THT Daily: Angels Increase Lead
by Matthew CarruthMay 23, 2007
Major League News for May 23
Today’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 Links
Hurl Dat Ol' Spherical Thingy Down At The Guy Standin' Dere - You too could be a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. No talent needed! In fact, no talent preferred! People with talent will stay in Triple-A because we don't take kindly to those types 'round here.
Ruh-Oh - Lots of Jason Giambi news today as the story leaks that he failed an amphetamine test at some point last year. There is no real penalty to a first offense except more stringent testing in the future, but this is not good news for a guy whose team is already actively trying to find ways to void his contract.
On the Other Hand - However, if you can hit, and hit like Giambi can, then you are likely to get a job no matter what baggage you bring along. And according to rumors the Angels are interested. I cannot figure out though why they would want to ditch Shea Hillenbrand at DH. That guy is pure entertainment. Watching him try to hit; hilarity.
Maddening - The Mariners are last in pretty much every category related to patience at the plate and one guy puts the blame right on GM Bill Bavasi, which is where it belongs.
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 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldBen Sheets isn't sure whether he'll make his next start after leaving Tuesday's game with a blister on his right middle finger. The Brewers have Thursday off, so they could get by without a fifth starter until next Tuesday. It'd likely take a DL assignment for the Brewers to call up Yovani Gallardo to replace him in the rotation.
Johan Santana struck out a season-high 13 batters Tuesday to help Minnesota shut down a scorching Texas offense, 7-1. The Rangers had piled up 28 runs in their past two games, but Santana (5-4) was dominant, giving up just four hits, two walks and a run in seven innings. He had lost two straight heading in, but the Twinkies hadn't exactly been helping their ace lately with just five combined runs over his last three starts. Santana, who came within one strikeout of matching his career high, has reached double digits 35 times in his career. The defending AL Cy Young winner lowered his ERA to 3.05.
Angels activated second baseman Howie Kendrick from the 15-day disabled list. Kendrick will return as the everyday second baseman. With Maicer Izturis landing on the DL, Erick Aybar gets to keep his roster spot. Chone Figgins will get most of the starts at third.
Felipe Lopez stuck it to his ex-team Tuesday, hitting a grand slam and driving in six runs as Washington rallied to whip the Reds 8-4. Wayne Krivsky must be really fuming about the deal now. The Reds already filed a grievance last month over last season's eight-player swap that sent Lopez and Austin Kearns to Washington and netted the Reds, among others, reliever Gary Majewski, whom they claim was damaged goods. Lopez's huge night, which included two doubles and two runs, is just more fuel for the fire. Lopez has 10 doubles, 20 runs and 16 RBI in 44 games.
The Cincinnati Post is reporting that the Reds have put Josh Hamilton on the DL and recalled Edwin Encarnacion. Encarnacion figures to return as the regular third baseman, with Ryan Freel going back out to center field until Hamilton is ready to play again. Maybe losing Hamilton isn't good news for the Reds, but the team will benefit from having fewer at-bats going to Norris Hopper and Juan Castro.
Yesterday’s Results
American League TOR 6 BAL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Phillips: 2-4, HR; Markakis: 3-4, 2 2B BOS 7 NYA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Ortiz: 3-4; Lowell: 2B, HR; Tavarez: 5.2 IP, 2 R SEA 5 TB 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Washburn: 6.1 IP, 2 R; Kazmir: 5 IP, 2 R CHA 10 OAK 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Thome: 3-3, 2B, HR; Dye: HR; Danks: 6 IP, 1 ER LAA 6 DET 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Napoli: 2-4, HR; Cabrera: 2-3, HR; Lackey: 5 IP, 1 R KC 4 CLE 3 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 7 TEX 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Morneau: 3-4, 2 HR; Santana: 7 IP, 1 R National League ATL 8 NYN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Davies: 8 IP, 1 R, hit HR FLA 5 PHI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Werth: 2 HR WAS 8 CIN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) See below STL 9 PIT 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Duncan: 2B, HR; Wainwright: 5.1 IP, 2 R COL 3 ARI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Tulowitzki: GW 2B in 9th; Hernandez: 8 IP, 1 R LAN 3 MIL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Wolf: 7 IP, 2 R; Martin: 1-2, HR SD 5 CHN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Cameron: 2 HR; Peavy: 6 IP, 1 R SF 4 HOU 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Lincecum: 8 IP, 2 R; Klesko: 2 2B
