November 7, 2009
Order Now The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010 is now in development and will ship in mid November! This year's book will feature articles by THT's staff as well as Bill James, Tom Tango and Craig Wright. If you use this link to purchase the Annual, you will be in the first group to receive it and you'll be supporting THT. 
Rich Barbieri
John Barten Brian Borawski Craig Brown Evan Brunell David Gassko Jonathan Hale Brandon Isleib Chris Jaffe Max Marchi Bruce Markusen Harry Pavlidis Jeff Sackmann Dave Studeman Steve Treder Bryan Tsao Tuck! Dan Turkenkopf Colin Wyers Geoff Young John Brattain And here's the full roster.
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THT Daily: Replayby THT StaffSeptember 04, 2008 Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Yesterday’s Home Runs 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 RotoworldAlex Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer as the Yankees defeated the Rays on Wednesday night. A-Rod's homer came in the ninth inning and bounced off the catwalk behind the foul pole in left field. Television replays of the homer were inconclusive, but the initial ruling on the field stood after a 2 minute, 15 second delay. Rodriguez drove in four runs on the night, giving him nine ribbies in the last three games. He's up to .315 with 31 homers and 90 RBI this season. CC Sabathia will not be credited with a no-hitter after MLB on Wednesday upheld the official scorer's ruling from Sunday's game. The Brewers wanted Andy LaRoche's infield hit to be declared an error on Sabathia. The official scorer's ruling would have had needed to be "clearly erroneous" for MLB to overturn the call, and that definitely wasn't the case. It was definitely a borderline call, and we believe the scorer had it right in awarding the hit. Randy Wolf pitched a complete game shutout against the Cubs to pick up his ninth win of the season on Wednesday. Wolf allowed just six hits, striking out eight and walking just two in the process of sending the Cubs to their fifth consecutive loss. Since joining the Astros just before the deadline, he's 3-1 with a 3.80 ERA, helping pull the team within 11 games of first place in the NL Central. He's not a reliable fantasy option, but his next start is against the Pirates - a team that struggles against lefties - so he could be worth using in NL-only leagues. Athletics transferred designated hitter Frank Thomas from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list. His season is officially over. Thomas ended up hitting .263/.364/.387 with five homers in 186 at-bats for the A's. He's almost always been a slow starter and gotten better deeper into seasons, but he never had much of a chance this year because of the quad injury that cost him June, July and now September. He probably has at least one more year left in his bat, but it remains to be seen whether any team will want him as a starting DH in 2009. Mike Piazza and Sammy Sosa couldn't find that kind of work last winter. Although he says he's not injured, Rich Harden isn't slated to pitch again until next Wednesday. It makes sense for the Cubs to give Harden an extra couple of days off now and then, but they wouldn't be giving him 11 days' rest unless there was something wrong. Manager Lou Piniella practically admitted as much. "He needed the time, obviously," Piniella said. "If he could pitch, we would have kept him in the rotation." Be afraid. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Marlins 5, Braves 3: I already dealt with this one yesterday. Diamondbacks 4, Cardinals 3: Same old story for the Cards: blown lead late by a bullpen that has gone from "suspect" to "convicted" and by now has become institutionalized like Brooks Hatlen in Shawshank. Giants 9, Rockies 2: 36 year-old rookie Scott McClain -- who has launched nearly 300 dingers in his minor league career -- hit a homer and drove in three. This was doubly good news for the Giants inasmuch as (a) they won the game; and (b) McClain's success effectively scuttles the lawsuit he was surely pursuing against the steroid-abiding Giants for keeping him down for so long. Tigers 9, Angels 6: And if you really want to talk lawsuit, how about the Mike Hessman situation? Ever since he posted a 1.000+ OPS in a measly 21 at bats five years ago, his teams keep giving him chances to play despite the utter absence of any other evidence establishing him as a legitimate major leaguer. Yeah, he hit a homer in this one, but how about the teams suing him for misrepresentation or fraud? See Rick? It's easy to play that game. Rangers 1, Mariners 0: The Rangers play a home game in two hours, eleven minutes. They've had some innings last that long this season. Mets 9, Brewers 2: I'd make up some clever doggerel a la "First we'll use Spahn and then we'll use Sain . . ." but I can't find anything that rhymes with Sabathia. Red Sox 5, Orioles 4: There are a lot of lazy managers hanging around these days. In the Cards-Dbacks game, pitching coach Dave Duncan was ejected. In this one, O's hitting coach Terry Crowley was thrown out. Why were La Russa and Trembley too busy to go up and take the heat for their guys? White Sox 4, Indians 2: The game story has six paragraphs discussing Bobby Jenks' five-out save like it was landing a man on the moon or something. Dude threw ten pitches. I got really sick of Rich Gossage's crusty old school act around Hall of Fame induction time this year, but I really do wish that he'd find the AP writer responsible and explain a few things about what being a relief ace is all about. Blue Jays 5, Twins 4: Then there's the two-inning WTF? Joe Nathan blew the save in the bottom of the ninth, but Gardenhire sent him right back out there to pitch the