The Hardball Times

THT Daily: .458

by Dave Studeman
April 21, 2008

Major League News for April 17
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
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/

Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld

Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner made it clear Sunday that he'd like to see Joba Chamberlain in the rotation as soon as possible. "I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner told the New York Times. "There is no question about it, you don’t have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don’t do that. You have to be an idiot to do that." Steinbrenner didn't get his way when it came to Johan Santana. It remains to be seen whether things will turn out any differently now. The supposed plan is for Chamberlain to go into the rotation around midseason, but many think he'll simply be left in the pen all year.

Chase Utley went 3-for-4 with his seven and eighth homers to drive in four of the Phillies' five runs Sunday in a win over the Mets. Utley's solo homer in the first and three-run blast in the fifth accounted for all of the scoring early, but the Mets came up with four runs in the sixth. The Phillies went back ahead on Pedro Feliz's solo shot in the seventh and held on to win 5-4 when the Mets failed to convert after getting the first two men on in the ninth against Brad Lidge. Utley's big game allowed him to overtake Derrek Lee for the major league lead with eight homers. He's gone deep in four straight.

Alex Rodriguez said he'll have a better idea on Monday whether he'll miss any time with a strained right quad. The Yankees have tomorrow off. "I’ll get some rest, wake up and see how it feels," he said. "I’ll treat it all day. I have a heat pad, sleep on that, then ice it, and do treatment all day and let it roll." Fantasy leaguers have little choice but to keep A-Rod active and hope for the best.

Manager Bobby Cox called Chipper Jones (quad) questionable to play Monday against the Nationals. Cox said the injury is "nothing that’s going to have him out any length at all." Martin Prado will play if Jones cannot tomorrow.

Scott Rolen (finger) went 0-for-3 as the designated hitter Sunday in his first game at Single-A Dunedin. Manager John Gibbons said Tuesday that Rolen was still at least two weeks away, but now it's possible he'll return as soon as Wednesday. He's scheduled to play in two more games for Dunedin before being reevaluated. If the finger doesn't react as well as hoped to both fielding and hitting, then Rolen's return could be delayed. The Jays are already saying that he won't be brought back as a designated hitter.

Phillies placed shotstop Jimmy Rollins on the 15-day disabled list with a left ankle sprain. This comes after he came off the bench Saturday, so he'll have to miss the full 15 days. Eric Bruntlett will keep filling in at shortstop, so he's worth using in NL-only leagues. It's the first DL stint of Rollins' career.

Astros placed LHP Wandy Rodriguez on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left groin. "It’s disappointing," Rodriguez said through an interpreter. "But it’s better this way. I don’t want to make it worse." Jack Cassel will be called up Thursday to start in his place. Until then, the Astros will have Tim Byrdak available as an extra reliever.

Royals designated RHP Hideo Nomo for assignment. It would have been a nice story if Nomo could have made a successful comeback as a reliever, but the fastball wasn't there and the Royals should have known it after watching him this spring. He had an 18.69 ERA in 4 1/3 innings.

