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THT Daily: Interleague Play Returnsby Matthew CarruthJune 09, 2007 Major League News for June 9Player NewsYesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Top Minor League Performances You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldAlfonso Soriano blasted three solo homers, singled, and walked against the Braves on Friday. Soriano homered in the first, second, and fourth innings, giving him three chances to become the 16th major leaguer, and first Cub, to hit four homers in a game. Soriano drew an intentional walk after the count went to 3-0 in the fifth before grounding out in the seventh and singling in the ninth. The three-homer game was the second of his career and raised his season total to 10 long balls. J.D. Drew had a pair of three-run homers and an RBI double for a career-high seven RBI as the Red Sox crushed the Diamondbacks 10-3 on Friday. Finally. Drew doubled his homer total for the season with blasts off Doug Davis and Edgar Gonzalez. The seven RBI were one more than he had in the last month. He now has 24 RBI, which is still an awful total for a guy hitting right behind David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. The Cardinals signed free agent Troy Percival to a minor league contract. He makes more sense for St. Louis than he does for most of the other contenders. Odds are that he's more of a sixth- and seventh-inning guy than a true setup man or closer these days Athletics placed outfielder Milton Bradley on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 3, with a strained right calf. We wonder what the record is for most DL stints in a season. If the A's keep trying to rush him back from injuries, Bradley might get there. This is the third time he's been on the DL this year. He'll be eligible to return in 10 days, but the A's might want to hold him out through the All-Star break in order to get him back at 100 percent. Shannon Stewart, Travis Buck and Jack Cust are all in line for more at-bats with Bradley unavailable. Orioles placed catcher Ramon Hernandez on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 7, with a groin contusion. Matt Wieters right to the majors? Maybe if this kind of thing happens next year. As is, the Orioles will go with Paul Bako and Alberto Castillo for a couple of weeks. Hernandez should be ready to go within 15 days, but the Orioles weren't going to go short-handed for 7-10 days. Freddy Garcia will have his shoulder examined after admitting to pain following his lousy outing Friday. "I don't have much to say. Monday I'm going to check it out. I don't want to pitch the way I've been pitching, not 100 percent," he said. "I'm going to go check it out and see what's going on with my shoulder." With Garcia likely DL bound, the Phillies should give serious thought to bringing Brett Myers back as a starter. That's a long-term solution, though. Unfortunately, the prospect the Phillies would have preferred to turn to in place of Garcia, J.A. Happ, is sidelined with an elbow problem. They might try J.D. Durbin or trade for Tomo Ohka. B.J. Upton said he was feeling better by the end of Friday's game and that he doesn't believe he'll need to go on the DL with a strained left quad. Upton figures to miss at least the rest of the weekend series. If he can avoid the DL, then the Rays will simply have Josh Wilson and Ty Wigginton split time at second base for a few days. Dioner Navarro will be in the hospital overnight, but according to manager Joe Maddon, his injury was not as severe as originally believed. Good to hear. Navarro left Friday's game after taking a pitch to the throat. The Rays are very short on catching at the moment, so they may try to bring in a veteran before Saturday's game. John Jaso in Double-A might also be a possibility. Yesterday’s ResultsInter-League BAL 4 COL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 5 PIT 4 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 5 CHA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 3 DET 0 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 8 PHI 4 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 8 MIN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 9 MIL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 14 TB 8 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 4 CLE 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Bailey wins ML debut: 5 IP, 2 R LAA 10 STL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 10 ARI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 4 TOR 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 6 SD 5 (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings OAK 5 SF 3 (Recap and Boxscore) 10 innings National League CHN 8 ATL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports: Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves, 7:05 PM (R) Jason Marquis (5-2) vs. (R) Tim Hudson (6-4) Inter-League ------------ Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM (L) Paul Maholm (2-8) vs. (R) Roger Clemens (0-0) Oakland Athletics at San Francisco Giants, 3:55 PM (R) Danny Haren (6-2) vs. (L) Barry Zito (6-5) Houston Astros at Chicago White Sox, 3:55 PM (R) Jason Jennings (0-1) vs. (R) Jon Garland (4-3) New York Mets at Detroit Tigers, 3:55 PM (L) Oliver Perez (6-4) vs. (R) Jeremy Bonderman (5-0) Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM (R) James Shields (5-0) vs. (L) Dontrelle Willis (7-4) Colorado Rockies at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Rodrigo Lopez (2-0) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (3-1) Cleveland