tenth, resulting in a 45-pitch night for the Twins' closer. Nationals 9, Phillies 7: They have served no other purpose, but I suppose the Nats will sleep well this winter if they manage to be the spoiler in the NL East this year. Ryan Zimmerman got a double and a homer. Because he was so close to hitting for the cycle, the Nats are currently protesting the scoring decisions that had him flying out in the third, walking in the fifth, and flying out in the eighth. Pirates 6, Reds 5: Pirates manager John Russell on the status of Freddy: "He had an MRI Tuesday. We'll monitor him. If it gets ouchy, we'll sit him a couple of days." Ouchy? Astros 4, Cubs 0: And they laughed when Ed Wade acquired Randy Wolf at the deadline. Well, they're still laughing because the deal still doesn't make any sense, but a shutout against the best team in the game is a shutout against the best team in the game. Yankees 8, Rays 4: A-Rod's homer was reviewed by instant replay. It's like we're in the future or something. Dodgers 6, Padres 4: They've now won five after dropping eight. Now they start over again with Arizona and San Diego for the next six games. Weird schedule. Weird team. I couldn't say right now whether they'd be dangerous or whether they'd be cupcakes if they made the playoffs. A's vs. Royals: Postponed due to a lack of interest and/or rain. To be rescheduled for reasons that are not quite clear at a time when no one will be watching. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds, 12:35 PM (L) Tom Gorzelanny (6-9) vs. (R) Josh Fogg (2-7) Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (R) Jason Bergmann (2-10) vs. (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (3-10) San Diego Padres at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (L) Shawn Estes (1-1) vs. (R) Jeff Suppan (10-7) American League --------------- LA Angels of Anaheim at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM (R) Ervin Santana (14-5) vs. (L) Kenny Rogers (9-12) Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (R) Kevin Slowey (11-8) vs. (R) Jesse Litsch (9-8) New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Darrell Rasner (5-9) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (10-6) Oakland Athletics at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (L) Dan Meyer (0-3) vs. (R) Kyle Davies (5-6) 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 84 53 .613 0.0 78 6 Game of the DayDiamondbacks 4, Cardinals 3 - FINAL
ST LOUIS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Izturis ss 5 1 1 0 0 0 4 .251
T Glaus 3b 5 1 1 2 0 0 3 .272
A Pujols 1b 4 0 1 0 1 0 0 .360
R Ludwick rf 4 0 0 0 1 1 3 .300
J Phelps lf 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 .200
A Miles 2b 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .319
J Motte p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Perez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Y Molina c 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .307
F Lopez 2b-lf 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 .259
K Lohse p 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 .107
K McClellan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Villone p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
A Kennedy 2b 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .272
S Schumaker cf 4 0 2 0 0 0 2 .306
Totals 37 3 10 3 2 4 18 ###
ARIZONA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
S Drew ss 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 .288
D Eckstein 2b 3 0 1 0 2 0 2 .364
C Jackson lf 5 1 2 2 0 1 2 .294
A Dunn rf-1b 3 0 1 1 2 1 3 .240
M Reynolds 3b 4 0 0 0 0 4 5 .240
T Pena p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Qualls p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Tracy 1b 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 .270
A Romero pr-rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .240
C Young cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 7 .244
C Snyder c 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .239
ha-A Ojeda ph-3b 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 .251
D Davis p 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .086
J Cruz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
hb-M Montero ph-c 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 .277
Totals 34 4 10 3 5 9 21 ###
----------------------------------------------------
ST LOUIS - 002 001 000 -- 3 10 0
ARIZONA - 000 000 202 -- 4 10 2
One out when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
ha-doubled to center for C Snyder in the 7th; hb-walked for J Cruz in the
7th.
BATTING: 2B - K Lohse (1, D Davis); S Drew (37, K Lohse); A Ojeda (9, K
McClellan); A Dunn (19, C Perez). 3B - S Drew (11, C Perez). HR - T Glaus (23,
3rd inning off D Davis 1 on, 0 Out). S - K Lohse. RBI - T Glaus 2 (89), K Lohse
(5), C Jackson 2 (72), A Dunn (88). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C
Izturis 2, T Glaus 1, J Phelps 1, Y Molina 1, S Schumaker 1, D Eckstein 1, C
Young 3, M Reynolds 1. GIDP - C Young. Team LOB - ST LOUIS 10, ARIZONA 11.
FIELDING: E - S Drew (12, ground ball); M Reynolds (27, throw). DP: (C
Izturis-F Lopez-A Pujols).
ST LOUIS ip h r er bb so hr era
K Lohse 6 5 0 0 2 7 0 3.76
K McClellan (H, 30) 2/3 1 2 2 2 0 0 3.71
R Villone 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5.15
J Motte (H, 1) 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 2 0 0.00
C Perez (L, 2-2; B, 3) 1/3 3 2 2 0 0 0 3.41
ARIZONA ip h r er bb so hr era
D Davis 6 8 3 3 1 3 1 4.58
J Cruz 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2.93
T Pena 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.84
C Qualls (W, 4-8) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.30
R Villone pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.
