THT Daily: Argh

by Dave Studeman
April 21, 2009

Major League News for April 21

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 Rotoworld
According to the North County Times, the Padres have reacquired infielder-outfielder Chris Burke from the Mariners.
Burke is expected to be in a San Diego uniform on Tuesday when the club begins a series with the Giants. Burke was hitting .237 in 38 at-bats with the Mariners' Triple-A affiliate. The Padres decided to make the move after losing Everth Cabrera to a broken hand. It's not yet clear who, or what, they gave up.

Marlins placed LHP Andrew Miller on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique.
The injury has evidently been bothering Miller for a few weeks now, and it wasn't getting any better while he tried to pitch through it. Burke Badenhop will be called up to replace him and should be available out of the pen immediately. He'll be the favorite to start in Miller's place this weekend, but it will depend on how he's needed in relief.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona said Monday that Jed Lowrie likely will undergo surgery on his wrist.
The news wasn't all bad, though. One possible surgery likely would have ended his season, but the procedure he's expected to undergo now could allow him to return by the All-Star break. Julio Lugo, who should return next week, will be the starting shortstop until then. Nick Green is filling in right now.

Julio Lugo (knee) is scheduled to join Triple-A Pawtucket for a rehab assignment Tuesday.
Lugo said he feels about "80 percent" right now. A few games at Pawtucket and he might begin feeling completely healthy. He's been out all year, rehabbing from offseason knee surgery. With Jed Lowrie out of the picture, the shortstop position is all Lugo's once he's ready to reclaim it.

Joe Mauer (back) is expected to participate in a simulated game Monday.
Mauer is thought to be less than two weeks from returning to the Twins. The club wants him to get around 50 at-bats in the minors before he steps back into the bigs. That could be accomplished in 11 or 12 games if everything runs smoothly.

Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.

American League
BOS    12  BAL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
WAS     3  ATL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     4  HOU     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT     8  FLA     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     6  COL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (R) Kenshin Kawakami (1-1) vs. (R) Shairon Martis (1-0)
 Florida Marlins at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (R) Anibal Sanchez (1-0) vs. (R) Jeff Karstens (0-0)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (L) Manny Parra (0-2) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (1-1)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (L) Clayton Kershaw (0-0) vs. (R) Russ Ortiz (0-0)
 Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM
  (R) Micah Owings (0-1) vs. (R) Rich Harden (0-1)
 New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM
  (L) Oliver Perez (1-1) vs. (R) Todd Wellemeyer (1-1)
 Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (L) Franklin Morales (1-0) vs. (R) Yusmeiro Petit (0-1)
 San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM
  (R) Jake Peavy (2-1) vs. (R) Matt Cain (1-0)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (L) Dana Eveland (0-0) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (1-0)
 Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Sidney Ponson (0-1) vs. (L) Aaron Laffey (0-0)
 Chicago White Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Jose Contreras (0-2) vs. (R) Bradley Bergesen (0-0)
 Texas Rangers at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) Brandon McCarthy (1-0) vs. (R) Roy Halladay (3-0)
 Minnesota Twins at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 PM
  (R) Scott Baker (0-1) vs. (R) Tim Wakefield (1-1)
 Detroit Tigers at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (R) Armando Galarraga (2-0) vs. (R) Jered Weaver (1-1)
 Tampa Bay Rays at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM
  (R) Andy Sonnanstine (0-1) vs. (L) Jarrod Washburn (2-0)

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
TOR     10   4 .714    0.0   10     0    
BOS      7   6 .538    2.5    7     0    
NYA      7   6 .538    2.5    5     2    
BAL      6   7 .462    3.5    4     2    
TB       5   8 .385    4.5    6    -1    
American League Central     
CHA      7   5 .583    0.0    8    -1    
DET      7   5 .583    0.0    8    -1    
KC       7   5 .583    0.0    7     0    
MIN      7   7 .500    1.0    5     2    
CLE      4   9 .308    3.5    6    -2    
American League West        
SEA      8   5 .615    0.0    8     0    
OAK      5   7 .417    2.5    6    -1    
TEX      5   7 .417    2.5    6    -1    
LAA      4   8 .333    3.5    5    -1    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
FLA     11   2 .846    0.0    9     2    
NYN      6   6 .500    4.5    7    -1    
ATL      6   7 .462    5.0    6     0    
PHI      5   6 .455    5.0    4     1    
WAS      2  10 .167    8.5    4    -2    
National League Central     
CHN      7   4 .636    0.0    6     1    
STL      8   5 .615    0.0    8     0    
CIN      7   5 .583    0.5    5     2    
PIT      7   6 .538    1.0    8    -1    
MIL      4   8 .333    3.5    5    -1    
HOU      4   9 .308    4.0    4     0    
National League West        
LAN     10   3 .769    0.0   10     0    
SD       9   4 .692    1.0    7     2    
ARI      5   8 .385    5.0    4     1    
COL      4   8 .333    5.5    5    -1    
SF       4   8 .333    5.5    4     0

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
TB  AA  Desmond Jennings.. 3  3  0  1  1  0  0  
BOS A   Oscar Tejeda...... 4  3  1  1  0  0  0  
CIN AAA Chris Valaika..... 4  2  2  0  0  1  1  
CLE A+  Tim Fedroff....... 7  3  1  0  0  0  0  
SF  A+  Conor Gillaspie... 3  2  0  0  1  1  1  
MIL AAA Mat Gamel......... 2  1  0  0  1  2  1  
ATL AA  Gorkys Hernandez.. 4  3  0  1  0  0  1  
TOR AAA J. Arencibia...... 5  3  1  0  0  0  1  
STL AA  Brett Wallace..... 5  3  1  0  0  0  0  
COL A+  Wilin Rosario..... 3  1  1  0  0  1  1  
CHW AA  Tyler Flowers..... 5  3  1  0  0  0  2  
TEX A+  M. Moreland....... 5  3  1  0  0  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
BOS AAA Michael Bowden.... 5  3  0  0  7  1  0  
NYY A   Andrew Brackman... 6  5  2  2  8  0  1  
TB  AA  J. Hellickson..... 5  3  2  2  7  2  0  
ATL AAA K. Medlen......... 5  5  2  2  6  0  0  
ATL A   Ezekiel Spruill... 6  6  2  2  7  0  1  
BOS A   Stolmy Pimentel... 5  5  0  0  5  0  0  
KC  AAA Luke Hochevar..... 8  5  1  1  4  2  0  14 GB
CLE AAA David Huff........ 6  4  2  2  4  2  0  
SEA A+  Juan Ramirez...... 5  5  2  2  6  1  1  
STL AAA Jesse Todd........ 2  0  0  0  2  0  0  
TEX A   Fabio Castillo.... 3  0  0  0  3  2  0  
MIL AA  Jeremy Jeffress... 4  3  4  0  4  3  0  7 GB

First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

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.

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