THT Daily: Wildcard Walkoffs
by Matthew CarruthAugust 14, 2007
Major League News for August 14
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Top Minor League Performances
Stats
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
Links
Race relations - A recent study linked by J.C. Bradbury over at Sabernomics finds that MLB umpires are (slightly) biased toward white pitchers.
Closing time - With the deadline to sign draft picks rapidly approaching, the Orioles are having trouble reaching an agreement with Boras client and Georgia Tech catcher Mike Wieters, who was the fifth overall pick. Meanwhile, the Mariners are also having right hander Phillipe Aumont, the 11th overall pick. Keep track of all the action over at Baseball Think Factory's draft signings thread.
Closer's mentality - Eric Gagne is having trouble adjusting to being a setup man. While I agree that the closer's role is different, if you can't excited about pitching in important eighth inning situations like Sunday's against the Orioles (two-run lead, runner on), then something is wrong with you.
Delayed return - The A's will finally attempt to get some value out of the infamous Tim Hudson trade, as can't-miss pitching prospect Dan Meyer, now 26, is finally called up to the majors.
Maturing Bonds - Barry Bonds would apparently like to play one more season before retiring. It's not clear who would sign him, as the Giants are—or should be in serious rebuilding mode, but in the end I think the draw of Barry, especially as he approaches 3,000 hits (not to mention his 1.081 OPS) will be enough for someone to take a chance on him.
Make a wish - Grady Sizemore played Whiffle ball with a bunch of kids in a backyard. How cool is that?
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Player News
Player news items are provided by RotoworldBarry Bonds is still intending to play in 2008, but he said it will likely be his last year.
"(Playing) after next year? I don't know. I don't think so," he said. "I don't think two years I can make." Bonds is looking forward to getting the 81 hits he needs for 3,000. "Yeah, I need to win a championship and get 3,000 hits, that would be nice to (end) my career," he said.
According to SI.com's Jon Heyman, Jose Contreras, who is owed another $22 million through 2009, has cleared waivers and could be dealt this month.
How Conteras performs in his return to the rotation on Friday could go a long way towards determining whether there will be much interest in him. The White Sox would have to pick up some salary anyway, but they might be willing to do so. The Dodgers, Padres, Braves and Mariners are among the contenders in need of another starter.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 3 TB 0 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 7 BAL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 7 DET 2 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 6 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 4 MIN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League PIT 3 SF 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 10 PIT 3 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 4 LAN 1 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Arizona Diamondbacks at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM (R) Byung-Hyun Kim (6-5) vs. (L) Dontrelle Willis (7-12) New York Mets at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Orlando Hernandez (7-4) vs. (R) Ian Snell (7-10) Philadelphia Phillies at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM (R) Kyle Lohse (7-12) vs. (R) Shawn Hill (3-3) San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (R) Scott Atchison (0-0) vs. (R) John Smoltz (10-6) Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM (R) Aaron Harang (11-3) vs. (R) Carlos Zambrano (14-8) St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Kip Wells (5-13) vs. (L) Chris Capuano (5-9) Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (L) Jeff Francis (13-5) vs. (R) Greg Maddux (7-9) Houston Astros at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Matt Albers (2-5) vs. (R) Brett Tomko (2-9) American League --------------- Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Jeremy Bonderman (10-5) vs. (L) CC Sabathia (14-6) Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (L) Scott Kazmir (9-7) vs. (L) Jon Lester (1-0) Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Daniel Cabrera (8-12) vs. (R) Jeff Karstens (0-2) LA Angels of Anaheim at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (L) Joe Saunders (6-0) vs. (R) Roy Halladay (13-5) Kansas City Royals at Texas Rangers, 8:35 PM (R) Kyle Davies (1-0) vs. (R) Kevin Millwood (7-9) Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, 10:05 PM (R) Matt Garza (1-3) vs. (L) Horacio Ramirez (7-3) Chicago White Sox at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Jon Garland (8-7) vs. (L) Lenny DiNardo (6-6)
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 71 47 .602 0.0 72 -1NYA 67 51 .568 4.0 74 -7
TOR 59 58 .504 11.5 62 -3
BAL 54 63 .462 16.5 58 -4
TB 45 73 .381 26.0 43 2
American League Central CLE 65 53 .551 0.0 63 2
DET 65 53 .551 0.0 65 0
MIN 58 60 .492 7.0 59 -1
CHA 54 63 .462 10.5 49 5
KC 52 65 .444 12.5 55 -3
American League West LAA 69 47 .595 0.0 66 3
SEA 66 50 .569 3.0 60 6
OAK 57 62 .479 13.5 61 -4
TEX 51 66 .436 18.5 53 -2
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 65 52 .556 0.0 64 1
PHI 62 55 .530 3.0 64 -2
ATL 62 56 .525 3.5 63 -1
FLA 55 63 .466 10.5 54 1
WAS 54 64 .458 11.5 49 5
National League Central MIL 62 56 .525 0.0 59 3
CHN 60 57 .513 1.5 63 -3
STL 55 60 .478 5.5 49 6
HOU 53 65 .449 9.0 53 0
CIN 50 67 .427 11.5 52 -2
PIT 49 67 .422 12.0 49 0
National League West ARI 67 52 .563 0.0 57 10
SD 63 54 .538 3.0 64 -1
COL 61 56 .521 5.0 63 -2
LAN 60 58 .508 6.5 60 0
SF 50 68 .424 16.5 57 -7
Wildcard Standings American League SEA 66 50 .569 0.0 NYA 67 51 .568 0.0 TOR 59 58 .504 7.5 MIN 58 60 .492 9.0 OAK 57 62 .479 10.5 National League SD 63 54 .538 0.0 PHI 62 55 .530 1.0 ATL 62 56 .525 1.5 COL 61 56 .521 2.0 CHN 60 57 .513 3.0
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 CIN AAA Jay Bruce......... 5 2 1 0 0 0 1 TEX AA C. Davis.......... 3 3 1 0 2 1 0 3 R CIN AAA Joey Votto........ 4 1 0 0 1 1 1 LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 5 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 LD WAN A+ Ian Desmond....... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 OAK AAA Daric Barton...... 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 TOR A Travis Snider..... 5 2 0 0 1 0 1 BOS AAA Jacoby Ellsbury... 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 SF AAA Nate Schierholtz.. 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 SF A Michael McBryde... 4 3 0 0 2 0 0 3 R OAK AAA Kevin Melillo..... 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 CLE A Matthew McBride... 5 3 1 1 0 0 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes OAK A Trevor Cahill..... 6 2 0 0 8 2 0 BAL A+ Jason Berken...... 9 2 0 0 6 1 0 ATL AAA Jo-Jo Reyes....... 7 3 1 0 6 0 0 13 GB TB AAA Mitch Talbot...... 7 7 0 0 5 1 0 OAK A+ Andrew Bailey..... 6 4 1 1 10 5 0 COL A+ Chaz Roe.......... 9 6 2 2 4 2 0 ARI A+ Dana Eveland...... 3 2 1 0 5 1 0 6 GB CLE A+ Ryan Edell........ 3 1 0 0 4 2 0 NYM AAA Mike Pelfrey...... 5 5 4 3 2 2 0 SF A+ Darren Sack....... 4 2 0 0 4 3 0 BOS AAA Edgar Martinez.... 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 4 GB BOS A+ T.J. Nall......... 6 5 3 3 4 3 0
THT Stats
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.