THT Daily: 47-40
by Dave StudemanJune 18, 2008
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ and an archive at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/thtdaily_index/
On this day at THT: Four years ago, Bryan Smith pondered the likely career of Zach Greinke.
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld |
| Paul Konerko in healthier times (Icon/SMI) |
White Sox placed 1B Paul Konerko on the 15-day disabled list with a Grade 1 strain of his left oblique muscle. The move was retroactive to June 15. He suffered the injury before Sunday's game, and this will be the 32-year-old's first career trip to the disabled list. Konerko was unsure he'd need to go on the disabled list at all, which is a decent sign he won't need much more than the minimum.
Red Sox placed RHP Bartolo Colon on the 15-day disabled list with back stiffness. This one won't hurt the Red Sox nearly as much as losing Chien-Ming Wang does the Yankees, but now the game's two highest-profile teams have had starters get hurt because of the lack of a DH in NL parks. Colon didn't think he needed a DL stint, but the Red Sox have no reason to let him pitch at less than 100 percent when they have Justin Masterson as an alternative. Masterson, who was supposed to return to the minors to make room for Daisuke Matsuzaka this weekend, will now get to stick in the majors.
Mariners recalled catcher Jeff Clement from Triple-A Tacoma. Called up last month, Clement was given just 56 plate appearances before heading back to Triple-A. This time he figures to get a longer look, although with the Mariners you never know. He's been on fire since the demotion, batting .287 with nine homers, nine doubles, 23 RBI and a .670 slugging percentage in 24 games. If he plays regularly Clement will have plenty of value in AL-only leagues and could emerge as an asset in mixed leagues where he's eligible at catcher.
Jose Reyes said after Tuesday's game that he expects to play Wednesday against the Angels. Reyes was upset to be taken out of the game what was called left hamstring stiffness. "I wanted to play, but (interim manager Jerry Manual) was just watching out for me," Reyes said. "I understand what I did wrong and I apologized. My leg is good, and I’ll play (Wednesday)."
Dodgers manager Joe Torre said Tuesday that he doesn't expect Rafael Furcal back before the All-Star break. He'll have missed at least 10 weeks with what was originally called a stiff lower back. The Dodgers are living with Angel Berroa and Luis Maza at shortstop for now, but they're expected to give Nomar Garciaparra a try next week.
Hiroki Kuroda has been scratched from his scheduled start Wednesday due to a sore shoulder. He's scheduled for an MRI. The Dodgers now plan to go with Derek Lowe tomorrow, Eric Stults on Thursday and Clayton Kershaw on Friday. Unless they want to go to prospect James McDonald, they'll probably have to turn to Chan Ho Park or Hong-Chih Kuo to start on Saturday.
Yesterday’s Results
Daily game recaps courtesy of Craig Calcaterra.
Yankees 8, Padres 0: New York is playing its best baseball of the season. Lots of big flies and shutouts the last two games have allowed them to ease into striking distance of Tampa Bay. Another week or two of this sort of stuff and the second half of 2008 will look much like the second half of every damn year: slugging it out with the Sox to see who gets more extreme closeups on Fox broadcasts this October. I'm hoping for Boston, not because I like them more, but because I don't think the V-chip in my HD TV can withstand tight shots of Giambi's mustache.
Angels 6, Mets 1: In yet another classless move, Omar Minaya waits until 2:27 AM to order some baked chicken from room service, knowing full well that the hotel kitchen went to sandwiches-only after 2.
Dodgers 3, Reds 1: Jay Bruce is 7-38 with one homer and two RBI in his last ten games. Alas, he is mortal.
Red Sox 3, Phillies 0: How you shut anyone out in that bandbox is beyond me, but Lester, Okajima, and Papelbon managed to do it. Meanwhile, everyone's MVP Chase Utley goes 0-4 and dips below .300.
Twins 2, Nats 1: You notice how everyone wants to talk about whether the White Sox can hold off Detroit and/or Cleveland, yet no one ever mentions the Twins? I mean, they are in second place. No, I don't think they'll hang around or win the division, but we probably should at least mention them for the sake of politeness, no?
A's 15, Diamondbacks 1: I call games like these "Pythagoras Specials." The A's are now 6-1 in the desert. With Fremont proving problematic, they should move to Las Cruces or Needles or something.
Brewers 7, Blue Jays 0: If anyone, including even the most ardent fan of three-true-outcomes players, says they predicted a .309/.409/.818, 8 HR line from Russell Branyan through his first 18 games, well, they're lying.
Orioles 6, Astros 5: Watch me brazenly quote more than five words from an AP story: "Tejada was greeted by a mixture of jeers and applause before each at-bat." Why do you boo Tejada in Baltimore? He didn't snub the team, he was traded. Yeah, he's an alleged steroid case, but so is almost everyone who played for that team since Sam Horn was the DH.
