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THT Daily: New York Oddsby Matthew CarruthAugust 18, 2008 Major League News for August 18Player 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 RotoworldRickie Weeks has been diagnosed with a sprained left thumb after leaving Sunday's game in the fifth inning. Weeks has a history of left thumb injuries, so this is a bigger concern than usual and a trip to the disabled list seems likely. Ray Durham will start at second base with Weeks out, but has gone just 8-for-44 (.182) since the Brewers acquired him in a mid-July deal with the Giants. Mets acquired RHP Luis Ayala from the Nationals in exchange for a player to be named later. Ayala requested the trade a couple of weeks ago and the PTBNL is expected to be Anderson Hernandez, a light-hitting infielder who projects as a utility man long term. Ayala was 1-8 with a 5.77 ERA in 57 2/3 innings for the Nats this season, but he posted ERAs of 2.69, 2.66 and 3.19 over his previous three seasons. He's leaving behind some personal issues and could help the Mets' struggling bullpen. Hideki Matsui (knee) played a simulated game at the Yankees' spring training complex Saturday and, according to manager Joe Girardi, could be activated as soon as Tuesday. Matsui has been out since late June. The Yankees start an important series against the Blue Jays on Tuesday. Tom Glavine has been ruled out for this season, and expects to need surgery after meeting with Dr. James Andrews this week. "I would be surprised, if not shocked, if he doesn't tell me I need to get it [the elbow] fixed," Glavine said. He reportedly has a torn flexor tendon in his left elbow, and said he would need 3-4 months of rehab and then he'd be able to decide if he wanted to attempt a comeback. If Dr. Andrews says he needs Tommy John surgery, he'd retire without undergoing the procedure. Giants placed LHP Jonathan Sanchez on the 15-day disabled list. Sanchez heads to the DL with a strained left shoulder. He's already pitched almost 10 more innings than in any other season in his professional career, so the break is probably for the best. He had a 7.96 ERA in his six starts since July 4 anyway. Matt Palmer replaced him in the rotation. According to the Houston Chronicle, Minute Maid Park will be wired for instant replay within the next week. Astros' owner Drayton McLane expects all of Major League Baseball to begin using replay within the next two weeks. "The commissioner makes the decision," he said. "(The teams) get back to him and tell him when they're ready, and he'll get with the umpire and give them their instructions. It's not far away." Baseball GMs voted in favor of the change last November and it appears to be in full motion at this point. "It won't slow the game down," McLane said. "The umpire will look and make an immediate call. The important part is it's nothing either manager can request." Matt Garza allowed just two hits in a complete game shutout of the Rangers on Friday night. Garza had a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings, but Joe Maddon benched B.J. Upton (dramatically) for not hustling, and Justin Ruggiano had a line drive bounce off his glove. It was ruled a hit, and Garza was visibly mad. Josh Hamilton had the other hit in the seventh inning. Still, Garza struck out nine and walked just two in the dominant performance, lowering his ERA to 3.63 on the season. Barry Bonds' agent Jeff Borris said that "Major League Baseball has been successful in their pursuit in blackballing Barry [Bonds] out of the game." Borris apparently reached out to the Rays this week, but they didn't respond to his text message. Bonds hasn't found a taker despite an apparent willingness to play for the league minimum, and the players' union is investigating possible collusion. Bonds' criminal attorneys have asked that the investigation be put on hold, though, because they don't want to draw more attention to their client, who is facing 15 felony counts for perjury and obstruction of justice. Maicer Izturis will miss the rest of the season with a torn ligament in his left thumb. The thumb has been bothering him all month, most recently aggravated on Wednesday night. Izturis finishes the season with a .269 average, three homers, 27 RBI and 11 stolen bases in 79 games. He'll undergo surgery on his hand next week, but the team expects him to be ready for spring training. Erick