THT Daily: Boston slugfest
by Dave StudemanAugust 22, 2009
Major League News for August 22
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/
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldAnibal Sanchez was charged with one run over six-plus innings in a 5-3 win over the Braves on Friday night.
He actually held the Braves hitless until a Javier Vazquez single in the sixth. Sanchez allowed just two hits in all, striking out seven and walking two. Manager Fredi Sanchez pulled him after 82 pitches, but he exceeded all expectations for his first start since June 2. If he's truly healthy, he could be quite a coup for the Marlins and NL-only owners down the stretch.
Hideki Matsui delivered a pair of three-run homers and an RBI groundout as the Yankees smoked the Red Sox 20-11 on Friday.
Matsui collected just two of the Yankees' 23 hits in his six at-bats, but he did establish a new career high for RBI. Alex Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera both had four hits apiexe, while Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira scored three runs each. Matsui has 19 RBI in 15 games this month.
Troy Tulowitzki was held out of the lineup Friday with a stomach flu.
Tulowitzki was vomiting early Friday and was ordered to stay home. "When we revisit it," said manager Jim Tracy, "if it's tomorrow or if it's the day after, we have to make sure that he's completely hydrated." Clint Barmes slid over to shortstop and Ian Stewart moved to second base.
Jake Peavy's next minor league rehab start has been pushed from Sunday to Monday as a precautionary measure.
Peavy (ankle) is in support of the move. "When you haven't started in two and a half months now, since May or so, you're going to have that soreness," he said, "especially when you're not easing into things." The White Sox are still hoping he'll be ready for his Chicago debut by early September.
Justin Duchscherer has been diagnosed with clinical depression and will miss the remainder of the 2009 season.
Duchscherer didn't throw pitch in the majors this year. He was lined up to make his 2009 debut last Tuesday, but was mysteriously scratched because of a non-baseball issue. We now know exactly what that issue was. "Justin has been battling this for quite some time, and it's kind of reached the apex where he made a really tough decision and owned up to the problem,'' agent Damon Lapa said Friday. "He wants to take a step back and really focus on addressing his personal issues off the field."
Joe Saunders (shoulder) tossed a successful simulated game Friday and is hoping to rejoin the Angels next week.
"Joe had a great workout," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Friday evening. "He'll repeat a bullpen [session] probably Sunday or Monday. ... Hopefully we'll fold him back in the rotation sometime in the middle or latter part of next week." Saunders is 9-7 with a 5.33 ERA in 23 outings this season.
Justin Morneau (ear) is not expected to return to the lineup this weekend.
Morneau was examined in the Twin Cities on Friday and was prescribed medication for lingering symptoms of an inner-ear infection. The Twins are falling quickly out of the playoff hunt and the bad news continues to pile up.
Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com has confirmed that the Red Sox indeed claimed Billy Wagner off waivers Friday.
As Rosenthal reports, the Mets now have three options: They can work out a trade with the Red Sox by 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, give him to Boston straight up, or pull him back off waivers and hang onto him for the rest of the year. A trade makes the most sense. We'll keep you updated on any progress.
Mets GM Omar Minaya said Friday that the Mets have no intention of placing Gary Sheffield on waivers or releasing him.
Minaya also claims Sheffield never asked for a contract extension. Interesting. It's a circus in Queens, and it's hard to know who to believe. We'll take the general manager's word for it and assume Sheffield will be back to his regular amount of playing time this weekend.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League NYA 20 BOS 11 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 5 TEX 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 5 LAA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) BAL 5 CHA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 9 CLE 4 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 5 KC 4 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 3 OAK 2 (Recap and Boxscore) National League FLA 5 ATL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 4 PHI 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 7 WAS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 1 ARI 0 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 5 CIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 6 COL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 2 CHN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 4 STL 0 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
