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THT Daily: Back in actionby THT StaffJuly 18, 2008 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/ and an archive at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/thtdaily_index/ Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld
Phillies acquired RHP Joe Blanton from the Athletics for second baseman Adrian Cardenas, LHP Josh Outman and outfielder Matthew Spencer. It's hard to argue against this one for either team. Blanton is 5-12 with a 4.96 ERA this year, but he should be a lot better in the NL, even in Philadelphia. He should be a reliable No. 3 starter, he's under control through 2010 and he's costing the Phillies nothing that was likely to help them this year. They now have the option of moving Brett Myers to the pen if they'd like, and Blanton's ability to eat innings will take pressure of the relief corps, something that could pay off in September. Francisco Liriano's agent has contacted the players' association about pursuing a grievance against the Twins for not promoting him. Perhaps Liriano has himself stashed away in his fantasy league. He is 7-0 with a 2.73 ERA in his last nine starts at Triple-A, and his fastball is consistently in the mid-90s and touching 97. He is claiming that the Twins are purposely keeping him in the minors to limit his major league service time and thus his arbitration eligibility. Livan Hernandez has a 7.28 ERA in his past ten starts, but he's also owed $5 million this season. Liriano could have major league service time added to his total if he wins. The Rangers have decided to move Hank Blalock back to third base, the Dallas Morning News reports. So much for that experiment. Obviously, Chris Davis will get to remain the Rangers' first baseman with this news. Ramon Vazquez apparently will head back to the bench, assuming that Blalock can stay healthy for any length of time. Blalock, on the DL after wrist surgery, is expected back from the DL this weekend. Diamondbacks acquired first baseman Tony Clark from the Padres for RHP Evan Scribner. Clark never made a lot of sense in San Diego, and he was likely more than happy to waive his $500,000 trade kicker to return to Arizona. He shouldn't get as much playing time as he did last year, at least not unless he gets hot, but he figures to get a start or two per week anyway. That's better than he was doing in San Diego, at least outside of interleague play. Chris Burke will lose at-bats against lefties with Clark taking over as Chad Tracy's platoonmate. Emilio Bonifacio figures to be sent down. ESPN.com reports that the Yankees have reached a tentative agreement with Richie Sexson. Sexson, who is hitting .344 against lefties this season, will likely start at first against southpaws for New York. He's posted a 1.045 OPS in 61 at-bats against lefties this year, but his OPS was under .800 in each of the previous two seasons. Still, the Yankees will get him for the minimum and it's a huge upgrade over Wilson Betemit, who figures to lose the most playing time in the deal. David Ortiz (wrist) homered and walked in four plate appearances Thursday in his first game for Triple-A Pawtucket. The plan is for Ortiz to play in seven minor league games before returning on July 25. Perhaps he'll push for an earlier return if he keeps homering once a game, but he has made it clear in recent days that he thought he'd need at least a full week in the minors. Reds placed INF/OF Jerry Hairston Jr. on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 14. Hairston had to be carried off the field during Sunday's game, but he had said he hoped it wasn't as bad as it looked. It's a big loss for the Reds, who excelled with Hairston in the leadoff spot, but he expects to return as soon as the stint is over. Jeff Keppinger and Jay Bruce will see increases in playing time until then. Responding to remarks that Manny Ramirez made recently about being upset over the handling of his contract status, Red Sox owner John Henry called them "personally offensive." Ramirez told reporters at the All-Star game that he wants "no more [expletive] where they tell you one thing and behind your back they do another thing," to which Henry responded: "I find remarks that we have been anything other than completely straightforward to be personally offensive." Boston holds $20 million team options on Ramirez for both 2009 and 2010, so there's little reason for the Red Sox to do anything but wait to see how the 36-year-old fares during the second half before making a decision. In fairness to Ramirez, he also indicated that he'd like to remain with the Red Sox. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of ShysterballMets 10, Reds 8: I'll admit that I was paying no attention to anything last night. I was at a firm outing with the firm picking up the drinks, and things got sort of blurry and sideways come about 11PM. What I do remember, however, was drinking ugly rail drinks at the Velvet Dog circa late, and seeing a TV showing the ESPN feed comparing Adam Dunn to Ted Williams at this point in their careers. No sound, of course, so I couldn't tell if there was a lick of sense to any of it, but based on what I was seeing there was nothing to it other than a home run total. Who knows what they were trying to show? Whatever it was, it wasn't convincing back there at the Velvet Dog. In any event, way to go, Francisco Cordero! A big blown save leads to the Mets' 10th straight win. Cardinals 4, Padres 3: Solo shots and Kyle Lohse goodness seal the deal. Need I remind people once again just how totally available Lohse was to any team who wanted him back in February? OK, good. Tigers 6, Orioles 5: Leyland probably won't complain about this game, even if it is on Thursday night. Rockies 5, Pirates 3: Clint Hurdle is happy that he is no longer managing Billy Wagner and Dan Uggla. A real schedule resumes tonight. Thank the creator. