THT Daily: Grandslams and Walkoffs
by Matthew CarruthApril 22, 2007
Major League News for April 22
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Top Minor League Performances
Stats
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldRussell Martin hit a walkoff grand slam off Shawn Chacon in the bottom of the 10th as the Dodgers beat the Pirates 7-3 on Saturday.
Chacon had just entered the game with the bases loaded and one out. The Pirates went to five infielders to try to stop the run from scoring, but it didn't matter where they positioned them on Martin's deep fly to left. The slam was the first of Martin's career. He has two homers, 13 RBI and 14 runs scored and four steals in 16 games this season. There's no better fantasy catcher in the NL.
Bartolo Colon needed just 77 pitches to go seven innings Saturday and beat the Mariners in his return from the disabled list. He allowed one run and walked none.
Colon, who had to be checked on by the trainer after rolling his ankle covering first base in the second inning, threw four fewer pitches than Horacio Ramirez did in four-plus innings. The Angels got him out after seven innings anyway and then received a big scare as Darren Oliver and Scot Shields combined to give up five runs in the eighth, making it a 7-6 game. Fortunately, that's where it ended up. Colon's velocity wasn't as great tonight as what was reported from his rehab, but he had more than enough on his fastball. It looks like he'll be an asset in mixed leagues right away.
Cole Hamels fanned 15 in his first career complete game Saturday in the Phillies' 4-1 win over the Reds.
We hated the decision to send him back out for the ninth at 107 pitches, but he managed to put together an eight-pitch inning, with Alex Gonzalez flying out on the first pitch of his at-bat to end it. Hamels allowed five hits and walked two. The lone run came on a Jeff Conine homer in the second. Hamels is 2-0 with a 1.57 ERA. If he can stay healthy, he'll be good for a few more double-digit strikeout games this season.
Josh Beckett became baseball's first four-game winner after allowing five runs -- four earned -- in 6 2/3 innings against the Yankees on Saturday.
Beckett gave up four runs in the first two innings, but he retired 10 straight after Alex Rodriguez's leadoff double in the third and didn't get into real trouble again until the seventh. Fortunately, Hideki Okajima bailed him out then with two on and one already in. David Ortiz drove in four for Boston, and Julio Lugo and Kevin Youkilis both reached three times apiece. The Red Sox will go for the sweep behind Daisuke Matsuzaka on Sunday.
Barry Zito pitched four-hit ball for 7 1/3 innings and Barry Bonds homered to give the Giants a 1-0 win over the Diamondbacks on Saturday.
Brad Hennessey and Armando Benitez finished the shutout, with the latter earning his fourth save. Zito hasn't allowed a run in 13 1/3 innings over his last two starts, lowering his ERA from 8.18 to 3.70. Obviously, he's going to be just fine.
Randy Johnson, who pitched six innings Thursday for Triple-A Tucson, will come off the DL and face the Padres on Tuesday.
Brandon Webb will get an additional day off and go Wednesday. Unless you're a mixed leaguer with some very good alteratives, it'd be a good idea to have Johnson active right away.
The Cubs have decided to move Alfonso Soriano back to left field following his return from a hamstring injury.
It would seem to be good news for Felix Pie, but Pie has struggled since being called up and is still a candidate to be demoted when the Cubs go back to 12 pitchers. If Pie goes down, the club will try Jacque Jones in center, with Cliff Floyd and Matt Murton sharing time in right. Pie might be in better position to contribute in a couple of months.
Johnny Damon is out of the lineup for Saturday's game because of his sore back.
Also sidelined is Jorge Posada, who left Friday's game with a bruised thumb, The Yankees have Kevin Thompson in left field and Melky Cabrera playing center and batting leadoff today. Wil Nieves is filling in for Posada.
Joe Saunders, the only Virginia Tech alumnus currently in the majors, shut out the Mariners for six innings on Friday to move to 2-0.
Saunders received special permission from commissioner Bud Selig to wear the Virginia Tech cap during the game. The left-hander has a 1.96 ERA through three starts while filling in for the Angels' injured pitchers. However, he's set to lose to his rotation spot when Kelvim Escobar returns.
Craig Biggio hit his first grand slam in 13 years to break a 2-2 tie in the top of the ninth Friday in the Astros' defeat of the Brewers.
