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THT Daily: Astros rocketingby THT StaffAugust 14, 2008 Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Yesterday’s Home Runs Top Minor League Performances You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ and an archive at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/thtdaily_index/ Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld
Red Sox placed third baseman Mike Lowell on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique. Lowell suffered the injury Tuesday night and was placed on the DL after undergoing an MRI exam Wednesday morning. Given the nature of oblique injuries he's far from a sure thing to return in 15 days, leaving the Red Sox with Kevin Youkilis at third base and Sean Casey at first base for at least the remainder of the month. Tigers placed RHP Joel Zumaya on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right shoulder. Manager Jim Leyland made it very clear Tuesday that he's not counting on Zumaya contributing again until next season, so the Tigers may decide to simply shut him down for good with Todd Jones scheduled to come off the disabled list Friday. Fernando Rodney is the favorite for saves right now, but Jones could easily get back into the mix. Zumaya has a 3.47 ERA and 22/22 K/BB ratio in 23 1/3 innings and has thrown a total of just 57 innings since the start of last season. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Pirates 5, Reds 2: The Pirates faced the Reds in the NLCS in 1970, 1972, 1975, 1979, and 1990. That may as well be a million years ago. Right now, though, you can bet that Pittsburgh is taking special joy in making sure that someone besides them are going to finish in last place. Cubs 10, Braves 2: You don't need me to tell you that the Braves have had a frustrating year, but this strikes me as Bobby Cox just getting tired of watching this awful team: "Braves manager Bobby Cox was ejected by third base umpire Joe West in the top of the fifth. Cox never left the dugout but complained when West halted play for the lights to be turned on after Braves reliever Vladimir Nunez warmed up." Cubs 8, Braves 0: Chipper Jones was scratched from game 2 of the double header with a stomach virus. They make me sick too, Chipper. They make me sick too. Twins 4, Yankees 2: I was reading various Yankees blogs which were following this one in more or less real time, and I can't get over how similar the entries were. Everyone is saying that it looked the Yankees were mailing it in, seemingly eager to get on the plane and end this godforsaken road trip they've been on. People talk a lot about teams that need to learn how to win. Maybe the Yankees need to learn how to lose. Red Sox 8, Rangers 4: After Tuesday night's near-debacle, you have to figure that no one felt comfortable when it was 8-0 entering the 8th. When Texas put up four runs that evening people had to feel positively queasy. Orioles 6, Indians 1: Jeremy Guthrie used to be an Indian. In fact, he was their first round pick in 2002. Never made much of an impression for the Tribe, however, and was waived after the 2006 season. Given a chance to pitch in Baltimore, he put up a 125 ERA+ last year, and is even pitching better this year. Especially recently, He's 7-1 in his last ten starts, and has now won four in a row, and in those four games he has only allowed four runs on 16 hits in 29.1 innings pitched. In a year where Cliff Lee is the only guy from the opening day rotation who is either present or has been worth a damn, Guthrie sure would have been nice to have around, no? Mets 12, Nats 0: Manny Acta: What's our record since the break, Randy?White Sox 4, Royals 0: No Royal walked in this game. In fact, the Royals have only walked 294 times this entire year. That's more than thirty fewer walks than the next worst team in the category. At that pace, they'll finish with 397 walks this season. There have been teams with worse walk totals in recent seasons -- last year's Mariners team, for example -- but not many. Cardinals 6, Marlins 4: The last two NL teams to win the World Series battle for their playoff lives. Troy Glaus goes 4-4 and drives in some insurance late to seal the deal for St. Louis, who is 10-8 since that throttling by the Brewers back in late July and 14-13 since the break. Blue Jays 4, Tigers 3: A Vernon Wells grand slam in the third holds up. Astros 6, Giants 2: Barry Zito chalks up loss number 15. He may have eight or nine starts left. Which means that back spasms, dead arm or something else vaguely debilitating is going to land him on the DL unless he can string together a couple wins soon, because there's no way Sabean lets his nine-figure pitcher lose 20, is there? Dodgers 7, Phillies 6: Nomar wins the game with a dinger in the bottom of the ninth. From the game story: "Garciaparra's teammates hoisted him off the ground in celebration after he crossed home plate." He was then immediately placed on the 15 day disabled list, suffering from altitude sickness. Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 5: Two outs in the ninth, bases loaded, Dbacks down by a run, and Adam Dunn at the plate, but Dunner grounds out to end the game. Reds fans nod in solemn recognition. Brewers 7, Padres 1: CC Sabathia's ridiculousness continues (7 IP, 9 H, 1 ER, 8K). The Brewers have indicated that they aren't going to be in the Sabathia derby this offseason, but even if they hadn't said it with words, they have said it with pitch counts: 97, 122, 110, 106, 124, 109, 103, 114. Egregious? Certainly not. But if you really cared about his stamina, wouldn't you maybe take him out an inning or two early when leading a punchless team like San Diego by several runs? Rays 3, A's 2: Eric Hinske goes 3-3 with an RBI, but the fact that Carlos Pena seems to be heating up a bit -- he hit his third homer in seven games -- may be more important to the Rays in light of all of their injuries. Mariners 10, Angels 7: Some of criticized K-Rod this year by saying that his record-pace of saves has been padded by a lot of easy, three-run lead in the ninth opportunities. Hey, those aren't always gimmies, as Rodriguez blows this three run lead in the ninth against the worst team in baseball. Then, when the inning is over, he blows up at the home plate umpire Gerry Davis over balls and strikes and gets ejected. Just a bad day, I suppose. He should be careful, though. I just read a book about a guy who had one bad day, and the results were not pretty. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- San Francisco Giants at Houston Astros, 2:05 PM (R) Kevin Correia (2-6) vs. (R) Brian Moehler (8-4) Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies, 3:05 PM (R) Dan Haren (12-6) vs. (L) Glendon Rusch (5-3) Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres, 3:35 PM (R) Ben Sheets (11-5) vs. (R) Jake Peavy (8-8) Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Johnny Cueto (7-11) vs. (R) Ian Snell (4-9) New York Mets at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM (L) Oliver Perez (8-7) vs. (R) Collin Balester (2-4) St. Louis Cardinals at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Todd Wellemeyer (9-4) vs. (L) Scott Olsen (6-7) Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (L) Ted Lilly (11-6) vs. (L) Tom Glavine (2-3) Philadelphia Phillies at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Brett Myers (5-9) vs. (R) Hiroki Kuroda (6-8) American League --------------- Toronto Blue Jays at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM (R) Jesse Litsch (8-7) vs. (R) Armando Galarraga (10-4) Kansas City Royals at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 PM (R) Kyle Davies (5-3) vs. (R) D.J. Carrasco (1-0) Tampa Bay Rays at Oakland Athletics, 3:35 PM (R) James Shields (10-7) vs. (R) Sean Gallagher (1-1) Baltimore Orioles at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Daniel Cabrera (8-7) vs. (L) Zach Jackson (0-0) Texas Rangers at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Vicente Padilla (12-6) vs. (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (13-2) StandingsThe 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 TB 72 47 .605 0.0 66 6 Game of the DayDodgers 7, Phillies 6 - FINAL
PHILADELPHIA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Rollins ss 5 0 0 0 0 2 1 .272
J Werth cf 3 1 1 2 2 1 0 .264
C Utley 2b 3 1 0 0 0 1 1 .288
R Howard 1b 4 1 1 2 1 2 0 .236
P Burrell lf 4 1 1 0 1 2 3 .266
G Dobbs 3b 5 1 2 2 0 1 1 .310
C Condrey p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
G Jenkins rf 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 .244
C Ruiz c 3 1 1 0 1 1 2 .218
J Blanton p 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 .167
va-M Cervenak ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .167
R Madson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
vb-S Taguchi ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .218
C Durbin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .143
J Romero p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
E Bruntlett 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .218
Totals 33 6 7 6 6 12 11 ###
LA DODGERS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
M Kemp cf 5 0 0 0 0 2 3 .299
A Ethier rf 5 2 2 1 0 1 1 .276
J Kent 2b 5 1 4 2 0 0 0 .273
P Ozuna pr-2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200
M Ramirez lf 3 1 1 2 2 2 1 .467
J Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Loney 1b 4 0 1 1 1 0 3 .295
C Blake 3b 5 0 0 0 0 2 4 .275
N Garciaparra ss 5 1 1 1 0 1 5 .266
R Martin c 3 1 3 0 1 0 0 .289
B Penny p 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .192
ha-M Sweeney ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .125
J Johnson p 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
J Beimel p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Park p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .111
hb-J Pierre ph-lf 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .279
Totals 38 7 12 7 5 9 21 ###
----------------------------------------------------
PHILADELPHIA - 420 000 000 -- 6 7 1
LA DODGERS - 102 100 021 -- 7 12 0
One out when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
ha-grounded to first for B Penny in the 3rd; va-struck out swinging for J
Blanton in the 6th; vb-popped out to second for R Madson in the 8th;
hb-walked for C Park in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - P Burrell (28, J Johnson); R Martin (20, J Blanton); J Kent (22,
C Durbin). HR - R Howard (33, 1st inning off B Penny 1 on, 2 Out), G Dobbs (5,
1st inning off B Penny 1 on, 2 Out), J Werth (16, 2nd inning off B Penny 1 on,
2 Out), M Ramirez (5, 3rd inning off J Blanton 1 on, 0 Out), A Ethier (12, 4th
inning off J Blanton 0 on, 1 Out), N Garciaparra (6, 9th inning off C Condrey 0
on, 1 Out). S - J Blanton. RBI - R Howard 2 (102), G Dobbs 2 (26), J Werth 2
(43), J Loney (68), M Ramirez 2 (16), A Ethier (49), J Kent 2 (54), N
Garciaparra (20). 2-out RBI - R Howard 2, G Dobbs 2, J Werth 2, J Kent 2.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - P Burrell 2, C Ruiz 1, J Blanton 2, N
Garciaparra 2, M Sweeney 1, J Johnson 1, J Loney 1. Team LOB - PHILADELPHIA 9,
LA DODGERS 11. FIELDING: E - G Dobbs (2, ground ball).
