December 4, 2008
Now shipping The 2009 Hardball Times Annual is now available. You can read about it here, but just make sure you order it directly from ACTA today. 
Rich Barbieri John Barten Sal Baxamusa John Beamer Brian Borawski John Brattain Craig Brown Matthew Carruth Derek Carty Alex Eisenberg Mike Fast David Gassko
Brandon Isleib
Chris Jaffe Josh Kalk Chris Neault Dave Studeman Steve Treder Bryan Tsao Tuck! John Walsh Geoff Young And here's the full roster. StubHub is where fans buy and sell Yankees Tickets, Red Sox Tickets, White Sox Tickets, Mets Tickets and all other baseball tickets. If you are looking for World Series Tickets, ALCS Tickets or NLCS Tickets, you can find them at StubHub! More hot selling tickets include: Cubs Tickets, Astros Tickets, Dodgers Tickets, Angels Tickets and Detroit Tigers Tickets. Gear up for baseball season with Chicago White Sox tickets and New York Yankees tickets. LA Angels tickets, Houston Astros tickets, and Atlanta Braves tickets are hot sellers! You can get Boston Red Sox tickets, San Diego Padres tickets or Chicago Cubs tickets for your favorite baseball fan. Coast to Coast Tickets has the best MLB tickets like Minnesota Twins tickets, LA Dodgers tickets, Milwaukee Brewers tickets, New York Met tickets and St. Louis Cardinals tickets.
Or you can search by:
THT's Toolbox All content on this site (including text, graphs, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
THT Daily: The morning afterby THT StaffAugust 01, 2008 Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Yesterday’s Home Runs Top Minor League Performances 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 Rotoworld
Brandon Webb pitched eight innings of one-run ball against the Dodgers to become the first 15-game winner of 2008 on Thursday. Webb outdueled Derek Lowe in a 2-1 game and moved to 10-3 with a 2.54 ERA in 16 career starts versus the Dodgers. He hasn't allowed a homer in any of his last five starts. Webb is still just eighth in the NL with a 3.04 ERA, but because of the wins, he might be the NL Cy Young favorite anyway. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that there are "strong indications" that Livan Hernandez will be let to go open up a spot in Minnesota's rotation for Francisco Liriano. Common sense prevails. Time will tell if waiting the extra month wiil end up costing the Twins a spot in the postseason. The Nationals have decided to release both Felipe Lopez and Paul Lo Duca and replace them with Emilio Bonifacio and Elijah Dukes. Neither veteran could bring back a prospect before the deadline, so the Nats will cut ties now. They'll likely make Ronnie Belliard their primary first baseman, with Bonifacio taking over at second. Dukes should get most of the playing time in left, with Willie Harris moving around the outfield. Bonifacio and Dukes should both be worth using in NL-only leagues. Dodgers acquired outfielder Manny Ramirez from the Red Sox and sent third baseman Andy LaRoche and RHP Bryan Morris to the Pirates in a three-team deal. Ramirez goes to the easier league and presumably will be especially motivated after getting the trade he wanted. However, he’s going from one of the game’s best ballparks for offense to one that can take a toll on a player’s average. At this point, nothing that he does in the final two months would come as much of a surprise to us. As part of the deal, the Dodgers are getting the cash to pay him for the rest of the year (approx. $7 million) and declining his options for 2009 and 2010. They could try to keep him beyond this year, but they’d likely have to find a taker for Andruw Jones and/or Juan Pierre in order to make it happen. Tthe Pirates will get Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris from the Dodgers and Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen from the Red Sox for their part in the Manny Ramirez-Jason Bay deal. We thought LaRoche would be the one top prospect the Pirates wouldn't focus on, given the presence of Pedro Alvarez and Neil Walker as potential long-term third basemen. Instead, he's the one top talent they get. The inclusion of Moss and Hansen when they could have been used in other deals makes this an especially unimpressive deal for Boston. One could argue that Bay is as valuable as Ramirez once defense is taken into account, but there are certainly plenty of AL teams glad that the Red Sox made this trade. Khalil Greene's return to the Padres this season is doubtful after he fractured his hand punching a storage chest on