THT Daily: Westbrook Needs TJ
by Matthew CarruthJune 07, 2008
Major League News for June 7
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 RotoworldJake Westbrook is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of the season.
The AL Central is down two quality starting pitchers in one day. Westbrook, who had a 3.12 ERA in five starts, will be replaced by Jeremy Sowers in the rotation until Fausto Carmona gets back. He'll probably miss the first two or three months of 2009.
Tigers placed RHP Jeremy Bonderman on the 15-day disabled list due to a blood clot of the axillary vein.
Bonderman had a surgery similar to the one Aaron Cook had two years ago and figures to miss the rest of the season. It's a big blow to the Tigers' chances, though it's not like Bonderman was looking like an ace this season. Armando Galarraga can return to the rotation as his replacement.
Blue Jays activated outfielder Vernon Wells from the 15-day disabled list.
Manager John Gibbons thought Wells would be activated in the middle of next week, but he clearly underestimated just how desperate his team was. With Aaron Hill going on the DL, the Jays have declined to drop one of their veteran outfielders right now. However, they don't need both Kevin Mench and Shannon Stewart with Wells back. A Brad Wilkerson-Stewart platoon seems to be the most likely scenario, though Wilkerson still isn't playing very well. Wells, who isn't in today's lineup, will probablly make his first start in center on Sunday.
An MRI on Vladimir Guerrero's right knee Friday confirmed the original diagnosis of a hyperflexion.
Vlad started at DH Friday night and probably won't play the outfield until next week, but it's great news that he'll avoid the DL.
Johan Santana was seen wearing an anti-inflammatory bandage after getting hit in the shoulder by a Randy Wolf fastball during Friday's game.
Santana was trying to lay down a bunt when the ball rode in on him and pegged him just below the left shoulder. He'll likely wake up with a good amount of soreness, but it's hard to say at this point if he'll miss any time. "Right now, I can't say," he said. "We'll see how it feels."
Hiroki Kuroda pitched a four-hit shutout Friday in the Dodgers' 3-0 defeat of the Cubs.
Kuroda's best outing as a major leaguer followed his worst, as he was pitching five days after giving up six runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Mets. Kuroda fanned 11 batters, besting his previous MLB-high total by six, and walked none in the dominant performance. He's now 3-5 with a 3.49 ERA in 13 starts. It was the third time this year that the Cubs were held scoreless, and it was the first shutout for a Dodgers pitcher since Jeff Weaver had one in Sept. 2005.
X-rays on Michael Young's finger reportedly showed a hairline fracture, but the shortstop expects to avoid the disabled list and play on Saturday.
That's how he feels. We'll have to wait and see if the Rangers let him play through the injury. Young supposedly hurt his finger during pregame workouts on Friday. The incident just happened to take place on the same day that Sidney Ponson was released for mysterious reasons.
Yesterday’s Results
American League SEA 8 BOS 0 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 2 NYA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) BAL 6 TOR 5 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 10 MIN 6 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 4 DET 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 3 OAK 1 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 12 TEX 4 (Recap and Boxscore) National League PHI 4 ATL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 11 FLA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 10 WAS 1 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 6 STL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 3 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 6 MIL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 3 CHN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 