THT Daily: Two for Texas
by Dave StudemanSeptember 02, 2009
Major League News for September 2
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldThe Marlins don't believe Hanley Ramirez's hamstring injury to be serious.
It sounds like Hanley could return to the batting order as soon as Wednesday evening. "I'm going to call it a cramp -- severe cramping on his hamstring," said manager Fredi Gonzalez. "Maybe it was just the length of the rain delay or the length of being out there. He's got some treatment. Hopefully he comes in [Wednesday] and says it's OK." The 25-year-old shortstop is hitting .355.
According to Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com, a sore right knee may be contributing to Jarrod Washburn's recent struggles.
Washburn had a 2.64 ERA before the Mariners traded him to Detroit on July 31. He has allowed 28 earned runs in 37 innings over six starts since, watching that earned-run average climb to 3.55. According to the Detroit Free Press, the Tigers don't plan on removing him from the starting rotation just yet. But obviously this knee issue warrants close monitoring.
Adam Jones left Tuesday's game with a left ankle injury.
New Oriole Jeff Fiorentino replaced him on the basepaths and in the outfield. Jones, batting .279 with 19 home runs and 70 RBI, was scrambling back to first base when the injury occurred and could miss the next several games. He had just returned from a back injury.
Michael Young suffered a strained hamstring during Tuesday night's game.
Young will have an MRI Wednesday morning to help the Rangers determine the severity of the strain. Elvis Andrus replaced him in the batting order.
Cole Hamels tossed a complete-game two-hitter in a 1-0 win over the Giants on Tuesday night.
After tossing eight scoreless frames against the Pirates last time out, Hamels was even better on Tuesday, holding the Giants to just two hits while fanning eight and walking none. Hamels also recorded a sacrifice bunt and a stolen base in the complete-game victory -- his second complete-game of the season. It may have been a benefit of a poor lineup, but if the Phillies can get Hamels going alongside Cliff Lee, they suddenly become quite scary.
Brandon Phillips clarified comments he made about his injured left wrist on Monday night.
"My wrist is not broken," said Phillips. "I said fractured. I didn't know fractured and broken were the same thing." After all this, it turns out that Phillips has a deep bone bruise in the wrist. He suffered the injury when he was hit by a pitch by J.D. Martin of the Nationals on August 15. It doesn't seem to matter since he is in the lineup on Tuesday, anyway.
According to Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals have reached a one-year contract extension with LHP Trever Miller.
Miller's new deal also contains a vesting option for 2011. Other than that, financial terms are not yet available. The 36-year-old left-hander has been fantastic, posting a 1.77 ERA and 0.90 WHIP in 35 2/3 innings this season while holding left-handed batters to a .100/.157/.175 batting line.
Mets activated third baseman David Wright from the 15-day disabled list.
With a newer, safer helmet in tow, no doubt. Wright missed the last two weeks with post-concussion symptoms after being plunked in the head by a Matt Cain fastball. With nothing to play for in September, the Mets will likely utilize him as a part-time player down the stretch. Watch his status carefully.
Indians recalled RHP Carlos Carrasco from Triple-A Columbus.
Carrasco will make his big league debut Tuesday night against a tough Tigers offense. The 22-year-old is 5-1 with a 3.19 ERA in six starts at the Triple-A level and projects as a top of the rotation arm, but we'd hold off on adding him until he proves he can handle major league hitting. He was acquired in July's Cliff Lee trade.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League NYA 9 BAL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 8 TB 4 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 8 CLE 5 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 4 CHA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 4 OAK 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 2 LAA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 5 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 5 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 4 FLA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 1 SF 0 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 4 HOU 1 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 11 PIT 5 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 7 MIL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 8 NYN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 4 ARI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 4 WAS 1 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
