THT Daily: Shut downs
by Dave StudemanSeptember 05, 2009
Major League News for September 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 RotoworldJustin Verlander grabbed a share of the American League lead by notching his 16th victory against the Rays on Friday night, holding them to a single run over eight innings.
He tied C.C. Sabathia with the strong effort. Verlander simply outlasted Jeff Niemann, who pitched a strong game in his own right. All told, he gave up just four hits while whiffing seven and walking just one. The only run scored on a second-inning double by Evan Longoria. The Detroit ace leads the league with 222 strikeouts in 197 innings. Verlander has won four out of his last five starts.
Adam Wainwright became the majors' first 17-game winner, by allowing six runs over five innings in a 14-7 win over the Pirates on Friday night.
Wainwright is atop the wins leaderboard, but he got there in a strange way. The six runs are the most Wainwright has allowed in a start since May 5 against the Phillies. All six runs were scored in the fifth inning. A little fun with numbers, Wainwright allowed six runs combined over his seven previous starts coming into Friday's action. His ERA jumped from 2.47 to 2.68 in the outing, but he'll take win No. 17 any way he can get it. He'll look for No. 18 against the Brewers next week.
Albert Pujols was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and his major-league best 43rd home run in a win over the Pirates on Friday night.
The Pirates grabbed a 6-5 lead in the fifth inning, but Pujols quickly struck with a three-run blast in the sixth to put the Cardinals back in front at 8-6. Pujols scored three times in the win and already has 109 runs scored in 134 games, more than in each of the past two seasons. What can't he do?
Roy Halladay tossed a one-hit complete-game shutout in a 6-0 win over the Yankees on Friday night.
What struggles? Halladay was perfect until walking Jorge Posada in the fifth inning and didn't give up his first hit until a Ramiro Pena double in the sixth. It ended up being the only hit Doc would allow, as he struck out nine and walked three in the win, improving to 14-8 on the year. The win broke a three-game personal losing streak, his longest such streak since April of 2008. It was Halladay's sixth complete game of the season, tying him with Zack Greinke for the American League lead. He'll face the Twins next.
Grady Sizemore has been shut down for the season by the Indians and will undergo two surgeries.
The first is arthroscopic surgery to clean out inflammation in his left elbow; this is not news. What is news is the surgery for "athletic pubalgia." Indians head trainer Lonnie Soloff compared it to a sports hernia, but "not really": "It’s an instability of the abdominal wall, and has been causing Grady symptoms." The surgery is not considered serious and will not impact Sizemore's preparations in early November for the upcoming 2010 season. Coupled with his relatively poor season and two surgeries, he could slip far down draft lists in 2010. That will be to your advantage.
Josh Hamilton (back) did not travel with the team to Baltimore Friday.
"He just didn't wake up comfortable enough that he felt like he [could take] a three-hour flight and feel good coming off the plane," said manager Ron Washington. Hamilton received an epidural shot Thursday for his pinched nerve and is expected to fly in to Baltimore Saturday. "If there's any way Josh can play when he gets here, he'll play," Washington went on to say. Don't expect Hamilton in the lineup this weekend.
Mariano Rivera (groin) will throw in the bullpen Saturday with an eye towards returning Sunday.
Joe Girardi said that Rivera will throw 10-to-15 pitches without "breaking 85" mph. Rivera played catch Thursday and Friday with no ill effects. If all goes well, he would be available to close Sunday.
Tim Wakefield will (back) draw the start Saturday against the Chicago White Sox.
Wakefield threw a 25-pitch side session on Thursday and came through with flying colors. The knuckleballer had to miss a start Tuesday with back problems, the cause that landed him on the disabled list earlier this year. Right now, Wake can't be trusted start-to-start due to his injury issues, so keep an eye on his situation. Junichi Tazawa would have started Saturday had Wakefield been unable to go; Tazawa will continue to serve as the emergency fill-in.
The Cubs plan to sit Alfonso Soriano indefinitely until his ailing knee shows signs of improvement.
