THT Daily: Ankiel Day
by Matthew CarruthSeptember 07, 2007
Major League News for September 7
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
Story of the Day - From the people who broke it, the NY Daily News article on Rick Ankiel.
100 RBI - Mike Pindelski checks in with a good article/rant on the use of the 100 RBI benchmark and lists some of the all time great seasons that failed to eclipse 100 RBI.
Fun Tool - Here's a fun little java applet showing the connections between teams' salary and their record throughout the season.
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 RotoworldThe New York Daily News reports that Rick Ankiel received a 12-month supply of human growth hormone in 2004 from a Florida pharmacy currently under investigation. So much for what was arguably the best story of the year. If that was Ankiel's only foray into the world of PEDs, one could almost sympathize with him. Ankiel, still a pitcher at the time, had his 2002 and 2003 seasons wrecked by elbow injuries and was trying desperately to make it back. Still, he could have been cheating long before his elbow problems and there's no telling whether he's still using today -- MLB players are not tested for HGH. While a suspension for Ankiel isn't at all likely, we doubt this story will go away as quickly as the news regarding Gary Matthews Jr. did.
Rick Ankiel homered twice, doubled and drove in seven runs Thursday as the Cardinals destroyed the Pirates 16-4 in a rain-shortened game. The game began late because of rain and then was halted in the top of the ninth. Obviously, no one was in the mood to wait very long for the rain to stop again with the score 16-4. Ankiel was already out of the game by that point. He homered off Bryan Bullington and left-hander John Grabow, and he later doubled just over the glove of an out-of-position Steven Pearce in right field to drive in two more runs in the sixth. This gives him nine homers in 23 games for the Cardinals. We still expect the league to stop trying to get ahead of him with fastballs at some point, but he's showing legitimate 35-homer power.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 7 BAL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 3 CHA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 10 CLE 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League LAN 7 CHN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 16 PIT 4 (Recap and Boxscore)You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
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Today’s Games
National League --------------- Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (L) Rich Hill (8-7) vs. (L) Tom Gorzelanny (13-7) Florida Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Byung-Hyun Kim (8-6) vs. (R) J.D. Durbin (6-4) Milwaukee Brewers at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Dave Bush (11-9) vs. (R) Bronson Arroyo (7-14) Houston Astros at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (L) Wandy Rodriguez (8-12) vs. (R) Mike Pelfrey (1-7) Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (R) Joel Hanrahan (4-2) vs. (R) John Smoltz (12-7) San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (R) Justin Germano (7-8) vs. (R) Elmer Dessens (2-2) St. Louis Cardinals at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Adam Wainwright (13-9) vs. (R) Brandon Webb (14-10) Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, 10:05 PM (R) Chad Billingsley (10-4) vs. (L) Jonathan Sanchez (1-3) American League --------------- Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (L) Jon Lester (3-0) vs. (R) Daniel Cabrera (9-14) Seattle Mariners at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Miguel Batista (13-10) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (15-5) Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Dustin McGowan (9-8) vs. (R) Edwin Jackson (4-13) Oakland Athletics at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Dan Haren (14-6) vs. (R) Edinson Volquez (1-0) New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Ian Kennedy (1-0) vs. (R) Gil Meche (7-12) Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) Carlos Silva (11-13) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (11-8) Cleveland Indians at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Jake Westbrook (5-8) vs. (R) John Lackey (16-8)
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 85 56 .603 0.0 89 -4NYA 78 62 .557 6.5 84 -6
TOR 71 68 .511 13.0 74 -3
BAL 60 79 .432 24.0 62 -2
TB 58 82 .414 26.5 57 1
American League Central CLE 81 59 .579 0.0 77 4
DET 75 65 .536 6.0 76 -1
MIN 69 71 .493 12.0 71 -2
KC 62 77 .446 18.5 67 -5
CHA 59 81 .421 22.0 54 5
American League West LAA 83 57 .593 0.0 80 3
SEA 74 64 .536 8.0 68 6
OAK 69 72 .489 14.5 70 -1
TEX 65 74 .468 17.5 66 -1
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 78 61 .561 0.0 76 2
PHI 73 66 .525 5.0 74 -1
ATL 71 69 .507 7.5 74 -3
WAS 63 77 .450 15.5 60 3
FLA 60 80 .429 18.5 62 -2
National League Central CHN 71 68 .511 0.0 73 -2
MIL 71 68 .511 0.0 70 1
STL 69 68 .504 1.0 63 6
CIN 63 77 .450 8.5 64 -1
HOU 62 78 .443 9.5 61 1
PIT 61 79 .436 10.5 62 -1
National League West ARI 78 63 .553 0.0 67 11
SD 76 63 .547 1.0 77 -1
LAN 74 66 .529 3.5 73 1
COL 72 67 .518 5.0 74 -2
SF 63 77 .450 14.5 69 -6
Wildcard Standings American League NYA 78 62 .557 0.0 SEA 74 64 .536 3.0 DET 75 65 .536 3.0 TOR 71 68 .511 6.5 MIN 69 71 .493 9.0 National League SD 76 63 .547 0.0 LAN 74 66 .529 2.5 PHI 73 66 .525 3.0 COL 72 67 .518 4.0 ATL 71 69 .507 5.5
Game of the Day
The Dodgers won a dramatic game against the Cubs when the Chicago bullpen fell apart to give up four runs in the ninth inning, three on a home run by Andre Ethier off Ryan Dempster. The Dodgers prevailed, 7-4, to move within 3.5 games of first in the NL West. The Cubs are now tied with the Brewers for the NL Central lead, with the Cardinals one game behind.LA DODGERS (7) VS CHICAGO CUBS (4) - FINAL
LA DODGERS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Furcal ss 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 .274
J Pierre cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .291
M Kemp rf 5 1 1 1 0 1 4 .339
L Gonzalez lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .279
T Saito p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Martin c 4 2 2 0 0 1 0 .298
J Loney 1b 4 1 3 2 0 1 0 .314
W Valdez pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .236
R Martinez 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .185
A LaRoche 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .196
a-A Ethier ph-lf 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 .290
T Abreu 2b 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 .289
D Lowe p 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .113
J Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Beimel p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-M Sweeney ph-1b 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .255
Totals 36 7 10 6 1 5 8
a-homered to left for A Laroche in the 9th; b-singled to right for J Beimel in
the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - J Loney (15, J Marquis). HR - J Loney (7, 5th inning off J
Marquis 0 on, 2 Out), M Kemp (10, 8th inning off B Howry 0 on, 2 Out), A Ethier
(11, 9th inning off R Dempster 2 on, 0 Out). S - D Lowe. RBI - J Loney 2 (42),
M Kemp (36), A Ethier 3 (58). 2-out RBI - J Loney, M Kemp. Runners left in
scoring position, 2 out - D Lowe 1, M Kemp 2. Team LOB - 5.
