THT Daily: Braves lose another close one
by Dave StudemanMay 01, 2008
Major League News for May 1
Player NewsYesterday’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 RotoworldThe Denver Post reports that Troy Tulowitzki (leg) is "all but certain to land on the 15-day disabled list." Tulowitzki underwent an MRI exam Wednesday and the Rockies are awaiting the results before making a decision on his status. "We need Troy to be healthy," Matt Holliday said. "If it takes 14 more days to get him right, and get him refreshed, that would be best." With Tulowitzki out, Clint Barmes figures to see most of the action at shortstop.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Nick Adenhart will be called up from Triple-A to make his major league debut Thursday night against the A's. A 21-year-old former first-round pick who is 4-0 with a 0.87 ERA at Triple-A, Adenhart will be working on just three days rest after tossing 98 pitches over eight innings of one-run ball Sunday. Manager Mike Scioscia said Wednesday that Adenhart will likely make three starts, filling a rotation spot until John Lackey returns from the disabled list. He's one of the better right-handed pitching prospects around and is worth grabbing in AL-only leagues.
Josh Hamilton hit his first career grand slam off the Royals' Brian Bannister as the Rangers beat the Royals 11-9 on Wednesday. Milton Bradley, Brandon Boggs, David Murphy and Gerald Laird also homered for the Rangers. Hamilton's homer was his only knock of the game, but he has an extra-base hit and an RBI in five straight. Also impressive is that he hasn't struck out in any of the five games. He fanned 65 times in 90 games last year, but he's at just 13 through 28 games this season.
Phil Hughes is going on the disabled list with a strained oblique muscle, according to Newsday. It sounded like he was going to remain in the rotation and make his next start, but this will probably cost him May between the time he'll miss and the need for rehab starts. Darrell Rasner is the obvious choice to take the open rotation spot.
John Smoltz (shoulder) said Wednesday afternoon that he's definitely coming back as a reliever, at least initially. "I'm coming back as a reliever first and then we'll see what happens," Smoltz said. "I'm content with this." The Braves commented before Wednesday's game that it'd be a few days before anything is decided, but Smoltz's mind is made up. He plans to take a week off from throwing, make two or three appearances in the minors and then rejoin the Braves as a bullpen guy. He'd probably get a chance to close, at least occasionally. The Braves wouldn't want to use him on back-to-back days, so there could still be some save chances there for Rafael Soriano if he's healthy
The Mariners are calling up Jeff Clement and Wladimir Balentien and designating Brad Wilkerson for assignment. It's just another example of how poorly the Mariners are being run. Clement and Balentien only needed to stay in the minors for another week to guarantee that they wouldn't be eligible for free agency until after 2013. Wilkerson gets the heave ho despite going 3-for-3 with a walk last night. Obviously, the team made the decision before then, as both Clement and Balentien were held out of Tacoma's lineup last night. While Wilkerson is disappearing, Jose Vidro figures to stick as a backup. Still, his fantasy value disappaears. Vidro to Clement at DH appears to be a clear upgrade. The streaky Balentien isn't as much of a lock to be an asset as the right fielder.
Max Scherzer will start over Edgar Gonzalez for the Diamondbacks on Monday. Scherzer will take the mound against the Phillies after striking out seven in 4 1/3 innings of relief on Tuesday night. He should be owned in all NL-only leagues and mixed leaguers should strongly consider taking a flier on him.
The Washington Post reports that Chad Cordero will miss 4-to-6 weeks with an acute tear of his latissimus dorsi muscle. It's the same area that's been bothering Cordero all season, but he's not expected to need surgery. Manager Manny Acta expects him to be out for two months. Jon Rauch will maintain closer duties in Cordero's absence, with Luis Ayala working as the primary setup man.
