THT Daily: Ultimate comeback
by Dave StudemanAugust 25, 2009
Major League News for August 25
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 RotoworldMiguel Cabrera homered, doubled twice and drove in five runs to lead the Tigers to a 10-7 win over the Angels on Monday night.
Cabrera is hitting .376 with six homers and 23 RBI this month, so no one should be ruling him out as an MVP candidate just yet. He's hitting .341/.407/.570 for the season and is on the verge of overtaking Kevin Youkilis for second place in the AL in OPS. He'd trail only Joe Mauer.
According to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, Billy Wagner "will invoke his no-trade clause rather than accept a deal to the Red Sox."
In other words, there will be no trade or straight up waiver acquisition. Wagner and his agent, Bean Stringfellow, were hoping for a guarantee from Boston management that the 38-year-old's 2010 club option would go unexercised. Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and Co. were not willing to meet that demand. Somebody should wake up Jonathan Papelbon and tell him the good news.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Jake Peavy (ankle) could make his White Sox debut as soon as Saturday against the Yankees.
We're skeptical. The White Sox have already practiced caution with their new acquisition, and he was only able to make it through five innings in his third rehab start Monday at Triple-A Charlotte. It'd be best for everyone if Peavy stays on schedule. But, hey, there's a chance it could happen.
Pablo Sandoval was pulled from Monday's contest with a tight right calf.
"Kung Fu Panda" suffered the injury on a third-inning at-bat and was replaced at third base by Juan Uribe. It's not clear if the injury is serious.
Joe Saunders' return from the 15-day disabled list has been pushed up from Thursday to Wednesday.
Saunders impressed the Angels' coaching staff with a 55-pitch simulated game Friday at the Rogers Centre. "The workout he had in Toronto was exceptional," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "We're confident and comfortable getting him back out there." He'll return to a 9-7 record and 5.33 ERA through 23 outings, and will take on the Tigers in his first start back.
Carl Crawford departed Monday's game with lower back tightness.
The Rays are calling the speedy outfielder "day-to-day." He was 0-for-2 before taking off and was replaced in the lineup by Willy Aybar.
Jake Peavy (ankle) tossed five scoreless innings Monday in his third rehab start with Triple-A Charlotte.
That's more like it. Peavy threw 52 of his 80 pitches for strikes, fanning three batters and issuing two walks. He has now allowed a total of three runs over 12 rehab innings with the Charlotte Knights and is still on pace to make his White Sox debut in early September (between the 4th and 7th) against the Red Sox. We'll keep you updated if anything changes.
A couple of Mets teammates revealed Monday evening that Johan Santana's elbow is in bad shape, and may require surgery.
"I don't think anyone expects good news," said fellow starter Mike Pelfrey. New outfielder Jeff Francoeur concurred with that sentiment, adding that he thinks surgery is in the cards. Santana has already been scratched from his next scheduled start and it sure doesn't sound like he'll be returning this year. The left-hander will be examined by a specialist Tuesday before any decisions are made.
An MRI on Aaron Cook's strained right shoulder Monday afternoon showed no serious structural damage.
Cook was placed on the disabled list August 22 with a strained right shoulder and the outlook was not good, but the results of the MRI have given the Rockies hope that he'll be able to return before the end of the regular season. He will begin playing catch next week.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League BOS 12 CHA 8 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 12 TOR 7 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 10 KC 6 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 2 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 10 LAA 7 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 3 OAK 1 (Recap and Boxscore) National League PHI 6 NYN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 7 WAS 1 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 6 SF 4 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
