November 8, 2009
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THT Daily: Moving dayby THT StaffSeptember 22, 2008 Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Yesterday’s Home Runs 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
Andy Pettitte snapped his five-game losing skid by allowing three runs -- two earned -- in five-plus innings as New York won the finale at Yankee Stadium 7-3 over the Orioles. For trivia purposes only, the last Yankee Stadium home run was hit by Jose Molina, the last hit went to Jason Giambi (on a popfly behind third base that Melvin Mora completely botched) and the last out came on a Brian Roberts grounder against Mariano Rivera. Pettitte moved to 3-0 against the Orioles and 9-1 against baseball's 10-worst teams. Overall, he's 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA. Joey Devine picked up his first career save with a scoreless ninth inning of work against the Mariners on Sunday. Devine has had an awesome season with a 0.62 ERA and has always had closer stuff, but the most interesting part about today's outing was that Brad Ziegler was used in the eighth inning. Ziegler is best used in a multi-inning relief ace type of role and Devine profiles better in the ninth with his fastball-slider combination, so this could be the sign of a real change. If you're looking for saves, Devine makes a great last week addition. He's also worth a big bid in any keeper leagues in which he's unowned, as you'll have the whole off-season to try and get a read on the situation. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Yankees 7, Orioles 3: For the record, the last home run in Yankee Stadium was hit by backup catcher Duke Sims. It happened on September 30, 1973 against the Tigers. After that game, New York played for two years in Shea Stadium and then 33 years in one of those unfortunate 1970s-era ballparks that are now finally and mercifully gone. Phillies 5, Marlins 2: A 1.5 game lead and six games left against the Braves and Nats? Yeah, I like the Phillies' chances to win the East. A's 5, Mariners 3: A game story and a player that acknowledge the existence of the Three True Outcomes: "Jack Cust took good-natured ribbing after the Oakland Athletics' slugger had quite a typical day.This familiar Jack Cust effort featured a walk, a strikeout and a two-run homer.'That's been my whole career for better or worse,' Cust said Sunday after his eighth-inning home run helped give the A's a 5-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners. 'Those are the three big things in my stat book.'" I wonder if he's read Rany's article. Giants 1, Dodgers 0: Scoreless through 10 before the Giants broke through. How very 1966 of everyone involved. Diamondbacks 13, Rockies 4: L.A.'s lead is now only 2.5., but with only seven games to play, 2.5 is an awful lot, isn't it? The Dodgers finish with the Padres and the Giants. Even though they dropped two of three to San Francisco this weekend, that's an easier order than the Dbacks closing against St. Louis and Colorado, no? Angels 7, Rangers 3: After the game Marlon Byrd said, in reference to the Angels' 20+ lead over the Rangers in the West, "I've never seen that before, [the gap] between the first- and second-place teams." In his first season in Philly, Atlanta beat second place Montreal by 19. So, yeah, I guess he's technically right, but it ain't that big a difference is it? White Sox 3, Royals 0: I and many others waited the entire first half of the season for the White Sox to drop out of the race, and waited the whole second half for Minnesota to really make a run and challenge them. Still, Chicago hasn't been more than a game out of first since May 15th, and looks to be taking the division going away. If confounding expectations is a skill, they may very well go deep into the post season. Twins 4, Rays 1: Not that the Twins don't have a chance to make one last stand. They have three games against the Sox in the dome starting Tuesday night, and if history tells us anything, it tells us that anything can happen in that wretched building. They'll turn on the air conditioner at curious times. They'll pipe in the fake crowd noise. They'll invite Kent Hrbek back to tackle opposing base runners. The stops, they will be pulled out, all of them. Cubs 5, Cardinals 1: The Cubs clinched the division on Saturday night, which meant that yesterday's lineup consisted almost entirely of backups, scrubs, and other assorted flotsam. Daryle Ward hit cleanup. I'm guessing that hasn't happened for a while. Astros 6, Pirates 2: The only notable thing about this game from the Pirates' point of view was that it was probably the last time Jack Wilson played for them in Pittsburgh, as he is likely to be shipped off during the offseason. He pinch hit and got a single. After the game he said "It's definitely the best moment of my career. By far." That says far less about the moment than it does about the state of the Pirates since Wilson's debut in 2001. Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 0: Dice-K is going to end with something like 30-40 fewer innings this season than last, when he seemed to be quite out of gas late and into the playoffs. Right now he's ending on a high note (7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 6K). Padres 6, Nationals 2: My brother, who has lived in San Diego for thirteen years, is spending the week visiting his girlfriend's family in Seattle. He called me yesterday to tell me that he has actually been talking smack with all of them about how the Padres are going to finish ahead of the Mariners in overall record. "Looks like we're putting away the Nats, too," he said, without a hint of irony or sarcasm. He didn't root this vocally for the Padres in any of the last three contending years, in the 1998 pennant season, or when they won the division in 1996. Indians 10, Tigers 5: Dontrelle Willis is deader than vaudeville (2.1 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 6 BB). Meanwhile, get Cleveland: they're over .500, and a scorching 41-24 since their July 9th nadir. Everyone picked them to do things in the AL Central this year and they didn't. That doesn't mean people shouldn't pick them to do something again next year. Braves 7, Mets 6: The Mets remain 1.5 ahead of Milwaukee for the Wild Card, but with the way their bullpen is going, they won't be lasting much longer than the Brewers even if they do hold on. Brewers 8, Reds 1: Nice, but any team that loses 2 of 3 to the Reds in the season's penultimate weekend doesn't really deserve to play in October. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Florida Marlins at Cincinnati Reds, 1:10 PM (R) Ricky Nolasco (15-7) vs. (R) Aaron Harang (5-16) Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Jair Jurrjens (13-10) vs. (L) J.A. Happ (1-0) Chicago Cubs at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Jason Marquis (10-9) vs. (L) Jonathon Niese (1-0) Arizona Diamondbacks at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (R) Brandon Webb (21-7) vs. (R) Todd Wellemeyer (12-8) American League --------------- Tampa Bay Rays at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Matt Garza (11-9) vs. (R) Brian Bass (3-4) Cleveland Indians at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (L) Zach Jackson (0-3) vs. (R) Josh Beckett (12-9) Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Gil Meche (12-11) vs. (R) Zach Miner (8-4) Oakland Athletics at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (L) Greg Smith (7-15) vs. (R) Kevin Millwood (9-9) LA Angels of Anaheim at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) Ervin Santana (15-6) vs. (L) Ryan Rowland-Smith (4-2) 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 92 62 .597 0.0 87 5 Game of the DayGiants 1, Dodgers 0 - FINAL
SAN FRANCISCO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Winn lf 5 0 0 0 1 2 3 .308
I Ochoa ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .209
va-D Roberts ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .214
O Vizquel ss 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .211
N Schierholtz rf 5 0 0 0 0 1 1 .302
B Molina c 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 .292
T Ishikawa 1b 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .282
S Romo p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
vb-J Bowker ph-1b 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .247
A Rowand cf 4 0 2 0 1 1 0 .276
S McClain 3b 4 0 1 0 0 2 3 .310
E Burriss pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .283
R Rohlinger 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .100
vc-P Sandoval ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .346
B Hennessey pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .286
B Wilson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
E Velez 2b 4 0 3 0 1 0 1 .256
M Cain p 2 0 0 0 0 2 4 .117
A Hinshaw p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Aurilia 1b-3b 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 .289
Totals 41 1 9 1 4 11 19 ###
LA DODGERS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Martin c 4 0 1 0 1 1 0 .275
A Ethier rf 5 0 2 0 0 1 0 .301
M Ramirez lf 2 0 0 0 3 2 0 .399
J Loney 1b 5 0 0 0 0 0 7 .291
C Blake 3b 5 0 0 0 0 3 3 .245
M Kemp cf 4 0 0 0 0 2 3 .289
B Dewitt 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .260
A Berroa ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .238
hb-D Young ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250
C Hu ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .161
D Lowe p 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .141
ha-J Pierre ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .271
C Wade p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
hc-M Sweeney ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .135
T Saito p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Beimel p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 36 0 5 0 4 10 14 ###
----------------------------------------------------
SAN FRANCISCO - 000 000 000 01 -- 1 9 0
LA DODGERS - 000 000 000 00 -- 0 5 0
----------------------------------------------------
va-grounded to second for I Ochoa in the 7th; ha-flied out to center for D
Lowe in the 7th; hb-popped out to shortstop for A Berroa in the 9th;
hc-grounded to second for J Broxton in the 10th; vb-struck out swinging for S
Romo in the 11th; vc-grounded into fielder's choice to third for R Rohlinger
in the 11th.
BATTING: 2B - E Velez (14, D Lowe); T Ishikawa (6, D Lowe). S - M Cain , D
Lowe. RBI - R Aurilia (51). 2-out RBI - R Aurilia. Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - S McClain 1, R Winn 1, D Roberts 1, I Ochoa 1, M Cain 2, J
Loney 2, M Kemp 2. Team LOB - SAN FRANCISCO 12, LA DODGERS 8. BASERUNNING: SB -
B Hennessey (1, 2nd base off T Saito/R Martin). FIELDING: Outfield assists - A
Rowand (A Berroa at Home).
