THT Daily: We Have a Tie

by Matthew Carruth
August 22, 2008

Major League News for August 22

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 Rotoworld
Brandon Webb became the first 19-game winner of 2008 by blanking the Padres for seven innings on Thursday.
Webb allowed three hits -- all of them singles -- and struck out eight before being removed. He won his 19th on the same day that Cliff Lee became the second to 18 wins. The Diamondbacks have 35 games left, meaning Webb will probably make seven starts or maybe even eight if the race goes down to the wire. He has a chance to become baseball's first 25-game winner since Bob Welch won 27 in 1990.

Carlos Delgado went 5-for-5 with three RBIs Thursday against the Braves, capping his big night with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning.
With David Wright on second base, the Braves intentionally walked Carlos Beltran to face Delgado despite his being 4-for-4. Delgado responded by smoking a line drive to left field, but Omar Infante was in position to make a relatively easy catch before apparently losing the ball in the lights. He fell to his knees as the liner bounced off his glove, and Wright sprinted home with the game-winning run.

A's placed RHP Justin Duchscherer on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to August 20, with a strained right hip.
Duchscherer is hoping to return after missing just two starts, but an injury to his surgically repaired hip combined with a career-high workload already this season makes him anything but a sure thing to pitch again this year. He's 10-8 with a 2.54 ERA and 95/34 K/BB ratio in 141 2/3 innings overall, but has struggled after posting a ridiculous 1.41 ERA in the first half.

Grady Sizemore went 4-for-5 with a career high seven RBI as the Indians defeated the Royals on Thursday afternoon.
Sizemore hit a three-run homer, a three-run triple, and an RBI single to account for all the scoring. He also stole second base, giving him 31 steals on the season. The homer was just Sizemore's second of the month, but his second in the last three days. With 29 home runs on the year, Sizemore has a shot at a 40/40 season.

Yesterday’s Results

American League
TOR    14  NYA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE    10  KC      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     2  LAA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     2  SEA     0    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
NYN     5  ATL     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     4  PHI     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     3  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     4  SD      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     3  COL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      4  FLA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Washington Nationals at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM
  (L) John Lannan (6-12) vs. (R) Jason Marquis (8-7)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (R) Greg Maddux (6-9) vs. (R) Kyle Kendrick (10-7)
 Houston Astros at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (R) Roy Oswalt (11-8) vs. (L) Johan Santana (11-7)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM
  (L) Zach Duke (4-11) vs. (R) Dave Bush (7-9)
 Atlanta Braves at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM
  (R) Charlie Morton (3-7) vs. (R) Adam Wainwright (6-3)
 Cincinnati Reds at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM
  (R) Aaron Harang (3-13) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (1-1)
 Florida Marlins at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (R) Anibal Sanchez (2-2) vs. (L) Randy Johnson (10-9)
 San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM
  (R) Cha Seung Baek (4-7) vs. (R) Tim Lincecum (13-3)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Mike Mussina (16-7) vs. (R) Radhames Liz (4-3)
 Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) Paul Byrd (7-11) vs. (R) Shaun Marcum (8-5)
 Cleveland Indians at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Fausto Carmona (5-5) vs. (L) Matt Harrison (5-2)
 Detroit Tigers at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (R) Justin Verlander (9-13) vs. (R) Brian Bannister (7-12)
 Tampa Bay Rays at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM
  (R) Edwin Jackson (9-8) vs. (L) John Danks (10-5)
 Minnesota Twins at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (L) Glen Perkins (10-3) vs. (L) Joe Saunders (14-5)
 Oakland Athletics at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM
  (L) Gio Gonzalez (1-2) vs. (L) Ryan Feierabend (0-1)

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
TB      77  49 .611    0.0   71     6    
BOS     73  54 .575    4.5   75    -2    
NYA     67  60 .528   10.5   67     0    
TOR     66  61 .520   11.5   70    -4    
BAL     61  65 .484   16.0   64    -3    
American League Central     
CHA     73  53 .579    0.0   75    -2    
MIN     73  54 .575    0.5   70     3    
DET     62  65 .488   11.5   64    -2    
CLE     59  67 .468   14.0   65    -6    
KC      55  72 .433   18.5   51     4    
American League West        
LAA     77  49 .611    0.0   69     8    
TEX     63  65 .492   15.0   59     4    
OAK     58  69 .457   19.5   61    -3    
SEA     46  81 .362   31.5   51    -5    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     71  57 .555    0.0   71     0    
PHI     68  59 .535    2.5   71    -3    
FLA     65  63 .508    6.0   61     4    
ATL     56  72 .438   15.0   63    -7    
WAS     45  83 .352   26.0   47    -2    
National League Central     
CHN     78  49 .614    0.0   80    -2    
MIL     73  55 .570    5.5   69     4    
STL     71  58 .550    8.0   70     1    
HOU     64  63 .504   14.0   59     5    
PIT     57  70 .449   21.0   54     3    
CIN     56  72 .438   22.5   53     3    
National League West        
ARI     67  60 .528    0.0   68    -1    
LAN     65  62 .512    2.0   67    -2    
COL     59  70 .457    9.0   59     0    
SF      55  72 .433   12.0   52     3    
SD      48  79 .378   19.0   52    -4

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
NYY AAA Juan Miranda...... 4  2  0  0  2  0  1  
ARI AA  Gerardo Parra..... 5  3  1  0  1  0  0  
PIT AA  Jose Tabata....... 2  2  1  1  0  2  0  
TEX A+  Marcus Lemon...... 4  3  2  0  0  0  0  3 LD
TB  AAA Dan Johnson....... 4  2  1  0  1  0  0  
CHW AA  Brandon Allen..... 4  3  0  0  1  0  0  
MIL A+  Brent Brewer...... 4  2  2  0  0  0  0  
SF  A   Angel Villalona... 4  3  2  0  0  0  0  
CHC A-  Josh Vitters...... 5  2  1  0  1  0  0  
FLA AA  John Raynor....... 3  3  1  0  0  1  0  
SEA AAA Luis Valbuena..... 4  3  0  0  0  0  0  3 SB
SF  AAA Travis Denker..... 5  3  0  0  1  0  0  4 RBI

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
SF  A   M. Bumgarner...... 6  6  0  0 10  0  0  
SD  A   Jeremy Hefner..... 6  2  1  1 10  2  0  
SEA AAA Brandon Morrow.... 5  2  2  2 10  1  0  
PIT A+  Brad Lincoln...... 6  3  1  1  7  0  0  
ARI AA  Cesar Valdez...... 7  4  1  1  8  2  0  
FLA A+  Sean West......... 6  5  1  1  8  1  0  
STL A+  Nicholas Additon.. 7  3  0  0  6  1  0  
CHC AA  Donald Veal....... 7  4  1  1  8  1  1  
NYY AAA Kei Igawa......... 5  8  4  4  8  0  0  
STL A-  Scott Gorgen...... 5  5  0  0  7  1  0  
BAL A+  Brandon Erbe...... 6  3  0  0  6  2  0  
ATL A+  Cole Rohrbough.... 7  7  3  2  6  1  0

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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.

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