February 9, 2010
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THT Daily: Season-ending injuriesby THT StaffSeptember 11, 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 RotoworldScott Lewis allowed just three hits over eight shutout innings to win his major league debut on Wednesday night. The 24-year-old southpaw, who has spent the last three years battling injuries, was 8-4 with a 2.40 ERA between Double- and Triple-A this season. Wednesday's solid performance was against the Orioles, who have scored the sixth-most runs in baseball this season. Lewis struck out three and didn't allow a walk on the night, but he's still a risky start against Minnesota next time out. Fred Lewis will undergo season-ending surgery on Friday to remove a bunion from his right foot. Lewis has been playing with the problem, but since he'll need 3-4 months to pull off a complete recovery from surgery, the Giants felt it was best for him to have the procedure now, guaranteeing that he'd be ready for spring training. Lewis is likely to enter 2009 as the Giants' primary left fielder. Nate Schierholtz should play pretty regularly in his place for the rest of September. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Angels 4, Yankees 2: And that's a wrap, folks! Angels win the AL West. I know the suspense was killing you. By the reckoning of this article from a few years back, the Angels' clinch would be the fifth earliest by date in the 162-game era, following the 1975 Reds (September 7th), 1999 Indians (8th), 1998 Yankees (9th), and the 2002 Braves (9th). Of course, there are still those 1994 Montreal Expos deadenders who insist that they were somehow the NL East champs that year. If you follow their logic, that clinch occurred on August 11th. Rays 4, Red Sox 2: Lasting as long as it did, the experience of watching this game was kind of like watching the extra innings of the All-Star Game this year, except (1) this was exciting instead of boring; (2) the players were better in this one; and (3) it mattered. I don't think I'm alone -- and I don't mean to slight the Angels or White Sox or Twins when I say this -- that at this moment I am hoping against hope that this is the ALCS preview. Giants 4, Diamondbacks 3: You can't stop Eugenio Velez, you can only hope to contain him. To be honest, the only thing that bothers me about this nightmare skid on which the Dbacks find themselves is that it's going to cause Marty and Thom Brennaman to claim victory in the Adam Dunn-is-cancer wars. Marlins 7, Phillies 3: Someone noted to Charlie Manuel after the game that this time last year Philadelphia was six games out yet still came back to win the division. Manuel: "I think the difference is, last year we were hot. We had enough pitching to get through. We were energetic. We had life. We really got after it." I like how he buries the one objective fact -- the Phillies pitching ain't getting it done this year -- among three empty, subjective statements about being hot or what have you. The take away for the casual listener is that things just aren't clicking. That the magic isn't there. The message to the more in-tune members of the audience -- say, reporters who may slam him or management who may scapegoat him -- is that he's been given a boatload of dead and ineffective arms. Mets 13, Nats 10: Speaking of not having enough pitching to get through . . . Indians 7, Orioles 1: I had to make a decision between watching this game and watching the Rays-Red Sox. Which do you think I chose? Kelly Shoppach hit a couple of home runs and now stands at .272/.346/.534 on the season. I presume, therefore, that he's going to be behind the plate and Victor Martinez at 1B on opening day 2009? Maybe Martinez won't even be around? Brewers 4, Reds 3: Splitting 2-2 with the Padres and then losing two in a row to Cincinnati is an excellent way to let the Phillies overtake you for the wild card. They righted the ship behind the big man last night, but now they face seven games against Philadelphia and Chicago. If the 2008 season is going to end happily for Brewers fans, they will be able to point to multiple high points throughout the season. If it ends in tears, it will be because of something that happens over the next seven nights. Mariners 8, Rangers 7: Ichiro goes 4 