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THT Daily: Ankiel homers

by Matthew Carruth
August 10, 2007

Major League News for Aug. 10
Today’s Links
Player 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

Defying the Odds - The Diamondbacks have won 15 of their last 18 games, despite outscoring opponents by just 12 runs over that span.

Culmination - Rick Ankiel is back and what a sweet moment it must have been for Cardinals fans.

Draft Bonuses - We are rapidly approaching the Aug. 15 deadline for draft picks to sign, and with more than a few still holding out, there are rumors everywhere that slot terms are going to be blown out of the water but that no team wants to be the first to break the dam.

There's Still Hope. Really? - Mike Green discussed the Blue Jays chances at the playoff race. With all apologies to Brattain, I had no idea they were still considering the playoffs possible.

Posada's Future - Will Jorge Posada get the Jason Varitek treatment, a new contract that he's not worthy of based on performance on the field but to recognize his duties in the clubhouse? Or will the Yankees actually let him walk? It seems hard to imagine, especially since there are so few other good catchers and the Yankees don't have any decent internal options.

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 Rotoworld

Rick Ankiel, making his first major league appearance since 2004, smacked a three-run homer in the Cardinals' 5-0 shutout of the Padres on Thursday. Amazing. A once elite pitching prospect, Ankiel completely lost it during the postseason in 2000 and had a hard time finding his stride in subsequent years. Injuries also held him back, but Ankiel had another brief stint with the club in 2004. It once again looked like he wasn't going to make it as a pitcher.

However, now back in the majors as an outfielder, Ankiel is looking like he might help the club yet. The 28-year-old has legitimate major league power, as evidenced by his 32 homers for Triple-A Memphis before being recalled, and he could be a useful platoon player for the Cardinals. It's unlikely he'll be much help in NL-only leagues, but he's certainly someone to root for.

Yesterday’s Results
American League
SEA    13  BAL     8    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     7  CHA     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB      8  DET     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      1  MIN     0    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL     7  NYN     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     4  PHI     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     5  CIN     4    (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings
STL     5  SD      0    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     4  PIT     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN    10  COL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     3  SF      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Today’s Games
National League
 ---------------
 Florida Marlins at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (R) Daniel Barone (0-0) vs. (R) Brian Lawrence (1-0)
 San Diego Padres at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (L) Wilfredo Ledezma (0-2) vs. (R) Matt Belisle (6-8)
 Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:35 PM
  (L) Chuck James (9-8) vs. (L) Cole Hamels (12-5)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (R) Dave Bush (9-8) vs. (R) Jason Jennings (2-7)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:10 PM
  (R) Brad Penny (13-3) vs. (R) Adam Wainwright (10-8)
 Chicago Cubs at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM
  (R) Jason Marquis (8-7) vs. (R) Aaron Cook (8-6)
 Washington Nationals at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (L) Matt Chico (5-6) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (7-7)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM
  (R) Matt Morris (7-7) vs. (R) Russ Ortiz (2-2)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (13-8) vs. (L) Erik Bedard (12-4)
 New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Philip Hughes (1-1) vs. (R) Fausto Carmona (13-6)
 Oakland Athletics at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (R) Joe Blanton (9-8) vs. (R) Jordan Tata (1-1)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (R) Shaun Marcum (8-4) vs. (R) Gil Meche (7-9)
 Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM
  (R) Miguel Batista (11-8) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (9-6)
 Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Texas Rangers, 8:35 PM
  (R) Andrew Sonnanstine (1-7) vs. (R) Brandon McCarthy (5-8)
 Minnesota Twins at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (R) Scott Baker (6-4) vs. (R) Kelvim Escobar (11-6)

