November 8, 2009
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THT Daily: Bad shouldersby THT StaffAugust 05, 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
The Yankees said Joba Chamberlain left Monday's game with right shoulder stiffness. Chamberlain allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings before exiting the game against the Rangers. The Yankees figure to be especially cautious with a player so key to their future, so we're guessing that Chamberlain lands on the DL, even if it's just for two weeks. Darrell Rasner could move right back into the rotation, but Ian Kennedy is another possibility. Eric Chavez will undergo season-ending surgery on his right shoulder next week. Chavez has tried again to rehab the shoulder, progressing to batting practice last week, but he's decided to give it up and try another surgery. There's now considerable doubt about whether he'll be able to make it back as a third baseman. The A's might use him at DH or first base next year. Marlon Byrd hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth as the Rangers topped the Yankees on Monday night. With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the frame, Byrd laced the ball over the right field fence, ending Texas' 10-game home losing streak to the Yankees. He finished the night 2-for-4 with two runs scored and the four RBI, raising his line to .254/.347/.421 on the season. Bronson Arroyo allowed just one run in six innings to lead the Reds over the Brewers on Monday night. Arroyo struck out six and allowed just four hits in the outing. He wasn't just effective on the mound, either: Arroyo hit a two-run double to break a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth, and came around to score to tally Cincinnati's third run of the night. Arroyo's record improves to 10-8 despite an ugly 5.55 ERA. Prince Fielder got into an altercation with Manny Parra in the dugout after Parra was removed from his start on Monday. Cameras caught Fielder shoving Parra to the dugout floor. Parra had just departed after giving up six runs in six innings in the contest. Fielder remained in the game afterwards. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps courtesy of Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Astros 2, Cubs 0: Lighting and even a tornado warning shortened this one. The same system moved through Columbus early this morning, causing both ShysterKids to seek refuge in my room. That just never leads to a good night's sleep, and that's why these recaps may be a little cursory this morning. Apologies. It may be slow going for the next couple of hours as well, but I suspect we'll be back up to cruising speed by lunchtime. Reds 6, Brewers 3: Manny Parra and Prince Fielder scuffle in the dugout as the Brewers lose the first game of a stretch in which they face the NL's three weakest teams (Cincy, Washington, San Diego). What on Earth can happen in a game against the Reds that would cause two players on a playoff contender to fight like that? Did Parra welsh on his promise to get the tab at the Montgomery Inn before the game? It's the Reds! You beat them, go back to the hotel and rest, and then come back and beat them again tomorrow. Indians 5, Rays 2: Remember the mini-flap earlier this season in which some bloggers were talking up Cliff Lee's great start and others were talking down those bloggers for talking it up due to small sample size? Well, the sample size is getting pretty big now, and it looks as though there is no slowing Lee down. Last night he threw seven innings of two run ball. Though I'm no scout, he's looked confident and at times dominant in every start I've seen of his this year. He obviously figured something out since last season, and the only bummer about it is that he hasn't had a lick of help from any of his teammates. Blue Jays 6, A's 1: Halladay gave up a run on four hits, walked one and struck out eight over eight innings. He's another one of the 1960s guys I referred to in yesterday's post about Zambrano. Throw him out there as much as possible and let good things happen. Rangers 9, Yankees 5: Not one of the 1960s guys? Joba Chamberlain. Leaves with shoulder tightness in the fifth which, if serious, is an absolutely revoltin' development for Yankees' fans. So how did this game end? Take it away ShysterBall's only known Rangers' fan, Royce The Hack: Rangers Fans in North Texas are in a state of delirium, tonight. My Primo Amigo, Marlon Bryd jacked a two-out Grand Slam in the bottom of the ninth to put a clear punctuation mark on the first of a four-game series with the Hated Yankees.Mariners 11, Twins 6: I sometimes turn a game off around the sixth or seventh inning if there's a big lead. Say, five runs or so. Here's hoping the Twins fans who did that last night are sitting down when they read the box score this morning. Giving up ten runs in one inning is pretty damn bad, but the thing about this one is that