THT Daily: Braves Win in Ninth

by Matthew Carruth
June 16, 2007

Major League News for June 16

Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Stats

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

Player News

Player news items are provided by Rotoworld
Carlos Zambrano lost a no-hitter in the eighth and then took the loss in a 1-0 game Saturday against the Padres.
Marcus Giles broke up the no-hit bid with one out in the eighth with an infield single that deflected off Zambrano's glove. Zambrano previously made a great play going to his right on Hiram Bocachica's dribbler to keep the bid intact in the seventh. With the game still scoreless, Zambrano was allowed to hit for himself in the bottom of the eighth and struck out. He then gave up a homer to Russell Branyan in the ninth to take the loss. It was his first complete game since 2005. Zambrano has a 1.14 ERA in his last three starts.

Derrek Lee was ejected from Saturday's game in the fourth inning after a benches-clearing brawl in the game against the Padres.
Chris Young went up and in on Lee and got him on the hand-wrist area with the pitch. It didn't look like anything would happen, but Lee started to say something to Young and Young met him a few feet from home plate. While Young only seemed to be interested in talking, Lee threw a wild haymaker that missed and Young came back with a similar attempt that also failed to connect. Fortunately, Marcus Giles was able to pull Young away before any damage could be done. Another pile got started after the benches cleared, with Carlos Zambrano right in the middle of it, but the Young-Lee fight was the clear highlight.

Diamondbacks placed LHP Randy Johnson on the 15-day disabled list with muscle tightness in his back.
If it's as minor as the Diamondbacks are trying to make it sound, we doubt he would have been placed on the disabled list. Edgar Gonzalez will start in his place Saturday against the Orioles. Enrique Gonzalez -- no relation -- was called up to join the bullpen.

Sammy Sosa hit career homer No. 599 on Friday when he blasted a grand slam off Reds starter Matt Belisle.
Belisle was trying to pitch out of a jam in the fifth and almost ended the inning having allowed just three runs. Instead, Sosa went to the opposite field and homered to deep right center. Sosa also added an RBI single in the contest, giving him 51 RBI on the season. He'll try and become just the fifth player ever to reach 600 homers starting tomorrow.

Randy Johnson will miss his scheduled start Saturday because of lower back pain.
Johnson will undergo an MRI, but the Diamondbacks are calling this a precaution and saying they hope he'll make his next start. Edgar Gonzalez will pitch in his place against the Orioles.

Yesterday’s Results

American League
ARI     7  BAL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
BOS    10  SF      2    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYN     2  NYA     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     7  WAS     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
ATL     5  CLE     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      6  FLA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL    11  MIN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK    14  STL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
DET    12  PHI     8    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     4  SD      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     7  CIN     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     5  SEA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT     4  CHA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL    12  TB      2    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     2  LAA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 San Diego Padres at Chicago Cubs, 1:05 PM
  (R) Chris Young (6-3) vs. (R) Carlos Zambrano (7-5)
 
 Inter-League
 ------------
 New York Mets at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (L) Tom Glavine (5-4) vs. (R) Tyler Clippard (3-1)
 Washington Nationals at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM
  (R) Levale Speigner (2-2) vs. (R) Shaun Marcum (3-2)
 Atlanta Braves at Cleveland Indians, 3:55 PM
  (R) John Smoltz (7-3) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (6-2)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:55 PM
  (R) Jered Weaver (5-3) vs. (R) Jason Schmidt (1-3)
 San Francisco Giants at Boston Red Sox, 3:55 PM
  (R) Matt Cain (2-6) vs. (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (7-5)
 Chicago White Sox at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (L) Mark Buehrle (3-3) vs. (R) John Van Benschoten (0-0)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Edgar Gonzalez (2-2) vs. (R) Daniel Cabrera (5-7)
 Seattle Mariners at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM
  (R) Cha Seung Baek (3-2) vs. (R) Woody Williams (2-9)
 Detroit Tigers at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (L) Andrew Miller (2-0) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (5-5)
 Florida Marlins at Kansas City Royals, 7:10 PM
  (R) Rick Vanden Hurk (1-2) vs. (L) Jorge De La Rosa (4-6)
 Texas Rangers at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (R) Jamey Wright (0-0) vs. (R) Aaron Harang (6-2)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Dave Bush (3-6) vs. (R) Boof Bonser (5-2)
 Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Colorado Rockies, 8:05 PM
  (R) Andrew Sonnanstine (1-0) vs. (R) Jason Hirsh (3-6)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Oakland Athletics, 9:05 PM
  (R) Todd Wellemeyer (2-0) vs. (L) Lenny DiNardo (2-2)

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     42  24 .636    0.0   40     2    
NYA     33  32 .508    8.5   38    -5    
TOR     32  34 .485   10.0   34    -2    
TB      29  36 .446   12.5   25     4    
BAL     29  38 .433   13.5   33    -4    
American League Central     
CLE     39  27 .591    0.0   37     2    
DET     38  28 .576    1.0   40    -2    
MIN     33  32 .508    5.5   33     0    
CHA     27  36 .429   10.5   25     2    
KC      27  41 .397   13.0   29    -2    
American League West        
LAA     42  26 .618    0.0   40     2    
OAK     37  29 .561    4.0   40    -3    
SEA     35  29 .547    5.0   33     2    
TEX     25  42 .373   16.5   28    -3    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     37  28 .569    0.0   37     0    
ATL     36  32 .529    2.5   33     3    
PHI     35  32 .522    3.0   33     2    
FLA     32  36 .471    6.5   33    -1    
WAS     29  38 .433    9.0   27     2    
National League Central     
MIL     37  30 .552    0.0   34     3    
CHN     31  35 .470    5.5   36    -5    
STL     28  36 .438    7.5   24     4    
PIT     29  38 .433    8.0   29     0    
HOU     28  39 .418    9.0   29    -1    
CIN     26  42 .382   11.5   30    -4    
National League West        
LAN     39  28 .582    0.0   37     2    
SD      38  28 .576    0.5   41    -3    
ARI     38  30 .559    1.5   34     4    
COL     34  33 .507    5.0   32     2    
SF      30  36 .455    8.5   34    -4