THT Daily: At least one day more
by THT StaffSeptember 29, 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 News
Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld |
Scott Baker shut out the Royals for seven innings and struck out nine as the Twins won Sunday to keep their season going. Since the White Sox also prevailed, the Tigers will travel to Chicago to play their makeup game on Monday. If the White Sox win that one, then they'd play the Twins on Tuesday. If the White Sox lose, then the Twins would face the Rays in the ALDS. Baker was tremendous in delivering his seventh quality start in his last eight outings. He ends the year 11-4 with a 3.45 ERA in 28 starts. That ERA ranks sixth in the AL
Working on three days' rest, Mark Buehrle scattered nine hits over seven innings of one-run ball to beat the Indians on Sunday. It's looking like the Tigers will have to travel to Chicago to play a makeup game on Monday. Buehrle turned in a sixth straight quality start to end September 4-1 with a 2.29 ERA. He tentatively ends the season 15-12 with a 3.79 ERA. There's a slight chance we'll see him pitch out of the pen if the White Sox play the Twins on Tuesday.
CC Sabathia pitched a four-hitter as the Brewers beat the Cubs 3-1 on Sunday to guarantee that their season would continue. The lone run was unearned after Prince Fielder committed his 17th error of the year in the second. It was a tie game into the eighth. The Brewers led Sabathia bat for himself then anyway, and he struck out. However, Ryan Braun later hit a two-run homer in the frame, and Sabathia finished off the Cubs in the ninth. Despite making a third straight start on three days' rest, he was able to throw 122 pitches and complete his 10th game of the season.
Pinch-hitter Wes Helms and Dan Uggla hit solo homers in the top of the eighth as the Marlins beat the Mets 4-2 on Sunday to send Milwaukee to the NLDS. Helms broke a 2-2 tie with a solo shot off Scott Schoeneweis, and Uggla contributed the insurance with a homer off Luis Ayala. In the bottom of the ninth, Damion Easley was able to work a two-out walk off Matt Lindstrom. However, Ryan Church's fly to right-center was caught just shy of the warning track, ending the game. The NLDS matchups are now set. The Dodgers will travel to Chicago to face the Cubs, and the Brewers will begin their series in Philadelphia. The Mets will stay home despite finishing with either four or five more wins than the Dodgers.
The Red Sox confirmed that Josh Beckett suffered a strained oblique while throwing Friday and won't start before Game 3 of the ALDS. Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka will start the first two games versus the Angels. Manager Terry Francona indicated that he was confident that Beckett would be able to go Sunday. There was some thought to using him in Game 2 on Friday.
Tim Lincecum struck out 13 Dodgers while yielding just one run in seven innings on Sunday to improve his record to 18-5 on the season. Lincecum finishes with a 2.62 ERA to Johan Santana's 2.53, but did lead the league with a whopping 265 strikeouts. Losing the ERA crown could hurt him in the CY Young voting, but picking Brandon Webb's 22-7, 3.30 ERA season would still be a big mistake. Johan Santana ended with a better ERA, RA, and more innings pitched than both of them, but he'll have to overcome a 16-7 record and the negative Mets' stigma. Regardless of how the CY Young voting pans out, Lincecum's future is enormously bright and there's no better pitching property to own in keeper formats.
Mike Mussina completed his first 20-win season by shutting out the Red Sox for six innings in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader. Give him credit: Mussina had the choice of starting the second game today and likely getting an easier assignment, but he opted to face Boston's regulars and limited them to just three hits. Mussina ends the year 20-9 with a 3.37 ERA that ranks fifth in the AL. He finished at 200 1/3 innings, his highest total since 2003.
The Nationals announced Sunday that they're retaining only pitching coach Randy St. Claire from their coaching staff. Hitting coach Lenny Harris, bench coach Pat Corrales, third-base coach Tim Tolman, first-base coach Jerry Morales and bullpen coach Rick Aponte are all being let go. Manager Manny Acta is expected back next year, and the team was smart to keep St. Claire, who has quietly established himself as one of the best pitching coaches in the business. Harris clearly needed to go.
