THT Daily: All-star Wakefield
by Dave StudemanJuly 06, 2009
Major League News for July 6
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldRangers activated outfielder Josh Hamilton from the 15-day disabled list.
Hamilton had been sidelined since June 9 following surgery to repair a partially torn abdominal muscle. He didn't hit the ball too well during his minor league rehab assignment, but that's a fairly small sample size. He returns to a .240/.290/.456 batting line and should, in theory, provide a nice offensive boost for the Rangers. Chris Davis was optioned to make room.
Athletics acquired outfielder Scott Hairston from the Padres for RHP Craig Italiano, RHP Ryan Webb and a player to be named.
The A's aren't waiving the white flag just yet, but this isn't a trade just for 2009. Hairston is under control through 2011 and should remain pretty affordable. The 29-year-old was hitting .299/.358/.533 for the Padres. The A's could use him in center or right, depending on whether they'd prefer to bench Ryan Sweeney or send down Travis Buck. We're guessing he'll start in right. AL-only leagues shouldn't be afraid to use a high waiver claim on him.
Jonathan Broxton blew his third save of the season on Sunday, allowing three earned runs in the ninth inning.
The Dodgers were able to scrape out a win, but Broxton looked terrible. He had trouble finding the strike zone -- surrendering three walks and throwing just 19 of his 38 pitches for strikes -- and was tossing easily hittable pitches when he did. He's had a fantastic season thus far, but things went awry on the mound Sunday at Petco Park.
The Giants are currently calling Randy Johnson's shoulder injury a strain.
"I'm going to make this short," Johnson said after the game. "Right now it's a strain and I'm going for an MRI tomorrow. That's all I'm going to say." Jonathan Sanchez could go back into the rotation if Johnson lands on the disabled list, as appears likely. A Madison Bumgarner callup probably isn't coming just yet.
Indians GM Mark Shapiro said Sunday that Eric Wedge and his staff are not in danger of losing their jobs in 2009.
The good ole vote of confidence. "As I've said all along, the responsibility for the disappointments this season doesn't rest with one person," Shapiro said. "The responsibility is spread equally throughout the players, the front office, Eric and his staff. And I felt it's important for the remainder of the second half to remove the potential distraction that exists from that speculation."
Yankees placed RHP Chien-Ming Wang on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder strain.
Wang allowed four runs over 6 2/3 innings in his last outing. He's 1-6 with a 9.64 ERA and a 2.02 WHIP in 12 appearances (nine starts) with the Yankees this season. He won't pick up a baseball until after the All-Star break and may not return until August. We'll update as soon as Thursday's starter is named. Sergio Mitre is currently the leading candidate for the gig.
According to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Giants have been scouting Pirates second baseman Freddy Sanchez.
They haven't seen much recently, as Sanchez has been sidelined with right lower back spasms. That being said, he'd fit nicely into San Francisco's game plan, bringing much-needed offensive consistency and the ability to play second base, where the Giants currently have major question marks. Sanchez, 31, is batting .316/.355/.477 this season with six home runs and 33 RBI. He's owed about $7 million for the remainder of '09.
Manny Ramirez smacked his first home run since returning from a 50-game suspension Saturday in a losing effort against the Padres.
