THT Daily: 11-1
by Dave StudemanApril 20, 2009
Major League News for April 20
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 RotoworldThe Washington Post reports that the Nationals and Ryan Zimmerman have agreed to a five-year, $45 million contract.
It goes into effect immediately, superseding his one-year, $3.325 million deal. Essentially, the new deal is a four-year, $41.75 million deal covering his final two years of arbitration and his first two of free agency. Assuming that he had good but not great years the next two seasons, he probably would have earned about $15 million in arbitration. That means the Nats are paying more than $13 million per year for his free agency seasons. He'll probably be worth it, but it is a little difficult to justify with the way his numbers have regressed since his rookie season.
Brad Wilkerson told his manager at Triple-A Pawtucket that he's retiring from baseball.
Shoulder problems derailed Wilkerson's career. He posted OPSs of 840, 844 and 872 in his first three full seasons with the Expos before dropping off to 756 in 2005 and being traded to the Rangers in the Alfonso Soriano deal after the season. He never returned to form in Texas, and after bouncing around in 2008, he failed to make the Red Sox out of spring training this year. If he's finished at age 31, he ends his career with a .247/.350/.440 line and 122 homers in 3,753 at-bats. He was second in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 2002, and he had his best season in 2004, when he hit 32 homers, walked 106 times and scored 112 runs.
Rick Porcello limited the Mariners to one run over seven innings Sunday to pick up his first major league victory.
A very efficient Porcello threw just 86 pitches in the seven innings, but the Tigers opted to go to the bullpen after a long top of the eighth that saw the offense tack on three runs. Porcello allowed five hits, walked none and struck out three. Ronny Cedeno homered for the lone run off him.
Randy Johnson combined with Bob Howry and Brian Wilson on a one-hitter versus the Diamondbacks for his 296th career victory on Sunday.
Johnson did give up the one hit, a double to Augie Ojeda in the seventh. He ended up striking out seven and walking two over seven scoreless innings. It turned out to be the third straight 2-0 game played by the Giants and Diamondbacks, with San Francisco winning Friday and today.
Cody Ross finished 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBI Sunday as the Marlins defeated the Nationals 7-4.
The Marlins are off to an unbelievable 11-1 start and have been aided by surprise performances from several unheralded ball players, such as Cody Ross. The homer was his third and he's now batting .256 this season with 11 RBI.
B.J. Upton left Sunday's game in the second inning with right quad tightness.
Gabe Kapler took over in center field. Upton should be considered day-to-day.
Josh Beckett had his suspension reduced from six games to five games, meaning he won't miss a scheduled start.
Beckett wanted to appeal the suspension for throwing at the Angels Bobby Abreu based on principle as he doesn't agree with it, but the Red Sox would rather just get it over with now that it means he won't miss any real time. With the Red Sox having Thursday off, Beckett will make his next start Saturday on six days' rest.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League BOS 2 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 7 CLE 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 12 TB 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 1 OAK 0 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 3 LAA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 8 SEA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 6 KC 5 (Recap and Boxscore) National League MIL 4 NYN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 5 SD 4 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 7 WAS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 4 HOU 2 (Recap and Boxscore) ATL 11 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 14 COL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 2 ARI 0 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Florida Marlins at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (L) Andrew Miller (0-0) vs. (R) Ross Ohlendorf (0-2) San Diego Padres at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Kevin Correia (0-1) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (1-1) Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM (R) Derek Lowe (1-0) vs. (R) Jordan Zimmerman (0-0) Cincinnati Reds at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Bronson Arroyo (2-0) vs. (L) Mike Hampton (1-1) Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Jason Marquis (2-0) vs. (R) Jon Garland (1-1) American League --------------- Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox, 11:05 AM (L) Mark Hendrickson (1-1) vs. (R) Justin Masterson (0-0) Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (L) Dana Eveland (0-0) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (1-0)
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 TOR 10 4 .714 0.0 10 0NYA 7 6 .538 2.5 5 2
BAL 6 6 .500 3.0 5 1
BOS 6 6 .500 3.0 6 0
TB 5 8 .385 4.5 6 -1
American League Central CHA 7 5 .583 0.0 8 -1
DET 7 5 .583 0.0 8 -1
KC 7 5 .583 0.0 7 0
MIN 7 7 .500 1.0 5 2
CLE 4 9 .308 3.5 6 -2
American League West SEA 8 5 .615 0.0 8 0
OAK 5 7 .417 2.5 6 -1
TEX 5 7 .417 2.5 6 -1
LAA 4 8 .333 3.5 5 -1
National League East Pwins Diff FLA 11 1 .917 0.0 9 2
ATL 6 6 .500 5.0 6 0
NYN 6 6 .500 5.0 7 -1
PHI 5 6 .455 5.5 4 1
WAS 1 10 .091 9.5 4 -3
National League Central CHN 7 4 .636 0.0 6 1
STL 8 5 .615 0.0 8 0
CIN 6 5 .545 1.0 4 2
PIT 6 6 .500 1.5 7 -1
HOU 4 8 .333 3.5 4 0
MIL 4 8 .333 3.5 5 -1
National League West LAN 10 3 .769 0.0 10 0
SD 9 4 .692 1.0 7 2
COL 4 7 .364 5.0 5 -1
ARI 4 8 .333 5.5 4 0
SF 4 8 .333 5.5 4 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 FLA A+ Michael Stanton... 5 5 1 0 1 0 0 4 LD OAK AA Chris Carter...... 5 3 2 0 1 0 0 4 RBI TB AAA Reid Brignac...... 6 3 2 0 1 0 0 NYY A+ Jesus Montero..... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 CIN A+ Neftali Soto...... 4 4 0 0 1 0 0 ATL A+ Jason Heyward..... 3 2 1 0 1 0 0 WAN A+ Michael Burgess... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 MIN A+ Ben Revere........ 3 2 1 0 0 2 0 SF A+ Nicholas Noonan... 5 3 0 0 1 0 1 OAK AA Adrian Cardenas... 4 3 0 1 0 1 0 PIT A+ Pedro Alvarez..... 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 PHI A Anthony Gose...... 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 SB ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes SEA A+ Michael Pineda.... 7 6 3 3 8 0 1 BAL A+ Brian Matusz...... 6 7 4 1 8 2 0 11 GB ATL AAA Thomas Hanson..... 5 6 4 3 6 1 0 STL AAA C. Mortensen...... 7 6 2 1 5 3 0 STL A+ Lance Lynn........ 3 3 1 1 4 0 0 OAK AAA Vincent Mazzaro... 6 5 1 1 4 1 1 LAA A+ Trevor Reckling... 7 3 1 1 3 2 1 MIN A+ Carlos Gutierrez.. 4 2 0 0 3 2 0 BOS AA Junichi Tazawa.... 5 6 2 2 5 3 0 ATL A+ Craig Kimbrel..... 2 2 3 3 5 2 1 STL A+ Adam Reifer....... 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 GB NYY AAA Mark Melancon..... 2 1 0 0 1 1 0
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Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.