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- New York Mets at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) John Maine (8-6) vs. (R) Bronson Arroyo (7-7) Philadelphia Phillies at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (L) Jamie Moyer (8-6) vs. (R) Ricky Nolasco (10-4) Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (R) Tim Redding (7-3) vs. (R) Jair Jurrjens (9-4) Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (L) Ted Lilly (9-6) vs. (R) Brian Moehler (5-4) San Diego Padres at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (R) Greg Maddux (3-8) vs. (R) Braden Looper (9-7) Pittsburgh Pirates at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (R) Ian Snell (3-7) vs. (L) Glendon Rusch (2-3) Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Hiroki Kuroda (5-6) vs. (L) Doug Davis (3-4) Milwaukee Brewers at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (L) C.C. Sabathia (2-0) vs. (R) Matt Cain (5-7) American League --------------- Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (L) Greg Smith (5-7) vs. (R) Mike Mussina (11-6) Detroit Tigers at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Armando Galarraga (7-3) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (5-7) Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) A.J. Burnett (10-8) vs. (R) James Shields (7-6) Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (R) Kevin Millwood (6-5) vs. (L) Glen Perkins (6-2) Kansas City Royals at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) Zack Greinke (7-5) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (6-8) Boston Red Sox at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Clay Buchholz (2-4) vs. (R) John Lackey (6-2) Cleveland Indians at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (L) Aaron Laffey (5-5) vs. (R) Felix Hernandez (6-6) 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 BOS 57 40 .588 0.0 59 -2 Game of the DayMets 10, Reds 8 - FINAL
NY METS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Reyes ss 5 0 0 0 0 2 2 .298
E Chavez rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .265
C Muniz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
P Feliciano p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
vb-M Anderson ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .200
A Heilman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
S Schoeneweis p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
D Sanchez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
vc-A Reyes ph-2b 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .316
D Wright 3b 5 1 2 4 0 1 1 .284
C Beltran cf 4 2 1 0 1 1 2 .267
D Easley 2b 5 1 2 0 0 1 0 .289
B Wagner p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Delgado 1b 4 2 3 3 1 1 1 .254
F Tatis lf-rf 4 1 3 3 1 1 0 .306
B Schneider c 3 1 0 0 1 1 4 .250
vd-R Castro ph-c 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .282
J Santana p 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .128
va-N Evans ph-lf 4 1 1 0 0 1 4 .229
Totals 41 10 14 10 4 11 16 ###
CINCINNATI ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Bruce cf-lf 5 1 1 1 0 3 2 .268
J Keppinger ss 5 0 2 2 0 0 0 .297
K Griffey Jr rf 5 0 1 0 0 0 3 .234
B Phillips 2b 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 .279
A Dunn lf 4 1 1 1 1 1 2 .228
C Patterson cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .191
E Encarnacion 3b 5 2 3 1 0 0 0 .265
J Votto 1b 4 1 1 0 1 2 3 .279
D Ross c 2 2 0 0 3 1 0 .257
J Cueto p 2 1 0 0 0 0 5 .036
J Affeldt p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
ha-A Phillips ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .176
M Lincoln p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
hb-J Valentin ph 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 .239
D Weathers p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
F Cordero p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Bray p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 39 8 12 8 5 7 16 ###
----------------------------------------------------
NY METS - 000 222 004 -- 10 14 1
CINCINNATI - 000 500 300 -- 8 12 1
----------------------------------------------------
va-singled to center for J Santana in the 5th; ha-singled to center for J
Affeldt in the 6th; vb-singled to left for P Feliciano in the 7th; hb-doubled
to deep right center for M Lincoln in the 7th; vc-singled to center for D
Sanchez in the 9th; vd-struck out looking for B Schneider in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - F Tatis (6, F Cordero); J Bruce (9, J Santana); E Encarnacion
(20, A Heilman); J Valentin (7, S Schoeneweis); K Griffey Jr (17, D Sanchez).