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     69  45 .605    0.0   70    -1    sparkline graph
NYA     63  51 .553    6.0   70    -7    sparkline graph
TOR     57  56 .504   11.5   61    -4    sparkline graph
BAL     52  61 .460   16.5   56    -4    sparkline graph
TB      44  70 .386   25.0   43     1    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CLE     65  50 .565    0.0   63     2    sparkline graph
DET     63  51 .553    1.5   63     0    sparkline graph
MIN     58  56 .509    6.5   59    -1    sparkline graph
CHA     53  61 .465   11.5   48     5    sparkline graph
KC      50  63 .442   14.0   52    -2    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     66  47 .584    0.0   63     3    sparkline graph
SEA     63  49 .563    2.5   57     6    sparkline graph
OAK     55  60 .478   12.0   59    -4    sparkline graph
TEX     49  65 .430   17.5   50    -1    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     64  50 .561    0.0   62     2    sparkline graph
ATL     61  54 .530    3.5   62    -1    sparkline graph
PHI     60  54 .526    4.0   62    -2    sparkline graph
FLA     53  62 .461   11.5   53     0    sparkline graph
WAS     53  62 .461   11.5   49     4    sparkline graph
National League Central     
MIL     60  55 .522    0.0   58     2    sparkline graph
CHN     59  55 .518    0.5   62    -3    sparkline graph
STL     53  59 .473    5.5   46     7    sparkline graph
HOU     51  63 .447    8.5   51     0    sparkline graph
CIN     49  65 .430   10.5   52    -3    sparkline graph
PIT     45  66 .405   13.0   46    -1    sparkline graph
National League West        
ARI     65  51 .560    0.0   55    10    sparkline graph
SD      61  53 .535    3.0   62    -1    sparkline graph
COL     59  55 .518    5.0   60    -1    sparkline graph
LAN     59  55 .518    5.0   59     0    sparkline graph
SF      49  64 .434   14.5   56    -7    sparkline graph


Wildcard Standings
American League             
SEA     63  49 .563    0.0
NYA     63  51 .553    1.0
DET     63  51 .553    1.0
MIN     58  56 .509    6.0
TOR     57  56 .504    6.5
National League             
SD      61  53 .535    0.0
ATL     61  54 .530    0.5
PHI     60  54 .526    1.0
LAN     59  55 .518    2.0
CHN     59  55 .518    2.0

Game of the Day
The Braves moved to 3.5 games behind the Mets in the National East by beating them, 7-6. Thanks partly to back-to-back home runs by Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira in the fifth, they had built a 7-3 lead by the bottom of the ninth.

The Mets scraped back, however. After a couple of hits, David Wright hit a three-run homer to pull the Mets within one run. The next batter, Carlos Delgado smacked a flyball that was headed over the left field fence, only to be pulled on a great catch by left fielder Willie Harris. The Braves prevailed.
ATLANTA (7) VS NY METS (6) - FINAL

ATLANTA                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
W Harris lf             3  0  1  0   1  1   0  .328
K Johnson 2b            5  1  2  0   0  0   3  .298
C Jones 3b              4  1  1  3   1  1   5  .339
M Teixeira 1b           5  2  2  1   0  1   3  .286
B McCann c              4  1  2  0   1  1   0  .270
J Francoeur rf          5  0  1  0   0  1   2  .306
A Jones cf              4  0  1  1   0  1   1  .215
Y Escobar ss            4  1  1  0   0  0   3  .325
T Hudson p              2  1  1  1   0  0   0  .214
 R Mahay p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 a-S Thorman ph         0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .219
 b-M Prado ph           1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .200
 P Moylan p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 T Yates p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 O Villarreal p         0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .250

Totals                 37  7 12  6   3  6  17

a-hit for T Hudson in the 8th;  b-grounded to second for S Thorman in the 
8th.

BATTING: 3B - K Johnson (10, J Maine). HR - C Jones (19, 5th inning off J Maine 
2 on, 1 Out), M Teixeira (4, 5th inning off J Maine 0 on, 1 Out). S - T Hudson. 
SF - A Jones. RBI - A Jones (73), C Jones 3 (63), M Teixeira (10), T Hudson 
(6). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C Jones 3, M Teixeira 1, Y 
Escobar 1. GIDP - J Francoeur. Team LOB - 9. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - Y Escobar (4, 2nd base off J Maine/R Castro). 
 
FIELDING: DP: 1 (B McCann-Y Escobar). 

NY METS                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
J Reyes ss              5  3  3  0   0  0   0  .308
L Castillo 2b           3  1  1  1   1  0   0  .343
D Wright 3b             5  1  3  3   0  1   2  .303
C Delgado 1b            4  0  1  1   1  0   3  .251
M Alou lf               5  0  2  1   0  0   3  .303
S Green rf              3  0  0  0   0  1   4  .275
R Castro c              4  0  0  0   0  1   3  .281
M Anderson cf           1  0  1  0   0  0   0  .250
 a-L Milledge ph-cf     3  0  0  0   0  0   0  .293
J Maine p               2  0  0  0   0  1   1  .103
 S Schoeneweis p        0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 b-D Newhan ph          1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .209
 J Sosa p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .208
 P Feliciano p          0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 G Mota p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 c-R Gotay ph           1  1  1  0   0  0   0  .348

Totals                 37  6 12  6   2  4  16

a-grounded to second for M Anderson in the 4th;  b-grounded to first for S 
Schoeneweis in the 6th;  c-singled to shallow right for G Mota in the 9th.