Royals 2, Cardinals 1: Kyle Davies wows 'em (7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER). In fact, he's given up a single earned run in each of his five starts. It's smoke and mirrors, though. Why do I say this? Because he's struck out 12 and walked 12 in 24.1 innings, which are actually worse ratios than he's posted in just over 300 innings of 73 ERA+ pitching over the course of his career.
Rays 3, Cubs 2: Kazmir gives up only one run and strikes out seven in 4.2, but couldn't get a W because it took him 110 pitches to get even that far. Cliff Floyd hits a homer and is at .274/.365/.524 on the season. In light of that, why would the Rays be even rumored to want Griffey and his sub-.400 SLG?
Mariners 5, Marlins 4: King Felix was re-dic-a-las, striking out seven of eight in one stretch, including striking out the side on nine pitches in the fourth.
Rangers 7, Braves 5: The Braves can theoretically win without Smoltz and Glavine, but to do so, they need Tim Hudson to be an ace. He wasn't last night, giving up six runs in 4.1. It didn't help that the Braves 1-4 hitters went 0-13.
Rockies 10, Indians 2: Jeff Baker hit an inside-the-park home run for Colorado, which says more about the big outfield in Coors than it says about his wheels.
Tigers 5, Giants 1: I want to hold off for as long as I can on giving in to the "the Tigers are frisky" meme, but I won't be able to if they keep winning. Earned runs allowed in Kenny Rogers' last five starts: 0-2-1-0-1, all of which lasted more than seven innings.
White Sox 16, Pirates 5: Ian Snell isn't doing much to combat that whole "AL is superior to the NL" thing: "They didn't swing at any bad pitches at all," Snell said. "It's not the same as the National League where you get your curveball over the plate just a little bit and they swing."
You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
| First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports: |
| {embed="pageblocks/FirstInning_Team_Lookup"} |
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Derek Lowe (4-6) vs. (R) Bronson Arroyo (4-5) Inter-League ------------ Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, 1:05 PM (R) Justin Masterson (3-1) vs. (R) Kyle Kendrick (6-2) Detroit Tigers at San Francisco Giants, 3:45 PM (R) Armando Galarraga (6-2) vs. (L) Barry Zito (2-10) Houston Astros at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Brian Moehler (3-3) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (3-7) San Diego Padres at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Jake Peavy (5-3) vs. (R) Darrell Rasner (3-4) Chicago Cubs at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Carlos Zambrano (8-2) vs. (R) Andy Sonnanstine (7-3) Atlanta Braves at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (3-4) vs. (R) Eric Hurley (0-0) Toronto Blue Jays at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Shaun Marcum (5-3) vs. (R) Ben Sheets (7-1) Washington Nationals at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (R) Jason Bergmann (1-4) vs. (R) Kevin Slowey (3-6) Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (L) Tom Gorzelanny (5-5) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (3-6) Kansas City Royals at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (R) Brian Bannister (5-6) vs. (R) Braden Looper (8-5) Cleveland Indians at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (L) Aaron Laffey (4-3) vs. (L) Jeff Francis (2-6) Oakland Athletics at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Joe Blanton (3-9) vs. (R) Dan Haren (6-4) New York Mets at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (L) Oliver Perez (5-4) vs. (R) Jon Garland (6-4) Florida Marlins at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) Ryan Tucker (1-1) vs. (R) R.A. Dickey (1-2)
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 45 29 .608 0.0 44 1TB 41 29 .586 2.0 38 3
NYA 38 33 .535 5.5 38 0
BAL 35 34 .507 7.5 33 2
TOR 35 37 .486 9.0 37 -2
American League Central CHA 39 31 .557 0.0 43 -4
MIN 35 36 .493 4.5 33 2
CLE 33 38 .465 6.5 37 -4
DET 33 38 .465 6.5 35 -2
KC 29 42 .408 10.5 29 0
American League West LAA 43 29 .597 0.0 36 7
OAK 39 31 .557 3.0 43 -4
TEX 36 36 .500 7.0 34 2
SEA 25 46 .352 17.5 28 -3
