THT Daily: Many losses
by Dave StudemanApril 14, 2009
Major League News for April 14
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 RotoworldCarlos Pena led a drubbing of Yankees pitching on Monday night, going 3-for-6 with a homer, two doubles and six RBI in a 15-5 victory.
Pena collected all six of his RBI in the first two innings, as he delivered a two-run double and a grand slam in his first two at-bats. In total, the Rays racked up 17 hits, eight walks and four stolen bases in the dominant effort. The only Yankee pitcher who didn't allow a run in the game was Nick Swisher, who pitched a scoreless ninth.
Jesse Litsch left Monday's game with what the Jays are calling right forearm tightness.
That may not sound so bad, but it's pretty much the same thing they originally said about the injuries to Shaun Marcum and Jeremy Accardo. Odds are that Litsch will land on the disabled list. Brad Mills could replace him.
Red Sox placed shortstop Jed Lowrie on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 12, with a left wrist injury.
Lowrie, who suffered a non-displaced fracture in the wrist last season, is returning to Boston to be examined. Nick Green will have a little short-term value in AL-only leagues until Julio Lugo returns and takes over the job on a regular basis.
Hank Blalock sat out Monday's game with a stiff neck.
This was supposed to be Blalock's first start of the season at first base as Chris Davis was to have the day off. The injury befell Blalock just 30 minutes prior to the match. It doesn't appear to be serious. Consider him day-to-day for now.
Orlando Hudson became the first Dodgers since Wes Parker in 1970 to hit for the cycle Monday in an 11-1 victory over the Giants.
Hudson, who had been 0-for-5 lifetime against his former Diamondbacks teammate Randy Johnson, singled, homered and doubled off the Unit today. He later tripled off another former teammate, Brandon Medders, in the sixth. Hudson is hitting .333 with two homers and seven runs through eight games.
Ted Lilly went 6 2/3 innings and combined with three relievers on a one-hit shutout of the Rockies on Monday.
Lilly gave up a single to Garrett Atkins with two outs in the seven and was then pulled after walking the next hitter, Seth Smith. Angel Guzman, Aaron Heilman and Kevin Gregg finished up the 4-0 victory. Lilly struggled this spring after returning from the World Baseball Classic, but he was playing catchup after receiving irregular work. He should be a solid mixed-league starter again.
Cristian Guzman went 5-for-5 with two RBI and a stolen base Monday versus the Phillies, but he limped off the field with an apparent leg injury in the ninth.
Hopefully, he just turned an ankle. Alberto Gonzalez pinch-ran for him and likely will play if Guzman can't on Wednesday. Guzman has hit in all seven games this season, going 17-for-33, so it'd be a huge loss if he joins Willie Harris on the DL.
Mark Teixeira (wrist) will likely return to the Yankees lineup Tuesday, according to the New York Post.
Teixeira missed the past three games with a sore wrist, but an MRI exam Monday revealed no structural damage. The slugger is taking anti-inflammatory medication and said he'd be very disappointed if he's not in the lineup Tuesday. The Yankees are simply protecting their $180 million investment.
Zach Duke pitched his third career shutout Monday in the Pirates' 7-0 defeat of the Astros.
