THT Daily: Braves sweep Mets
by Dave StudemanMay 23, 2008
Major League News for May 23
Player NewsYesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
Action shot: Gabe Kapler breaks his bat in yesterday's game.
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldThe Indians are optimistic Victor Martinez will play Friday after he left Thursday's game due to a finger injury. The injury to his left index finger wasn't baseball related. "The cuticle broke open, and he couldn't grip the bat," manager Eric Wedge said. "We had to get him out of there. We're hoping to have him back in there [Friday]."
Clayton Kershaw was pulled from his start for Double-A Jacksonville after just one inning on Thursday, suggesting that he's on his way to the majors. MLB.com believes he could start Saturday, with Brad Penny being pushed back. They'd certainly be rushing the 20-year-old, but it's possible that it could work out, as long as they're willing to live with him as a five-inning starter.
The Brewers said Eric Gagne is out indefinitely with rotator-cuff tendinitis. After being examined in Milwaukee by team physician William Raasch, the right-handed Gagne received a cortisone injection and was told not to throw for three days. The Brewers still haven't moved to put him on the DL, indicating that they're holding out hope of a return next week. Salomon Torres is the favorite for saves in the meantime.
John Smoltz is experimenting with a lower arm angle as he tries to make a return from a sore shoulder. Smoltz threw to hitters before Thursday's game. "Filthy," said Greg Norton after hitting against him. "I thought he threw real well. Everybody was raving about the stuff that he had." Smoltz wouldn't say how he was feeling after the session. That he felt the need to change his angle shows he's hardly pain free.
Mets placed outfielder Moises Alou on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left calf. With Ryan Church also out, the Mets are playing Endy Chavez in left and Marlon Anderson in right in Thursday's game. After Church returns, those two will battle for playing time in left.
Nationals placed outfielder Austin Kearns on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 18, with loose bodies in his right elbow. If they've been bothering him all year, it would explain the extreme lack of power. Kearns will undergo surgery on Friday and is likely to miss 3-4 weeks. The Nats will replace him on the roster before tomorrow's game. If they want to go with Wily Mo Pena and Elijah Dukes in the corners, then Ryan Langerhans would be the logical choice to replace him. If they want to shake things up, then they'd probably turn to either Justin Maxwell or Mike Daniel in Double-A. Maxwell has the better OPS of the two by 100 points, but he's currently limited by an undisclosed minor injury (he left Tuesday's game and was limited to a pinch-running appearance on Wedensday). Daniel would be a poor bet to contribute, but Maxwell could have some fantasy value if added.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 11 KC 8 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 2 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 4 LAA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 3 CLE 1 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 9 SEA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 8 MIN 7 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 4 NYN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 4 ARI 0 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 7 HOU 5 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 8 MIL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 8 CIN 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 --------------- Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Carlos Zambrano (6-1) vs. (L) Zach Duke (2-2) San Francisco Giants at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (L) Barry Zito (0-8) vs. (L) Scott Olsen (4-1) Arizona Diamondbacks at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (L) Doug Davis (1-1) vs. (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (2-1) Milwaukee Brewers at Washington Nationals, 7:35 PM (R) Jeff Suppan (2-3) vs. (L) Odalis Perez (1-4) Philadelphia Phillies at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Adam Eaton (0-2) vs. (R) Brandon Backe (3-5) New York Mets at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (L) Oliver Perez (4-3) vs. (R) Greg Reynolds (0-1) Cincinnati Reds at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Edinson Volquez (7-1) vs. (L) Shawn Estes (1-0) St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:40 PM (R) Adam Wainwright (3-2) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (2-4) American League --------------- Texas Rangers at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (L) Kason Gabbard (1-1) vs. (R) Fausto Carmona (4-1) Seattle Mariners at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (L) Erik Bedard (3-2) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (3-5) Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Kevin Slowey (0-4) vs. (R) Armando Galarraga (3-1) Kansas City Royals at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (R) Zack Greinke (5-1) vs. (R) Roy Halladay (4-5) Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Jeremy Guthrie (2-4) vs. (R) Matt Garza (2-1) LA Angels of Anaheim at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (L) Joe Saunders (7-1) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (4-2) Boston Red Sox at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Tim Wakefield (3-2) vs. (R) Rich Harden (2-0)
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 31 19 .620 0.0 29 2TB 27 20 .574 2.5 26 1
BAL 24 22 .522 5.0 23 1
TOR 24 25 .490 6.5 24 0
NYA 22 25 .468 7.5 21 1
American League Central CHA 26 20 .565 0.0 28 -2
MIN 23 24 .489 3.5 22 1
CLE 22 25 .468 4.5 25 -3
KC 21 26 .447 5.5 20 1
DET 20 27 .426 6.5 21 -1
American League West LAA 28 21 .571 0.0 25 3
OAK 25 23 .521 2.5 28 -3
TEX 24 25 .490 4.0 23 1
SEA 18 30 .375 9.5 20 -2
National League East Pwins Diff FLA 27 19 .587 0.0 24 3
ATL 26 21 .553 1.5 30 -4
PHI 27 22 .551 1.5 27 0
NYN 22 23 .489 4.5 23 -1
WAS 20 28 .417 8.0 19 1
National League Central CHN 28 19 .596 0.0 30 -2
STL 28 21 .571 1.0 27 1
HOU 27 22 .551 2.0 26 1
MIL 22 25 .468 6.0 21 1
PIT 22 25 .468 6.0 22 0
CIN 21 27 .438 7.5 21 0
National League West ARI 28 19 .596 0.0 28 0
LAN 25 21 .543 2.5 25 0
SF 19 29 .396 9.5 18 1
COL 18 29 .383 10.0 19 -1
SD 18 31 .367 11.0 17 1
Game of the Day
BALTIMORE (1) VS NY YANKEES (2) - FINAL
BALTIMORE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
B Roberts 2b 3 0 0 0 1 2 2 .263
J Payton lf 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 .220
N Markakis rf 4 0 0 0 0 3 4 .257
A Huff 3b 3 0 1 0 1 0 3 .246
K Millar 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .241
L Scott dh 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .263
R Hernandez c 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .208
A Jones cf 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 .259
F Bynum ss 2 0 1 1 1 0 1 .286
Totals 30 1 5 1 4 7 17
BATTING: 3B - F Bynum (1, I Kennedy). RBI - F Bynum (2). Runners left in
scoring position, 2 out - A Huff 2, L Scott 1. GIDP - L Scott. Team LOB - 6.
