THT Daily: Phils Sweep Braves
by Matthew CarruthMay 28, 2007
Major League News for May 28
LinksPlayer News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
Angels Have What it Takes - Dayn Perry thinks the Angels have the right recipe for making the postseason. With the state of the rest of their division, it's hard to argue.
BJ Upton is Versatile - According to MLB's own depth chart, BJ Upton is the starting 2B, SS and 3B for the Rays. Given the defense provided by the left side so far this year, they might as well have Upton play the entire infield. Also Elijah Dukes is the starting CF and DH.
Bring out the Brooms - A whopping seven road teams swept their weekend series yesterday.
Butler and Gordon - Swing mechanics guru Jeff Albert takes a peek at Royal rookies Billy Butler and Alex Gordon.
Superstition - Talking Chop has an idea of what has recently cursed the Braves.
A Rebuttal - JC Bradbury has a rebuttal to Jayson Stark's claim that Andruw Jones is vastly overrated.
Steroids Down South - Ian Gordon discussed the high rate of failed drug tests in Venezuela and why it might be happening.
Due for Regression - Kevin Hench has a list of ten players, including Jorge Posada and Chad Gaudin, who playing above their heads so far this young season.
Back from the DL - The Athletics are likely getting Mark Kotsay, Justin Duchscherer, Esteban Loaiza and Milton Bradley back from the DL within the next week or so which would provide a much needed boost to a team hovering around .500 and quickly falling behind the streaking Angels.
THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldBarry Bonds snapped out of his homer drought with No. 746 against the Rockies' Taylor Buchholz on Sunday. It wasn't exacrtly a majestic bomb from Bonds, but he did get it over the wall in center. Bonds also singled, walked twice and stole his second base today. Manager Bruce Bochy said Saturday that Bonds would likely get Tuesday off after Monday's off day, but maybe his nice game today will change that.
Ryan Howard went 3-for-4 with a pair of two-run homers as the Phillies crushed the Braves 13-6 to complete a three-game sweep on Sunday. Howard hit his seventh and eighth homers in his third game back after coming off the DL on Friday. Even though he's batting just .220 and he's had to deal with intentional walks in big situations, he's driven in 29 runs in 32 games.
John Lackey beat the Yankees by allowing two runs over eight innings as the Angels completed a three-game road sweep on Sunday. The Angels held on to win 4-3 after Francisco Rodriguez gave up one run in the ninth. Derek Jeter flied out to center with the tying run on third to end it. The runs off Lackey in the second and fourth innings came on singles from Wil Nieves, who entered with one RBI all year. Lackey won his fourth straight to become the baseball's first eight-game winner.
Cardinals optioned RHP Anthony Reyes to Triple-A Memphis. Todd Wellemeyer will take his rotation spot. It's not exactly fair to Reyes, considering that his 6.08 ERA was right there with Adam Wainwright's 6.02 and Kip Wells' 6.10 mark. He also allowed fewer unearned runs than either and had easily the best WHIP of the group (1.35 to 1.44 for Wells and 1.91 for Wainwright). However, the Cardinals felt they had to try something different and Reyes was getting worse rather than better. It's not a big mistake unless they hesitate to recall him as soon as he puts together two or three strong starts at Memphis.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BAL 8 OAK 4 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 4 NYA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 11 CHA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 5 DET 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 7 KC 4 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 4 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 6 TEX 5 (Recap and Boxscore) National League PHI 13 ATL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 6 FLA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 14 CIN 10 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 7 STL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 8 HOU 4 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 2 CHN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 3 MIL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 6 SF 4 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds, 1:15 PM (R) Ian Snell (4-3) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (1-6) Atlanta Braves at Milwaukee Brewers, 2:05 PM (L) Chuck James (4-4) vs. (R) Ben Sheets (4-3) Florida Marlins at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (R) Byung-Hyun Kim (2-2) vs. (L) Sean Marshall (0-1) St. Louis Cardinals at Colorado Rockies, 3:05 PM (R) Kip Wells (2-8) vs. (L) Jeff Francis (3-4) Arizona Diamondbacks at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (L) Doug Davis (2-6) vs. (R) Freddy Garcia (1-3) American League --------------- Chicago White Sox at Minnesota Twins, 2:10 PM (L) John Danks (3-4) vs. (L) Johan Santana (5-4) Cleveland Indians at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (L) Cliff Lee (2-1) vs. (R) Curt Schilling (4-2) New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (L) Andy Pettitte (3-3) vs. (R) Dustin McGowan (0-2) Baltimore Orioles at Kansas City Royals, 7:10 PM (R) Steve Trachsel (3-3) vs. (R) Scott Elarton (1-0) Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Chad Durbin (4-1) vs. (L) Casey Fossum (3-4) Seattle Mariners at LA Angels of Anaheim, 9:05 PM (R) Miguel Batista (4-4) vs. (R) Bartolo Colon (5-1) Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Robinson Tejeda (4-4) vs. (R) Chad Gaudin (4-1)
