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THT Daily: Look Out Belowby Matthew CarruthMay 17, 2007 Major League News for May 17Today’s LinksPlayer 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/ THT LinksGames of the Day - David Pinto picks out the games worth watching. Any Given Start - There's just something about having an ace. A dominator. Pedro. Roger. Curt. Greg. In recent years, as an A's fan, I've felt that way at various times about Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and Rich Harden. Those guys who are always a threat to throw a complete game two-hitter. At the risk of sounding like a hack, that's what distinguishes a No. 1 starter and an ace. So it definitely warmed my heart to read one Phillies fan's account of Cole Hamels. Good to Go - Taco Bell. Baseball. Advertising. Popping the question. This press release, courtesy of Dodger Thoughts, must be read to be believed. And I guess it's working. Injury Bug - A's setup man/temporary closer Justin Duchscherer is suffering from a right hip inflammation that kept him out of last night's game, which Kiko Calero blew in the top of the ninth. With Huston Street on the DL for an indeterminate amount of time with an "overactive nerve," the A's closer situation is in disarray, so fantasy vultures, start your engines. Calero will probably be given the first chance to close with a medium leash, but if he blows a couple more, we may see veteran lefty Alan Embree out there. On Track - Jon Lester's rehab is back on track, as he has been given the okay to start pitching in Triple-A again. The Red Sox could sure use the help. In the Doghouse - Lastings Milledge is in trouble with the Mets again, after his record label released a song with allegedly racist and derogatory terms. Looks like Milledge could be made available again. THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at THT Links. Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldCole Hamels retired the first 18 batters he faced Wednesday on his way to win No. 6 as Philly whipped the struggling Brewers 6-2. Hamels walked Rickie Weeks leading off the seventh inning to lose his perfect game bid. J.J. Hardy followed with a two-run jack to end the no-hitter. Still, in eight innings, Hamels gave up just two hits and two runs, striking out 11 batters and walking only one. After just 32 career starts, he is looking like an ace. Hamels trimmed his ERA to 3.30 after this superb 114-pitch (79 of which were strikes) effort. Tigers placed RHP Jeremy Bonderman on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 9, with a cut on the middle finger of his pitching hand. Bonderman wasn't replaced on the roster, so it looks like the Tigers will leave the spot open until Andrew Miller is called up on Friday. Bonderman could miss just the one additional start. A.J. Burnett was completely dominant Wednesday, limiting the Orioles to three hits in a complete game victory as Toronto again edged the O's 2-1. He struck out 10 and walked two, with his only mistake of the night getting deposited over the left field wall by Kevin Millar. Burnett's gem lowered his ERA to 3.99 and he's looked strong in the past three straight starts. Jose Reyes said he'll play Thursday after coming out of Wednesday's game in the eighth with left hamstring tightness. Reyes said he felt a cramp after his first swing in the at-bat, though he stayed in initially. The Mets just have to hope the problem is no more significant than Reyes believes it is. Moises Alou will be placed on the DL to make room for Jason Vargas, who will start Thursday's game against the Cubs. Alou has been sidelined since suffering a strained quad on Saturday. Endy Chavez and Carlos Gomez will continue to fill in for him. Rays manager Joe Maddon told the Tampa Tribute that it ""looks like a DL situation" for Rocco Baldelli, who strained his left hamstring in Tuesday's game. Greg Norton could come off the disabled list to replace him on the roster. The Rays have Elijah Dukes playing center field and leading off tonight. B.J. Upton has stepped into the second spot in the order, and Jonny Gomes is DHing against the Rangers. Josh Beckett will miss his scheduled start Friday after leaving Sunday's game with an avulsion on his right middle finger. Beckett will instead throw a side session Friday before the Red Sox decide whether to put him on the DL. Unless that plan changes, it means Devern Hansack won't be an option to replace him in the rotation, as he can only be recalled right now if someone goes on the DL. Kason Gabbard could be the choice to get the start. John Smoltz will start Saturday against the Red Sox after throwing a bullpen session without incident on Wednesday. Smoltz dislocated his right pinkie finger in his outing Monday against the Nationals. 