February 9, 2010
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THT Daily: MVP, MVP!by Dave StudemanAugust 19, 2009 Major League News for August 19Player 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 NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldAccording to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, John Smoltz "will accept the Cardinals' offer to join the club as its fifth starter after clearing waivers at noon" Wednesday. Because he was released by Boston earlier this week St. Louis will be on the hook for just a prorated share of the minimum salary, which is about $100,000. The newspaper notes that Smoltz's time in the Cardinals' rotation may be temporary and speculates that he could eventually be a setup man for closer Ryan Franklin. Todd Wellemeyer, Brad Thompson, P.J. Walters and Mitchell Boggs are the other fifth-starter candidates, and have gone 10-15 with a 5.45 ERA this season. Jhoulys Chacin, who was sent down by the Rockies last week, combined with three relievers on a no-hitter for Triple-A Colorado Springs on Tuesday. It was the Triple-A debut for Chacin, who was originally called up from Double-A. He pitched 5 1/3 hitless innings. Joel Peralta, Juan Rincon and Randy Flores kept it going from there to complete the no-hitter against Oklahoma City. Oddly enough, Oklahoma City just had Luis Mendoza throw a nine-hitter no-hitter on Friday. CC Sabathia tied Josh Beckett for the AL lead in wins with 14, tossing eight innings of two-run ball against the Athletics on Tuesday night. The Yankees topped the Athletics 7-2. Sabathia has now reeled off four straight wins. He allowed just five hits in all -- both runs scored via solo homers -- while striking out seven and walking one. The big man retired 13 of the last 15 batters to face him after a fourth-inning double by Nomar Garciaparra. He'll look for win No. 15 against the Rangers next time out. Ricky Nolasco allowed two runs in a complete-game win over the Astros on Tuesday night. After giving up a two-run homer to Carlos Lee in the first, it looked like Nolasco was in for another rough night courtesy of the Astros, but he held them to just one hit from that point on, striking out 10 without walking a batter. It was his first complete game of the season and the second of his career. He lines up for a start against the Diamondbacks next time out. Jake Peavy pitched four innings for Triple-A Charlotte Tuesday night, allowing three earned runs. Peavy gave up five hits, no walks and hit a batter to give up four total runs. He struck out five, throwing 44 of 67 pitches for strikes. He will make at least one more rehab start following this and then debut for the White Sox. It looks as if that will be Aug. 28 against the Yankees. T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports that the Rangers are close to acquiring Ivan Rodriguez from the Astros. Of course, Rodriguez made his major league debut with the Rangers in 1991 and stayed with the team through 2002. The Rangers could use another catcher with Jarrod Saltalamacchia on the disabled list with shoulder fatigue. According to Sullivan, the Rangers would utilize Pudge in a backup role, with Taylor Teagarden getting most of the starts. Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that Stephen Strasburg "won't make his MLB debut before 2010." In another Twitter update, Nightengale quotes agent Scott Boras as saying that "Strasburg may or may not pitch in the major leagues next year." However, not reaching Washington before 2011 seems highly unlikely for the No. 1 overall pick. Yesterday’s ResultsFor the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League TB 5 BAL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 10 TOR 9 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 5 CHA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 5 CLE 4 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 5 SEA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 7 OAK 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 9 TEX 6 (Recap and Boxscore) National League NYN 9 ATL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 5 ARI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 4 WAS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 8 