Indians at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (L) Jeremy Sowers (1-6) vs. (R) Matt Belisle (5-4) Philadelphia Phillies at Kansas City Royals, 7:10 PM (R) Jon Lieber (2-4) vs. (R) Gil Meche (3-5) Washington Nationals at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 PM (R) Levale Speigner (1-2) vs. (L) Johan Santana (6-5) LA Angels of Anaheim at St. Louis Cardinals, 7:15 PM (R) Ervin Santana (4-6) vs. (R) Braden Looper (6-4) Milwaukee Brewers at Texas Rangers, 8:35 PM (R) Ben Sheets (6-3) vs. (R) Brandon McCarthy (4-4) Boston Red Sox at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Julian Tavarez (3-4) vs. (R) Micah Owings (4-1) Seattle Mariners at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Jeff Weaver (0-6) vs. (L) David Wells (3-3) Toronto Blue Jays at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Shaun Marcum (2-2) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (6-5) 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 BOS 39 21 .650 0.0 38 1 Game of the DayIt was a real see-saw game in Los Angeles as the Dodgers and Blue Jays swapped leads all the way through to the tenth inning, when pinch hitter Olmedo Saenz hit a two-run home run to win it for LD, 4-3.The Blue Jays had a 1-0 lead through seven, thanks to a strong start from Dustin McGowan, but Luis Gonzalez his a two-run homer off McGowan to put the Dodgers ahead. Toronto tied the game in the ninth on a Matt Stairs home run off Takashi Saito and took the lead in the top of the tenth. But Saenz blasted his game-winner off Jeremy Accardo with none out and Tony Abreu on first. TORONTO (3) VS LA DODGERS (4) - FINAL IN 10 INNINGS
TORONTO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Rios rf 5 1 1 0 0 2 3 .292
M Stairs 1b 4 1 1 1 0 1 2 .287
V Wells cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .254
T Glaus 3b 3 0 1 1 1 1 0 .278
A Hill 2b 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .279
A Lind lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 .236
J Phillips c 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 .232
R Clayton ss 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .244
a-H Clark ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .273
J McDonald ss 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .280
D McGowan p 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 .250
b-F Thomas ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .230
C Thigpen pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250
J Frasor p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
c-G Zaun ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .200
J Accardo p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 36 3 8 3 1 8 9
a-grounded to first for R Clayton in the 8th; b-singled to center for D
Mcgowan in the 8th; c-singled to left for J Frasor in the 10th.
BATTING: 2B - A Rios (14, B Penny); J McDonald (8, J Beimel). HR - M Stairs (8,
9th inning off T Saito 0 on, 0 Out). RBI - T Glaus (26), M Stairs (19), G Zaun
(9). 2-out RBI - T Glaus, G Zaun. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A
Hill 1. GIDP - D McGowan, A Hill. Team LOB - 4.
LA DODGERS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Pierre cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .269
R Furcal ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .289
N Garciaparra 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .279
J Kent 2b 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 .264
L Gonzalez lf 3 1 2 2 0 0 0 .294
B Clark lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .224
R Martin c 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .302
A Ethier rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .267
T Abreu 3b 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 .308
B Penny p 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .231
J Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-W Betemit ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .187
M Kemp pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .429
T Saito p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Beimel p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Seanez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-O Saenz ph 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 .224
Totals 34 4 7 4 2 4 9
a-walked for J Broxton in the 8th; b-homered to left for R Seanez in the
10th.
BATTING: 2B - L Gonzalez (10, D McGowan); J Kent (16, D McGowan). HR - L
Gonzalez (8, 7th inning off D McGowan 1 on, 1 Out), O Saenz (3, 10th inning off
J Accardo 1 on, 0 Out). RBI - L Gonzalez 2 (23), O Saenz 2 (9). Runners left in
scoring position, 2 out - J Kent 1, R Furcal 1, A Ethier 2, T Abreu 1. Team LOB
- 5.
BASERUNNING: SB - J Pierre (19, 2nd base off D McGowan/J Phillips).
FIELDING: DP: 2 (J Kent-R Furcal-N Garciaparra, T Abreu-J Kent-N
Garciaparra).
----------------------------------------------------
TORONTO - 000 100 001 1 -- 3
LA DODGERS - 000 000 200 2 -- 4
No outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
TORONTO ip h r er bb so hr era
D McGowan 7 4 2 2 0 4 1 5.02
J Frasor 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 3.76
J Accardo (L, 1-2; B, 2) 0 1 2 2 1 0 1 2.36
LA DODGERS ip h r er bb so hr era
B Penny 7 2/3 5 1 1 0 7 0 2.26
J Broxton (H, 14) 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.11
T Saito (B, 1) 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1.80
J Beimel 2/3 2 1 1 0 0 0 3.71
R Seanez (W, 3-1) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.00
J Accardo pitched to 2 batters in the 10th.
