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THT Daily: Double your cyclesby THT StaffSeptember 02, 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
Cliff Lee became baseball's first 20-game winner by shutting out the White Sox on Monday night in a 5-0 Indians victory. Lee's exquisite season continues. Over nine brilliant innings, he allowed five singles and zero walks while striking out four and using only 109 pitches. It was his fourth complete game of the season and his second shutout. On the shoulders of Lee's gem, the Indians move back into the win column after being swept by the Mariners, and the White Sox drop into a first-place tie with the Twins atop the AL Central. Roy Oswalt tossed eight-plus innings of shutout ball in the Astros' 3-0 blanking of the Cubs on Monday. It certainly helped that both he and Jason Marquis were getting pitches a foot off the plate. Oswalt improved to 5-1 since the start of August and 13-9 overall by limiting a tough Cubs lineup to four hits. He struck out three and didn't issue a single walk. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that Chris Carpenter (shoulder) will return as a reliever and come off the disabled list as soon as Monday. Carpenter threw a 40-pitch bullpen session Sunday, keeping his pitch count relatively low so that he could be available to the Cardinals if needed Tuesday. "We all felt that I'd get more of an opportunity to get out there more times doing it this way than trying to build my pitch count back up as a starter and only get one or two starts," Carpenter said. "So, I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be new." Carpenter hasn't pitched in relief since 2000 and figures to work in low-leverage spots initially, but could emerge with a key late-inning role if he proves healthy. According to manager Joe Girardi, Joba Chamberlain (shoulder) is expected to come off the disabled list Tuesday. Out since August 6, he'll work out of the bullpen with an eye toward potentially making a few starts later this month. "Whatever they need me to do, I'm up for it," Chamberlain said. "I feel good and ready to help in any way possible." Jason Schmidt (shoulder) has been shut down for the rest of the season. Schmidt was unable to return from the shoulder surgery he underwent 15 months ago. He had been rehabbing at Triple-A Las Vegas in hopes of returning as a reliever this season. Manager Joe Torre wouldn't say exactly what went wrong, but the team's website hints that there's a chance Schmidt will need another operation. Stephen Drew became the third Diamondback to hit for the cycle and the first to perform the feat at Chase Field in Monday's 8-6 win over the Cardinals. Drew singled in the first, tripled in the third, homered in the fifth, and hit a ground-rule double in the eighth. The D-Backs went down 5-1 early, but rallied and finally overcame the deficit when newbie David Eckstein singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh. He finished 2-for-4 with two RBI in his debut with the Diamondbacks. Drew led the charge today though, finishing with three runs scored. He's hitting .289 with 36 doubles, 10 triples and 16 home runs. Justin Upton left Monday's game in the eighth inning with a head injury after being hit by Brad Thompson's pickoff throw to first base. It's not like it was intentional or anything, but it'd be nice if Thompson could have been tossed from the game for making such a lousy throw and putting another player at risk. Fortunately, Upton was able to walk off on his own after being down for a couple of minutes. He's probably day-to-day. Ben Sheets left Monday's game after five innings with left groin tightness. Sheets threw just 54 pitches in five scoreless innings before being replaced by Carlos Villanueva against the Mets. He should be considered day-to-day. If he can't make his next start, Mark DiFelice could be a candidate to step in. