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THT Daily: Randolph and Bavasi are firedby Dave StudemanJune 17, 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/ Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld
Mets fired manager Willie Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and first-base coach Tom Nieto. A bizarre ending to what's turned into quite an embarrassment for the franchise. Randolph's tactics left a lot to be desired and the Mets may well be better off without him, but he didn't deserve to be treated this way over the last several weeks. The rumor all day was that Peterson and Nieto were out, but it appeared that Randolph would get another reprieve. Then the Mets make this announcement in the middle of the night after a victory. Former White Sox manager Jerry Manuel will take over for Randolph on an interim basis. As overmatched as he was in Chicago, it looks like a downgrade. Mariners fired GM Bill Bavasi. Finally. The team finished 322-395 in four and a half seasons under his watchful eye. We'd list Bavasi's poor decisions, but it'd probably overload the Rotoworld servers. The best indication of his over-spending and poor roster development is that the team currently has the worst record in baseball with a top-10 payroll over $100 million. Vice President/Associate General Manager Lee Pelekoudas will take over as the interim General Manager. Chien-Ming Wang could miss the rest of the season after suffering a mid-foot sprain of the Lisfranc ligament of the right foot and a partial tear of the peroneal longus tendon of the right foot. He won't need surgery, but he'll be on crutches and wearing a protective boot for at least six weeks. The Journal News speculates that even if he's fully healthy at that point, it would take four weeks for him to return to pitching shape, making a late August return the best case scenario. Get ready for even more C.C. Sabathia to New York rumors. An MRI revealed that Xavier Nady has suffered a sprained left shoulder. The Pirates aren't currently planning on placing him on the disabled list. He'll rejoin the team for now and they will take the next two to three days to decide what action to take. He's day-to-day for now. The Mariners are calling up Jeff Clement and sending Wladimir Balentien back to Triple-A Tacoma, the Everett Herald reports. Sending down Balentien was the logical response to the decision to move Ichiro Suzuki back to right field, and Clement has belonged in the majors all along. Now we'll just have to see what the Mariners do with him. It really could involve giving Kenji Johjima some time at first base. Clement should be a real asset in AL-only leagues this time, and he'll probably be a fair No. 2 catcher in mixed leagues once he's assured of playing time. In their first game since firing their general manager, the Mariners have shifted Ichiro Suzuki to right field on Monday. Let the hijinks begin. Ichiro, a Gold Glove winner as a center fielder last season, will be making his first start at his old position since 2006. The Mariners desperately need more offense, so they'll try making their best player less valuable by playing at him at a position at which it's easier to find offense. Makes perfect sense to us. Willie Bloomquist is getting the start in center tonight. They'll probably put Kenji Johjima at first base next. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps courtesy of Craig Calcaterra. Phillies 8, Red Sox 2: Bartolo Colon is so big and looks so uncomfortable when he pitches these days that it makes my stomach hurt just to watch him. Last night it probably made Sox fans' stomachs hurt too, what with how dingeriffic he was. One to Jimmy Rollins and two to Ryan "How on Earth do I not have a nickname yet" Howard on the way to a big loss for Boston. I have no idea how Cole Hamels makes a living in that ballpark given how many flyballs he gives up, but he just keeps on keepin' on, eh? Braves 7, Rockies 1: No matter what happens the rest of the year for the Braves as a team, picking up Jair Jurrjens (7.2 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, 7K) for Edgar Renteria has to be one of the best trades of the offseason, no? Meanwhile, Brandon Jones goes 2-4 with a couple of RBI. He's 8-17, 2B, HR, 4 RBI since his callup. And hey, the Braves sweep the Rockies! Sure, it was a one game series, but a sweep is a sweep! Also: while I'm inclined to think that the Braves are done, their next six games come against the Rangers and Mariners. If they don't win a goodly portion of those, they have to be considered to be really done, no? Florida 6, Seattle 1: Bavasi may be gone, but his embarrassment of a roster lives on. Giants 8, Tigers 6: Verlander (6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 7K) out-pitches Lincecum (7 IP, 6 H, 4 ER), but unfortunately Detroit has a bullpen, and that pen gave up five runs in the eighth to blow the game. And you know, that bullpen isn't going anywhere, which is just one of the many reasons why I fail to be impressed with all of yesterday's "here come the Tigers!" stories. Yes, they won a bunch of games in a row, but three of those games came against the Dodgers, and beating the Dodgers has been no big trick recently. Mets 9, Angels 6: After the game Billy Wagner said: "I honestly don't think we go out there thinking, well, I've got to make sure we win this game so Willie can keep his job, because that's out of our control. I think we're all out there just trying to do our job." Actually, Billy, you shouldn't go out there thinking that because even winning the game won't help. Yes, kids, Willie is gone. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Chad Billingsley (4-7) vs. (R) Johnny Cueto (5-6) Inter-League ------------ Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (L) Jon Lester (5-3) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (7-3) Houston Astros at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Brandon Backe (4-8) vs. (L) Garrett Olson (5-2) San Diego Padres at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (L) Randy Wolf (5-4) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (6-5) Chicago Cubs at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Ryan Dempster (8-2) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (6-2) Atlanta Braves at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Tim Hudson (7-4) vs. (R) Vicente Padilla (8-3) Toronto Blue Jays at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Dustin McGowan (5-4) vs. (L) Manny Parra (5-2) Washington Nationals at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (L) John Lannan (4-7) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (6-4) Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) Ian Snell (3-6) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (6-5) Kansas City Royals at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (R) Kyle Davies (2-0) vs. (R) Joel Pineiro (2-3) Cleveland Indians at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (R) Paul Byrd (3-6) vs. (R) Greg Reynolds (1-4) Oakland Athletics at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Justin Duchscherer (6-4) vs. (R) Brandon Webb (11-2) New York Mets at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (L) Johan Santana (7-4) vs. (R) John Lackey (3-1) Florida Marlins at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (L) Scott Olsen (4-3) vs. (R) Felix Hernandez (5-5) Detroit Tigers at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (L) Kenny Rogers (4-4) vs. (L) Jonathan Sanchez (6-3) 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 BOS 44 28 .611 0.0 43 1 Game of the DayDETROIT (6) VS SAN FRANCISCO (8) - FINAL
DETROIT ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Granderson cf 4 0 1 2 1 1 0 .250
P Polanco 2b 4 0 1 0 1 0 3 .303
C Guillen 3b 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 .303
M Ordonez rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .305
M Cabrera 1b 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 .284
M Thames lf 4 2 2 3 0 1 1 .257
I Rodriguez c 3 2 3 0 1 0 0 .273
M Hollimon ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000
F Dolsi p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
F Rodney p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Fossum p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-J Larish ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .162
J Verlander p 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-E Renteria ph-ss 1 0 0 1 0 1 3 .273
Totals 33 6 9 6 4 5 14
a-hit sacrifice fly to right for J Verlander in the 7th; b-walked for C Fossum
in the 9th.
BATTING: 3B - I Rodriguez (3, T Lincecum). HR - M Thames 2 (12, 2nd inning off
T Lincecum 0 on, 2 Out, 4th inning off T Lincecum 1 on, 2 Out). SF - E
Renteria. RBI - M Thames 3 (28), E Renteria (32), C Granderson 2 (24). 2-out
RBI - M Thames 3, C Granderson 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - P
Polanco 1, M Hollimon 1. GIDP - P Polanco. Team LOB - 5.
BASERUNNING: SB - I Rodriguez (6, 2nd base off T Lincecum/B Molina).
FIELDING: E - M Hollimon (1, throw).
SAN FRANCISCO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
F Lewis lf 5 1 2 3 0 0 0 .284
R Durham 2b 5 0 0 0 0 2 1 .286
R Winn rf 3 1 1 0 1 1 0 .302
B Molina c 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .310
A Rowand cf 3 2 1 0 0 1 1 .311
J Bowker 1b 4 2 3 3 0 1 0 .273
B Wilson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Aurilia 3b-1b 4 1 2 1 0 0 0 .282
O Vizquel ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 .184
T Lincecum p 2 0 0 0 0 2 3 .156
a-B Horwitz ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .318
K Yabu p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-J Castillo ph-3b 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .261
Totals 35 8 10 7 2 7 11
a-grounded to shortstop for T Lincecum in the 7th; b-walked for K Yabu in the
8th.
BATTING: 2B - J Bowker (5, J Verlander); R Aurilia (9, F Rodney); F Lewis (15,
F Rodney). HR - F Lewis (6, 5th inning off J Verlander 0 on, 0 Out), J Bowker
(7, 8th inning off F Rodney 2 on, 1 Out). RBI - R Aurilia (22), F Lewis 3 (22),
J Bowker 3 (28). 2-out RBI - F Lewis 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out
- R Durham 1, T Lincecum 2. Team LOB - 6.
FIELDING: DP: 2 (O Vizquel-J Bowker 2).
----------------------------------------------------
DETROIT - 010 200 102 -- 6
SAN FRANCISCO - 010 110 05x -- 8
----------------------------------------------------
DETROIT ip h r er bb so hr era
J Verlander 6 5 3 2 1 7 1 4.55
F Dolsi (L, 0-2; H, 4) 1 1/3 2 2 2 0 0 0 3.06
F Rodney (B, 1) 1/3 3 3 3 1 0 1 81.00
C Fossum 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 18.00
SAN FRANCISCO ip h r er bb so hr era
T Lincecum 7 6 4 4 3 3 2 2.21
K Yabu (W, 3-3) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.88
B Wilson 1 3 2 2 1 2 0 4.40
HBP - A Rowand (by J Verlander). Pitches-strikes: J Verlander 98-67; F Dolsi
17-12; F Rodney 19-13; C Fossum 2-1; T Lincecum 108-68; K Yabu 10-6; B Wilson
33-20. Ground balls-fly balls: J Verlander 6-5; F Dolsi 1-3; F Rodney 0-1; C
Fossum 1-0; T Lincecum 10-7; K Yabu 1-2; B Wilson 1-0. Batters faced: J
Verlander 26; F Dolsi 6; F Rodney 5; C Fossum 1; T Lincecum 28; K Yabu 3; B
Wilson 7.