WP - B Penny. Pitches-strikes: D McGowan 81-56; J Frasor 27-16; J Accardo
10-6; B Penny 87-62; J Broxton 4-3; T Saito 17-11; J Beimel 15-9; R Seanez 6-4.
Ground balls-fly balls: D McGowan 10-7; J Frasor 6-0; J Accardo 0-0; B Penny
11-5; J Broxton 0-0; T Saito 2-1; J Beimel 0-2; R Seanez 0-1. Batters faced: D
McGowan 25; J Frasor 9; J Accardo 2; B Penny 27; J Broxton 1; T Saito 4; J
Beimel 4; R Seanez 1.
UMPIRES: HP--Ted Barrett. 1B--Mark Carlson. 2B--Larry Young. 3B--Todd
Tichenor.
T--2:42. Att--52,173.
Weather: 66 degrees, clear. Wind: 7 mph, out to 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.  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 ARI AA Carlos Gonzalez... 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 SEA AAA Adam Jones........ 4 3 1 0 0 1 0 ARI AA Justin Upton...... 3 2 0 0 1 1 0 CLE A+ M. Ramirez........ 3 3 2 0 1 2 0 3 R CIN AAA Joey Votto........ 4 2 2 0 0 1 0 CLE AAA Andy Marte........ 5 1 0 0 1 0 2 BOS AAA Brandon Moss...... 4 3 2 0 1 1 0 COL AAA Ian Stewart....... 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 OAK A J. Mitchell....... 5 2 2 0 0 0 0 OAK AAA Daric Barton...... 4 3 0 1 0 1 0 3 R BAL A Billy Rowell...... 4 2 2 0 0 0 1 ATL AA Van Pope.......... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes LAA AA Nick Adenhart..... 8 10 3 3 4 0 1 MIL AA Manny Parra....... 7 1 0 0 8 3 0 OAK A Andrew Bailey..... 6 2 2 1 12 2 1 CIN A+ Johnny Cueto...... 7 6 3 3 7 1 0 12 GB ARI A+ Matthew Torra..... 7 6 3 3 6 0 0 TEX AA Edinson Volquez... 6 5 2 2 5 1 1 5 infield flies ATL A Jamie Richmond.... 7 3 0 0 6 2 0 SEA AA Andrew Baldwin.... 6 6 5 5 9 1 1 LA AA Jonathan Meloan... 2 0 0 0 5 0 0 SF AA Nick Pereira...... 7 4 1 1 5 2 0 BOS AA Clay Buchholz..... 5 2 0 0 2 1 0 10 GB MIN A Dan Leatherman.... 3 2 0 0 4 0 0 Access THT’s stats here…
Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email. 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: THT Daily: Clemens Takes the Mound>> <<Previous Article: Gary Sheffield's mouth, I'd like to introduce you to Deep Throat | |||
BAL 29 32 .475 10.5 32 -3 
NYA 28 31 .475 10.5 33 -5 
TOR 28 32 .467 11.0 29 -1 
TB 26 33 .441 12.5 23 3 
American League Central
CLE 36 23 .610 0.0 34 2 
DET 34 26 .567 2.5 35 -1 
MIN 29 30 .492 7.0 30 -1 
CHA 26 31 .456 9.0 23 3 
KC 23 39 .371 14.5 23 0 
American League West
LAA 39 23 .629 0.0 36 3 
SEA 31 26 .544 5.5 30 1 
OAK 32 28 .533 6.0 34 -2 
TEX 22 39 .361 16.5 25 -3 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 36 23 .610 0.0 36 0 
ATL 33 29 .532 4.5 31 2 
PHI 31 30 .508 6.0 30 1 
FLA 31 31 .500 6.5 32 -1 
WAS 25 36 .410 12.0 23 2 
National League Central
MIL 33 28 .541 0.0 31 2 
CHN 27 32 .458 5.0 33 -6 
STL 26 32 .448 5.5 23 3 
PIT 26 35 .426 7.0 26 0 
HOU 25 35 .417 7.5 26 -1 
CIN 24 38 .387 9.5 28 -4 
National League West
SD 36 24 .600 0.0 38 -2 
ARI 36 26 .581 1.0 32 4 
LAN 35 26 .574 1.5 33 2 
COL 29 32 .475 7.5 26 3 
SF 28 32 .467 8.0 33 -5 