THT Daily: Extremes

by Dave Studeman
April 19, 2009

Major League News for April 19

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 Rotoworld
Brad Lidge blew a save Saturday night for the first time in 54 straight outings.
Eric Gagne's record is safe for now. Lidge walked back-to-back Padres before Kevin Kouzmanoff took him deep in the top of the ninth inning. The Phillies weren't able to rally and have now dropped three straight games.

Zack Greinke fanned 10 in a shutout of the Rangers as the Royals prevailed 2-0 on Saturday.
Kevin Millwood also went nine in the contest, which lasted 2:23. Greinke allowed seven hits and walked none in an 111-pitch outing. He wasn't any good at all this spring, but he's opened the regular season by going three straight starts without allowing a run.

Joel Zumaya pitched two scoreless innings in a rehab assignment at Triple-A Toledo on Saturday.
Zumaya threw 17 of his 26 pitches for strikes and appears close to returning to the Tigers. He has three rehab outings under his belt, so the move may come within a few days. He has been out all year with a shoulder issue.

Mark DeRosa finished 4-for-7 with a home run and six RBI Saturday as the Indians routed the Yankees by a score of 22-4.
Every starter, with the exception of Ben Francisco, drove in at least one run. The Indians plated 14 runners in the second inning, setting all sorts of records, and allowing starter Fausto Carmona to easily settle in. DeRosa is still batting just .255, but has 15 RBI and three home runs. That offseason deal that landed him in Cleveland is looking awfully good for the Indians.

Chien Ming Wang lasted just 1 1/3 innings Saturday after allowing eight earned runs to the Indians.
The Tribe went on to score 14 more runs on New York's bullpen. Wang has a 34.50 ERA through three games and has New York beat writers calling for his demotion. That may be too harsh of a move, but there's clearly something wrong here. We'll keep you notified if the Yanks decide to scratch Wang from his next scheduled start, Friday against the Red Sox.

Manny Ramirez hit his first two home runs of the season Saturday to help the Dodgers top the Diamondbacks 9-5.
Ramirez went yard in the first and third inning to finish with two RBI. Andre Ethier drove in another four, while Matt Kemp and Juan Castro plated one apiece. Ramirez is hitting .308 this season. The Dodgers have won seven games in a row.

According to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, the Astros have exercised Cecil Cooper's contract option for 2010.
Cooper's record since he took over in 2007 is 104-98, but his club is off to a 3-7 start this season so the timing is a bit strange. There was a press conference scheduled for 5:45pm EST.

MLB suspended outfielder Milton Bradley two games and fined him an unspecified amount for his actions in Thursday's game.
Bradley, who was ejected, got in umpire Larry Vanover's face after a strike-three call in the Cubs 7-4 loss. He will continue to play until an appeal is heard, if healthy, of course.

Nationals placed shortstop Cristian Guzman on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 14, with a strained left hamstring.
The Nats didn't think Guzman would need the full 15 days, but they could carry a dead roster spot for 7-10 days. Alex Cintron likely will be called up on Saturday. Albert Gonzalez has a little short-term value in NL-only leagues with Guzman out.

Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.

American League
BOS     6  BAL     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE    22  NYA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     8  TB      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     4  OAK     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     9  LAA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     2  SEA     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      2  TEX     0    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
NYN     1  MIL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      8  PHI     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     9  WAS     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     7  STL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     7  CIN     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT    10  ATL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     9  COL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     2  SF      0    (Recap and Boxscore)