Kyle Lohse was scratched from his scheduled start Sunday and is believed to be meeting with Cardinals team doctors. An injury hasn't been ruled out, but the Post-Dispatch is guessing that he's having a physical that would clear the way for him to sign an extension with the team. The free-agent-to-be figured to be in line for a three- or four-year deal this winter worth at least $8 million-$10 million per year.
Yesterday’s Results
Game recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Brewers 3, Cubs 1: What else can you say about Sabathia? No one will remember that his ERA was north of five in late May. Depending on what happens in the playoffs, no one may ever remember that he played for the Indians. His post-trade performance was simply astounding, and based on all he has done this year, I'm sure there are many otherwise unaligned folks who, like me, are rooting for the Brewers in the NL. Perversely, one of them may not be their former owner Bud Selig, who probably wakes up in cold sweats at the prospect of a Milwaukee-Tampa Bay World Series and the powerfully bad television ratings such a matchup would bring.
Marlins 4, Mets 2: There's been a lot of loose talk about this being the second "collapse" in as many years for New York -- I've trafficked in such verbiage myself -- but let's be honest here: The Mets were never more than 3.5 games up in the East, and even that was three weeks ago. The fact that they were even in the Wild Card discussion was due to Milwaukee's near-collapse, so not backing in with that can't be considered some catastrophic choke job by any stretch of the imagination. This was a Mets team that dug itself quite a hole by mid-June, and they deserve an enormous amount of credit for folding when a lot of people thought they would. Jerry Manuel should get some credit for that (and it appears that he is). Carlos Delgado should obviously get some too. Johan Santana should get so much credit that he should be second or third in the Cy Young voting. The Mets simply didn't have a bullpen and were just beaten by a couple of talented teams in Milwaukee and Philly. Those things are just unfortunate facts of life, not character flaws.
White Sox 5, Indians 1: Mark Buehrle (7 IP, 9 H, 1 ER, 6K) ensures that Chicago will live to play another day. Two other days they hope. From the Department of the Unnecessary: by going 0 for 4 in a meaningless start in the final game of this already lost season, Travis Hafner sinks below the Mendoza Line.
Twins 6, Royals 0: Ron Gardenhire, on the notion of having to wait around and watch the White Sox-Tigers game later today: "It's up to them. It's all on their shoulders now. I don't have to make a pitching move. I don't have to pinch hit anybody tomorrow. It's all on Ozzie's butt, so go get 'em Ozzie and let's see what happens." I'm no expert, but I think that qualifies as "Minnesota Nice."
Yankees 6, Red Sox 2: Red Sox 4, Yankees 3: A lot of folks have mentioned that it may be important in the minds of Hall of Fame voters for Mussina to win 20 this year simply so that no one can say "well, he never won 20." Well, now he's won 20. And, it seems, he's telling friends that he may retire. It may be a good time to do it, because whereas never having won 20 could have been an irrational liability, winning 20 in his last season may be an irrational asset. Now the writers will credit Mussina with "going out on top" or "going out on his terms" or "saving the best for last" or some such nonsense. All because of one decision.
Giants 3, Dodgers 1: For as much as I've been criticizing the Giants for so openly pimping Lincecum for the Cy Young award, they may very well have done it with this final performance (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 13K). Indeed, if I had a vote I'd probably make Timmy my number one choice (though I could be talked into Santana if you gave me enough wine, and believe that Webb may very well get it anyway). That still doesn't mean they should have been pimping him, mind you.
Diamondbacks 2, Rockies 1: Randy Johnson ends 2008 looking like the Unit of old (CG, 0 ER, 9K). He's six shy of 300, so look for the last hurrah in 2009, at which point he will become the last 300 game winner we'll likely ever see, at least until the next one.