for 5, bringing himself to within ten hits of his eighth straight 200-hit season. That's great and all, and I'm sure we'll see some complimentary articles about him when he does it, but Ichiro is having his worst season as a Major Leaguer. If he does get to 200, he will have posted among the 20 worst all-time OPSs for a player with 200 hits in a season. Braves 9, Rockies 5: So this James Parr fellow has me excited, seeing as though he is now scoreless in his first two Major League starts. He wasn't on any of the top 10 or top 20 Braves' prospects lists last spring -- and probably still shouldn't be based on the OK, but nothing special performances he put up in AA and AAA this year -- but Braves fans will latch onto anything right now, even if it's a low gas righty who has never posted a sub-3 ERA at any level. A's 5, Tigers 2: Sean Gallagher gives up no runs and no hits, but has to leave after four because he walked six guys and struck out six more, throwing 88 pitches in his first start since coming off of some shoulder rehab. That's a pretty funky line. White Sox 6, Blue Jays 5: Roy Halladay gives up five runs on nine hits and loses the game. Now, can we please stop all of the "but Halladay is the better pitcher than Cliff Lee" arguments? We know he has been in the past. I would assume he will be in the future. But in 2008, he simply cannot be said to be better than Cliff Lee unless one resorts to some pretty anti-Occam arguments. Twins 7, Royals 1: More BR-PI fun! Barring some blunder with the query terms -- which often happens when I'm pretending to be a statistical analyst -- it looks like unless Jimmy Gobble goes on a dominant run, he is going to finish the year with the highest ever ERA for a reliever who has pitched in more than 35 games in a season. Right now he's at 10.21, and there's no one even close to him. Astros 7, Pirates 4: Any time Andy LaRoche (16 for 103 since being traded to Pittsburgh) wants to start hitting and prove all of us who slammed the Dodgers for not playing him earlier in the season right, well, he can be my guest. Dodgers 7, Padres 2: Manny Ramirez has done everything asked of him and more since coming to Los Angeles. Two homers and four RBI last night. A 1.200+ OPS. A 3.5 game lead in the division. Cubs 4, Cardinals 3: Ted Lilly pitches eight strong innings, giving up one run on five hits and striking out five. While he's at it, he plows into one of the drones from the Molina collective, knocking him out of the game. But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until there is one on every Major League roster. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Milwaukee Brewers at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Ben Sheets (13-7) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (13-7) Colorado Rockies at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (10-12) vs. (R) Jair Jurrjens (12-9) Pittsburgh Pirates at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (L) Zach Duke (5-13) vs. (R) Roy Oswalt (14-9) Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (R) Rich Harden (4-1) vs. (R) Todd Wellemeyer (12-6) San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Matt Cain (8-11) vs. (R) Josh Geer (1-0) American League --------------- Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins, 1:10 PM (R) Brandon Duckworth (2-1) vs. (L) Francisco Liriano (5-3) Cleveland Indians at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (L) Zach Jackson (0-2) vs. (R) Brian Bass (3-4) Toronto Blue Jays at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) Shaun Marcum (8-6) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (15-6) Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Dustin Nippert (2-4) vs. (L) Dallas Braden (5-3) Seattle Mariners at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Brandon Morrow (2-2) vs. (R) Jered Weaver (10-10) 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 87 57 .604 0.0 81 6 Game of the DayRays 4, Red Sox 2 - FINAL
TAMPA BAY ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Iwamura 2b 7 1 2 0 0 0 0 .280
D Johnson lf 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 .250
va-R Baldelli ph-lf 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 .296
J Ruggiano lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .186