Wednesday night. And once again, Greene goes down swinging. He punched the storage chest in frustration after fouling a ball off his shin and then notching his 100th strikeout of the season. If he is finished for the year, he'll wind up with a .213/.260/.339 line with 10 homers in 389 at-bats. White Sox acquired outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. from the Reds for RHP Nick Masset and second baseman Danny Richar. The White Sox made a splash by bringing in a Hall of Famer. Whether they're really any better is still to be determined. Their outfield defense sure gets a whole lot worse with Griffey returning to center field, and now they have Paul Konerko potentially losing a whole bunch of playing time. Nick Swisher figures to play first most of the time, with Konerko often reduced to playing against lefties. Griffey brings his .245/.355/.432 line to the more difficult league. He's in just as good of a home run park as he was before, and it's possible his numbers are in for a modest boost the rest of the way. Still, he's arguably a below average regular at this point. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Cubs 11, Brewers 4: The Cubs wrecked the Brewers like a skiff in a cyclone this week. Jim Edmonds delivered the death blows yesterday, smacking two home runs -- one a salami -- in the first few innings, and Chicago never looked back. Didn't have to, not with Rich Harden dealing like he was (7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 9K). The Brewers were less competitive in each succeeding game of this series, their fire and edge from Monday dulling into an ugly, lukewarm frustration by the ninth inning of this game, when Eric Gagne threw behind Edmonds, earning himself an instant ejection. I've said on several occasions that I suspect that Ned Yost is the wrong man to take a maturing team to the next level. There's a lot of baseball still to be played, but this series went a ways in confirming that suspicion. If the Brewers are unable to rebound from this week's whuppin' -- if they take the month of August off to search for their identity -- we'll have our answer in no uncertain terms. Braves 9, Cardinals 4: It's a sad day when you have no idea who the guy is who just won the game for your team, but that's me and Clint Sammons right now. Sammons went 3-4 with a homer and 3 RBI, and his heroics helped the Braves avoid a sweep. The Cardinals should still be happy about this series, however, and should be even happier that Milwaukee was pummeled by Chicago, dropping them into a tie for second mere days after the Brewers put the hurt on St. Louis. Angels 12, Yankees 6: Pudge's first game with the Yankees was fairly forgettable. In addition to losing, Girardi pinch-hit Wilson Betemit for him in the ninth inning despite the fact that Pudge has an OBP 100 points higher against righties. OK, it worked, as Betemit singled and scored, but man. Phillies 8, Nationals 4: That's nine losses in a row for Washington and ten of twelve since the break. John Lannan (5.2 IP, 9 H, 8 R) was mentioned in several trade rumors yesterday afternoon. Maybe that rattled him. Inidans 9, Tigers 4: On July 21st, I noted that Justin Verlander had turned it around in July. Since then he's thrown 9.2 innings, giving up 13 runs on 14 hits. Grady Sizemore -- the Tribe's only legitimate power threat but somehow leading off -- goes 1-3 with 4 RBI and a homer. The handsome Sal Fasano goes 2-3 with a double and a couple of RBI of his own. Mariners 8, Rangers 5: The Mariners were up 8-0 after seven and a half innings, but allowed the Rangers to at least make it interesting. R.A. Dickey gets the win, but really, when a knuckleballer wins, aren't we all victorious? Here's a fun game to play when you're looking at box scores while waiting for the game to go final: notice how ESPN.com's box scores lists the player's first initial and full last name? Stare at them a while and see if you can come up with former major leaguers who match them. For example, looking at the Rangers last night, I picked out Chili Davis, Jeff Hamilton, Dale Murphy, and Matt Young. I could only get Javy Lopez and Jody Reed on the Mariners. Yeah, I probably need to get out more or read a book or something. Marlins 12, Rockies 2: Jeremy Hermida, pleased at not being traded to Pittsburgh as was rumored most of yesterday morning and afternoon, rewards the Marlins for their loyalty by going 3-5 with a double and 2 RBI. Twins 10, White Sox 6: Play was stopped for a few minutes in the