Yesterday’s Results
American League
NYA     7  BAL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
BOS     6  TEX     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     6  TB      0    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     5  DET     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     2  CLE     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     4  LAA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     7  KC      1    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL     6  LAN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     6  WAS     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     5  NYN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN    13  PIT     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     4  MIL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     6  COL     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      8  STL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      9  ARI     4    (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:
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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     13   7 .650    0.0   11     2    sparkline graph
BAL     11   8 .579    1.5   10     1    sparkline graph
TOR     10   9 .526    2.5   11    -1    sparkline graph
NYA     10  10 .500    3.0    9     1    sparkline graph
TB       8  11 .421    4.5   10    -2    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CHA     11   7 .611    0.0   12    -1    sparkline graph
KC       9  10 .474    2.5    8     1    sparkline graph
MIN      9  10 .474    2.5    9     0    sparkline graph
CLE      7  12 .368    4.5    8    -1    sparkline graph
DET      6  13 .316    5.5    6     0    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     12   8 .600    0.0   11     1    sparkline graph
OAK     12   8 .600    0.0   12     0    sparkline graph
SEA     10  10 .500    2.0   11    -1    sparkline graph
TEX      7  12 .368    4.5    8    -1    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
FLA     11   7 .611    0.0    8     3    sparkline graph
NYN     10   7 .588    0.5   11    -1    sparkline graph
ATL      9   9 .500    2.0   12    -3    sparkline graph
PHI      9  10 .474    2.5   10    -1    sparkline graph
WAS      5  14 .263    6.5    6    -1    sparkline graph
National League Central     
CHN     12   6 .667    0.0   11     1    sparkline graph
STL     12   7 .632    0.5   12     0    sparkline graph
MIL     11   7 .611    1.0   10     1    sparkline graph
CIN      8  11 .421    4.5    9    -1    sparkline graph
PIT      7  11 .389    5.0    6     1    sparkline graph
HOU      7  12 .368    5.5    8    -1    sparkline graph
National League West        
ARI     13   5 .722    0.0   14    -1    sparkline graph
COL      9   9 .500    4.0    8     1    sparkline graph
SD       9  10 .474    4.5    7     2    sparkline graph
SF       8  11 .421    5.5    6     2    sparkline graph
LAN      7  11 .389    6.0   10    -3    sparkline graph

Game of the Day
Yovani Gallardo and Aaron Harang engaged in a tremendous pitching duel, allowing only one run each in 7/8 inning (respectively). But the real highlight of this game came in the tenth inning, when the Brewers first went up 3-1 on the Reds, largely due to a Jared Burton wild pitch and Edwin Encarnacion error. Encarnacion and the Reds made up for their errors in the bottom of the tenth—Encarnacion and Paul Bako hit back-to-back home runs off Eric Gagne to tie the game, and Ken Griffey singled in the winning run as the Reds won in a dramatic comeback, 4-3.
Reds 4, Brewers 3 - FINAL

MILWAUKEE              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
R Weeks 2b              5  0  0  0   0  3   6  .174
J Hardy ss              5  1  3  2   0  0   1  .231
R Braun lf              4  0  0  0   1  2   3  .222
P Fielder 1b            4  0  0  0   0  1   1  .222
C Hart rf               4  0  0  0   0  2   1  .273
B Hall 3b               4  0  0  0   0  1   0  .211
G Gross cf              3  1  1  0   1  0   0  .139
Y Gallardo p            3  0  1  0   0  0   1  .333
 M Stetter p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 va-C Counsell ph       1  1  1  0   0  0   0  .391
 E Gagne p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 S Torres p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
J Kendall c             4  0  1  0   0  1   1  .352

Totals                 37  3  7  2   2 10  14   ###

CINCINNATI             ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
C Patterson cf          3  0  0  0   2  1   1  .186
B Phillips 2b           5  0  1  0   0  0   3  .264
K Griffey Jr rf         5  0  1  1   0  0   1  .261
A Dunn lf               3  0  0  0   1  2   1  .189
J Keppinger ss          4  0  2  0   0  0   0  .329
J Votto 1b              4  0  0  0   0  1   1  .298
 J Burton p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
E Encarnacion 3b        4  2  2  2   0  0   0  .258
P Bako c                4  1  2  1   0  1   0  .313
A Harang p              2  0  0  0   0  2   0  .200
 F Cordero p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 S Hatteberg 1b         0  0  0  0   1  0   0  .160
 R Freel pr             0  1  0  0   0  0   0  .267

Totals                 34  4  8  4   4  7   7   ###

----------------------------------------------------
    MILWAUKEE       - 000 100 000 2  --   3  7 0
    CINCINNATI      - 000 010 000 3  --   4  8 1

One out when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------

va-singled to left for M Stetter in the 10th.

