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THT Daily: Let’s play two

by Dave Studeman
May 13, 2008

Major League News for May 13
Player News
Yesterday’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 News
Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld

The Dodgers have reportedly placed Rafael Furcal on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 6, with a strained lower back. The Dodgers are trying to acquire a replacement for Furcal. If they can't pull it off, they'll call up Luis Maza from Triple-A on Tuesday. Even if the Dodgers do pick up a veteran, Chin-Lung Hu figures to get most of the starts at shortstop. Juan Pierre will probably continue to play a lot more than Andre Ethier, as manager Joe Torre simply can't bare the thought of playing without a "true" leadoff hitter.

Fausto Carmona hurled his second career shutout as the Indians beat the Blue Jays 3-0 in the first game of Monday's doubleheader. The Blue Jays have gone 22 innings without scoring and now get to face Cliff Lee tonight. Carmona walked four batters for the seventh time in eight starts this season, but he still managed to get through the game using just 108 pitches. Even with his bizarre 18/35 K/BB ratio, he's third in the American League with a 2.40 ERA. Of course, the WHIP crown is going to be out of reach.

The MRI taken on Alex Rodriguez's strained right quad didn't show enough healing to get him cleared to play in rehab games. A return this week has been ruled out. A-Rod was hoping to return from the DL when eligible on Thursday, but he won't play against the Mets this weekend. It's still possible that he'll return next week, but the Yankees will be extra careful since he's already aggravated the strain once. "We can’t afford to have him come back for two days then lose him for six weeks," manager Joe Girardi said. "We want to have him fully healed."

Mark Teixeira left Monday's game in the fourth inning due to back spasms. Greg Norton replaced him at first base in the first game of the doubleheader versus the Pirates.

Yesterday’s Results
American League
TB      7  NYA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     3  CLE     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     3  TOR     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     7  BOS     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA    10  CHA     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX    13  SEA    12    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
WAS    10  NYN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN    12  SD      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     8  FLA     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     8  STL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
ATL     8  PIT     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT     5  ATL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     7  SF      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.

First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Today’s Games
National League
 ---------------
 Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (1-0) vs. (R) Kyle Kendrick (2-2)
 Florida Marlins at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (L) Mark Hendrickson (5-1) vs. (R) Edinson Volquez (5-1)
 Washington Nationals at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (L) John Lannan (3-3) vs. (R) John Maine (4-2)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Brad Penny (5-3) vs. (R) Carlos Villanueva (1-4)
 San Diego Padres at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM
  (L) Shawn Estes (0-0) vs. (R) Jason Marquis (1-2)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM
  (L) Phil Dumatrait (1-1) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (3-2)
 Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (L) Jeff Francis (0-3) vs. (L) Randy Johnson (2-1)
 Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM
  (R) Brandon Backe (2-4) vs. (R) Matt Cain (1-3)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Oakland Athletics at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Justin Duchscherer (3-1) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (1-3)
 Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Josh Beckett (4-2) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (1-3)
 New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM
  (R) Chien-Ming Wang (6-1) vs. (R) Edwin Jackson (2-3)
 Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Felix Hernandez (2-3) vs. (L) Kason Gabbard (1-0)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM
  (R) Jesse Litsch (4-1) vs. (R) Kevin Slowey (0-2)
 Detroit Tigers at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (L) Nate Robertson (1-4) vs. (R) Zack Greinke (4-1)
 Chicago White Sox at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (L) John Danks (3-3) vs. (R) Jered Weaver (2-5)

