THT Daily: Big Apple Woes
by Matthew CarruthJune 01, 2007
Major League News for June 1
Today’s LinksPlayer News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
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/
THT Links
What Does Zito Mean to You? - Barry Zito's name is certainly fondly remembered in Oakland, but across the bay in San Francisco there are some people who are legitimately concerned about Zito and the next six-plus years.
Dukes on the Block - Troubled TB OF Elijah Dukes is reportedly on the trading block; the Rays are looking to get some middle relief help in return.
Reactions on Benitez Trade - Six people you might be familiar with weigh in on the Armando Benitez trade in San Francisco.
THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at .
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldPrince Fielder crushed his NL-leading 19th homer and doubled Thursday as the Brewers edged the Marlins 4-3. J.J. Hardy also had a fine game, going 3-for-4 with two RBI, but he's still stuck on 15 homers while having to watch Fielder go yard in four straight. Fielder has tied Alex Rodriguez for the major league lead in homers, and he's tied for third in the NL with 43 RBI.
Marlins acquired RHP Armando Benitez from the Giants for RHP Randy Messenger. The Marlins get the closer they first targeted over the winter. They offered Yusmeiro Petit to the Giants then, and after being turned down, they ended up moving Petit to Arizona for Jorge Julio. The Marlins aren't necessarily helping themselves here. Benitez was 9-for-11 in save chances, and he'll continue to get the job done most of the time as long as he gets to enter with no one on base. Still, his stuff isn't quite what it once was and odds are that his knee will be cause for at least one DL stint before the end of the season. The Marlins might have been just as well off had they gone forward with Kevin Gregg and Henry Owens. Those two now figure to occupy setup roles.
Roy Halladay shut out the White Sox for seven innings and struck out seven Thursday in his return from an appendectomy. He picked up his 100th career victory in the process. Halladay, who was roughed up in both of his starts this month before going on the DL, allowed six hits and walked none in his fifth win of the season. The Blue Jays had only two hits off another fast worker, Mark Buehrle, in a 2-0 win, so the game was played in just 1:50, the second quickest game so far this season.
Jason Giambi will be sidelined at least three weeks because of torn tissue in the arch of his left foot. At least the Yankees have a better explanation now for his problems. Since the club plays in National League parks from June 19-24, the earliest we'd expect to see Giambi back in the lineup is June 26 against the Orioles. The Yankees will probably call up Andy Phillips to replace him on the roster and have Melky Cabrera and Josh Phelps pick up at-bats in his place.
Carlos Beltran is scheduled for an MRI Friday on the bruised right knee he suffered Thursday. Beltran said it hurts to put weight on the knee. He still hopes to play Friday, but it seems likely that Carlos Gomez and Ben Johnson will have to fill in.
Brewers placed second baseman Rickie Weeks on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 30, with right wrist tendinitis. Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino will platoon at second base, just like they had been doing at third before Ryan Braun was called up last week. Weeks will probably be back after two or three weeks off. There's nothing in his wrist that he'd damage by playing, but the Brewers believe he'd be more effective if they can get him closer to 100 percent.
Yesterday’s Results
American League TOR 2 CHA 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Halladay: 7 IP, 0 R; Buehrle: 8 IP, 2 H, 2 HR CLE 11 DET 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Hafner: HR, 4 RBI BAL 6 LAA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Burres: 5 IP, 1 R; Markakis: 2 2B SEA 9 TEX 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Ichiro: 3-5, 24 game hit streak National League NYN 4 SF 2 (Recap and Boxscore) El Duque: 7 IP, 2 R WAS 11 LAN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Zimmerman: 2B, HR; Young: 4-4 HOU 10 CIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Pence: 2 2B, Loretta: 4-5 MIL 4 FLA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Fielder: 2B, HR; Hart: 2 2B SD 4 PIT 2 (Recap and Boxscore) See below STL 7 COL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Bennett: 3-4, 2B; Thompson: 7.1 IP, 2 R
