THT Daily: No place like home

by Dave Studeman
May 03, 2009

Major League News for May 3

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
MLB is investigating the accuracy of statements by Alex Rodriguez about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, people within baseball told the New York Times.
Investigators have contacted several of Rodriguez's associates to determine whether he used performance-enhancing drugs for a longer time than he has admitted, the people said. Selena Roberts is not cooperating with the investigation.

Jason Bay left Saturday's game with an ankle injury.
Bay is being called "day-to-day." He was 1-for-3 with a run scored and a stolen base before the incident, and was replaced by Jeff Bailey.

Mariners placed RHP Brandon Morrow on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 24, with right biceps tendinitis.
Morrow is eligible to return May 9. David Aardsma has been getting the majority of save opportunities in his absence and should continue manning the ninth inning. He's worth grabbing all leagues.

X-rays on Erick Aybar's jaw came back negative Saturday evening.
Aybar was struck in the face on a Derek Jeter stolen base attempt. He had some teeth loosened, but could be available Sunday. "He'll be okay," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "That ball caught him right in the mouth."

Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.

American League
LAA     8  NYA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
BOS    10  TB      6    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     5  BAL     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     9  CLE     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC     10  MIN     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     3  SEA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     9  CHA     6    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
HOU     5  ATL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     6  NYN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     6  STL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     6  FLA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     4  MIL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT     8  CIN     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     2  SD      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     5  SF      1    (Recap and Boxscore)

Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates, 1:35 PM
  (R) Johnny Cueto (1-1) vs. (R) Jeff Karstens (1-0)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Washington Nationals, 1:35 PM
  (R) Kyle Lohse (3-0) vs. (L) John Lannan (0-3)
 New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, 1:35 PM
  (R) John Maine (1-2) vs. (R) Joe Blanton (0-2)
 Houston Astros at Atlanta Braves, 1:35 PM
  (L) Wandy Rodriguez (2-2) vs. (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (0-1)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers, 2:05 PM
  (R) Yusmeiro Petit (0-2) vs. (R) Dave Bush (1-0)
 Florida Marlins at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM
  (R) Ricky Nolasco (1-2) vs. (R) Carlos Zambrano (2-1)
 Colorado Rockies at San Francisco Giants, 4:05 PM
  (R) Jason Hammel (0-0) vs. (L) Barry Zito (0-2)
 San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers, 4:10 PM
  (R) Chad Gaudin (0-0) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (4-0)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 LA Angels of Anaheim at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (L) Joe Saunders (3-1) vs. (R) Phil Hughes (1-0)
 Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM
  (L) Cliff Lee (1-3) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (1-2)
 Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM
  (R) Jeremy Guthrie (2-1) vs. (R) Scott Richmond (3-0)
 Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays, 1:38 PM
  (R) Brad Penny (2-0) vs. (R) James Shields (2-2)
 Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins, 2:10 PM
  (R) Gil Meche (1-2) vs. (R) Scott Baker (0-3)
 Oakland Athletics at Seattle Mariners, 4:10 PM
  (L) Josh Outman (0-0) vs. (R) Chris Jakubauskas (1-3)
 Chicago White Sox at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (L) John Danks (2-1) vs. (L) Matt Harrison (1-2)

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     17   9 .654    0.0   16     1    
BOS     15   9 .625    1.0   14     1    
NYA     13  11 .542    3.0   11     2    
TB      10  15 .400    6.5   13    -3    
BAL      9  15 .375    7.0    9     0    
American League Central     
KC      13  11 .542    0.0   14    -1    
CHA     12  11 .522    0.5   11     1    
DET     12  11 .522    0.5   12     0    
MIN     12  12 .500    1.0   10     2    
CLE      9  15 .375    4.0   11    -2    
American League West        
SEA     14  10 .583    0.0   13     1    
TEX     11  12 .478    2.5   11     0    
LAA     10  13 .435    3.5   11    -1    
OAK      9  12 .429    3.5   10    -1    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
FLA     14  10 .583    0.0   12     2    
PHI     12  10 .545    1.0   11     1    
ATL     11  12 .478    2.5   11     0    
NYN     10  13 .435    3.5   12    -2    
WAS      6  17 .261    7.5    9    -3    
National League Central     
STL     17   8 .680    0.0   16     1    
CHN     12  11 .522    4.0   12     0    
CIN     12  11 .522    4.0   10     2    
PIT     12  11 .522    4.0   14    -2    
MIL     12  12 .500    4.5   12     0    
HOU     10  14 .417    6.5   10     0    
National League West        
LAN     17   8 .680    0.0   16     1    
SF      11  11 .500    4.5   10     1    
ARI     11  13 .458    5.5   10     1    
SD      11  13 .458    5.5   10     1    
COL      9  13 .409    6.5   11    -2

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+  Dominic Brown..... 4  2  1  0  1  2  0  
SEA AA  Gregory Halman.... 5  3  1  0  1  1  2  
LA  A   Austin Gallagher.. 4  3  1  0  0  3  0  
LA  A   Kyle Russell...... 5  3  0  0  1  1  1  4 RBI
NYM AAA F. Martinez....... 3  2  1  0  1  0  1  
SD  A   James Darnell..... 2  1  1  0  0  3  0  
WAN A   Derek Norris...... 3  1  0  0  1  1  0  
TOR A   T. Pastornicky.... 4  2  1  0  0  1  1  3 R
CHC A   Ryan Flaherty..... 2  1  0  0  1  2  0  
BOS A+  Luis Exposito..... 5  3  1  0  0  0  2  
DET AA  Ryan Strieby...... 5  3  1  0  0  1  1  3 R
LA  A   A. Delmonico...... 6  4  0  0  0  1  0  3 R

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
NYM A+  Jenrry Mejia...... 8  3  0  0  6  1  0  
SD  A   Matthew Latos..... 6  2  0  0  6  1  0  
CIN AAA Homer Bailey...... 7  5  0  0  5  1  0  12 GB
HOU A   Jordan Lyles...... 6  5  3  3  7  0  1  
KC  AAA Luke Hochevar..... 7  2  0  0  5  3  0  
TB  A   Matthew Moore..... 5  3  1  1  7  1  1  
SD  AA  William Inman..... 5  2  1  1  5  2  0  
BOS A   Bryan Price....... 5  5  2  2  5  1  0  
BOS A+  Kyle Weiland...... 5  3  2  2  2  0  0  
CIN A+  Zachary Stewart... 8  8  2  2  4  1  1  
NYM AAA Dillon Gee........ 7  6  1  1  1  0  0  
TEX A   Wilmer Font....... 5  2  2  1  4  1  1

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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