February 10, 2012
Now Available for 2012 THT Essentials: Now Available The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2012, an annual "must buy" for all baseball fans, is now shipping. Read this article to learn more about it.
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Thursday, August 20, 2009Livan Hernandez meets his maker as Billy Wagner returnsLivan Hernandez, 34, who somehow won the No. 5 starting pitcher role for the New York Mets in spring training, has been designated for assignment. The Mets have 10 days to waive, release or trade Hernandez in favor of returning left-handed reliever Billy Wagner. The release shouldn't come as a surprise at all. Click for more... THT Daily: August 20th, 2009Major League News for August 20Player 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 NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldReds placed RHP Johnny Cueto on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to August 16, with right shoulder inflammation. Cueto is hoping to rejoin the rotation the day he's eligible. The sophomore is 0-6 with a 10.63 ERA over his last eight starts and is 8-10 with a 4.61 ERA overall. The week-and-a-half of rest should only help. Joba Chamberlain told reporters Wednesday that he will make six more starts, with "a little wiggle room" if the AL East race tightens. Joba is 8-3 this season with a 3.98 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. He has collected 109 strikeouts in 126 2/3 innings. "I expect the unexpected at all times, but at least I have a good idea of what the plan is," Chamberlain said Wednesday. "Mentally, for me to know that this is the plan for the rest of the year, it's definitely calming." He's hoping there won't be "Joba Rules" next season. The Nationals have named Mike Rizzo as their next general manager. Rizzo was acting in an interim role this season following the firing of Jim Bowden. He led the Nats through the Stephen Strasburg negotiations and even spun a few decent trades. The post is deserved. According to FOXSports.com, right-hander Jon Garland has cleared waivers and can now be traded to any team. Garland has a 3.60 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break and would make a fine fourth or fifth starter on a number of contending teams. Money may be an issue, however. With a $6.25 million salary this season, a $10 million option for 2010 or a $2.5 million buyout, the 29-year-old is owed at least $4 million. Rich Harden tossed seven innings of one-hit ball in a 7-1 win over the Padres on Wednesday night. A fantastic effort by Harden, limiting the Padres to three walks and a lonely single by Adrian Gonzalez. He retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced, including striking out the side in the fifth. Harden struck out eight in the win. He has a 1.64 ERA in seven starts since the All-Star break. Mariano Rivera notched his AL-best 36th save against the Athletics on Wednesday night. The accolades keep coming for Mo,' as he has converted 32 consecutive save opportunities -- a new career-high. Rivera has compiled a near spotless 1.90 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 57/8 K/BB ratio this season. Yep, he's the best closer of all-time. Jason Marquis earned his 14th win on Wednesday night against the Nationals, tying Adam Wainwright for the National League lead. It may be short-lived with Wainwright going up against the Dodgers. Nonetheless, Marquis continues to get it done, somehow. He yielded three runs on nine hits over six innings on Wednesday, walking one and fanning one. He lines up for an important matchup against the Giants next. Jered Weaver hurled a complete-game shutout in a 3-0 win over the Indians on Wednesday night. Weaver follows up his worst start of the season with one of