THT Daily: Wild and Wooly
by Matthew CarruthAugust 03, 2007
Major League News for August 3
Today’s LinksPlayer News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
THT Links
Steinbrenner - What exactly is wrong with George Steinbrenner? Just how bad is his health? Who is really in charge of the Yankees; now and in the near future? The answers to those questions, it turns out, are quite interesting.
Call Ups - Adam Jones and Justin Upton get the call to the bigs this weekend. Both could provide serious lifts to teams hanging around on the fringe of playoff contention.
A Plan Without a Plan - It is reasons like these that extending Brian Sabean as your GM was a rather foolhardy idea.
Breaking it Down - At the Crawfish Boxes, one author breaks down the Astros' players into categories relevant to future success.
THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldDiamondbacks purchased the contract of OF Justin Upton from Double-A Mobile. Upton takes the place of Carlos Quentin, who headed to the disabled list with a hamstring injury. B.J. Upton's younger brother and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft, Upton will be making his big league debut as a teenager. He figures to see regular at-bats in the Diamondbacks' outfield and batted .319 with 18 homers, 70 RBI, 75 runs, 19 steals and a 961 OPS in 103 games between Single-A and Double-A. One of the elite prospects in all of baseball, Upton has massive long-term fantasy potential, but don't be surprised if he struggles initially as a 19-year-old jumping into a pennant race.
The Mariners have announced that they will recall Adam Jones from Triple-A prior to Friday's game. Jones is one of the best prospects in baseball and could provide a big boost offensively and defensively, but the Seattle Times reports that several Mariners veterans are not happy that he'll likely take the place of Jason Ellison while seeing regular playing time. Jose Guillen said Wednesday that he's "pissed off" about the call-up, adding that "this team has been good with what we have and I don't think that's what we need."
Roger Clemens didn't make it out of the second inning Thursday, as the White Sox torched him for eight runs following a scoreless first frame. Clemens was booed off the mound at Yankee Stadium, although a Robinson Cano error meant that five of the eight runs were unearned. Amazingly, the Yankees came back in the bottom of the second inning to score eight runs of their own off Jon Garland, immediately taking Clemens off the hook for the decision. The five-out start, Clemens' last as a 44-year-old, was his shortest since 2000.
Vladimir Guerrero broke a 30-game homerless streak, the longest of his career, with two home runs against the Athletics on Thursday. Guerrero hadn't homered in 125 at-bats before going back-to-back in the fourth and fifth innings. Both homers were off starter Chad Gaudin, with the first being a solo shot and the second registering as a three-run blast. Despite the homerless drought, Guerrero still has 16 long balls and 87 RBI on the season.
The Marlins announced Thursday that RHP Josh Johnson will undergo season-ending elbow surgery. It's unknown yet if Johnson will undergo Tommy John surgery or another procedure, but the former would knock him out for most of 2008. "He is going to undergo surgery," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "I haven't heard what kind of surgery is it." Johnson, who finished fourth in last year's Rookie of the Year balloting, began experiencing arm problems last September and went 0-3 with a 7.47 ERA this season after beginning the year on the disabled list.
