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THT Daily: Zito to the pen

by Dave Studeman
April 29, 2008

Major League News for April 29
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

The Giants said Monday that they're sending Barry Zito to the bullpen for the time being. They already needed Pat Misch in the rotation to replace Kevin Correia, so who replaces Zito? Keiichi Yabu? Brad Hennessey? Victor Santos from Triple-A? It's going to take some sort of mechanics change to make Zito a quality pitcher again, and maybe he'll be allowed to experiment more as a reliever. Otherwise, this switch won't do any good at all.

Hank Blalock is expected to miss 3-4 weeks after being diagnosed with a partially torn hamstring. Really bad news for a team that's already struggling mightily. The Rangers have little depth at third base, so they'll have to go with Ramon Vazquez and German Duran until Blalock gets back. They have nothing to lose by giving Duran a long look, but odds are that Vazquez will start against most righties for now. He's probably the better bet of the two in AL-only leagues.

John Smoltz will return to Atlanta on Monday night and be evaluated by the Braves' team doctors on Tuesday. He's unlikely to make his next start. Smoltz complained of increased shoulder soreness following his start Sunday. Since Chuck James will be ineligible to be recalled unless Smoltz goes on the DL, it's possible Jo-Jo Reyes could be called up to make a spot start in his place this week.

Alex Rodriguez said he expected to miss a couple of games after aggravating his quad Monday against the Indians. Morgan Ensberg apparently will start at third base on at least Tuesday and Wednesday. Rodriguez originally missed three games last week after straining his quad.

The New York Daily News reports that Roger Clemens carried on a decade-long affair with country star Mindy McCready. If only he'd officially retire, we wouldn't have to bother with stuff like this. The Daily News says the romance that began when McCready was a 15-year-old aspiring singer performing in a karaoke bar and Clemens was a 28-year-old father of two. His attorney denied that the two had a sexual relationship. "He flatly denies having had any kind of an inappropriate relationship with her," Rusty Hardin said. "He's considered her a close family friend. ... He has never had a sexual relationship with her."

Yesterday’s Results
American League
NYA     5  CLE     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK    14  LAA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
CIN     4  STL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     5  HOU     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      4  COL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.

First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Today’s Games
National League
 ---------------
 San Diego Padres at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (R) Greg Maddux (2-1) vs. (L) Cole Hamels (2-3)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Derek Lowe (2-1) vs. (L) Andrew Miller (1-2)
 Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM
  (L) Tom Glavine (0-1) vs. (R) Tim Redding (3-2)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (R) Ian Snell (2-1) vs. (L) Johan Santana (3-2)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM
  (R) Ben Sheets (3-0) vs. (R) Jason Marquis (1-0)
 Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM
  (R) Johnny Cueto (1-2) vs. (R) Joel Pineiro (1-2)
 Houston Astros at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (R) Jack Cassel (1-0) vs. (R) Edgar Gonzalez (1-1)
 Colorado Rockies at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM
  (R) Aaron Cook (3-1) vs. (R) Tim Lincecum (4-0)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (L) Kenny Rogers (1-3) vs. (R) Phil Hughes (0-3)
 Seattle Mariners at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Carlos Silva (3-0) vs. (R) Fausto Carmona (3-1)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM
  (R) Roy Halladay (2-3) vs. (L) Jon Lester (1-2)
 Tampa Bay Rays at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Jason Hammel (2-1) vs. (L) Garrett Olson (0-0)
 Kansas City Royals at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Brett Tomko (1-3) vs. (R) Jason Jennings (0-4)
 Chicago White Sox at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM
  (R) Gavin Floyd (2-0) vs. (R) Boof Bonser (1-4)
 Oakland Athletics at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (L) Greg Smith (2-0) vs. (L) Joe Saunders (4-0)