2 NYN 1 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:55 PM (R) Carlos Zambrano (8-1) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (3-5) Arizona Diamondbacks at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Dan Haren (6-4) vs. (L) Tom Gorzelanny (4-5) St. Louis Cardinals at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM (R) Adam Wainwright (5-3) vs. (R) Shawn Chacon (2-1) Cincinnati Reds at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Bronson Arroyo (4-5) vs. (L) Scott Olsen (4-2) San Francisco Giants at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM (L) Jonathan Sanchez (4-3) vs. (R) Shawn Hill (0-2) Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (R) Kyle Kendrick (5-2) vs. (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (2-3) Milwaukee Brewers at Colorado Rockies, 8:05 PM (R) Dave Bush (2-5) vs. (R) Greg Reynolds (0-3) New York Mets at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (L) Oliver Perez (4-4) vs. (R) Cha Seung Baek (1-1) American League --------------- Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM (R) Brian Bannister (5-6) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (5-5) Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM (R) Jeremy Guthrie (2-6) vs. (R) A.J. Burnett (5-5) Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox, 3:55 PM (R) Miguel Batista (3-6) vs. (R) Tim Wakefield (3-4) Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers, 3:55 PM (L) Aaron Laffey (3-3) vs. (L) Kenny Rogers (4-4) Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Livan Hernandez (6-2) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (2-6) Tampa Bay Rays at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Andy Sonnanstine (6-3) vs. (R) Scott Feldman (1-2) LA Angels of Anaheim at Oakland Athletics, 9:05 PM (R) Jon Garland (5-3) vs. (L) Greg Smith (3-4)
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 38 26 .594 0.0 37 1TB 36 25 .590 0.5 33 3
TOR 32 31 .508 5.5 35 -3
BAL 30 30 .500 6.0 29 1
NYA 30 31 .492 6.5 29 1
American League Central CHA 34 26 .567 0.0 36 -2
MIN 31 30 .508 3.5 29 2
CLE 28 33 .459 6.5 32 -4
DET 24 36 .400 10.0 27 -3
KC 24 37 .393 10.5 24 0
American League West LAA 38 24 .613 0.0 32 6
OAK 33 28 .541 4.5 35 -2
TEX 31 32 .492 7.5 30 1
SEA 22 39 .361 15.5 25 -3
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 37 26 .587 0.0 38 -1
FLA 32 28 .533 3.5 29 3
ATL 32 30 .516 4.5 36 -4
NYN 30 30 .500 5.5 31 -1
WAS 25 37 .403 11.5 23 2
National League Central CHN 39 23 .629 0.0 40 -1
STL 36 27 .571 3.5 34 2
MIL 32 29 .525 6.5 30 2
HOU 32 30 .516 7.0 30 2
CIN 30 32 .484 9.0 29 1
PIT 29 32 .475 9.5 28 1
National League West ARI 33 28 .541 0.0 35 -2
LAN 29 32 .475 4.0 32 -3
SF 26 35 .426 7.0 26 0
SD 26 37 .413 8.0 25 1
COL 23 38 .377 10.0 23 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 ARI AAA Emilio Bonifacio.. 6 3 0 1 1 1 0 4 R CIN AA Daniel Dorn....... 6 4 0 0 2 0 1 3 R ARI AAA Josh Whitesell.... 3 2 0 0 1 3 1 ATL AA Jordan Schafer.... 5 2 0 0 2 0 1 4 RBI CHW A+ John Shelby....... 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 3 R MIL AA Michael Brantley.. 6 4 0 0 1 1 0 4 R KC AAA Chris Lubanski.... 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 CHC AAA Eric Patterson.... 4 3 0 0 1 1 0 3 R BAL A+ Brandon Snyder.... 6 5 1 0 0 0 0 5 R CHC A Josh Donaldson.... 5 2 1 0 1 0 1 CIN A+ Juan Francisco.... 5 2 1 0 1 0 0 ATL A+ Eric Campbell..... 5 2 1 0 1 0 0 4 RBI ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes TB AAA Mitch Talbot...... 7 2 1 0 7 0 0 MIL A+ Jeremy Jeffress... 7 4 0 0 8 1 0 FLA A+ Sean West......... 6 3 0 0 8 1 0 COL A Jhoulys Chacin.... 9 7 3 3 6 1 0 20 GB STL A Nicholas Additon.. 4 1 0 0 7 0 0 NYY A Lance Pendleton... 6 2 0 0 6 1 0 NYY A+ Z. McAllister..... 7 7 0 0 6 0 0 CLE AAA David Huff........ 6 3 1 1 5 1 0 SD AA Steve Garrison.... 6 5 0 0 6 1 0 BAL A+ Brandon Erbe...... 6 7 4 4 6 0 0 CLE A K. De La Cruz..... 5 3 0 0 7 2 0 CHW AAA Jack Egbert....... 5 9 4 2 8 1 0
Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.