PHILADELPHIA ip h r er bb so hr era
J Blanton 5 9 4 4 3 6 2 4.00
R Madson (H, 9) 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 3.19
C Durbin (B, 4) 2/3 2 2 2 2 0 0 2.15
J Romero 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.28
C Condrey (L, 3-3) 1/3 1 1 1 0 0 1 3.71
LA DODGERS ip h r er bb so hr era
B Penny 3 6 6 6 2 4 3 6.05
J Johnson 2 2/3 1 0 0 2 5 0 3.10
J Beimel 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.87
C Park 2 1/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 2.62
J Broxton (W, 3-3) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.58
J Beimel pitched to 2 batters in the 6th.
IBB - G Jenkins (by J Johnson), M Ramirez (by C Durbin). HBP - C Utley 2 (by
B Penny, J Beimel). Pitches-strikes: J Blanton 97-56; R Madson 21-15; C Durbin
20-6; J Romero 6-4; C Condrey 5-3; B Penny 69-42; J Johnson 47-28; J Beimel
5-0; C Park 36-22; J Broxton 9-8. Ground balls-fly balls: J Blanton 4-5; R
Madson 3-0; C Durbin 1-1; J Romero 1-0; C Condrey 0-1; B Penny 4-1; J Johnson
3-0; J Beimel 0-0; C Park 2-4; J Broxton 1-0. Batters faced: J Blanton 27; R
Madson 7; C Durbin 6; J Romero 1; C Condrey 2; B Penny 18; J Johnson 11; J
Beimel 2; C Park 8; J Broxton 3. UMPIRES: HP--Tim Tschida. 1B--Jim Joyce.
2B--Jeff Nelson. 3B--Adrian Johnson. T--3:08. Att--45,786. Weather: 84
degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 6 mph, out to 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.  Yesterday’s Home RunsThe following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected “true” distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its "standard" distance, which is corrected for weather conditions. Each homer is also categorized into one of three types: Just Enough (JE) for homers that cleared the fence by ten feet or less, Plenty (PL) for those that were sure home runs but not “blasts,” and No Doubt (ND) for true “blasts”—homers that cleared the fence by at least 20 feet and landed at least 50 feet beyond the fence.Hitter Team Pitcher Team True Stnd. # Type Wladimir Balentien SEA Justin Speier LAA 417 409 6 JE/L Clint Barmes COL Doug Davis ARI 385 349 6 PL Milton Bradley TEX Mike Timlin BOS 447 442 20 ND Jay Bruce CIN Paul Maholm PIT 417 409 12 PL Greg Dobbs PHI Brad Penny LAD 382 374 5 JE Jim Edmonds CHC Charlie Morton ATL 352 345 16 JE/L Andre Ethier LAD Joe Blanton PHI 381 375 12 JE/L Prince Fielder MIL Josh Banks SD 427 410 28 ND Nomar Garciaparra LAD Clay Condrey PHI 376 369 6 JE Brad Hawpe COL Jon Rauch ARI 440 398 19 PL Eric Hinske TB Justin Duchscherer OAK 389 392 17 PL Ryan Howard PHI Brad Penny LAD 432 423 33 ND Aubrey Huff BAL Anthony Reyes CLE 385 383 25 PL Raul Ibanez SEA Ervin Santana LAA 392 387 19 PL Ian Kinsler TEX Jon Lester BOS 386 375 17 PL Jason Michaels PIT Josh Fogg CIN 394 389 8 PL Brandon Moss PIT Mike Lincoln CIN 417 409 4 PL Daniel Murphy NYM Jesus Colome WAS 398 378 2 PL/L Corey Patterson CIN Paul Maholm PIT 