February 9, 2010
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THT Daily: Blown awayby THT StaffSeptember 15, 2008 Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Yesterday’s Home Runs 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 RotoworldIn his first start in 12 days, Carlos Zambrano threw his first career no-hitter Sunday against the Astros, striking out 10 in the process. If only this game had been played in Houston rather than Milwaukee... well, Astros fans might have gotten to see some history. Zambrano walked just one and hit a batter. He ended up throwing 110 pitches, which is probably at least 10 more than the Cubs would have wanted him throwing given his recent shoulder issues. Still, it was a very efficient performance for a double-digit strikeout game. The no-hitter is the Cubs’ first since Milt Pappas had one against the Padres in 1972. Brett Myers pitched a two-hitter in a 6-1 win as the Phillies completed a doubleheader sweep of the Brewers on Sunday. The Brewers scored a combined 10 runs in a four-game sweep that leaves both them and the Phillies with identical 83-67 records. The Phillies are now one game back of the Mets in the NL East, though it's two in the loss column. The Phillies and Brewers share the wild-card lead, with Houston two games back. Myers moved to 7-2 with a 1.80 ERA in 11 starts since returning from the minors. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Remnants of Ike came through Ohio yesterday, knocking out the power at Chez Shyster just before 4pm and leaving us all 19th century until just before 2AM. With no power, one cannot watch baseball, follow box scores online, or even blog. One can drink, however, and that's exactly what Mrs. Shyster and I did before retiring early. I wake up this morning to see that Carlos Zambrano threw a no-hitter in the Astros' "home game" against the Cubs. Mixed kind of day for Brewers' fans, I suppose. One the one hand the victory helps them fend off Houston for the wild card, but seeing a dominant performance by a team that has increasingly become their primary nemesis in their own backyard on a day when the Brewers themselves lost has to kind of suck. And what about those Brewers? Dropping yet another game, Ryan Braun minced no words: "This series was a complete and total disaster. It couldn't have gone any worse. We couldn't have played any worse. They couldn't have played any better." I'd like to thank Mr. Braun for picking up the And That Happened Slack in light of the power outage. But really Ryan, ease up. You'll get emails from Milwaukee fans telling you that you're being too hard on them. Trust me, I know. Around the rest of relevant-game baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally received their Greg Maddux user manual from San Diego yesterday and starting using him the way the Padres did: He provided them with seven innings of shutout baseball and they provided him with no run support, losing the game 1-0. Doesn't matter in the grand scheme, however, because the Dbacks lost too, this time on a Corey Patterson home run in the 10th. Let that one sink in for a minute. Arizona remains 4.5 back, and really ought to be ashamed of themselves. In the AL Central, the White Sox swept a doubleheader while the Twins dropped their game to Baltimore, leaving Chicago a game and a half up. With the Philllies beyotch-slapping of the Brewers and the Mets' 9th inning collapse (microcosm of 2007 anyone?) to Atlanta, the Mets are now only one game away from joining the wild wild card race. A weekend that saw the Rays lose two and the Red Sox win two now has the AL East race back to a one game margin. Carl Pavano got hurt, if you can believe it, though he plans to make his next start. Oh, and Roy Halladay lost again. Why I keep paying attention to that I have no idea, but on some cosmic level I feel like I should have Cliff Lee's back. Maybe he saved me from an Indian attack in a past life once or something. The AL West, she does not matter anymore, but if you care about such things, the Angels lead is now 19.5 games. Oh, and as of Saturday night, K-Rod is the single-season saves leader. This conversational stuff was fun and everything, but now that our power has been restored, we will be returning to our usual format tomorrow morning. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros, 2:05 PM (R) Jason Marquis (10-8) vs. (R) Brian Moehler (11-6) Los Angeles Dodgers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Hiroki Kuroda (8-10) vs. (R) Ross Ohlendorf (0-1) New York Mets at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM (R) Pedro Martinez (5-4) vs. (L) John Lannan (8-13) San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies, 8:35 PM (L) Wade LeBlanc (0-1) vs. (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (10-12) San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Brad Hennessey (1-1) vs. (L) Doug Davis (6-8) American League --------------- Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Kevin Slowey (12-9) vs. (L) Scott Lewis (1-0) Chicago White Sox at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (L) Mark Buehrle (13-11) vs. (R) Alfredo Aceves (1-0) Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (16-2) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (11-6) Detroit Tigers at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (L) Dontrelle Willis (0-1) vs. (R) Brandon McCarthy (1-1) Seattle Mariners at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Carlos Silva (4-14) vs. (R) Kyle Davies (6-7) 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 88 59 .599 0.0 83 5 Game of the DayBraves 7, Mets 4 - FINAL
ATLANTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Anderson cf 5 1 1 0 0 3 0 .281
M Prado 2b 1 2 1 0 3 0 0 .330
M Gonzalez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Jones 3b 5 1 3 1 0 0 1 .365
B McCann c 3 0 1 0 1 0 3 .298
G Blanco pr-rf-lf 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .257
O Infante lf-ss 4 0 1 1 1 2 4 .302
J Francoeur rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 6 .233
C Miller c 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 .086
C Kotchman 1b 5 1 1 0 0 1 2 .219
B Lillibridge ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .175
vb-K Johnson ph-2b 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .284
J Campillo p 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 .190
J Bennett p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .222
W Ohman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
va-Y Escobar ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .288
J Tavarez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Julio p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
vc-G Norton ph 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 .244
B Jones rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .265
Totals 36 7 11 7 5 10 18 ###
NY METS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Reyes ss 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 .299
D Murphy lf 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 .360
E Chavez lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .271
D Wright 3b 5 2 4 3 0 1 1 .301
C Delgado 1b 5 0 3 0 0 1 2 .267
C Beltran cf 3 0 0 0 2 0 3 .283
R Church rf 4 0 1 0 0 3 5 .293
hb-F Tatis ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .300
L Castillo 2b 5 0 1 0 0 1 3 .251
B Schneider c 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .256
O Perez p 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 .118
S Schoeneweis p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Smith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
ha-M Anderson ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .215
L Ayala p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
P Feliciano p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Stokes p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .667
Totals 39 4 13 3 3 9 21 ###
----------------------------------------------------
ATLANTA - 101 000 005 -- 7 11 2
NY METS - 102 100 000 -- 4 13 0
----------------------------------------------------
va-grounded to third for W Ohman in the 7th; ha-flied out to right for J Smith
in the 8th; vb-singled to left for B Lillibridge in the 9th; vc-homered to
right for J Julio in the 9th; hb-struck out swinging for R Church in the
9th.
BATTING: 2B - C Jones (23, O Perez); G Blanco (14, P Feliciano); C Delgado (28,
J Campillo). HR - D Wright 2 (31, 1st inning off J Campillo 0 on, 2 Out, 3rd
inning off J Campillo 1 on, 0 Out), G Norton (7, 9th inning off L Ayala 2 on, 0
Out). S - M Prado , O Perez. SF - C Miller. RBI - O Infante (37), C Jones (72),
G Norton 3 (30), G Blanco (38), C Miller (4), D Wright 3 (114). 2-out RBI - O
Infante, D Wright. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C Kotchman 1, J
Francoeur 3, B McCann 1, E Chavez 2, R Church 3, L Castillo 1, J Reyes 1. GIDP
- C Beltran. Team LOB - ATLANTA 9, NY METS 12. BASERUNNING: SB - L Castillo
(16, 2nd base off J Julio/C Miller), J Reyes (50, 2nd base off J Julio/C
Miller). FIELDING: E - J Campillo (4, catch); B Lillibridge (3, throw). DP: (B
Lillibridge-C Kotchman).
ATLANTA ip h r er bb so hr era
J Campillo 3 2/3 8 4 3 1 2 2 3.79
J Bennett 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 2 0 4.01
W Ohman 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.49
J Tavarez 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 4.38
J Julio (W, 2-0) 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1.42
M Gonzalez (S, 11) 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 3.99
NY METS ip h r er bb so hr era
O Perez 7 4 2 2 3 8 0 4.09
S Schoeneweis (H, 14) 1/3 2 0 0 0 0 0 3.08
J Smith (H, 17) 2/3 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.55
L Ayala (L, 2-9; B, 6) 0 3 3 3 0 0 1 5.48
P Feliciano 1/3 2 2 2 2 0 0 4.09
B Stokes 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.08
L Ayala pitched to 3 batters in the 9th.
IBB - O Infante (by P Feliciano), C Beltran (by J Tavarez), J Reyes (by J
Julio). BALK - J Tavarez. Pitches-strikes: J Campillo 87-54; J Bennett 13-9; W
Ohman 15-9; J Tavarez 28-18; J Julio 22-11; M Gonzalez 20-12; O Perez 111-69; S
Schoeneweis 6-6; J Smith 9-7; L Ayala 11-7; P Feliciano 19-8; B Stokes 7-5.
Ground balls-fly balls: J Campillo 7-2; J Bennett 2-0; W Ohman 0-2; J Tavarez
1-0; J Julio 1-1; M Gonzalez 1-1; O Perez 3-10; S Schoeneweis 0-1; J Smith 0-0;
L Ayala 0-0; P Feliciano 1-0; B Stokes 0-2. Batters faced: J Campillo 20; J
Bennett 4; W Ohman 3; J Tavarez 6; J Julio 5; M Gonzalez 5; O Perez 28; S
Schoeneweis 3; J Smith 2; L Ayala 3; P Feliciano 5; B Stokes 2. IRS - B Stokes.