WhiteSox (64-69) @ Twins (67-65), 1:10pm
Mark Buehrle (30, LHP) vs. Brian Duensing (26, LHP)
Royals (51-81) @ Athletics (58-74), 3:35pm
Brian Bannister (28, RHP) vs. Trevor Cahill (21, RHP)
Angels (78-53) @ Mariners (69-64), 6:40pm
Scott Kazmir (25, LHP) vs. Felix Hernandez (23, RHP)
Indians (58-73) @ Tigers (70-61), 7:05pm
Aaron Laffey (24, LHP) vs. Rick Porcello (20, RHP)
Yankees (84-48) @ Orioles (54-79), 7:05pm
C.C. Sabathia (28, LHP) vs. Jason Berken (25, RHP)
RedSox (77-54) @ Rays (71-60), 7:08pm
Josh Beckett (29, RHP) vs. Matt Garza (25, RHP)
Blue Jays (59-72) @ Rangers (74-58), 8:05pm
Scott Richmond (29, RHP) vs. Tommy Hunter (22, RHP)
Pirates (53-78) @ Reds (59-73), 12:35pm
Zach Duke (26, LHP) vs. Homer Bailey (23, RHP)
Astros (63-69) @ Cubs (66-64), 2:20pm
Felipe Paulino (25, RHP) vs. Ted Lilly (33, LHP)
Nationals (46-87) @ Padres (58-76), 3:35pm
John Lannan (24, LHP) vs. Kevin Correia (28, RHP)
Giants (72-60) @ Phillies (76-53), 7:05pm
Brad Penny (31, RHP) vs. J.A. Happ (26, LHP)
Braves (70-62) @ Marlins (68-64), 7:10pm
Javier Vazquez (32, RHP) vs. Rick VandenHurk (24, RHP)
Brewers (64-67) @ Cardinals (78-55), 8:15pm
David Bush (29, RHP) vs. Chris Carpenter (34, RHP)
Mets (59-73) @ Rockies (73-59), 8:40pm
Tim Redding (31, RHP) vs. Ubaldo Jimenez (25, RHP)
D'backs (60-73) @ Dodgers (79-54), 10:10pm
Max Scherzer (24, RHP) vs. Chad Billingsley (24, RHP)
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 84 48 .636 0.0 78 6BOS 77 54 .588 6.5 76 1
TB 71 60 .542 12.5 73 -2
TOR 59 72 .450 24.5 66 -7
BAL 54 79 .406 30.5 58 -4
American League Central DET 70 61 .534 0.0 67 3
MIN 67 65 .508 3.5 67 0
CHA 64 69 .481 7.0 65 -1
CLE 58 73 .443 12.0 62 -4
KC 51 81 .386 19.5 52 -1
American League West LAA 78 53 .595 0.0 74 4
TEX 74 58 .561 4.5 72 2
SEA 69 64 .519 10.0 60 9
OAK 58 74 .439 20.5 61 -3
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 76 53 .589 0.0 75 1
ATL 70 62 .530 7.5 73 -3
FLA 68 64 .515 9.5 65 3
NYN 59 73 .447 18.5 59 0
WAS 46 87 .346 32.0 55 -9
National League Central STL 78 55 .586 0.0 74 4
CHN 66 64 .508 10.5 67 -1
MIL 64 67 .489 13.0 63 1
HOU 63 69 .477 14.5 57 6
CIN 59 73 .447 18.5 56 3
PIT 53 78 .405 24.0 57 -4
National League West LAN 79 54 .594 0.0 81 -2
COL 73 59 .553 5.5 74 -1
SF 72 60 .545 6.5 70 2
ARI 60 73 .451 19.0 64 -4
SD 58 76 .433 21.5 52 6
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 77 54 .588 0.0 TEX 74 58 .561 3.5 TB 71 60 .542 6.0 SEA 69 64 .519 9.0 MIN 67 65 .508 10.5 National League COL 73 59 .553 0.0 SF 72 60 .545 1.0 ATL 70 62 .530 3.0 FLA 68 64 .515 5.0 CHN 66 64 .508 6.0
Top Minor League Games
The 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.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes BOS A+ Che-Hsuan Lin..... 4 4 3 0 0 0 0 HOU AAA Justin Towles..... 3 2 1 0 1 1 1 COL AA Darin Holcomb..... 5 2 1 0 1 1 0 4 RBI BAL AA Brandon Waring.... 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 5 RBI ! COL A- Ben Paulsen....... 4 3 2 0 0 1 0 MIN AAA Daniel Valencia... 5 2 1 0 1 0 1 CIN AA Yonder Alonso..... 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 DET AA Casper Wells...... 4 3 0 0 1 1 0 3 R PIT A+ Josh Harrison..... 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 NYY AAA Austin Jackson.... 6 4 1 0 0 0 0 5 RBI ! STL AAA Jonathan Jay...... 5 2 1 1 0 0 0 TOR A+ T. Pastornicky.... 5 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 SB ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes ATL AA Edgar Osuna....... 7 8 2 1 10 0 0 STL A+ Richard Castillo.. 7 4 1 1 8 2 0 BAL AA Steven Johnson.... 6 2 1 1 8 3 0 ATL A Randall Delgado... 6 7 2 2 7 0 0 SEA A+ Michael Pineda.... 5 3 1 1 7 1 0 LA AA C. Withrow........ 5 2 0 0 8 3 0 CHC AA Casey Coleman..... 6 3 1 1 5 1 0 HOU AA Chia-Jen Lo....... 4 3 0 0 5 0 0 ATL A Ezekiel Spruill... 5 3 1 0 6 2 0 CIN A+ Matthew Fairel.... 7 3 0 0 4 2 0 MIN AAA Anthony Slama..... 2 0 0 0 5 0 0 TB A- Alexander Colome.. 6 5 0 0 4 1 0
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Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.