Rangers (69-54) @ Yankees (78-46), 7:05pmKevin Millwood (34, RHP) vs. Joba Chamberlain (23, RHP)
Rays (68-56) @ Blue Jays (57-66), 7:07pm
James Shields (27, RHP) vs. Brett Cecil (22, LHP)
WhiteSox (63-62) @ RedSox (71-53), 7:10pm
Freddy Garcia (34, RHP) vs. Jon Lester (25, LHP)
Indians (55-69) @ Royals (47-77), 8:10pm
Justin Masterson (24, RHP) vs. Zack Greinke (25, RHP)
Orioles (51-74) @ Twins (62-63), 8:10pm
Brian Matusz (22, LHP) vs. Unknown()
Tigers (66-58) @ Angels (74-49), 10:05pm
Jarrod Washburn (34, LHP) vs. John Lackey (30, RHP)
Athletics (55-69) @ Mariners (64-61), 10:10pm
Brett Anderson (21, LHP) vs. Ryan Rowland-Smith (26, LHP)
Padres (52-74) @ Braves (66-58), 7:00pm
Mat Latos (21, RHP) vs. Jair Jurrjens (23, RHP)
Phillies (72-50) @ Pirates (51-71), 7:05pm
Joe Blanton (28, RHP) vs. Ross Ohlendorf (26, RHP)
Mets (57-68) @ Marlins (65-59), 7:10pm
Nelson Figueroa (35, RHP) vs. Sean West (23, LHP)
Reds (52-71) @ Brewers (61-63), 8:05pm
Bronson Arroyo (32, RHP) vs. Jeff Suppan (34, RHP)
Nationals (44-81) @ Cubs (62-60), 8:05pm
Garrett Mock (26, RHP) vs. Carlos Zambrano (28, RHP)
Astros (61-63) @ Cardinals (72-54), 8:15pm
Wandy Rodriguez (30, LHP) vs. Adam Wainwright (27, RHP)
Dodgers (74-51) @ Rockies (71-54), 8:40pm
Clayton Kershaw (21, LHP) vs. Jason Hammel (26, RHP)
D'backs (55-70) @ Giants (67-58), 10:15pm
Danny Haren (28, RHP) vs. Matt Cain (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 78 46 .629 0.0 72 6BOS 71 53 .573 7.0 71 0
TB 68 56 .548 10.0 70 -2
TOR 57 66 .463 20.5 63 -6
BAL 51 74 .408 27.5 54 -3
American League Central DET 66 58 .532 0.0 63 3
CHA 63 62 .504 3.5 64 -1
MIN 62 63 .496 4.5 64 -2
CLE 55 69 .444 11.0 60 -5
KC 47 77 .379 19.0 48 -1
American League West LAA 74 49 .602 0.0 68 6
TEX 69 54 .561 5.0 68 1
SEA 64 61 .512 11.0 57 7
OAK 55 69 .444 19.5 58 -3
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 72 50 .590 0.0 71 1
ATL 66 58 .532 7.0 68 -2
FLA 65 59 .524 8.0 62 3
NYN 57 68 .456 16.5 56 1
WAS 44 81 .352 29.5 52 -8
National League Central STL 72 54 .571 0.0 70 2
CHN 62 60 .508 8.0 63 -1
HOU 61 63 .492 10.0 55 6
MIL 61 63 .492 10.0 59 2
CIN 52 71 .423 18.5 51 1
PIT 51 71 .418 19.0 55 -4
National League West LAN 74 51 .592 0.0 76 -2
COL 71 54 .568 3.0 71 0
SF 67 58 .536 7.0 67 0
ARI 55 70 .440 19.0 57 -2
SD 52 74 .413 22.5 47 5
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 71 53 .573 0.0 TEX 69 54 .561 1.5 TB 68 56 .548 3.0 SEA 64 61 .512 7.5 CHA 63 62 .504 8.5 National League COL 71 54 .568 0.0 SF 67 58 .536 4.0 ATL 66 58 .532 4.5 FLA 65 59 .524 5.5 CHN 62 60 .508 7.5
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 NYM A+ Kirk Nieuwenhuis.. 5 4 2 0 1 1 0 3 R SEA AAA Mike Carp......... 4 3 1 0 1 1 1 5 RBI ! CIN AAA Todd Frazier...... 3 2 2 0 0 2 1 LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 4 2 1 0 1 1 1 3 R CIN AA Zachary Cozart.... 4 3 2 0 0 1 0 3 LD SD A- Edinson Rincon.... 4 2 1 0 1 1 1 LAA A Alexia Amarista... 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 OAK AAA Aaron Cunningham.. 3 1 0 0 1 2 1 HOU AAA C. Johnson........ 5 2 0 0 1 0 1 3 R STL AAA Troy Glaus........ 4 1 0 0 1 2 1 CHC AA Starlin Castro.... 6 2 2 0 0 0 0 CHC AA Tyler Colvin...... 6 4 1 0 0 0 1 4 LD ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes SF A Eric Surkamp...... 6 4 2 2 10 4 0 BAL AAA Jake Arrieta...... 7 2 0 0 6 2 0 OAK A+ Ben Hornbeck...... 3 0 0 0 7 1 0 KC A Timothy Melville.. 6 4 1 1 8 1 1 PIT AAA Brad Lincoln...... 5 2 0 0 5 0 0 SEA AA Daniel Cortes..... 5 4 2 2 10 2 1 CLE A Curtis Haley...... 5 3 0 0 7 2 0 TEX A Neil Ramirez...... 5 3 0 0 5 1 0 MIN A+ David Bromberg.... 6 3 2 2 7 4 0 ATL A J.J. Hoover....... 6 6 3 3 5 2 0 CHC AAA Mitch Atkins...... 7 4 2 2 5 2 1 TEX A Yoon-Hee Nam...... 3 0 0 0 3 0 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.
Thought there would be a bit on the Col-SF game given the title. That must have been amazing and can you imagine being one of the fans who left after giving up 3 in the top of the 14th and missing the walkoff salami?