Mariners 4, A's 3: The final failure of Seattle's failed 2008 season was winning this game, thereby ensuring that Washington will get the first pick in next summer's draft. Still, 101 losses is quite an accomplishment, and the Mariners should be quite proud of themselves. As for the A's, breaking their season up as they did -- decent first half, disastrous second half -- made their record (75-86) look far better than it felt.
Angels 7, Rangers 0: 100 wins and a 21-game margin over the Rangers. Those are impressive numbers, but they don't mean squat in a short series, and the Red Sox aren't chopped liver.
Pirates 6, Padres 1: The teams combine to use 13 pitchers via the famous "Let's Make Sure No One Is Injured In This Utterly Meaningless Game" gambit. Amazingly, the Brian Giles-Faces-His-Old-Team storyline didn't pump this game up enough to warrant a national broadcast.
Cardinals 11, Reds 4: St. Louis ends a somewhat disappointing season by watching the playoffs from home despite winning three more games than they did in 2006. This just goes to show you that George Burns was right: Major League Baseball is a hideous bitch-goddess.
Astros 3, Braves 1: In my mind this ranks as the worst year in the 24-season history of my Braves' fandom. Sure, in five of those seasons they lost more than the 90 they lost this year, but losses aren't everything. Between those 90 losses, the terrible luck in close games, the breakdowns of Glavine, Smoltz, and Hudson, and the death of Skip Caray, there weren't any moments of levity to redeem things like there used to be back in the 80s. No lazy weekday evening broadcasts on TBS saved by terrible movie at 10:20. No Andres Thomases for whom to cheer ironically when a hit falls between the second baseman and right fielder. No vague, deluded feeling that we could simply fire the manager or sign a free agent and everything would be bright and new. Save Chipper's brief, somewhat diversionary flirtation with .400, the 2008 Atlanta Braves were simply bleak and depressing from April through September, and I am happy to see the exercise run its course.
Blue Jays 10, Orioles 1: I'm always skeptical when writers talk about guys who play for stats, but then I see Vernon Wells go 4-5 with two homers and five RBI on the season's final day to push his average to exactly .300 and his homers to exactly 20 and his RBI total past 75, and I wonder.
Phillies 8, Nationals 3: Philadelphia and Washington each trotted out American Legion lineups. If they weren't all still hung over from celebrating clinching the division, the 45,000 people in Citizens Bank Park might have thought to ask for their money back.
Rays 8, Tigers 7: So the Tigers limp into the last day of the season as baseball's biggest disappointments and then, when the only thing they have to look forward to is hopping flights back to their respective home towns to fish, hunt, party, swim, or spend time with their wives and kids, they find out that they have to travel to Chicago for a makeup game that will, at best, gain them a tie for last place with the Royals. In light of all of that, do you have any faith whatsoever that Detroit is going to be up for today's game?
And thus endeth And That Happened for 2008. Yes, I'll obviously be posting all through the playoffs, but this early morning dose of analysis (hey -- snark is a kind of analysis) is a decidedly regular season thing. The whole point of it was to (a) touch on games folks probably haven't seen; and (b) force myself to pay attention to box scores and the season's day-to-day rhythms so as not to lose sight of what the baseball season is all about as I look for my next quip, or legal post, or what have you. Upshot: blogging itself is easy, but really knowing and thinking clearly about baseball is hard, and I have come to think of these recaps as training or a daily dose of medicine, even if it tasted pretty good.
That said, no one needs me to make them pay attention to playoff baseball, so the recaps end here. I'll probably liveblog a handful of playoff and World Series games, but by no means all of them. Of course, I hadn't planned on recapping all of the regular season games on any given night either. From my first And That Happened:
I'm not making any promises that it will (a) ever be close to comprehensive; or (b) be up everyday -- weekends are likely to still be mostly dark around here -- but I'm going to give it a whirl for a while.Aside from missing a very small handful of days due to work or whatever, I quickly found myself recapping every Sunday-Thursday game. Obsessions are like that. And while there were some evenings and mornings when I simply didn't want to look at another box score, I couldn't not do it either. From what I've gathered, you folks like these things, and no matter how much sleep I've lost doing them, I think I'm a better writer and blogger for having done them.