C Pena 1b 6 1 2 3 1 3 1 .247
C Floyd dh 3 1 1 0 0 1 3 .274
vb-B Zobrist ph-dh 2 0 1 0 2 0 0 .220
W Aybar 3b 6 0 2 1 1 1 1 .258
E Hinske rf 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 .246
F Perez cf 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 .154
D Navarro c 6 0 1 0 0 3 6 .297
G Gross cf-rf 6 0 1 0 0 1 5 .245
J Bartlett ss 5 0 1 0 1 1 1 .280
Totals 52 4 12 4 7 14 21 ###
BOSTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Ellsbury cf 7 1 1 0 0 1 6 .262
D Pedroia 2b 4 0 2 1 1 0 0 .328
D Ortiz dh 4 0 0 0 2 1 4 .265
K Youkilis 1b 3 0 0 1 2 1 3 .313
J Bay lf 7 0 0 0 0 3 7 .299
M Lowell 3b 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 .275
A Cora pr-ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 .288
M Kotsay rf 6 0 1 0 0 1 2 .261
J Lowrie ss-3b 5 1 2 0 1 2 1 .275
J Varitek c 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .226
C Crisp pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .290
K Cash c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .230
ha-C Carter ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .750
D Ross c 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 .250
Totals 48 2 8 2 7 11 31 ###
----------------------------------------------------
TAMPA BAY - 010 000 000 000 03 -- 4 12 2
BOSTON - 001 000 000 000 01 -- 2 8 0
----------------------------------------------------
va-lined out to third for D Johnson in the 7th; vb-walked for C Floyd in the
8th; ha-singled to left for K Cash in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - A Iwamura (30, J Beckett); J Bartlett (21, J Beckett); C Pena
(21, H Okajima); G Gross (12, M Delcarmen); B Zobrist (6, J Lopez); D Pedroia 2
(47, C Bradford, A Sonnanstine); J Lowrie (20, A Sonnanstine); J Ellsbury (16,
T Percival). 3B - W Aybar (2, J Beckett). HR - C Pena (28, 14th inning off M
Timlin 2 on, 2 Out). S - D Ortiz. SF - K Youkilis. RBI - W Aybar (28), C Pena 3
(88), D Pedroia (78), K Youkilis (100). 2-out RBI - C Pena 3, D Pedroia.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C Pena 1, C Floyd 2, G Gross 3, J
Bartlett 1, D Navarro 1, A Cora 2, D Ortiz 2, J Bay 1, J Ellsbury 2. GIDP - F
Perez, J Ellsbury, K Youkilis. Team LOB - TAMPA BAY 13, BOSTON 16. BASERUNNING:
CS - J Bartlett (6, 2nd base by J Masterson/K Cash). FIELDING: E - J Bartlett
(14, throw); A Iwamura (7, catch). DP: (A Iwamura-J Bartlett-C Pena, J
Bartlett-A Iwamura-C Pena, A Cora-D Pedroia-K Youkilis).
TAMPA BAY ip h r er bb so hr era
A Sonnanstine 7 4 1 0 0 7 0 4.47
D Wheeler 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2.70
G Balfour 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1.63
C Bradford 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2.02
J Howell 2 1 0 0 2 2 0 2.44
T Miller (W, 2-0) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.26
T Percival 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 5.01
J Hammel (S, 1) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.64
BOSTON ip h r er bb so hr era
J Beckett 6 6 1 1 2 7 0 4.10
H Okajima 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2.88
J Masterson 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 3.12
M Delcarmen 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 3.64
J Lopez 2 1/3 1 0 0 1 2 0 2.56
M Timlin (L, 4-4) 2/3 3 3 3 1 1 1 6.09
H Okajima pitched to 2 batters in the 8th.
T Percival pitched to 3 batters in the 14th.
IBB - F Perez (by J Masterson), D Ortiz (by C Bradford). HBP - K Youkilis (by
A Sonnanstine); D Pedroia 2 (by A Sonnanstine, J Howell). Pitches-strikes: A
Sonnanstine 96-64; D Wheeler 17-9; G Balfour 21-13; C Bradford 12-8; J Howell
37-19; T Miller 7-6; T Percival 11-3; J Hammel 14-7; J Beckett 84-55; H Okajima
22-12; J Masterson 30-15; M Delcarmen 27-21; J Lopez 31-16; M Timlin 19-10.
Ground balls-fly balls: A Sonnanstine 7-8; D Wheeler 1-2; G Balfour 1-1; C
Bradford 3-0; J Howell 2-2; T Miller 0-3; T Percival 0-0; J Hammel 0-2; J
Beckett 5-6; H Okajima 2-1; J Masterson 2-1; M Delcarmen 3-1; J Lopez 5-0; M
Timlin 1-0. Batters faced: A Sonnanstine 28; D Wheeler 4; G Balfour 5; C
Bradford 4; J Howell 10; T Miller 3; T Percival 3; J Hammel 3; J Beckett 26; H
Okajima 5; J Masterson 7; M Delcarmen 7; J Lopez 8; M Timlin 6. IRS - J Hammel.
UMPIRES: HP--Dan Iassogna. 1B--Ron Kulpa. 2B--Dale Scott. 3B--Mark Wegner.