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     24  17 .585    0.0   23     1    sparkline graph
TB      22  16 .579    0.5   21     1    sparkline graph
BAL     19  19 .500    3.5   18     1    sparkline graph
NYA     19  20 .487    4.0   19     0    sparkline graph
TOR     18  22 .450    5.5   19    -1    sparkline graph
American League Central     
MIN     20  17 .541    0.0   18     2    sparkline graph
CLE     19  19 .500    1.5   22    -3    sparkline graph
CHA     18  19 .486    2.0   21    -3    sparkline graph
KC      16  21 .432    4.0   15     1    sparkline graph
DET     16  22 .421    4.5   16     0    sparkline graph
American League West        
OAK     23  16 .590    0.0   24    -1    sparkline graph
LAA     23  17 .575    0.5   20     3    sparkline graph
TEX     19  21 .475    4.5   17     2    sparkline graph
SEA     15  25 .375    8.5   17    -2    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
FLA     23  15 .605    0.0   20     3    sparkline graph
PHI     21  18 .538    2.5   21     0    sparkline graph
NYN     19  17 .528    3.0   19     0    sparkline graph
ATL     19  18 .514    3.5   23    -4    sparkline graph
WAS     16  23 .410    7.5   16     0    sparkline graph
National League Central     
CHN     23  15 .605    0.0   25    -2    sparkline graph
STL     23  17 .575    1.0   22     1    sparkline graph
HOU     22  17 .564    1.5   22     0    sparkline graph
MIL     19  19 .500    4.0   17     2    sparkline graph
PIT     18  20 .474    5.0   17     1    sparkline graph
CIN     16  23 .410    7.5   17    -1    sparkline graph
National League West        
ARI     23  15 .605    0.0   23     0    sparkline graph
LAN     19  18 .514    3.5   20    -1    sparkline graph
SF      16  23 .410    7.5   14     2    sparkline graph
COL     15  23 .395    8.0   16    -1    sparkline graph
SD      14  25 .359    9.5   14     0    sparkline graph

Game of the Day
The second game of yesterday’s Toronto/Cleveland doubheader was a beaut. Shaun Marcum and Cliff Lee exchanged goose eggs for most of the game, with Marcum pitching eight shutout inning and Lee going nine (and lowering his ERA to 0.67!). The highlight was Asdrubal Cabrera’s unassisted triple play off Lyle Overbay’s line drive in the fifth. The Blue Jays finally won it in the tenth, 3-0, with three singles, an intentional walk, a sacrifice and a sacrifice fly off Rafael Betancourt.
Blue Jays 3, Indians 0 - FINAL

TORONTO                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
S Stewart lf            3  0  1  1   1  0   1  .220
 J Inglett ss           0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .278
A Hill 2b               3  0  2  2   1  1   1  .264
A Rios cf               5  0  0  0   0  0   4  .270
S Rolen 3b              4  0  2  0   0  1   0  .316
K Mench rf              4  0  1  0   0  1   3  .200
M Scutaro dh            3  0  1  0   0  1   1  .244
 va-M Stairs ph-dh      1  1  1  0   0  0   0  .299
L Overbay 1b            4  1  1  0   0  0   2  .270
G Zaun c                3  0  1  0   0  0   0  .281
J Velandia ss           3  0  0  0   0  1   1  .000
 vb-B Wilkerson ph-lf   0  1  0  0   1  0   0  .209

Totals                 33  3 10  3   3  5  13   ###

CLEVELAND              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
G Sizemore cf           4  0  0  0   0  1   0  .273
A Cabrera 2b            4  0  0  0   0  1   0  .190
J Peralta ss            4  0  0  0   0  0   0  .208
V Martinez 1b           4  0  1  0   0  1   0  .342
F Gutierrez rf          4  0  1  0   0  1   1  .252
T Hafner dh             3  0  1  0   0  0   0  .214
K Shoppach c            4  0  0  0   0  2   3  .235
J Tyner lf              2  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 hb-B Francisco ph      1  0  0  0   0  1   1  .280
A Marte 3b              2  0  0  0   0  0   3  .091
 ha-C Blake ph-3b       1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .227

Totals                 33  0  3  0   0  8   8   ###

----------------------------------------------------
    TORONTO         - 000 000 000 3  --   3 10 1
    CLEVELAND       - 000 000 000 0  --   0  3 0
----------------------------------------------------

ha-struck out swinging for A Marte in the 8th;  va-singled to right for M 
Scutaro in the 10th;  vb-intentionally walked for J Velandia in the 10th;  
hb-struck out swinging for J Tyner in the 10th.