3B - J Keppinger (2, J Santana). HR - C Delgado (18, 4th inning off J Cueto 1
on, 2 Out), A Dunn (27, 4th inning off J Santana 0 on, 1 Out), E Encarnacion
(16, 4th inning off J Santana 0 on, 1 Out), F Tatis (5, 6th inning off J Cueto
1 on, 1 Out), D Wright (18, 9th inning off F Cordero 1 on, 1 Out). RBI - C
Delgado 3 (55), D Wright 4 (74), F Tatis 3 (22), A Dunn (60), E Encarnacion
(36), J Bruce (22), J Keppinger 2 (24), J Valentin 3 (10). 2-out RBI - C
Delgado 2, D Wright 2, J Bruce, J Keppinger 2, J Valentin 3. Runners left in
scoring position, 2 out - B Schneider 1, N Evans 3, A Dunn 1, K Griffey Jr 2, J
Cueto 2, J Bruce 1. Team LOB - NY METS 8, CINCINNATI 9. FIELDING: E - C Muniz
(1, throw); B Phillips (4, throw).
NY METS ip h r er bb so hr era
J Santana 4 6 5 5 3 2 2 3.10
C Muniz 1 1/3 2 0 0 0 2 0 4.41
P Feliciano (H, 11) 2/3 1 0 0 0 1 0 2.80
A Heilman (H, 12) 2/3 1 3 3 2 0 0 4.97
S Schoeneweis (B, 2) 1/3 1 0 0 0 1 0 2.63
D Sanchez (W, 4-1) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.48
B Wagner (S, 23) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.25
CINCINNATI ip h r er bb so hr era
J Cueto 5 1/3 6 6 6 3 6 2 4.92
J Affeldt 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.86
M Lincoln 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.80
D Weathers (H, 11) 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 3.60
F Cordero (L, 4-2; B, 5) 1/3 6 4 4 0 1 1 3.12
B Bray 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.79
IBB - J Votto (by A Heilman). Pitches-strikes: J Santana 92-58; C Muniz
26-14; P Feliciano 11-8; A Heilman 19-8; S Schoeneweis 11-7; D Sanchez 13-9; B
Wagner 8-6; J Cueto 93-59; J Affeldt 9-6; M Lincoln 18-13; D Weathers 25-13; F
Cordero 26-18; B Bray 9-7. Ground balls-fly balls: J Santana 3-7; C Muniz 1-1;
P Feliciano 0-1; A Heilman 2-0; S Schoeneweis 0-0; D Sanchez 0-2; B Wagner 2-1;
J Cueto 3-7; J Affeldt 0-1; M Lincoln 2-1; D Weathers 1-0; F Cordero 0-0; B
Bray 1-0. Batters faced: J Santana 21; C Muniz 6; P Feliciano 3; A Heilman 5; S
Schoeneweis 2; D Sanchez 4; B Wagner 3; J Cueto 25; J Affeldt 2; M Lincoln 4; D
Weathers 5; F Cordero 7; B Bray 2. IRS - S Schoeneweis 3. UMPIRES: HP--Laz
Diaz. 1B--Wally Bell. 2B--Paul Schrieber. 3B--Sam Holbrook. T--3:43.