BASERUNNING: SB - R Furcal (17, 2nd base off R Dempster/J Kendall), J Pierre
(56, 2nd base off M Wuertz/J Kendall).
FIELDING: DP: 1 (A LaRoche-T Abreu-J Loney).
CHICAGO CUBS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Soriano lf 5 2 2 4 0 2 0 .299
R Theriot ss 5 0 1 0 0 1 0 .282
D Lee 1b 3 0 2 0 1 1 1 .311
D Ward rf 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 .337
a-A Ramirez ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .317
R Cedeno pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .111
B Howry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Dempster p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
M Wuertz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
M DeRosa 3b 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 .291
J Jones cf-rf 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .265
J Kendall c 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .281
M Fontenot 2b 4 1 2 0 0 1 0 .283
J Marquis p 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .145
b-C Floyd ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .287
S Fuld pr-rf 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
F Pie cf 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .213
Totals 32 4 7 4 5 8 9
a-hit by pitch for D Ward in the 7th; b-walked for J Marquis in the 7th.
BATTING: 2B - R Theriot (29, D Lowe). HR - A Soriano 2 (22, 1st inning off D
Lowe 0 on, 0 Out, 7th inning off J Broxton 2 on, 0 Out). RBI - A Soriano 4
(49). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - D Ward 1, J Jones 1, J Marquis
1. GIDP - M DeRosa. Team LOB - 7.
BASERUNNING: Picked Off - D Ward (1st base, R Martin).
----------------------------------------------------
LA DODGERS - 000 010 114 -- 7
CHICAGO CUBS - 100 000 300 -- 4
----------------------------------------------------
LA DODGERS ip h r er bb so hr era
D Lowe 6 5 3 3 5 5 1 3.80
J Broxton (B, 4) 1/3 2 1 1 0 0 1 2.25
J Beimel (W, 4-1) 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.94
T Saito (S, 37) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1.29
CHICAGO CUBS ip h r er bb so hr era
J Marquis 7 4 2 2 1 4 1 4.13
B Howry (H, 20) 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 3.63
R Dempster (L, 2-5; B, 3) 2/3 5 4 4 0 0 1 3.88
M Wuertz 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.64
D Lowe pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.
WP - M Wuertz. IBB - T Abreu (by J Marquis). HBP - J Pierre (by J Marquis); A
Ramirez (by J Beimel). Pitches-strikes: D Lowe 96-55; J Broxton 9-6; J Beimel
17-13; T Saito 10-7; J Marquis 91-59; B Howry 10-7; R Dempster 28-22; M Wuertz
4-4. Ground balls-fly balls: D Lowe 10-2; J Broxton 1-0; J Beimel 3-1; T Saito
0-1; J Marquis 9-8; B Howry 0-3; R Dempster 2-0; M Wuertz 0-0. Batters faced: D
Lowe 27; J Broxton 3; J Beimel 5; T Saito 3; J Marquis 27; B Howry 4; R
Dempster 7; M Wuertz 1.
UMPIRES: HP--Ed Rapuano. 1B--Ed Hickox. 2B--C.B. Bucknor. 3B--Joe West.
T--2:46. Att--39,397.
Weather: 81 degrees, overcast. Wind: 12 mph, out to left.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 DET A- Ronald Bourquin... 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 PIT A- Austin McClune.... 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 STL A- Justin Roberson... 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 TOR A- Bradley Emaus..... 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 BOS A- Jered Stanley..... 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 WAN A- Jack McGeary...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 HOU A- Jason Dominguez... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DET A- Kody Kaiser....... 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 CLE A- Josh Judy......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 FLA A- Bryan Petersen.... 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 NYM A- Jason Jacobs...... 3 1 0 0 1 2 1 TB A- Angel Fermin...... 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes FLA A- Jay Voss.......... 1 2 1 1 3 1 0 2 OF BOS A- Jordan Craft...... 5 3 1 1 4 2 1 DET A- Brandon Johnson... 5 5 4 4 4 3 1 STL A- Logan Collier..... 2 1 1 1 1 0 1 4 OF NYM A- Eddie Kunz........ 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 GB BAL A- Aubrey Miller..... 6 3 2 2 4 1 0 12 GB STL A- Blake King........ 3 4 4 4 3 3 0 7 OF NYM A- Dillon Gee........ 6 5 2 2 6 0 0 HOU A- Jordan Powell..... 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 WAN A- Martin Beno....... 2 0 0 0 6 3 0 PHI A- Tyson Brummett.... 7 4 2 2 5 0 0 14 GB TOR A- Joe Wice.......... 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 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.