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THT Daily: Thome’s 500th

by Matthew Carruth
September 17, 2007

Major League News for September 17
Today’s Links
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day

You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/

THT Links

Catching Up - A random assortment of pertinent Astro-related news items.

This Kid is Not Duncan's Biggest Fan - Yankee Shelley Duncan did not enamor himself to this ten year old Red Sox fan. All in good fun though right?

Interesting Royals - The Royals have a few more minor leaguers do keep an eye on over the winter and next season.

John Smoltz - No specific link here, just wanted to take time to point out John Smoltz who's 40 and holds a 3.02 ERA. It seemed like just recently that he made the switch back to starter (I'm getting old), and he's been lights out since. If there was ever any doubt to his hall of fame credentials, let's put those to rest.

THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at .

Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld

Jim Thome hit the 500th homer of his career on Sunday when he belted a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Angels. The White Sox were down 7-1 at one point in this game, but they rallied to tie the game with four runs in the seventh and two in the eighth. Then in the ninth, Darin Erstad singled with one out, setting the stage for Thome's dramatic homer to center off reliever Dustin Moseley. Thome is the 23rd member of the 500 home run club and the third person to join the club this season.

The Giants expect Barry Bonds to miss 5-7 days with a strained right big toe. Fantasy leaguers will probably want him reserved this week. Nate Schierholtz figures to get most of the starts in his place.

Yesterday’s Results
American League
NYA     4  BOS     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
BAL     8  TOR     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     9  LAA     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      4  CLE     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     6  MIN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX    11  OAK     9    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB      9  SEA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
PHI    10  NYN     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
ATL     3  WAS     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU    15  PIT     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     5  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     4  STL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL    13  FLA     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     6  LAN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      5  SF      1    (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
 ---------------
 Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves, 7:05 PM
  (R) Byung-Hyun Kim (9-6) vs. (R) John Smoltz (13-7)
 New York Mets at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (R) Brian Lawrence (1-2) vs. (R) Tim Redding (3-5)
 Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM
  (R) Bronson Arroyo (9-14) vs. (L) Rich Hill (9-8)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (R) Yovani Gallardo (8-4) vs. (R) Matt Albers (4-8)
 Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:10 PM
  (R) Kyle Kendrick (8-4) vs. (R) Brad Thompson (6-5)
 San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (R) Kevin Correia (4-6) vs. (R) Brandon Webb (16-10)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (R) John VanBenschoten (0-5) vs. (R) Jack Cassel (0-0)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (L) Kenny Rogers (3-2) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (15-6)
 Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (R) Daniel Cabrera (9-16) vs. (R) Phil Hughes (3-3)
 Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) Tim Wakefield (16-10) vs. (R) Dustin McGowan (10-9)
 Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM
  (R) Edinson Volquez (2-1) vs. (R) Kevin Slowey (3-0)
 Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (R) Javier Vazquez (12-8) vs. (R) Kyle Davies (2-5)
 Tampa Bay Devil Rays at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (R) Edwin Jackson (4-14) vs. (R) Kelvim Escobar (17-7)
 Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM
  (R) Miguel Batista (13-11) vs. (R) Dan Haren (14-7)

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     90  60 .600    0.0   95    -5    sparkline graph
NYA     85  64 .570    4.5   89    -4    sparkline graph
TOR     74  75 .497   15.5   78    -4    sparkline graph
BAL     64  84 .432   25.0   66    -2    sparkline graph
TB      63  87 .420   27.0   62     1    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CLE     87  62 .584    0.0   84     3    sparkline graph
DET     83  67 .553    4.5   82     1    sparkline graph
MIN     72  77 .483   15.0   75    -3    sparkline graph
KC      64  84 .432   22.5   69    -5    sparkline graph
CHA     64  85 .430   23.0   59     5    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     87  62 .584    0.0   84     3    sparkline graph
SEA     78  70 .527    8.5   71     7    sparkline graph
OAK     74  77 .490   14.0   76    -2    sparkline graph
TEX     70  79 .470   17.0   72    -2    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     83  65 .561    0.0   81     2    sparkline graph
PHI     80  69 .537    3.5   79     1    sparkline graph
ATL     76  73 .510    7.5   81    -5    sparkline graph
WAS     66  83 .443   17.5   63     3    sparkline graph
FLA     65  84 .436   18.5   66    -1    sparkline graph
National League Central     
CHN     78  72 .520    0.0   80    -2    sparkline graph
MIL     76  72 .514    1.0   74     2    sparkline graph
STL     70  78 .473    7.0   66     4    sparkline graph
CIN     68  81 .456    9.5   69    -1    sparkline graph
PIT     66  83 .443   11.5   66     0    sparkline graph
HOU     65  84 .436   12.5   65     0    sparkline graph
National League West        
ARI     84  66 .560    0.0   72    12    sparkline graph
SD      81  67 .547    2.0   81     0    sparkline graph
LAN     79  70 .530    4.5   78     1    sparkline graph
COL     77  72 .517    6.5   81    -4    sparkline graph
SF      66  83 .443   17.5   71    -5    sparkline graph


Wildcard Standings
American League             
NYA     85  64 .570    0.0
DET     83  67 .553    2.5
SEA     78  70 .527    6.5
TOR     74  75 .497   11.0
OAK     74  77 .490   12.0
National League             
SD      81  67 .547    0.0
PHI     80  69 .537    1.5
LAN     79  70 .530    2.5
COL     77  72 .517    4.5
MIL     76  72 .514    5.0

