THT Daily: MVP, MVP!

by Dave Studeman
August 19, 2009

Major League News for August 19

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 Rotoworld
According 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 Results

For 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 Games

Royals (47-72) @ WhiteSox (61-59), 2:05pm
Zack 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)

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
NYA     75  45 .625    0.0   70     5    
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

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
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

First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.

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