THT Daily: Pesky Rays

by Matthew Carruth
May 31, 2008

Major League News for May 31

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
Manager Jim Leyland will have Dontrelle Willis and Armando Galarraga split pitching duties Tuesday night in Oakland.
It's Galarraga's turn in the rotation, but Leyland will hand the ball to Willis for the first four or five innings. Galarraga will then take the ball at the start of the fifth or sixth inning and pitch the rest of the game. "I've got to try to get Dontrelle going," Leyland said. "We have three years invested in this guy. This guy has credibility as a major-league pitcher." It'll be interesting to see how this one turns out.

Hanley Ramirez appears to be questionable for Saturday after leaving Friday's game with a thumb contusion.
"I can't squeeze my thumb right now," Ramirez said. "We'll see how it feels tomorrow." Alfredo Amezaga would start if Ramirez can't.

Luis Castillo left Friday's game because of a strained left hip flexor.
Castillo isn't exactly a quick healer at this point in his career, so a DL stint wouldn't be a big surprise. The Mets would go with Damion Easley at second base while he is out.

Angels placed third baseman Chone Figgins on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 22, with irritation in his right hamstring.
The Angels kept maintaining that it was more general soreness than continued problems with the same hamstring, but it seems it was always more serious than they let on. Of course, if they knew it was this bad, they wouldn't have waited an extra week to put him on the DL. They'll go with Robb Quinlan and Brandon Wood at third until Figgins returns.

Indians placed designated hitter Travis Hafner on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 26, with a right shoulder strain.
Hafner will aim to return as soon as his 15 days are up. Michael Aubrey, Andy Marte and Shin-Soo Choo will pick up his at-bats. Aubrey is the best option of the group in AL-only leagues.

Hank Blalock underwent surgery to relieve irritation in his right wrist due to carpal tunnel syndrome and is expected to miss another month.
Obviously, the cortisone shot didn't work as hoped. The Rangers will go with Chris Shelton and Frank Catalanotto at first base to begin June. They could look for outside options as well. It's highly unlikely that they'll turn to top prospect Chris Davis.

Jim Edmonds had a solo homer in the sixth and a three-run double in the seventh as the Cubs overcame a 9-1 deficit to beat the Rockies 10-9 on Friday.
Aaron Cook seemed like the perfect choice to maintain a big lead for the Rockies with the wind blowing out at Wrigley, but he gave up three homers between the sixth and seventh innings. Kosuke Fukudome started the outburst with his two-run homer, and Mark DeRosa finished it with a go-ahead two-run blast off Manny Corpas after Cook was pulled in the seventh. Edmonds might still be looking as washed up as ever if not for the strong breeze out to center, but since he did make a major contribution in what will surely go down as one of the Cubs' biggest wins of the year, he's likely bought himself a couple of more weeks.

The A's have reportedly called up both Carlos Gonzalez and Travis Buck and placed Mike Sweeney (knee), Ryan Sweeney (foot) and Joey Devine (forearm) all on the DL.
Also up are relievers Kiko Calero and Brad Ziegler, with Lenny DiNardo getting designated for assignment. The A's will put both Gonzalez and Buck into the outfield mix and likely go with Jack Cust as their primary DH until Frank Thomas returns. Both Gonzalez and Buck should have value in AL-only leagues. Gonzalez is an outstanding long-term prospect, of course, but Buck is the better bet for now.

Joba Chamberlain will make his first major league start Tuesday against the Blue Jays.
He's expected to throw 65-70 pitches in the contest, so it's possible he'll last only three or four innings. He's taking the rotation spot of the injured Ian Kennedy.

Yesterday’s Results

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

National League
LAN     9  NYN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI    12  FLA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN    10  COL     9    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     3  ATL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     5  HOU     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL     5  PIT     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     7  ARI     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      7  SF      3    (Recap and Boxscore)