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
BAL     14  11 .560    0.0   13     1    sparkline graph
TB      14  11 .560    0.0   14     0    sparkline graph
BOS     15  12 .556    0.0   14     1    sparkline graph
NYA     14  13 .519    1.0   13     1    sparkline graph
TOR     11  15 .423    3.5   14    -3    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CHA     14  10 .583    0.0   15    -1    sparkline graph
CLE     12  14 .462    3.0   14    -2    sparkline graph
KC      11  14 .440    3.5    9     2    sparkline graph
MIN     11  14 .440    3.5   10     1    sparkline graph
DET     11  15 .423    4.0   12    -1    sparkline graph
American League West        
OAK     17  10 .630    0.0   18    -1    sparkline graph
LAA     16  11 .593    1.0   14     2    sparkline graph
SEA     12  14 .462    4.5   14    -2    sparkline graph
TEX      9  17 .346    7.5    9     0    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
FLA     15  10 .600    0.0   12     3    sparkline graph
NYN     13  11 .542    1.5   13     0    sparkline graph
PHI     14  12 .538    1.5   14     0    sparkline graph
ATL     12  13 .480    3.0   15    -3    sparkline graph
WAS      9  17 .346    6.5    9     0    sparkline graph
National League Central     
CHN     16   9 .640    0.0   16     0    sparkline graph
STL     16  11 .593    1.0   16     0    sparkline graph
MIL     14  11 .560    2.0   13     1    sparkline graph
CIN     12  15 .444    5.0   13    -1    sparkline graph
HOU     12  15 .444    5.0   13    -1    sparkline graph
PIT     10  15 .400    6.0    9     1    sparkline graph
National League West        
ARI     19   7 .731    0.0   18     1    sparkline graph
LAN     12  13 .480    6.5   14    -2    sparkline graph
SF      12  15 .444    7.5    9     3    sparkline graph
COL     10  16 .385    9.0   10     0    sparkline graph
SD      10  16 .385    9.0    9     1    sparkline graph

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
SEA AAA W. Balentien...... 6  3  0  0  3  0  1  5 RBI !
STL AAA Colby Rasmus...... 4  2  0  0  2  1  0  
CIN A+  Chris Valaika..... 5  5  0  0  1  0  0  3 R
OAK A+  Matthew Sulentic.. 4  2  0  0  1  0  0  
BOS A   Michael Jones..... 4  3  3  0  0  1  1  
SEA AAA Jeff Clement...... 5  3  1  0  0  1  0  
KC  AAA Ryan Shealy....... 2  2  0  0  1  1  0  
SD  A+  Cedric Hunter..... 3  2  1  0  0  2  0  
CIN A+  Drew Stubbs....... 5  3  0  0  1  0  1  
OAK AAA Kevin Melillo..... 3  2  0  0  1  1  1  
SEA AAA Bryan LaHair...... 3  1  0  0  1  3  0  
TEX AA  M. Ramirez........ 4  3  2  0  0  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
CLE AAA Adam Miller....... 4  4  0  0  4  2  0  7 GB
WAN AAA Tyler Clippard.... 6  2  1  0  4  4  0  
CIN A+  Travis Wood....... 6  5  2  2  5  3  0  
CHC AAA Sean Gallagher.... 6  5  5  5  5  4  0  
COL A+  Shane Lindsay..... 4  6  4  4  7  3  0  
TEX A+  Kasey Kiker....... 7  5  3  3  4  2  1  12 GB
CIN AAA Adam Pettyjohn.... 7  4  2  2  3  2  0  
DET AAA F. Cruceta........ 2  1  0  0  5  1  0  
HOU AAA Fernando Nieve.... 5  5  4  3  2  1  0  
KC  AA  Jarod Plummer..... 1  0  0  0  1  0  0  2 GB
NYY A+  Mark Melancon..... 2  2  0  0  2  1  0  
DET AAA Chris Lambert..... 5  8  4  4  3  2  0  9 OF

Access THT’s stats here…
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