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THT Daily: crazy eightsby THT StaffAugust 08, 2008 Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Yesterday’s Home Runs Top Minor League Performances You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ and an archive at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/thtdaily_index/ Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld
The Boston Globe is reporting that the commissioner's office is investigating the circumstances of Manny Ramirez's departure the Red Sox. A source with direct knowledge of the inquiry told the Globe that Bud Selig directed MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred to contact all parties for an explanation of how things unfolded around last week's trading deadline. According to the source, Manfred has yet to report back to the commissioner. The reason behind the investigation, according to the report, is that some believe Ramirez was playing at less than full effort at the end of his tenure in Boston. Of course, all Manny did in July was hit a mere .347/.473/.587 in 22 games. The New York Daily News reports that "it appears the Mets no longer have their hopes up that Ryan Church will return this season." Church briefly return followed a concussion, but has been out since early July and refused to speak to reporters after taking batting practice Wednesday. "I'm not optimistic about that," manager Jerry Manuel said. "It's very foreign to all of us and we just aren't sure as to where it could go. And historically, it hasn't gone in our direction. We've been going through this, I don't know how long. Two months? Whatever. But, if it does turn out to be something favorable for us, it would be very, very welcome." Phillies acquired LHP Scott Eyre from the Cubs for RHP Brian Schlitter. Eyre hadn't been used consistently by the Cubs, perhaps the cause of his expanding ERA. Still, he's been effective against left-handed hitters, and will likely assume a specialist role in Philadelphia. He's in the final season of his current contract. Rays acquired RHP Chad Bradford from the Orioles in exchange for a player to be named. Bradford's strikeout rate has collapsed this year, but he has a 2.45 ERA despite a .279 average against that's well above his previos career mark of .260. the important thing is that the hits he is giving up remain mostly singles. He's a nice addition to the Tampa Bay pen. It will be interesting to see who goes to make room for him. Stashing Al Reyes back on the DL until Sept. 1 would be ideal. The Rays probably don't want to designate Jason Hammel for assignment. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, the Red Sox have claimed Brian Giles off waivers and now have 48 hours to work out a trade with the Padres. There's little indication that either sides wants to make a deal, as the Padres were simply doing what teams do with many players by seeing if Giles could pass through waivers and the Red Sox were blocking him from potentially being dealt somewhere else. Giles also has the right to veto a trade to 10 teams and Boston is on the list. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of ShysterballDodgers 4, Cardinals 1: Youngling Clayton Kershaw has only given up one run over his last nineteen innings. One of those games was against the Nats, and since they're basically a AAA offense, they don't really count. But blanking the Diamondbacks over six innings and giving up one run in seven innings with 7 Ks against the Cardinals is very respectable. St. Louis had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Rick Ankiel and Skip Schumaker both whiffed to end it. Mets 5, Padres 3: David Wright and the bullpen both had bad nights on Wednesday. Thankfully for the Mets, one of them got back on track yesterday afternoon. Wright went 3-5 with a game-winning two-run homer. The bullpen? Eh. Johan Santana pitched into the eighth, but it then took five Mets' relievers to get through the last two innings. In the process they blew another win for Johan, but I suppose that's better than losing the whole game, right? Marlins 3, Phillies 0: It's a shutout by committee as five Marlins' pitchers combine to blank Philly. Did somebody give the Mets and Marlins Friday night off without telling me, because they certainly went through the bullpens yesterday, no? At least they're playing each other tonight, so that should make for a nice sloppy game. Or maybe there's some day-night thing going on here. Quick: has anyone ever looked into whether the