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (R) Kyle Davies (2-3) vs. (R) Carlos Zambrano (5-4) Los Angeles Dodgers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (L) Randy Wolf (6-3) vs. (L) Zach Duke (2-5) San Francisco Giants at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Matt Morris (5-2) vs. (R) Adam Eaton (5-3) San Diego Padres at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM (R) Jake Peavy (7-1) vs. (L) Matt Chico (3-4) Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Brandon Webb (4-3) vs. (R) John Maine (6-2) Florida Marlins at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (L) Scott Olsen (4-4) vs. (R) Jeff Suppan (6-5) St. Louis Cardinals at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Adam Wainwright (4-4) vs. (R) Roy Oswalt (6-4) Cincinnati Reds at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (L) Bobby Livingston (0-0) vs. (R) Taylor Buchholz (2-2) American League --------------- New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Chien-Ming Wang (3-4) vs. (R) Tim Wakefield (5-5) Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (L) Mike Maroth (3-2) vs. (R) Fausto Carmona (6-1) Chicago White Sox at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (R) Javier Vazquez (2-3) vs. (R) AJ Burnett (5-4) Kansas City Royals at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Brian Bannister (0-3) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (3-2) Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Kevin Slowey (0-0) vs. (L) Joe Kennedy (1-4) Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, 10:05 PM (R) Kevin Millwood (2-4) vs. (L) Jarrod Washburn (5-4) Baltimore Orioles at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Daniel Cabrera (4-5) vs. (R) John Lackey (8-3)
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 36 16 .692 0.0 34 2BAL 27 27 .500 10.0 28 -1
TOR 25 28 .472 11.5 26 -1
NYA 22 29 .431 13.5 28 -6
TB 22 29 .431 13.5 19 3
American League Central CLE 33 19 .635 0.0 31 2
DET 30 23 .566 3.5 30 0
MIN 27 25 .519 6.0 28 -1
CHA 24 25 .490 7.5 21 3
KC 19 35 .352 15.0 19 0
American League West LAA 33 22 .600 0.0 31 2
SEA 26 24 .520 4.5 25 1
OAK 26 26 .500 5.5 29 -3
TEX 19 35 .352 13.5 23 -4
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 34 18 .654 0.0 33 1
ATL 30 23 .566 4.5 28 2
PHI 26 27 .491 8.5 28 -2
FLA 26 28 .481 9.0 27 -1
WAS 22 32 .407 13.0 21 1
National League Central MIL 30 24 .556 0.0 28 2
PIT 23 30 .434 6.5 23 0
CHN 22 29 .431 6.5 27 -5
STL 22 29 .431 6.5 19 3
HOU 22 31 .415 7.5 23 -1
CIN 21 34 .382 9.5 24 -3
National League West LAN 31 22 .585 0.0 29 2
SD 31 22 .585 0.0 32 -1
ARI 32 23 .582 0.0 29 3
SF 25 27 .481 5.5 27 -2
COL 25 29 .463 6.5 23 2
Game of the Day
Does any team play more dramatic games than the Padres? Maybe the A’s, but it’s close. This time, the Pads were losing to the Pirates, 2-0 in the ninth inning, when the Pirates’ Salomon Torres gave up consecutive doubles to Adrian Gonzalez and Mike Cameron (negating an awesome start by Shawn Chacon), sending the game into extra innings. Cameron won the game in the 11th with a solo home run.SAN DIEGO (4) VS PITTSBURGH (2) - FINAL IN 11 INNINGS
SAN DIEGO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
M Giles 2b 4 1 0 0 1 1 1 .273
T Sledge lf 4 0 1 0 1 1 0 .210
C Meredith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
T Hoffman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
A Gonzalez 1b 4 1 1 1 1 1 2 .297
M Cameron cf 5 1 3 2 0 1 2 .240
J Bard c 5 0 2 0 0 1 3 .242
R Bowen pr-c 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .234
K Kouzmanoff 3b 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 .204
H Bell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
D Brocail p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-R Branyan ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .231
S Linebrink p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
O Robles 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .238
K Greene ss 4 0 0 1 0 0 3 .216
P McAnulty rf 5 0 1 0 0 1 0 .158
G Maddux p 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .056
G Blum 3b-lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .180
Totals 37 4 8 4 4 10 13
a-walked for D Brocail in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - M Cameron 2 (13, S Chacon, S Torres); A Gonzalez (13, S Torres);
J Bard (6, J Sharpless). HR - M Cameron (5, 11th inning off J Sharpless 0 on, 0
Out). S - G Blum , O Robles. SF - K Greene. RBI - A Gonzalez (37), M Cameron 2
(24), K Greene (28). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A Gonzalez 1, K
Greene 1, K Kouzmanoff 1. GIDP - J Bard. Team LOB - 7.
FIELDING: E - K Kouzmanoff (5, ground ball). DP: 2 (K Kouzmanoff-M Giles-A
Gonzalez, M Giles-K Greene-A Gonzalez).
PITTSBURGH ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Bautista 3b 5 1 1 0 0 0 3 .268
C Duffy cf 5 0 1 0 0 1 3 .241
F Sanchez 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0 2 .285
J Bay lf 4 0 2 1 0 1 2 .310
A LaRoche 1b 4 0 1 0 1 0 2 .214
X Nady rf 5 0 1 0 0 3 4 .284
R Doumit c 4 0 2 0 0 1 0 .326
J Grabow p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-J Castillo ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .246
J Sharpless p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Bayliss p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Wilson ss 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 .251
S Chacon p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .143
a-N McLouth ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .250
M Capps p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
S Torres p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Paulino c 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .218
Totals 40 2 12 2 1 8 18
a-doubled to right for S Chacon in the 7th; b-struck out swinging for J Grabow
in the 10th.
