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THT Daily: Phewby Dave StudemanJune 30, 2008 Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Yesterday’s Home Runs Top Minor League Performances You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ and an archive at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/thtdaily_index/ On this day at THT: Aaron listed the 2004 Bizarro World All Stars.
Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldAramis Ramirez will miss the Cubs' next three games to tend to a family matter in the Dominican Republic. He originally asked for four days off, but was only given three. Mark DeRosa and Ronny Cedeno are the most likely fill-ins at third, with Matt Murton possibly seeing a little time in the outfield. The Dodgers are calling Juan Pierre day-to-day with a left knee injury, but he will have an MRI on Monday. Pierre wanted to stay in today's game after getting hurt and has played through injuries in the past, so maybe he'll prove to be fine to use this week. Still, since the speedster is useless when he's not running at 100 percent, the Dodgers have reason to be extra careful. Mixed leaguers should look elsewhere. Kevin Slowey tossed a complete-game shutout against the Brewers on Sunday. Slowey struck out eight, walked none, and gave up just three hits. Only one of the three hits went for extra bases (a double), and he threw 79 strikes while needing just 109 pitches to record 27 outs. His home run tendencies mean he'll never be an ace, but Slowey is more than capable of posting an ERA below 4.00 while posting a K/BB similar to his current 54/9 mark in 72 2/3 innings. He'll get the Indians next time out. Michael Cuddyer is likely headed to the disabled list with a strained tendon in his left hand. Cuddyer had yet to be examined as scheduled Sunday, but no one seems optimistic about a quick return. "It's no better today," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He's pretty frustrated. We still need to let the doctors look at it." Denard Span should have some short-term fantasy value if Cuddyer lands on the DL. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Angels 1, Dodgers 0: I imagine Jayson Stark will tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that this is the first time a team has had three hits over the course of two games and split 'em. Nice series for the Angles' bats by the way (1 run in three games). Mets 3, Yankees 1: Not a bad start for Darrell Rasner (5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER) but you have to wonder if he wouldn't have be sharper over his last couple of games if he hadn't spent so much time talking to Jason at It is About the Money, Stupid. Twins 5, Brewers 0: The Twins are 13-2 in their last 15. Yeah, I think I'll start paying more attention now. Actually, I may not have a choice, as the White Sox, Twins, and Tigers look poised to make the AL Central the race to watch in the second half. After getting shelled by the White Sox on June 8th, Kevin Slowey has given up only three earned runs on 19 hits in 29 innings. Rays 4, Pirates 3: Quote from Rays catcher Shawn Riggans: "We've got a lot of work ahead of us. Interleague play is done now." Man, when the backup catcher for the Tampa Bay Rays is dissin' the NL like that, you know there's an imbalance between the leagues. The Rays are in first place again, by the way, and they have tons of young talent to deal if they feel like arming for bear. If you're Boston, you should be nervous. If you're New York, you should be downright terrified. Reds 9, Indians 5: If there is still anyone out there who thinks the Indians have a chance to make a run, they probably need to take note of the fact that the Reds now have a better record than they do. They're simply not running out a Major League lineup most nights, and that's not a sustainable situation. The buzz among the SABR wiseguys at Progressive Field Friday night was that we may very well have been watching C.C. Sabathia's last start as an Indian. I don't know about that, but if I'm Mark Shapiro, I'm on the phone soliciting the best offers I can find and hoping to pull the Bartolo Colon trade redux. Blue Jays 1, Braves 0: The Braves aren't running out much of a lineup themselves. If Chipper isn't able to go against the Phillies on Tuesday night, they have to DL him, because Bobby Cox just doesn't have enough warm bodies -- let alone decent players -- at his disposal right now. Mariners 9, Padres 2: Ichiro goes 5-5, as the Padres lay claim to Seattle's title as "The Worst Team in Baseball." Given the weather and the fish tacos and all of that good stuff, things never get truly ugly in San Diego, but this quote from Jake Peavy is the kind of thing that leads to major shakeups: "You have to be real with yourself. I know that I can't go six innings and give up three runs and think that I'm going to win a ballgame around here. It's just not the way it's going. I knew when I gave up the home run in the sixth inning it was probably the game." Tigers 4, Rockies 3: Speaking of futile, the Rockies have dropped seven in a row and eight of nine. Next up for the Rockies: our friends the Padres. I suppose someone has to win those games, but I can't picture either San Diego or Colorado doing it. Marlins 4, Diamondbacks 3: Tough luck loss for Danny Haren (7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER). Eric Byrnes -- who was stinkin' up the joint before he went on the DL and has been stinkin' up the joint since he got back -- was benched today, and Bob Melvin said that he's out of the leadoff position when he comes back. It's obvious this team needs a shakeup of some kind, so that's probably a good start. Astros 3, Red Sox 2: The Sox drop two of three to the lowly 'Stros, and now have to face a Rays team that is as tweaked as can be. Nothing is do or die before the All-Star break, and given the experience and talent of this Red Sox team, they could drop three in a row and it's not really going to matter that much. Still, you have to think that there are some unsettled stomachs in the more excitable enclaves of Red Sox Nation. Nationals 3, Orioles 2: Since it's