five or six extra hours rest an arm gets when going from day game to night game makes any difference? Is Arthur Rhodes going to be more effective tonight against the Mets for having had that extra time? I'm actually only half kidding here. Nationals 6, Rockies 3 and, um, Nationals 6, Rockies 3: Lastings Milledge comes up pretty spiffy in both games of the twin bill, and the Rockies end up dropping three of four against the otherwise woeful Nats. But don't worry, Colorado. Help is on the way! Blue Jays 6, A's 4: I was thinking about committing suicide last night, so I called one of those hotlines. I thought I'd be greeted by some volunteer telling me about how much I had to live for and all of that jazz, but it didn't happen. Instead, she just told me to go over to a game thread at Athletics Nation if I wanted to see true suffering. So I turned the gas off on the oven and gave it a try. I'll admit, after seeing that kind of misery, I do feel much better about life. Astros 7, Reds 4: Roy Oswalt just owns the Reds. He was 20-1 with a 2.61 ERA against them in 25 games all-time entering last night, and dominated them once again. The bullpen allowed three of those runs after he was gone. Yankees 3, Rangers 0: Mike Mussina continues his unexpectedly wonderful season, this time shutting out the rangers over seven innings to notch his 15th win. Tigers 8, White Sox 3: Here's one of the weaker saves you'll ever see. Fernando Rodney comes in the bottom of the eighth with the Tigers up 5-3, and throws five pitches to get out of the inning. In the top of the ninth, the Tigers score three more runs, to make it 8-3. Rodney then comes back in the ninth and sets the Sox down, fiercely protecting that five run cushion for the save. What exactly did Rodney save? If you call the short preservation of the two run lead in the eighth, why then don't setup men who do that all the time get credited with a save? The last thing I wish to do is to speak ill of the recently deceased, but the save rule is really frickin' dumb. Mariners 2, Rays 1: Maybe the win rule sucks too. After all, how is it fair that Felix Hernandez can give up one run on four hits over eight and not get the W? And what are you lookin' at, windmill? You got something smart to say? And you, sun! What's with this risin' in the east stuff? Whaddaya tryin' to prove? Braves 6, Diamondbacks 4: Braves pitcher Charlie Morton had his best ever outing, shutting out the Dbacks over 7. Not that it was all good for him. In the third he doubled, but was then was caught napping off the bag and picked off by the catcher. Bobby Cox: "I knew that was going to happen." The kangaroo court's fine jar probably got bigger as a result of that. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (R) Braden Looper (10-9) vs. (L) Ted Lilly (11-6) Pittsburgh Pirates at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (L) Paul Maholm (7-7) vs. (R) Joe Blanton (1-0) Florida Marlins at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Ricky Nolasco (11-6) vs. (L) Oliver Perez (7-7) Houston Astros at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (L) Randy Wolf (7-10) vs. (R) Johnny Cueto (7-11) Washington Nationals at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Collin Balester (2-3) vs. (L) CC Sabathia (5-0) San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (R) Jake Peavy (8-7) vs. (L) Glendon Rusch (4-3) Atlanta Braves at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Jorge Campillo (6-4) vs. (L) Doug Davis (4-6) Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (R) Brad Penny (5-9) vs. (L) Barry Zito (6-13) American League --------------- Oakland Athletics at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (L) Dallas Braden (2-2) vs. (L) Kenny Rogers (8-8) Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Luis Mendoza (3-4) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (8-8) Cleveland Indians at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (R) Anthony Reyes (0-0) vs. (L) David Purcey (1-2) Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Kevin Slowey (7-8) vs. (R) Kyle Davies (5-2) Boston Red Sox at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (L) Jon Lester (10-3) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (8-10) New York Yankees at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Ian Kennedy (0-3) vs. (R) Jered Weaver (9-9) Tampa Bay Rays at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) James Shields (9-7) vs. (R) Carlos Silva (4-12) StandingsThe 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 TB 68 46 .596 0.0 63 5 Game of the DayMets 5, Padres 3 - FINAL
