November 20, 2008
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THT Daily: happeningsby THT StaffSeptember 16, 2008 Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Yesterday’s Home Runs You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ and an archive at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/thtdaily_index/ Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld
Brewers fired manager Ned Yost. With two weeks left to go and the team tied for the lead in the wild-card race. This is an incredibly bold stroke, but it just might work out. Yost was a goner anyway if the Brewers failed to make it to the postseason, and it seems like everything he had tried of late has backfired. In his defense, it's not like he's had any easy choices with his bullpen. Replacing Yost will be the third-base coach, Dale Sveum. Bench coach Ted Simmons has been reassigned to an advisory role. A day after Carlos Zambrano's no-no, Ted Lilly held the Astros hitless into the seventh inning Monday en route to his 15th victory. Jim Edmonds made a great catch in center to preserve the no-hitter for the second out in the sixth. The seventh started with a hard grounder from Reggie Abercrombie that ricocheted off Aramis Ramirez's glove and right to Ronny Cedeno at short. An average runner might have been thrown out on the play, but Abercrombie beat it out easily. However, the ball was ruled an error, even though it would have been called a hit in any other circumstance. The next hitter, Mark Loretta, put an end to any potential controversy with a clean single to right. Lilly came out after seven with the shutout intact, and though Jeff Samardzjia allowed a run in the eighth, the Cubs were able to complete the one-hitter in a 6-1 victory. Had Lilly completed a no-hitter, it would have been the first time in major league history a team had thrown them in consecutive games. Lilly has now won 15 in three straight seasons. Kenny Rogers has been shut down for the season after another poor outing in Sunday's doubleheader. With Fredddy Garcia and Dontrelle Willis back, it seems like the right move. The Tigers didn't say whether there was an injury, but at the very least, Rogers is dealing with some sort of tired arm. He's had very little on his fastball while struggling mightily of late. He finishes his age-43 season 9-13 with a 5.70 ERA. A decision on his future will likely come after the year. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Red Sox 13, Rays 5: Scott Kazmir is throttled for nine runs in three innings, and just like that, we're tied. Virtually, anyway. Now we see if the Rays have the same kind of bounceback in Tropicana Field as they did in Fenway last week. Cubs 6, Astros 1: Houston can complain about the venue all they want, but at some point they have to hit the damn ball and play a close game before claiming that the knucklehead scheduling truly cost them anything. Nationals 7, Mets 2: It's not a collapse when you don't have as far to fall, but sitting only .5 up on the Phillies right now can't be too comfortable. Yankees 4, White Sox 2: Mariano Rivera passes Lee Smith and moves into second place on the all-time saves list. That and some emotion-filled full houses in this last week in Yankee Stadium history are about all the Bombers have to play for. Indians 3, Twins 1: Minnesota can't make up any ground on Chicago, as Cleveland rookie Scott Lewis extends his career-commencing scoreless innings streak to 14. Dodgers 8, Pirates 2: L.A. is taking all of the drama out of this race. At least Brad Penny is still around getting beat up in garbage time to give us something to talk about (1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER). Oh, and Juan Pierre hit a home run for the first time since September 18, 2006. That was within a couple of days of the time my son took his first steps. He's in preschool now, and I have a hard time catching up with him. Padres 11, Rockies 5: There ain't much to cheer about in San Diego, but at least there's Adrian Gonzalez (3-4, HR, 4 RBI; .279/.362/.506). Rangers 11, Tigers 8: I was chatting with the Daily Fungo's Mike McClary yesterday, who told me that Dontrelle Willis was going to start. He openly wondered whether it was because Dan Petry wasn't available. Open question as to whether Peaches wouldn't have done better than D-Train (5 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 4K). Of course, when these two teams get together, there's about a 72% chance that the score is going to be 11-8 in one direction or the other anyway. Royals 3, Mariners 0: When I first typed this I accidentally inverted this score to show the Ms winning it. Quick show of hands: how many of you would have noticed if I had kept it that way? But let's not be totally dismissive here. Kyle Davies was impressive (8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 8K) and Soria got his 38th save for a team with only 66 wins. It would be even more impressive if Seattle had put together even a AAA-quality lineup for this game. Diamondbacks 3, Giants 1: If Bochy really wants to get Lincecum the Cy Young this year he would have sent him out last night on one day's rest. No way Brandon Webb can do that. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Los Angeles Dodgers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Derek Lowe (13-11) vs. (R) Jeff Karstens (2-5) St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Braden Looper (12-12) vs. (R) Bronson Arroyo (14-10) New York Mets at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM (R) Mike Pelfrey (13-9) vs. (L) Odalis Perez (6-10) Houston Astros at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Roy Oswalt (15-9) vs. (R) Chris Volstad (4-3) Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (L) Jamie Moyer (14-7) vs. (R) James Parr (1-0) Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM (L) CC Sabathia (9-0) vs. (R) Ryan Dempster (15-6) San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies, 8:35 PM (L) Shawn Estes (2-2) vs. (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (10-12) San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Matt Cain (8-12) vs. (R) Dan Haren (14-8) American League --------------- Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (L) Francisco Liriano (5-3) vs. (L) Zach Jackson (0-3) Chicago White Sox at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Gavin Floyd (15-7) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (13-13) Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (L) Chris Waters (2-3) vs. (R) Shaun Marcum (9-6) Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Josh Beckett (12-9) vs. (R) Andy Sonnanstine (13-7) Detroit Tigers at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Zach Miner (8-4) vs. (R) Kevin Millwood (9-9) Seattle Mariners at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Brandon Morrow (2-3) vs. (R) Brandon Duckworth (2-1) LA Angels of Anaheim at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) John Lackey (11-3) vs. (R) Sean Gallagher (1-2) StandingsThe 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 88 60 .595 0.0 82 6 Game of the DayDiamondbacks 3, Giants 1 - FINAL
SAN FRANCISCO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Winn lf 5 0 1 0 0 0 2 .314
N Schierholtz rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .341
R Aurilia 3b 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 .287
B Molina c 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .287
A Rowand cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .276
P Sandoval 1b 4 0 2 0 0 1 0 .336
E Velez 2b 4 0 2 0 0 1 1 .258
O Vizquel ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 .199
va-D Roberts ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .213
B Hennessey p 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 .333
vb-J Bowker ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .243
Totals 36 1 8 0 0 4 18 ###
ARIZONA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Young cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 .245
D Eckstein 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .158
J Upton rf 4 1 2 1 0 0 1 .259
A Dunn lf 4 1 1 2 0 0 1 .237
M Reynolds 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .243
J Whitesell 1b 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .200
C Burke pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .195
T Clark 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .230
C Snyder c 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 .242
A Ojeda ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 .248
D Davis p 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .105
ha-J Salazar ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .220
T Pena p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Qualls p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 30 3 8 3 0 2 10 ###
----------------------------------------------------
SAN FRANCISCO - 001 000 000 -- 1 8 0
ARIZONA - 000 100 02x -- 3 8 2
----------------------------------------------------
ha-fouled out to catcher for D Davis in the 7th; va-grounded to second for O
Vizquel in the 9th; vb-grounded to first for B Hennessey in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - R Winn (37, D Davis); J Upton (17, B Hennessey). HR - J Upton
(13, 4th inning off B Hennessey 0 on, 0 Out), A Dunn (37, 8th inning off B
Hennessey 1 on, 2 Out). S - B Hennessey , D Davis. RBI - J Upton (35), A Dunn 2
(93). 2-out RBI - A Dunn 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A Rowand
2, B Molina 1, R Winn 2, B Hennessey 1, A Dunn 1, J Salazar 1, C Young 1. Team
LOB - SAN FRANCISCO 9, ARIZONA 5. BASERUNNING: CS - M Reynolds (2, 2nd base by
B Hennessey/B Molina). FIELDING: E - C Young (3, fly ball); M Reynolds (31,
throw).
