November 20, 2008
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THT Daily: homer streakby THT StaffAugust 15, 2008 Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Yesterday’s Home Runs Top Minor League Performances 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
Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez and Juan Uribe hit consecutive homers as the White Sox topped the Royals on Thursday afternoon. Thome started the streak with a three-run blast, and his teammates followed to tie the big league record and put the game out of reach for the Royals. Konerko's homer was his third this month, and he's 11-for-33 so far this month. For Uribe, it was his first homer in 107 at-bats. Dodgers placed RHP Brad Penny on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. After spending six weeks on the DL due to right shoulder tendinitis, Penny lasted two starts before being sent back. He went for an MRI on Thursday, but the results are unknown. The Dodgers haven't announced who will replace him on Tuesday, but say they won't skip the start. Padres placed RHP Chris Young on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Aug. 11, with a strained right forearm. Young made it just three starts between DL stints and indicated Wednesday that he may simply shut things down for the season. If so, he follows a career-best 3.12 ERA last year by going 4-4 with a 4.74 ERA in 13 starts this year. Troy Percival left Thursday's game with a right knee sprain. He suffered the injury after fielding a bunt and trying to tag out Mark Ellis. He was replaced by Grant Balfour, who allowed a game-tying single. Percival is currently day-to-day, and Balfour and Dan Wheeler should both be in the mix for save opportunities if he goes on the DL again. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Cubs 11, Braves 7: Mark Kotsay hit for the cycle and Jeff Francoeur -- who now admits what everyone has long known -- went 3-5 with 3 RBI. Nevertheless, the Braves still lost because Tom Glavine got his future Hall of Fame ass handed to him (4 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 4 BB) in his first start in over two months. Personally, I am disappointed to see the Kotsay cycle, because he now supplants Albert Hall as the answer to the trivia question about which Brave did it last. For the past twenty years, you could bet your children that if someone on the Braves got a triple, Skip Caray would mention Albert Hall's name. Now Skip is gone and Albert's mark is gone, and I'm probably going to have to go and have a good cry. There. Are you happy 2008 Braves season? You've made a grown man cry. Padres 3, Brewers 2: No matter how bad it gets for the Padres, at least they have one of the best pitchers in baseball on their team to break bad streaks and occasionally remind the rest of the guys what good baseball looks like. Jake Peavy gives up one unearned run on four hits over seven to snap the Brewers' winning streak and stop Ben Sheets. Cardinals 3, Marlins 0: I wish the Cardinals were still in the NL East. I'd much rather see them in the playoffs than New York, Philly, or Florida. Mets 9, Nationals 3: Before this game, Lastings Milledge's line against the Mets this year was .171/.275/.229. In this game: 0-3 with a walk. Also, Brian Schneider hit a two run home run. Upshot: Ryan Church's head notwithstanding, I don't think New York has lived to regret the trade yet. Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 2: Dan Haren did it all, pitching eight innings of two run ball and adding two hits and a run of his own on offense. Rays 7, A's 6: Brad Ziegler gives up a run on two hits and a walk, ending (a) his scoreless innings streak; and (b) the only thing worth watching about the A's season. Wait, that's not true. Jack Cust is seriously chasing Ryan Howard's single-season strikeout record of 199 -- Cust is on pace for 206 -- so there's still a reason for East Bay fans to tune in. Astros 7, Giants 4: I've mocked the Astros delusions of friskiness a lot lately, but credit where it is due: they have won eight in a row, are over .500, and have looked good doing it, and I don't think anyone could have predicted before the season began that they'd be playing as well as they are. White Sox 9, Royals 2: Thome, Konerko, Ramirez, and Uribe go back-to-back-to-back-to-back in the bottom of the sixth. Lance Broadway -- which, coincidentally, is my porn star name -- gets the win. Reds 3, Pirates 1: Chris Dickerson has spent eight seasons in the minors. There's some evidence that he has passable on base skills, but he has never had corner-outfielder power and, of course, due to the presence of Griffey and Dunn, he's never had a corner spot to play. He probably doesn't have any business being the starting left fielder for a major league team, but because of the Dunn trade, there he is. Last night he went 2-5 with two doubles and an RBI. Because of this, and because he's not Adam Dunn and this is Cincinnati, he's probably going to get more Major League plate appearances than he'll ever deserve over the next few years, so hey, let's hear it for right place-right time. Tigers 5, Blue Jays 1: I was