seventh as Twins' fans got rowdy and pelted the field with hats and balls and stuff after Ron Gardenhire was ejected. This is Minnesota? I was led to believe that Minnesota was a land full of polite and respectful Midwesterners. Of lutefisk, Lake Wobegon, and "Minnesota nice." I would have expected Twins fans to demonstrate an icy yet smiling, passive-aggressiveness towards the umpires of this game, not to throw stuff on the field. Doesn't matter, though, because the spectacle Gardenhire set off seems to have worked, with the Twins going on to rack up 7 quick runs right after he got ejected. Note: Ken Griffey, Jr. did not make it to Minneapolis in time to suit up for the Sox for this one, but he somehow strained his hamstring and pulled a groin during his fight out of Cincinnati yesterday afternoon when someone said the word "centerfield." Oh, and in case you think that the Griffey deal is the only thing happening in Chicago, you need to see this dispatch from the inner sanctum of White Sox HQ. Diamondbacks 2, Dodgers 1: Derek Lowe is outdueled by Brandon Webb as the Dodgers fall two behind Arizona. Juan Pierre -- seeing the writing on the wall as it relates to his playing time with Manny coming to town -- goes 2-3. In this, he's kind of like the guy who cleans his desk up when word spreads that the consultants are coming in to "streamline operations" out in the field office. Nice effort and all, but he's not going to be able to do anything to clean up last month's sales figures, and those are what's going to get him fired. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (R) Jeff Karstens (0-0) vs. (R) Jason Marquis (6-6) Colorado Rockies at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (7-9) vs. (R) Chris Volstad (2-1) Cincinnati Reds at Washington Nationals, 7:35 PM (R) Homer Bailey (0-4) vs. (L) Odalis Perez (3-8) Milwaukee Brewers at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (R) Jeff Suppan (5-7) vs. (L) Chuck James (2-3) New York Mets at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Pedro Martinez (3-2) vs. (R) Brandon Backe (6-10) Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (L) Cole Hamels (9-6) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (12-3) San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Tim Lincecum (11-3) vs. (R) Josh Banks (3-4) Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:40 PM (L) Randy Johnson (8-7) vs. (L) Clayton Kershaw (1-3) American League --------------- Oakland Athletics at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Justin Duchscherer (10-7) vs. (R) Tim Wakefield (6-8) LA Angels of Anaheim at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Ervin Santana (11-5) vs. (R) Sidney Ponson (6-2) Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Zach Miner (5-3) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (8-5) Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Shaun Marcum (5-5) vs. (R) Tommy Hunter (0-0) Cleveland Indians at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (L) Jeremy Sowers (1-5) vs. (R) Nick Blackburn (7-6) Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Javier Vazquez (7-9) vs. (R) Luke Hochevar (6-8) Baltimore Orioles at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (L) Garrett Olson (7-5) vs. (L) Jarrod Washburn (5-9) 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 63 44 .589 0.0 58 5 Game of the DayCHI WHITE SOX (6) VS MINNESOTA (10) - FINAL
CHI WHITE SOX ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
O Cabrera ss 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 .267
A Pierzynski c 4 0 1 2 0 0 2 .291
C Quentin lf 4 1 2 0 0 1 0 .282
J Dye rf 3 2 1 2 1 1 2 .311
J Thome dh 4 1 1 2 0 1 2 .256
A Ramirez 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .309
N Swisher 1b 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 .228
J Fields 3b 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 .200
J Uribe 3b 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .228
D Wise cf 3 1 1 0 1 2 1 .296
Totals 34 6 8 6 3 12 8
BATTING: 2B - C Quentin (20, M Guerrier). HR - J Thome (20, 2nd inning off S
Baker 1 on, 0 Out), J Dye (25, 8th inning off M Guerrier 1 on, 0 Out). RBI - J
Thome 2 (61), A Pierzynski 2 (41), J Dye 2 (67). Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - J Thome 1, D Wise 1. Team LOB - 4.
BASERUNNING: SB - N Swisher (3, 2nd base off S Baker/J Mauer), O Cabrera (17,
2nd base off S Baker/J Mauer), D Wise (6, 2nd base off J Crain/J Mauer).
FIELDING: E - J Uribe (4, throw); A Pierzynski (7, throw).
MINNESOTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D Span rf 3 3 0 0 1 1 1 .311
N Punto 2b 5 1 2 1 0 0 2 .292
J Mauer c 4 1 3 2 1 0 0 .320
J Morneau 1b 4 2 1 3 1 1 4 .320
D Young lf 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 .293
J Kubel dh 5 1 1 3 0 1 3 .265
B Harris 3b 3 0 2 0 2 0 0 .258
A Everett ss 5 0 0 0 0 0 6 .177
C Gomez cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 .256
Totals 37 10 12 10 5 4 19
BATTING: 2B - B Harris 2 (19, J Danks 2); D Young (20, J Danks); N Punto (9, B
Logan). HR - J Morneau (18, 5th inning off J Danks 2 on, 2 Out), J Kubel (14,
7th inning off O Dotel 2 on, 2 Out). S - D Span. RBI - J Morneau 3 (86), J
Mauer 2 (50), J Kubel 3 (54), N Punto (19), D Young (43). 2-out RBI - J Morneau
3, J Kubel 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A Everett 3, J Kubel 1,
D Young 1, C Gomez 1. Team LOB - 10.
FIELDING: Outfield assists - C Gomez (A Pierzynski at 2nd base).
----------------------------------------------------
CHI WHITE SOX - 020 020 020 -- 6
MINNESOTA - 000 030 43x -- 10
----------------------------------------------------
CHI WHITE SOX ip h r er bb so hr era
J Danks 6 8 4 4 2 4 1 3.31
M Thornton (L, 4-3; B, 4) 2/3 1 1 1 0 0 0 2.53
O Dotel 0 1 2 2 1 0 1 3.23
E Wassermann 1/3 0 1 0 0 0 0 11.00
B Logan 1 2 2 1 2 0 0 4.34
MINNESOTA ip h r er bb so hr era
S Baker 6 5 4 4 3 8 1 3.53
J Crain (W, 4-2) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.35
M Guerrier (H, 14) 1 2 2 2 0 1 1 3.49
J Nathan 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1.21
J Danks pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.
O Dotel pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.
E Wassermann pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
WP - M Thornton, M Guerrier. IBB - J Morneau (by B Logan). HBP - D Young (by
O Dotel). Pitches-strikes: J Danks 102-67; M Thornton 14-8; O Dotel 14-5; E
Wassermann 9-7; B Logan 37-20; S Baker 102-69; J Crain 13-9; M Guerrier 18-12;
J Nathan 11-8. Ground balls-fly balls: J Danks 7-7; M Thornton 1-1; O Dotel
0-0; E Wassermann 0-1; B Logan 3-1; S Baker 2-7; J Crain 2-0; M Guerrier 2-0; J
Nathan 1-0. Batters faced: J Danks 28; M Thornton 3; O Dotel 3; E Wassermann 2;
B Logan 8; S Baker 25; J Crain 4; M Guerrier 5; J Nathan 3.
UMPIRES: HP--Bill Welke. 1B--Kerwin Danley. 2B--Tim Welke. 3B--Marty Foster.
EJECTIONS: MINNESOTA's Gardenhire by Foster (7th).
T--3:23. Att--31,493.