SAN FRANCISCO ip h r er bb so hr era
B Hennessey (L, 1-2) 8 8 3 3 0 2 2 8.04
ARIZONA ip h r er bb so hr era
D Davis 7 8 1 0 0 2 0 4.30
T Pena (W, 2-2) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.93
C Qualls (S, 4) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.01
HBP - C Snyder (by B Hennessey). Pitches-strikes: B Hennessey 99-65; D Davis
98-70; T Pena 9-8; C Qualls 13-9. Ground balls-fly balls: B Hennessey 8-13; D
Davis 10-9; T Pena 0-1; C Qualls 3-0. Batters faced: B Hennessey 32; D Davis
31; T Pena 3; C Qualls 3. UMPIRES: HP--Bill Miller. 1B--Mike Reilly. 2B--Bob
Davidson. 3B--Alfonso Marquez. T--2:19. Att--25,969. Weather: 95 degrees,
clear. Wind: 18 mph, in from left.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 RunsThe following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected “true” distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its "standard" distance, which is corrected for weather conditions. Each homer is also categorized into one of three types: Just Enough (JE) for homers that cleared the fence by ten feet or less, Plenty (PL) for those that were sure home runs but not “blasts,” and No Doubt (ND) for true “blasts”—homers that cleared the fence by at least 20 feet and landed at least 50 feet beyond the fence.Hitter Team Pitcher Team True Stnd. # Type Matt Antonelli SD Jason Hirsh COL 379 345 1 JE Jason Bay BOS Scott Kazmir TB 0 0 30 PL Shin-Soo Choo CLE Kevin Slowey MIN 380 387 11 PL Elijah Dukes WAS Duaner Sanchez NYM 422 428 12 ND Adam Dunn ARI Brad Hennessey SF 388 374 37 PL Jim Edmonds CHC Brian Moehler HOU 389 374 18 PL Jacoby Ellsbury BOS Mitch Talbot TB 407 406 8 ND Adrian Gonzalez SD Greg Reynolds COL 430 390 33 JE Chris Iannetta COL Steven Ekstrom SD 402 367 16 PL Akinori Iwamura TB Daisuke Matsuzaka BOS 372 371 6 JE Elliot Johnson TB Chris Smith BOS 352 352 1 PL Adam LaRoche PIT Brad Penny LAD 387 374 19 PL Derrek Lee CHC Brian Moehler HOU 386 380 19 JE/L Mike Lowell BOS Scott Kazmir TB 397 397 17 ND Drew Macias SD Mike Register COL 383 353 2 JE Joe Mauer MIN Jensen Lewis CLE 370 368 11 PL Travis Metcalf TEX Dontrelle Willis DET 0 0 5 ND Xavier Nady NYY Mark Buehrle CWS 418 415 24 JE David Ortiz BOS Scott Kazmir TB 390 389 19 PL Juan Pierre LAD Marino Salas PIT 366 354 1 PL Justin Ruggiano TB Chris Smith BOS 402 401 2 PL Gary Sheffield DET Josh Rupe TEX 382 379 19 PL Kelly Shoppach CLE Kevin Slowey MIN 361 368 21 PL Geovany Soto CHC Chris Sampson HOU 385 375 22 PL Troy Tulowitzki COL Wade LeBlanc SD 429 391 7 JE Justin Upton ARI Brad Hennessey SF 437 427 13 JE Jason Varitek BOS Scott Kazmir TB 408 407 13 ND Dewayne Wise CWS Alfredo Aceves NYY 355 353 4 PL Kevin Youkilis BOS Mitch Talbot TB 366 365 26 PL Access THT’s stats here…
Do you have a general question or comment for one of THT's writers? Send it in to our weekly mailbag We also welcome unsolicited op-ed pieces of approximately 500 words for consideration. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and consistency of style. Please include your whole name and location to be considered. If you have a comment about this specific article, please email the writer. Next Article: The 10 worst No. 9 hitters since 1957>> <<Previous Article: Factoring risk and uncertainty into player evaluation | |||||||
BOS 89 61 .593 0.0 91 -2 
NYA 80 70 .533 9.0 79 1 
TOR 80 70 .533 9.0 85 -5 
BAL 66 82 .446 22.0 69 -3 
American League Central
CHA 83 66 .557 0.0 84 -1 
MIN 82 68 .547 1.5 84 -2 
CLE 73 77 .487 10.5 78 -5 
DET 70 79 .470 13.0 72 -2 
KC 66 84 .440 17.5 63 3 
American League West
LAA 92 57 .617 0.0 82 10 
TEX 74 77 .490 19.0 70 4 
OAK 69 80 .463 23.0 70 -1 
SEA 57 92 .383 35.0 62 -5 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 83 66 .557 0.0 83 0 
PHI 83 67 .553 0.5 86 -3 
FLA 77 72 .517 6.0 72 5 
ATL 67 83 .447 16.5 73 -6 
WAS 57 93 .380 26.5 59 -2 
National League Central
CHN 90 58 .608 0.0 93 -3 
MIL 83 67 .553 8.0 80 3 
HOU 80 69 .537 10.5 73 7 
STL 78 71 .523 12.5 78 0 
CIN 68 81 .456 22.5 65 3 
PIT 63 87 .420 28.0 61 2 
National League West
LAN 78 72 .520 0.0 80 -2 
ARI 73 76 .490 4.5 75 -2 
SF 68 82 .453 10.0 64 4 
COL 68 83 .450 10.5 67 1 
SD 58 93 .384 20.5 64 -6 
Wildcard Standings
American League
MIN 82 68 .547 0.0
TOR 80 70 .533 2.0
NYA 80 70 .533 2.0
TEX 74 77 .490 8.5
CLE 73 77 .487 9.0
National League
PHI 83 67 .553 0.0
MIL 83 67 .553 0.0
HOU 80 69 .537 2.5
STL 78 71 .523 4.5
FLA 77 72 .517 5.5