THT Daily: Big game tonight

by Dave Studeman
September 28, 2009

Major League News for September 28

Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings

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
Zack Greinke surrendered just one run in seven innings versus the Twins to pick up his 16th win of the season.
Greinke struck out eight and walked two in the contest while scattering seven hits. He's now 16-8 with a 2.06 ERA and 1.07 WHIP and should be a lock for the Cy Young award. If he can toss seven or more scoreless innings in his final start of the season, also against the Twins, Greinke will finish with an ERA under 2.00. The last pitcher to accomplish that feat was Roger Clemens with the Astros in 2005.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
NYA     4  BOS     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     5  SEA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     8  DET     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     9  BAL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      4  MIN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     7  OAK     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB      7  TEX     6    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
NYN     4  FLA     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
ATL     6  WAS     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     3  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     6  MIL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT     6  LAN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     7  SD      4    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     4  STL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      5  CHN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)

Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.

Today’s Games

WhiteSox (75-81) @ Indians (64-91), 7:05pm
    John Danks (24, LHP) vs. Aaron Laffey (24, LHP)
Twins (81-74) @ Tigers (83-72), 7:05pm
    Nick Blackburn (27, RHP) vs. Rick Porcello (20, RHP)
Royals (64-92) @ Yankees (100-56), 7:05pm
    Luke Hochevar (25, RHP) vs. Chad Gaudin (26, RHP)
Orioles (60-95) @ Rays (79-76), 7:08pm
    Mark Hendrickson (35, LHP) vs. Jeff Niemann (26, RHP)
Blue Jays (72-84) @ RedSox (91-64), 7:10pm
    Scott Richmond (29, RHP) vs. Josh Beckett (29, RHP)
Rangers (85-70) @ Angels (91-64), 10:05pm
    Tommy Hunter (22, RHP) vs. Ervin Santana (26, RHP)
Dodgers (93-63) @ Pirates (58-96), 12:35pm
    Hiroki Kuroda (34, RHP) vs. Zach Duke (26, LHP)
Marlins (83-73) @ Braves (85-70), 7:00pm
    Anibal Sanchez (25, RHP) vs. Jair Jurrjens (23, RHP)
Mets (67-89) @ Nationals (52-103), 7:05pm
    Nelson Figueroa (35, RHP) vs. Ross Detwiler (23, LHP)
Astros (72-83) @ Phillies (90-65), 7:05pm
    Yorman Bazardo (24, RHP) vs. Cole Hamels (25, LHP)

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
NYA    100  56 .641    0.0   93     7    
BOS     91  64 .587    8.5   91     0    
TB      79  76 .510   20.5   82    -3    
TOR     72  84 .462   28.0   80    -8    
BAL     60  95 .387   39.5   64    -4    
American League Central     
DET     83  72 .535    0.0   78     5    
MIN     81  74 .523    2.0   81     0    
CHA     75  81 .481    8.5   76    -1    
CLE     64  91 .413   19.0   71    -7    
KC      64  92 .410   19.5   64     0    
American League West        
LAA     91  64 .587    0.0   87     4    
TEX     85  70 .548    6.0   83     2    
SEA     80  76 .513   11.5   71     9    
OAK     75  81 .481   16.5   80    -5    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     90  65 .581    0.0   89     1    
ATL     85  70 .548    5.0   88    -3    
FLA     83  73 .532    7.5   78     5    
NYN     67  89 .429   23.5   68    -1    
WAS     52 103 .335   38.0   61    -9    
National League Central     
STL     90  66 .577    0.0   89     1    
CHN     81  74 .523    8.5   82    -1    
MIL     77  79 .494   13.0   75     2    
CIN     74  82 .474   16.0   72     2    
HOU     72  83 .465   17.5   66     6    
PIT     58  96 .377   31.0   63    -5    
National League West        
LAN     93  63 .596    0.0   97    -4    
COL     88  68 .564    5.0   86     2    
SF      83  73 .532   10.0   82     1    
SD      72  85 .459   21.5   64     8    
ARI     68  88 .436   25.0   72    -4    


Wildcard Standings
American League             
BOS     91  64 .587    0.0
TEX     85  70 .548    6.0
MIN     81  74 .523   10.0
SEA     80  76 .513   11.5
TB      79  76 .510   12.0
National League             
COL     88  68 .564    0.0
ATL     85  70 .548    2.5
SF      83  73 .532    5.0
FLA     83  73 .532    5.0
CHN     81  74 .523    6.5