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 42 31 .575 0.0 46 -4
FLA 38 33 .535 3.0 36 2
ATL 35 37 .486 6.5 41 -6
NYN 34 36 .486 6.5 35 -1
WAS 29 43 .403 12.5 28 1
National League Central CHN 45 26 .634 0.0 46 -1
STL 42 30 .583 3.5 38 4
MIL 37 33 .529 7.5 34 3
PIT 34 37 .479 11.0 32 2
HOU 33 38 .465 12.0 32 1
CIN 33 39 .458 12.5 32 1
National League West ARI 37 34 .521 0.0 37 0
LAN 32 38 .457 4.5 35 -3
SD 31 41 .431 6.5 29 2
SF 31 41 .431 6.5 31 0
COL 29 42 .408 8.0 29 0
Game of the Day
Orioles 6, Astros 5 - FINAL
HOUSTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
M Bourn cf 5 2 2 1 0 2 0 .242
K Matsui 2b 4 0 1 3 0 0 0 .277
M Tejada ss 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .296
L Berkman dh 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .358
C Lee lf 4 1 2 1 0 0 1 .277
R Abercrombie pr-lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333
H Pence rf 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .275
G Blum 1b 3 0 0 0 1 2 1 .227
D Erstad 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .316
T Wigginton 3b 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 .276
H Quintero c 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 .267
va-M Loretta ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .267
Totals 34 5 8 5 3 8 6 ###
BALTIMORE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
B Roberts 2b 3 1 1 0 2 0 2 .286
N Markakis rf 5 2 2 1 0 1 5 .287
M Mora 3b 5 0 1 2 0 0 2 .242
A Huff dh 4 1 2 2 1 0 1 .261
K Millar 1b 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 .243
L Scott lf 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 .281
J Payton lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .258
R Hernandez c 3 1 2 0 1 1 2 .236
A Jones cf 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 .256
F Bynum ss 3 0 1 1 0 1 4 .207
Totals 35 6 12 6 5 3 20 ###
----------------------------------------------------
HOUSTON - 100 031 000 -- 5 8 0
BALTIMORE - 002 100 12x -- 6 12 0
----------------------------------------------------
va-flied out to right for H Quintero in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - K Matsui (11, G Olson); R Hernandez (11, B Backe); A Jones (15, B
Backe); A Huff (19, G Geary); M Mora (13, J Valverde). HR - A Huff (11, 3rd
inning off B Backe 1 on, 2 Out), C Lee (15, 6th inning off M Albers 0 on, 0
Out), N Markakis (12, 7th inning off T Byrdak 0 on, 0 Out). S - F Bynum. RBI -
K Matsui 3 (16), M Bourn (13), C Lee (53), A Huff 2 (38), F Bynum (5), N
Markakis (32), M Mora 2 (37). 2-out RBI - M Bourn, K Matsui 2, A Huff 2, F
Bynum, M Mora 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - L Berkman 1, H
Quintero 1, B Roberts 2, F Bynum 2, R Hernandez 1, K Millar 1, N Markakis 1.
Team LOB - HOUSTON 5, BALTIMORE 11. BASERUNNING: SB - G Blum (1, 2nd base off M
Albers/R Hernandez). CS - R Abercrombie (1, 2nd base by J Johnson/R Hernandez).
FIELDING: PB - R Hernandez.
HOUSTON ip h r er bb so hr era
B Backe 5 2/3 8 3 3 2 1 1 4.99
T Byrdak (H, 3) 1/3 1 1 1 0 0 1 1.71
G Geary (H, 3) 2/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.49
D Brocail (L, 2-2; H, 11) 2/3 1 2 2 2 1 0 3.00
J Valverde (B, 4) 2/3 1 0 0 1 1 0 3.74
BALTIMORE ip h r er bb so hr era
G Olson 4 2/3 6 4 4 1 4 0 4.80
M Albers 2 1/3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2.96
J Johnson (W, 2-2) 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 1.14
G Sherrill (S, 23) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.37
T Byrdak pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.
WP - G Olson 2. IBB - L Scott (by D Brocail), A Huff (by J Valverde).
Pitches-strikes: B Backe 97-67; T Byrdak 4-3; G Geary 13-9; D Brocail 21-9; J
Valverde 19-10; G Olson 87-53; M Albers 37-22; J Johnson 18-12; G Sherrill
14-7. Ground balls-fly balls: B Backe 4-12; T Byrdak 0-1; G Geary 1-1; D
Brocail 1-0; J Valverde 0-1; G Olson 5-5; M Albers 4-2; J Johnson 0-0; G
Sherrill 0-2. Batters faced: B Backe 27; T Byrdak 2; G Geary 3; D Brocail 5; J
Valverde 4; G Olson 21; M Albers 9; J Johnson 4; G Sherrill 3. IRS - J Valverde
2. UMPIRES: HP--Ed Hickox. 1B--James Hoye. 2B--Chris Guccione. 3B--Ed Rapuano.
T--3:12. Att--21,535. Weather: 78 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 13 mph, left
to right.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.
