THT Daily: Bonds Inches Closer

by Matthew Carruth
July 04, 2007

Major League News for July 4

Today’s Links
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Top Minor League Performances

You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/

THT Links

From the Realm of Odd - Some random statistical quirks to date so far in the season.

And He is/will be Off Again - Ken Rosenthal reports the latest concerning the Mark Buehrle extension talks and why the deal will ultimately get done. Sorry other teams.

The Motivation Behind No No-Trade - Meanwhile, here is some information about why the White Sox are so reluctant to include a no-trade clause in Buehrle's contract.

No-Boating Clause - The San Francisco Giants are restricting what kind of boating craft may be present in McCovey Cove during the All-Star Game.

Playa Hating - Finally, Gaslamp Ball has an interesting question. Is there any player, be it baseball or otherwise, that fans are/should just not be allowed to hate? We're talking about fans nationwide, not just of the player's particular team.

THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Player News

Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld

Brad Wilkerson became the first American Leaguer this year with a three-homer game Tuesday in the Rangers' 8-2 win over the Angels. Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Lee are the two National Leaguers to get there this year. Wilkerson drove in six runs with his three bombs. He has five homers and 15 RBI over his last seven games. Perhaps this will inspire the Rangers to move him up in the lineup. He has 39 RBI in 166 at-bats, which is very impressive for someone who has spent most of his time in the seventh and eighth spots in the order.

Billy Butler was 3-for-5 with four runs and six RBI Tuesday as Kansas City rolled over the Mariners 17-3. Butler's three-run homer keyed a six-run first, and then his bases-loaded double was the big hit in a four-run second inning. Not only did he become the first rookie this season to drive in six runs in a game, but at 21 years, 76 days old, he became the youngest player to do it since A-Rod was just 20 years, 295 days old on May 17, 1996. In 21 games, Butler is batting .286 with five doubles, but when Mike Sweeney comes off the DL this weekend, it will be "thanks, kid. Now back to Triple-A with you."

Barry Bonds hit a two-run homer Tuesday to pull within four of tying Hank Aaron's all-time record for home runs. Blast No. 751 of Bonds' career came in his first at-bat of the night to stake the Giants to a 2-0 first-inning lead in the city in which Aaron tied the Babe's record back in 1974. Bonds, who also drew two walks to give him 86 free passes in 74 games, is up to .305. He's now victimized Aaron Harang twice in his career.

Chris Carpenter (elbow) gave up five runs -- three earned -- and five hits in 1 1/3 innings Tuesday in his first rehab start for Single-A Palm Beach. Well, it was his first game appearance in three months. Carpenter will make at least two more starts in the minors before rejoining the Cardinals.

Diamondbacks placed LHP Randy Johnson on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 29, with a sore back. Johnson showed last year that he can no longer pitch effectively when he's only 85-90 percent, so the Diamondbacks are probably doing the smart thing here. Still, it's looking like they might not get much from the 43-year-old over the remainder of the two-year extension he signed as part of the trade with the Yankees. Yusmeiro Petit will start in his place tonight.

Yesterday’s Results

American League
BOS     4  TB      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA     8  MIN     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     5  BAL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     5  DET     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC     17  SEA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     3  TOR     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     8  LAA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
CHN     3  WAS     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     7  SF      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     5  PHI     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT     6  MIL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     7  STL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL    11  NYN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     7  ATL     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     6  SD      4    (Recap and Boxscore)

First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Chicago Cubs at Washington Nationals, 12:05 PM
  (L) Rich Hill (5-5) vs. (L) Matt Chico (3-5)
 San Francisco Giants at Cincinnati Reds, 1:15 PM
  (R) Matt Cain (2-9) vs. (R) Matt Belisle (5-5)
 Philadelphia Phillies at Houston Astros, 2:05 PM
  (L) Cole Hamels (9-4) vs. (R) Chris Sampson (6-5)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 4:05 PM
  (R) Claudio Vargas (6-1) vs. (R) Ian Snell (6-5)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at St. Louis Cardinals, 7:15 PM
  (R) Livan Hernandez (5-5) vs. (R) Brad Thompson (6-3)
 New York Mets at Colorado Rockies, 8:05 PM
  (R) Orlando Hernandez (4-3) vs. (R) Josh Fogg (3-6)
 Florida Marlins at San Diego Padres, 9:05 PM
  (R) Josh Johnson (0-3) vs. (R) Chris Young (8-3)
 Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 PM
  (L) Chuck James (7-7) vs. (L) Mark Hendrickson (2-3)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (L) Johan Santana (9-6) vs. (R) Mike Mussina (4-5)
 Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Boston Red Sox, 1:05 PM
  (R) Edwin Jackson (1-8) vs. (R) Tim Wakefield (8-8)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Oakland Athletics, 4:05 PM
  (R) Dustin McGowan (4-4) vs. (L) Joe Kennedy (2-6)
 Baltimore Orioles at Chicago White Sox, 7:05 PM
  (L) Garrett Olson (0-0) vs. (R) Jose Contreras (5-9)
 Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (R) Jake Westbrook (1-3) vs. (L) Kenny Rogers (2-0)
 Seattle Mariners at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (L) Jarrod Washburn (7-6) vs. (R) Brian Bannister (5-4)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Texas Rangers, 8:35 PM
  (R) Jered Weaver (6-4) vs. (R) Jamey Wright (1-2)

