THT Daily: Not this time

by Dave Studeman
July 22, 2009

Major League News for July 22

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
X-rays were negative on Manny Ramirez's left hand after he was hit by a pitch during Tuesday's game.
Consider him day-to-day. Juan Pierre could start in left field on Wednesday.

Sergio Mitre notched his first win in the majors since July 29, 2007 against the Orioles on Tuesday night.
Mitre pitched admirably, scattering eight hits while striking out four and walking one. His line was ultimately ruined after he was chased by a two-run single in the sixth inning. All told, he gave up four runs -- three earned -- over 5 2/3 innings. The sinkerballer induced 13 groundball outs, proving that he can hold down a spot in the rotation while Chien-Ming Wang is on the mend.

Cliff Lee tossed a complete game in a 2-1 win over the Blue Jays on Tuesday night.
The storyline looked predictable, as Lee and the Indians trailed the Blue Jays 1-0 entering the ninth inning, but Victor Martinez's two-run double put him in position for the win. Lee scattered seven hits in the win, fanning four while not walking a batter. He has consecutive complete game wins to his credit.

John Lannan tossed his first career complete game shutout in a 4-0 win over the Mets on Tuesday night.
And with that, Jim Riggleman finally gets in the win column. It's actually Lannan's second complete game against the Mets this season, as he beat them 7-1 back on June 6. Lannan induced 15 groundball outs while scattering seven hits. He didn't walk a batter while striking out one. He evened his record to 7-7 on the year.

Red Sox recalled RHP Clay Buchholz from Triple-A Pawtucket.
Buchholz will take over Tim Wakefield's spot in the starting rotation beginning Wednesday against the Rangers. He was victorious in his first start of the season, last week, allowing just a single run over 5 2/3 innings. The young right-hander is worth activating immediately in all leagues.

According to ESPNChicago.com, John Danks has a blister and circulatory problem in his left index finger.
Danks will be skipped on Wednesday, but the White Sox believe he will avoid the disabled list, missing only one start. Carlos Torres is expected to get the nod in his place.

Lance Berkman has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain of his left calf muscle and will rest for two-to-three days.
Berkman underwent an MRI Tuesday morning, which helped the Astros work up this diagnosis. It's relatively good news, as the injury could have been worse, but make sure to bench "Big Puma" for the next few days.

The Blue Jays may set an internal deadline on a deal involving Roy Halladay, reports Jordan Bastain of MLB.com.
"If you ask me today if we're going to trade Roy Halladay, I'd say no," general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. "Something could happen between now and the Trade Deadline, but this isn't something that's suddenly going to happen with someone on the 30th." Halladay is currently slotted for a start against the Mariners on July 29. According to the New York Times, Ricciardi doesn't want Halladay taking the mound with his future in doubt.

Pedro Martinez completed a simulated game against minor league prospects on Tuesday.
He faced 20 batters over four simulated innings. No word on his velocity quite yet, but according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Martinez threw approximately 64 pitches and struck out six. He is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Thursday with another simulated game or his first minor league rehab start on Sunday.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
NYA     6  BAL     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     2  TOR     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB      3  CHA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     9  SEA     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     8  KC      5    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA    10  KC      2    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     3  OAK     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     4  BOS     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL     8  SF      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     4  CHN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     4  NYN     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU    11  STL     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     2  PIT     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     6  COL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN    12  CIN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     3  SD      2    (Recap and Boxscore)

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

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 12:35 PM
  (R) Jeff Suppan (5-7) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (6-4)
 Chicago Cubs at Philadelphia Phillies, 1:05 PM
  (R) Carlos Zambrano (6-4) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (9-6)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies, 3:10 PM
  (R) Jon Garland (5-9) vs. (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (7-9)
 Florida Marlins at San Diego Padres, 3:35 PM
  (R) Ricky Nolasco (6-7) vs. (R) Josh Geer (1-5)
 New York Mets at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (R) Mike Pelfrey (7-5) vs. (R) Craig Stammen (2-5)
 San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM
  (R) Tim Lincecum (10-2) vs. (R) Jair Jurrjens (8-7)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (R) Chris Carpenter (8-3) vs. (R) Roy Oswalt (6-4)
 Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM
  (R) Bronson Arroyo (10-8) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (9-5)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (R) Jason Berken (1-7) vs. (R) A.J. Burnett (8-4)
 Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics, 3:35 PM
  (L) Glen Perkins (5-5) vs. (R) Trevor Cahill (5-8)
 Seattle Mariners at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (R) Felix Hernandez (10-3) vs. (R) Armando Galarraga (5-8)
 Cleveland Indians at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) Carl Pavano (8-7) vs. (L) Ricky Romero (7-4)
 Boston Red Sox at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Clay Buchholz (1-0) vs. (R) Vicente Padilla (7-5)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (L) Joe Saunders (8-6) vs. (R) Brian Bannister (6-7)
 Tampa Bay Rays at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM
  (R) James Shields (6-6) vs. (R) Carlos Torres (0-0)