They'll be back next season, without question. I hope you will be too.
You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
| First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports: |
Today’s Games
American League --------------- Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 PM (R) Freddy Garcia (1-1) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (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 TB 97 65 .599 0.0 92 5BOS 95 67 .586 2.0 96 -1
NYA 89 73 .549 8.0 87 2
TOR 86 76 .531 11.0 93 -7
BAL 68 93 .422 28.5 72 -4
American League Central MIN 88 74 .543 0.0 89 -1
CHA 87 74 .540 0.5 88 -1
CLE 81 81 .500 7.0 85 -4
KC 75 87 .463 13.0 72 3
DET 74 87 .460 13.5 78 -4
American League West LAA 100 62 .617 0.0 88 12
TEX 79 83 .488 21.0 75 4
OAK 75 86 .466 24.5 76 -1
SEA 61 101 .377 39.0 67 -6
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 92 70 .568 0.0 93 -1
NYN 89 73 .549 3.0 89 0
FLA 84 77 .522 7.5 81 3
ATL 72 90 .444 20.0 78 -6
WAS 59 102 .366 32.5 62 -3
National League Central CHN 97 64 .602 0.0 99 -2
MIL 90 72 .556 7.5 87 3
HOU 86 75 .534 11.0 77 9
STL 86 76 .531 11.5 86 0
CIN 74 88 .457 23.5 71 3
PIT 67 95 .414 30.5 67 0
National League West LAN 84 78 .519 0.0 87 -3
ARI 82 80 .506 2.0 82 0
COL 74 88 .457 10.0 74 0
SF 72 90 .444 12.0 68 4
SD 63 99 .389 21.0 68 -5
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 95 67 .586 0.0 NYA 89 73 .549 6.0 CHA 87 74 .540 7.5 TOR 86 76 .531 9.0 CLE 81 81 .500 14.0 National League MIL 90 72 .556 0.0 NYN 89 73 .549 1.0 HOU 86 75 .534 3.5 STL 86 76 .531 4.0 FLA 84 77 .522 5.5
Game of the Day
Brewers 3, Cubs 1 - FINAL
CHICAGO CUBS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Soriano lf 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .280
R Theriot ss 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 .307
D Lee 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .291
A Ramirez 3b 3 1 2 0 0 1 0 .289
S Marshall p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333
M Wuertz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Howry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Johnson cf 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .303
M Hoffpauir rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .342
R Cedeno 2b 3 0 0 1 0 1 1 .269
H Blanco c 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .292
K Hart p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C McGehee 3b 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .167
A Guzman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
va-C Zambrano ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .337
C Gaudin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
N Cotts p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
K Hill c 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .095
Totals 29 1 4 1 1 7 7 ###
MILWAUKEE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
M Cameron cf 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 .243
R Durham 2b 4 1 1 0 0 2 2 .289
R Braun lf 4 1 1 2 0 1 1 .285
P Fielder 1b 3 0 0 0 1 3 1 .276
J Hardy ss 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 .283
C Hart rf 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 .268
C Counsell 3b 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 .226
J Kendall c 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 .246
C Sabathia p 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .229
Totals 28 3 4 3 3 10 10 ###
----------------------------------------------------
CHICAGO CUBS - 010 000 000 -- 1 4 0
MILWAUKEE - 000 000 12x -- 3 4 1
----------------------------------------------------
va-struck out swinging for A Guzman in the 3rd.
BATTING: 2B - R Durham (35, S Marshall). HR - R Braun (37, 8th inning off B
Howry 1 on, 2 Out). RBI - R Cedeno (28), C Counsell (14), R Braun 2 (106).