Steve Kline recorded a save while inducing the last two outs of the ninth inning against the Dodgers on Thursday. Closer Brad Hennessey had bailed the Giants out of a jam in the eighth inning, but he struggled in the ninth and was eventually pulled after two walks and a single loaded the bases. Kline then entered with a left-hander due up and another southpaw in the hole. To start, Kline got a ground ball from Luis Gonzalez that drove in a run and moved runners to second and third with two outs. Nomar Garciaparra was then intentionally walked before James Loney grounded out to end the rally. The Giants are going to be looking at each save opportunity very closely, but Hennessey remains well ahead of his primary challegener, Randy Messenger. Kline doesn't figure to get into the mix many times going forward.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 7 BAL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 13 NYA 9 (Recap and Boxscore) Both teams scored 8 in the 2nd CLE 5 TEX 0 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 6 OAK 4 (Recap and Boxscore) National League HOU 12 ATL 11 (Recap and Boxscore) See below COL 4 FLA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 7 CIN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 10 CHN 6 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 12 MIL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 5 STL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings SF 4 LAN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 11 ARI 0 (Recap and Boxscore)
| First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports: |
Today’s Games
National League --------------- New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (R) Orlando Hernandez (7-4) vs. (R) Carlos Zambrano (14-7) Houston Astros at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM (R) Roy Oswalt (10-6) vs. (L) Dontrelle Willis (7-10) Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Matt Belisle (5-8) vs. (R) Ian Snell (7-9) St. Louis Cardinals at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM (R) Kip Wells (4-13) vs. (R) Tim Redding (1-2) Colorado Rockies at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (L) Jeff Francis (11-5) vs. (R) John Smoltz (10-5) Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Kyle Kendrick (5-1) vs. (R) Yovani Gallardo (3-1) San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Matt Cain (3-12) vs. (R) Greg Maddux (7-8) Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:40 PM (L) Doug Davis (7-10) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (7-1) American League --------------- Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (L) Mark Buehrle (8-6) vs. (L) Andrew Miller (5-3) Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (L) Odalis Perez (6-9) vs. (R) Chien-Ming Wang (12-5) Texas Rangers at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (R) Kevin Millwood (7-9) vs. (R) Roy Halladay (11-5) Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Daniel Cabrera (7-11) vs. (R) James Shields (8-6) Cleveland Indians at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (L) CC Sabathia (13-6) vs. (L) Johan Santana (11-8) LA Angels of Anaheim at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Dustin Moseley (4-1) vs. (L) Lenny DiNardo (5-6) Boston Red Sox at Seattle Mariners, 10:05 PM (L) Jon Lester (1-0) vs. (L) Horacio Ramirez (6-3)
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 66 42 .611 0.0 67 -1NYA 58 50 .537 8.0 66 -8
TOR 53 54 .495 12.5 56 -3
BAL 50 57 .467 15.5 54 -4
TB 41 66 .383 24.5 39 2
American League Central DET 61 46 .570 0.0 61 0
CLE 61 47 .565 0.5 59 2
MIN 55 52 .514 6.0 56 -1
CHA 49 59 .454 12.5 44 5
KC 48 59 .449 13.0 51 -3
American League West LAA 63 44 .589 0.0 60 3
SEA 59 47 .557 3.5 53 6
OAK 51 58 .468 13.0 55 -4
TEX 48 60 .444 15.5 49 -1
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 61 47 .565 0.0 59 2
PHI 57 51 .528 4.0 58 -1
ATL 57 52 .523 4.5 59 -2
FLA 50 59 .459 11.5 51 -1
WAS 48 60 .444 13.0 44 4
National League Central CHN 57 50 .533 0.0 60 -3
MIL 58 51 .532 0.0 57 1
STL 50 55 .476 6.0 44 6
HOU 47 61 .435 10.5 46 1
PIT 44 62 .415 12.5 44 0
CIN 45 64 .413 13.0 48 -3
National League West ARI 60 50 .545 0.0 51 9
LAN 58 50 .537 1.0 57 1
SD 57 50 .533 1.5 59 -2
COL 55 52 .514 3.5 55 0
SF 47 59 .443 11.0 52 -5
Game of the Day
In one of the wildest games of the year, the Astros prevailed over the Braves, 12-11 in 14 innings. Houston led 5-1 in the 3rd, Atlanta led 9-5 in the 7th, Mike Lamb hit a grand slam home run in the eighth to tie it, both teams scored two in the 12th (the Braves on a two-run Matt Diaz homer off Brad Lidge) and the Astros finally scored the winning run in the 14th on a single by pinch hitter/pitcher Jason Jennings. Brian Moehler retired Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira for the last two outs of the game.HOUSTON (12) VS ATLANTA (11) - FINAL IN 14 INNINGS
HOUSTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Burke 2b 7 0 1 0 1 2 1 .222
M Loretta 1b-ss 5 1 0 0 1 1 1 .282
L Berkman rf 6 1 1 2 1 1 1 .261
C Lee lf 7 3 2 0 0 1 3 .295
T Wigginton 3b 5 3 2 0 1 2 2 .375
J Lane cf 4 3 1 4 1 1 1 .178
E Bruntlett ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .260
b-M Lamb ph-1b 4 1 2 4 0 0 1 .303
B Ausmus c 5 0 1 0 2 3 2 .237
W Williams p 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 .091
a-O Palmeiro ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .241
D Borkowski p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
c-L Scott ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .246
C Qualls p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
d-C Biggio ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .247
T Miller p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
e-E Munson ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .293
B Lidge p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
M McLemore p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
f-J Jennings ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .111
B Moehler p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250
Totals 53 12 11 11 7 13 20
a-grounded to pitcher for W Williams in the 6th; b-homered to center for E
Bruntlett in the 8th; c-flied out to left for D Borkowski in the 8th;
d-grounded to third for C Qualls in the 11th; e-struck out swinging for T
Miller in the 12th; f-singled to right for M Mclemore in the 14th.
