THT Daily: Extra Innings
by Dave StudemanMay 27, 2008
Major League News for May 27
Player NewsYesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
Action Shot: Aubrey Huff hits three-run homer off Jose Veras in the Orioles' 6-1 win over the Yankees.
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldChase Utley went 3-for-6 with a three-run homer as the Phillies beat the Rockies 20-5 on Monday night. Utley finished the night with six RBI and two runs scored. His 16th homer moves him back into a tie for most in the major leagues, and after hitting just one homer since May 3, he's now gone yard in back-to-back games. Chris Coste went 3-for-6 with a homer, a double, two runs and four RBI in the effort, and Pedro Feliz went 4-for-6 with two runs, and four RBI, raising his average to .271.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Jay Bruce will be called up before Tuesday's game. It was definitely time. The report doesn't indicate what change will be made to open up a roster spot. The Reds might as well release Corey Patterson, who shouldn't have a role with Bruce up. Ryan Freel can continue to get some starts versus lefties, though the Reds probably won't use Bruce as a true platoon player.
33-year-old Geremi Gonzalez, who last pitched in the majors for the Mets and Brewers in 2006, was killed by a lightning strike in his native Venezuela on Sunday. Gonzalez spent part of last year in Japan before finding himself out of baseball this season. The native of Venezuela was 30-35 with a 4.93 ERA over parts of six major league seasons.
The Mets have penciled in Pedro Martinez's return from a hamstring injury for June 3 against the Giants. Martinez will pitch for Single-A St. Lucie on Wednesday and then rejoin the rotation five days later. Either Claudio Vargas or Mike Pelfrey will be taken out of the rotation to open up a spot.
Travis Hafner was given Monday off because of right shoulder soreness. Manager Eric Wedge indicated before the game that it was a routine day off, but that clearly wasn't the case. From the way his swing has changed this year, it's possible the shoulder has been bothering him much longer and much more significantly than has been let on.
Chone Figgins could be headed back to the disabled list with soreness in his right leg. Figgins' leg still isn't feeling well enough to play, and if it doesn't improve soon he could be placed on the disabled list retroactive to his May 21 start in Toronto. The soreness is in a different area than that which originally sent him to the DL. ""It's more tendinitis in his tendon as opposed to muscle," Scioscia said. "So, we're a little frustrated. Figgy is too."
Jon Garland didn't allow a run in 7 1/3 innings as the Angels beat the Tigers on Monday night. Garland allowed just four hits, striking out five and walking three. He left with a man on third and one out, but Scot Shields came in and got a strikeout and a ground out to escape the jam unscathed. Shields, Francisco Rodriguez and Jose Arrendondo combined to throw four more innings of scoreless ball, bringing the Angels' total to 12 on the night. Arrendondo picked up the win. Garland has made five consecutive quality starts and lowered his ERA over two full points in the month of May.
Gary Sheffield left Monday's game in the sixth inning with oblique spasms. Brandon Inge would pick up extra at-bats if Sheffield needs to miss a few days.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the Brewers are close to signing RHP Julian Tavarez. Tavarez worked out for the team in Washington, and will take a physical this evening. Once he passes that, he'll be activated and put in the bullpen for the team's game against the Braves tomorrow. Tavarez was 0-1 with a 6.39 ERA in nine relief appearances for the Red Sox before being designated for assignment.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BAL 6 NYA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 7 TEX 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 7 KC 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 6 CLE 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 1 DET 0 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 5 SEA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 7 ARI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 7 NYN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 20 COL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 4 WAS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 3 LAN 1 (Recap and Boxscore)You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
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Today’s Games