386 375 8 JE/L Carlos Pena TB Justin Duchscherer OAK 448 439 22 ND Manny Ramirez LAD Joe Blanton PHI 384 378 24 JE Geovany Soto CHC Francisley Bueno ATL 422 419 18 PL Ian Stewart COL Doug Davis ARI 420 387 7 ND Fernando Tatis NYM Jason Bergmann WAS 389 367 8 PL/L Mark Teixeira LAA Felix Hernandez SEA 413 405 24 PL Mark Teixeira LAA J.J. Putz SEA 414 407 23 PL Chad Tracy ARI Jeff Francis COL 415 377 8 PL Vernon Wells TOR Kenny Rogers DET 385 377 10 PL Jayson Werth PHI Brad Penny LAD 399 392 16 PL Delmon Young MIN Darrell Rasner NYY 394 389 7 PL Top Minor League GamesThe 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 TEX A M. Moreland....... 6 3 2 0 1 0 1 HOU AA Mitch Einertson... 4 4 1 1 0 1 0 4 RBI FLA A Michael Stanton... 4 2 1 0 1 2 0 5 RBI ! ARI AAA James D'Antona.... 5 2 0 0 2 0 0 CIN AAA Drew Stubbs....... 4 2 1 0 1 1 0 SD AA Chad Huffman...... 4 3 2 0 0 1 0 LAA AA Mark Trumbo....... 4 2 1 0 1 1 1 CHW AA Brandon Allen..... 5 3 1 0 1 0 1 ATL AA Jordan Schafer.... 4 3 0 1 1 0 0 PHI A+ Michael Taylor.... 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 CHC AAA Micah Hoffpauir... 3 2 0 0 1 1 0 3 R LAA AAA Kendry Morales.... 5 3 2 0 0 0 2 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes TEX AA Derek Holland..... 8 4 1 0 10 1 0 MIN A David Bromberg.... 7 3 0 0 10 2 0 COL A+ Aneury Rodriguez.. 7 4 3 3 9 1 0 TOR AA Bradley Mills..... 7 4 0 0 9 1 0 TB AA Lewis Rollins..... 7 4 1 1 9 0 1 BOS AA Kris Johnson...... 6 6 2 1 8 0 0 ATL A Jeffrey Locke..... 7 5 2 2 5 0 0 KC A Daniel Duffy...... 4 2 3 0 8 2 0 PIT AAA Ross Ohlendorf.... 8 4 0 0 3 1 0 STL AAA Jesse Todd........ 7 4 1 1 6 1 1 12 GB WAN A+ Ross Detwiler..... 5 5 3 2 6 1 0 SF A+ Tim Alderson...... 6 6 2 2 4 0 0 Access THT’s stats here…
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BOS 70 51 .579 3.0 72 -2 
NYA 64 57 .529 9.0 64 0 
TOR 62 59 .512 11.0 65 -3 
BAL 57 62 .479 15.0 59 -2 
American League Central
CHA 67 52 .563 0.0 67 0 
MIN 67 53 .558 0.5 64 3 
DET 58 62 .483 9.5 62 -4 
CLE 54 65 .454 13.0 60 -6 
KC 54 66 .450 13.5 50 4 
American League West
LAA 75 44 .630 0.0 66 9 
TEX 61 60 .504 15.0 57 4 
OAK 55 64 .462 20.0 60 -5 
SEA 46 74 .383 29.5 51 -5 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 64 56 .533 0.0 65 -1 
PHI 64 56 .533 0.0 67 -3 
FLA 63 58 .521 1.5 58 5 
ATL 55 65 .458 9.0 61 -6 
WAS 44 77 .364 20.5 45 -1 
National League Central
CHN 73 47 .608 0.0 75 -2 
MIL 70 51 .579 3.5 66 4 
STL 67 56 .545 7.5 65 2 
HOU 61 59 .508 12.0 58 3 
PIT 55 65 .458 18.0 52 3 
CIN 53 68 .438 20.5 51 2 
National League West
ARI 61 59 .508 0.0 62 -1 
LAN 61 59 .508 0.0 63 -2 
COL 54 68 .443 8.0 54 0 
SF 50 69 .420 10.5 48 2 
SD 46 74 .383 15.0 48 -2 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 70 51 .579 0.0
MIN 67 53 .558 2.5
NYA 64 57 .529 6.0
TOR 62 59 .512 8.0
TEX 61 60 .504 9.0
National League
MIL 70 51 .579 0.0
STL 67 56 .545 4.0
FLA 63 58 .521 7.0
HOU 61 59 .508 8.5
ATL 55 65 .458 14.5