Ronnie Belliard we're talking about here, let's just call his game winning shot in the bottom of the 12th a "waddle off" home run. Looking at the box score reveals that the Nats used four left fielders in this game: Wily Mo Pena, Willie Harris, Kory Casto and Paul Lo Duca. That crew is known in Nats' circles as the SSDD platoon. Cardinals 9, Royals 6: The AP game story starts off like a diary entry from Andrew Sullivan's annual trip to Provincetown: "The sun, the wind, and Jason LaRue's stocky body proved too much for Kansas City to overcome." Apparently the wind was blowing all game long, and when you're a junkballer who gives up a lot of contact like Brian Bannister does, that's going to make for a long day. Giants 11, A's 1: What's up with Joe Blanton? He has now lost for the fifth time in six starts for a grand total of 11 pre-All-Star break losses. Yesterday he gave up seven runs in four innings, and 16 runs over his last 14 innings. Wasn't there some notion in the early going that of the A's wanted to compete this year they needed to keep Blanton, but if they wanted to tear it completely down, they'd deal him? Man, false dichotomies suck, don't they? Rangers 5, Phillies 1: The Phillies pull a 12-14 June out of their rears yet still somehow find themselves a game up as July dawns. One wonders how ugly things would be in Philly if the Braves hadn't entered the season depending on a rotation of Methuselahs and if the Mets hadn't spent the majority of the month as a side show. White Sox 5, Cubs 1: I was pleased to see Piniella tossed in the second inning because that allowed Alan Trammell to come out and argue the double play Ronny Cedeno hit into in the fourth. He was my boyhood idol, so anytime I get a chance to see him audition for another manager job like that, I'm happy. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals, 7:05 PM (R) John Maine (8-5) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (9-2) Washington Nationals at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Tim Redding (6-3) vs. (R) Ryan Tucker (2-2) Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (L) Paul Maholm (5-5) vs. (R) Aaron Harang (3-10) Los Angeles Dodgers at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (L) Eric Stults (2-0) vs. (R) Roy Oswalt (6-8) San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (R) Greg Maddux (3-6) vs. (L) Jorge De La Rosa (2-4) Milwaukee Brewers at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Dave Bush (4-7) vs. (L) Doug Davis (2-3) Chicago Cubs at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (L) Ted Lilly (8-5) vs. (L) Barry Zito (3-11) American League --------------- Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Zack Greinke (7-4) vs. (L) Brian Burres (6-5) Texas Rangers at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Scott Feldman (1-3) vs. (R) Mike Mussina (10-5) Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Justin Masterson (4-1) vs. (R) James Shields (5-5) Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (R) Armando Galarraga (7-2) vs. (L) Glen Perkins (4-2) Cleveland Indians at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (L) Jeremy Sowers (0-3) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (8-4) Oakland Athletics at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (L) Greg Smith (4-6) vs. (R) Jon Garland (7-4) Toronto Blue Jays at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) Roy Halladay (8-6) vs. (R) R.A. Dickey (2-3) 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 49 32 .605 0.0 46 3 Game of the DayNationals 3, Orioles 2 - FINAL
BALTIMORE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
B Roberts 2b 5 0 1 0 0 1 0 .293
A Cintron ss 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 .258
N Markakis rf 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 .288
A Huff 3b 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 .275
K Millar 1b 5 0 1 0 0 1 3 .241
L Scott lf 5 1 2 1 0 1 3 .280
A Jones cf 5 0 1 1 0 2 3 .273
G Quiroz c 5 0 0 0 0 1 3 .213
J Guthrie p 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .200
va-J Payton ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .256
J Johnson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Bradford p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
vb-M Mora ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .232
D Sarfate p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
G Sherrill p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 43 2 9 2 1 8 13 ###
WASHINGTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Bernadina cf 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 .200
C Guzman ss 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 .313
E Dukes rf 4 0 0 0 1 2 3 .250
A Boone 1b 5 0 1 1 0 0 2 .260
K Casto 3b-lf 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 .188
J Hanrahan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
W Pena lf 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 .218
P Orr pr-2b 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 .182
W Harris 2b-lf 4 0 2 0 0 0 2 .198
L Ayala p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Manning p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
P Lo Duca lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .191
W Nieves c 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .260
hb-D Young ph 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .267
J Bergmann p 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000
S Rivera p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
ha-J Flores ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .292
F Lopez pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .243
J Rauch p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Belliard 3b 2 1 1 2 0 0 0 .210
Totals 40 3 9 3 4 7 14 ###
----------------------------------------------------
BALTIMORE - 000 000 100 001 -- 2 9 1
WASHINGTON - 100 000 000 002 -- 3 9 0
Two outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
va-struck out swinging for J Guthrie in the 8th; ha-singled to right for S
Rivera in the 8th; vb-flied out to center for C Bradford in the 11th;
hb-walked for W Nieves in the 12th.