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 BOS 34 15 .694 0.0 32 2BAL 23 27 .460 11.5 24 -1
TOR 22 27 .449 12.0 24 -2
NYA 21 27 .438 12.5 26 -5
TB 20 28 .417 13.5 18 2
American League Central CLE 31 17 .646 0.0 28 3
DET 29 20 .592 2.5 28 1
CHA 24 21 .533 5.5 21 3
MIN 24 25 .490 7.5 25 -1
KC 19 32 .373 13.5 19 0
American League West LAA 31 20 .608 0.0 29 2
SEA 24 22 .522 4.5 23 1
OAK 24 25 .490 6.0 27 -3
TEX 18 32 .360 12.5 22 -4
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 32 17 .653 0.0 31 1
ATL 28 22 .560 4.5 26 2
PHI 26 24 .520 6.5 27 -1
FLA 23 27 .460 9.5 23 0
WAS 21 30 .412 12.0 20 1
National League Central MIL 28 22 .560 0.0 26 2
CHN 22 26 .458 5.0 27 -5
PIT 22 27 .449 5.5 22 0
STL 20 27 .426 6.5 17 3
HOU 21 29 .420 7.0 21 0
CIN 18 33 .353 10.5 22 -4
National League West LAN 29 21 .580 0.0 27 2
SD 29 21 .580 0.0 30 -1
ARI 29 23 .558 1.0 27 2
SF 24 25 .490 4.5 26 -2
COL 23 27 .460 6.0 20 3
Game of the Day
For the second time in three days, the Cubs and Dodgers played our game of the day. This time, the Dodgers beat the Cubs in eleven innings, 2-1, when Juan Pierre was hit by a pitch from Carlos Marmol with the bases loaded. Rich Hill and Randy Wolf contributed excellent starts, both going six innings and allowing only three hits and no runs.CHICAGO CUBS (1) VS LA DODGERS (2) - FINAL IN 11 INNINGS
CHICAGO CUBS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Soriano lf 4 1 2 0 1 0 1 .301
R Theriot 2b 5 0 1 0 0 1 4 .279
D Lee 1b 5 0 1 1 0 2 0 .357
M Barrett c 4 0 0 0 1 0 2 .250
M DeRosa 3b 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 .246
M Murton rf 4 0 1 0 1 0 0 .287
A Pagan cf 3 0 2 0 0 1 2 .308
b-A Ramirez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 .294
J Jones cf 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .248
C Izturis ss 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 .267
R Hill p 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 .048
a-D Ward ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .286
M Wuertz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
S Eyre p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Howry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
c-C Floyd ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .281
A Guzman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Marmol p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 39 1 7 1 4 8 20
a-lined out to second for R Hill in the 7th; b-flied out to right for A Pagan
in the 8th; c-struck out swinging for B Howry in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - M Murton (7, R Wolf); A Pagan (2, R Seanez). RBI - D Lee (28).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - D Ward 1, A Ramirez 2, R Theriot 2.
GIDP - A Soriano. Team LOB - 9.
BASERUNNING: CS - M Barrett (2, 3rd base by R Wolf/R Martin).
FIELDING: DP: 1 (D Lee).
LA DODGERS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Furcal ss 4 0 2 0 1 0 0 .307
J Pierre cf 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 .274
R Martin c 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .307
J Kent 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .287
O Saenz 1b 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .227
L Gonzalez lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .275
A LaRoche 3b 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .200
b-A Ethier ph-rf 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 .280
B Clark rf 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .239
c-N Garciaparra ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .281
J Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Billingsley p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
e-R Martinez ph 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .161
R Wolf p 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .100
a-T Abreu ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250
R Seanez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Beimel p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
d-W Betemit ph-3b 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .188
Totals 32 2 4 2 5 4 5
a-grounded to shortstop for R Wolf in the 6th; b-homered to right for A
Laroche in the 8th; c-flied out to center for B Clark in the 8th; d-flied out
to right for J Beimel in the 8th; e-walked for C Billingsley in the 11th.
