THT Daily: He’s back?

by Dave Studeman
May 04, 2009

Major League News for May 4

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
Carl Crawford tied a modern Major League record by stealing six bases against the Red Sox on Sunday.
Crawford was 4-for-4 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored. Four of his steals came off the Brad Penny-Jason Varitek battery, with the other two coming off relief pitchers. Only Otis Nixon, Eric Young, and Eddie Collins had stolen six bases in a game in the modern ern. Crawford now leads the majors with a whopping 17 steals.

Carlos Zambrano came out of his start Sunday after straining his left hamstring.
He was trying to beat out an infield single. Zambrano gave up two runs in five innings before departing. The Cubs could call up Jose Ascanio to fill in if Zambrano has to miss a start.

Ryan Braun, who has been dealing with a stiff upper back, is out Sunday for the second straight game.
Brad Nelson gets the start in left while Rickie Weeks bats third for the second time in his career.

Matt LaPorta, called up to the big leagues Saturday, starts in right field today against the Detroit Tigers.
Luis Valbuena is also making his debut at second base with Asdrubal Cabrera giving the struggling Jhonny Peralta the day off. Assuming LaPorta does what he does best -- hit -- he could be a nice value in fantasy leagues once he gets eligibility at 1B, LF and RF, as Wedge plans to play him at those positions.

Oliver Perez indicated that he will not stand in the way of a demotion to the minor leagues.
Perez, who must approve any demotion, was pulled in the third inning Saturday. "If I need it, then I have to go [to the minors], because right now I don't help my team," he said. The Mets will consider 40-year old lefty Ken Takahashi, currently in the bullpen, to replace Perez in the rotation.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
TB      5  BOS     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     4  BAL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     3  CLE     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      7  MIN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     8  OAK     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     5  CHA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
HOU     7  ATL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     6  FLA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     4  ARI     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     5  PIT     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     7  SD      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      1  COL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)

Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Houston Astros at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (R) Brian Moehler (0-2) vs. (L) Scott Olsen (1-3)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (R) Yovani Gallardo (3-1) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (3-0)
 Cincinnati Reds at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Aaron Harang (2-3) vs. (R) Josh Johnson (2-0)
 New York Mets at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM
  (R) John Maine (1-2) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (2-2)
 San Francisco Giants at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM
  (L) Jonathan Sanchez (1-1) vs. (R) Ryan Dempster (1-1)
 Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM
  (R) Joe Blanton (0-2) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (3-0)
 Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (L) Jorge De La Rosa (0-2) vs. (R) Kevin Correia (0-2)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM
  (L) Doug Davis (2-3) vs. (L) Eric Stults (2-1)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jon Lester (1-2) vs. (R) Phil Hughes (1-0)
 Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (L) Francisco Liriano (0-4) vs. (R) Edwin Jackson (1-1)
 Cleveland Indians at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) Fausto Carmona (1-3) vs. (L) Brian Tallet (1-1)
 Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:08 PM
  (R) Adam Eaton (1-3) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (3-2)
 Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (R) Bartolo Colon (2-1) vs. (R) Zack Greinke (5-0)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM
  (R) Shane Loux (1-2) vs. (L) Brett Anderson (0-2)
 Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM
  (R) Kevin Millwood (2-2) vs. (R) Felix Hernandez (4-0)

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     18   9 .667    0.0   17     1    
BOS     15  10 .600    2.0   14     1    
NYA     13  11 .542    3.5   11     2    
TB      11  15 .423    6.5   14    -3    
BAL      9  16 .360    8.0   10    -1    
American League Central     
KC      14  11 .560    0.0   14     0    
DET     13  11 .542    0.5   13     0    
CHA     12  12 .500    1.5   11     1    
MIN     12  13 .480    2.0   10     2    
CLE      9  16 .360    5.0   11    -2    
American League West        
SEA     15  10 .600    0.0   14     1    
TEX     12  12 .500    2.5   12     0    
LAA     10  13 .435    4.0   11    -1    
OAK      9  13 .409    4.5   11    -2    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
FLA     14  11 .560    0.0   12     2    
PHI     12  10 .545    0.5   11     1    
ATL     11  13 .458    2.5   11     0    
NYN     10  13 .435    3.0   12    -2    
WAS      6  17 .261    7.0    9    -3    
National League Central     
STL     17   8 .680    0.0   16     1    
CHN     13  11 .542    3.5   12     1    
CIN     13  11 .542    3.5   11     2    
MIL     13  12 .520    4.0   12     1    
PIT     12  12 .500    4.5   14    -2    
HOU     11  14 .440    6.0   11     0    
National League West        
LAN     18   8 .692    0.0   17     1    
SF      12  11 .522    4.5   11     1    
ARI     11  14 .440    6.5   11     0    
SD      11  14 .440    6.5   10     1    
COL      9  14 .391    7.5   12    -3

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
SEA AAA Michael Saunders.. 3  3  1  0  1  2  0  
FLA AAA C. Coghlan........ 5  4  0  0  1  1  0  2 SB
NYM AAA F. Martinez....... 4  3  1  0  1  0  0  
SF  AAA Jesus Guzman...... 5  3  1  0  1  0  0  
CIN AAA Drew Stubbs....... 4  3  1  0  0  0  1  2 SB
SF  AAA Kevin Frandsen.... 5  2  1  0  1  0  2  
FLA AAA Gaby Sanchez...... 4  2  0  0  1  2  1  3 R
COL AAA Carlos Gonzalez... 3  1  1  0  0  2  0  
MIL A   Brett Lawrie...... 5  4  1  0  0  0  1  
CHC A+  Starlin Castro.... 3  2  0  0  1  0  0  
NYM A+  David Havens...... 5  3  0  0  1  0  0  
LA  AA  Joshua Bell....... 2  1  1  0  0  3  1  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
ATL AAA Charlie Morton.... 7  2  1  1 10  3  0  
CHC A   C. Carpenter...... 6  1  0  0  8  3  0  
SF  A+  Tim Alderson...... 7  5  2  2  6  0  0  
PIT AA  Brad Lincoln...... 5  3  0  0  8  1  0  
NYY A+  W. De La Rosa..... 5  5  2  2  7  1  0  9 GB
BOS AAA Clay Buchholz..... 5  2  0  0  6  2  0  
BOS A   Casey Kelly....... 6  2  0  0  4  1  0  
TEX A   Martin Perez...... 5  2  1  1  3  0  0  
TEX AAA Neftali Feliz..... 5  6  4  4  7  2  0  
LA  AA  Scott Elbert...... 5  4  1  0  6  2  0  
MIL A+  Evan Anundsen..... 5  3  1  1  4  1  0  
ARI A   Trevor Harden..... 7  4  3  3  5  2  1

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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