THT Daily: Felix Thrills
by Dave StudemanApril 12, 2007
Major League News for April 12
Today’s LinksYesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Top Minor League Performances
Player News
THT Links
Soon, the entire US economy will be based on movies, microcode and delivering pizzas on time to Japanese journalists covering Japanese players in Major League Baseball. As such, I welcome our new overlords, and have to say that the Daisuke Matsuzaka-era has been immensely fun to watch so far. You've got the Boston media, which is insane enough as it is. The baby-faced assassin here to defeat the Evil Empire. Stories of legendary pitches. I'm on the Dice-K bandwagon and riding it all the way to Cooperstown in 2028 baby.
Setting Sun? - Robert Whiting of the Japan Times wonders if Major League Baseball is destroying Japan's national pastime.
Milledge Likely Out - The Mets appear to be planning to demote prospect Lastings Milledge when Mike Pelfry is ready to come up and join the rotation. Milledge has gotten on two at-bats so far this season, and doesn't seem to be happy with the move. Shawn Green's fast start can't be helping either.
Cheap Saves - Jorge Julio is out as Marlins closer. I'll give you all a second to pick Henry Owens or Kevin Gregg up for your fantasy league team. Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez hasn't announced a replacement yet, but this is exactly why I never draft closers high. By my count, whoever wins the scrum will be the fourth new closer in the first week and a half of the season who probably wasn't drafted (Al Reyes, David Weathers, Dan Wheeler).
Road to Recovery - Checking in on Josh Hamilton, who hit what eventually turned out to be the game-winning home run for the Reds yesterday. In limited action so far, he's hit two home runs and a double with three walks in 12 plate appearances for a .333/.500/1.111 line.
Regression Primer - Not quite sure what the often-bandied term "regression to the mean" really means? Read this handy primer from stats guru (and sometimes THT contributor) Mitchel Lichtman.
Snow Day - Weathermen predict snow showers and temperatures in the high 30s/low 40s for the Giants' upcoming series in Pittsburgh. In California, we would definitely write that off to an "El Nino year."
An Ode to Sport - Mark Armour writes about Sport magazine and its wonderful photojournalism back in the day. I really enjoy reading stories like this because as someone born in the '80s, I can't really remember a world where I couldn't just find pretty much any information I wanted on the Internet. It's like a glimpse of what life was like back in the Stone Ages.
Benedict Bako - Wow. Comedic gold, incisive insight into the Royals fan's psyche and fun Paul Bako desktop backgrounds.
Thursday at THT
Ten Things I Didn’t Know Last Week - Having fun with early-season shenanigans.
Today’s Worst Arm Action… in the World - Shut your eyes if you need to. This is Mark Redman, today's nominee for worst arm action in the world.
Measuring the Change In League Quality (Part Two) - David continues his look at the evolution of league quality, and gives us some conclusions.
THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at THT Links.
Updated weekdays at noonish, ET.
Yesterday’s Results
American League DET 4 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) 12 innings; Monroe: GS HR in 12th SEA 3 BOS 0 (Recap and Boxscore) See below TOR 7 KC 4 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 4 CLE 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Saunders: 6.2 IP, 1 R MIN 5 NYA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 6 OAK 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Sox score 5 in last 2 innings TB 6 TEX 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Young: 2 HR National League ATL 8 WAS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) James: 6 IP, 0 R MIL 5 FLA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Weeks: 2-4, 3B, HR PHI 5 NYN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Eaton: 7 IP, 2 R STL 3 PIT 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Duncan: 9th inning GW HR CIN 3 ARI 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Hamilton: 2nd HR in 2 games LAN 3 COL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Penny: 6.1 IP, 0 R SD 4 SF 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Maddux: 6 IP, 0 R
