THT Daily: Ethier delivers again
by Dave StudemanJune 30, 2009
Major League News for June 30
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 RotoworldAccording to the Los Angeles Daily News, Manny Ramirez's minor league rehab assignment has concluded.
Ramirez went 1-for-3 with two strikeouts Monday for Single-A Inland Empire. He was going to play in Tuesday's game as well, but the Dodgers have decided to scratch that plan. "I don't think one more game is going to make that much difference," said general manager Ned Colletti, who was on the scene for Manny's final rehab appearance. He'll join up with his Dodger teammates Tuesday and return to the lineup Friday, July 3.
Orioles manager Dave Trembley acknowledged Monday that Cesar Izturis (appendicitis) might not return to the club until late July, at the earliest.
Izturis jogged and sprinted in the outfield Monday and took 30 swings off a tee. "Big progress," he said afterward. "I'm feeling stronger, and today was a big day." He's hoping to hit live pitching as early as Wednesday with an eye on beginning a rehab assignment right around the All-Star break.
Ervin Santana (triceps) returned to the Angels Monday after a three-inning rehab outing in the Arizona Summer League.
Santana will stick around for the next few games. He'll throw a bullpen session Wednesday and, if all goes well, could be slotted back into the rotation by the weekend. There's a chance the Angels will ask him to make one final rehab start, but it's doubtful.
According to the New York Post, Carlos Beltran's season, and possibly career, could be in jeopardy if he requires microfracture knee surgery.
The 32-year-old Beltran has already required arthroscopic surgery on both knees, and the microfracture procedure is still rather experimental. NBA players Jamal Mashburn and Terrell Brandon were forced into retirement not too long after having it done. We'll keep you updated with his diagnosis.
According to the Boston Herald, Mike Lowell (hip) could return to the starting lineup as soon as Friday.
Lowell will begin rehabbing in Boston on Tuesday and will be re-evaluated by the club's medical staff Thursday. "The worst-case scenario, he goes on the DL," said manager Terry Francona, "just to buy us a couple of weeks where he can get a second wind for the second part of the season. We can also wait a few days and let him play, if that’s OK, too. We’re just kind of in a waiting mode." Check back soon for an update.
Josh Hamilton went 1-for-4 with an RBI, a walk and a stolen base Monday in his first rehab game with Double-A Frisco.
Hamilton was only allowed to DH, but displayed his agility on the base paths and would appear ready for major league action. He'll join Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday for a few more starts, and even some outfield action. The Texas slugger has been out since June 9.
Tim Lincecum delivered a complete-game shutout Monday as the Giants trounced the Cardinals 10-0 in St. Louis.
Lincecum was spot-on, surrendering just two hits while fanning eight Cardinals hitters and walking none. He lowered his ERA from 2.57 to 2.37 and his WHIP fell to a season-low 1.07. It was the 25-year-old's third complete game of the season, but he needed just 95 pitches Monday and hasn't been totally overworked. That bodes well for even more impressive stats in the second-half of this '09 campaign.
Raul Ibanez (groin) is unlikely to be activated from the disabled list on Friday.
Ibanez recently said that his groin has improved, but Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said, "One day he can be doing great, and another day not as great. We have to keep our minds open there." Amaro said Ibanez will be reevaluated this week and will likely not come off the DL on Friday, the day he is eligible. "We'll reevaluate him and see whether he's physically able to start some type of rehab," Amaro said.
Jimmy Rollins is expected to return to the lineup on Tuesday.