BATTING: HR - L Berkman (19, 3rd inning off J Reyes 1 on, 1 Out), J Lane (5,
3rd inning off J Reyes 2 on, 1 Out), M Lamb (11, 8th inning off R Soriano 3 on,
0 Out). S - M Loretta. SF - J Lane. RBI - L Berkman 2 (69), J Lane 4 (16), M
Lamb 4 (32), J Jennings (1). 2-out RBI - J Jennings. Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - T Wigginton 1, E Munson 1. GIDP - W Williams. Team LOB - 10.
FIELDING: DP: 2 (C Burke-M Loretta-M Lamb 2).
ATLANTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
W Harris lf-3b 8 1 3 2 0 3 4 .324
E Renteria ss 5 0 1 0 0 0 5 .336
M Diaz lf 3 1 2 2 0 1 1 .345
C Jones 3b-ss 6 2 1 0 2 0 3 .335
M Teixeira 1b 7 2 2 2 1 2 3 .273
A Jones cf 7 1 2 2 0 2 3 .219
B McCann c 5 1 2 1 1 1 1 .264
J Francoeur rf 6 0 3 2 0 1 2 .306
K Johnson 2b 7 1 2 0 0 2 7 .296
J Reyes p 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .375
a-S Thorman ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .219
P Moylan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-Y Escobar ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .329
T Yates p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
O Dotel p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
c-C Woodward ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .218
R Soriano p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Wickman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
d-C James ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .158
R Mahay p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
e-C Miller ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1.000
O Villarreal p 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .250
Totals 61 11 22 11 4 14 32
a-struck out swinging for J Reyes in the 3rd; b-singled to center for P Moylan
in the 5th; c-struck out looking for O Dotel in the 7th; d-grounded to
shortstop for B Wickman in the 9th; e-reached on infield single to second for
R Mahay in the 12th.
BATTING: 2B - M Teixeira (1, W Williams); B McCann (27, W Williams); W Harris
(14, W Williams); J Francoeur (28, D Borkowski). 3B - W Harris (4, W Williams).
HR - A Jones (21, 2nd inning off W Williams 0 on, 0 Out), M Teixeira (2, 4th
inning off W Williams 1 on, 2 Out), M Diaz (6, 12th inning off B Lidge 1 on, 1
Out). RBI - A Jones 2 (72), B McCann (64), M Teixeira 2 (6), W Harris 2 (21), J
Francoeur 2 (72), M Diaz 2 (29). 2-out RBI - M Teixeira 2, W Harris 2, J
Francoeur 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - W Harris 1, K Johnson 2,
E Renteria 3, A Jones 1, S Thorman 1. GIDP - C Jones 2. Team LOB - 14.
BASERUNNING: CS - A Jones (1, 2nd base by C Qualls/B Ausmus).
FIELDING: E - E Renteria (10, ground ball); W Harris (3, ground ball); K
Johnson (10, ground ball). PB - B McCann. DP: 1 (C Jones-M Teixeira).