SAN FRANCISCO ip h r er bb so hr era
M Cain 6 5 0 0 4 4 0 3.80
A Hinshaw 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.46
S Romo (W, 3-1) 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 2.30
B Wilson (S, 40) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 4.33
LA DODGERS ip h r er bb so hr era
D Lowe 7 5 0 0 3 7 0 3.29
C Wade 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 2.22
J Broxton 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3.09
T Saito (L, 4-4) 2/3 3 1 1 0 1 0 2.40
J Beimel 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.09
IBB - E Velez (by D Lowe), R Winn (by D Lowe), A Rowand (by D Lowe), M
Ramirez (by M Cain). Pitches-strikes: M Cain 108-73; A Hinshaw 11-8; S Romo
33-22; B Wilson 14-10; D Lowe 120-72; C Wade 24-16; J Broxton 13-8; T Saito
26-17; J Beimel 3-3. Ground balls-fly balls: M Cain 4-9; A Hinshaw 0-2; S Romo
3-3; B Wilson 0-1; D Lowe 12-2; C Wade 1-3; J Broxton 1-2; T Saito 1-0; J
Beimel 0-0. Batters faced: M Cain 26; A Hinshaw 3; S Romo 9; B Wilson 3; D Lowe
29; C Wade 7; J Broxton 4; T Saito 5; J Beimel 1. UMPIRES: HP--Andy Fletcher.
1B--Bob Davidson. 2B--Alfonso Marquez. 3B--Mike Reilly. T--3:27. Att--55,294.
Weather: 74 degrees, sunny. Wind: 6 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.  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 Hank Blalock TEX Jason Bulger LAA 426 420 7 PL Jack Cust OAK Miguel Batista SEA 344 340 30 JE/L Johnny Damon NYY Chris Waters BAL 352 349 16 PL Prince Fielder MIL Bronson Arroyo CIN 408 379 33 PL/L Adrian Gonzalez SD Odalis Perez WAS 392 385 35 JE Jose Molina NYY Chris Waters BAL 397 384 3 PL/L Edgar Renteria DET Jensen Lewis CLE 412 420 10 PL Sean Rodriguez LAA Scott Feldman TEX 414 402 3 PL Mark Teixeira LAA Scott Feldman TEX 391 381 32 PL Ryan Zimmerman WAS Cha Seung Baek SD 414 400 13 PL Access THT’s stats here…
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BOS 91 64 .587 1.5 93 -2 
NYA 85 71 .545 8.0 83 2 
TOR 83 73 .532 10.0 88 -5 
BAL 67 87 .435 25.0 71 -4 
American League Central
CHA 86 69 .555 0.0 86 0 
MIN 84 72 .538 2.5 86 -2 
CLE 78 77 .503 8.0 82 -4 
DET 71 83 .461 14.5 75 -4 
KC 70 86 .449 16.5 67 3 
American League West
LAA 96 59 .619 0.0 85 11 
TEX 75 81 .481 21.5 71 4 
OAK 74 81 .477 22.0 75 -1 
SEA 57 98 .368 39.0 63 -6 
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 88 68 .564 0.0 89 -1 
NYN 86 69 .555 1.5 87 -1 
FLA 81 74 .523 6.5 78 3 
ATL 69 87 .442 19.0 75 -6 
WAS 58 98 .372 30.0 60 -2 
National League Central
CHN 94 60 .610 0.0 95 -1 
MIL 85 71 .545 10.0 83 2 
HOU 82 73 .529 12.5 74 8 
STL 80 75 .516 14.5 81 -1 
CIN 72 83 .465 22.5 69 3 
PIT 65 91 .417 30.0 64 1 
National League West
LAN 81 75 .519 0.0 82 -1 
ARI 78 77 .503 2.5 80 -2 
COL 71 85 .455 10.0 70 1 
SF 70 86 .449 11.0 67 3 
SD 61 95 .391 20.0 67 -6 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 91 64 .587 0.0
NYA 85 71 .545 6.5
MIN 84 72 .538 7.5
TOR 83 73 .532 8.5
CLE 78 77 .503 13.0
National League
NYN 86 69 .555 0.0
MIL 85 71 .545 1.5
HOU 82 73 .529 4.0
FLA 81 74 .523 5.0
STL 80 75 .516 6.0