Game of the Day
With the White Sox trying desperately to avoid having the worst record in the American League just two years after winning the World Series, Jim Thome provided a dramatic milestone home run, hitting his 500th career homer in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Angels 9-7. Tampa Bay also won yesterday, leaving them a game “ahead” of Chicago in the “standings.”
LA ANGELS (7) VS CHI WHITE SOX (9) - FINAL

LA ANGELS              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
R Willits cf            5  1  1  0   0  0   6  .291
O Cabrera ss            4  0  2  0   0  1   0  .304
V Guerrero dh           4  2  1  1   1  0   2  .327
R Quinlan 1b            4  1  2  1   0  1   1  .248
 b-C Kotchman ph-1b     1  0  1  0   0  0   0  .290
M Izturis 3b            5  1  1  0   0  0   3  .281
H Kendrick 2b           5  1  3  1   0  0   0  .322
J Rivera lf             4  1  2  2   0  1   0  .176
 c-E Aybar ph-lf        1  0  0  0   0  0   1  .235
M Napoli c              2  0  2  1   3  0   0  .252
T Evans rf              3  0  0  0   0  0   4  .125
 a-K Morales ph         1  0  0  0   0  1   3  .314
 N Haynes rf            1  0  0  0   0  0   1  .206

Totals                 40  7 15  6   4  4  21

a-struck out swinging for T Evans in the 7th;  b-doubled to deep center for R 
Quinlan in the 8th;  c-grounded to shortstop for J Rivera in the 9th.

BATTING: 2B - R Willits (19, M Buehrle); C Kotchman (36, M MacDougal). HR - V 
Guerrero (25, 1st inning off M Buehrle 0 on, 2 Out), J Rivera (1, 4th inning 
off M Buehrle 1 on, 1 Out). S - O Cabrera. RBI - V Guerrero (120), J Rivera 2 
(3), R Quinlan (21), H Kendrick (33), M Napoli (33). 2-out RBI - V Guerrero. 
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Izturis 1, R Willits 3. GIDP - V 
Guerrero, E Aybar. Team LOB - 11. 
 
FIELDING: E - R Willits (3, bobble). 

CHI WHITE SOX          ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
J Owens cf              4  1  1  1   1  1   1  .253
J Fields lf             4  1  2  3   0  2   2  .232
 D Erstad lf            1  1  1  0   0  0   0  .255
J Thome dh              5  1  1  2   0  1   1  .268
P Konerko 1b            3  0  1  0   1  1   1  .264
J Dye rf                3  0  0  0   1  2   3  .251
J Uribe ss              3  1  0  0   1  1   2  .230
D Richar 2b             3  3  2  2   1  0   1  .227
A Gonzalez 3b           4  1  1  0   0  1   1  .192
T Hall c                2  0  1  1   1  0   0  .210
 a-A Pierzynski ph-c    1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .262

Totals                 33  9 10  9   6  9  12

a-fouled out to third for T Hall in the 8th.

BATTING: 2B - J Fields (14, J Saunders); P Konerko (31, J Speier). HR - J 
Fields (19, 7th inning off C Bootcheck 2 on, 1 Out), D Richar (5, 8th inning 
off S Shields 1 on, 0 Out), J Thome (28, 9th inning off D Moseley 1 on, 0 Out). 
RBI - J Owens (14), T Hall (2), J Fields 3 (59), D Richar 2 (12), J Thome 2 
(85). 2-out RBI - J Owens. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Dye 2, J 
Fields 2. Team LOB - 6. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - J Owens (27, 2nd base off C Bootcheck/M Napoli). CS - J 
Owens (7, 2nd base by J Saunders). 
 
FIELDING: E - A Gonzalez (8, ground ball). DP: 2 (J Uribe-D Richar-P Konerko, 
D Richar-J Uribe-P Konerko). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    LA ANGELS       - 100 200 400   --   7
    CHI WHITE SOX   - 000 010 422   --   9

No outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------

LA ANGELS                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Saunders                    6       2   1   1   5   7   0   3.82
C Bootcheck                     1/3   4   4   4   0   0   1   4.70
J Speier (H, 21)                2/3   1   0   0   0   1   0   3.07
S Shields (B, 6)              1       1   2   2   1   1   1   3.93
D Moseley (L, 4-3)            0       2   2   2   0   0   1   4.60

CHI WHITE SOX                ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
M Buehrle                     6 1/3  11   7   6   2   3   2   3.55
R Bukvich                     0       1   0   0   1   0   0   5.05
M Thornton                      2/3   0   0   0   0   1   0   5.05
M MacDougal (W, 2-5)          2       3   0   0   1   0   0   6.35

R Bukvich pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.
D Moseley pitched to 2 batters in the 9th.

IBB - V Guerrero (by M Buehrle). Pitches-strikes: J Saunders 106-59; C 
Bootcheck 18-14; J Speier 11-8; S Shields 25-13; D Moseley 9-5; M Buehrle 
106-71; R Bukvich 9-5; M Thornton 11-8; M MacDougal 25-13. Ground balls-fly 
balls: J Saunders 5-5; C Bootcheck 1-0; J Speier 0-1; S Shields 1-1; D Moseley 
0-0; M Buehrle 8-8; R Bukvich 0-0; M Thornton 0-1; M MacDougal 4-2. Batters 
faced: J Saunders 24; C Bootcheck 5; J Speier 3; S Shields 5; D Moseley 2; M 
Buehrle 32; R Bukvich 3; M Thornton 2; M MacDougal 8. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Mike Reilly. 1B--Jeff Kellogg. 2B--Eric Cooper. 3B--Andy 
Fletcher. 

T--3:06. Att--29,010. 
Weather: 68 degrees, sunny. Wind: 10 mph, right to left.

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.

image

Access THT’s stats here…
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