Aybar will be the team's primary shortstop for the rest of the year. Yesterday’s ResultsAmerican League TOR 15 BOS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 15 KC 6 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 4 LAA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) BAL 16 DET 8 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 11 SEA 8 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 13 OAK 1 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 7 TEX 4 (Recap and Boxscore) National League SF 3 ATL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 9 FLA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 7 WAS 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 7 STL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 3 ARI 0 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 4 PIT 0 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 7 MIL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 2 SD 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Today’s GamesNational League --------------- New York Mets at Pittsburgh Pirates, 12:35 PM (R) John Maine (10-7) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (8-7) San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves, 4:35 PM (L) Barry Zito (6-15) vs. (R) Jorge Campillo (7-5) Houston Astros at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (L) Randy Wolf (8-10) vs. (L) CC Sabathia (7-0) American League --------------- Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (L) Jon Lester (11-4) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (10-8) LA Angels of Anaheim at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Jon Garland (11-7) vs. (R) Andy Sonnanstine (12-6) Detroit Tigers at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (L) Kenny Rogers (8-10) vs. (R) Scott Feldman (4-5) Oakland Athletics at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (R) Justin Duchscherer (10-8) vs. (R) Nick Blackburn (9-6) Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (L) Jarrod Washburn (5-12) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (10-10) 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 75 48 .610 0.0 69 6 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 TEX A M. Moreland....... 5 3 1 0 2 0 0 4 RBI PHI AA Gregory Golson.... 5 4 0 0 2 0 1 5 RBI ! HOU AA Brian Bogusevic... 5 3 2 0 0 1 0 3 R OAK A+ Corey Brown....... 4 3 0 0 2 0 1 NYY AAA Shelley Duncan.... 3 2 2 0 0 2 1 SF A Thomas Neal....... 5 5 1 0 0 1 0 4 LD COL AAA Joseph Koshansky.. 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 ATL AAA Brandon Jones..... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 PIT AAA Brian Bixler...... 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 SB NYY AA Colin Curtis...... 5 2 1 0 1 0 0 4 RBI MIN AA Daniel Valencia... 5 2 1 0 1 0 0 OAK A+ J. Mitchell....... 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes SD A Jeremy McBryde.... 7 3 3 1 11 1 0 WAN AAA Tyler Clippard.... 6 1 0 0 7 0 0 TOR AAA Brett Cecil....... 7 2 0 0 6 1 0 BAL A+ Timothy Bascom.... 6 3 1 1 8 1 1 PHI A Michael Stutes.... 6 4 3 2 8 3 0 TOR A Luis Perez........ 6 6 1 1 5 0 0 CHW AAA Jack Egbert....... 6 4 1 0 4 0 0 12 GB MIN A M. McCardell...... 5 7 4 2 8 2 0 STL A+ Shaun Garceau..... 6 3 0 0 4 1 0 SF A+ Kevin Pucetas..... 6 7 5 5 5 1 0 MIN A Santos Arias...... 3 1 0 0 4 0 0 OAK AA Andrew Bailey..... 3 0 0 0 4 1 0 Access all of 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: On curveballs>> <<Previous Article: THT Dartboard: August 17, 2008 | |||
BOS 71 53 .573 4.5 73 -2 
NYA 66 58 .532 9.5 67 -1 
TOR 64 60 .516 11.5 68 -4 
BAL 60 63 .488 15.0 63 -3 
American League Central
CHA 70 53 .569 0.0 71 -1 
MIN 70 53 .569 0.0 66 4 
DET 60 64 .484 10.5 63 -3 
CLE 56 67 .455 14.0 62 -6 
KC 55 69 .444 15.5 51 4 
American League West
LAA 76 46 .623 0.0 67 9 
TEX 62 63 .496 15.5 57 5 
OAK 56 67 .455 20.5 61 -5 
SEA 46 77 .374 30.5 52 -6 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 68 56 .548 0.0 68 0 
PHI 66 58 .532 2.0 69 -3 
FLA 64 61 .512 4.5 59 5 
ATL 56 68 .452 12.0 63 -7 
WAS 44 81 .352 24.5 46 -2 
National League Central
CHN 76 48 .613 0.0 78 -2 
MIL 71 54 .568 5.5 67 4 
STL 70 57 .551 7.5 68 2 
HOU 63 61 .508 13.0 59 4 
PIT 55 69 .444 21.0 53 2 
CIN 55 70 .440 21.5 52 3 
National League West
ARI 64 60 .516 0.0 66 -2 
LAN 64 60 .516 0.0 66 -2 
COL 57 69 .452 8.0 57 0 
SF 52 71 .423 11.5 50 2 
SD 48 76 .387 16.0 51 -3 