THT Daily: Comeback
by Dave StudemanMay 26, 2009
Major League News for May 26
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 RotoworldX-rays on Matt Capps' elbow revealed no fracture, but there's still no word on how much time he'll miss.
Capps was hit by a Geovany Soto liner while trying to close out Monday's game. If he needs to go on the DL, then John Grabow and Jesse Chavez would be the favorite for saves.
David Price lasted only 3 1/3 innings in his 2009 major-league debut on Monday night, allowing two runs on four hits.
Too many long counts. The only runs Price allowed came on a two-run homer by Ryan Garko, but it took the right-hander 100 pitches to get 10 outs, and he was pulled after issuing back-to-back walks with one out in the fourth inning. In total, he issued five free passes while striking out six and surrendering four hits. Obviously, he'll want to get his control in check for his next start against Minnesota.
Kenji Johjima left Monday's game with a broken toe.
He will likely be placed on the disabled list shortly. He was replaced in the lineup by Rob Johnson. There is no word yet on how long Johjima will be lost for. Should it be for longer than a few weeks, the Mariners may look for help elsewhere as Johnson's bat is just not good enough for consistent big league work - see his .197 batting average this season and his .129 average last year for proof.
Joe Mauer homered as a pinch-hitter Monday in a loss to the Red Sox.
This guy. Mauer is on an absolutely incredible roll and it's a pleasure just to be along for the ride. He's now batting .444 with 11 home runs and 31 RBI in just 81 at-bats. We're really running out of adjectives here.
Justin Verlander dominated the Royals with seven shutout innings Monday in a 13-1 Tigers victory.
Verlander struck out eight batters and now leads all major leaguers in that category with 85. He didn't issue a single walk and allowed just one extra-base hit. He's 5-2 with a 3.55 ERA and has looked like his former self recently. Let's hope he'll keep it up next week when he faces the Orioles.
Chris Carpenter hurled eight shutout innings but was left with a no-decision Monday against the Brewers.
He's back, he's back, he is back. Carpenter was in fine form, carrying a perfect game into the seventh inning before an odd defensive alignment squandered his shot at history. Nonetheless, he allowed just two total hits and struck out 10 without walking a single batter. Carp hasn't surrendered an earned run in 23 innings this season. He'll try to keep it rolling against the Giants next time out.
Alex Rodriguez finished 5-for-5 with four RBI as the Yankees routed the Rangers 11-1 on Monday afternoon.
The five hits matched a career high for Rodriguez, but he wasn't the only one hitting. The Yankees tallied 19 total base knocks, and not one left the park. A-Rod's batting average shot up from .189 to .259, and he's now sitting on 17 RBI in 58 at-bats.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League BAL 4 TOR 1 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 11 TB 10 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 13 KC 1 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 6 MIN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 17 LAA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 6 SEA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 11 TEX 1 (Recap and Boxscore) National League NYN 5 WAS 2 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 5 PHI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 10 CHN 8 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 8 HOU 5 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 1 STL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 9 ARI 7 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 16 COL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 8 ATL 2 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Florida Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (L) Andrew Miller (1-1) vs. (R) Joe Blanton (2-3) Houston Astros at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Roy Oswalt (1-2) vs. (R) Micah Owings (3-5) Washington Nationals at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Craig Stammen (0-0) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (3-1) St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Adam Wainwright (4-2) vs. (R) Jeff Suppan (3-3) Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM (R) Ian Snell (1-5) vs. (L) Sean Marshall (2-3) Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado Rockies, 8:40 PM (L) Eric Milton (0-0) vs. (R) Aaron Cook (3-1) San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Kevin Correia (1-2) vs. (R) Max Scherzer (1-3) Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (R) Kris Medlen (0-1) vs. (R) Tim Lincecum (3-1) American League --------------- Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (L) Ricky Romero (2-0) vs. (R) Jason Berken (0-0) Tampa Bay Rays at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Matt Garza (4-2) vs. (R) Carl Pavano (4-4) New York Yankees at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Joba Chamberlain (2-1) vs. (R) Kevin Millwood (4-4) Detroit Tigers at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Edwin Jackson (4-2) vs. (R) Zack Greinke (7-1) Boston Red Sox at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (L) Jon Lester (3-4) vs. (R) Nick Blackburn (3-2) Chicago White Sox at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Bartolo Colon (2-4) vs. (L) Joe Saunders (6-2) Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (L) Jarrod Washburn (3-3) vs. (L) Dallas Braden (3-5)
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 27 18 .600 0.0 26 1NYA 26 19 .578 1.0 23 3
TOR 27 21 .563 1.5 28 -1
TB 23 24 .489 5.0 27 -4
BAL 19 26 .422 8.0 18 1
American League Central DET 25 18 .581 0.0 26 -1
KC 22 23 .489 4.0 22 0
MIN 22 24 .478 4.5 24 -2
CHA 20 24 .455 5.5 19 1
CLE 18 28 .391 8.5 21 -3
American League West TEX 26 18 .591 0.0 24 2
LAA 23 21 .523 3.0 21 2
SEA 21 25 .457 6.0 19 2
OAK 17 25 .405 8.0 19 -2
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 24 19 .558 0.0 23 1
NYN 24 20 .545 0.5 24 0
ATL 23 21 .523 1.5 22 1
FLA 21 25 .457 4.5 19 2
WAS 13 31 .295 11.5 18 -5
National League Central MIL 27 18 .600 0.0 25 2
STL 26 19 .578 1.0 25 1
CIN 24 20 .545 2.5 23 1
CHN 21 22 .488 5.0 21 0
PIT 21 24 .467 6.0 23 -2
HOU 18 25 .419 8.0 19 -1
National League West LAN 31 15 .674 0.0 31 0
SD 23 22 .511 7.5 19 4
SF 21 23 .477 9.0 21 0
ARI 19 26 .422 11.5 20 -1
COL 18 26 .409 12.0 21 -3
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 LA A+ Pedro Baez........ 4 2 0 0 2 0 1 CIN AA Juan Francisco.... 4 2 0 0 2 0 1 CHW AA Gordon Beckham.... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 5 RBI ! PIT A Robbie Grossman... 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 SB BOS AA Lars Anderson..... 4 2 0 0 1 1 2 CLE AA Carlos Santana.... 2 1 0 0 1 2 0 OAK AA Chris Carter...... 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 COL AAA Carlos Gonzalez... 4 3 0 0 1 0 0 CLE AAA Michael Brantley.. 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 KC AAA Kila Kaaihue...... 3 2 0 0 1 1 1 TB A Timothy Beckham... 3 2 1 0 0 1 1 SF A+ Buster Posey...... 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes BOS AAA Clay Buchholz..... 9 1 0 0 7 0 0 TEX A Martin Perez...... 4 4 0 0 9 2 0 BOS A Casey Kelly....... 6 1 0 0 3 0 0 12 GB ATL A Ezekiel Spruill... 8 12 4 3 6 0 1 CHW AA Aaron Poreda...... 6 5 2 2 5 3 0 FLA A Brad Hand......... 6 5 5 2 5 3 0 12 GB HOU AAA Bud Norris........ 7 4 1 1 5 3 1 NYY AA Michael Dunn...... 2 1 0 0 3 0 0 CLE AA Hector Rondon..... 6 3 1 1 4 4 0 NYY A Pat Venditte...... 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 ARI AAA Bryan Augenstein.. 6 9 4 4 5 1 1 ARI AA Daniel Schlereth.. 2 1 0 0 2 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.