CIN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 6 HOU 2 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 5 MIL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 7 STL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 6 CHN 3 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action. Today’s GamesRoyals (47-72) @ WhiteSox (61-59), 2:05pmZack Greinke (25, RHP) vs. Jose Contreras (37, RHP) Mariners (61-58) @ Tigers (63-55), 7:05pm Ian Snell (27, RHP) vs. Justin Verlander (26, RHP) Angels (72-45) @ Indians (51-67), 7:05pm Jered Weaver (26, RHP) vs. Jeremy Sowers (26, LHP) RedSox (67-51) @ Blue Jays (55-62), 7:07pm Clay Buchholz (24, RHP) vs. Roy Halladay (32, RHP) Orioles (48-71) @ Rays (64-54), 7:08pm Chris Tillman (21, RHP) vs. Jeff Niemann (26, RHP) Twins (57-62) @ Rangers (67-51), 8:05pm Scott Baker (27, RHP) vs. Kevin Millwood (34, RHP) Yankees (75-45) @ Athletics (53-66), 10:05pm Chad Gaudin (26, RHP) vs. Brett Anderson (21, LHP) Brewers (58-61) @ Pirates (48-70), 7:05pm Yovani Gallardo (23, RHP) vs. Paul Maholm (27, LHP) Rockies (66-53) @ Nationals (43-76), 7:05pm Jason Marquis (30, RHP) vs. Collin Balester (23, RHP) D'backs (54-66) @ Phillies (67-49), 7:05pm Danny Haren (28, RHP) vs. Cliff Lee (30, LHP) Giants (65-54) @ Reds (50-68), 7:10pm Barry Zito (31, LHP) vs. Bronson Arroyo (32, RHP) Braves (62-57) @ Mets (56-63), 7:10pm Jair Jurrjens (23, RHP) vs. Bobby Parnell (24, RHP) Marlins (64-55) @ Astros (57-62), 8:05pm Sean West (23, LHP) vs. Yorman Bazardo (24, RHP) Cubs (60-57) @ Padres (51-70), 10:05pm Rich Harden (27, RHP) vs. Mat Latos (21, RHP) Cardinals (68-53) @ Dodgers (71-49), 10:10pm Adam Wainwright (27, RHP) vs. Clayton Kershaw (21, LHP) 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 NYA 75 45 .625 0.0 70 5 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.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes OAK AAA Aaron Cunningham.. 4 4 2 0 1 1 0 3 R BOS A+ Tim Federowicz.... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 CIN AAA Juan Francisco.... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 SF A+ Nicholas Noonan... 4 2 2 0 0 1 1 TOR A Yohermyn Chavez... 4 4 0 0 1 0 0 MIL AAA Mat Gamel......... 2 1 0 0 1 2 1 DET AAA Scott Sizemore.... 4 2 1 0 0 1 1 FLA AA Matt Dominguez.... 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 BOS AA Ryan Kalish....... 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 BAL A+ Pedro Florimon.... 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 CHW A Jared Mitchell.... 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 COL A Jordan Pacheco.... 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes SD A Simon Castro...... 7 0 0 0 9 0 0 MIL A Cody Scarpetta.... 6 2 0 0 6 0 0 CIN AAA Matthew Maloney... 6 5 1 1 7 0 1 MIN A+ David Bromberg.... 6 3 2 2 6 3 0 TB AAA Wade Davis........ 8 3 2 2 4 3 0 TB A Matthew Moore..... 5 2 3 2 6 3 0 HOU A Jordan Lyles...... 5 5 0 0 5 1 0 COL AAA Jhoulys Chacin.... 5 0 0 0 3 3 0 KC A+ Daniel Gutierrez.. 5 5 5 5 4 1 0 CHC AAA Jeff Samardzija... 4 1 0 0 3 2 0 PIT A+ Rudy Owens........ 5 10 4 4 4 0 0 NYM AA Jenrry Mejia...... 2 1 0 0 2 0 0
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BOS 67 51 .568 7.0 67 0 
TB 64 54 .542 10.0 66 -2 
TOR 55 62 .470 18.5 62 -7 
BAL 48 71 .403 26.5 51 -3 
American League Central
DET 63 55 .534 0.0 61 2 
CHA 61 59 .508 3.0 61 0 
MIN 57 62 .479 6.5 60 -3 
CLE 51 67 .432 12.0 56 -5 
KC 47 72 .395 16.5 47 0 
American League West
LAA 72 45 .615 0.0 66 6 
TEX 67 51 .568 5.5 65 2 
SEA 61 58 .513 12.0 54 7 
OAK 53 66 .445 20.0 56 -3 
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 67 49 .578 0.0 66 1 
FLA 64 55 .538 4.5 60 4 
ATL 62 57 .521 6.5 64 -2 
NYN 56 63 .471 12.5 56 0 
WAS 43 76 .361 25.5 50 -7 
National League Central
STL 68 53 .562 0.0 66 2 
CHN 60 57 .513 6.0 61 -1 
MIL 58 61 .487 9.0 56 2 
HOU 57 62 .479 10.0 52 5 
CIN 50 68 .424 16.5 49 1 
PIT 48 70 .407 18.5 52 -4 
National League West
LAN 71 49 .592 0.0 73 -2 
COL 66 53 .555 4.5 67 -1 
SF 65 54 .546 5.5 64 1 
ARI 54 66 .450 17.0 56 -2 
SD 51 70 .421 20.5 46 5 
Wildcard Standings
American League
TEX 67 51 .568 0.0
BOS 67 51 .568 0.0
TB 64 54 .542 3.0
SEA 61 58 .513 6.5
CHA 61 59 .508 7.0
National League
COL 66 53 .555 0.0
SF 65 54 .546 1.0
FLA 64 55 .538 2.0
ATL 62 57 .521 4.0
CHN 60 57 .513 5.0