BATTING: 2B - J Guthrie (1, J Bergmann). HR - L Scott (14, 7th inning off J
Bergmann 0 on, 1 Out), R Belliard (6, 12th inning off G Sherrill 1 on, 2 Out).
RBI - L Scott (32), A Jones (29), A Boone (17), R Belliard 2 (20). 2-out RBI -
A Jones, R Belliard 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - G Quiroz 1, A
Jones 2, J Bergmann 1. GIDP - K Casto, W Nieves, W Harris, E Dukes. Team LOB -
BALTIMORE 6, WASHINGTON 7. BASERUNNING: CS - B Roberts (7, 2nd base by J
Bergmann/W Nieves), R Bernadina (1, 2nd base by C Bradford/G Quiroz). Picked
Off - J Guthrie (2nd base, W Nieves). FIELDING: E - K Millar (2, ground ball).
DP: (B Roberts-A Cintron-K Millar, A Huff-K Millar 2, K Millar-A Cintron-K
Millar).
BALTIMORE ip h r er bb so hr era
J Guthrie 7 4 1 1 3 4 0 3.50
J Johnson 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 1.20
C Bradford 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.51
D Sarfate 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 2.78
G Sherrill (L, 2-3; B, 4) 2/3 1 2 2 1 1 1 3.53
WASHINGTON ip h r er bb so hr era
J Bergmann 7 6 1 1 1 3 1 4.26
S Rivera 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.75
J Rauch 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.18
L Ayala 2 1/3 2 1 1 0 2 0 5.48
C Manning 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.45
J Hanrahan (W, 5-2) 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 4.26
WP - J Bergmann. HBP - C Guzman (by J Guthrie). Pitches-strikes: J Guthrie
99-65; J Johnson 23-16; C Bradford 12-9; D Sarfate 17-12; G Sherrill 17-10; J
Bergmann 100-62; S Rivera 16-9; J Rauch 9-7; L Ayala 33-24; C Manning 3-3; J
Hanrahan 6-4. Ground balls-fly balls: J Guthrie 14-3; J Johnson 4-2; C Bradford
0-1; D Sarfate 1-1; G Sherrill 1-0; J Bergmann 6-10; S Rivera 1-0; J Rauch 0-3;
L Ayala 3-2; C Manning 0-0; J Hanrahan 0-1. Batters faced: J Guthrie 26; J
Johnson 8; C Bradford 3; D Sarfate 4; G Sherrill 4; J Bergmann 26; S Rivera 3;
J Rauch 3; L Ayala 9; C Manning 1; J Hanrahan 2. IRS - J Hanrahan. UMPIRES:
HP--Ron Kulpa. 1B--Dan Iassogna. 2B--Bill Hohn. 3B--Dale Scott. T--3:16.
Att--39,824. Weather: 90 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 5 mph, out to right.The following graph tracks the game's Win Probability, courtesy of Fan Graphs. You can also view live WPA graphs at Fangraphs during any ballgame all season long.  Yesterday’s Home RunsThe following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected “true” distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its "standard" distance, which is corrected for weather conditions. Each homer is also categorized into one of three types: Just Enough (JE) for homers that cleared the fence by ten feet or less, Plenty (PL) for those that were sure home runs but not “blasts,” and No Doubt (ND) for true “blasts”—homers that cleared the fence by at least 20 feet and landed at least 50 feet beyond the fence.Hitter Team Pitcher Team True Stnd. # Type Brian Anderson CWS Sean Marshall CHC 396 384 4 PL Rich Aurilia SF Santiago Casilla OAK 405 406 5 PL Willy Aybar TB Tom Gorzelanny PIT 407 405 3 PL Ronnie Belliard WAS George Sherrill BAL 378 344 6 PL/L Adrian Beltre SEA Jake Peavy SD 350 309 16 JE Wilson Betemit NYY Oliver Perez NYM 463 457 3 ND Geoff Blum HOU Josh Beckett BOS 392 390 5 PL Jeff Clement SEA Trevor Hoffman SD 425 372 2 PL/L Jack Cust OAK Jonathan Sanchez SF 402 397 13 PL Chris