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (L) Jamie Moyer (1-0) vs. (L) Tom Glavine (1-1) Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (R) Jason Bergmann (0-1) vs. (R) John Smoltz (1-0) American League --------------- LA Angels of Anaheim at Cleveland Indians, 1:05 PM (R) Dustin Moseley (1-0) vs. (L) Jeremy Sowers (0-0) Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox, 4:05 PM (L) Jarrod Washburn (0-0) vs. (R) Tim Wakefield (0-1) Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Gil Meche (1-1) vs. (R) Steve Trachsel (0-0) Detroit Tigers at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (L) Mike Maroth (1-0) vs. (R) Tomo Ohka (0-0) Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (L) Casey Fossum (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 5 3 .625 0.0 5 0BOS 4 4 .500 1.0 5 -1
NYA 4 4 .500 1.0 5 -1
TB 3 5 .375 2.0 3 0
BAL 3 6 .333 2.5 4 -1
American League Central DET 5 3 .625 0.0 4 1
MIN 5 3 .625 0.0 4 1
CLE 3 2 .600 0.5 3 0
CHA 4 4 .500 1.0 4 0
KC 3 6 .333 2.5 3 0
American League West LAA 6 3 .667 0.0 6 0
SEA 3 2 .600 1.0 2 1
TEX 4 5 .444 2.0 5 -1
OAK 4 6 .400 2.5 4 0
National League East Pwins Diff ATL 7 1 .875 0.0 5 2
NYN 5 3 .625 2.0 7 -2
FLA 5 4 .556 2.5 5 0
PHI 2 6 .250 5.0 3 -1
WAS 1 8 .111 6.5 1 0
National League Central CIN 5 4 .556 0.0 5 0
MIL 5 4 .556 0.0 5 0
STL 5 4 .556 0.0 4 1
PIT 4 5 .444 1.0 4 0
CHN 3 5 .375 1.5 4 -1
HOU 3 5 .375 1.5 3 0
National League West ARI 7 3 .700 0.0 6 1
LAN 6 3 .667 0.5 5 1
SD 6 3 .667 0.5 6 0
COL 4 5 .444 2.5 5 -1
SF 2 7 .222 4.5 2 0
Game of the Day
Hopefully, you got to watch it on ESPN2. Felix Hernandez was brilliant, outdueling Daisuke Matsuzaka by almost pitching a no-hitter. The only Red Sox hit was a single by J.D. Drew up the middle. In the other headline matchup, Matsuzaka held Ichiro hitless in five at bats
SEATTLE (3) VS BOSTON (0) - FINAL
SEATTLE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
I Suzuki cf 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 .222
A Beltre 3b 4 1 1 1 1 0 0 .118
J Vidro dh 5 0 2 1 0 1 3 .150
R Ibanez lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .167
R Sexson 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .176
J Guillen rf 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 .267
J Ellison rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
K Johjima c 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 .286
Y Betancourt ss 3 0 0 1 0 0 4 .133
J Lopez 2b 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 .188
Totals 35 3 9 3 2 4 13
BATTING: 2B - K Johjima 2 (3, D Matsuzaka 2); A Beltre (1, D Matsuzaka). SF - Y
Betancourt. RBI - Y Betancourt (3), A Beltre (2), J Vidro (1). 2-out RBI - A
Beltre, J Vidro. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Vidro 1, J Lopez
1, Y Betancourt 2. GIDP - J Vidro. Team LOB - 9.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (Y Betancourt-A Beltre-R Sexson).
BOSTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Lugo ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .276
K Youkilis 1b 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .258
D Ortiz dh 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .207
M Ramirez lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .214
J Drew rf 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 .393
M Lowell 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .233
J Varitek c 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .217
C Crisp cf 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 .143
D Pedroia 2b 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 .227
Totals 27 0 1 0 2 6 5
BATTING: GIDP - D Ortiz. Team LOB - 2.
FIELDING: E - D Pedroia (2, throw); J Lugo (1, throw). DP: 1 (K Youkilis-J
Lugo-D Matsuzaka).
----------------------------------------------------
SEATTLE - 010 020 000 -- 3
BOSTON - 000 000 000 -- 0
----------------------------------------------------
SEATTLE ip h r er bb so hr era
F Hernandez (W, 2-0) 9 1 0 0 2 6 0 0.00
BOSTON ip h r er bb so hr era
D Matsuzaka (L, 1-1) 7 8 3 3 1 4 0 2.57
J Romero 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 8.10
J Pineiro 1 1/3 1 0 0 1 0 0 4.91
HBP - J Guillen (by D Matsuzaka). Pitches-strikes: F Hernandez 111-69; D
Matsuzaka 103-64; J Romero 7-4; J Pineiro 18-13. Ground balls-fly balls: F
Hernandez 17-4; D Matsuzaka 9-8; J Romero 1-1; J Pineiro 2-2. Batters faced: F
Hernandez 29; D Matsuzaka 30; J Romero 2; J Pineiro 7.
UMPIRES: HP--Jerry Crawford. 1B--Bill Hohn. 2B--Brian O'Nora. 3B--Phil Cuzzi.
T--2:22. Att--36,630.