37-year-old Troy Percival, who officially retired with the Angels last month, is thinking about a comeback. Percival signed a two-year, $12 million contract with the Tigers and then gave the team a 5.76 ERA in 25 innings because of elbow problems. He's back throwing again and is pain-free. "If you would have asked me in spring training or April the likelihood of him coming back, I would have said 10 percent," agent Paul Cohen told FOXSports.com. "I would say now it's 50-50." Cohan added that Percvial hit 97 mph on the gun at one point. On the off chance that Percival does make it back, it's unlikely he'd do so as a closer. Yesterday’s ResultsAmerican League TB 11 TEX 8 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 2 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 8 CHA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 5 NYA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 7 MIN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 4 OAK 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 5 SEA 0 (Recap and Boxscore) National League NYN 8 CHN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 6 MIL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 6 ATL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 2 SF 1 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 4 PIT 3 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 5 ARI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 5 STL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 3 CIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals, 1:05 PM (L) Chuck James (4-3) vs. (L) Matt Chico (2-4) Chicago Cubs at New York Mets, 1:10 PM (R) Angel Guzman (0-0) vs. (L) Jason Vargas (0-0) Milwaukee Brewers at Philadelphia Phillies, 3:05 PM (R) Ben Sheets (3-2) vs. (R) Freddy Garcia (1-2) Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies, 3:05 PM (R) Livan Hernandez (3-2) vs. (R) Josh Fogg (1-4) Florida Marlins at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Ricky Nolasco (1-1) vs. (R) Tony Armas (0-3) San Francisco Giants at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Tim Lincecum (1-0) vs. (R) Roy Oswalt (6-2) American League --------------- Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians, 12:05 PM (L) Johan Santana (4-3) vs. (R) Fausto Carmona (4-1) New York Yankees at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 PM (R) Matt DeSalvo (1-0) vs. (R) Jon Garland (2-2) Kansas City Royals at Oakland Athletics, 3:35 PM (R) Scott Elarton (0-0) vs. (L) Dallas Braden (1-2) Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Chad Durbin (3-1) vs. (R) Curt Schilling (4-1) Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Kameron Loe (1-3) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (2-2) LA Angels of Anaheim at Seattle Mariners, 10:05 PM (R) Bartolo Colon (4-0) vs. (L) Jarrod Washburn (3-3) 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 26 12 .684 0.0 26 0 Game of the DayThe Athletics played another close game but lost this one, 4-3 to the Royals. The Royals led, 2-0 after six, behind Odalis Perez’s six inning, one hit performance. But their bullpen gave up the lead and Oakland went into the ninth with a 3-2 advantage. Substitute closer Kiko Calero gave up the game, however, with a double to John Buck and a single by Ryan Shealy and David Riske closed out the ninth for the Royals.KANSAS CITY (4) VS OAKLAND (3) - FINAL
KANSAS CITY ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D DeJesus cf 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 .278
M Grudzielanek 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .244
M Teahen rf 3 0 0 1 1 1 0 .290
E Brown lf 3 1 0 0 1 2 2 .202
A Gordon 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .164
E German dh 3 1 1 1 1 2 0 .299
J Buck c 4 0 1 1 0 0 2 .295
P Phillips pr-c 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Shealy 1b 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 .140
T Pena Jr ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .250
Totals 34 4 7 4 3 8 8
BATTING: 2B - D DeJesus (8, J Blanton); J Buck (7, K Calero). RBI - M Teahen
(18), E German (11), J Buck (15), R Shealy (6). 2-out RBI - E German. Runners
left in scoring position, 2 out - M Grudzielanek 1, E Brown 1, J Buck 1. Team
LOB - 6.
BASERUNNING: SB - E Brown (4, 2nd base off J Blanton/J Kendall), E German (4,
2nd base off K Calero/J Kendall).
FIELDING: E - M Grudzielanek (3, pop up).
OAKLAND ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
S Stewart lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .260
N Swisher dh 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 .296
D Johnson 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .368
J Cust rf 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 .286
T Buck rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .214
B Crosby ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .248
M Ellis 2b 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 .242
M Scutaro 3b 4 1 0 0 0 1 2 .170
H Bocachica cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000
J Kendall c 3 0 2 2 0 0 0 .188
a-E Chavez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .252
Totals 33 3 5 3 2 5 12
a-grounded to third for J Kendall in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - J Kendall (2, O Perez). HR - J Cust (7, 8th inning off J Gobble 0
on, 1 Out). RBI - J Kendall 2 (11), J Cust (15). Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - J Cust 1, B Crosby 1, N Swisher 1. Team LOB - 6.