2-out RBI - C Counsell, R Braun 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J
Kendall 2, P Fielder 1. GIDP - R Theriot, R Johnson, D Lee. Team LOB - CHICAGO
CUBS 2, MILWAUKEE 4. FIELDING: E - P Fielder (17, ground ball). DP: (R
Durham-P Fielder, C Counsell-R Durham-P Fielder, R Durham-J Hardy-P Fielder).
CHICAGO CUBS ip h r er bb so hr era
A Guzman 2 1 0 0 0 4 0 5.59
C Gaudin 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.26
N Cotts 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 4.29
K Hart 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.51
S Marshall (H, 3) 1/3 1 1 1 1 0 0 3.86
M Wuertz (B, 3) 2/3 0 0 0 2 1 0 3.63
B Howry (L, 7-5) 1 2 2 2 0 2 1 5.35
MILWAUKEE ip h r er bb so hr era
C Sabathia (W, 11-2) 9 4 1 0 1 7 0 1.65
WP - A Guzman. IBB - P Fielder (by S Marshall). Pitches-strikes: A Guzman
30-22; C Gaudin 9-7; N Cotts 12-8; K Hart 23-15; S Marshall 15-7; M Wuertz
15-6; B Howry 15-10; C Sabathia 122-81. Ground balls-fly balls: A Guzman 0-2; C
Gaudin 3-0; N Cotts 0-1; K Hart 3-2; S Marshall 1-0; M Wuertz 1-0; B Howry 0-1;
C Sabathia 13-8. Batters faced: A Guzman 7; C Gaudin 3; N Cotts 3; K Hart 6; S
Marshall 3; M Wuertz 4; B Howry 5; C Sabathia 30. IRS - M Wuertz. UMPIRES:
HP--Bill Miller. 1B--Jerry Meals. 2B--Gary Darling. 3B--Paul Emmel. T--2:25.
Att--45,299. Weather: INDOORSThe 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 Runs
The 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 Brad Ausmus HOU Mike Hampton ATL 368 362 3 PL Rocco Baldelli TB Zach Miner DET 449 440 4 PL Carlos Beltran NYM Scott Olsen FLA 401 387 27 PL Ryan Braun MIL Bob Howry CHC 404 399 37 PL Travis Buck OAK R.A. Dickey SEA 342 342 6 JE Edwin Encarnacion CIN Brad Thompson STL 397 385 26 PL Troy Glaus STL Adam Pettyjohn CIN 403 381 27 PL Curtis Granderson DET Mitch Talbot TB 382 378 23 PL Wes Helms FLA Scott Schoeneweis NYM 401 387 5 PL Eric Hinske TB Zach Miner DET 418 411 20 JE Paul Konerko CWS Bryan Bullington CLE 394 398 21 ND Adam LaRoche PIT Wade LeBlanc SD 401 392 24 ND Ryan Ludwick STL Adam Pettyjohn CIN 386 363 37 PL/L Lou Marson PHI Johnny Estrada WAS 394 386 1 ND Luke Montz WAS Kyle Kendrick PHI 372 360 1 PL Xavier Nady NYY Daisuke Matsuzaka BOS 358 350 25 PL Mike Napoli LAA Kevin Millwood TEX 0 0 20 0 Magglio Ordonez DET Edwin Jackson TB 444 447 22 ND Lyle Overbay TOR Jeremy Guthrie BAL 377 369 15 JE Steve Pearce PIT Wade LeBlanc SD 389 413 4 PL Jhonny Peralta CLE Mark Buehrle CWS 381 381 23 PL Matt Stairs PHI Johnny Estrada WAS 379 362 13 PL Dan Uggla FLA Luis Ayala NYM 397 381 32 PL Joey Votto CIN Kelvin Jimenez STL 450 424 24 ND Vernon Wells TOR Jeremy Guthrie BAL 425 422 20 ND Vernon Wells TOR Alfredo Simon BAL 371 372 19 PL Chris Young ARI Manny Corpas COL 381 371 22 PL Ben Zobrist TB Chris Lambert DET 404 389 12 ND
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