it could have been worse in that the third out of the inning came when Willie Bloomquist was thrown out at home trying to score from first on a single. If he holds up, Adrian Beltre -- who was already 3-4 at that point -- gets to bat again. Mercy. Giants 4, Braves 2: The Braves have lost eight of ten, and the way they've been hitting there was no way they were going to hit Matt Cain, who is much, much better than that 7-9 record suggests. Angels 6, Orioles 5: K-Rod blows the save, but All-Star George Sherrill loses the game with a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth. Ever been to a game that ends on a bases loaded walk? I have once, and it's just the strangest feeling. The crowd cheers, but their hearts aren't in it in the same way they would be for a game ending single or even a strikeout by the visitors or something. Walks are simply hard to get excited about as they happen. Which is one of the handful of reasons, by the way, that I suspect that sabermetrics are hard for many to accept. Royals 4, Red Sox 3: As Neyer pointed out the other day, the Royals have a pretty darn good bullpen that, as so many color commentators like to say, serves to shorten games. This one was certainly shortened, as it were, even if Soria gave up a run. Diamondbacks 13, Pirates 7: Arizona doesn't have the sexy midseason acquisition like the Dodgers do, but they'll take 18 hits. This is the kind of thing they were simply unable to do earlier in the season when their starter came out of the gate struggling like Danny Haren did last night. Nationals 9, Rockies 4: Washington takes advantage of a rare bad outing by Aaron Cook. Folks in Colorado are kind of hoping for another miracle surge like the Rockies had last year. If it's going to happen, it's gotta happen now. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (L) Wandy Rodriguez (6-4) vs. (R) Rich Harden (1-1) Florida Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Josh Johnson (1-0) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (10-6) Milwaukee Brewers at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Dave Bush (5-9) vs. (R) Edinson Volquez (13-4) San Diego Padres at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Chris Young (4-4) vs. (R) Mike Pelfrey (9-7) Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (R) Chad Billingsley (11-9) vs. (R) Chris Carpenter (0-0) Washington Nationals at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (L) John Lannan (6-11) vs. (L) Jorge De La Rosa (5-6) Pittsburgh Pirates at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (L) Zach Duke (4-9) vs. (R) Brandon Webb (15-4) Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (L) Mike Hampton (0-0) vs. (L) Jonathan Sanchez (8-7) American League --------------- Oakland Athletics at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (L) Greg Smith (5-10) vs. (R) Scott Richmond (0-1) Cleveland Indians at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Fausto Carmona (5-3) vs. (R) Edwin Jackson (7-7) New York Yankees at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (L) Andy Pettitte (12-8) vs. (L) Matt Harrison (2-2) Boston Red Sox at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Josh Beckett (9-8) vs. (R) Brian Bannister (7-9) Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (L) Nate Robertson (6-8) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (11-6) Baltimore Orioles at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (L) Chris Waters (0-0) vs. (R) Jon Garland (10-6) Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) Scott Baker (7-3) vs. (R) R.A. Dickey (3-6) 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 TB 66 45 .595 0.0 61 5 Game of the DayMariners 11, Twins 6 - FINAL
MINNESOTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D Span rf 4 1 1 0 1 0 1 .313
N Punto 2b 3 3 1 1 2 1 2 .285
J Mauer c 5 1 2 0 0 1 3 .317
J Morneau 1b 3 1 2 2 2 0 0 .315
M Lamb dh 5 0 2 1 0 2 3 .232
D Young lf 2 0 0 1 2 0 2 .291
B Buscher 3b 4 0 0 1 0 1 6 .303
B Harris ss 5 0 2 0 0 2 0 .261
C Gomez cf 3 0 1 0 1 0 2 .256
Totals 34 6 11 6 8 7 19 ###
SEATTLE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
I Suzuki rf 3 2 2 0 2 0 0 .305
W Bloomquist cf 4 1 1 0 1 0 3 .281
R Ibanez lf 5 2 3 6 0 1 2 .284
A Beltre 3b 5 1 3 0 0 1 1 .256
J Lopez 2b 5 1 3 1 0 0 0 .306
J Vidro dh 5 0 2 0 0 0 4 .234
B LaHair 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .293
ha-M Cairo ph-1b 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 .244
K Johjima c 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 .211
hb-J Clement ph-c 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 .185
Y Betancourt ss 4 2 2 1 0 0 1 .258
Totals 39 11 18 9 4 3 14 ###
----------------------------------------------------
MINNESOTA - 103 200 000 -- 6 11 2
SEATTLE - 000 001 (10)0x -- 11 18 1
----------------------------------------------------
ha-walked for B Lahair in the 7th; hb-singled to right for K Johjima in the
7th.