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Philadelphia Phillies at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM (R) Freddy Garcia (1-3) vs. (R) Byung-Hyun Kim (2-2) Washington Nationals at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Jason Simontacchi (1-2) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (1-5) New York Mets at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (L) Oliver Perez (5-3) vs. (L) Chuck James (4-3) Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:10 PM (R) Ian Snell (4-2) vs. (R) Kip Wells (1-8) Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (L) Jeff Francis (2-4) vs. (L) Doug Davis (2-5) Chicago Cubs at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (L) Sean Marshall (0-0) vs. (L) David Wells (1-2) Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (L) Chris Capuano (5-2) vs. (R) Brad Penny (5-1) Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (R) Matt Albers (1-3) vs. (L) Barry Zito (3-5) American League --------------- Minnesota Twins at Texas Rangers, 2:05 PM (R) Boof Bonser (2-1) vs. (R) Robinson Tejeda (4-3) Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Dustin McGowan (0-1) vs. (R) Steve Trachsel (2-3) LA Angels of Anaheim at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Bartolo Colon (5-0) vs. (R) Chad Durbin (3-1) Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Curt Schilling (4-1) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (2-3) Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Miguel Batista (3-4) vs. (L) Casey Fossum (3-3) Cleveland Indians at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (L) Cliff Lee (2-0) vs. (R) Scott Elarton (1-0) Oakland Athletics at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) Chad Gaudin (3-1) vs. (R) Jon Garland (3-2)
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 31 14 .689 0.0 30 1NYA 20 24 .455 10.5 25 -5
TOR 20 24 .455 10.5 21 -1
BAL 20 25 .444 11.0 21 -1
TB 18 26 .409 12.5 16 2
American League Central CLE 27 16 .628 0.0 25 2
DET 27 17 .614 0.5 25 2
CHA 23 19 .548 3.5 20 3
MIN 21 24 .467 7.0 23 -2
KC 18 28 .391 10.5 19 -1
American League West LAA 28 18 .609 0.0 28 0
OAK 22 23 .489 5.5 26 -4
SEA 20 21 .488 5.5 18 2
TEX 18 28 .391 10.0 21 -3
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 28 16 .636 0.0 27 1
ATL 27 18 .600 1.5 25 2
FLA 22 23 .489 6.5 22 0
PHI 22 23 .489 6.5 23 -1
WAS 17 29 .370 12.0 16 1
National League Central MIL 28 18 .609 0.0 26 2
HOU 21 24 .467 6.5 21 0
CHN 20 23 .465 6.5 24 -4
PIT 19 25 .432 8.0 18 1
STL 17 25 .405 9.0 15 2
CIN 18 28 .391 10.0 22 -4
National League West LAN 26 20 .565 0.0 25 1
SD 25 20 .556 0.5 27 -2
ARI 25 22 .532 1.5 22 3
SF 23 22 .511 2.5 24 -1
COL 19 27 .413 7.0 17 2
Game of the Day
Call it Felipe Lopez’s revenge. The Nationals shortstop led Washington to a come-from behind victory over his former team, the Reds, 8-4. The Reds were leading 4-3 in the 7th when Lopez doubled and scored on a single by Cristian Guzman. One inning later, Lopez came to the plate with the bases loaded and deposited a grand slam home run over the fence. He had also doubled in the first run of the game in the 3rd.WASHINGTON (8) VS CINCINNATI (4) - FINAL
WASHINGTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
F Lopez 2b 5 2 3 6 0 0 0 .247
C Guzman ss 5 0 2 2 0 1 1 .271
R Zimmerman 3b 4 0 0 0 1 0 1 .250
D Young 1b 3 0 1 0 1 0 2 .264
R Church pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .262
J Colome p 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000
C Cordero p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
A Kearns rf 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 .237
B Schneider c 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 .231
N Logan cf 4 2 1 0 0 0 2 .258
R Langerhans lf 3 1 1 0 0 2 2 .147
b-R Belliard ph-1b 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .264
M Chico p 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .267
R King p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-T Batista ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167
R Fick 1b-lf 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .192
Totals 38 8 12 8 3 4 12
a-flied out to left for R King in the 7th; b-singled to left for R Langerhans
in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - F Lopez 2 (10, M Stanton, K Saarloos); R Langerhans (3, K
Saarloos); C Guzman (1, K Saarloos). HR - F Lopez (3, 8th inning off J
Coutlangus 3 on, 1 Out). S - M Chico. RBI - F Lopez 6 (16), C Guzman 2 (4).
2-out RBI - F Lopez, C Guzman. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - D
Young 1, C Guzman 1, A Kearns 1. Team LOB - 7.