T--5:02. Att--38,114. Weather: 68 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 9 mph, left to
right.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 Hank Blalock TEX Jake Woods SEA 379 364 4 ND Nelson Cruz TEX Jared Wells SEA 399 389 4 PL/L Jack Cust OAK Armando Galarraga DET 363 378 28 JE Chris Davis TEX Miguel Batista SEA 415 392 15 ND Stephen Drew ARI Brad Hennessey SF 421 409 17 PL Elijah Dukes WAS Mike Pelfrey NYM 432 425 11 ND Luis Gonzalez FLA Brett Myers PHI 388 387 8 ND Cristian Guzman WAS Aaron Heilman NYM 393 413 9 PL Cristian Guzman WAS Brian Stokes NYM 388 407 8 PL Jerry Hairston CIN C.C. Sabathia MIL 378 401 3 PL Ryan Howard PHI Ricky Nolasco FLA 417 416 42 ND Kelly Johnson ATL Livan Hernandez COL 422 409 11 PL Kelly Johnson ATL Luis Vizcaino COL 391 382 10 ND Chipper Jones ATL Luis Vizcaino COL 421 411 21 PL Adam LaRoche PIT Brian Moehler HOU 418 417 18 JE James Loney LAD Shawn Estes SD 417 410 12 ND Ryan Ludwick STL Kerry Wood CHC 402 400 33 JE Carlos Pena TB Mike Timlin BOS 341 360 28 JE Hunter Pence HOU Tom Gorzelanny PIT 424 422 22 PL Manny Ramirez LAD Shawn Estes SD 424 424 33 PL Manny Ramirez LAD Dirk Hayhurst SD 410 410 32 JE Alex Rios TOR Octavio Dotel CWS 382 380 14 PL Kelly Shoppach CLE Chris Waters BAL 344 345 19 JE Kelly Shoppach CLE Randor Bierd BAL 399 397 18 PL Ian Stewart COL Blaine Boyer ATL 408 398 9 JE/L Ryan Sweeney OAK Armando Galarraga DET 407 396 5 ND Taylor Teagarden TEX Jared Wells SEA 387 396 4 PL Miguel Tejada HOU Jose Bautista PIT 396 394 13 PL David Wright NYM Joel Hanrahan WAS 404 421 28 PL Access THT’s stats here…
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BOS 85 60 .586 2.5 88 -3 
TOR 78 67 .538 9.5 83 -5 
NYA 77 69 .527 11.0 76 1 
BAL 64 80 .444 23.0 67 -3 
American League Central
CHA 81 64 .559 0.0 81 0 
MIN 80 65 .552 1.0 81 -1 
CLE 71 73 .493 9.5 76 -5 
DET 70 76 .479 11.5 72 -2 
KC 61 83 .424 19.5 58 3 
American League West
LAA 88 57 .607 0.0 79 9 
TEX 71 75 .486 17.5 67 4 
OAK 67 78 .462 21.0 69 -2 
SEA 57 87 .396 30.5 61 -4 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 82 63 .566 0.0 81 1 
PHI 79 67 .541 3.5 82 -3 
FLA 74 72 .507 8.5 70 4 
ATL 64 82 .438 18.5 70 -6 
WAS 56 90 .384 26.5 57 -1 
National League Central
CHN 87 58 .600 0.0 90 -3 
MIL 83 63 .568 4.5 80 3 
HOU 79 67 .541 8.5 72 7 
STL 78 67 .538 9.0 78 0 
CIN 66 80 .452 21.5 64 2 
PIT 60 85 .414 27.0 59 1 
National League West
LAN 75 71 .514 0.0 76 -1 
ARI 71 74 .490 3.5 73 -2 
COL 67 79 .459 8.0 67 0 
SF 65 80 .448 9.5 61 4 
SD 56 90 .384 19.0 61 -5 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 85 60 .586 0.0
MIN 80 65 .552 5.0
TOR 78 67 .538 7.0
NYA 77 69 .527 8.5
CLE 71 73 .493 13.5
National League
MIL 83 63 .568 0.0
PHI 79 67 .541 4.0
HOU 79 67 .541 4.0
STL 78 67 .538 4.5
FLA 74 72 .507 9.0