----------------------------------------------------
KANSAS CITY - 200 000 002 -- 4
OAKLAND - 000 000 210 -- 3
----------------------------------------------------
KANSAS CITY ip h r er bb so hr era
O Perez 6 1 0 0 2 4 0 5.29
J Peralta (B, 4) 1 3 2 1 0 1 0 5.25
J Gobble (W, 3-1) 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 2.87
D Riske (S, 3) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.93
OAKLAND ip h r er bb so hr era
J Blanton 8 5 2 2 2 7 0 3.32
K Calero (L, 0-3; B, 2) 2/3 2 2 2 1 1 0 6.23
A Embree 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.15
WP - J Blanton. IBB - M Teahen (by J Blanton). HBP - D Johnson (by O Perez).
Pitches-strikes: O Perez 96-53; J Peralta 19-14; J Gobble 16-10; D Riske 10-9;
J Blanton 118-77; K Calero 20-12; A Embree 7-6. Ground balls-fly balls: O Perez
7-7; J Peralta 1-1; J Gobble 1-2; D Riske 1-2; J Blanton 10-7; K Calero 0-1; A
Embree 0-1. Batters faced: O Perez 22; J Peralta 7; J Gobble 4; D Riske 3; J
Blanton 31; K Calero 5; A Embree 1.
UMPIRES: HP--Paul Emmel. 1B--Dan Iassogna. 2B--Ron Kulpa. 3B--Dale Scott.
T--2:38. Att--16,242.
Weather: 56 degrees, clear. Wind: 18 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 CIN A+ Jay Bruce......... 4 2 1 1 0 0 1 ARI AA Carlos Gonzalez... 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 ARI AA Justin Upton...... 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 NYM AA F. Martinez....... 5 3 1 0 1 0 1 DET A+ Cameron Maybin.... 4 2 1 0 0 1 0 CHC AA Jake Fox.......... 4 3 0 0 2 0 1 MIL A+ Mat Gamel......... 3 2 1 0 0 2 0 3 R CHW AAA Josh Fields....... 4 1 0 0 1 0 1 ATL AA Brandon Jones..... 5 3 1 0 0 0 1 TB AAA Ben Zobrist....... 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 HOU A+ Eli Iorg.......... 4 2 0 0 1 1 1 ARI AA Emilio Bonifacio.. 4 3 1 0 0 0 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes MIN A Jeffrey Manship... 8 5 0 0 8 0 0 LAA AA Nick Adenhart..... 5 5 3 2 4 3 0 TB A+ Wade Davis........ 6 6 1 1 7 2 0 SD A+ Wade Leblanc...... 6 4 2 1 5 1 0 COL A+ Brandon Hynick.... 7 4 0 0 5 1 0 PHI AA Kyle Kendrick..... 8 8 1 1 5 0 1 CLE AA Scott Lewis....... 6 5 1 1 4 2 0 CHC AA Sean Gallagher.... 6 8 4 4 5 2 0 CLE A+ Ryan Edell........ 6 6 2 2 6 1 1 SF AA Nick Pereira...... 7 4 5 5 3 4 0 MIN A+ Zachary Ward...... 5 3 0 0 2 1 0 11 GB STL AA C. Perez.......... 2 0 0 0 3 2 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: Ten Things I Didn't Know Last Week>> <<Previous Article: An Interview With Tom Stanton - Author of Ty and the Babe | |||
NYA 18 20 .474 8.0 22 -4 
TOR 18 22 .450 9.0 19 -1 
BAL 18 23 .439 9.5 19 -1 
TB 17 22 .436 9.5 14 3 
American League Central
DET 24 14 .632 0.0 21 3 
CLE 23 14 .622 0.5 21 2 
CHA 19 17 .528 4.0 16 3 
MIN 18 21 .462 6.5 19 -1 
KC 14 27 .341 11.5 15 -1 
American League West
LAA 23 18 .561 0.0 23 0 
SEA 18 17 .514 2.0 16 2 
OAK 20 19 .513 2.0 23 -3 
TEX 15 25 .375 7.5 16 -1 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 25 14 .641 0.0 25 0 
ATL 25 15 .625 0.5 22 3 
PHI 20 20 .500 5.5 22 -2 
FLA 18 22 .450 7.5 19 -1 
WAS 14 26 .350 11.5 13 1 
National League Central
MIL 25 15 .625 0.0 23 2 
HOU 20 19 .513 4.5 20 0 
CHN 18 20 .474 6.0 22 -4 
PIT 17 22 .436 7.5 15 2 
STL 16 22 .421 8.0 14 2 
CIN 16 25 .390 9.5 20 -4 
National League West
LAN 25 16 .610 0.0 24 1 
SD 22 19 .537 3.0 24 -2 
ARI 21 20 .512 4.0 19 2 
SF 19 20 .487 5.0 21 -2 
COL 17 23 .425 7.5 15 2 