UMPIRES: HP--Gary Cederstrom. 1B--Fieldin Culbreth. 2B--Jim Reynolds. 3B--Tim
Timmons. T--3:29. Att--56,041. Weather: 86 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 12
mph, right to 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 Brian Anderson CWS Kenny Rogers DET 426 407 8 PL Jose Bautista TOR Jon Lester BOS 393 358 14 JE/L Jay Bruce CIN Max Scherzer ARI 377 371 18 PL Pat Burrell PHI Jeff Suppan MIL 421 411 31 ND Mike Cameron MIL Joe Blanton PHI 408 397 25 ND Aaron Cunningham OAK Warner Madrigal TEX 0 0 1 0 Ray Durham MIL Joe Blanton PHI 394 385 6 JE/L Prince Fielder MIL Brett Myers PHI 381 373 30 JE/L Jason Giambi NYY Edwin Jackson TB 407 405 30 ND Curtis Granderson DET Boone Logan CWS 401 387 20 PL Mike Hessman DET Scott Linebrink CWS 0 0 4 0 Ryan Howard PHI Dave Bush MIL 358 349 44 PL/L Derek Jeter NYY David Price TB 393 384 11 PL Ryan Langerhans WAS Doug Waechter FLA 411 420 3 PL Nick Markakis BAL Philip Humber MIN 384 381 20 PL Nick Markakis BAL Nick Blackburn MIN 372 366 19 JE/L Nate McLouth PIT Randy Flores STL 404 420 26 ND Lou Montanez BAL Nick Blackburn MIN 369 363 1 PL/L Greg Norton ATL Luis Ayala NYM 422 422 7 ND Magglio Ordonez DET Bobby Jenks CWS 424 420 21 PL Corey Patterson CIN Jon Rauch ARI 369 363 9 PL Fernando Perez TB Carl Pavano NYY 385 381 1 PL Alexei Ramirez CWS Justin Verlander DET 362 358 17 JE Alex Rodriguez NYY Edwin Jackson TB 435 426 34 ND Oscar Salazar BAL Nick Blackburn MIN 0 0 5 0 Oscar Salazar BAL Nick Blackburn MIN 400 393 4 PL Ryan Shealy KC Jeremy Sowers CLE 417 408 4 PL Ryan Shealy KC Tom Mastny CLE 419 408 3 ND Alfonso Soriano CHC Randy Wolf HOU 0 0 28 0 Mark Teixeira LAA Felix Hernandez SEA 430 419 30 PL Marcus Thames DET Octavio Dotel CWS 436 420 25 ND Jim Thome CWS Kenny Rogers DET 425 413 30 PL Justin Upton ARI Johnny Cueto CIN 441 433 12 PL Shane Victorino PHI Brian Shouse MIL 389 380 12 PL Dewayne Wise CWS Kyle Farnsworth DET 384 376 3 PL David Wright NYM Jorge Campillo ATL 386 373 31 PL David Wright NYM Jorge Campillo ATL 444 407 30 ND Access THT’s stats here…
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BOS 88 61 .591 1.0 90 -2 
TOR 80 70 .533 9.5 85 -5 
NYA 79 70 .530 10.0 78 1 
BAL 66 82 .446 22.5 69 -3 
American League Central
CHA 83 65 .561 0.0 83 0 
MIN 82 67 .550 1.5 84 -2 
CLE 72 77 .483 11.5 77 -5 
DET 70 78 .473 13.0 72 -2 
KC 65 84 .436 18.5 62 3 
American League West
LAA 92 57 .617 0.0 82 10 
TEX 73 77 .487 19.5 69 4 
OAK 69 80 .463 23.0 70 -1 
SEA 57 91 .385 34.5 62 -5 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 83 65 .561 0.0 83 0 
PHI 83 67 .553 1.0 86 -3 
FLA 77 72 .517 6.5 72 5 
ATL 67 83 .447 17.0 73 -6 
WAS 56 93 .376 27.5 58 -2 
National League Central
CHN 89 58 .605 0.0 92 -3 
MIL 83 67 .553 7.5 80 3 
HOU 80 68 .541 9.5 73 7 
STL 78 71 .523 12.0 78 0 
CIN 68 81 .456 22.0 65 3 
PIT 63 86 .423 27.0 61 2 
National League West
LAN 77 72 .517 0.0 79 -2 
ARI 72 76 .486 4.5 75 -3 
SF 68 81 .456 9.0 64 4 
COL 68 82 .453 9.5 67 1 
SD 57 93 .380 20.5 62 -5 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 88 61 .591 0.0
MIN 82 67 .550 6.0
TOR 80 70 .533 8.5
NYA 79 70 .530 9.0
TEX 73 77 .487 15.5
National League
PHI 83 67 .553 0.0
MIL 83 67 .553 0.0
HOU 80 68 .541 2.0
STL 78 71 .523 4.5
FLA 77 72 .517 5.5