FIELDING: E - C Guzman (3, catch).
CINCINNATI ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Freel cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 .261
A Gonzalez ss 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 .247
K Griffey Jr rf 3 1 2 2 1 0 0 .311
B Phillips 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .280
J Conine 1b 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .282
A Dunn lf 3 0 0 0 1 2 3 .263
E Encarnacion 3b 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 .219
D Ross c 3 1 1 2 0 2 0 .210
b-S Hatteberg ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .300
K Saarloos p 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000
M Stanton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
T Coffey p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-C Moeller ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .188
J Coutlangus p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Salmon p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Burton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
c-J Valentin ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .234
Totals 33 4 5 4 3 7 11
a-lined out to center for T Coffey in the 7th; b-struck out looking for D Ross
in the 9th; c-flied out to center for J Burton in the 9th.
BATTING: HR - K Griffey Jr (10, 4th inning off M Chico 1 on, 1 Out), D Ross (5,
5th inning off M Chico 1 on, 1 Out). RBI - K Griffey Jr 2 (29), D Ross 2 (15).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A Dunn 1, J Valentin 1. Team LOB - 5.
----------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON - 001 020 140 -- 8
CINCINNATI - 000 220 000 -- 4
----------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON ip h r er bb so hr era
M Chico 5 2/3 3 4 4 2 3 2 5.54
R King 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.55
J Colome (W, 4-0) 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 2.12
C Cordero 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 3.54
CINCINNATI ip h r er bb so hr era
K Saarloos 5 1/3 6 3 3 2 2 0 5.09
M Stanton (B, 2) 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 6.60
T Coffey 2/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 4.64
J Coutlangus (L, 2-1) 1/3 3 4 4 1 0 1 5.40
B Salmon 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.84
J Burton 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
Pitches-strikes: M Chico 95-60; R King 5-3; J Colome 30-17; C Cordero 24-15;
K Saarloos 78-49; M Stanton 17-12; T Coffey 5-4; J Coutlangus 22-12; B Salmon
8-5; J Burton 11-9. Ground balls-fly balls: M Chico 9-6; R King 0-0; J Colome
2-3; C Cordero 0-1; K Saarloos 10-4; M Stanton 0-2; T Coffey 1-1; J Coutlangus
1-0; B Salmon 1-1; J Burton 2-0. Batters faced: M Chico 23; R King 1; J Colome
7; C Cordero 5; K Saarloos 24; M Stanton 5; T Coffey 3; J Coutlangus 5; B
Salmon 2; J Burton 3.
UMPIRES: HP--Gary Cederstrom. 1B--Lance Barksdale. 2B--Tim Welke. 3B--Jim
Reynolds.
T--2:58. Att--16,732.
Weather: 84 degrees, clear. Wind: 10 mph, in from right.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 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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes CIN A+ Jay Bruce......... 3 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 SB SEA AAA Adam Jones........ 5 3 0 0 1 0 0 4 RBI LAA AAA Howie Kendrick.... 3 2 0 0 1 0 1 PIT AA Andrew McCutchen.. 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 BOS AAA Jacoby Ellsbury... 4 3 1 0 0 1 0 CLE AA Asdrubal Cabrera.. 4 3 2 0 1 0 0 5 RBI ! MIL AAA Ryan Braun........ 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 HOU AA Drew Sutton....... 5 3 1 0 1 1 0 4 LD LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 TOR AA Ryan Patterson.... 4 3 3 0 0 0 1 CLE AAA Brad Snyder....... 3 3 0 0 1 1 0 CHW AAA Josh Fields....... 5 3 1 0 0 0 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes MIL AAA Yovani Gallardo... 6 7 1 1 10 2 0 CIN AAA Homer Bailey...... 6 1 1 0 7 2 0 LAA AAA Joe Saunders...... 6 5 2 2 9 2 0 MIN AAA Matt Garza........ 7 3 2 2 4 2 0 COL AAA Ubaldo Jimenez.... 7 3 1 1 4 3 0 NYY A+ Joba Chamberlain.. 6 4 2 2 7 2 0 12 GB NYY AA Alan Horne........ 6 5 1 1 7 1 0 11 GB BOS AAA Abe Alvarez....... 6 8 3 0 7 1 0 HOU A+ C. Salamida....... 6 8 1 0 6 0 0 PHI AA Fabio Castro...... 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 BAL AA Radhames Liz...... 7 7 1 1 5 2 1 HOU A Sergio Severino... 4 4 1 1 4 2 0 7 GB
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.