chatting with The Daily Fungo's Mike McClary as this game was happening. I asked him what he was up to. He said "just watching the Tigers lose again." Our chat ended before the 8th inning rally, but I was happy to see Detroit win this one, because Mike is a nice guy and I have this feeling that he had planned on blogging a championship run this year as opposed to Gary Sheffield turmoil stories. Orioles 11, Indians 6: While Neyer outlined a handy-dandy game rating system yesterday (subscription only) that may help you figure out what to ignore, I feel obligated to write about every game, no matter how inconsequential. This is difficult, because as the season progresses and the playoffs get closer and closer, the meaningfulness quotient of this sort of matchup approaches zero. Still, I've so far resisted the urge to give games like these a pass, as it were, and I spend a little extra time to try and find something worth saying. This one took a while, but here you go: Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera leads the AL in walks, wild pitches, and hit batsmen. There should be some kind of Three True Outcomes honor to give him for winning such a dubious triple crown, shouldn't there? Red Sox 10, Rangers 0: The Rangers gave up 37 runs in this three game series. Dodgers 3, Phillies 1: The last time L.A. swept the Phillies in four games the starters were Johnny Podres, Stan Williams, Sandy Koufax, and Joe Moeller. Joe Torre was twenty-one years old and catching for the Milwaukee Braves. Charlie Manuel? Amazingly enough, he was still sixty-four years-old, heavy, and had a head of white hair. It was the damnedest thing. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- New York Mets at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Mike Pelfrey (10-8) vs. (R) Jason Davis (1-1) St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Brad Thompson (4-2) vs. (R) Bronson Arroyo (10-9) Chicago Cubs at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Carlos Zambrano (12-5) vs. (R) Josh Johnson (3-0) Colorado Rockies at Washington Nationals, 7:35 PM (L) Jorge De La Rosa (5-6) vs. (R) Tim Redding (8-7) San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (R) Matt Cain (7-9) vs. (R) Jair Jurrjens (11-7) Arizona Diamondbacks at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Brandon Webb (17-4) vs. (L) Wandy Rodriguez (7-4) Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (L) Jamie Moyer (10-7) vs. (R) Greg Maddux (6-8) Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:40 PM (L) Manny Parra (9-5) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (11-9) American League --------------- Baltimore Orioles at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (L) Chris Waters (1-0) vs. (L) Nate Robertson (7-8) Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Roy Halladay (13-9) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (7-10) Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Gil Meche (10-9) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (12-9) LA Angels of Anaheim at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Jered Weaver (10-9) vs. (L) Cliff Lee (16-2) Tampa Bay Rays at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Matt Garza (9-7) vs. (R) Kevin Millwood (6-6) Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (R) Carlos Silva (4-13) vs. (L) Francisco Liriano (2-3) Chicago White Sox at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Gavin Floyd (12-6) vs. (L) Dallas Braden (3-2) 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 73 47 .608 0.0 67 6 Game of the DayRays 7, Athletics 6 - FINAL
TAMPA BAY ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Iwamura 2b 6 1 1 0 0 2 4 .278
B Upton cf 6 0 2 1 0 2 2 .264
C Pena 1b 5 1 1 1 1 3 1 .242
C Floyd dh 2 4 1 0 4 0 2 .261
W Aybar 3b 5 1 2 2 1 0 1 .229
E Hinske lf 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .253
va-J Ruggiano ph-lf-rf 4 0 1 1 0 2 1 .256
D Navarro c 4 0 2 2 1 0 0 .299
G Gross rf 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 .231
vb-R Baldelli ph-rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 4 .231
J Bartlett ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .263
B Zobrist ss-lf 4 0 2 0 1 0 1 .243
Totals 43 7 13 7 9 11 18 ###
OAKLAND ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
M Ellis 2b 3 1 1 0 2 0 1 .234
C Gonzalez cf 6 1 2 2 0 2 3 .270
F Thomas dh 5 0 1 1 0 1 3 .246
R Davis pr-dh 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .240
J Cust lf 5 0 0 0 1 3 3 .225
E Brown rf 5 1 0 0 1 1 3 .245
B Crosby ss 5 1 3 0 1 0 1 .256
K Suzuki c 5 1 2 0 1 0 4 .289
D Barton 1b 5 0 1 2 0 1 3 .209
J Hannahan 3b 2 0 0 0 2 1 1 .223
C Pennington pr-3b 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 .000
ha-R Bowen ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .190
Totals 44 6 11 5 8 10 25 ###
----------------------------------------------------
TAMPA BAY - 021 010 001 002 -- 7 13 1
OAKLAND - 220 000 001 001 -- 6 11 0
----------------------------------------------------
va-singled to left center for E Hinske in the 5th; vb-struck out looking for G
Gross in the 5th; ha-grounded into fielder's choice to third for C Pennington
in the 12th.