Yesterday’s Home Runs
The following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected “true” distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its "standard" distance, which is corrected for weather conditions. Each homer is also categorized into one of three types: Just Enough (JE) for homers that cleared the fence by ten feet or less, Plenty (PL) for those that were sure home runs but not “blasts,” and No Doubt (ND) for true “blasts”—homers that cleared the fence by at least 20 feet and landed at least 50 feet beyond the fence.Hitter Team Pitcher Team True Stnd. # Type Mike Aviles KC Ron Villone STL 418 413 3 PL Jeff Baker COL Paul Byrd CLE 431 390 2 JE/L Jose Bautista PIT Javier Vazquez CWS 395 378 6 PL Russell Branyan MIL Dustin McGowan TOR 427 407 8 ND Ryan Braun MIL Brian Wolfe TOR 447 431 20 ND Ryan Braun MIL Jason Frasor TOR 397 385 19 PL Marlon Byrd TEX Jeff Ridgway ATL 353 346 3 PL Orlando Cabrera CWS Marino Salas PIT 396 381 5 PL Eric Chavez OAK Brandon Webb ARI 387 378 2 JE Craig Counsell MIL Dustin McGowan TOR 359 340 1 PL Joe Crede CWS Franquelis Osoria PIT 396 379 14 PL Coco Crisp BOS Jamie Moyer PHI 396 407 5 PL Bobby Crosby OAK Brandon Lyon ARI 384 375 4 PL Rajai Davis OAK Doug Slaten ARI 373 365 1 JE Jermaine Dye CWS Ian Snell PIT 438 422 12 ND Mark Ellis OAK Brandon Lyon ARI 387 377 8 PL Mark Ellis OAK Brandon Webb ARI 0 0 7 0 Prince Fielder MIL Dustin McGowan TOR 428 397 12 PL/L Cliff Floyd TB Ryan Dempster CHC 442 441 6 ND Jason Giambi NYY Randy Wolf SD 348 324 17 JE/L Jason Giambi NYY Randy Wolf SD 426 412 16 PL Josh Hamilton TEX Tim Hudson ATL 414 403 19 PL Brad Hawpe COL Paul Byrd CLE 424 385 8 PL Aubrey Huff BAL Brandon Backe HOU 386 387 11 JE Omar Infante ATL Vicente Padilla TEX 396 389 1 PL Carlos Lee HOU Matt Albers BAL 352 355 15 PL Evan Longoria TB Neal Cotts CHC 420 420 11 PL Nick Markakis BAL Tim Byrdak HOU 371 373 12 JE Jeff Mathis LAA Johan Santana NYM 408 400 5 JE/L Brian McCann ATL Eddie Guardado TEX 395 386 13 PL Justin Morneau MIN John Lannan WAS 403 397 11 ND Ryan Raburn DET Jonathan Sanchez SF 423 431 2 ND Alex Rodriguez NYY Randy Wolf SD 435 422 13 PL Kurt Suzuki OAK Edgar Gonzalez ARI 386 377 2 PL Marcus Thames DET Vinnie Chulk SF 452 462 13 ND Jim Thome CWS Marino Salas PIT 374 365 14 PL Dan Uggla FLA Felix Hernandez SEA 390 382 20 PL
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 A+ Carlos Peguero.... 5 4 3 0 0 0 0 CHC AA Jake Fox.......... 4 3 2 0 1 0 0 4 RBI OAK AAA Donnie Murphy..... 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 SD AAA Nick Hundley...... 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 LA AA Lucas May......... 5 3 1 1 0 0 1 FLA AA Gaby Sanchez...... 4 3 1 0 0 1 0 NYY AA Austin Jackson.... 5 4 0 0 1 0 0 4 RBI ATL A+ Gorkys Hernandez.. 7 4 0 0 1 0 1 3 LD BAL A+ Brandon Tripp..... 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 CIN A+ Drew Stubbs....... 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 PHI A+ Adrian Cardenas... 4 3 1 1 0 0 1 TB AAA Joel Guzman....... 5 2 1 0 1 0 1 4 RBI ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes BAL A+ Brandon Erbe...... 7 1 0 0 12 0 0 NYM AA Jonathon Niese.... 6 3 0 0 9 2 0 NYM A+ Dylan Owen........ 7 6 1 1 8 2 0 CHC AA Donald Veal....... 7 2 0 0 6 2 0 DET A+ Jonah Nickerson... 7 4 0 0 6 1 0 NYY AA Alfredo Aceves.... 8 1 0 0 4 2 0 PHI A+ Edgar Garcia...... 5 3 0 0 7 2 0 PHI AA Carlos Carrasco... 8 7 4 4 6 2 0 15 GB SD AAA Wade Leblanc...... 6 3 2 2 9 3 1 TOR A+ Kenny Rodriguez... 6 4 1 1 6 0 1 11 GB TOR AA Ricky Romero...... 7 6 4 3 5 1 0 12 GB LAA AAA Nick Adenhart..... 7 6 4 3 5 3 0
Access THT’s stats here…
{embed="content/2005stable"}
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.
<< Return to Article