National League --------------- Los Angeles Dodgers at Chicago Cubs, 7:05 PM (R) Hiroki Kuroda (2-3) vs. (R) Sean Gallagher (1-1) Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (1-4) vs. (R) Kyle Kendrick (3-2) Florida Marlins at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (L) Andrew Miller (4-3) vs. (L) Johan Santana (5-3) Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Ian Snell (2-3) vs. (R) Johnny Cueto (2-5) Atlanta Braves at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Tim Hudson (7-3) vs. (R) Dave Bush (1-5) Houston Astros at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (R) Shawn Chacon (1-0) vs. (R) Braden Looper (6-3) San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Tim Lincecum (6-1) vs. (R) Dan Haren (5-3) Washington Nationals at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Shawn Hill (0-1) vs. (L) Randy Wolf (3-4) American League --------------- New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Ian Kennedy (0-3) vs. (L) Brian Burres (4-4) Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (L) Mark Buehrle (2-5) vs. (L) Aaron Laffey (2-3) Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Vicente Padilla (6-2) vs. (R) Andy Sonnanstine (6-2) Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Nick Blackburn (4-3) vs. (R) Brian Bannister (4-6) Detroit Tigers at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Jeremy Bonderman (3-4) vs. (R) Ervin Santana (6-2) Toronto Blue Jays at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) A.J. Burnett (5-4) vs. (L) Greg Smith (2-4) Boston Red Sox at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-0) vs. (R) Miguel Batista (3-6)
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 TB 31 20 .608 0.0 29 2BOS 32 22 .593 0.5 30 2
TOR 28 25 .528 4.0 28 0
BAL 25 25 .500 5.5 25 0
NYA 25 26 .490 6.0 25 0
American League Central CHA 28 22 .560 0.0 30 -2
MIN 25 25 .500 3.0 23 2
CLE 23 28 .451 5.5 27 -4
DET 21 30 .412 7.5 24 -3
KC 21 30 .412 7.5 20 1
American League West LAA 31 22 .585 0.0 28 3
OAK 28 23 .549 2.0 31 -3
TEX 26 27 .491 5.0 25 1
SEA 18 34 .346 12.5 20 -2
National League East Pwins Diff FLA 30 20 .600 0.0 26 4
ATL 28 23 .549 2.5 31 -3
PHI 29 24 .547 2.5 31 -2
NYN 23 26 .469 6.5 25 -2
WAS 22 30 .423 9.0 21 1
National League Central CHN 30 21 .588 0.0 33 -3
STL 30 22 .577 0.5 29 1
HOU 29 23 .558 1.5 26 3
PIT 24 26 .480 5.5 22 2
MIL 24 27 .471 6.0 23 1
CIN 23 28 .451 7.0 22 1
National League West ARI 30 21 .588 0.0 31 -1
LAN 26 24 .520 3.5 27 -1
COL 20 31 .392 10.0 20 0
SF 20 31 .392 10.0 20 0
SD 19 33 .365 11.5 18 1
Game of the Day
There were three extra-inning games yesterday, but a 12-inning 1-0 game has to win the award. Scratch that—a 1-0 game decided by a bases-loaded walk in the 12th inning. Kudos to starters Kenny Rogers and Jon Garland for seven shutout innings each, as well as both bullpens. Vlad Guerrero was one of only two hitters with a positive WPA, going three-for-six with a key hit in the 12th.Angels 1, Tigers 0 - FINAL
DETROIT ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Granderson cf 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 .250
P Polanco 2b 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 .294
G Sheffield dh 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 .213
va-R Raburn ph-dh 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 .214
M Ordonez rf 3 0 0 0 2 1 1 .323
M Cabrera 1b 5 0 1 0 0 1 2 .274
C Guillen 3b 3 0 1 0 2 1 2 .299
M Joyce lf 5 0 0 0 0 2 4 .229
E Renteria ss 5 0 1 0 0 0 4 .277
I Rodriguez c 5 0 0 0 0 2 3 .265
Totals 39 0 5 0 5 11 21 ###
LA ANGELS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
M Izturis ss 6 1 1 0 0 0 3 .208
G Matthews cf 6 0 1 0 0 0 2 .218
V Guerrero rf 6 0 3 0 0 1 2 .262
T Hunter dh 3 0 2 0 3 0 0 .285
G Anderson lf 4 0 0 1 2 1 5 .273
M Napoli c 3 0 1 0 1 0 2 .233
C Kotchman 1b 5 0 1 0 0 0 4 .311
B Wood 3b 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 .122
S Rodriguez 2b 5 0 0 0 0 3 3 .140
Totals 43 1 9 1 6 5 24 ###
----------------------------------------------------
DETROIT - 000 000 000 000 -- 0 5 2
LA ANGELS - 000 000 000 001 -- 1 9 0
One out when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
va-flied out to center for G Sheffield in the 6th.
BATTING: 2B - C Guillen (14, J Garland); C Granderson (5, J Garland); C
Kotchman (12, K Rogers); V Guerrero 2 (11, K Rogers, Z Miner). S - P Polanco.
RBI - G Anderson (26). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - E Renteria 1,
I Rodriguez 1, M Ordonez 1, M Cabrera 1, R Raburn 1, M Izturis 2, G Anderson 1,
C Kotchman 2, M Napoli 2, B Wood 2. GIDP - V Guerrero. Team LOB - DETROIT 9, LA
ANGELS 15. BASERUNNING: SB - T Hunter (5, 2nd base off F Dolsi/I Rodriguez). CS
- C Guillen (1, 2nd base by S Shields/M Napoli). FIELDING: E - C Guillen 2 (9,
ground ball 2). DP: (E Renteria-P Polanco-M Cabrera, M Cabrera).