Yesterday’s Results
American League TB 8 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 2 TOR 1 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 6 NYA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 8 SEA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 4 CHA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 6 OAK 1 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 11 KC 9 (Recap and Boxscore) National League LAN 13 FLA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 13 NYN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 4 PHI 2 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 3 ATL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 19 MIL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 5 CIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 8 HOU 7 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 3 COL 2 (Recap and Boxscore)You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
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Today’s Games
National League --------------- Los Angeles Dodgers at Florida Marlins, 12:10 PM (R) Hiroki Kuroda (1-2) vs. (R) Burke Badenhop (0-2) Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (R) Yovani Gallardo (0-0) vs. (R) Carlos Zambrano (4-1) San Diego Padres at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (L) Randy Wolf (2-1) vs. (R) Adam Eaton (0-0) Pittsburgh Pirates at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM (L) Zach Duke (0-2) vs. (L) Odalis Perez (0-3) American League --------------- Tampa Bay Rays at Baltimore Orioles, 12:35 PM (R) Matt Garza (0-0) vs. (L) Brian Burres (3-1) Kansas City Royals at Texas Rangers, 2:05 PM (R) Zack Greinke (3-0) vs. (R) Sidney Ponson (0-0) Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (L) Nate Robertson (0-3) vs. (R) Ian Kennedy (0-2) Seattle Mariners at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Miguel Batista (2-3) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (1-2) Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) AJ Burnett (2-2) vs. (R) Tim Wakefield (2-0) Oakland Athletics at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Justin Duchscherer (1-1) vs. (R) Nick Adenhart (0-0)
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 17 12 .586 0.0 15 2BAL 15 12 .556 1.0 13 2
TB 15 12 .556 1.0 16 -1
NYA 14 15 .483 3.0 14 0
TOR 11 17 .393 5.5 14 -3
American League Central CHA 14 12 .538 0.0 16 -2
MIN 13 14 .481 1.5 11 2
CLE 13 15 .464 2.0 15 -2
DET 13 15 .464 2.0 13 0
KC 12 15 .444 2.5 10 2
American League West LAA 18 11 .621 0.0 16 2
OAK 17 12 .586 1.0 18 -1
SEA 13 15 .464 4.5 15 -2
TEX 10 18 .357 7.5 10 0
National League East Pwins Diff FLA 15 12 .556 0.0 12 3
NYN 14 12 .538 0.5 13 1
PHI 15 13 .536 0.5 15 0
ATL 12 15 .444 3.0 16 -4
WAS 11 17 .393 4.5 11 0
National League Central CHN 17 10 .630 0.0 18 -1
STL 18 11 .621 0.0 18 0
MIL 15 12 .556 2.0 13 2
HOU 13 16 .448 5.0 14 -1
CIN 12 17 .414 6.0 13 -1
PIT 11 16 .407 6.0 11 0
National League West ARI 20 8 .714 0.0 19 1
LAN 14 13 .519 5.5 17 -3
SF 13 16 .448 7.5 10 3
COL 11 17 .393 9.0 11 0
SD 11 17 .393 9.0 10 1
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 LA AAA Andy LaRoche...... 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 CIN AAA Jay Bruce......... 4 2 0 1 0 0 1 MIL AA Mat Gamel......... 5 3 0 1 2 1 1 4 R OAK AA Cliff Pennington.. 3 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 SB LAA AAA Terry Evans....... 3 1 0 0 1 2 1 CLE AA Ryan Goleski...... 2 1 0 0 1 2 1 SD AAA Chase Headley..... 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 ARI A+ Pedro Ciriaco..... 6 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 SB SEA A+ Gregory Halman.... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 DET AA Wilkin Ramirez.... 5 3 1 1 0 0 2 ATL AAA Brandon Jones..... 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 SEA AAA Bryan LaHair...... 2 1 0 0 1 2 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes CIN AAA Homer Bailey...... 7 5 3 3 10 2 1 TB AAA Mitch Talbot...... 8 5 0 0 6 1 0 SD AA William Inman..... 7 3 4 4 5 1 0 KC AA Carlos Rosa....... 6 4 0 0 7 0 0 ARI AA Brooks Brown...... 5 4 2 2 6 0 0 BAL A Anthony Butler.... 6 5 0 0 9 2 0 NYY A Dellin Betances... 5 3 2 2 6 3 0 SEA AAA Ryan Feierabend... 6 7 1 1 6 1 0 PHI AA Carlos Carrasco... 6 5 3 3 5 3 0 ARI AAA Juan Gutierrez.... 7 4 3 1 1 2 0 OAK A+ Jared Lansford.... 3 2 0 0 3 1 0 MIN AA Yohan Pino........ 5 7 2 2 4 1 0
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Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.