BATTING: 2B - J Reyes (26, T Yates). HR - D Wright (20, 9th inning off T Yates 
1 on, 1 Out). S - L Castillo. RBI - D Wright 3 (71), M Alou (19), C Delgado 
(65), L Castillo (3). 2-out RBI - M Alou, C Delgado. Runners left in scoring 
position, 2 out - S Green 2, R Castro 2. Team LOB - 8. 
 
BASERUNNING: CS - M Anderson (1, 2nd base by T Hudson/B McCann). 
 
FIELDING: E - R Castro (3, throw). DP: 1 (J Reyes-L Castillo-C Delgado). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    ATLANTA         - 000 141 100   --   7
    NY METS         - 101 010 003   --   6
----------------------------------------------------

ATLANTA                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
T Hudson (W, 13-5)            6       9   3   3   1   3   0   3.01
R Mahay                       1       0   0   0   1   1   0   1.42
P Moylan                      1       0   0   0   0   0   0   1.87
T Yates                         1/3   3   3   3   0   0   1   5.44
O Villarreal (S, 1)             2/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   3.66

NY METS                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Maine (L, 12-7)             5 1/3   7   6   6   3   4   2   3.53
S Schoeneweis                   2/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   5.23
J Sosa                        1       3   1   1   0   0   0   4.31
P Feliciano                   1       2   0   0   0   1   0   2.76
G Mota                        1       0   0   0   0   1   0   4.78

WP - S Schoeneweis. HBP - S Green (by T Hudson); W Harris (by S Schoeneweis). 
Pitches-strikes: T Hudson 108-67; R Mahay 13-9; P Moylan 5-4; T Yates 16-10; O 
Villarreal 5-2; J Maine 102-65; S Schoeneweis 10-5; J Sosa 14-12; P Feliciano 
21-14; G Mota 25-16. Ground balls-fly balls: T Hudson 10-4; R Mahay 1-1; P 
Moylan 3-0; T Yates 1-0; O Villarreal 1-1; J Maine 6-7; S Schoeneweis 0-2; J 
Sosa 2-1; P Feliciano 2-0; G Mota 1-1. Batters faced: T Hudson 28; R Mahay 4; P 
Moylan 3; T Yates 4; O Villarreal 2; J Maine 27; S Schoeneweis 3; J Sosa 5; P 
Feliciano 5; G Mota 3. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Jerry Meals. 1B--Bruce Dreckman. 2B--Gary Darling. 3B--Larry 
Poncino. 

T--3:12. Att--52,425. 
Weather: 80 degrees, sunny. Wind: 11 mph, in from center.

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.

image

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
ARI AA  Carlos Gonzalez... 4  2  1  0  0  1  0  
TB  AAA Evan Longoria..... 4  2  1  0  1  1  0  
CLE AAA Andy Marte........ 5  2  1  0  0  0  1  
MIL AA  Hernan Iribarren.. 5  3  1  2  0  0  0  4 RBI
CIN A   Drew Stubbs....... 4  3  0  0  1  0  0  
SD  A   Cedric Hunter..... 3  2  0  0  1  1  0  
ATL AAA Brandon Jones..... 5  2  1  0  0  0  1  2 SB
COL AA  Jonathan Herrera.. 4  3  2  0  0  0  0  
SD  A+  Kyle Blanks....... 5  3  2  0  0  0  2  
OAK A-  Matthew Sulentic.. 4  2  1  0  0  0  0  
TOR A   Travis Snider..... 4  2  1  0  0  0  0  
BOS AAA Jacoby Ellsbury... 4  1  1  0  0  1  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
PHI AAA J.A. Happ......... 7  2  0  0  7  0  0  
CLE AAA Sean Smith........ 6  5  3  2  6  0  0  
WAN AA  Garrett Mock...... 7  6  4  3  7  1  1  12 GB
MIN A+  Jeffrey Manship... 7  6  3  3  5  0  0  13 GB
HOU AA  Felipe Paulino.... 6  6  3  3  8  2  1  
STL AA  Mitchell Boggs.... 6  3  1  1  7  4  0  
SF  A   Adam Cowart....... 7  5  2  0  3  0  0  13 GB
ARI A+  Dana Eveland...... 2  0  0  0  4  1  0  
BAL A-  Zachary Britton... 5  5  3  1  4  1  0  9 GB
ARI A   Anthony Barnette.. 7  8  1  1  2  0  0  14 GB
SD  AA  Cesar Ramos....... 6  5  3  3  4  0  2  
TB  A+  Matthew Walker.... 3  2  1  1  3  2  0  

Access THT’s stats here…
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