SAN DIEGO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
S Hairston cf-2b 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 .253
T Iguchi 2b 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 .246
va-B Giles ph-rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .295
A Gonzalez 1b 3 0 1 1 1 2 0 .277
K Kouzmanoff 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 5 .270
C Headley lf 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 .245
J Gerut rf-cf 4 1 1 1 0 1 1 .289
N Hundley c 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .219
L Rodriguez ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .216
J Banks p 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .158
C Meredith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
vb-E Gonzalez ph-2b 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .286
B Corey p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
H Bell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 31 3 6 3 3 8 9 ###
NY METS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Reyes ss 5 0 1 0 0 0 4 .304
A Reyes 2b 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 .255
D Wright 3b 5 1 3 2 0 0 1 .288
C Beltran cf 4 1 3 0 0 0 0 .270
F Tatis rf-lf 3 1 0 0 1 2 4 .310
D Murphy lf 4 1 2 1 0 1 0 .467
S Schoeneweis p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
A Heilman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Castro c 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 .267
R Cancel c 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .238
N Evans 1b 3 0 1 2 0 1 1 .245
J Santana p 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 .160
D Sanchez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
P Feliciano p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Smith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
E Chavez rf 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .269
Totals 37 5 12 5 1 6 17 ###
----------------------------------------------------
SAN DIEGO - 010 000 011 -- 3 6 0
NY METS - 000 201 002 -- 5 12 0
Two outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
va-grounded into fielder's choice to second for T Iguchi in the 8th;
vb-singled to left for C Meredith in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - S Hairston (16, J Santana); C Beltran (26, J Banks); D Wright
(29, J Banks). 3B - J Reyes (13, J Banks). HR - C Headley (8, 2nd inning off J
Santana 0 on, 1 Out), J Gerut (10, 9th inning off S Schoeneweis 0 on, 1 Out), D
Wright (21, 9th inning off H Bell 1 on, 2 Out). SF - N Evans. RBI - C Headley
(17), A Gonzalez (85), J Gerut (29), D Murphy (3), N Evans 2 (5), D Wright 2
(87). 2-out RBI - D Wright 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Gerut
1, F Tatis 3, D Wright 1, J Reyes 1. GIDP - K Kouzmanoff 2. Team LOB - SAN
DIEGO 5, NY METS 8. BASERUNNING: SB - C Headley (1, 2nd base off J Santana/R
Castro), C Beltran (17, 2nd base off C Meredith/N Hundley). FIELDING: DP: (A
Reyes-N Evans, A Reyes-J Reyes-N Evans).
SAN DIEGO ip h r er bb so hr era
J Banks 5 9 3 3 1 4 0 3.77
C Meredith 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.83
B Corey 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.00
H Bell (L, 6-5) 2/3 2 2 2 0 0 1 3.30
NY METS ip h r er bb so hr era
J Santana 7 4 2 2 3 7 1 2.85
D Sanchez 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.83
P Feliciano (H, 13) 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.67
J Smith (H, 11) 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.74
S Schoeneweis (B, 3) 1/3 1 1 1 0 0 1 3.22
A Heilman (W, 2-6) 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 5.61
J Banks pitched to 2 batters in the 6th.
J Santana pitched to 2 batters in the 8th.
D Sanchez pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
HBP - S Hairston (by D Sanchez). Pitches-strikes: J Banks 89-59; C Meredith
23-15; B Corey 15-10; H Bell 11-7; J Santana 104-68; D Sanchez 1-0; P Feliciano
6-5; J Smith 4-3; S Schoeneweis 4-3; A Heilman 6-5. Ground balls-fly balls: J
Banks 7-4; C Meredith 4-1; B Corey 1-1; H Bell 0-2; J Santana 6-8; D Sanchez
0-0; P Feliciano 1-0; J Smith 2-0; S Schoeneweis 0-1; A Heilman 1-0. Batters
faced: J Banks 25; C Meredith 7; B Corey 3; H Bell 4; J Santana 27; D Sanchez
1; P Feliciano 2; J Smith 1; S Schoeneweis 2; A Heilman 2. IRS - P Feliciano, C
Meredith. UMPIRES: HP--Todd Tichenor. 1B--Brian Gorman. 2B--Gerry Davis.
3B--Bruce Dreckman. EJECTIONS: SAN DIEGO's Black by Tichenor (8th). T--2:54.
