November 8, 2009
Order Now The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010 is now in development and will ship in mid November! This year's book will feature articles by THT's staff as well as Bill James, Tom Tango and Craig Wright. If you use this link to purchase the Annual, you will be in the first group to receive it and you'll be supporting THT. 
Rich Barbieri
John Barten Brian Borawski Craig Brown Evan Brunell David Gassko Jonathan Hale Brandon Isleib Chris Jaffe Max Marchi Bruce Markusen Harry Pavlidis Jeff Sackmann Dave Studeman Steve Treder Bryan Tsao Tuck! Dan Turkenkopf Colin Wyers Geoff Young John Brattain And here's the full roster.
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THT Daily: Tommy John surgeriesby THT StaffSeptember 09, 2008 Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Game of the Day Yesterday’s Home Runs 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
Billy Wagner will have Tommy John surgery on his elbow and likely miss much of next season, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. Newsday said that Wagner would tendon surgery, but has since altered the report to say ligament instead. This is the worst-case scenario for Wagner, but perhaps not for the Mets. With Wagner set to miss most of the final season of his four-year deal, tbey could enter the chase for Francisco Rodriguez this winter. Given that Wagner is 37 and a reliever, he'll probably attempt to rush back from surgery. The All-Star break could be a target. Albert Pujols told told KSDK-TV that he's leaning towards undergoing Tommy John surgery. Cards fans can look at the bright side here: if the team misses the postseason, it'd be a lot easier for Pujols to undergo the surgery and still be ready for next year. If the Cardinals were to play deep into October, Pujols would probably put the procedure off for another year. B.J. Upton expects to miss at least the next two games after leaving Monday with a strained left quad. Upton thinks he was injured running down David Ortiz's first-inning double. "It’s tough to say when it happened, but it was definitely on that play," said Upton. "It didn’t feel too bad at the time, but as the game went on it kind of got stiffer and stiffer. I felt like if I had to run hard it was going to go, and pretty much now is not the time for that." Fernando Perez and Gabe Gross can fill in for him. The Rays may opt to recall Jonny Gomes. Jack Wilson has a hairline fracutire in his right index finger and could miss the rest of the season. Wilson can pinch-run and could pinch-hit late in the year, but it doesn't sound like the Pirates will want him trying to throw with the injured hand. Luis Cruz and Brian Bixler apparently will split time in his place. Neither has any real upside, but we suppose Cruz is the better pickup of the two. Yesterday’s ResultsGame recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Red Sox 3, Rays 0: It was reported yesterday that Lance Armstrong might make a comeback in next year's Tour de France. I know jack about cycling, but back when he was winning it every year, I would always marvel at how he could be behind after all of those early stages yet still win the thing with ease. I'd read the cycling guy ESPN.com dusted off every year explain how it was so obviously Armstrong's race to win, and that he'd take over once they got to the time trials and mountain stages and everything, and I would have a hard time wrapping my brain around it. "But he's so many minutes behind," I'd think. "How could he possibly close that gap?" And the answer was simply that the race was long. Some guys don't know the course as well as he did. Some guys were great sprinters but didn't have the stamina. Some guys got hurt along the way. Armstrong? Steady as she goes, always with his eyes and mind on the prize. Simply expecting to win, and making us all feel silly for thinking in the middle stages that he might not. Orioles 14, Indians 3: Aubrey Huff and Adam Jones are a two-man wrecking crew, each going 3-5 with a homer and 4 RBI. They are not to be confused with the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, which consisted of Ole and Gene Anderson. OK, I'll give you Lars, but he was really the Shemp of that team. Arn? Curly Joe DeRita at best. Phillies 8, Marlins 6: Blanton beats Florida tonight. It's Kendrick tomorrow. If Philly can beat a Marlins team that has given them trouble this year with their two weakest starters, they'll have to feel pretty darn good about themselves. Tigers 14, A's 8: It's not every day that you give up eight runs on eleven hits in four innings and don't get hung with a loss, but then again, it's not every day you face one Gio Gonzales either (1.2 IP, 5 H, 9 R). How, though, does Curtis Granderson -- a guy whose praises I sung a mere 24 hours ago -- pull an 0-6 with strikeouts in a game like this? Oh, and congratulations to Gary Sheffield for hitting baseball's 250,000th home run. Reds 5, Brewers 4: We haven't been talking about it much lately, but those problems with Milwaukee's bullpen that were all the rage back in the early summer haven't gone anywhere. Witness a ninth inning in which Salomon Torres was handed a 4-2 lead and blew it by loading up the bases and then giving up an RBI single to Corey Patterson of all people, followed by a double to the rarely dangerous Jeff Keppinger. Here's a proposal: have CC close the four games a week he's not starting, and have Sheets close CC's starts. OK, I'll admit that's silly. Yost would never yank Sabathia out of a game he started. Astros 3, Pirates 2: Houston wins their 12th of 15 and continues to make all of us who wrote them off as a disaster back in the spring look foolish. As do most other teams, by the way, which is kind of why I avoid writing formal predictions in March and April. Angels 12, Yankees 1: In an embarrassing inning of an embarrassing loss the Yankees choose to officially signal the unraveling of their season in the form of a bench-clearing ball. Appropriately, the fight was characterized by Pudge Rodriguez taking a mighty swing . . . and missing. Giants 6, Diamondbacks 2; Padres 4, Dodgers 0: Tim Lincecum dominates the Dbacks (8.