It wasn't much of a lineup that he was facing, but Duke still deserves plenty of credit for holding the Astros to four hits. Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee combined to go 0-for-8 against him. It's actually the second shutout Duke has had in his last six starts, though he followed the last one, which came against the Giants in September, by giving up 11 runs -- seven earned -- in 9 2/3 innings over his following two starts. While it's OK to pick up Duke in NL-only leagues, he doesn't have a lot of upside.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League TB 15 NYA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 10 DET 6 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 4 CLE 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 8 MIN 6 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 8 BOS 2 (Recap and Boxscore) BAL 10 TEX 9 (Recap and Boxscore) National League SD 6 NYN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 9 WAS 8 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 4 COL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 7 MIL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 7 HOU 0 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 2 ARI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 11 SF 1 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (R) Chris Volstad (1-0) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (0-0) Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Bronson Arroyo (1-0) vs. (L) Manny Parra (0-1) St. Louis Cardinals at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Chris Carpenter (1-0) vs. (R) Max Scherzer (0-0) American League --------------- Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM (L) John Danks (0-0) vs. (R) Rick Porcello (0-1) LA Angels of Anaheim at Seattle Mariners, 6:40 PM (R) Shane Loux (0-0) vs. (R) Carlos Silva (0-1) New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:08 PM (R) A.J. Burnett (1-0) vs. (R) Matt Garza (1-0) Baltimore Orioles at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Alfredo Simon (0-1) vs. (R) Brandon McCarthy (1-0) Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (L) Ricky Romero (1-0) vs. (L) Glen Perkins (0-1) Cleveland Indians at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Carl Pavano (0-1) vs. (R) Kyle Davies (0-0) Boston Red Sox at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-1) vs. (L) Dana Eveland (0-0)
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 6 2 .750 0.0 5 1BAL 5 2 .714 0.5 3 2
TB 4 3 .571 1.5 5 -1
NYA 3 4 .429 2.5 3 0
BOS 2 5 .286 3.5 2 0
American League Central CHA 4 3 .571 0.0 4 0
KC 4 3 .571 0.0 3 1
DET 4 4 .500 0.5 4 0
MIN 3 5 .375 1.5 3 0
CLE 1 6 .143 3.0 2 -1
American League West SEA 5 2 .714 0.0 5 0
LAA 3 3 .500 1.5 3 0
OAK 3 4 .429 2.0 4 -1
TEX 3 4 .429 2.0 3 0
National League East Pwins Diff ATL 5 1 .833 0.0 4 1
FLA 5 1 .833 0.0 4 1
PHI 4 3 .571 1.5 3 1
NYN 3 4 .429 2.5 4 -1
WAS 0 7 .000 5.5 2 -2
National League Central STL 6 2 .750 0.0 6 0
CHN 5 2 .714 0.5 5 0
PIT 4 3 .571 1.5 5 -1
CIN 3 3 .500 2.0 2 1
MIL 2 5 .286 3.5 2 0
HOU 1 6 .143 4.5 1 0
National League West SD 6 2 .750 0.0 5 1
LAN 5 3 .625 1.0 6 -1
COL 3 4 .429 2.5 4 -1
ARI 2 5 .286 3.5 2 0
SF 2 5 .286 3.5 2 0
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 PHI A Zachary Collier... 3 2 2 0 0 2 0 KC A+ J. Giavotella..... 4 3 0 0 2 0 0 7 RBI ! SF A+ Buster Posey...... 3 2 0 0 1 2 1 SEA AA Gregory Halman.... 6 2 1 0 1 0 2 NYM AAA F. Martinez....... 4 2 1 0 1 0 2 MIL A+ Caleb Gindl....... 4 3 0 1 0 0 0 HOU A+ Jason Castro...... 5 2 2 0 0 0 1 ARI A+ Collin Cowgill.... 4 2 0 0 1 1 2 3 R ARI AA Gerardo Parra..... 5 3 0 1 0 1 1 4 R CHW AA Brandon Allen..... 5 4 0 1 0 0 1 SEA AA Adam Moore........ 4 2 1 0 0 2 1 MIL AAA Alcides Escobar... 4 2 1 0 0 0 1 2 SB ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes CHC AAA Jeff Samardzija... 4 2 0 0 4 1 0 BAL AAA C. Tillman........ 4 0 0 0 5 3 0 SF AA Henry Sosa........ 4 3 1 1 4 1 1 HOU AAA Bud Norris........ 4 4 2 0 4 3 0 STL AAA Jesse Todd........ 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 TEX AAA Derek Holland..... 4 5 4 4 5 3 1 MIN AAA Jose Mijares...... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 GB STL AAA C. Perez.......... 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 OF SEA A+ Phillippe Aumont.. 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOR AAA Brett Cecil....... 4 4 5 2 1 2 0 13 GB ARI AA Daniel Schlereth.. 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 OF STL A+ Adam Reifer....... 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
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