Weather: 46 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 13 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 Runs
The following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its "standard" distance, which is corrected for weather conditions.Hitter Pitcher True Dist. Std. Dist. HR # Jones, Chipper ATL Williams, Jerome WAS 442 440 1 Monroe, Craig DET Birkins, Kurt BAL 417 432 1 Young, Michael TEX Shields, James TB 422 422 2 Jones, Andruw ATL Wagner, Ryan WAS 422 419 2 Young, Michael TEX Shields, James TB 420 417 1 Duncan, Chris STL Torres, Salomon PIT 406 409 2 Pena, Carlos TB Tejeda, Robinson TEX 400 398 1 Cabrera, Miguel FLA Bush, Dave MIL 400 397 3 Weeks, Rickie MIL Mitre, Sergio FLA 406 392 2 Zobrist, Ben TB Tejeda, Robinson TEX 396 392 1 DeJesus, David KC Chacin, Gustavo TOR 393 392 2 Dye, Jermaine CWS Duchscherer, Justin OAK 400 382 1 Kinsler, Ian TEX Shields, James TB 376 376 4 Hamilton, Josh CIN Medders, Brandon ARI 384 375 2 Borchard, Joe FLA Wise, Matt MIL 374 371 1 Glaus, Troy TOR De La Rosa, Jorge KC 363 362 2 Peralta, Jhonny CLE Saunders, Joe LAA 355 354 1
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 POS AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes ATL AA Brandon Jones LF 4 3 0 0 1 0 1 .577 OBP during past week BOS A+ Aaron Bates 1B 4 3 2 0 1 0 1 3 runs scored CHW AA Thomas Collaro RF 4 3 3 0 0 0 1 CLE AAA Shin-Soo Choo LF 3 3 2 0 0 2 0 DET A+ Cameron Maybin CF 3 2 1 0 1 1 1 DET A+ Dusty Ryan C 3 3 0 0 2 0 0 FLA AAA 1B 4 3 0 0 1 0 1 4 runs scored FLA AAA John Baker C 5 4 1 0 1 0 0 NYM AAA Andy Tracy 1B 4 3 0 0 2 0 1 OAK A+ Nick Blasi LF 4 4 0 0 2 1 0 5 RBI ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes BOS AAA Devern Hansack 5.0 2 1 0 10 2 0 CIN AAA Phil Dumatrait 7.0 3 2 1 6 2 0 LA AA William Juarez 7.0 5 0 0 6 1 0 LAA A+ Jered Weaver 7.0 3 0 0 7 2 0 NYY AA Chase Wright 7.0 1 0 0 10 1 0 OAK AAA Brad Halsey 5.2 4 0 0 8 2 0
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldMike Mussina said he believes he'll miss his next start but avoid the disabled list after suffering a strained left hamstring on Wednesday. That's what he says, but it's better than 50-50 that he lands on the DL. Darrell Rasner can fill in for him next week.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Jered Weaver's (shoulder) scheduled Monday return against the Red Sox "is looking a little iffy." Weaver is expected to throw 90 pitches in a start at Single-A Wednesday, but the Angels could decide that he needs one more minor league appearance before returning. "It's penciled in," manager Mike Scioscia said. "It will depend on how he feels. If he can pitch a little deeper into the game and get his pitch count where it needs to be and maintain his velocity, we'll certainly look at doing that. But there's a chance he could need one more rehab start."
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
Seattle Mariners left-hander Arthur Rhodes has a torn ligament in his pitching elbow and is considering ligament replacement surgery that would keep him out for the rest of the season. Team medical director Dr. Edward Khalfayan said Rhodes has a choice between pitching with the tear or having Tommy John surgery. Rhodes is expected to get a second opinion. "It's not good news," manager Mike Hargrove said before Wednesday night's game against Boston. "We feel like we've got people that can come in and fill in for him. It makes it tough, but we've got capable people."
Jaret Wright isn't out of the Baltimore Orioles starting rotation yet, although the right-hander didn't sound optimistic Wednesday when asked to report on the condition of his ailing shoulder. "It only hurts when I throw," Wright said. Wright left Tuesday's game against the Detroit Tigers with stiffness in his right shoulder.
According to MLB.com, Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez was noncommittal Wednesday about Jorge Julio remaining the team's closer a day after he blew his second save of the season against the Brewers. "We'll do what's best for the team, the organization and the individual," Gonzalez said. Julio is 0-1 with a 14.73 ERA in 3 2/3 innings. He also has six walks to one strikeouts.
2B Brent Abernathy was acquired by the Nationals from the Phillies organization for future considerations. Abernathy had been playing at Triple-A Ottawa. He was replaced on the Lynx roster by 2B Joe Thurston, who was released by the Nationals after failing to make the opening-day roster.
Cubs OF prospect Felix Pie has opened the season hitting .474 (9-for-19) for Triple-A Iowa. In five games, he also has nine runs, one double, one homer, one RBI and one stolen base. Mariners OF prospect Adam Jones went 3-for-5 with a double during Tuesday's game for Triple-A Tacoma. The three hits raised his average to .391 (9-23) in six games. He also has three runs, two doubles, a homer and five RBI. Royals OF prospect Billy Butler has played just six games in Triple-A, but has three home runs to show for it. Yankees OF prospect Jose Tabata has opened the season at Class A Tampa by hitting .444 (8-18) through the first six games. He also has three runs, one triple, one homer, two RBI and two stolen bases.
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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.