his best. He notched his fourth complete game of the season -- second in the league to Roy Halladay and Zack Greinke -- scattering seven hits while walking one and whiffing three. Now 13-4 with a 3.89 ERA, fantasy owners hope a strong finish is in store. Dodgers placed RHP Hiroki Kuroda on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to August 15, with a concussion. Jeff Weaver will take his spot in the rotation for now. Kuroda is eligible to return just before the rosters expand in September. Yesterday’s ResultsFor the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League TB 3 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 6 TOR 1 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 4 KC 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 3 CLE 0 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 3 DET 1 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 3 OAK 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 5 TEX 4 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 15 NYN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 8 ARI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 5 WAS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 1 CIN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 6 FLA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 3 MIL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 3 LAN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 7 SD 1 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action. Today’s GamesMariners (62-58) @ Tigers (63-56), 1:05pmRyan Rowland-Smith (26, LHP) vs. Jarrod Washburn (34, LHP) Angels (73-45) @ Indians (51-68), 7:05pm John Lackey (30, RHP) vs. Justin Masterson (24, RHP) RedSox (68-51) @ Blue Jays (55-63), 7:07pm Jon Lester (25, LHP) vs. Brett Cecil (22, LHP) Orioles (48-72) @ Rays (65-54), 7:08pm Brian Matusz (22, LHP) vs. James Shields (27, RHP) Twins (58-62) @ Rangers (67-52), 8:05pm Anthony Swarzak (23, RHP) vs. Derek Holland (22, LHP) Giants (66-54) @ Reds (50-69), 12:35pm Matt Cain (24, RHP) vs. Aaron Harang (31, RHP) D'backs (54-67) @ Phillies (68-49), 7:05pm Doug Davis (33, LHP) vs. Joe Blanton (28, RHP) Rockies (67-53) @ Nationals (43-77), 7:05pm Jason Hammel (26, RHP) vs. Garrett Mock (26, RHP) Braves (63-57) @ Mets (56-64), 7:10pm Kenshin Kawakami (34, RHP) vs. Johan Santana (30, LHP) Marlins (64-56) @ Astros (58-62), 8:05pm Josh Johnson (25, RHP) vs. Wandy Rodriguez (30, LHP) Cardinals (69-53) @ Padres (51-71), 10:05pm Joel Pineiro (30, RHP) vs. Tim Stauffer (27, RHP) Cubs (61-57) @ Dodgers (71-50), 10:10pm Tom Gorzelanny (26, LHP) vs. Jeff Weaver (32, RHP) StandingsThe 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 NYA 76 45 .628 0.0 71 5 Top Minor League GamesThe 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 OAK AAA Brett Wallace..... 6 3 1 0 2 0 1 5 RBI ! SF A+ Roger Kieschnick.. 3 3 3 0 0 2 0 DET AAA Scott Sizemore.... 5 3 2 0 1 0 1 3 R TB AAA Desmond Jennings.. 4 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 SB BAL A+ Pedro Florimon.... 5 5 1 1 0 0 0 NYM A+ David Havens...... 5 3 1 0 1 0 1 KC AAA Kila Kaaihue...... 3 2 1 0 1 1 1 4 RBI PHI A Travis D'Arnaud... 2 2 2 0 0 1 0 OAK AAA Travis Buck....... 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 CLE AAA Lou Marson........ 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 OAK AA Chris Carter...... 4 3 0 0 1 0 1 SEA A+ Joseph Dunigan.... 4 2 0 1 1 0 1 4 RBI ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes NYY AA Z. McAllister..... 5 4 1 1 11 1 0 CLE AA Eric Berger....... 6 1 0 0 7 2 0 OAK AAA C. Mortensen...... 7 3 1 1 7 2 0 12 GB MIN A+ Tyler Robertson... 7 6 2 2 7 1 0 13 GB BAL AAA Jake Arrieta...... 7 6 1 1 6 2 0 STL AAA Jaime Garcia...... 6 4 4 4 9 1 2 WAN AAA Ross Detwiler..... 7 4 3 2 4 1 0 12 GB PIT AA Tim Alderson...... 6 6 4 3 6 2 0 SEA AAA Brandon Morrow.... 5 3 2 2 5 2 0 4 infield flies STL A+ Arquimedes Nieto.. 7 4 3 3 4 3 0 SEA A+ Michael Pineda.... 3 2 0 0 4 0 0 TEX A Neil Ramirez...... 3 2 1 1 5 1 0