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Diamondbacks 8, Cardinals 6; Mariners 12, Rangers 6: Stephen Drew hits for the cycle in the Dbacks-Cards game, and Adrian Beltre does the same in the Mariners-Rangers tilt. They are the third and fourth players in just over two weeks to do it, following Mark Kotsay on August 14th and Cristian Guzman on the 28th. Carlos Gomez did it back in May, making it five guys this season. Other seasons in which five or more guys hit for the cycle: 1887, 1890, 1933, 1940, 1950, 1970, 1976, 1980, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006. I knew you wanted to know that. Astros 3, Cubs 0: Oswalt shuts down the suddenly punchless Cubbies over 8+. The Astros would currently be leading the NL West and would at least be in the conversation in the East. Yankees 13, Tigers 9: Justin Verlander (1.2 IP, 8 H, 7 ER) and Sidney Ponson (3 IP, 9 H, 6 ER) combine to commit heinous crimes against baseball artistry in a matchup many thought we'd be seeing in the playoffs this October. Jim Leyland gives the quote of the week: ""We basically threw a lot of balls when we should've thrown strikes and we threw some strikes when we should've thrown balls. And that's the end of the conversation. I'll see you later." Rockies 4, Giants 0: There's some loose talk in the game story about the Rockies making a run in September, but the only race actually implicated by this game is the four-way battle royal between the Nats, Giants, A's, and Padres for the worst offense in baseball. As far as that goes, San Francisco putting up a goose egg in Coors makes this something of a statement game for them. Indians 5, White Sox 0: A five hit shutout for Cliff Lee's 20th victory has to put an end to any debate -- to the extent there was any in the first place -- about the AL Cy Young. He was toying with the Sox in this one, at one point retiring more than 20 in a row. Nats 7, Phillies 4: It seems like a decade ago, but it was really just the opening weekend of this season when I was exhibiting a full-on Ryan Zimmerman man-crush, only to have the season turn into a nightmare for both him and the Nats. It's nice to see him have a couple of big hits lately and see the Nats string together a bunch of wins like they have to remind people that there really was a reason to be somewhat excited about Washington before the season started. Mets 4, Brewers 2: Sheets leaves the game early due to problems in the groinal area and Eric Gagne gave up three runs in the eighth. Not good for Milwaukee, obviously, but given that Ned Yost is content to shred Sabathia's arm before he hits the free agent market, they may just decided to go with a one man rotation from here on out. Marlins 4, Braves 3: Batting second for the Atlanta Braves . . . the first baseman . . . Martin Prado . . . Prado. That pretty much sums up Atlanta's year, doesn't it? Red Sox 7, Orioles 4: I hate to root against anyone just for the sake of rooting against them, and I have nothing personal against the Red Sox, but we really, really need Boston to lose some games in a hurry if we are to be faced with the dream scenario of Fox trying to hype Yankees and Red Sox-free playoff baseball next month. Can you imagine an ALCS intro that goes "162 games in the regular season, and nothing has been decided between the Twins and the White Sox!" We really need this to happen. Dodgers 5, Padres 2: Finally, the Padres inability to score runs works in Greg Maddux's favor. Maddux has now tied Clemens on the all-time win list, which is rather important on a symbolic level for bespectacled men who, in the absence of brute strength, depend on their guile and intellect to get by. Not that I know anyone like that. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Ian Snell (5-10) vs. (R) Aaron Harang (4-14) Philadelphia Phillies at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM (L) Cole Hamels (11-8) vs. (L) John Lannan (8-12) Atlanta Braves at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Charlie Morton (4-8) vs. (R) Anibal Sanchez (2-3) Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM (R) Brandon Backe (9-12) vs. (R) Carlos Zambrano (13-5) New York Mets at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (L) Jonathon Niese (0-0) vs. (L) Manny Parra (10-6) San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies, 8:35 PM (R) Tim Lincecum (15-3) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (1-3) St. Louis Cardinals at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Adam Wainwright (7-3) vs. (R) Yusmeiro