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Colorado Rockies at Chicago Cubs, 1:05 PM
  (L) Glendon Rusch (1-2) vs. (R) Ryan Dempster (6-2)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Mets, 3:55 PM
  (R) Chad Billingsley (4-6) vs. (R) Mike Pelfrey (2-6)
 Atlanta Braves at Cincinnati Reds, 3:55 PM
  (R) Jair Jurrjens (5-3) vs. (R) Josh Fogg (1-2)
 San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, 4:05 PM
  (R) Josh Banks (1-0) vs. (L) Patrick Misch (0-1)
 Florida Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (R) Ricky Nolasco (4-3) vs. (L) Cole Hamels (5-3)
 Houston Astros at Milwaukee Brewers, 7:05 PM
  (R) Brian Moehler (2-1) vs. (R) Ben Sheets (5-1)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals, 7:15 PM
  (L) Paul Maholm (2-5) vs. (R) Mike Parisi (0-1)
 Washington Nationals at Arizona Diamondbacks, 8:10 PM
  (R) Jason Bergmann (1-1) vs. (R) Brandon Webb (9-2)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Detroit Tigers at Seattle Mariners, 3:55 PM
  (R) Justin Verlander (2-7) vs. (R) Felix Hernandez (2-5)
 Chicago White Sox at Tampa Bay Rays, 6:10 PM
  (R) Javier Vazquez (5-3) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (4-1)
 Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jon Lester (3-3) vs. (L) Garrett Olson (4-1)
 New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Chien-Ming Wang (6-2) vs. (R) Boof Bonser (2-6)
 Cleveland Indians at Kansas City Royals, 7:10 PM
  (L) C.C. Sabathia (3-6) vs. (R) Kyle Davies (0-0)
 Oakland Athletics at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Joe Blanton (3-6) vs. (R) Scott Feldman (1-2)
 Toronto Blue Jays at LA Angels of Anaheim, 9:05 PM
  (R) Shaun Marcum (5-3) vs. (R) John Lackey (1-1)

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
TB      33  22 .600    0.0   30     3    
BOS     33  24 .579    1.0   32     1    
TOR     31  26 .544    3.0   32    -1    
NYA     27  27 .500    5.5   27     0    
BAL     26  27 .491    6.0   26     0    
American League Central     
CHA     30  24 .556    0.0   32    -2    
MIN     28  26 .519    2.0   26     2    
CLE     25  29 .463    5.0   29    -4    
DET     23  31 .426    7.0   26    -3    
KC      21  34 .382    9.5   21     0    
American League West        
LAA     32  24 .571    0.0   28     4    
OAK     29  26 .527    2.5   31    -2    
TEX     28  28 .500    4.0   27     1    
SEA     20  35 .364   11.5   21    -1    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     32  24 .571    0.0   34    -2    
FLA     30  23 .566    0.5   27     3    
ATL     29  26 .527    2.5   33    -4    
NYN     26  27 .491    4.5   27    -1    
WAS     24  32 .429    8.0   23     1    
National League Central     
CHN     34  21 .618    0.0   36    -2    
STL     33  23 .589    1.5   31     2    
HOU     30  26 .536    4.5   28     2    
MIL     27  28 .491    7.0   25     2    
CIN     26  29 .473    8.0   25     1    
PIT     25  29 .463    8.5   24     1    
National League West        
ARI     30  25 .545    0.0   32    -2    
LAN     27  27 .500    2.5   28    -1    
SF      23  32 .418    7.0   22     1    
SD      22  34 .393    8.5   21     1    
COL     20  35 .364   10.0   21    -1

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
STL AA  Mark Hamilton..... 3  2  0  0  2  1  0  
PIT A+  Jamie Romak....... 2  2  1  0  1  2  0  3 R
SF  AAA Nate Schierholtz.. 3  3  1  0  1  1  0  
MIN A   Ben Revere........ 3  3  2  1  0  0  0  
MIL AA  Mat Gamel......... 4  2  1  0  1  1  1  
FLA AA  Lee Mitchell...... 3  2  1  0  1  1  1  
FLA AAA Dallas McPherson.. 4  2  0  0  2  0  1  4 RBI
NYY AAA Eric Duncan....... 5  3  1  0  1  0  1  3 R
CHC A+  Tony Thomas....... 5  3  1  0  1  0  0  
PHI A   Travis Mattair.... 5  3  1  0  1  0  1  3 R
COL AA  Corey Wimberly.... 4  2  1  0  0  1  0  2 SB
BOS A+  Josh Reddick...... 5  2  1  0  1  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
COL A   Bruce Billings.... 7  3  1  0  8  1  0  
SF  A   M. Bumgarner...... 6  5  1  1  9  0  0  
TEX A   Neftali Feliz..... 5  2  0  0  8  2  0  
OAK A+  Trevor Cahill..... 8  3  3  3  6  2  1  
TEX AA  Matt Harrison..... 6  10  5  3  7  0  0  15 GB
OAK A   Craig Italiano.... 5  1  0  0  5  2  0  
NYY AA  Alfredo Aceves.... 7  9  2  2  5  0  0  
STL AA  Jesse Todd........ 7  1  0  0  2  1  0  13 GB
SF  A+  Benjamin Snyder... 4  5  1  1  6  0  0  
SD  A+  Andrew Miller..... 6  4  3  3  6  1  1  
BAL A   Anthony Butler.... 5  3  1  1  4  1  0  
CLE A   K. De La Cruz..... 6  1  0  0  3  2  0

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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.

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