BATTING: 2B - W Aybar (11, S Gallagher); B Upton (27, B Ziegler); C Floyd (6, S
Casilla); D Barton (10, J Shields); C Gonzalez (21, J Shields). 3B - W Aybar
(1, S Gallagher); M Ellis (3, J Shields). HR - C Gonzalez (4, 1st inning off J
Shields 1 on, 0 Out), C Pena (23, 12th inning off S Casilla 0 on, 0 Out). S - M
Ellis. SF - D Navarro. RBI - W Aybar 2 (16), D Navarro 2 (43), J Ruggiano (3),
B Upton (54), C Pena (67), C Gonzalez 2 (21), D Barton 2 (31), F Thomas (29).
2-out RBI - W Aybar, J Ruggiano, D Navarro, F Thomas. Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - E Hinske 1, R Baldelli 2, B Upton 1, A Iwamura 1, J Cust 2, E
Brown 2, C Pennington 2, C Gonzalez 1. GIDP - W Aybar, C Floyd, M Ellis, K
Suzuki 2. Team LOB - TAMPA BAY 10, OAKLAND 12. BASERUNNING: SB - M Ellis (14,
2nd base off J Howell/D Navarro). FIELDING: E - J Bartlett (12, ground ball).
Outfield assists - E Brown (B Upton at 1st base). PB - D Navarro. DP: (W
Aybar-A Iwamura-C Pena, B Zobrist-A Iwamura-C Pena, J Bartlett-A Iwamura-C
Pena, E Brown-S Gallagher-B Crosby, J Hannahan-D Barton, M Ellis-D Barton, B
Crosby-M Ellis-D Barton).
TAMPA BAY ip h r er bb so hr era
J Shields 5 5 4 4 5 3 1 3.75
C Bradford 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 2.28
J Howell 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 2.37
D Wheeler 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2.61
T Percival (H, 3) 1/3 0 1 1 1 0 0 3.69
G Balfour (B, 1) 2/3 1 0 0 0 2 0 1.21
J Hammel (W, 4-3) 2 2/3 4 1 0 0 1 0 4.15
T Miller (S, 1) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.70
OAKLAND ip h r er bb so hr era
S Gallagher 4 4 3 3 4 4 0 4.60
D Meyer 2/3 1 1 1 3 2 0 3.37
A Embree 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 2 0 5.12
J Devine 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.98
B Ziegler 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 0.22
H Street 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.47
S Casilla (L, 2-1) 2 5 2 2 0 0 1 3.19
C Bradford pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.
WP - J Hammel. IBB - C Pena (by B Ziegler). HBP - D Barton (by T Miller).
Pitches-strikes: J Shields 94-56; C Bradford 18-11; J Howell 16-9; D Wheeler
11-5; T Percival 9-4; G Balfour 13-8; J Hammel 52-31; T Miller 4-2; S Gallagher
91-48; D Meyer 31-15; A Embree 13-11; J Devine 14-9; B Ziegler 30-15; H Street
13-7; S Casilla 24-17. Ground balls-fly balls: J Shields 6-6; C Bradford 1-1; J
Howell 0-0; D Wheeler 2-1; T Percival 1-0; G Balfour 0-0; J Hammel 6-1; T
Miller 1-0; S Gallagher 1-6; D Meyer 0-0; A Embree 0-1; J Devine 2-0; B Ziegler
2-3; H Street 0-2; S Casilla 2-3. Batters faced: J Shields 23; C Bradford 5; J
Howell 3; D Wheeler 4; T Percival 2; G Balfour 3; J Hammel 12; T Miller 2; S
Gallagher 19; D Meyer 6; A Embree 4; J Devine 3; B Ziegler 8; H Street 3; S
Casilla 10. IRS - G Balfour. UMPIRES: HP--James Hoye. 1B--Tom Hallion.
