THT Daily: Play On
by Matthew CarruthApril 05, 2008
Major League News for April 5
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 RotoworldJosh Beckett reported Friday that, along with back spasms, he was also dealing with hip problems related to the same early-spring injury.
"After the first week, my back really responded to the treatment," Beckett said. "And once we got rid of the back spasms, basically what we had to do was just strengthen my hip. That's kind of where the problem lied. I think the back spasms were just more of protecting my hip." Thankfully, this revelation won't deter him from making his season debut against the Blue Jays and Roy Halladay on Sunday.
Gary Sheffield will wear a splint on his injured left ring finger for the next six weeks.
The good news has already been reported that he'll avoid the disabled list. According to Sheffield, the splint won't affect his swing at all. "You don't need the tip of your finger to hit," said Sheffield. He will probably be out another two, maybe three days.
Kaz Matsui (anal fissure) is expected to begin a rehab assignment at Double-A Corpus Christi on Tuesday.
Astros manager Ed Wade said Matsui will get four starts at Corpus Christi, and "if he's ready to go at that point, we could reinstate him as early as Sunday (April 13) or the Philly trip beginning Tuesday (April 15)."
Nomar Garciaparra (wrist) hit soft-toss on Friday and said his right hand still hurts.
Garciaparra started swinging a bat Wednesday, for the first time since injuring his wrist March 18. He was expected to miss only the first week of the season, but if there’s still pain coming from that fractured wrist, he won’t be back soon. Rookie Blake DeWitt will continue to start at third.
Duaner Sanchez (shoulder) allowed two solo homers in one inning of work Friday night for Single-A St. Lucie.
There was nothing good about Sanchez’s appearance, but his rehab will progress to Triple-A New Orleans next week. He’ll have to prove he can work back-to-back days in Triple-A, and not allow bombs to minor leaguers, before the Mets consider adding him to their bullpen.
Brad Lidge will rejoin the Phillies on Saturday.
Lidge, who was recovering from knee surgery, will be available to close in Saturday’s game if needed. Tim Lahey will likely be let go to make room.
Giants released LHP Steve Kline.
Any team can now sign him at the league-minimum, with the Giants picking up the rest of his $1.75 million salary. Nobody came forward looking to trade for Kline in the past week, but at this cheap, he should garner some interest on the waiver wire.
Mark Mulder (shoulder) will make a start at extended spring training Saturday.
Mulder has not faced live hitters in a game situation since last September. If all goes well, he could be back with the Cardinals in a month.
Scott Kazmir (elbow) is scheduled to throw a final bullpen session Saturday.
The next step for Kazmir is throwing batting practice. He is about three weeks away from joining the Rays.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BAL 7 SEA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 13 NYA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 6 BOS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 8 DET 5 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 4 KC 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 11 LAA 6 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 6 CLE 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League FLA 5 PIT 4 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 4 CHN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 8 CIN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 13 SF 4 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 5 WAS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 