THT Daily: This is not over yet
by Dave StudemanOctober 05, 2009
Major League News for October 5
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Standings
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldFree-agent-to-be Trevor Hoffman indicated after Sunday's game that he's close to re-signing with the Brewers.
Hoffman made $6 million this year in his first season with the Brewers. He blew his fourth save today, but he picked up a win anyway and he finished the year with a 1.83 ERA in 54 innings. He's just nine saves away from 600.
Jason Kubel launched two three-run homers off Luke Hochevar as the Twins cruised to a 13-4 victory over the Royals on Sunday and forced a one-game playoff against the Tigers.
That will take place on Tuesday, since the Metrodome will be occupied by Brett Favre's ego and a whole lot of purple on Monday. Kubel's homers were his 26th and 27th of the year and they put him over 100 RBI. He'll have one more game to add to his numbers against the Tigers, assuming that Twins manager Ron Gardenhire doesn't sit him to protect his .300 average.
Clay Mortensen was arrested and detained Saturday night for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Mortensen spent the night in jail, but he was with the A's for today's game. The rookie right-hander was 2-4 with a 7.81 ERA this season.
Justin Verlander surrendered three runs in 7 2/3 innings to beat the White Sox and force the Twins to win their afternoon game to clinch a one-game playoff.
Verlander was dominant through seven scoreless innings, but the White Sox started to get to him in the eighth. He departed after allowing three runs and left runners on first and second for closer Fernando Rodney. Carlos Quentin hit a shallow fly to center off Rodney, but Curtis Granderson made a phenomenal diving catch to prevent a run and keep it a 5-3 game. Rodney eventually finished the game off, improving Verlander's record to 19-9 to go with a 3.45 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and an American League-leading 269 strikeouts.
Ken Macha will return for the 2010 season and has a new club option for 2011.
While Macha's job security was in doubt all year, it became obvious recently that he would return to finish his two-year pact. The Brewers had a disappointing season, but most of the blame can be laid at the feet of the pitching staff, not Macha. The five-year managing veteran will be allowed to bring in his own pitching coach for 2010, most likely old friend Rick Peterson.
Andy LaRoche may move to second base in 2010, general manager Neal Huntington revealed.
The move would make room for prospect Pedro Alvarez, the No. 1 pick in 2008. Alvarez excelled after a mid-season promotion to Double-A and is expected to make his major league debut in the second half of 2010, although this is not certain. "If that's going to help us out for me to go to second, that doesn't bother me at all," said LaRoche. The 25-year old would see a fantasy boost if he moved to second and has seen his power develop over the final couple months of 2009.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League BAL 5 TOR 4 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 12 CLE 7 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 10 TB 2 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 5 CHA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 13 KC 4 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 5 OAK 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 4 TEX 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League WAS 2 ATL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 4 HOU 0 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 7 FLA 6 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 5 CHN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 6 PIT 0 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 9 STL 7 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 5 COL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 4 SD 3 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
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 103 59 .636 0.0 96 7BOS 95 67 .586 8.0 94 1
TB 84 78 .519 19.0 86 -2
TOR 75 87 .463 28.0 84 -9
BAL 64 98 .395 39.0 68 -4
American League Central DET 86 76 .531 0.0 81 5
MIN 86 76 .531 0.0 86 0
CHA 79 83 .488 7.0 80 -1
CLE 65 97 .401 21.0 72 -7
KC 65 97 .401 21.0 65 0
American League West LAA 97 65 .599 0.0 93 4
TEX 87 75 .537 10.0 85 2
SEA 85 77 .525 12.0 75 10
OAK 75 87 .463 22.0 81 -6
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 93 69 .574 0.0 92 1
FLA 87 75 .537 6.0 82 5
ATL 86 76 .531 7.0 91 -5
NYN 70 92 .432 23.0 72 -2
WAS 59 103 .364 34.0 65 -6
National League Central STL 91 71 .562 0.0 91 0
CHN 83 78 .516 7.5 84 -1
MIL 80 82 .494 11.0 78 2
CIN 78 84 .481 13.0 76 2
HOU 74 88 .457 17.0 68 6
PIT 62 99 .385 28.5 67 -5
National League West LAN 95 67 .586 0.0 99 -4
COL 92 70 .568 3.0 90 2
SF 88 74 .543 7.0 86 2
SD 75 87 .463 20.0 67 8
ARI 70 92 .432 25.0 75 -5
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 95 67 .586 0.0 TEX 87 75 .537 8.0 SEA 85 77 .525 10.0 TB 84 78 .519 11.0 CHA 79 83 .488 16.0 National League COL 92 70 .568 0.0 SF 88 74 .543 4.0 FLA 87 75 .537 5.0 ATL 86 76 .531 6.0 CHN 83 78 .516 8.5
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