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Milwaukee Brewers at New York Mets, 1:10 PM
  (R) Jeff Suppan (0-2) vs. (R) Nelson Figueroa (0-0)
 San Diego Padres at Philadelphia Phillies, 1:35 PM
  (R) Josh Geer (0-0) vs. (R) Chan Ho Park (0-0)
 Florida Marlins at Washington Nationals, 1:35 PM
  (R) Chris Volstad (2-0) vs. (R) Daniel Cabrera (0-1)
 Atlanta Braves at Pittsburgh Pirates, 1:35 PM
  (R) Javier Vazquez (0-1) vs. (L) Zach Duke (2-0)
 Cincinnati Reds at Houston Astros, 2:05 PM
  (R) Edinson Volquez (1-1) vs. (R) Felipe Paulino Del Guidice (0-0)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at San Francisco Giants, 4:05 PM
  (R) Max Scherzer (0-0) vs. (L) Randy Johnson (0-2)
 Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers, 4:10 PM
  (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (1-1) vs. (R) James McDonald (0-1)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM
  (R) Todd Wellemeyer (1-1) vs. (L) Ted Lilly (2-0)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (R) Carl Pavano (0-2) vs. (R) A.J. Burnett (2-0)
 Oakland Athletics at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM
  (L) Dallas Braden (1-1) vs. (L) Ricky Romero (1-0)
 Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox, 1:35 PM
  (R) Koji Uehara (2-0) vs. (L) Jon Lester (0-2)
 Chicago White Sox at Tampa Bay Rays, 1:38 PM
  (R) Gavin Floyd (1-1) vs. (R) Matt Garza (1-0)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Minnesota Twins, 2:10 PM
  (R) Shane Loux (0-0) vs. (L) Glen Perkins (0-1)
 Kansas City Royals at Texas Rangers, 3:05 PM
  (R) Kyle Davies (1-0) vs. (R) Vicente Padilla (1-1)
 Detroit Tigers at Seattle Mariners, 4:10 PM
  (R) Rick Porcello (0-1) vs. (R) Carlos Silva (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
TOR      9   4 .692    0.0    9     0    
BAL      6   5 .545    2.0    4     2    
NYA      6   6 .500    2.5    4     2    
BOS      5   6 .455    3.0    5     0    
TB       5   7 .417    3.5    6    -1    
American League Central     
KC       7   4 .636    0.0    7     0    
CHA      6   5 .545    1.0    6     0    
DET      6   5 .545    1.0    7    -1    
MIN      6   7 .462    2.0    5     1    
CLE      4   8 .333    3.5    6    -2    
American League West        
SEA      8   4 .667    0.0    8     0    
OAK      5   6 .455    2.5    5     0    
LAA      4   7 .364    3.5    4     0    
TEX      4   7 .364    3.5    5    -1    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
FLA     10   1 .909    0.0    8     2    
NYN      6   5 .545    4.0    6     0    
ATL      5   6 .455    5.0    4     1    
PHI      4   6 .400    5.5    4     0    
WAS      1   9 .100    8.5    3    -2    
National League Central     
CHN      7   4 .636    0.0    6     1    
STL      8   5 .615    0.0    8     0    
PIT      6   5 .545    1.0    8    -2    
CIN      5   5 .500    1.5    4     1    
HOU      4   7 .364    3.0    4     0    
MIL      3   8 .273    4.0    4    -1    
National League West        
LAN      9   3 .750    0.0    9     0    
SD       9   3 .750    0.0    7     2    
COL      4   6 .400    4.0    5    -1    
ARI      4   7 .364    4.5    4     0    
SF       3   8 .273    5.5    3     0

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
LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 3  2  1  0  1  2  0  
CHW AA  Gordon Beckham.... 5  3  1  0  1  0  0  
LA  AA  Andrew Lambo...... 4  2  0  0  2  0  0  
CHC A   Josh Vitters...... 4  3  1  1  0  0  1  
TB  AA  Desmond Jennings.. 6  5  0  1  0  0  1  
ARI AA  Evan Frey......... 1  1  0  1  0  4  0  
FLA A+  Michael Stanton... 3  2  0  0  1  2  1  
KC  A+  Mike Moustakas.... 4  2  1  0  1  0  1  
SF  A+  Brandon Crawford.. 6  3  0  0  1  0  3  
TOR AA  David Cooper...... 5  2  2  0  0  0  2  
COL AA  Darin Holcomb..... 3  2  2  0  0  0  0  
OAK AA  Adrian Cardenas... 4  2  2  0  0  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
COL A   C. Friedrich...... 5  5  2  1  9  0  1  
CHC AAA Jeff Samardzija... 6  1  2  2  5  1  1  
CHC AA  Jay Jackson....... 5  4  2  2  6  2  0  
SF  AA  Henry Sosa........ 5  2  1  1  5  2  0  
HOU AAA Bud Norris........ 5  3  2  2  6  4  1  
ATL A   Randall Delgado... 4  3  1  0  4  3  0  7 GB
OAK AAA Gio Gonzalez...... 4  2  2  2  4  2  1  
BOS AA  Felix Doubront.... 5  5  2  2  4  4  0  
BAL AAA C. Tillman........ 4  5  3  2  4  3  0  
SEA A+  Phillippe Aumont.. 1  0  0  0  1  0  0  2 OF
LAA A   William Smith..... 1  0  0  0  1  0  0  
MIN AA  Anthony Slama..... 1  1  0  0  2  1  0

First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

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.

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