2B--Brian O'Nora. 3B--Paul Nauert. T--4:24. Att--16,689. Weather: 68 degrees,
partly cloudy. Wind: 7 mph, out to right.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 Lance Berkman HOU Alex Hinshaw SF 373 372 25 JE Chris Burke ARI Glendon Rusch COL 433 400 1 ND Mike Cameron MIL Trevor Hoffman SD 390 391 20 PL Carlos Delgado NYM Collin Balester WAS 371 374 26 JE Jeff Francoeur ATL Bob Howry CHC 393 383 10 PL Carlos Gonzalez OAK James Shields TB 386 385 4 JE/L Matt Holliday COL Dan Haren ARI 436 404 22 JE Matt Kemp LAD Brett Myers PHI 406 406 14 PL Paul Konerko CWS Joel Peralta KC 350 355 12 PL Mark Kotsay ATL Ted Lilly CHC 414 392 6 PL Fred Lewis SF Brian Moehler HOU 451 449 9 ND Ryan Ludwick STL Scott Olsen FLA 394 390 30 JE David Ortiz BOS Tommy Hunter TEX 387 388 17 JE Lyle Overbay TOR Armando Galarraga DET 375 351 9 PL Carlos Pena TB Santiago Casilla OAK 391 390 23 PL Alexei Ramirez CWS Joel Peralta KC 382 384 11 PL Aramis Ramirez CHC Tom Glavine ATL 420 397 20 PL/L Brian Schneider NYM Collin Balester WAS 405 408 3 PL Chris Snyder ARI Glendon Rusch COL 378 351 11 PL Alfonso Soriano CHC Tom Glavine ATL 422 395 22 ND Jim Thome CWS Joel Peralta KC 420 412 25 PL Juan Uribe CWS Robinson Tejeda KC 351 353 4 JE Javier Valentin CIN Ian Snell PIT 394 390 3 ND Top Minor League GamesThe 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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes NYM AA Mike Carp......... 4 3 2 0 1 1 0 SD A+ Eric Sogard....... 4 3 3 0 0 1 0 MIN AA Daniel Valencia... 4 2 1 0 1 1 2 SF A+ Andrew D'alessio.. 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 WAN A+ Michael Burgess... 3 2 1 0 1 1 1 STL A+ Tyler Henley...... 7 4 2 0 0 0 0 MIL A+ Brent Brewer...... 5 3 1 0 1 0 1 SEA A Alex Liddi........ 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 COL A+ Michael McKenry... 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 COL AA C. Nelson......... 5 3 1 0 0 1 1 4 RBI SF A+ Darren Ford....... 3 2 1 0 0 1 0 MIL A+ Jonathan Lucroy... 5 2 0 0 1 1 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes TB AA J. Hellickson..... 7 6 3 3 10 0 0 NYM A+ Dylan Owen........ 6 4 1 1 10 0 1 BAL AA C. Tillman........ 6 3 0 0 7 0 0 SF A+ Daryl Maday....... 6 5 1 1 8 0 0 ARI A+ Wes Roemer........ 7 4 0 0 6 0 0 FLA AAA E. De La Cruz..... 8 9 2 2 9 0 1 16 GB NYM A- Bradley Holt...... 7 3 1 1 8 2 1 KC AA Daniel Cortes..... 6 3 1 1 9 3 1 STL AAA P.J. Walters...... 6 6 3 3 9 2 1 TB AAA Mitch Talbot...... 7 6 0 0 5 1 0 12 GB FLA A+ Andrew Miller..... 6 3 0 0 3 0 0 PHI AAA Carlos Carrasco... 6 5 2 1 8 4 0 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: This annotated week in baseball history: Aug. 10- Aug. 16, 2008>> <<Previous Article: How ethical was it? | |||||||
BOS 71 51 .582 3.0 74 -3 
NYA 64 57 .529 9.5 64 0 
TOR 62 60 .508 12.0 65 -3 
BAL 58 62 .483 15.0 60 -2 
American League Central
CHA 68 52 .567 0.0 69 -1 
MIN 67 53 .558 1.0 64 3 
DET 59 62 .488 9.5 63 -4 
CLE 54 66 .450 14.0 60 -6 
KC 54 67 .446 14.5 50 4 
American League West
LAA 75 44 .630 0.0 66 9 
TEX 61 61 .500 15.5 56 5 
OAK 55 65 .458 20.5 60 -5 
SEA 46 74 .383 29.5 51 -5 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 65 56 .537 0.0 66 -1 
PHI 64 57 .529 1.0 68 -4 
FLA 63 59 .516 2.5 59 4 
ATL 55 66 .455 10.0 61 -6 
WAS 44 78 .361 21.5 45 -1 
National League Central
CHN 74 47 .612 0.0 76 -2 
MIL 70 52 .574 4.5 66 4 
STL 68 56 .548 7.5 66 2 
HOU 62 59 .512 12.0 58 4 
PIT 55 66 .455 19.0 53 2 
CIN 54 68 .443 20.5 51 3 
National League West
ARI 62 59 .512 0.0 63 -1 
LAN 62 59 .512 0.0 64 -2 
COL 54 69 .439 9.0 54 0 
SF 50 70 .417 11.5 48 2 
SD 47 74 .388 15.0 49 -2 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 71 51 .582 0.0
MIN 67 53 .558 3.0
NYA 64 57 .529 6.5
TOR 62 60 .508 9.0
TEX 61 61 .500 10.0
National League
MIL 70 52 .574 0.0
STL 68 56 .548 3.0
PHI 64 57 .529 5.5
FLA 63 59 .516 7.0
HOU 62 59 .512 7.5