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     56  37 .602    0.0   53     3    
BOS     55  38 .591    1.0   54     1    
TB      52  42 .553    4.5   55    -3    
TOR     46  48 .489   10.5   50    -4    
BAL     41  52 .441   15.0   41     0    
American League Central     
DET     49  42 .538    0.0   49     0    
CHA     48  45 .516    2.0   46     2    
MIN     48  46 .511    2.5   50    -2    
KC      37  56 .398   13.0   37     0    
CLE     37  57 .394   13.5   42    -5    
American League West        
LAA     54  38 .587    0.0   51     3    
TEX     51  41 .554    3.0   50     1    
SEA     49  44 .527    5.5   45     4    
OAK     39  53 .424   15.0   41    -2    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     53  38 .582    0.0   52     1    
ATL     48  46 .511    6.5   50    -2    
FLA     48  47 .505    7.0   45     3    
NYN     44  49 .473   10.0   41     3    
WAS     27  66 .290   27.0   35    -8    
National League Central     
STL     51  45 .531    0.0   51     0    
CHN     47  45 .511    2.0   47     0    
HOU     48  46 .511    2.0   45     3    
MIL     48  46 .511    2.0   46     2    
CIN     44  49 .473    5.5   40     4    
PIT     41  52 .441    8.5   46    -5    
National League West        
LAN     60  34 .638    0.0   58     2    
COL     51  43 .543    9.0   52    -1    
SF      50  43 .538    9.5   50     0    
ARI     40  54 .426   20.0   42    -2    
SD      37  57 .394   23.0   34     3

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
HOU A+  Jonathan Gaston... 3  2  0  0  2  1  1  
LA  AA  Joshua Bell....... 4  4  2  0  0  1  0  
TEX A+  Michael Bianucci.. 4  2  0  0  2  0  1  
SD  A+  James Darnell..... 5  4  1  1  0  0  0  
PIT AA  Jose Tabata....... 5  4  2  0  0  0  1  3 LD
HOU AA  Jason Castro...... 5  3  1  1  0  0  0  3 R
BAL A+  Pedro Florimon.... 4  2  2  0  0  0  0  3 LD
SF  A+  Thomas Neal....... 3  2  0  0  1  1  0  
COL A+  Wilin Rosario..... 4  3  0  0  1  0  0  
OAK AAA Eric Patterson.... 5  2  1  0  0  1  1  
ARI AAA Brandon Allen..... 3  1  0  0  1  2  0  
CHC A-  Brett Jackson..... 5  3  1  0  0  0  2  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
DET A+  Mauricio Robles... 6  5  2  0 11  1  0  
BAL A+  Zachary Britton... 7  3  1  0  7  0  0  
SEA A+  Juan Ramirez...... 7  6  2  2  8  1  0  
CHC AA  Andrew Cashner.... 6  1  0  0  5  0  0  11 GB
TEX A-  Robert Ross....... 5  2  0  0  7  1  0  
CLE AAA Fausto Carmona.... 7  5  2  2  8  1  1  13 GB
NYY A+  D.J. Mitchell..... 7  5  1  1  4  0  0  14 GB
CIN AAA Matthew Maloney... 7  7  2  2  6  0  1  
ATL AA  Edgar Osuna....... 7  5  2  1  4  1  0  
BOS A+  Bryan Price....... 5  8  5  4  5  0  0  9 GB
LA  AA  Steven Johnson.... 5  5  5  2  8  2  1  
BAL AA  Brian Matusz...... 7  4  1  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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