Att--49,352. Weather: 80 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 5 mph, right 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.  Yesterday’s Home RunsThe following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected “true” distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its "standard" distance, which is corrected for weather conditions. Each homer is also categorized into one of three types: Just Enough (JE) for homers that cleared the fence by ten feet or less, Plenty (PL) for those that were sure home runs but not “blasts,” and No Doubt (ND) for true “blasts”—homers that cleared the fence by at least 20 feet and landed at least 50 feet beyond the fence.Hitter Team Pitcher Team True Stnd. # Type Garrett Atkins COL Odalis Perez WAS 427 392 16 ND Daric Barton OAK A.J. Burnett TOR 416 415 5 PL Miguel Cabrera DET Javier Vazquez CWS 369 374 21 JE Edwin Encarnacion CIN Wesley Wright HOU 414 391 21 PL/L Jody Gerut SD Scott Schoeneweis NYM 420 407 9 ND Curtis Granderson DET Javier Vazquez CWS 372 358 14 PL/L Chase Headley SD Johan Santana NYM 414 396 8 ND Matt Holliday COL Jason Bergmann WAS 473 416 21 ND Raul Ibanez SEA Dan Wheeler TB 364 359 18 PL Derek Jeter NYY Scott Feldman TEX 422 413 7 PL Mark Kotsay ATL Yusmeiro Petit ARI 367 359 5 JE Lastings Milledge WAS Jeff Francis COL 462 392 11 ND Lastings Milledge WAS Jeff Francis COL 367 326 10 JE/L Hunter Pence HOU Josh Fogg CIN 397 359 15 PL/L Carlos Quentin CWS Bobby Seay DET 341 343 29 PL Manny Ramirez LAD Kyle Lohse STL 421 411 23 PL Mark Reynolds ARI Blaine Boyer ATL 373 365 24 PL Ryan Sweeney OAK A.J. Burnett TOR 425 424 4 ND Yorvit Torrealba COL Steven Shell WAS 401 341 5 PL David Wright NYM Heath Bell SD 363 331 21 JE/L Top Minor League GamesThe 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 NYM AA Mike Carp......... 3 2 1 0 1 2 0 NYY A Justin Snyder..... 4 2 1 0 1 2 1 SD A+ Eric Sogard....... 3 2 0 0 1 2 0 CLE A+ Beau Mills........ 5 3 1 0 1 0 1 4 RBI ATL A Cody Johnson...... 5 2 0 0 2 0 2 6 RBI ! BOS A David Mailman..... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 MIN AAA Luke Hughes....... 4 3 0 0 1 1 1 3 R TB AAA Justin Ruggiano... 6 2 1 0 1 0 3 5 RBI ! STL AA Allen Craig....... 3 2 0 0 1 2 1 ATL AA Jordan Schafer.... 4 3 2 0 0 0 1 ARI AA Gerardo Parra..... 4 3 0 2 0 0 0 DET A+ Ryan Strieby...... 5 3 2 0 0 0 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes LAA A+ Jordan Walden..... 7 2 0 0 9 2 0 PHI A+ Drew Naylor....... 7 9 1 1 10 0 0 TB AAA Mitch Talbot...... 6 6 2 1 8 1 0 11 GB ATL A+ Scott Diamond..... 7 5 1 0 5 0 0 MIN A M. McCardell...... 8 5 3 2 7 1 1 SF A+ Kevin Pucetas..... 7 5 0 0 5 0 0 KC A+ Edward Cegarra.... 7 7 2 2 6 1 0 KC A Daniel Duffy...... 6 0 0 0 4 2 0 ATL A Edgar Osuna....... 6 7 3 2 9 4 0 WAN AA J. Zimmermann..... 4 7 2 2 7 0 0 CHW AA Kyle McCulloch.... 6 7 2 2 7 2 0 14 GB BOS AA Kris Johnson...... 3 3 0 0 6 1 0 Access THT’s stats here…
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BOS 66 49 .574 2.5 68 -2 
NYA 63 52 .548 5.5 63 0 
TOR 59 56 .513 9.5 62 -3 
BAL 54 59 .478 13.5 55 -1 
American League Central
CHA 63 50 .558 0.0 64 -1 
MIN 63 51 .553 0.5 60 3 
DET 56 58 .491 7.5 59 -3 
KC 53 62 .461 11.0 50 3 
CLE 49 64 .434 14.0 56 -7 
American League West
LAA 71 43 .623 0.0 62 9 
TEX 60 56 .517 12.0 55 5 
OAK 53 61 .465 18.0 59 -6 
SEA 45 70 .391 26.5 50 -5 
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 62 52 .544 0.0 64 -2 
FLA 61 54 .530 1.5 56 5 
NYN 60 54 .526 2.0 61 -1 
ATL 53 62 .461 9.5 59 -6 
WAS 44 71 .383 18.5 46 -2 
National League Central
CHN 69 46 .600 0.0 72 -3 
MIL 64 51 .557 5.0 60 4 
STL 64 53 .547 6.0 62 2 
HOU 55 59 .482 13.5 52 3 
PIT 52 62 .456 16.5 50 2 
CIN 52 64 .448 17.5 49 3 
National League West
ARI 59 56 .513 0.0 60 -1 
LAN 57 57 .500 1.5 60 -3 
COL 52 65 .444 8.0 53 -1 
SF 48 65 .425 10.0 47 1 
SD 44 71 .383 15.0 46 -2 