THT Daily: Rockies on a roll
by Dave StudemanJune 15, 2009
Major League News for June 15
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 RotoworldCliff Lee took a no-hitter into the eighth and ended up with a three-hit shutout against the Cardinals on Sunday.
Chris Carpenter kept it close after a shaky start, but the Indians won 3-0. Lee had his no-hitter broken up by Yadier Molina leading off the eighth. Before that, he had retired 20 straight Cardinals. Lee, who notched his third career shutout and first of this year, improved to 4-6 with a 2.88 ERA.
Jason Hammel gave up one run in 5 1/3 innings while striking out six as the Rockies beat the Mariners on Sunday for their 11th straight victory.
Hammel didn't walk a batter and gave up just five hits. With a 4.10 ERA and a 4-3 record the Rockies certainly have to be pleased. The 11 straight wins has brought the Rockies back up to respectability at 31-32. They'll try to keep it going at home against Tampa Bay next.
Matt Cain struck out nine Athletics while allowing just one run in a complete game on Sunday.
Cain walked none and allowed just four hits, though one of them was a homer by Jack Cust. Cain has now won six straight starts and is tied for the National League lead with nine victories. He'll go for double digits against the Rangers next time out.
Jered Weaver hurled a complete game shutout against the Padres on Sunday.
Weaver kept his string of seven straight impressive outings in tact with a dominant performance against a poor lineup. Weaver walked just one and gave up five hits while striking out five. He's now 7-2 with a 1.00 ERA and a fantastic 2.08 ERA. A little BABIP luck has certainly helped Weaver, but it does look like he's taken a step forward overall.
Eric Chavez will undergo a second microdiscectomy on his back, this time on a different spot, according to the Athletics.
The A's confirmed that he'd miss the rest of the season. "This is his best chance to play again. ... It's been tough for him personally," Geren said. "He's a big-time player, Gold Glover that we miss. I still keep the hope and stay positive that he's going to contribute next year." Chavez underwent his original microdiscectomy back on Oct. 9.
Rangers placed RHP Frank Francisco on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 4, with right shoulder tendinitis.
His throwing session today must not have gone very well. Francisco could return as soon as Friday, but the Rangers would be foolish to let him rush back again. C.J. Wilson will close in his absence.
Taylor Buchholz will undergo Tommy John surgery for the damaged ligament in his right elbow.
That Buchholz tried to rehab after initially being diagnosed with a sprained ligament on March 5 will likely cost him half of 2010. "I was hoping this could be avoided. That's why we waited this long," Buchholz said. "Looking back, I guess you could say I could have had this done three months ago. But we were hopeful."
The Cubs fired hitting coach Gerald Perry on Sunday and named Triple-A Iowa hitting coach Von Joshua as his replacement.
Milton Bradley deserves the most credit for Perry joining the ranks of the unemployed, but Geovany Soto, Mike Fontenot, Alfonso Soriano and Aaron Miles have surely played roles as well. Perry was in his third year as the Cubs' hitting coach. He presided over what was the game's best offense in 2008 (the Rangers scored more runs, but they had the DH and a terrific ballpark for hitters aiding them).
Royals placed outfielder Coco Crisp on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 13, with a right rotator cuff strain.
Crisp was attempting to play through the pain, but it just wasn't happening. He shouldn't be out longer than the allotted 15 days. The 29-year-old is batting a career-low .228 with three home runs and 14 RBI. Since the Royals declined to add another outfielder to replace him, it looks like Mitch Maier will play center for now.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League BAL 11 ATL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 15 NYN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 5 WAS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 11 TOR 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 3 STL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 7 CIN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 6 SD 0 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 6 TEX 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League PHI 11 BOS 6 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 3 MIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 5 MIL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 6 DET 3 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 8 ARI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 7 SEA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 7 OAK 1 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
Inter-League ------------ Milwaukee Brewers at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Dave Bush (3-3) vs. (R) Carl Pavano (6-5) LA Angels of Anaheim at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (R) John Lackey (1-2) vs. (L) Barry Zito (3-6)
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 38 25 .603 0.0 37 1NYA 36 27 .571 2.0 35 1
TB 34 31 .523 5.0 39 -5
TOR 34 31 .523 5.0 35 -1
BAL 27 36 .429 11.0 26 1
American League Central DET 34 29 .540 0.0 34 0
MIN 32 33 .492 3.0 34 -2
CHA 30 34 .469 4.5 29 1
KC 28 34 .452 5.5 28 0
CLE 29 36 .446 6.0 32 -3
American League West TEX 35 27 .565 0.0 33 2
LAA 32 29 .525 2.5 30 2
SEA 30 33 .476 5.5 28 2
OAK 27 35 .435 8.0 27 0
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 36 25 .590 0.0 34 2
NYN 32 29 .525 4.0 31 1
FLA 32 33 .492 6.0 31 1
ATL 30 32 .484 6.5 29 1
WAS 16 45 .262 20.0 23 -7
National League Central MIL 34 29 .540 0.0 33 1
STL 34 30 .531 0.5 33 1
CHN 30 30 .500 2.5 31 -1
CIN 31 31 .500 2.5 31 0
PIT 30 33 .476 4.0 32 -2
HOU 29 32 .475 4.0 28 1
National League West LAN 42 22 .656 0.0 40 2
SF 34 28 .548 7.0 33 1
COL 31 32 .492 10.5 34 -3
SD 28 34 .452 13.0 24 4
ARI 27 37 .422 15.0 28 -1
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 SEA A+ Tyson Gillies..... 4 3 1 0 2 1 1 3 R SF A+ Thomas Neal....... 5 3 1 1 1 0 0 3 LD MIL A+ Caleb Gindl....... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 2 SB MIL AAA Angel Salome...... 4 3 3 0 0 1 0 4 RBI SD A James Darnell..... 5 4 2 0 0 0 1 3 R BOS A Anthony Rizzo..... 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 TB A Timothy Beckham... 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 SF A+ Conor Gillaspie... 4 2 2 0 0 1 0 DET AA Casper Wells...... 4 2 1 0 1 0 2 BAL AA Brandon Snyder.... 3 2 2 0 0 1 0 CLE AA Matthew McBride... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 4 RBI CLE AA Carlos Rivero..... 1 1 1 0 0 3 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes LA AAA James McDonald.... 7 2 0 0 13 1 0 LAA A+ Alexander Torres.. 8 4 0 0 8 1 0 OAK A+ Ben Hornbeck...... 7 4 1 1 9 1 0 DET AA Alfredo Figaro.... 7 3 2 2 10 1 1 TOR AAA David Purcey...... 8 4 2 2 9 3 0 SD A Simon Castro...... 6 6 0 0 9 1 0 MIL A Wily Peralta...... 5 5 2 1 8 1 0 ARI A+ Trevor Harden..... 7 6 3 1 8 1 1 SF AAA Kevin Pucetas..... 7 2 0 0 3 1 0 NYY A Hector Noesi...... 7 8 2 1 6 1 0 13 GB BAL AAA David Hernandez... 4 2 2 2 7 3 0 LA AA Scott Elbert...... 5 4 3 3 9 3 1
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