The dinger came in the top of the first inning. It was Manny's only hit of the game, but should give hope to fantasy owners who were worried about his physical fitness. The Dodgers' slugger is batting .337 this season with seven home runs and 21 RBI in 98 at-bats.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League BOS 8 SEA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 10 TOR 8 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 5 CLE 2 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 6 CHA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 6 DET 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 9 BAL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 5 TB 2 (Recap and Boxscore) National League FLA 5 PIT 0 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 2 NYN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 5 ATL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 8 MIL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 10 CIN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 4 COL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 7 SD 6 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 7 SF 1 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Cincinnati Reds at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Johnny Cueto (8-4) vs. (L) Cole Hamels (4-5) Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, 7:05 PM (R) Jair Jurrjens (6-6) vs. (R) Randy Wells (3-3) Pittsburgh Pirates at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Virgil Vasquez (1-1) vs. (L) Mike Hampton (4-5) Washington Nationals at Colorado Rockies, 8:40 PM (R) Craig Stammen (1-3) vs. (R) Jason Marquis (10-5) San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Walter Silva (0-2) vs. (R) Jon Garland (4-8) Florida Marlins at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (L) Sean West (3-2) vs. (R) Matt Cain (9-2) American League --------------- Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM (L) Ricky Romero (6-3) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (8-3) Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Gil Meche (4-8) vs. (R) Armando Galarraga (5-7) Oakland Athletics at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 PM (L) Brett Anderson (4-7) vs. (R) John Smoltz (0-1) Texas Rangers at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Kevin Millwood (8-5) vs. (R) Jered Weaver (8-3) Baltimore Orioles at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) Brad Bergesen (5-2) vs. (L) Jarrod Washburn (4-6)
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 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 49 32 .605 0.0 48 1NYA 48 33 .593 1.0 46 2
TB 44 39 .530 6.0 49 -5
TOR 42 41 .506 8.0 45 -3
BAL 36 46 .439 13.5 35 1
American League Central DET 44 37 .543 0.0 42 2
MIN 43 40 .518 2.0 45 -2
CHA 42 40 .512 2.5 41 1
KC 35 46 .432 9.0 34 1
CLE 33 50 .398 12.0 39 -6
American League West LAA 45 35 .563 0.0 42 3
TEX 45 35 .563 0.0 43 2
SEA 42 39 .519 3.5 38 4
OAK 34 46 .425 11.0 35 -1
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 42 37 .532 0.0 41 1
FLA 43 40 .518 1.0 40 3
ATL 39 42 .481 4.0 39 0
NYN 39 42 .481 4.0 38 1
WAS 24 55 .304 18.0 30 -6
National League Central STL 45 39 .536 0.0 44 1
MIL 43 39 .524 1.0 42 1
CHN 40 39 .506 2.5 40 0
CIN 40 40 .500 3.0 38 2
HOU 39 41 .488 4.0 37 2
PIT 37 45 .451 7.0 41 -4
National League West LAN 52 30 .634 0.0 50 2
SF 44 37 .543 7.5 45 -1
COL 42 39 .519 9.5 44 -2
SD 35 46 .432 16.5 31 4
ARI 33 49 .402 19.0 37 -4
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 AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes FLA A+ Matt Dominguez.... 4 4 2 0 1 1 0 4 R FLA AA Logan Morrison.... 6 5 2 0 1 0 0 5 RBI ! SEA AA Gregory Halman.... 5 3 1 0 2 0 1 4 R WAN A Derek Norris...... 5 3 0 0 2 0 0 SEA A+ Tyson Gillies..... 3 3 0 0 2 0 0 3 R LA AA Andrew Lambo...... 4 3 1 0 1 1 0 5 RBI ! BOS AA Ryan Kalish....... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 FLA AAA Cameron Maybin.... 4 2 1 0 1 1 0 SEA AAA Adam Moore........ 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 ARI A Reynaldo Navarro.. 5 3 2 0 0 0 1 PHI A Anthony Gose...... 4 3 1 0 0 1 0 DET AAA Wilkin Ramirez.... 3 3 0 0 1 1 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes NYM AAA Jonathon Niese.... 9 5 0 0 10 2 0 OAK A Brett Hunter...... 3 1 0 0 8 1 0 STL AAA C. Mortensen...... 7 6 2 2 8 1 1 13 GB TEX A Martin Perez...... 5 3 1 1 8 1 1 CHC AA Casey Coleman..... 8 2 0 0 4 3 0 BOS A Stephen Fife...... 5 8 3 3 7 1 0 SEA A+ Juan Ramirez...... 6 3 0 0 3 1 0 CIN AAA Matthew Maloney... 5 3 1 1 4 1 0 10 GB SF A Aaron King........ 5 2 1 1 4 2 0 BAL A+ Zachary Britton... 7 6 4 4 5 3 0 17 GB NYY AA Jeremy Bleich..... 6 9 5 3 6 2 0 TB AAA Wade Davis........ 5 6 1 1 5 2 0 9 GB
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Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.