 9 15 9 4 10 16
BATTING: 2B - B Hall (19, K Slowey); G Jenkins (9, J Rincon). HR - C Hart 2 (7,
5th inning off K Slowey 0 on, 0 Out, 8th inning off J Rincon 1 on, 1 Out), J
Hardy (17, 5th inning off K Slowey 0 on, 0 Out), T Graffanino (3, 6th inning
off K Slowey 1 on, 0 Out), P Fielder (25, 9th inning off J Nathan 0 on, 0 Out).
SF - C Counsell. RBI - C Hart 3 (23), J Hardy (49), T Graffanino 2 (14), C
Counsell 2 (13), P Fielder (54). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J
Estrada 3, C Hart 2, J Hardy 2, R Braun 1. Team LOB - 10.
BASERUNNING: SB - C Hart (12, 2nd base off M Guerrier/M Redmond).
FIELDING: DP: 2 (T Graffanino-J Hardy-T Graffanino, J Suppan-J Hardy-T
Graffanino).
MINNESOTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
L Castillo 2b 4 0 0 0 1 0 1 .319
J Mauer dh 4 3 2 0 1 0 0 .316
M Cuddyer rf 4 2 1 0 1 2 2 .296
J Morneau 1b 2 3 2 3 2 0 0 .280
T Hunter cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .307
L Ford pr-cf 3 1 2 4 0 0 2 .246
M Redmond c 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 .297
J Tyner lf 4 1 1 1 0 0 2 .268
J Cirillo 3b 4 0 3 1 0 0 0 .233
N Punto 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .229
J Bartlett ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .242
Totals 33 10 12 10 5 3 11
BATTING: 2B - M Cuddyer (14, J Suppan); J Morneau (12, J Suppan); L Ford (3, J
Suppan). HR - J Morneau (20, 9th inning off C Spurling 0 on, 0 Out). SF - J
Morneau. RBI - J Morneau 3 (54), M Redmond (20), L Ford 4 (8), J Tyner (12), J
Cirillo (12). 2-out RBI - M Redmond, J Tyner, J Cirillo. Runners left in
scoring position, 2 out - J Tyner 1, L Ford 1. GIDP - L Castillo, M Redmond.
Team LOB - 6.
BASERUNNING: SB - J Tyner (4, 2nd base off J Suppan/J Estrada), L Castillo
(7, 2nd base off J Capellan/J Estrada).
----------------------------------------------------
MILWAUKEE - 000 022 032 -- 9
MINNESOTA - 203 040 001 -- 10
No outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
MILWAUKEE ip h r er bb so hr era
J Suppan 4 2/3 10 9 9 3 2 0 4.69
J Capellan 2 1/3 1 0 0 2 1 0 3.60
C Spurling (L, 1-1) 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 3.74
MINNESOTA ip h r er bb so hr era
K Slowey 5 1/3 8 4 4 4 4 3 4.43
M Guerrier 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 3 0 1.52
J Rincon 1 3 3 3 0 1 1 3.42
J Nathan (W, 3-1; B, 2) 1 4 2 2 0 2 1 2.45
C Spurling pitched to 1 batter in the 9th.
IBB - J Morneau (by J Capellan). HBP - T Hunter (by J Suppan).
Pitches-strikes: J Suppan 94-53; J Capellan 52-27; C Spurling 14-8; K Slowey
97-60; M Guerrier 29-18; J Rincon 16-11; J Nathan 26-17. Ground balls-fly
balls: J Suppan 7-5; J Capellan 3-3; C Spurling 2-1; K Slowey 8-4; M Guerrier
1-1; J Rincon 1-1; J Nathan 0-1. Batters faced: J Suppan 26; J Capellan 10; C
Spurling 4; K Slowey 28; M Guerrier 5; J Rincon 6; J Nathan 7.
UMPIRES: HP--Tom Hallion. 1B--Jerry Crawford. 2B--Brian O'Nora. 3B--Phil
Cuzzi.
T--3:14. Att--31,624.
Weather: INDOORSThe 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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 SEA AAA Adam Jones........ 4 2 2 0 0 0 2 TB A Desmond Jennings.. 4 4 3 0 0 1 0 3 R MIN AAA Alexi Casilla..... 5 4 3 0 0 0 0 CIN AAA Joey Votto........ 4 2 0 0 1 0 1 LA AA Chin Lung Hu...... 4 3 1 1 0 1 0 CLE A Matthew McBride... 4 3 0 0 1 1 0 4 RBI COL AA Jonathan Herrera.. 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 3 R OAK AAA Daric Barton...... 4 2 1 0 0 0 1 SD A Daryl Jones....... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 PIT AA Andrew McCutchen.. 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 ARI AA Justin Upton...... 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes NYY AA Joba Chamberlain.. 6 3 1 1 8 1 0 CLE AA Scott Lewis....... 5 6 2 1 8 0 0 COL AAA Ubaldo Jimenez.... 6 8 5 4 6 1 0 BOS A+ Justin Masterson.. 7 4 1 1 7 0 0 14 GB HOU A+ Brian Bogusevic... 6 5 1 1 8 0 1 CHW AAA Lance Broadway.... 7 5 2 2 8 1 2 HOU AA Felipe Paulino.... 5 3 1 1 6 0 1 ARI AAA Dustin Nippert.... 7 6 2 2 10 2 1 WAN AA Collin Balester... 6 3 4 4 4 1 1 STL AA Jaime Garcia...... 6 7 3 3 6 1 1 11 GB COL A+ Brandon Hynick.... 7 9 3 3 7 0 1 13 GB BOS AAA Abe Alvarez....... 7 3 1 1 4 4 0 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. 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: Home Run Park Factor—A New Approach>> <<Previous Article: THT Dartboard: June 17, 2007 | |||||
NYA 35 32 .522 8.5 40 -5 
TOR 33 35 .485 11.0 35 -2 
TB 30 37 .448 13.5 26 4 
BAL 29 40 .420 15.5 33 -4 
American League Central
CLE 40 28 .588 0.0 38 2 
DET 39 29 .574 1.0 41 -2 
MIN 34 33 .507 5.5 34 0 
CHA 28 37 .431 10.5 26 2 
KC 28 42 .400 13.0 30 -2 
American League West
LAA 44 26 .629 0.0 42 2 
OAK 37 31 .544 6.0 39 -2 
SEA 35 31 .530 7.0 33 2 
TEX 26 43 .377 17.5 29 -3 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 37 30 .552 0.0 37 0 
ATL 37 33 .529 1.5 34 3 
PHI 36 33 .522 2.0 34 2 
FLA 33 37 .471 5.5 34 -1 
WAS 30 39 .435 8.0 27 3 
National League Central
MIL 38 31 .551 0.0 36 2 
CHN 31 37 .456 6.5 36 -5 
STL 30 36 .455 6.5 26 4 
HOU 30 39 .435 8.0 32 -2 
PIT 30 39 .435 8.0 29 1 
CIN 27 43 .386 11.5 31 -4 
National League West
SD 40 28 .588 0.0 43 -3 
ARI 40 30 .571 1.0 36 4 
LAN 39 30 .565 1.5 37 2 
COL 35 34 .507 5.5 33 2 
SF 30 38 .441 10.0 34 -4 