DETROIT ip h r er bb so hr era
K Rogers 7 5 0 0 1 2 0 5.88
Z Miner 2 1 0 0 2 2 0 6.11
F Dolsi (L, 0-1) 2 1/3 3 1 1 2 1 0 1.86
B Seay 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2.87
LA ANGELS ip h r er bb so hr era
J Garland 7 1/3 4 0 0 3 5 0 3.89
S Shields 1 2/3 0 0 0 1 3 0 3.43
F Rodriguez 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 2.35
J Arredondo (W, 1-0) 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.50
B Seay pitched to 1 batter in the 12th.
WP - F Dolsi, F Rodriguez. IBB - P Polanco (by F Rodriguez), G Anderson (by F
Dolsi), T Hunter (by F Dolsi). HBP - M Napoli (by K Rogers). Pitches-strikes: K
Rogers 98-62; Z Miner 34-16; F Dolsi 38-15; B Seay 4-0; J Garland 108-68; S
Shields 28-17; F Rodriguez 22-12; J Arredondo 21-17. Ground balls-fly balls: K
Rogers 13-5; Z Miner 1-3; F Dolsi 4-2; B Seay 0-0; J Garland 9-8; S Shields
1-0; F Rodriguez 0-1; J Arredondo 3-2. Batters faced: K Rogers 28; Z Miner 9; F
Dolsi 12; B Seay 1; J Garland 29; S Shields 5; F Rodriguez 5; J Arredondo 6.
IRS - B Seay. UMPIRES: HP--Adrian Johnson. 1B--Tim Tschida. 2B--Jim Joyce.
3B--Jeff Nelson. T--3:52. Att--41,031. Weather: 65 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 10
mph, out to 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.

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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes NYM AA Daniel Murphy..... 4 3 0 0 3 1 0 5 RBI ! ATL A+ Brandon Hicks..... 3 2 0 0 2 2 1 5 RBI ! SF AAA Nate Schierholtz.. 5 4 1 1 1 0 0 4 LD OAK AA Jesus Guzman...... 5 3 1 0 1 1 1 4 R WAN A+ C. Marrero........ 3 2 1 0 1 2 0 3 R KC A Adrian Ortiz...... 5 4 1 0 1 0 0 3 R SF A Nicholas Noonan... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 4 RBI CHC AA Tyler Colvin...... 4 3 2 0 0 1 0 FLA AA Cameron Maybin.... 4 2 0 0 1 1 1 2 SB SEA A+ Gregory Halman.... 4 3 0 1 1 0 0 STL AAA David Freese...... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 6 RBI ! MIN AA Erik Lis.......... 3 2 0 0 1 3 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes COL A Jhoulys Chacin.... 8 7 2 1 9 1 0 17 GB KC AA Daniel Cortes..... 6 3 2 2 7 2 0 TEX A Blake Beavan...... 6 4 2 0 4 0 0 DET A Alfredo Figaro.... 7 9 4 3 4 0 0 12 GB WAN A Colton Willems.... 6 3 0 0 3 1 0 11 GB NYM AA Jonathon Niese.... 5 10 5 2 7 1 0 ATL A+ Ryne Reynoso ..... 6 4 2 0 4 2 0 CHC AA Donald Veal....... 7 6 2 1 5 3 0 WAN AA Shairon Martis.... 6 2 2 1 4 3 0 STL AAA P.J. Walters...... 5 7 3 3 9 3 1 CLE AA David Huff........ 6 7 2 1 6 3 0 LA A+ Jason Schmidt..... 3 3 3 2 3 0 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.







 
BOS 32 22 .593 0.5 30 2
TOR 28 25 .528 4.0 28 0
BAL 25 25 .500 5.5 25 0
NYA 25 26 .490 6.0 25 0
American League Central
CHA 28 22 .560 0.0 30 -2
MIN 25 25 .500 3.0 23 2
CLE 23 28 .451 5.5 27 -4
DET 21 30 .412 7.5 24 -3
KC 21 30 .412 7.5 20 1
American League West
LAA 31 22 .585 0.0 28 3
OAK 28 23 .549 2.0 31 -3
TEX 26 27 .491 5.0 25 1
SEA 18 34 .346 12.5 20 -2
National League East Pwins Diff
FLA 30 20 .600 0.0 26 4
ATL 28 23 .549 2.5 31 -3
PHI 29 24 .547 2.5 31 -2
NYN 23 26 .469 6.5 25 -2
WAS 22 30 .423 9.0 21 1
National League Central
CHN 30 21 .588 0.0 33 -3
STL 30 22 .577 0.5 29 1
HOU 29 23 .558 1.5 26 3
PIT 24 26 .480 5.5 22 2
MIL 24 27 .471 6.0 23 1
CIN 23 28 .451 7.0 22 1
National League West
ARI 30 21 .588 0.0 31 -1
LAN 26 24 .520 3.5 27 -1
COL 20 31 .392 10.0 20 0
SF 20 31 .392 10.0 20 0
SD 19 33 .365 11.5 18 1 