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 9K) and Cha Seung Baek (and a couple of relievers) dominate the Dodgers, who were shut out on four hits. These games were brought to you by the Commission To Remind You That Despite the Dodgers Recent Winning Streak, The NL West Is Still A Wasteland Of Mediocrity. Blue Jays at White Sox: Postponed: All other districts are on a two-hour delay. You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
Today’s GamesNational League --------------- Florida Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Chris Volstad (4-3) vs. (R) Kyle Kendrick (11-8) Washington Nationals at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (L) John Lannan (8-13) vs. (L) Oliver Perez (10-7) Colorado Rockies at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (R) Aaron Cook (16-9) vs. (R) Jorge Campillo (7-7) Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Ramon Ramirez (0-0) vs. (R) Jeff Suppan (10-8) Pittsburgh Pirates at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Ross Ohlendorf (0-0) vs. (L) Randy Wolf (9-11) Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (R) Ryan Dempster (15-6) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (13-6) Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Hiroki Kuroda (8-10) vs. (L) Wade LeBlanc (0-1) Arizona Diamondbacks at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (L) Doug Davis (6-8) vs. (L) Barry Zito (9-16) American League --------------- Toronto Blue Jays at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 PM (R) A.J. Burnett (16-10) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (11-12) Oakland Athletics at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (L) Dana Eveland (8-8) vs. (L) Nate Robertson (7-10) Cleveland Indians at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (L) Jeremy Sowers (2-8) vs. (R) Radhames Liz (5-4) Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (L) Scott Kazmir (11-6) vs. (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (16-2) Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (R) Brian Bannister (7-14) vs. (R) Nick Blackburn (9-8) Toronto Blue Jays at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) Jesse Litsch (10-8) vs. (L) Clayton Richard (2-3) New York Yankees at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Alfredo Aceves (0-0) vs. (R) Ervin Santana (15-5) Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) Vicente Padilla (12-7) vs. (R) Felix Hernandez (9-9) 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 85 57 .599 0.0 80 5 Game of the DayReds 5, Brewers 4 - FINAL
CINCINNATI ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Patterson cf 5 0 1 1 0 1 0 .204
J Keppinger ss 5 0 1 2 0 0 0 .264
B Phillips 2b 5 0 1 0 0 0 2 .262
J Votto 1b 4 1 1 1 1 0 1 .292
E Encarnacion 3b 5 0 2 0 0 1 3 .256
J Bruce rf 3 2 2 0 1 0 1 .263
W Castillo lf 4 1 3 1 0 0 1 .500
R Hanigan c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .279
P Bako c 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 .207
vb-C Dickerson ph-lf 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .322
E Volquez p 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 .093
M Lincoln p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
va-J Hairston Jr ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .337
N Masset p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Burton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
vc-J Valentin ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 .244
F Cordero p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 37 5 11 5 4 4 16 ###
MILWAUKEE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Durham 2b 4 1 2 0 0 1 0 .284
J Hardy ss 4 1 1 1 0 1 1 .287
R Braun lf 3 0 1 0 1 2 0 .301
P Fielder 1b 4 0 0 1 0 2 3 .260
C Hart rf 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .282
M Cameron cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .255
C Counsell 3b 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 .231
J Kendall c 4 1 1 2 0 0 2 .254
D Bush p 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .094
S Torres p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 32 4 6 4 3 11 8 ###
----------------------------------------------------
CINCINNATI - 010 000 013 -- 5 11 0
MILWAUKEE - 120 010 000 -- 4 6 0
----------------------------------------------------
va-popped out to shortstop for M Lincoln in the 7th; vb-walked for P Bako in
the 9th; vc-struck out swinging for J Burton in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - J Bruce (15, D Bush); J Keppinger (21, S Torres); R Durham (30, E
Volquez). HR - J Kendall (2, 2nd inning off E Volquez 1 on, 1 Out), J Hardy
(23, 5th inning off E Volquez 0 on, 2 Out), J Votto (19, 8th inning off D Bush
0 on, 2 Out). RBI - W Castillo (1), J Votto (71), C Patterson (29), J Keppinger
2 (38), P Fielder (83), J Kendall 2 (44), J Hardy (69). 2-out RBI - W Castillo,
J Votto, J Hardy. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - E Encarnacion 2, E
Volquez 3, J Kendall 1, C Hart 2. GIDP - P Bako, J Hardy. Team LOB - CINCINNATI
9, MILWAUKEE 4. BASERUNNING: SB - R Braun 2 (14, 2nd base off E Volquez/P Bako
2). FIELDING: PB - P Bako. DP: (B Phillips-J Votto, D Bush-J Kendall-P
Fielder).