Petit (3-3) San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Cha Seung Baek (4-8) vs. (L) Clayton Kershaw (2-5) American League --------------- Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (L) John Danks (10-7) vs. (R) Fausto Carmona (7-5) Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Radhames Liz (5-3) vs. (L) Jon Lester (12-5) LA Angels of Anaheim at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (L) Joe Saunders (14-7) vs. (R) Chris Lambert (0-1) Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (L) Glen Perkins (12-3) vs. (L) David Purcey (2-5) New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Mike Mussina (16-7) vs. (R) Matt Garza (11-7) Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (L) Ryan Feierabend (0-1) vs. (R) Brandon McCarthy (0-0) Oakland Athletics at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (L) Gio Gonzalez (1-2) vs. (R) Zack Greinke (9-9) 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 84 51 .622 0.0 78 6 Game of the DayMarlins 4, Braves 3 - FINAL
ATLANTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Anderson cf 5 0 3 1 0 2 2 .326
M Prado 1b 5 0 0 0 0 2 4 .338
C Jones 3b 4 0 1 1 0 1 0 .358
B McCann c 4 0 0 0 0 2 3 .295
Y Escobar ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 .282
K Johnson 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .263
J Francoeur rf 4 0 2 0 0 2 2 .232
B Jones lf 3 1 2 1 0 1 1 .270
M Hampton p 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 .250
J Bennett p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .222
va-G Norton ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .244
M Gonzalez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 36 3 11 3 0 11 16 ###
FLORIDA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
H Ramirez ss 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 .295
P Lo Duca c 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 .242
A Amezaga cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .255
L Gonzalez rf 4 0 1 1 0 0 2 .267
M Lindstrom p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Cantu 1b 4 1 1 2 0 0 0 .277
D Uggla 2b 2 1 0 0 2 1 1 .259
J Willingham lf 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 .255
C Ross cf-rf 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 .260
W Helms 3b 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 .245
J Johnson p 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 .182
A Miller p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .067
ha-M Jacobs ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .241
A Rhodes p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Baker c 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 .267
Totals 28 4 6 4 6 3 12 ###
----------------------------------------------------
ATLANTA - 010 020 000 -- 3 11 0
FLORIDA - 201 000 001 -- 4 6 0
Two outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
ha-grounded to pitcher for A Miller in the 7th; va-popped out to shortstop for
J Bennett in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - B Jones (7, J Johnson); P Lo Duca (9, M Hampton); L Gonzalez (25,
M Hampton). HR - J Cantu (23, 1st inning off M Hampton 1 on, 2 Out). S - M
Hampton , B Jones , J Willingham. SF - J Baker. RBI - B Jones (6), J Anderson
(3), C Jones (67), J Cantu 2 (74), L Gonzalez (43), J Baker (21). 2-out RBI - J
Cantu 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Anderson 2, B McCann 1, M
Prado 1, Y Escobar 2, J Willingham 1, H Ramirez 1. GIDP - L Gonzalez. Team LOB
- ATLANTA 8, FLORIDA 6. BASERUNNING: SB - J Anderson (4, 2nd base off J
Johnson/P Lo Duca), C Jones (3, 2nd base off J Johnson/P Lo Duca). CS - D Uggla
(4, 2nd base by M Hampton). FIELDING: DP: (K Johnson-Y Escobar-M Prado).
ATLANTA ip h r er bb so hr era
M Hampton 6 6 3 3 3 2 1 5.67
J Bennett 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.04
M Gonzalez (L, 0-1) 2/3 0 1 1 3 0 0 3.68
FLORIDA ip h r er bb so hr era
J Johnson 6 9 3 3 0 8 0 3.25
A Miller 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 5.58
A Rhodes 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
M Lindstrom (W, 3-2) 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 3.37
IBB - C Ross (by M Gonzalez). Pitches-strikes: M Hampton 106-62; J Bennett