Rollins will return to the lineup and bat leadoff against the Braves "unless something really changes between now and then," manager Charlie Manuel told The Philadelphia Inquirer. Rollins is hitless in his last 19 at-bats and did not take batting practice during his four-game break. But he did take soft toss and hit from a tee. "I'm getting the right stroke down, which is good. I've been doing very well," Rollins said, according to The Delaware Daily Times. "It's like, 'There it is, you dodo brain ... it took you so long to remember that?'" Rollins is hitting .211/.254/.328 this year.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League BOS 4 BAL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 4 TOR 1 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 6 CLE 3 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 4 MIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 7 DET 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 5 TEX 2 (Recap and Boxscore) National League FLA 4 WAS 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 10 NYN 6 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 3 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 10 STL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 4 COL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 3 SD 1 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (L) Ted Lilly (7-5) vs. (R) Ross Ohlendorf (6-6) Arizona Diamondbacks at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Dan Haren (6-5) vs. (R) Bronson Arroyo (8-6) Washington Nationals at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Craig Stammen (1-3) vs. (L) Sean West (3-2) Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (R) Joe Blanton (4-4) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (7-6) New York Mets at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (L) Johan Santana (9-5) vs. (R) Mike Burns (0-1) San Francisco Giants at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (L) Randy Johnson (7-5) vs. (R) Chris Carpenter (5-2) Houston Astros at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (L) Mike Hampton (4-5) vs. (R) Josh Banks (0-0) Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Jason Marquis (9-5) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (9-3) American League --------------- Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) John Smoltz (0-1) vs. (L) Rich Hill (3-2) Seattle Mariners at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Brandon Morrow (0-3) vs. (R) Joba Chamberlain (4-2) Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (L) Clayton Richard (2-1) vs. (L) Cliff Lee (4-6) Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (R) Matt Garza (5-5) vs. (R) Scott Richmond (6-4) LA Angels of Anaheim at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (L) Joe Saunders (8-4) vs. (R) Scott Feldman (5-2) Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Scott Baker (5-6) vs. (R) Brian Bannister (5-5) Detroit Tigers at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Armando Galarraga (4-7) vs. (L) Gio Gonzalez (0-1)
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 47 29 .618 0.0 45 2NYA 43 32 .573 3.5 43 0
TB 43 35 .551 5.0 48 -5
TOR 41 37 .526 7.0 43 -2
BAL 34 42 .447 13.0 33 1
American League Central DET 42 34 .553 0.0 40 2
CHA 38 38 .500 4.0 37 1
MIN 39 39 .500 4.0 42 -3
KC 33 42 .440 8.5 32 1
CLE 31 47 .397 12.0 36 -5
American League West LAA 42 32 .568 0.0 39 3
TEX 40 35 .533 2.5 39 1
SEA 39 36 .520 3.5 36 3
OAK 32 43 .427 10.5 34 -2
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 39 34 .534 0.0 39 0
FLA 39 39 .500 2.5 36 3
NYN 37 38 .493 3.0 37 0
ATL 35 40 .467 5.0 35 0
WAS 22 52 .297 17.5 28 -6
National League Central MIL 41 35 .539 0.0 39 2
STL 41 37 .526 1.0 40 1
CIN 37 37 .500 3.0 36 1
CHN 36 37 .493 3.5 37 -1
HOU 36 38 .486 4.0 35 1
PIT 35 41 .461 6.0 38 -3
National League West LAN 49 28 .636 0.0 47 2
SF 41 34 .547 7.0 40 1
COL 40 36 .526 8.5 41 -1
SD 33 42 .440 15.0 29 4
ARI 30 46 .395 18.5 33 -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 MIL A+ Caleb Gindl....... 4 4 2 0 1 0 0 3 R BOS A- Derrik Gibson..... 3 3 1 0 0 2 0 2 SB TB AAA Reid Brignac...... 4 3 3 0 0 0 0 WAN AAA Justin Maxwell.... 7 3 0 1 1 0 2 WAN A+ C. Marrero........ 5 3 1 0 1 0 1 PHI AA Michael Taylor.... 5 4 2 0 0 0 1 3 LD WAN A+ Michael Burgess... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 NYY A+ Austin Romine..... 5 2 1 0 1 0 0 DET AAA Scott Sizemore.... 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 BOS AA Ryan Kalish....... 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 SB BOS AA Lars Anderson..... 3 1 0 0 1 2 1 TOR AA David Cooper...... 3 2 0 0 1 1 1 3 R ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes BAL A+ Zachary Britton... 6 6 3 3 9 1 0 NYM A Jeurys Familia.... 6 2 1 1 7 3 0 11 GB TOR AAA Marc Rzepczynski.. 6 5 1 1 7 1 0 BOS A+ Kyle Weiland...... 6 4 0 0 7 3 0 NYY AAA Ivan Nova......... 6 1 0 0 5 3 0 CHC AA Casey Coleman..... 7 7 2 2 6 2 0 CHC A+ Dan McDaniel...... 6 5 1 0 4 1 0 SD AA Cory Luebke....... 5 4 1 1 4 1 0 MIN A+ David Bromberg.... 6 5 1 1 3 1 0 NYY A+ D.J. Mitchell..... 6 5 1 1 4 2 0 NYY A Manuel Banuelos... 7 7 0 0 3 1 0 TB AAA Wade Davis........ 6 6 3 2 4 2 0
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