THT Daily: The NL wild card tightens
by Matthew CarruthSeptember 10, 2007
Major League News for September 7
Today’s LinksPlayer 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/
THT Links
Coming soon.
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldJeremy Bonderman, who had his elbow checked out by doctors after a short and substandard outing, could miss the remainder of the season. "He's obviously not right," manager Jim Leyland said. "We're going to look into it. I'll possibly, and probably, shut him down." It's not looking good for Bonderman and his owners right now, but on the plus side, he said the pain is at the back of the elbow, not near the ligament, where it is usually a precursor to Tommy John surgery. "I had the same thing in 2005," Bonderman said. "They shut me down then, but rest and rehab was all I needed."
Jay Gibbons received shipments of steroids and human growth hormone from an Orlando pharmacy between 2003 and 2005, SI.com reports. Gibbons reportedly received six separate shipments of Genotropin (a brand name for synthetic Human Growth Hormone), two shipments of testosterone and two shipments of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone produced naturally during pregnancy, but taken by anabolic steroid users to stimulate the production of testosterone. Gibbons' name had surfaced in connection with steroids before, as he's believed to be one of the players named by Jason Grimsley in his affadavit last year.
Ryan Braun homered twice against the Reds on Sunday to reach 30 long balls on the season. Unbelievable. Braun hit a solo shot off starter Phil Dumatrait in the first, then belted a two-run shot off reliever Tom Shearn in the second. We've been big fans of Braun ever since he was selected fifth overall in 2005 draft, but we certainly weren't expecting him to hit like Albert Pujols as a rookie. In addition to his 30 homers, Braun is batting .328 with 79 RBI. His poor defense has limited his value to the Brewers somewhat, but he's still easily the National League's Rookie of the Year.
Jeremy Guthrie left Sunday's game because of a strained oblique. If it's as severe as the one Erik Bedard suffered, Guthrie won't pitch again this season. The Orioles might have to go forward with a rotation of Daniel Cabrera, Jon Leicester, Radhames Liz, Victor Santos and Victor Zambrano, at least until Garrett Olson returns.
Pedro Martinez scattered six hits over five scoreless innings Sunday against the Astros in his second start back. The Astros got Martinez's pitch count up early and loaded the bases in both the second and the fifth, but they couldn't score until Guillermo Mota came in to start the sixth and immediately gave up a homer to Luke Scott. Martinez again topped out at about 87 mph today, but unlike his first start back, he had a very good changeup, helping him strike out four batters. It was quite an encouraging performance, even if a good offense probably would have scored a couple of runs off him.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 3 BAL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 3 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 5 CHA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 14 DET 7 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 6 KC 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 6 LAA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 12 OAK 9 (Recap and Boxscore) National League WAS 7 ATL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 4 HOU 1 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 8 FLA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 10 CIN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 10 CHN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 6 STL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 4 SD 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 4 LAN 2 (Recap and Boxscore)You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
| First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports: |
Today’s Games
National League --------------- St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs, 3:20 PM (R) Joel Pineiro (4-2) vs. (L) Ted Lilly (14-7) Washington Nationals at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM (R) Shawn Hill (3-3) vs. (L) Scott Olsen (9-12) Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Carlos Villanueva (7-3) vs. (R) Tony Armas (3-5) Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (3-3) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (8-12) Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Tim Hudson (15-7) vs. (L) Oliver Perez (13-9) Arizona Diamondbacks at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (R) Livan Hernandez (10-9) vs. (R) Tim Lincecum (7-4) American League --------------- Toronto Blue Jays at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Roy Halladay (14-7) vs. (L) Kenny Rogers (3-2) Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (L) Scott Kazmir (11-8) vs. (R) Curt Schilling (8-6) Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Boof Bonser (6-12) vs. (R) Billy Buckner (0-0) Cleveland Indians at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) Fausto Carmona (15-8) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (1-2) Oakland Athletics at Seattle Mariners, 10:05 PM (R) Joe Blanton (12-9) vs. (L) Horacio Ramirez (8-5)
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 BOS 87 57 .604 0.0 91 -4NYA 81 62 .566 5.5 86 -5
TOR 72 70 .507 14.0 76 -4
BAL 61 81 .430 25.0 64 -3
TB 60 83 .420 26.5 59 1
American League Central CLE 83 60 .580 0.0 80 3
DET 77 66 .538 6.0 78 -1
MIN 70 73 .490 13.0 72 -2
KC 62 80 .437 20.5 67 -5
CHA 61 82 .427 22.0 56 5
American League West LAA 84 59 .587 0.0 80 4
SEA 75 66 .532 8.0 69 6
OAK 69 75 .479 15.5 71 -2
TEX 68 74 .479 15.5 69 -1
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 81 61 .570 0.0 79 2
PHI 75 67 .528 6.0 76 -1
ATL 73 70 .510 8.5 77 -4
WAS 64 79 .448 17.5 60 4
FLA 61 82 .427 20.5 63 -2
National League Central MIL 73 69 .514 0.0 72 1
CHN 72 70 .507 1.0 74 -2
STL 69 71 .493 3.0 64 5
CIN 64 79 .448 9.5 65 -1
PIT 63 80 .441 10.5 64 -1
HOU 62 81 .434 11.5 61 1
National League West ARI 81 63 .563 0.0 69 12
SD 77 65 .542 3.0 78 -1
LAN 75 68 .524 5.5 75 0
COL 74 68 .521 6.0 76 -2
SF 65 78 .455 15.5 70 -5
Wildcard Standings American League NYA 81 62 .566 0.0 DET 77 66 .538 4.0 SEA 75 66 .532 5.0 TOR 72 70 .507 8.5 MIN 70 73 .490 11.0 National League SD 77 65 .542 0.0 PHI 75 67 .528 2.0 LAN 75 68 .524 2.5 COL 74 68 .521 3.0 ATL 73 70 .510 4.5
Game of the Day
The race for the National League wildcard spot is almost as intense as the NL Central race, and the Dodgers missed a chance to move up a game when their bullpen ceded a three-run home run to Ray Durham and the Giants in the eighth, losing 4-2. For seven innings, the game was a fine pitching match between Matt Cain and Brad Penny, who each gave up only two runs in seven innings (Penny faced one batter in the eighth). Jeff Kent homered twice for the Dodgers’ two runs.The wild card-leading Padres lost to the Diamondbacks, and the Phillies (two games out) and Rockies (three games out) both moved up in the standings..