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
BOS     50  31 .617    0.0   49     1    
TOR     40  42 .488   10.5   42    -2    
NYA     38  41 .481   11.0   46    -8    
BAL     36  45 .444   14.0   40    -4    
TB      33  48 .407   17.0   31     2    
American League Central     
CLE     50  32 .610    0.0   48     2    
DET     47  33 .588    2.0   48    -1    
MIN     42  39 .519    7.5   43    -1    
CHA     35  44 .443   13.5   34     1    
KC      35  48 .422   15.5   38    -3    
American League West        
LAA     51  31 .622    0.0   48     3    
SEA     45  34 .570    4.5   41     4    
OAK     42  40 .512    9.0   46    -4    
TEX     34  48 .415   17.0   38    -4    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     46  35 .568    0.0   46     0    
ATL     43  40 .518    4.0   42     1    
PHI     42  41 .506    5.0   41     1    
FLA     38  45 .458    9.0   39    -1    
WAS     33  49 .402   13.5   29     4    
National League Central     
MIL     48  34 .585    0.0   47     1    
CHN     41  40 .506    6.5   44    -3    
STL     37  42 .468    9.5   33     4    
HOU     36  47 .434   12.5   38    -2    
PIT     35  47 .427   13.0   34     1    
CIN     31  51 .378   17.0   37    -6    
National League West        
SD      47  34 .580    0.0   50    -3    
LAN     47  36 .566    1.0   46     1    
ARI     46  38 .548    2.5   40     6    
COL     40  43 .482    8.0   40     0    
SF      35  45 .438   11.5   42    -7

Top Minor League Games

The 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
CIN AA  Jay Bruce......... 4  4  3  0  0  1  0  
COL AAA Ian Stewart....... 6  4  1  0  1  0  0  
ARI AA  Justin Upton...... 3  2  0  1  0  0  1  
SEA AAA Adam Jones........ 4  2  0  1  0  0  2  
NYY A+  Jose Tabata....... 6  4  1  0  0  0  1  3 LD
TB  AA  Reid Brignac...... 7  3  2  0  0  0  0  
OAK A+  Javier Herrera.... 5  3  2  0  0  0  1  4 RBI
COL A+  C. Nelson......... 5  3  0  0  2  1  0  5 RBI !
CHC AA  Jake Fox.......... 4  3  0  0  2  1  0  
COL A+  Eric Young........ 6  5  1  0  0  0  0  2 SB
ATL AA  Brandon Jones..... 5  3  2  0  0  0  1  
ATL AA  Van Pope.......... 5  3  2  0  0  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
NYY AA  Joba Chamberlain.. 6  4  0  0 12  1  0  
LAA AAA Joe Saunders...... 7  3  2  2  7  1  0  
TB  A   J. Hellickson..... 7  5  1  1  6  1  1  12 GB
WAN AA  Collin Balester... 6  2  2  2  6  2  1  
CLE A   Neil Wagner....... 3  0  0  0  5  0  0  
COL AAA Ubaldo Jimenez.... 5  6  4  3  5  3  0  9 GB
BOS AAA Devern Hansack.... 8  3  1  1  6  2  1  
STL A+  Trey Hearne....... 5  4  2  1  4  1  0  
MIN AA  Anthony Swarzak... 7  7  1  1  4  3  0  
BAL A+  Jason Berken...... 6  8  5  5  6  1  1  
MIN A+  Jeffrey Manship... 5  5  3  1  6  4  0  9 GB
NYY AAA Tyler Clippard.... 7  7  3  1  3  3  0

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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.

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