THT Daily: Surging athletics

by Dave Studeman
June 09, 2009

Major League News for June 9

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 Rotoworld
Rich Harden allowed two runs -- one earned -- over 4 1/3 innings Monday in a rehab start with Triple-A Iowa.
Harden struck out six and walked two. He has been on the disabled list since May 18 with a mid-back strain, but is finally nearing a return. There's a possibility he could start Saturday against the Twins.

Aaron Cunningham suffered a concussion Monday night.
Cunningham was nailed in the helmet with an Anthony Swarzak pitch. He was allowed to run for himself, but probably shouldn't have. He was taken to nearby Summit Medical Center for a CT scan and probably won't be in the starting lineup for several days. The A's are awfully light on outfield depth, so look for Gregorio Petit or Adam Kennedy to fill in.

Tony Clark (hand) is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Reno on Thursday.
Clark has been out since May 6 with a strained ligament in his right hand, and may require an extended stay in Triple-A to find his swing. Part of the reason he was placed on the disabled list in the first place was because he couldn't comfortably take cuts with the bat.

Brandon McCarthy is headed for the DL with a stress fracture in his right shoulder.
It's similar to the injury that McCarthy had two years ago. GM Jon Daniels said McCarthy won't pick up a ball for several weeks. According to the Dallas Morning News, Doug Mathis is expected to make Tuesday's start.

Evan Longoria returned to the starting lineup on Monday.
Longoria left last Tuesday's game with a sore hamstring. He has been limited to a pair of pinch-hitting appearances since that time.

Josh Hamilton (abdomen) will have surgery on Tuesday and is expected to miss four to six weeks, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The procedure to repair a partial tear in Hamilton's abdominal muscle will occur in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning. "Given what it could have been, I think it's probably better than what some of the alternatives are," general manager Jon Daniels said. "I think this team has done a very good job of playing early in the season either without Josh or without Josh at 100 percent. We really haven't had what you expect from a healthy Josh Hamilton yet."

Jason Marquis took over the NL lead with his eighth victory after limiting the Cardinals to two runs in 6 2/3 innings on Monday.
The Rockies won four straight in St. Louis to improve to 25-32 on the season. Marquis is 8-4 and it's not really about run support, as the team has scored more than five runs in just two of his victories. After only giving up Luis Vizcaino to acquire Marquis from the Cubs, the Rockies could turn quite a profit if they opt to move him in July.

Torii Hunter was unavailable Sunday due to a nagging groin injury.
Hunter initially suffered the injury when he ran into the Dodger Stadium outfield wall two weeks ago, and aggravated it while the Angels were on the field turf in Toronto last week. "The turf is almost like a truth serum," Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. "It has a way of bringing out every ache and pain that you have." Monday's off day should help, but it's still not clear if he'll be ready to play Tuesday.

Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.

American League
NYA     5  TB      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     6  DET     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     5  CHA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     4  MIN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     6  TEX     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL     7  PIT     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     4  SF      0    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     5  STL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      6  ARI     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Cincinnati Reds at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (R) Johnny Cueto (5-3) vs. (R) Jordan Zimmermann (2-3)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Chris Carpenter (4-0) vs. (R) Josh Johnson (5-1)
 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (L) J.A. Happ (4-0) vs. (L) Johan Santana (7-3)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM
  (R) Ross Ohlendorf (5-5) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (6-3)
 Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (L) Ted Lilly (6-4) vs. (R) Brian Moehler (2-3)
 Colorado Rockies at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Jason Hammel (2-3) vs. (R) Braden Looper (5-3)
 San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (R) Matt Cain (7-1) vs. (R) Billy Buckner (2-1)
 San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM
  (R) Chris Young (4-4) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (7-3)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Brian Bannister (4-3) vs. (L) Cliff Lee (3-6)
 Seattle Mariners at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jason Vargas (2-0) vs. (R) Brad Bergesen (2-2)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:08 PM
  (R) Jered Weaver (5-2) vs. (R) James Shields (5-4)
 New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 PM
  (R) A.J. Burnett (4-2) vs. (R) Josh Beckett (6-2)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (L) Brian Tallet (3-3) vs. (R) Doug Mathis (0-0)
 Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM
  (L) Dontrelle Willis (1-3) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (6-2)
 Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM
  (R) Scott Baker (3-6) vs. (L) Brett Anderson (3-5)