Davis TEX Jamie Moyer PHI 416 404 2 JE Carlos Delgado NYM Darrell Rasner NYY 452 443 14 ND Stephen Drew ARI Scott Olsen FLA 397 395 12 PL Adam Dunn CIN Rick Bauer CLE 384 403 20 ND Edwin Encarnacion CIN Aaron Laffey CLE 394 391 13 PL Ben Francisco CLE Jeremy Affeldt CIN 396 408 6 PL Jason LaRue STL Brian Bannister KC 389 377 3 PL Dustin Pedroia BOS Brian Moehler HOU 354 353 8 PL Albert Pujols STL Joel Peralta KC 385 377 17 PL Carlos Quentin CWS Sean Marshall CHC 392 393 19 ND Hanley Ramirez FLA Brandon Lyon ARI 368 361 18 JE/L Manny Ramirez BOS Oscar Villarreal HOU 393 392 16 PL Shawn Riggans TB Tom Gorzelanny PIT 422 398 4 PL Luke Scott BAL Jason Bergmann WAS 398 384 14 JE Grady Sizemore CLE Bronson Arroyo CIN 405 392 19 PL/L Jim Thome CWS Jose Ascanio CHC 432 419 15 ND Troy Tulowitzki COL Kenny Rogers DET 365 346 2 JE/L Delmon Young MIN Ben Sheets MIL 377 373 2 PL 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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes BOS A Che-Hsuan Lin..... 5 4 2 0 1 1 0 6 RBI ! COL A Everth Cabrera.... 6 5 1 0 1 0 0 BOS A+ Jonathan Still.... 3 3 1 0 1 2 0 6 RBI ! SD A+ Eric Sogard....... 4 2 1 0 1 2 0 PHI A- Travis D'Arnaud... 4 3 3 0 0 0 0 4 RBI BOS AAA Jed Lowrie........ 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 4 RBI CLE AAA Jordan Brown...... 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 CLE AA Trevor Crowe...... 4 2 0 1 1 1 0 3 R NYM AA Nick Evans........ 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 BOS A+ Reid Engel........ 4 2 1 0 1 1 2 MIL A+ Lorenzo Cain...... 4 2 1 0 1 1 0 NYY A Abraham Almonte... 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 3 LD ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes STL AA Jesse Todd........ 8 2 0 0 10 1 0 CIN AAA Matthew Maloney... 9 3 2 2 8 0 1 MIN A M. McCardell...... 9 5 1 1 6 0 0 LA AA James McDonald.... 6 5 0 0 9 1 0 OAK AA Vincent Mazzaro... 8 6 0 0 6 0 0 16 GB MIL A+ Jeremy Jeffress... 6 3 1 1 9 3 0 MIN AA Jeffrey Manship... 6 4 2 2 8 2 0 TEX AAA Dustin Nippert.... 7 0 0 0 5 2 0 SF A+ Tim Alderson...... 7 4 2 1 6 2 0 STL AAA Mike Parisi....... 8 4 2 2 5 2 0 OAK AAA Gio Gonzalez...... 6 3 1 1 7 4 0 DET A+ Duane Below....... 6 1 0 0 4 2 0 Access THT’s stats here…
Dave is the manager of the Baseball Graphs website.. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail. 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: Three things Keith Hernandez taught me about pitching>> <<Previous Article: THT Dartboard: June 29, 2008 | |||||||
BOS 50 34 .595 0.5 49 1 
NYA 44 38 .537 5.5 43 1 
BAL 41 39 .513 7.5 40 1 
TOR 40 43 .482 10.0 45 -5 
American League Central
CHA 46 35 .568 0.0 50 -4 
MIN 45 37 .549 1.5 42 3 
DET 41 40 .506 5.0 41 0 
CLE 37 45 .451 9.5 42 -5 
KC 37 45 .451 9.5 36 1 
American League West
LAA 49 33 .598 0.0 42 7 
OAK 44 37 .543 4.5 47 -3 
TEX 42 41 .506 7.5 41 1 
SEA 31 50 .383 17.5 34 -3 
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 44 39 .530 0.0 49 -5 
FLA 42 39 .519 1.0 39 3 
NYN 40 41 .494 3.0 40 0 
ATL 40 43 .482 4.0 46 -6 
WAS 33 50 .398 11.0 30 3 
National League Central
CHN 49 33 .598 0.0 50 -1 
STL 47 36 .566 2.5 44 3 
MIL 44 37 .543 4.5 40 4 
HOU 39 43 .476 10.0 37 2 
PIT 38 43 .469 10.5 36 2 
CIN 38 45 .458 11.5 36 2 
National League West
ARI 41 41 .500 0.0 42 -1 
LAN 38 43 .469 2.5 41 -3 
SF 36 46 .439 5.0 37 -1 
COL 32 50 .390 9.0 33 -1 
SD 32 51 .386 9.5 32 0 