He entered with two homers in 166 career at-bats with the bases loaded. Biggio, who got his first day off of the season on Thursday, also drew his second walk of the year and stole his first base tonight. He's providing manager Phil Garner a good excuse for giving him at least one day off each week.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BAL 5 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 7 NYA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 6 CLE 5 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 7 DET 5 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 7 KC 5 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 7 SEA 6 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 7 OAK 0 (Recap and Boxscore) National League FLA 9 WAS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 7 ATL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 6 STL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 4 CIN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 6 HOU 4 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 7 COL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 7 PIT 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 1 ARI 0 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Washington Nationals at Florida Marlins, 1:05 PM (R) Jerome Williams (0-3) vs. (R) Wes Obermueller (0-0) Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, 1:10 PM (R) John Smoltz (2-1) vs. (L) Tom Glavine (3-1) Philadelphia Phillies at Cincinnati Reds, 1:15 PM (R) Freddy Garcia (0-1) vs. (R) Matt Belisle (2-0) Houston Astros at Milwaukee Brewers, 2:05 PM (R) Roy Oswalt (3-0) vs. (R) Dave Bush (1-1) St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (R) Adam Wainwright (1-1) vs. (R) Wade Miller (0-1) San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies, 3:05 PM (R) Greg Maddux (1-1) vs. (R) Jason Hirsh (1-1) Arizona Diamondbacks at San Francisco Giants, 4:05 PM (R) Yusmeiro Petit (0-0) vs. (R) Matt Cain (0-1) Pittsburgh Pirates at Los Angeles Dodgers, 4:10 PM (L) Tom Gorzelanny (2-0) vs. (R) Brett Tomko (0-0) American League --------------- Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM (R) Jon Garland (0-1) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (1-0) Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles, 1:35 PM (L) Gustavo Chacin (2-0) vs. (R) Steve Trachsel (0-1) Cleveland Indians at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 1:40 PM (R) Jake Westbrook (0-2) vs. (R) James Shields (1-0) Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals, 2:10 PM (R) Ramon Ortiz (3-0) vs. (L) Jorge De La Rosa (1-1) Oakland Athletics at Texas Rangers, 3:05 PM (R) Chad Gaudin (1-0) vs. (R) Robinson Tejeda (2-1) Seattle Mariners at LA Angels of Anaheim, 3:35 PM (R) Jeff Weaver (0-2) vs. (R) Ervin Santana (1-2) New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 8:05 PM (L) Chase Wright (1-0) vs. (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-2)
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 11 5 .688 0.0 12 -1BAL 10 7 .588 1.5 9 1
NYA 8 8 .500 3.0 10 -2
TOR 8 9 .471 3.5 9 -1
TB 7 10 .412 4.5 7 0
American League Central MIN 11 6 .647 0.0 10 1
CHA 9 7 .563 1.5 8 1
DET 9 8 .529 2.0 9 0
CLE 7 7 .500 2.5 6 1
KC 5 12 .294 6.0 6 -1
American League West OAK 9 8 .529 0.0 9 0
LAA 8 9 .471 1.0 7 1
TEX 7 10 .412 2.0 7 0
SEA 5 8 .385 2.0 5 0
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 11 5 .688 0.0 13 -2
ATL 11 6 .647 0.5 9 2
FLA 7 10 .412 4.5 8 -1
WAS 6 12 .333 6.0 5 1
PHI 5 11 .313 6.0 6 -1
National League Central MIL 10 7 .588 0.0 9 1
HOU 9 7 .563 0.5 9 0
CIN 9 9 .500 1.5 8 1
CHN 7 10 .412 3.0 10 -3
STL 7 10 .412 3.0 7 0
PIT 6 10 .375 3.5 6 0
National League West LAN 13 5 .722 0.0 13 0
SD 11 7 .611 2.0 10 1
ARI 10 9 .526 3.5 9 1
SF 8 8 .500 4.0 8 0
COL 7 11 .389 6.0 7 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 POS AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes ARI A Manuel Ferrer 2B 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 BAL AAA Mike Cervenak DH 4 3 0 0 2 0 1 Hitting .522 over last 23 at bats COL AAA Sean Barker LF 4 3 0 1 1 0 0 FLA A John Raynor LF 3 2 0 0 2 2 0 4 runs scored FLA A Spike McDougall 1B 5 3 0 0 2 0 1 5 RBI OAK A Toddric Johnson RF 4 4 2 0 0 1 0 .56 OBP during past week PHI AA Jesus Merchan SS 4 4 0 0 2 0 0 6 RBI PIT A Jared Keel DH 3 3 1 1 0 1 0 SD A+ Nick Crosta DH 5 3 0 0 2 0 1 4 RBI SD A+ Chad Huffman LF 5 4 0 0 1 0 0 3 runs scored ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes CHW A+ Justin Cassel 8.0 2 1 1 7 2 0 0.93 ERA over past month CIN A+ Carlos Fisher 6.0 3 0 0 11 2 0 DET AAA Virgil Vasquez 6.0 4 0 0 10 1 0 20 K over last 17 IP HOU AA Ronnie Martinez 7.0 3 0 0 5 1 0 MIL AAA R.A. Dickey 8.0 4 1 1 4 1 0 NYY AA Brett Smith 7.0 0 0 0 7 4 0 SF AA Chris Begg 7.0 2 0 0 5 0 0 TOR A+ Kurt Isenberg 7.0 3 0 0 10 2 0 TOR A Nathan Starner 7.0 3 0 0 7 0 0
Stats
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.