BATTING: 2B - Y Gallardo (1, A Harang); J Kendall (7, A Harang); J Keppinger 2 
(7, Y Gallardo 2). HR - J Hardy (1, 4th inning off A Harang 0 on, 0 Out), E 
Encarnacion 2 (4, 5th inning off Y Gallardo 0 on, 1 Out, 10th inning off E 
Gagne 0 on, 0 Out), P Bako (1, 10th inning off E Gagne 0 on, 0 Out). S - A 
Harang. RBI - J Hardy 2 (6), E Encarnacion 2 (9), P Bako (4), K Griffey Jr 
(13). 2-out RBI - J Hardy. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - R Weeks 2, 
C Hart 1, R Braun 2, B Phillips 1, J Votto 1. GIDP - P Fielder. Team LOB - 
MILWAUKEE 6, CINCINNATI 7. FIELDING: E - E Encarnacion (6, ground ball). 
Outfield assists - R Braun (A Dunn at Home). DP:  (J Keppinger-J Votto). 

MILWAUKEE                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Y Gallardo                    7       4   1   1   3   4   1   1.29
M Stetter                     2       0   0   0   0   2   0   0.00
E Gagne (L, 1-1; B, 3)        0       2   3   3   1   0   2   8.22
S Torres                        1/3   2   0   0   0   1   0   2.08

CINCINNATI                   ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
A Harang                      8       4   1   1   0   8   1   2.83
F Cordero                     1       1   0   0   1   0   0   1.12
J Burton (W, 1-1)             1       2   2   0   1   2   0   4.22

E Gagne pitched to 3 batters in the 10th.

WP - J Burton. Pitches-strikes: Y Gallardo 112-68; M Stetter 22-14; E Gagne 
14-7; S Torres 14-11; A Harang 114-74; F Cordero 17-9; J Burton 29-16. Ground 
balls-fly balls: Y Gallardo 7-9; M Stetter 2-2; E Gagne 0-0; S Torres 0-0; A 
Harang 9-7; F Cordero 3-0; J Burton 0-1. Batters faced: Y Gallardo 27; M 
Stetter 6; E Gagne 3; S Torres 3; A Harang 28; F Cordero 4; J Burton 7. IRS - S 
Torres. UMPIRES: HP--Marvin Hudson. 1B--Randy Marsh. 2B--Brian Knight. 
3B--Hunter Wendelstedt.   T--3:07. Att--26,902. Weather: 59 degrees, drizzle. 
Wind: 3 mph, out to center.

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.

image

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
CIN AAA Jay Bruce......... 4  2  1  0  0  0  1  
PIT AAA Andrew McCutchen.. 3  2  1  0  0  1  1  
OAK AAA Carlos Gonzalez... 4  2  0  0  0  1  1  
TEX AA  C. Davis.......... 4  3  0  0  2  0  0  3 R
DET AAA Brent Clevlen..... 5  4  2  0  0  0  1  
OAK A+  Matthew Sulentic.. 3  2  0  0  0  2  1  
TOR A+  Travis Snider..... 1  1  0  0  1  0  0  
MIL A+  Lorenzo Cain...... 3  2  0  1  0  2  0  
OAK AAA Jeffrey Baisley... 4  2  0  0  1  1  0  
MIN AA  Matt Moses........ 5  2  2  0  0  0  1  
BOS AA  Ryan Khoury....... 5  4  1  0  0  0  0  
ATL AA  Jason Perry....... 3  3  0  0  1  1  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
LAA AAA Nick Adenhart..... 6  4  0  0  5  3  0  
FLA AA  Ryan Tucker....... 6  3  1  1  9  1  1  
HOU AAA Chad Reineke...... 7  6  2  2  8  1  0  
LA  AA  Clayton Kershaw... 6  2  2  0  5  2  0  
ARI AAA Juan Gutierrez.... 5  11  4  4  8  1  0  11 GB
SD  AA  William Inman..... 6  5  3  3  4  2  0  
KC  AA  Carlos Rosa....... 6  4  2  2  6  1  1  
ATL A   Jeffrey Locke..... 5  7  3  3  6  0  0  11 GB
CLE AAA Sean Smith........ 6  4  3  3  5  2  1  
CHC AA  Jeff Samardzija... 6  6  3  3  3  1  0  11 GB
COL AAA Gregory Reynolds.. 7  6  5  1  2  2  0  15 GB
ARI AA  Anthony Barnette.. 5  5  1  1  6  3  0  

Access THT’s stats here…
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Dave is the manager of the Baseball Graphs website.. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.

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