BATTING: 2B - M Lamb (11, M Batista); D Span (8, M Batista); J Morneau (28, J
Woods); K Johjima (14, G Perkins); A Beltre (20, B Bass). HR - N Punto (2, 3rd
inning off M Batista 0 on, 0 Out), R Ibanez (16, 7th inning off G Perkins 3 on,
1 Out). SF - B Buscher , D Young. RBI - M Lamb (30), N Punto (21), D Young
(44), B Buscher (29), J Morneau 2 (89), R Ibanez 6 (73), J Lopez (61), J
Clement (13), Y Betancourt (31). 2-out RBI - M Lamb, J Clement, Y Betancourt, R
Ibanez 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Mauer 1, D Young 2, C
Gomez 1, W Bloomquist 1, J Vidro 1, A Beltre 1, B LaHair 1. GIDP - B Buscher, B
LaHair, J Vidro. Team LOB - MINNESOTA 11, SEATTLE 8. BASERUNNING: SB - N Punto
(6, 2nd base off M Batista/K Johjima). FIELDING: E - D Span (4, throw); B
Harris (10, throw); Y Betancourt (16, throw). Outfield assists - W Bloomquist
(J Morneau at Home). PB - J Mauer 2. DP: (J Morneau-B Harris-J Morneau, B
Harris-J Morneau, B LaHair-Y Betancourt-J Woods).
MINNESOTA ip h r er bb so hr era
G Perkins 6 1/3 12 5 5 1 2 1 4.38
B Bass (L, 3-4; B, 1) 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 5.01
C Breslow 1/3 0 1 1 1 0 0 2.42
M Guerrier 1/3 3 3 3 2 0 0 3.97
B Bonser 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 6.60
SEATTLE ip h r er bb so hr era
M Batista 3 7 6 6 4 2 1 6.80
J Woods 3 4 0 0 4 4 0 0.00
R Corcoran (W, 2-0) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.80
C Jimenez 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.02
M Lowe 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.41
M Batista pitched to 2 batters in the 4th.
B Bass pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.
IBB - D Young 2 (by J Woods), I Suzuki (by M Guerrier). Pitches-strikes: G
Perkins 87-64; B Bass 9-4; C Breslow 10-3; M Guerrier 19-10; B Bonser 19-13; M
Batista 82-41; J Woods 61-33; R Corcoran 10-7; C Jimenez 10-9; M Lowe 10-8.
Ground balls-fly balls: G Perkins 9-8; B Bass 0-0; C Breslow 0-1; M Guerrier
0-0; B Bonser 1-1; M Batista 3-4; J Woods 3-1; R Corcoran 2-0; C Jimenez 2-1; M
Lowe 3-0. Batters faced: G Perkins 30; B Bass 2; C Breslow 2; M Guerrier 5; B
Bonser 4; M Batista 20; J Woods 15; R Corcoran 3; C Jimenez 3; M Lowe 3. IRS -
M Guerrier 2, J Woods 2. UMPIRES: HP--Marvin Hudson. 1B--Mike Winters.