UMPIRES: HP--Tom Hallion. 1B--Paul Nauert. 2B--Jerry Crawford. 3B--Brian
O'Nora.
EJECTIONS: SAN FRANCISCO's Bochy by Hallion (7th).
T--2:45. Att--33,317.
Weather: 54 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 17 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.  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 Carlos Beltran NYM Jered Weaver LAA 408 396 10 JE/L Carlos Beltran NYM Jered Weaver LAA 398 388 9 JE John Bowker SF Fernando Rodney DET 389 420 7 PL J.D. Drew BOS Cole Hamels PHI 421 425 12 PL Ryan Howard PHI Bartolo Colon BOS 359 364 19 JE Ryan Howard PHI Bartolo Colon BOS 373 375 18 PL Fred Lewis SF Justin Verlander DET 417 449 6 PL Dustin Pedroia BOS Cole Hamels PHI 378 384 6 PL Jimmy Rollins PHI Bartolo Colon BOS 406 402 6 ND Marcus Thames DET Tim Lincecum SF 418 448 12 ND Marcus Thames DET Tim Lincecum SF 389 416 11 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 OAK AAA Cliff Pennington.. 4 3 1 2 0 1 0 MIL A+ Darren Ford....... 4 3 0 2 0 0 0 2 SB STL AA Mark Hamilton..... 5 4 2 0 0 0 1 3 LD CHC AAA Felix Pie......... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 4 RBI STL AAA Cody Haerther..... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 5 RBI ! KC AAA Ryan Shealy....... 5 2 1 0 1 0 3 4 RBI COL AA Dexter Fowler..... 4 2 2 0 0 1 1 ATL AAA Josh Anderson..... 4 2 1 1 0 0 0 PIT AAA Brian Bixler...... 4 2 0 0 1 0 0 STL A+ Donovan Solano.... 5 3 1 0 0 1 1 3 LD TEX AA M. Ramirez........ 3 2 1 0 0 2 0 3 LD OAK AAA Landon Powell..... 5 2 2 0 0 0 2 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes NYY A+ Ivan Nova......... 7 4 2 2 7 0 0 12 GB STL AAA Mike Parisi....... 7 4 2 2 6 1 0 TEX A+ Omar Poveda....... 7 3 2 1 6 2 0 SD AA Steve Garrison.... 6 8 1 1 7 0 0 PHI A+ Andrew Carpenter.. 6 5 1 1 5 0 0 TB A+ David Price....... 5 4 1 1 7 2 0 TOR AAA David Purcey...... 7 4 5 2 8 3 1 COL A+ Aneury Rodriguez.. 6 4 2 1 5 2 0 6 infield flies DET A+ Duane Below....... 7 5 2 1 3 1 0 TOR A+ Kyle Ginley....... 4 7 3 3 5 1 0 TEX AAA Matt Harrison..... 8 8 3 3 3 2 0 15 GB SF A+ Henry Sosa........ 5 6 0 0 2 0 0 4 infield flies 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: Beyond Moneyball: Player Development Part 3>> <<Previous Article: Interview: Jorge Costales — business of baseball fiend | |||||||
TB 40 29 .580 2.5 37 3 
NYA 37 33 .529 6.0 36 1 
BAL 34 34 .500 8.0 33 1 
TOR 35 36 .493 8.5 38 -3 
American League Central
CHA 38 31 .551 0.0 42 -4 
MIN 34 36 .486 4.5 32 2 
CLE 33 37 .471 5.5 37 -4 
DET 32 37 .464 6.0 34 -2 
KC 28 42 .400 10.5 29 -1 
American League West
LAA 42 28 .600 0.0 35 7 
OAK 38 31 .551 3.5 41 -3 
TEX 35 36 .493 7.5 34 1 
SEA 24 45 .348 17.5 27 -3 
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 41 30 .577 0.0 44 -3 
FLA 37 32 .536 3.0 34 3 
ATL 34 36 .486 6.5 39 -5 
NYN 33 35 .485 6.5 35 -2 
WAS 29 42 .408 12.0 27 2 
National League Central
CHN 45 25 .643 0.0 46 -1 
STL 42 29 .592 3.5 38 4 
MIL 36 33 .522 8.5 33 3 
PIT 34 36 .486 11.0 33 1 
HOU 33 37 .471 12.0 32 1 
CIN 33 38 .465 12.5 32 1 
National League West
ARI 37 33 .529 0.0 38 -1 
LAN 31 38 .449 5.5 34 -3 
SD 31 40 .437 6.5 30 1 
SF 30 40 .429 7.0 31 -1 
COL 28 41 .406 8.5 28 0 