BATTING: 2B - S Rolen (6, C Lee); F Gutierrez (7, S Marcum); V Martinez (7, S 
Marcum); T Hafner (8, S Downs). S - G Zaun , A Hill. SF - S Stewart. RBI - S 
Stewart (7), A Hill 2 (17). 2-out RBI - A Hill 2. Runners left in scoring 
position, 2 out - M Scutaro 1, K Mench 1, K Shoppach 1, A Marte 2, B Francisco 
1. GIDP - A Rios 2. Reached via catcher's interference - T Hafner 1. Team LOB - 
TORONTO 6, CLEVELAND 5. FIELDING: E - G Zaun (4, catchers interference). DP:  
(J Peralta-A Cabrera-V Martinez 2). TP:  (A Cabrera). 

TORONTO                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
S Marcum                      8       2   0   0   0   5   0   2.22
B Ryan (W, 1-0)               1       0   0   0   0   1   0   0.00
S Downs (S, 4)                1       1   0   0   0   2   0   2.87

CLEVELAND                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
C Lee                         9       7   0   0   2   5   0   0.67
R Betancourt (L, 1-2)         1       3   3   3   1   0   0   6.89

WP - S Marcum. IBB - B Wilkerson (by R Betancourt). HBP - J Tyner (by S 
Marcum). Pitches-strikes: S Marcum 114-75; B Ryan 7-5; S Downs 18-13; C Lee 
117-78; R Betancourt 19-11. Ground balls-fly balls: S Marcum 7-12; B Ryan 0-2; 
S Downs 1-0; C Lee 13-7; R Betancourt 1-2. Batters faced: S Marcum 28; B Ryan 
3; S Downs 4; C Lee 32; R Betancourt 7. UMPIRES: HP--Mike Reilly. 1B--Bob 
Davidson. 2B--Alfonso Marquez. 3B--James Hoye.   T--2:53. Att--16,045. Weather: 
55 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 12 mph, in from 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.

image

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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.
ORG LVL PLAYER            AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes
CHC AA  Tyler Colvin...... 4  4  2  0  2  0  0  5 RBI !
CIN AAA Jay Bruce......... 4  4  2  0  1  0  0  3 LD
FLA AA  C. Coghlan........ 3  3  0  1  0  2  0  
WAN A   Michael Burgess... 4  3  1  0  1  0  1  
CHC AAA Matt Murton....... 4  2  2  0  0  1  0  
BOS AAA Jed Lowrie........ 3  2  0  0  1  2  1  
OAK A+  J. Mitchell....... 4  2  1  0  0  2  0  
OAK A+  Sean Doolittle.... 3  1  0  0  1  3  2  4 RBI
HOU A+  Koby Clemens...... 4  2  1  0  1  0  1  
TB  AAA Reid Brignac...... 4  3  1  0  0  0  0  
PIT AAA Andrew McCutchen.. 3  2  1  0  0  1  0  
NYY AAA Brett Gardner..... 4  2  1  1  0  0  2  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
ATL AA  Todd Redmond...... 6  5  2  2  9  1  0  
CIN AAA Matthew Maloney... 7  2  0  0  7  2  0  
KC  A+  Blake Wood........ 7  3  3  3  7  1  1  
SF  A   M. Bumgarner...... 6  5  1  0  7  1  0  
SF  A+  Benjamin Snyder... 7  7  0  0  5  0  0  12 GB
TEX A   Kennil Gomez...... 5  3  2  1  7  3  0  
CHW A+  Aaron Poreda...... 6  3  0  0  5  2  0  
ARI AAA Yusmeiro Petit.... 5  5  4  4  7  0  1  
NYY A+  Michael Dunn...... 6  2  0  0  3  1  0  
CLE A   Ryan Miller....... 6  2  1  1  6  3  1  
LA  AAA Jonathan Meloan... 6  5  1  1  6  4  0  
OAK AAA Dallas Braden..... 3  2  0  0  4  1  0  

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