Last 20-game winners for all 30 teamsThe Department of Random Baseball Info presents: the last pitcher to win 20 games for all 30 teams. Well, it's actually only 28 as the Rockies and Rays have never had one. Before looking at the list, care to guess: - Which two teams are tied for the longest drought without a 20-gamer? - Aside from the two above, a pair of other teams have gone a quarter century without one. Who are they? - What's the only division to have all its teams produce a 20-gamer since the 1994 Strike? - What division has only one team with a 20-game winner in the last 15 years? The boring parts are the early one - it gets funner as the list goes on. Broken up by fives to make it easier to read, here they are for all teams: 2008 NYY Mike Mussina 2008 CLE Cliff Lee 2008 ARI Brandon Webb 2008 TOR Roy Halladay 2007 BOX Josh Beckett 2005 STL Chris Carpenter 2005 HOU Roy Oswalt 2005 FLO Dontrelle Willis 2005 LAA Bartolo Colon 2004 MIN Johann Santana 2003 SEA Jaime Moyer 2003 CWS Esteban Loaiza 2003 ATL Russ Ortiz 2002 OAK Barry Zito 2001 CHC Jon Leiber 1998 TEX Rick Helling 1993 SFG Bill Swift and John Burkett 1991 PIT John Smiley 1991 DET Bill Gullickson 1990 LAD Ramon Martinez 1990 NYM Frank Viola 1989 KCR Bret Saberhagen 1988 CIN Danny Jackson 1986 MIL Teddy Higuera 1984 BAL Mike Boddicker 1982 PHI Steve Carlton 1978 SDP Gaylord Perry 1978 MON Ross Grimsley. NEVER: Colorado and Tampa. The AL West is the division where all its teams have produced at least one 20-game winner since the strike. Texas has the longest drought, going back to 1998. The next best division is the AL Central, with Kansas City going back to 1989. Conversely, only the D-backs have produced a 20-game winner in the NL West since 1993. Random notes - I never would've guessed John Smiley for the Pirates, or Bill Gullickson for the Tigers. San Diego has posted only on 19-win season in the last 30 years, when Jake Peavy did it in 2007. They've only had three 20-win seasons, Perry's and two by Randy Jones. Montreal/Washington has it even worse: Ross Grimsley's big season is still the only 20-win season in franchise history. Incredibly, Steve Rogers never did it. Rogers does have the organization's only 19-win season, but that's the best he's got. Heck, the franchise only has two 18-win seasons (Gullickson, again, and Byrn Smith). Steve Carlton is the only Philly pitcher to win 20 since Chris Short did it in 1966. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BOS 68 51 .571 7.0 68 0 
TB 65 54 .546 10.0 67 -2 
TOR 55 63 .466 19.5 62 -7 
BAL 48 72 .400 27.5 51 -3 
American League Central
DET 63 56 .529 0.0 61 2 
CHA 62 59 .512 2.0 62 0 
MIN 58 62 .483 5.5 61 -3 
CLE 51 68 .429 12.0 57 -6 
KC 47 73 .392 16.5 47 0 
American League West
LAA 73 45 .619 0.0 67 6 
TEX 67 52 .563 6.5 65 2 
SEA 62 58 .517 12.0 55 7 
OAK 53 67 .442 21.0 56 -3 
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 68 49 .581 0.0 67 1 
FLA 64 56 .533 5.5 60 4 
ATL 63 57 .525 6.5 66 -3 
NYN 56 64 .467 13.5 55 1 
WAS 43 77 .358 26.5 50 -7 
National League Central
STL 69 53 .566 0.0 67 2 
CHN 61 57 .517 6.0 62 -1 
HOU 58 62 .483 10.0 52 6 
MIL 58 62 .483 10.0 57 1 
CIN 50 69 .420 17.5 50 0 
PIT 49 70 .412 18.5 52 -3 
National League West
LAN 71 50 .587 0.0 73 -2 
COL 67 53 .558 3.5 68 -1 
SF 66 54 .550 4.5 65 1 
ARI 54 67 .446 17.0 56 -2 
SD 51 71 .418 20.5 46 5 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 68 51 .571 0.0
TEX 67 52 .563 1.0
TB 65 54 .546 3.0
SEA 62 58 .517 6.5
CHA 62 59 .512 7.0
National League
COL 67 53 .558 0.0
SF 66 54 .550 1.0
FLA 64 56 .533 3.0
ATL 63 57 .525 4.0
CHN 61 57 .517 5.0