BATTING: 2B - N McLouth (2, G Maddux); C Duffy (10, S Linebrink). S - S Chacon
2, J Bautista. SF - J Bay. RBI - J Bay (39), F Sanchez (17). 2-out RBI - F
Sanchez. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - X Nady 1, F Sanchez 1, C
Duffy 2, J Bay 1, J Bautista 1. GIDP - X Nady, A LaRoche. Team LOB - 11.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (S Chacon-J Wilson-A LaRoche).
----------------------------------------------------
SAN DIEGO - 000 000 002 02 -- 4
PITTSBURGH - 100 000 100 00 -- 2
----------------------------------------------------
SAN DIEGO ip h r er bb so hr era
G Maddux 6 2/3 9 2 1 1 4 0 3.91
H Bell 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.19
D Brocail 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.90
S Linebrink 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.19
C Meredith (W, 2-2) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.46
T Hoffman (S, 16) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.57
PITTSBURGH ip h r er bb so hr era
S Chacon 7 3 0 0 1 10 0 2.84
M Capps (H, 15) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.07
S Torres (B, 4) 2/3 2 2 2 1 0 0 4.87
J Grabow 1 1/3 1 0 0 2 0 0 5.65
J Sharpless (L, 0-1) 1/3 2 2 2 0 0 1 21.60
J Bayliss 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.07
WP - H Bell. HBP - F Sanchez (by G Maddux). Pitches-strikes: G Maddux 95-61;
H Bell 7-4; D Brocail 15-10; S Linebrink 13-9; C Meredith 8-6; T Hoffman 7-6; S
Chacon 102-67; M Capps 12-8; S Torres 13-8; J Grabow 17-8; J Sharpless 10-5; J
Bayliss 6-5. Ground balls-fly balls: G Maddux 11-5; H Bell 0-0; D Brocail 0-2;
S Linebrink 1-2; C Meredith 1-1; T Hoffman 0-2; S Chacon 6-5; M Capps 1-2; S
Torres 2-0; J Grabow 3-1; J Sharpless 1-0; J Bayliss 0-2. Batters faced: G
Maddux 30; H Bell 1; D Brocail 4; S Linebrink 4; C Meredith 4; T Hoffman 3; S
Chacon 24; M Capps 3; S Torres 5; J Grabow 7; J Sharpless 3; J Bayliss 2.
UMPIRES: HP--Ed Rapuano. 1B--Ed Hickox. 2B--C.B. Bucknor. 3B--Joe West.
EJECTIONS: SAN DIEGO's Bard by Rapuano (11th), SAN DIEGO's Black by West (11th).
T--3:11. (Plus rain delay totaling 48 minutes in the 1st). Att--14,966.
Weather: 68 degrees, overcast. Wind: 8 mph, out 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.
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 ARI AA Carlos Gonzalez... 4 3 2 0 1 0 1 3 R LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 5 3 0 0 1 0 1 OAK A J. Mitchell....... 4 3 0 2 0 1 0 3 R ARI AA Justin Upton...... 4 1 0 0 1 0 3 CHW AAA Josh Fields....... 3 1 0 0 1 2 0 COL AAA Joseph Koshansky.. 3 2 1 0 0 2 1 ARI AA Carlos Gonzalez... 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 ARI AA Justin Upton...... 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 COL AAA Ian Stewart....... 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 SEA AAA W. Balentien...... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 OAK A Matthew Sulentic.. 4 2 1 0 0 1 0 TOR A Travis Snider..... 2 1 1 0 0 2 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes MIL A+ William Inman..... 8 3 1 1 7 3 0 NYY A+ Ian Kennedy....... 7 2 0 0 8 1 0 CHC AA Donald Veal....... 6 3 0 0 7 1 0 NYY A Grant Duff........ 6 2 1 1 8 0 0 PHI A+ Carlos Carrasco... 7 2 0 0 5 3 0 TB A+ Wade Davis........ 6 7 4 3 9 2 1 BAL A Pedro Beato....... 6 4 1 0 6 1 0 MIN A+ Zachary Ward...... 7 5 1 1 5 1 0 PHI AAA J.D. Durbin....... 6 6 3 3 8 2 1 TEX AA Edinson Volquez... 6 7 3 3 6 2 1 5 infield flies HOU AA Troy Patton....... 7 6 2 2 5 1 2 PIT AAA Bryan Bullington.. 8 4 2 2 6 2 1
Access THT’s stats here…
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.