Manager Lou Piniella said that "there is no timetable" for Soriano's return, but would not go so far to say that Soriano would be out for the season. Soriano will continue doing exercises with the team trainer, but the rest of the season looks bleak for him judging by the tone of Piniella's words. Jake Fox could see a further spike in playing time in Soriano's absence.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League TEX 5 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 4 TB 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 6 NYA 0 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 12 BOS 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 5 MIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 2 KC 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 6 OAK 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League CIN 3 ATL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 6 CHN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 9 WAS 6 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 7 PHI 0 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 3 MIL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 14 PIT 7 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 5 ARI 4 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 2 LAN 0 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
Yankees (86-49) @ Blue Jays (60-74), 1:07pm
Andy Pettitte (37, LHP) vs. Brett Cecil (22, LHP)
RedSox (78-56) @ WhiteSox (67-69), 4:05pm
Tim Wakefield (42, RHP) vs. Gavin Floyd (26, RHP)
Rangers (76-58) @ Orioles (54-81), 4:10pm
Kevin Millwood (34, RHP) vs. Brian Matusz (22, LHP)
Twins (67-67) @ Indians (59-75), 4:10pm
Scott Baker (27, RHP) vs. Justin Masterson (24, RHP)
Tigers (73-61) @ Rays (72-62), 7:08pm
Armando Galarraga (27, RHP) vs. James Shields (27, RHP)
Angels (79-54) @ Royals (51-83), 7:10pm
John Lackey (30, RHP) vs. Zack Greinke (25, RHP)
Mariners (72-64) @ Athletics (59-76), 9:05pm
Lucas French (23, LHP) vs. Brett Anderson (21, LHP)
Cubs (67-66) @ Mets (61-74), 1:10pm
Rich Harden (27, RHP) vs. Nelson Figueroa (35, RHP)
Giants (74-61) @ Brewers (65-69), 4:05pm
Matt Cain (24, RHP) vs. Yovani Gallardo (23, RHP)
Reds (61-73) @ Braves (70-65), 7:00pm
Kip Wells (32, RHP) vs. Jair Jurrjens (23, RHP)
Cardinals (80-56) @ Pirates (53-80), 7:05pm
Mitchell Boggs (25, RHP) vs. Ross Ohlendorf (26, RHP)
Phillies (77-55) @ Astros (64-70), 7:05pm
Joe Blanton (28, RHP) vs. Roy Oswalt (31, RHP)
Marlins (71-64) @ Nationals (46-89), 7:05pm
Josh Johnson (25, RHP) vs. Livan Hernandez (34, RHP)
D'backs (61-75) @ Rockies (75-60), 8:10pm
Doug Davis (33, LHP) vs. Jose Contreras (37, RHP)
Padres (60-76) @ Dodgers (80-56), 10:10pm
Mat Latos (21, RHP) vs. Randy Wolf (32, LHP)
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 NYA 86 49 .637 0.0 80 6BOS 78 56 .582 7.5 77 1
TB 72 62 .537 13.5 75 -3
TOR 60 74 .448 25.5 68 -8
BAL 54 81 .400 32.0 58 -4
American League Central DET 73 61 .545 0.0 69 4
MIN 67 67 .500 6.0 68 -1
CHA 67 69 .493 7.0 69 -2
CLE 59 75 .440 14.0 64 -5
KC 51 83 .381 22.0 52 -1
American League West LAA 79 54 .594 0.0 75 4
TEX 76 58 .567 3.5 74 2
SEA 72 64 .529 8.5 63 9
OAK 59 76 .437 21.0 63 -4
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 77 55 .583 0.0 75 2
FLA 71 64 .526 7.5 67 4
ATL 70 65 .519 8.5 74 -4
NYN 61 74 .452 17.5 61 0
WAS 46 89 .341 32.5 55 -9
National League Central STL 80 56 .588 0.0 77 3
CHN 67 66 .504 11.5 68 -1
MIL 65 69 .485 14.0 64 1
HOU 64 70 .478 15.0 58 6
CIN 61 73 .455 18.0 58 3
PIT 53 80 .398 25.5 57 -4
National League West LAN 80 56 .588 0.0 82 -2
COL 75 60 .556 4.5 75 0
SF 74 61 .548 5.5 72 2
ARI 61 75 .449 19.0 65 -4
SD 60 76 .441 20.0 54 6
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 78 56 .582 0.0 TEX 76 58 .567 2.0 TB 72 62 .537 6.0 SEA 72 64 .529 7.0 MIN 67 67 .500 11.0 National League COL 75 60 .556 0.0 SF 74 61 .548 1.0 FLA 71 64 .526 4.0 ATL 70 65 .519 5.0 CHN 67 66 .504 7.0
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 TOR AAA J. Arencibia...... 4 2 0 0 2 1 0 6 RBI ! WAN AA C. Marrero........ 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 SEA A+ Tyson Gillies..... 6 5 0 1 0 0 0 4 R OAK A Jeremy Barfield... 4 3 2 0 0 0 1 SEA A Kyle Seager....... 3 2 1 0 0 2 1 PHI A Travis D'Arnaud... 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 CIN AAA Juan Francisco.... 6 3 1 0 0 1 1 3 LD BAL AAA Brandon Snyder.... 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 CIN AA Yonder Alonso..... 3 2 0 0 1 1 0 CIN AA Zachary Cozart.... 2 2 1 0 0 2 0 ATL AA Jason Heyward..... 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 CHW AA C.J. Retherford... 5 2 2 0 0 0 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes TB AAA J. Hellickson..... 7 3 0 0 9 0 0 SD A Simon Castro...... 6 4 0 0 9 1 0 STL AAA Lance Lynn........ 7 5 2 2 9 3 0 OAK A+ Ben Hornbeck...... 4 1 0 0 7 1 0 PIT A Brett Lorin....... 5 4 0 0 6 0 0 LAA A William Smith..... 8 2 1 1 5 1 1 BOS A+ Kyle Weiland...... 7 2 2 2 4 2 0 SEA A+ Mauricio Robles... 5 7 5 1 8 2 0 9 OF ATL A+ Jacob Thompson.... 5 5 1 0 6 2 0 ATL A J.J. Hoover....... 6 6 4 4 4 1 0 TOR AAA Zachary Stewart... 2 1 0 0 4 0 0 TEX A Wilfredo Boscan... 6 4 1 1 0 0 0 15 GB
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Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.