BATTING: HR - A Ethier (4, 8th inning off S Eyre 0 on, 0 Out). RBI - A Ethier
(23), J Pierre (12). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B Clark 1. Team
LOB - 6.
BASERUNNING: SB - R Martinez (1, 3rd base off A Guzman/M Barrett). CS - R
Furcal (3, 2nd base by R Hill).
FIELDING: E - R Furcal (7, ground ball). DP: 1 (R Furcal-J Kent-O Saenz).
----------------------------------------------------
CHICAGO CUBS - 000 000 010 00 -- 1
LA DODGERS - 000 000 010 01 -- 2
No outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
CHICAGO CUBS ip h r er bb so hr era
R Hill 6 3 0 0 2 3 0 3.06
M Wuertz 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.64
S Eyre (B, 4) 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 8.16
B Howry 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.32
A Guzman (L, 0-1) 2 0 1 1 2 1 0 2.96
C Marmol 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.00
LA DODGERS ip h r er bb so hr era
R Wolf 6 3 0 0 2 5 0 3.41
R Seanez 1 2/3 4 1 1 1 0 0 2.88
J Beimel 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.09
J Broxton 2 0 0 0 1 3 0 1.65
C Billingsley (W, 3-0) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.00
S Eyre pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
A Guzman pitched to 2 batters in the 11th.
C Marmol pitched to 2 batters in the 11th.
WP - R Wolf. IBB - R Furcal (by C Marmol). HBP - J Pierre (by C Marmol).
Pitches-strikes: R Hill 66-39; M Wuertz 12-8; S Eyre 3-3; B Howry 13-9; A
Guzman 35-16; C Marmol 7-2; R Wolf 101-59; R Seanez 32-21; J Beimel 1-1; J
Broxton 30-20; C Billingsley 14-9. Ground balls-fly balls: R Hill 7-6; M Wuertz
0-3; S Eyre 0-0; B Howry 0-3; A Guzman 3-2; C Marmol 0-0; R Wolf 9-3; R Seanez
2-3; J Beimel 0-1; J Broxton 3-0; C Billingsley 1-2. Batters faced: R Hill 21;
M Wuertz 3; S Eyre 1; B Howry 3; A Guzman 8; C Marmol 2; R Wolf 23; R Seanez
10; J Beimel 1; J Broxton 6; C Billingsley 3.
UMPIRES: HP--Dana Demuth. 1B--Derryl Cousins. 2B--Kerwin Danley. 3B--Doug
Eddings.
T--3:22. Att--51,198.
Weather: 71 degrees, sunny. Wind: 8 mph, out to center.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.
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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes ARI AA Justin Upton...... 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 SEA AAA Adam Jones........ 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 MIL AAA Yovani Gallardo... 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 CLE AAA Brad Snyder....... 4 3 0 0 2 1 0 3 R PIT AA Neil Walker....... 5 2 0 0 2 0 0 4 RBI CLE AA Trevor Crowe...... 4 2 2 0 0 0 1 KC AAA Billy Butler...... 5 1 1 0 0 0 3 SD A+ Chad Huffman...... 3 2 1 0 1 2 0 5 RBI ! SEA AAA Jeff Clement...... 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 BOS AA Jed Lowrie........ 4 2 1 1 0 1 1 TOR AA Ryan Patterson.... 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 NYY A+ Jose Tabata....... 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes MIL AAA Yovani Gallardo... 6 6 3 3 8 3 0 NYY A+ Joba Chamberlain.. 8 2 0 0 9 2 0 TB AAA Mitch Talbot...... 8 2 0 0 5 2 0 COL A+ Brandon Hynick.... 9 7 1 1 8 0 0 16 GB FLA A+ C. Volstad........ 6 5 4 3 7 2 0 MIN AAA Matt Garza........ 7 4 1 1 7 4 1 SD A+ Wade Leblanc...... 6 2 0 0 6 1 0 TB A+ M. Wlodarczyk..... 6 5 1 1 8 3 0 LAA AA Nick Adenhart..... 8 6 2 2 5 5 1 OAK A Andrew Bailey..... 5 6 3 3 10 0 2 HOU AA Jimmy Barthmaier.. 4 3 1 1 4 1 0 TOR AA Kyle Yates........ 6 5 0 0 3 1 0 13 GB
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.