Angels (73-47) @ Blue Jays (56-64), 1:07pmErvin Santana (26, RHP) vs. Scott Richmond (29, RHP)
Yankees (77-45) @ RedSox (69-52), 4:10pm
A.J. Burnett (32, RHP) vs. Junichi Tazawa (23, RHP)
Orioles (50-72) @ WhiteSox (62-60), 7:05pm
David Hernandez (24, RHP) vs. John Danks (24, LHP)
Mariners (63-59) @ Indians (52-69), 7:05pm
Doug Fister (25, RHP) vs. Aaron Laffey (24, LHP)
Rangers (68-53) @ Rays (66-55), 7:08pm
Tommy Hunter (22, RHP) vs. Matt Garza (25, RHP)
Twins (59-63) @ Royals (47-74), 7:10pm
Brian Duensing (26, LHP) vs. Kyle Davies (25, RHP)
Tigers (65-56) @ Athletics (53-68), 9:05pm
Armando Galarraga (27, RHP) vs. Trevor Cahill (21, RHP)
Cubs (61-59) @ Dodgers (73-50), 4:10pm
Ted Lilly (33, LHP) vs. Charlie Haeger (25, RHP)
Marlins (65-57) @ Braves (64-58), 7:00pm
Chris Volstad (22, RHP) vs. Tommy Hanson (22, RHP)
Reds (51-70) @ Pirates (50-70), 7:05pm
Justin Lehr (31, RHP) vs. Zach Duke (26, LHP)
D'backs (54-69) @ Astros (60-62), 7:05pm
Max Scherzer (24, RHP) vs. Brian Moehler (37, RHP)
Brewers (59-62) @ Nationals (43-79), 7:05pm
Mike Burns (30, RHP) vs. John Lannan (24, LHP)
Phillies (69-50) @ Mets (57-65), 7:10pm
J.A. Happ (26, LHP) vs. Tim Redding (31, RHP)
Giants (67-55) @ Rockies (68-54), 8:10pm
Joe Martinez (26, RHP) vs. Jorge de la Rosa (28, LHP)
Cardinals (70-54) @ Padres (52-72), 10:05pm
Chris Carpenter (34, RHP) vs. Kevin Correia (28, RHP)
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 77 45 .631 0.0 72 5BOS 69 52 .570 7.5 69 0
TB 66 55 .545 10.5 68 -2
TOR 56 64 .467 20.0 62 -6
BAL 50 72 .410 27.0 52 -2
American League Central DET 65 56 .537 0.0 62 3
CHA 62 60 .508 3.5 62 0
MIN 59 63 .484 6.5 61 -2
CLE 52 69 .430 13.0 58 -6
KC 47 74 .388 18.0 47 0
American League West LAA 73 47 .608 0.0 67 6
TEX 68 53 .562 5.5 67 1
SEA 63 59 .516 11.0 56 7
OAK 53 68 .438 20.5 57 -4
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 69 50 .580 0.0 69 0
FLA 65 57 .533 5.5 61 4
ATL 64 58 .525 6.5 67 -3
NYN 57 65 .467 13.5 56 1
WAS 43 79 .352 27.5 50 -7
National League Central STL 70 54 .565 0.0 68 2
CHN 61 59 .508 7.0 62 -1
HOU 60 62 .492 9.0 54 6
MIL 59 62 .488 9.5 58 1
CIN 51 70 .421 17.5 50 1
PIT 50 70 .417 18.0 53 -3
National League West LAN 73 50 .593 0.0 75 -2
COL 68 54 .557 4.5 69 -1
SF 67 55 .549 5.5 66 1
ARI 54 69 .439 19.0 56 -2
SD 52 72 .419 21.5 47 5
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 69 52 .570 0.0 TEX 68 53 .562 1.0 TB 66 55 .545 3.0 SEA 63 59 .516 6.5 CHA 62 60 .508 7.5 National League COL 68 54 .557 0.0 SF 67 55 .549 1.0 FLA 65 57 .533 3.0 ATL 64 58 .525 4.0 CHN 61 59 .508 6.0
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.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes CIN AAA Chris Heisey...... 5 3 1 0 1 1 1 3 R SF A+ Thomas Neal....... 3 2 0 0 2 1 0 OAK AA Corey Brown....... 4 2 0 0 2 0 1 4 RBI ARI AAA Cole Gillespie.... 3 2 0 1 0 1 0 2 SB PIT AAA Jose Tabata....... 5 3 1 0 0 0 0 HOU AA Jason Castro...... 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 CHC AA Tyler Colvin...... 2 1 1 0 0 2 0 CHW AA C.J. Retherford... 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 OAK A+ Dustin Coleman.... 3 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 SB SEA A+ Tyson Gillies..... 5 4 0 1 0 0 0 3 R WAN A+ Danny Espinosa.... 4 2 0 0 1 1 2 SD A Allan Dykstra..... 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes TEX AAA G. Moscoso........ 7 7 4 4 9 3 0 LAA A Tyler Chatwood.... 7 2 0 0 6 4 0 CLE AAA Carlos Carrasco... 7 5 4 3 6 1 1 TEX AA Michael Kirkman... 6 2 0 0 5 3 0 BAL AA Steven Johnson.... 5 3 3 2 6 3 0 CHC A+ Jay Jackson....... 5 7 4 1 7 0 1 PHI A Trevor May........ 5 5 1 1 6 2 0 KC A+ M. Montgomery..... 6 6 4 2 4 1 0 PIT A+ Jeffrey Locke..... 5 4 1 1 1 0 0 OAK AAA Jerry Blevins..... 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 2 GB FLA A Brad Hand......... 5 5 1 1 3 0 1 CLE A Jason Knapp....... 4 1 2 1 3 3 0
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