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     34  23 .596    0.0   31     3    
BOS     33  24 .579    1.0   33     0    
TOR     33  27 .550    2.5   33     0    
TB      29  30 .492    6.0   34    -5    
BAL     24  33 .421   10.0   23     1    
American League Central     
DET     31  26 .544    0.0   32    -1    
MIN     28  31 .475    4.0   30    -2    
CHA     27  31 .466    4.5   26     1    
KC      24  32 .429    6.5   24     0    
CLE     25  34 .424    7.0   29    -4    
American League West        
TEX     33  24 .579    0.0   31     2    
LAA     28  27 .509    4.0   27     1    
SEA     28  29 .491    5.0   26     2    
OAK     26  30 .464    6.5   26     0    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     33  22 .600    0.0   31     2    
NYN     30  25 .545    3.0   29     1    
ATL     28  28 .500    5.5   27     1    
FLA     28  31 .475    7.0   27     1    
WAS     15  40 .273   18.0   21    -6    
National League Central     
MIL     33  24 .579    0.0   31     2    
STL     31  27 .534    2.5   30     1    
CHN     28  26 .519    3.5   28     0    
CIN     29  27 .518    3.5   29     0    
PIT     26  31 .456    7.0   28    -2    
HOU     25  30 .455    7.0   25     0    
National League West        
LAN     39  20 .661    0.0   38     1    
SF      29  27 .518    8.5   28     1    
SD      27  30 .474   11.0   24     3    
COL     25  32 .439   13.0   29    -4    
ARI     25  33 .431   13.5   26    -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
CHW AA  Brandon Allen..... 4  4  0  0  1  1  0  3 R
MIL AAA Alcides Escobar... 5  3  0  1  1  0  0  
SEA AAA Mike Carp......... 5  3  2  0  0  0  0  3 LD
OAK AA  Chris Carter...... 5  3  0  0  1  0  1  
COL AAA Eric Young........ 4  2  0  0  1  1  2  
PHI A   Anthony Gose...... 3  1  1  0  0  0  0  2 SB
TOR A+  Moises Sierra..... 5  2  0  0  1  0  0  4 RBI
CLE AAA Michael Brantley.. 5  2  1  0  0  0  2  
CIN AAA Drew Sutton....... 4  2  0  1  0  1  0  3 R
SF  AAA Kevin Frandsen.... 5  3  1  0  0  0  0  
TEX A   Michael Bianucci.. 4  1  0  0  1  0  1  
MIN A   Angel Morales..... 4  2  1  0  0  0  1  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
LA  AAA James McDonald.... 7  4  1  1 10  2  1  
TB  AAA Wade Davis........ 6  4  0  0  7  3  0  
ARI AAA Cesar Valdez...... 7  5  0  0  3  0  0  
LAA AA  Trevor Bell....... 6  6  4  1  6  3  0  
TEX A   Wilfredo Boscan... 5  5  3  1  4  1  0  
STL AAA P.J. Walters...... 5  8  2  2  6  2  0  9 GB
BOS A+  Kyle Weiland...... 6  2  1  0  3  3  0  14 GB
ATL A   J.J. Hoover....... 6  8  4  3  5  2  0  
KC  A   M. Montgomery..... 6  5  1  1  1  0  0  11 GB
NYY A+  D.J. Mitchell..... 5  5  3  2  2  1  0  9 GB
STL AAA Jesse Todd........ 1  1  0  0  2  1  0  
NYY A   Pat Venditte...... 2  1  0  0  0  0  0

First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

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.

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