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 Bobby Abreu NYY Jon Garland LAA 365 350 14 PL/L Adrian Beltre SEA Dustin Nippert TEX 413 404 20 PL Jorge Cantu FLA Jorge De La Rosa COL 412 397 19 PL Jermaine Dye CWS Matt Guerrier MIN 378 359 25 PL Jim Edmonds CHC Dave Bush MIL 396 402 13 ND Jim Edmonds CHC Dave Bush MIL 385 401 12 PL Prince Fielder MIL Rich Harden CHC 421 424 22 ND Kosuke Fukudome CHC David Riske MIL 403 413 8 ND Vladimir Guerrero LAA Chris Britton NYY 404 410 18 PL Torii Hunter LAA Andy Pettitte NYY 429 420 18 PL Omar Infante ATL Joel Pineiro STL 395 384 3 PL Jason Kubel MIN Octavio Dotel CWS 373 362 14 PL Justin Morneau MIN John Danks CWS 358 347 18 JE Xavier Nady NYY Jon Garland LAA 405 406 15 JE Hanley Ramirez FLA Kip Wells COL 442 429 25 ND Juan Rivera LAA Andy Pettitte NYY 423 429 6 ND Jimmy Rollins PHI John Lannan WAS 408 390 8 PL Clint Sammons ATL Joel Pineiro STL 407 388 1 PL Grady Sizemore CLE Justin Verlander DET 352 333 27 PL/L Alfonso Soriano CHC Dave Bush MIL 391 403 18 PL Jim Thome CWS Scott Baker MIN 392 369 20 JE/L Ramon Vazquez TEX R.A. Dickey SEA 388 381 6 PL Jayson Werth PHI John Lannan WAS 390 377 15 JE/L Top Minor League GamesThe 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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes CLE AAA Trevor Crowe...... 6 3 0 0 2 0 1 4 RBI MIL A Steffan Wilson.... 4 3 1 0 1 1 0 4 RBI HOU A Maxwell Sapp...... 4 3 1 0 1 1 0 LA AA Lucas May......... 4 3 0 0 1 1 1 KC AAA Kila Kaaihue...... 4 3 0 0 1 1 1 3 R LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 CHC AA Tyler Colvin...... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 FLA AA Gaby Sanchez...... 4 2 0 0 1 2 0 BOS AA Zachary Daeges.... 5 4 1 0 0 1 0 4 RBI BOS AA Lars Anderson..... 4 3 1 0 0 2 0 SEA A+ Carlos Triunfel... 4 3 0 0 1 0 0 3 R STL A+ Daniel Descalso... 3 3 1 0 0 1 0 3 LD ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes NYY AA George Kontos..... 8 1 0 0 13 1 0 BOS A Felix Doubront.... 6 2 0 0 8 0 0 ATL AA Deunte Heath...... 8 1 0 0 7 2 0 TB A Alexander Cobb.... 6 3 1 1 9 1 0 NYY A+ Z. McAllister..... 7 2 0 0 7 2 0 BAL A+ Brandon Erbe...... 6 4 1 1 8 2 0 ATL A Cole Rohrbough.... 6 5 3 3 11 3 1 ARI AAA Max Scherzer...... 3 1 0 0 7 1 0 TEX A+ Derek Holland..... 6 3 0 0 5 1 0 NYY AAA Kei Igawa......... 7 3 1 1 5 2 0 TEX A Michael Main...... 6 3 1 1 4 0 0 MIN A Shooter Hunt...... 5 2 1 0 9 5 0 Access THT’s stats here…
Do you have a general question or comment for one of THT's writers? Send it in to our weekly mailbag We also welcome unsolicited op-ed pieces of approximately 500 words for consideration. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and consistency of style. Please include your whole name and location to be considered. If you have a comment about this specific article, please email the writer. Next Article: This annotated week in baseball history: July 27-Aug. 2, 1962>> <<Previous Article: THT interview: Ken Joyce | |||||||
BOS 61 48 .560 3.0 63 -2 
NYA 59 49 .546 4.5 59 0 
TOR 54 54 .500 9.5 58 -4 
BAL 51 56 .477 12.0 52 -1 
American League Central
CHA 60 47 .561 0.0 62 -2 
MIN 60 48 .556 0.5 57 3 
DET 55 53 .509 5.5 57 -2 
KC 50 59 .459 11.0 47 3 
CLE 47 60 .439 13.0 54 -7 
American League West
LAA 68 40 .630 0.0 60 8 
TEX 56 53 .514 12.5 52 4 
OAK 53 54 .495 14.5 58 -5 
SEA 41 67 .380 27.0 46 -5 
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 59 49 .546 0.0 62 -3 
NYN 58 50 .537 1.0 59 -1 
FLA 58 51 .532 1.5 52 6 
ATL 50 58 .463 9.0 56 -6 
WAS 38 70 .352 21.0 41 -3 
National League Central
CHN 65 44 .596 0.0 67 -2 
MIL 60 49 .550 5.0 56 4 
STL 61 50 .550 5.0 58 3 
CIN 51 58 .468 14.0 48 3 
HOU 50 57 .467 14.0 48 2 
PIT 50 58 .463 14.5 48 2 
National League West
ARI 56 52 .519 0.0 57 -1 
LAN 54 54 .500 2.0 56 -2 
COL 49 61 .445 8.0 49 0 
SF 44 63 .411 11.5 44 0 
SD 42 67 .385 14.5 43 -1 