WP - R Villone, T Pena. HBP - C Tracy (by K Lohse). Pitches-strikes: K Lohse
107-67; K McClellan 21-9; R Villone 11-7; J Motte 25-21; C Perez 20-13; D Davis
91-56; J Cruz 16-8; T Pena 19-13; C Qualls 11-7. Ground balls-fly balls: K
Lohse 8-3; K McClellan 2-0; R Villone 0-0; J Motte 0-2; C Perez 0-1; D Davis
9-6; J Cruz 2-1; T Pena 1-1; C Qualls 2-1. Batters faced: K Lohse 25; K
McClellan 5; R Villone 1; J Motte 5; C Perez 4; D Davis 28; J Cruz 5; T Pena 4;
C Qualls 3. IRS - R Villone. UMPIRES: HP--Dale Scott. 1B--Bill Hohn. 2B--Dan
Iassogna. 3B--Ron Kulpa. EJECTIONS: ST LOUIS' Duncan by Scott (7th).
T--3:14. Att--24,350. Weather: INDOORSThe 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 Clint Barmes COL Barry Zito SF 416 387 7 JE Angel Berroa LAD Wade LeBlanc SD 378 367 1 PL Casey Blake LAD Mike Adams SD 422 407 19 PL Ryan Church NYM Dave Bush MIL 375 352 11 PL/L Blake DeWitt LAD Wade LeBlanc SD 377 364 7 PL Chris Dickerson CIN Ross Ohlendorf PIT 425 409 6 PL Troy Glaus STL Doug Davis ARI 447 422 23 PL/L Gabe Gross TB Carl Pavano NYY 440 439 12 ND J.J. Hardy MIL Oliver Perez NYM 400 394 21 PL Mike Hessman DET Justin Speier LAA 407 413 1 PL Ryan Howard PHI Odalis Perez WAS 402 389 39 PL/L Ryan Howard PHI Johnny Estrada WAS 403 395 38 PL Joe Inglett TOR Nick Blackburn MIN 350 347 3 PL Kevin Kouzmanoff SD Hiroki Kuroda LAD 425 413 20 ND Scott McClain SF Steven Register COL 422 390 1 PL Dustin Pedroia BOS Jamie Walker BAL 340 336 17 JE Alexei Ramirez CWS Jeremy Sowers CLE 408 398 16 PL Hanley Ramirez FLA Jorge Campillo ATL 446 441 29 PL Alex Rodriguez NYY Troy Percival TB 425 424 31 ND Pablo Sandoval SF Steven Register COL 392 363 2 PL Brian Schneider NYM Dave Bush MIL 382 362 7 PL/L Nick Swisher CWS Jeremy Sowers CLE 396 397 22 ND Mark Teixeira LAA Zach Miner DET 381 381 29 PL Joey Votto CIN Ross Ohlendorf PIT 398 385 16 ND Ty Wigginton HOU Ryan Dempster CHC 395 391 22 PL Ryan Zimmerman WAS Chad Durbin PHI 413 412 11 PL Access THT’s stats here…
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BOS 82 57 .590 3.0 84 -2 
NYA 75 64 .540 10.0 74 1 
TOR 72 66 .522 12.5 77 -5 
BAL 63 76 .453 22.0 66 -3 
American League Central
CHA 78 61 .561 0.0 78 0 
MIN 77 62 .554 1.0 77 0 
CLE 67 71 .486 10.5 73 -6 
DET 67 72 .482 11.0 69 -2 
KC 58 79 .423 19.0 56 2 
American League West
LAA 84 54 .609 0.0 75 9 
TEX 69 72 .489 16.5 65 4 
OAK 63 75 .457 21.0 64 -1 
SEA 54 85 .388 30.5 58 -4 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 79 61 .564 0.0 79 0 
PHI 76 64 .543 3.0 79 -3 
FLA 71 69 .507 8.0 67 4 
ATL 60 80 .429 19.0 67 -7 
WAS 54 86 .386 25.0 54 0 
National League Central
CHN 85 55 .607 0.0 88 -3 
MIL 80 59 .576 4.5 78 2 
STL 75 65 .536 10.0 75 0 
HOU 74 66 .529 11.0 67 7 
CIN 61 78 .439 23.5 59 2 
PIT 59 79 .428 25.0 56 3 
National League West
ARI 71 68 .511 0.0 72 -1 
LAN 70 70 .500 1.5 71 -1 
COL 66 75 .468 6.0 65 1 
SF 60 79 .432 11.0 58 2 
SD 53 86 .381 18.0 57 -4 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 82 57 .590 0.0
MIN 77 62 .554 5.0
NYA 75 64 .540 7.0
TOR 72 66 .522 9.5
TEX 69 72 .489 14.0
National League
MIL 80 59 .576 0.0
PHI 76 64 .543 4.5
STL 75 65 .536 5.5
HOU 74 66 .529 6.5
FLA 71 69 .507 9.5