Att--23,681. Weather: 86 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 3 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.  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 SF AA Pablo Sandoval.... 5 3 2 0 1 0 1 3 R BOS AAA Chris Carter...... 5 4 1 0 1 0 0 3 R NYY AA Austin Jackson.... 4 4 2 0 0 1 0 DET AAA Brent Clevlen..... 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 CHW AA Brandon Allen..... 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 LAA A+ Hank Conger....... 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 6 RBI ! CLE A+ Nicholas Weglarz.. 3 2 1 1 0 2 0 3 R BOS A+ C. Chiang......... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 3 R TOR A David Cooper...... 5 4 2 0 0 0 0 3 R STL A Brett Wallace..... 3 3 1 1 0 1 0 TB A Reid Fronk........ 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 TOR AA Brian Jeroloman... 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes PHI AAA J.A. Happ......... 7 0 0 0 12 1 0 MIN AAA F. Liriano........ 8 7 1 1 8 0 0 BAL A Zachary Britton... 6 2 1 0 7 0 0 11 GB TB A- Nick Barnese...... 6 4 2 1 10 2 0 FLA AA Rick Vanden Hurk.. 6 5 2 1 8 1 0 COL A+ Jhoulys Chacin.... 6 12 4 4 11 0 1 PHI A+ Drew Naylor....... 6 7 0 0 7 1 0 KC A+ Edward Cegarra.... 8 5 0 0 5 2 0 ATL AA Thomas Hanson..... 6 5 1 1 8 3 0 SF A Daryl Maday....... 6 3 0 0 5 1 0 11 GB CLE A+ Hector Rondon..... 6 2 1 1 6 1 1 NYY AAA Alfredo Aceves.... 4 2 0 0 5 0 0 Access THT’s stats here…
Do you have a general question or comment for one of THT's writers? Send it in to our weekly mailbag We also welcome unsolicited op-ed pieces of approximately 500 words for consideration. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and consistency of style. Please include your whole name and location to be considered. If you have a comment about this specific article, please email the writer. Next Article: This annotated week in baseball history: July 13 - July 19, 1961>> <<Previous Article: A balancing act | |||||||
TB 55 39 .585 0.5 52 3 
NYA 50 45 .526 6.0 50 0 
TOR 47 48 .495 9.0 50 -3 
BAL 45 49 .479 10.5 46 -1 
American League Central
CHA 54 40 .574 0.0 56 -2 
MIN 53 42 .558 1.5 49 4 
DET 48 47 .505 6.5 48 0 
KC 43 53 .448 12.0 42 1 
CLE 41 53 .436 13.0 48 -7 
American League West
LAA 57 38 .600 0.0 50 7 
OAK 51 44 .537 6.0 55 -4 
TEX 50 46 .521 7.5 46 4 
SEA 37 58 .389 20.0 41 -4 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 52 44 .542 0.0 52 0 
PHI 52 44 .542 0.0 56 -4 
FLA 50 45 .526 1.5 45 5 
ATL 45 50 .474 6.5 52 -7 
WAS 36 60 .375 16.0 36 0 
National League Central
CHN 57 38 .600 0.0 58 -1 
STL 54 43 .557 4.0 51 3 
MIL 52 43 .547 5.0 49 3 
CIN 46 51 .474 12.0 43 3 
HOU 44 51 .463 13.0 43 1 
PIT 44 51 .463 13.0 41 3 
National League West
ARI 47 48 .495 0.0 48 -1 
LAN 46 49 .484 1.0 49 -3 
SF 40 55 .421 7.0 41 -1 
COL 40 57 .412 8.0 40 0 
SD 37 59 .385 10.5 38 -1 