----------------------------------------------------
HOUSTON - 005 000 040 002 01 -- 12
ATLANTA - 012 222 000 002 00 -- 11
----------------------------------------------------
HOUSTON ip h r er bb so hr era
W Williams 5 13 7 7 0 2 2 5.41
D Borkowski 2 1 2 2 2 1 0 5.21
C Qualls 3 3 0 0 0 3 0 3.42
T Miller 1 0 0 0 1 3 0 4.99
B Lidge (B, 4) 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 2.78
M McLemore (W, 1-0) 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 5.91
B Moehler (S, 1) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 5.50
ATLANTA ip h r er bb so hr era
J Reyes 3 4 5 4 4 1 2 8.72
P Moylan 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 1.94
T Yates (H, 11) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 5.05
O Dotel 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
R Soriano 1 3 4 3 0 2 1 3.94
B Wickman 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.10
R Mahay 3 3 2 1 1 2 0 2.25
O Villarreal (L, 1-1) 2 1 1 1 2 2 0 3.75
WP - B Lidge. IBB - L Berkman (by O Villarreal). HBP - T Wigginton (by J
Reyes); B McCann (by W Williams); J Francoeur (by T Miller); J Lane (by O
Villarreal). Pitches-strikes: W Williams 93-64; D Borkowski 52-32; C Qualls
35-27; T Miller 22-11; B Lidge 25-15; M McLemore 18-13; B Moehler 12-8; J Reyes
70-37; P Moylan 24-17; T Yates 15-10; O Dotel 11-7; R Soriano 25-18; B Wickman
18-11; R Mahay 54-32; O Villarreal 33-16. Ground balls-fly balls: W Williams
6-7; D Borkowski 3-2; C Qualls 5-0; T Miller 0-0; B Lidge 0-1; M McLemore 0-1;
B Moehler 2-0; J Reyes 3-5; P Moylan 1-1; T Yates 1-1; O Dotel 0-3; R Soriano
1-1; B Wickman 0-2; R Mahay 5-2; O Villarreal 3-1. Batters faced: W Williams
29; D Borkowski 9; C Qualls 10; T Miller 5; B Lidge 6; M McLemore 5; B Moehler
3; J Reyes 18; P Moylan 6; T Yates 3; O Dotel 3; R Soriano 7; B Wickman 3; R
Mahay 14; O Villarreal 10.
UMPIRES: HP--Larry Vanover. 1B--Charlie Reliford. 2B--Greg Gibson. 3B--Paul
Nauert.
T--4:59. Att--35,659.
Weather: 88 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 8 mph, left to right.The 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.
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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes TB AA Reid Brignac...... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 CIN AAA Jay Bruce......... 4 1 0 0 1 0 1 TB AAA Joel Guzman....... 4 2 0 1 1 0 0 TB AAA Wes Bankston...... 5 4 2 0 0 0 0 MIL A+ Mat Gamel......... 4 3 0 1 1 0 0 HOU A Nicholas Moresi... 4 2 0 1 1 0 0 PIT AAA Brian Bixler...... 4 2 2 0 0 1 2 TEX A Chad Tracy........ 5 3 0 0 1 0 1 SEA A+ Jeffrey Frazier... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 TOR A Travis Snider..... 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 CIN AAA Joey Votto........ 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 SF A Emmanuel Burriss.. 6 3 2 0 0 0 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes TOR AA Ricky Romero...... 7 3 0 0 8 3 0 CLE AA Chuck Lofgren..... 6 2 2 1 6 4 0 BOS AA Michael Bowden.... 5 5 1 1 7 2 0 BAL A+ Brandon Erbe...... 8 7 4 4 4 3 0 16 GB OAK A+ Andrew Bailey..... 6 3 2 2 6 4 0 MIN A Brian Kirwan...... 6 7 2 2 6 2 0 12 OF TB AA Wade Davis........ 6 7 4 1 3 1 0 HOU AAA Troy Patton....... 7 4 2 2 1 3 0 WAN A+ Eduardo Baeza..... 2 0 0 0 4 1 0 NYM AAA Mike Pelfrey...... 7 9 2 2 2 2 0 14 GB STL AAA Chris Lambert..... 4 5 1 1 3 0 0 KC AA Jason Cromer...... 2 3 0 0 4 0 0 5 GB
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.