CINCINNATI ip h r er bb so hr era
E Volquez 5 2/3 5 4 4 3 10 2 3.23
M Lincoln 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.87
N Masset 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.08
J Burton (W, 5-1) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.77
F Cordero (S, 28) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.41
MILWAUKEE ip h r er bb so hr era
D Bush 8 7 2 2 2 3 1 4.23
S Torres (L, 6-5; B, 7) 1 4 3 3 2 1 0 2.74
IBB - P Bako (by D Bush), J Votto (by S Torres). Pitches-strikes: E Volquez
119-70; M Lincoln 7-4; N Masset 19-11; J Burton 9-7; F Cordero 9-6; D Bush
99-67; S Torres 25-13. Ground balls-fly balls: E Volquez 3-4; M Lincoln 0-1; N
Masset 3-0; J Burton 2-0; F Cordero 0-3; D Bush 12-9; S Torres 1-1. Batters
faced: E Volquez 25; M Lincoln 1; N Masset 3; J Burton 3; F Cordero 3; D Bush
32; S Torres 9. UMPIRES: HP--Jeff Nelson. 1B--Rob Drake. 2B--Bill Miller.
3B--Tim Tschida. T--2:52. Att--30,867. 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 Ramon Hernandez BAL Brendan Donnelly CLE 370 369 15 JE Aubrey Huff BAL Juan Rincon CLE 425 423 32 ND Adam Jones BAL Brendan Donnelly CLE 377 368 9 JE Mark Saccomanno HOU Ian Snell PIT 394 393 1 PL Luke Scott BAL Fausto Carmona CLE 436 442 22 ND Access THT’s stats here…
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BOS 85 58 .594 0.5 87 -2 
TOR 76 66 .535 9.0 81 -5 
NYA 76 68 .528 10.0 75 1 
BAL 64 78 .451 21.0 67 -3 
American League Central
CHA 80 62 .563 0.0 80 0 
MIN 78 65 .545 2.5 79 -1 
DET 70 74 .486 11.0 71 -1 
CLE 69 73 .486 11.0 74 -5 
KC 61 81 .430 19.0 58 3 
American League West
LAA 87 56 .608 0.0 78 9 
TEX 70 74 .486 17.5 66 4 
OAK 65 78 .455 22.0 67 -2 
SEA 56 86 .394 30.5 60 -4 
National League East Pwins Diff
NYN 80 63 .559 0.0 80 0 
PHI 79 65 .549 1.5 82 -3 
FLA 72 72 .500 8.5 69 3 
ATL 62 82 .431 18.5 69 -7 
WAS 56 88 .389 24.5 56 0 
National League Central
CHN 86 57 .601 0.0 89 -3 
MIL 82 62 .569 4.5 79 3 
STL 77 66 .538 9.0 77 0 
HOU 77 67 .535 9.5 70 7 
CIN 65 79 .451 21.5 63 2 
PIT 60 83 .420 26.0 58 2 
National League West
LAN 73 71 .507 0.0 74 -1 
ARI 71 72 .497 1.5 72 -1 
COL 67 77 .465 6.0 66 1 
SF 63 80 .441 9.5 60 3 
SD 56 88 .389 17.0 61 -5 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 85 58 .594 0.0
MIN 78 65 .545 7.0
TOR 76 66 .535 8.5
NYA 76 68 .528 9.5
TEX 70 74 .486 15.5
National League
MIL 82 62 .569 0.0
PHI 79 65 .549 3.0
STL 77 66 .538 4.5
HOU 77 67 .535 5.0
FLA 72 72 .500 10.0