22-13; M Gonzalez 17-5; J Johnson 108-73; A Miller 13-10; A Rhodes 10-5; M
Lindstrom 17-12. Ground balls-fly balls: M Hampton 8-7; J Bennett 4-1; M
Gonzalez 1-1; J Johnson 5-5; A Miller 0-0; A Rhodes 0-3; M Lindstrom 1-2.
Batters faced: M Hampton 25; J Bennett 6; M Gonzalez 5; J Johnson 27; A Miller
3; A Rhodes 3; M Lindstrom 5. UMPIRES: HP--Chad Fairchild. 1B--Sam Holbrook.
2B--Mark Wegner. 3B--Jeff Kellogg. T--2:44. Att--12,209. Weather: 90 degrees,
partly cloudy. Wind: 18 mph, in from center.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 Jeff Bailey BOS Garrett Olson BAL 367 383 2 ND Adrian Beltre SEA Matt Harrison TEX 382 372 26 PL Yuniesky Betancourt SEA Josh Rupe TEX 428 424 5 ND Casey Blake LAD Chris Young SD 349 336 18 PL Miguel Cabrera DET Edwar Ramirez NYY 366 351 30 PL/L Jorge Cantu FLA Mike Hampton ATL 409 417 23 PL Delgado Carlos NYM Eric Gagne MIL 0 0 1 0 Juan Castro BAL Paul Byrd BOS 371 385 2 JE Johnny Damon NYY Justin Verlander DET 372 364 12 PL Stephen Drew ARI Joel Piniero STL 411 404 16 ND Adam Dunn ARI Joel Piniero STL 389 382 35 JE Josh Hamilton TEX Carlos Silva SEA 419 408 30 PL Brandon Inge DET Sidney Ponson NYY 369 383 11 PL Adam Jones BAL Paul Byrd BOS 425 437 8 ND Felipe Lopez STL Randy Johnson ARI 437 429 3 ND Joe Mather STL Randy Johnson ARI 374 367 8 PL Kevin Millar BAL Paul Byrd BOS 329 347 20 JE Yadier Molina STL Randy Johnson ARI 408 400 6 JE Albert Pujols STL Randy Johnson ARI 440 432 30 ND Mark Reynolds ARI Kyle McClellan STL 408 401 27 JE Jimmy Rollins PHI Jesus Colome WAS 379 378 10 PL Gary Sheffield DET Sidney Ponson NYY 413 428 14 PL Taylor Teagarden TEX Carlos Silva SEA 440 429 2 PL Jason Varitek BOS Garrett Olson BAL 376 387 12 JE Chris Young ARI Joel Piniero STL 417 410 19 ND Ryan Zimmerman WAS Kyle Kendrick PHI 440 443 10 ND 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 COL AA Dexter Fowler..... 5 3 2 1 0 0 2 CHC A- Josh Vitters...... 4 3 3 0 0 0 1 CLE A- L. Chisenhall..... 4 3 2 0 0 1 0 3 R MIN AAA Jason Pridie...... 5 3 1 0 1 0 2 3 R CLE AAA Trevor Crowe...... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 PIT AAA Chris Duffy....... 4 3 0 0 1 1 0 LA AA Lucas May......... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 FLA A Michael Stanton... 1 1 0 0 1 4 0 HOU A- Jason Castro...... 4 3 1 0 1 0 1 SD A- James Darnell..... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 ATL A+ Travis Jones...... 5 4 1 0 0 0 1 COL A Everth Cabrera.... 4 2 1 1 0 0 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes SEA A Michael Pineda.... 9 1 0 0 14 0 0 BOS AA D. Richardson..... 7 4 2 2 11 1 0 NYM A- Bradley Holt...... 6 2 2 2 12 2 0 PIT AAA Daniel McCutchen.. 7 5 0 0 9 0 0 WAN AAA Tyler Clippard.... 7 6 3 3 10 1 0 CHW AAA Charlie Haeger.... 9 6 1 1 7 0 1 SF A+ Daryl Maday....... 5 6 2 2 9 0 1 COL AAA Gregory Reynolds.. 7 10 3 3 9 2 0 NYY AAA Philip Hughes..... 6 4 1 1 8 4 0 SF AAA Steven Hammond.... 7 9 2 2 6 1 0 STL AAA Mitchell Boggs.... 7 3 1 1 6 2 1 SD A Jeremy McBryde.... 5 7 3 3 6 1 0 Access THT’s stats here…
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BOS 80 57 .584 5.0 82 -2 
NYA 73 64 .533 12.0 72 1 
TOR 70 66 .515 14.5 76 -6 
BAL 63 74 .460 22.0 66 -3 
American League Central
CHA 77 60 .562 0.0 78 -1 
MIN 77 60 .562 0.0 77 0 
CLE 66 70 .485 10.5 71 -5 
DET 66 71 .482 11.0 68 -2 
KC 57 79 .419 19.5 55 2 
American League West
LAA 83 53 .610 0.0 74 9 
TEX 67 72 .482 17.5 63 4 
OAK 63 74 .460 20.5 64 -1 
SEA 54 83 .394 29.5 58 -4 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 77 61 .558 0.0 77 0 
PHI 75 63 .543 2.0 78 -3 
FLA 70 68 .507 7.0 66 4 
ATL 59 79 .428 18.0 66 -7 
WAS 53 85 .384 24.0 54 -1 
National League Central
CHN 85 53 .616 0.0 87 -2 
MIL 80 57 .584 4.5 78 2 
STL 74 64 .536 11.0 74 0 
HOU 72 66 .522 13.0 66 6 
CIN 61 76 .445 23.5 59 2 
PIT 57 79 .419 27.0 55 2 
National League West
ARI 70 67 .511 0.0 72 -2 
LAN 68 70 .493 2.5 70 -2 
COL 65 74 .468 6.0 64 1 
SF 59 78 .431 11.0 56 3 
SD 53 84 .387 17.0 57 -4 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 80 57 .584 0.0
NYA 73 64 .533 7.0
TOR 70 66 .515 9.5
CLE 66 70 .485 13.5
TEX 67 72 .482 14.0
National League
MIL 80 57 .584 0.0
PHI 75 63 .543 5.5
STL 74 64 .536 6.5
HOU 72 66 .522 8.5
FLA 70 68 .507 10.5