BASERUNNING: SB - B Roberts (13, 2nd base off I Kennedy/J Molina). CS - F
Bynum (1, 2nd base by I Kennedy/J Molina).
FIELDING: Outfield assists - N Markakis (J Damon at 1st base). DP: 1 (N
Markakis-K Millar).
NY YANKEES ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Damon lf 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 .268
D Jeter ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 .299
H Matsui dh 4 2 2 0 0 0 1 .302
A Rodriguez 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .294
J Giambi 1b 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 .205
S Duncan rf 2 0 0 1 0 1 1 .182
a-B Abreu ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .289
R Cano 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 .207
J Molina c 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 .205
M Cabrera cf 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .248
Totals 32 2 8 2 1 7 11
a-walked for S Duncan in the 9th.
BATTING: SF - S Duncan. RBI - S Duncan (3), R Cano (14). 2-out RBI - R Cano.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - D Jeter 1. Team LOB - 6.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (R Cano-D Jeter-J Giambi).
----------------------------------------------------
BALTIMORE - 001 000 000 -- 1
NY YANKEES - 000 100 001 -- 2
Two outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
BALTIMORE ip h r er bb so hr era
B Burres 7 2/3 6 1 1 0 5 0 3.16
J Johnson (L, 0-2) 1 2 1 1 1 2 0 1.44
NY YANKEES ip h r er bb so hr era
I Kennedy 6 4 1 1 4 4 0 7.27
J Veras 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.52
K Farnsworth 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.86
M Rivera (W, 1-1) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.47
Pitches-strikes: B Burres 99-70; J Johnson 27-16; I Kennedy 97-57; J Veras
13-9; K Farnsworth 7-6; M Rivera 16-10. Ground balls-fly balls: B Burres 4-13;
J Johnson 0-1; I Kennedy 5-8; J Veras 0-2; K Farnsworth 1-1; M Rivera 1-1.
Batters faced: B Burres 28; J Johnson 6; I Kennedy 24; J Veras 4; K Farnsworth
3; M Rivera 3.
UMPIRES: HP--Chris Guccione. 1B--Tim Welke. 2B--Chuck Meriwether. 3B--Bill
Welke.
EJECTIONS: NY YANKEES' Girardi by Guccione (9th).
T--2:49. Att--49,452.
Weather: 58 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 15 mph, out
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.
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 TOR AA Travis Snider..... 4 3 1 0 2 0 1 3 R BOS AAA Chris Carter...... 3 3 1 0 1 1 0 4 R TB AAA Reid Brignac...... 5 3 2 0 0 0 1 ATL A+ Travis Jones...... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 BAL A+ Brandon Tripp..... 5 2 1 0 1 0 3 4 RBI BOS A+ Josh Reddick...... 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 NYY AA Colin Curtis...... 3 1 0 0 1 2 0 CLE AA Wesley Hodges..... 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 NYY A+ M. Hilligoss...... 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 SB BAL A+ Brandon Snyder.... 2 1 0 0 1 2 0 OAK A+ J. Mitchell....... 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 2 SB OAK A+ Matthew Sulentic.. 3 2 0 0 1 1 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes NYY A+ Christian Garcia.. 6 2 0 0 10 1 0 TB AAA Mitch Talbot...... 8 5 0 0 7 0 0 17 GB CLE AAA Jeremy Sowers..... 7 6 4 3 7 1 0 BOS A Felix Doubront.... 6 5 1 1 5 0 0 LA A+ Timothy Sexton.... 6 7 5 5 8 2 0 OAK AAA Dan Meyer......... 6 5 2 0 7 3 0 CIN AAA Tyler Pelland..... 2 0 0 0 5 0 0 STL AAA Blake Hawksworth.. 6 4 2 1 4 2 0 11 GB SF A+ Kevin Pucetas..... 6 7 5 5 6 2 0 TEX AAA Eric Hurley....... 7 6 0 0 5 3 0 MIN A+ Jeffrey Manship... 7 6 4 2 2 0 0 15 GB BAL AA Bradley Bergesen.. 6 6 3 3 4 1 0 11 GB
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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.