8 COL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 7 SD 1 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs, 1:05 PM (R) Roy Oswalt (0-1) vs. (R) Jason Marquis (0-0) San Francisco Giants at Milwaukee Brewers, 1:05 PM (R) Kevin Correia (0-0) vs. (L) Manny Parra (0-0) Washington Nationals at St. Louis Cardinals, 1:10 PM (L) Matt Chico (0-0) vs. (R) Adam Wainwright (0-0) Philadelphia Phillies at Cincinnati Reds, 1:10 PM (R) Adam Eaton (0-0) vs. (R) Aaron Harang (0-1) Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres, 3:55 PM (R) Brad Penny (1-0) vs. (R) Jake Peavy (1-0) New York Mets at Atlanta Braves, 3:55 PM (R) John Maine (0-0) vs. (R) Tim Hudson (0-0) Pittsburgh Pirates at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (L) Paul Maholm (0-0) vs. (L) Mark Hendrickson (0-1) Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies, 8:05 PM (R) Brandon Webb (1-0) vs. (L) Jeff Francis (0-0) American League --------------- Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM (R) Edwin Jackson (0-0) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (0-0) Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM (R) Clay Buchholz (0-0) vs. (R) Jesse Litsch (0-0) Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins, 2:10 PM (R) Gil Meche (0-0) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (1-0) Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers, 3:55 PM (R) Gavin Floyd (0-0) vs. (L) Dontrelle Willis (0-0) Cleveland Indians at Oakland Athletics, 4:05 PM (L) C.C. Sabathia (0-0) vs. (L) Dana Eveland (0-0) Seattle Mariners at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Miguel Batista (0-0) vs. (L) Adam Loewen (0-0) Texas Rangers at LA Angels of Anaheim, 9:05 PM (R) Kevin Millwood (0-1) vs. (R) Jered Weaver (0-1)
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 BAL 2 1 .667 0.0 2 0TB 2 1 .667 0.0 2 0
BOS 3 2 .600 0.0 2 1
NYA 2 2 .500 0.5 1 1
TOR 2 2 .500 0.5 3 -1
American League Central KC 3 1 .750 0.0 3 0
CHA 2 2 .500 1.0 2 0
CLE 2 2 .500 1.0 2 0
MIN 2 3 .400 1.5 1 1
DET 0 4 .000 3.0 1 -1
American League West LAA 3 2 .600 0.0 3 0
SEA 2 2 .500 0.5 2 0
TEX 2 2 .500 0.5 2 0
OAK 2 3 .400 1.0 2 0
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 2 1 .667 0.0 3 -1
WAS 3 2 .600 0.0 3 0
FLA 2 2 .500 0.5 1 1
PHI 2 2 .500 0.5 2 0
ATL 1 3 .250 1.5 2 -1
National League Central STL 3 1 .750 0.0 3 0
MIL 3 1 .750 0.0 3 0
CIN 2 2 .500 1.0 2 0
PIT 2 2 .500 1.0 1 1
HOU 2 3 .400 1.5 2 0
CHN 1 3 .250 2.0 1 0
National League West LAN 3 1 .750 0.0 3 0
SD 3 2 .600 0.5 2 1
ARI 2 2 .500 1.0 3 -1
COL 1 3 .250 2.0 0 1
SF 1 3 .250 2.0 1 0
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 LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 5 1 0 0 1 0 3 DET AA Jeffrey Frazier... 6 4 1 0 1 0 0 5 RBI ! OAK AA Cliff Pennington.. 5 3 1 0 0 0 0 KC AAA Ryan Shealy....... 4 2 0 0 1 1 1 ARI A+ Pedro Ciriaco..... 5 3 1 1 0 0 1 OAK A+ Matthew Sulentic.. 4 1 0 0 1 0 2 FLA AA Cameron Maybin.... 3 1 0 0 0 2 0 SEA AAA Bryan LaHair...... 4 3 0 0 1 0 0 MIL AAA Hernan Iribarren.. 4 2 1 0 0 1 0 DET A+ Scott Sizemore.... 3 3 0 0 1 1 0 TEX AAA J. Saltalamacchi.. 4 1 0 0 1 0 2 NYY A+ Eduardo Nunez..... 4 2 1 0 0 1 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes ATL A+ Thomas Hanson..... 5 0 0 0 13 1 0 LAA AAA Nick Adenhart..... 5 3 0 0 2 2 0 11 GB MIL AAA Yovani Gallardo... 4 6 3 3 5 1 1 OAK AA Vincent Mazzaro... 6 4 2 1 4 1 0 SD AA William Inman..... 5 3 0 0 5 2 0 TB A+ J. Hellickson..... 5 5 1 1 5 0 1 DET AAA A. Galarraga...... 5 3 0 0 6 1 0 STL AA Jaime Garcia...... 4 6 2 2 6 2 0 FLA AA C. Volstad........ 6 6 2 2 3 1 0 WAN A+ Jhonny Nunez...... 5 6 4 4 4 0 0 9 GB LA A Bryan Morris...... 6 6 3 3 6 0 1 LA AA Clayton Kershaw... 3 2 2 1 4 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.