LA DODGERS (2) VS SAN FRANCISCO (4) - FINAL
LA DODGERS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
T Abreu ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .286
J Pierre cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 .290
M Kemp rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .338
J Kent 2b 4 2 2 2 0 0 1 .294
R Martinez 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .192
J Loney 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .311
R Martin c 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 .299
A Ethier lf 4 0 2 0 0 1 1 .289
N Garciaparra 3b 3 0 1 0 1 2 1 .277
B Penny p 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 .241
S Proctor p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Beimel p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 33 2 8 2 1 5 8
BATTING: 3B - R Martin (3, M Cain). HR - J Kent 2 (19, 2nd inning off M Cain 0
on, 0 Out, 7th inning off M Cain 0 on, 0 Out). RBI - J Kent 2 (76). Runners
left in scoring position, 2 out - B Penny 1, T Abreu 2. GIDP - J Kent. Team LOB
- 6.
BASERUNNING: CS - R Martin (8, 2nd base by M Cain/B Molina).
FIELDING: DP: 1 (T Abreu-J Loney).
SAN FRANCISCO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D Roberts cf 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 .262
T Walker p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Aurilia 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .252
K Frandsen 2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .243
E Velez pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Hennessey p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Winn rf-cf-lf 4 0 1 1 0 1 1 .296
B Bonds lf 2 0 1 0 2 0 0 .277
R Davis pr-cf 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .292
R Klesko 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 .263
b-R Durham ph-2b 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 .218
B Molina c 4 0 3 0 0 1 0 .284
P Feliz 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .252
O Vizquel ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .239
M Cain p 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .077
a-N Schierholtz ph-rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .356
Totals 31 4 9 4 2 3 11
a-grounded to shortstop for M Cain in the 7th; b-homered to right for R Klesko
in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - D Roberts (15, B Penny); B Molina (19, B Penny); K Frandsen (8, B
Penny). HR - R Durham (11, 8th inning off J Broxton 2 on, 1 Out). S - K
Frandsen. RBI - R Winn (51), R Durham 3 (64). Runners left in scoring position,
2 out - R Klesko 1, M Cain 1. GIDP - K Frandsen. Team LOB - 6.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (P Feliz-K Frandsen-R Klesko).
----------------------------------------------------
LA DODGERS - 010 000 100 -- 2
SAN FRANCISCO - 100 000 03x -- 4
----------------------------------------------------
LA DODGERS ip h r er bb so hr era
B Penny 7 8 2 2 1 1 0 2.81
S Proctor (H, 3) 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.52
J Beimel (L, 4-2; H, 15) 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 4.01
J Broxton (B, 5) 2/3 1 1 1 0 1 1 2.43
SAN FRANCISCO ip h r er bb so hr era
M Cain 7 6 2 2 1 4 2 3.78
T Walker (W, 1-0) 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
B Hennessey (S, 19) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.13
B Penny pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
J Beimel pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
WP - S Proctor. IBB - N Garciaparra (by M Cain), B Bonds (by J Beimel). HBP -
B Penny (by M Cain). Pitches-strikes: B Penny 82-53; S Proctor 6-3; J Beimel
4-0; J Broxton 11-10; M Cain 109-75; T Walker 9-6; B Hennessey 11-7. Ground
balls-fly balls: B Penny 12-8; S Proctor 0-0; J Beimel 0-0; J Broxton 0-1; M
Cain 9-7; T Walker 2-1; B Hennessey 0-2. Batters faced: B Penny 29; S Proctor
1; J Beimel 1; J Broxton 3; M Cain 28; T Walker 3; B Hennessey 4.
UMPIRES: HP--Brian Knight. 1B--Tim Tschida. 2B--Jim Joyce. 3B--Jeff Nelson.
T--2:19. Att--40,650.
Weather: 68 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 9 mph, out to center.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.
Access THT’s stats here…
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.