2B--Randy Marsh. 3B--Mike Muchlinski. T--3:01. Att--27,758. Weather: 76
degrees, clear. Wind: 3 mph, in from left.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 Ryan Braun MIL David Weathers CIN 402 394 30 ND Jay Bruce CIN Manny Parra MIL 402 394 10 ND Marlon Byrd TEX Damaso Marte NYY 425 413 7 PL Asdrubal Cabrera CLE Matt Garza TB 371 371 3 PL Mike Cameron MIL Gary Majewski CIN 383 376 17 JE Robinson Cano NYY Vicente Padilla TEX 438 422 10 ND Bobby Crosby OAK Roy Halladay TOR 407 402 5 PL David Dellucci CLE Matt Garza TB 433 431 10 ND Jesus Flores WAS Aaron Cook COL 427 401 8 ND Jason Giambi NYY Vicente Padilla TEX 432 417 21 ND Alex Gordon KC Clay Buchholz BOS 426 416 13 ND Vladimir Guerrero LAA Dennis Sarfate BAL 413 401 19 JE/L Willie Harris WAS Matt Herges COL 400 364 9 PL Raul Ibanez SEA Glen Perkins MIN 380 378 16 PL Jason Michaels PIT Tony Pena ARI 408 397 7 JE Doug Mientkiewicz PIT Dan Haren ARI 391 381 2 PL David Murphy TEX Joba Chamberlain NYY 384 372 15 PL Xavier Nady NYY Frank Francisco TEX 374 363 17 JE/L Nick Punto MIN Miguel Batista SEA 373 371 2 PL Mark Reynolds ARI Denny Bautista PIT 410 399 23 PL Michael Young TEX Joba Chamberlain NYY 397 385 9 JE 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 ATL A+ Eric Campbell..... 3 3 2 0 1 3 0 3 R ATL A+ Tyler Flowers..... 3 2 0 0 2 3 0 5 RBI ! CHC A- Ryan Flaherty..... 5 4 2 1 0 0 0 FLA AA Gaby Sanchez...... 4 2 0 0 2 1 0 OAK AAA Matt Murton....... 5 3 0 1 1 0 0 3 R TOR AAA Kevin Melillo..... 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 NYY AA Austin Jackson.... 5 4 2 0 0 0 1 3 R NYY A Bradley Suttle.... 5 3 0 1 1 0 0 PIT AAA Neil Walker....... 5 3 1 1 0 0 1 4 LD MIL AA Alcides Escobar... 3 2 0 0 1 1 1 OAK AAA Eric Patterson.... 5 2 0 0 1 0 0 CLE AA Joshua Rodriguez.. 6 2 1 1 0 0 2 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes CLE AA Scott Lewis....... 6 1 0 0 10 2 0 BAL AA C. Tillman........ 6 4 2 2 11 1 1 ATL AA Thomas Hanson..... 6 4 2 2 10 1 1 CLE A Ryan Morris....... 5 0 0 0 7 2 0 COL AA Brandon Hynick.... 7 3 1 1 3 0 0 13 GB LAA AAA Anthony Ortega.... 5 6 3 2 7 2 0 PIT AAA Tom Gorzelanny.... 6 6 3 0 4 0 0 CHC A- Mark Pawelek...... 3 1 2 2 6 2 0 TB AAA Wade Davis........ 6 5 0 0 5 2 0 CHW AAA Lance Broadway.... 6 5 3 3 7 4 0 SF AA Adam Cowart....... 4 2 0 0 4 1 0 NYY A+ Christian Garcia.. 3 6 2 1 6 1 0 Access THT’s stats here…
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BOS 64 49 .566 3.0 66 -2 
NYA 61 51 .545 5.5 61 0 
TOR 56 56 .500 10.5 60 -4 
BAL 53 58 .477 13.0 54 -1 
American League Central
CHA 61 49 .555 0.0 62 -1 
MIN 62 50 .554 0.0 59 3 
DET 55 56 .495 6.5 57 -2 
KC 53 60 .469 9.5 50 3 
CLE 49 62 .441 12.5 56 -7 
American League West
LAA 70 42 .625 0.0 61 9 
TEX 59 54 .522 11.5 54 5 
OAK 53 58 .477 16.5 58 -5 
SEA 43 69 .384 27.0 49 -6 
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 61 50 .550 0.0 63 -2 
FLA 59 53 .527 2.5 54 5 
NYN 58 53 .523 3.0 59 -1 
ATL 51 61 .455 10.5 57 -6 
WAS 42 70 .375 19.5 44 -2 
National League Central
CHN 67 46 .593 0.0 70 -3 
MIL 62 51 .549 5.0 58 4 
STL 62 52 .544 5.5 60 2 
HOU 54 57 .486 12.0 51 3 
CIN 52 61 .460 15.0 49 3 
PIT 51 61 .455 15.5 49 2 
National League West
ARI 58 54 .518 0.0 59 -1 
LAN 56 55 .505 1.5 58 -2 
COL 51 63 .447 8.0 51 0 
SF 47 64 .423 10.5 46 1 
SD 43 69 .384 15.0 44 -1 