THT Daily: Bixler
by Matthew CarruthApril 06, 2008
Major League News for April 6
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 RotoworldPirates recalled SS Brian Bixler from Triple-A Indianapolis.
He will get regular starts while Jack Wilson is out. Bixler is the Pirates' top infield prospect. He strikes out too often to hit for average and doesn't have much power, but is a threat to steal a good amount of bases.
Pirates placed SS Jack Wilson on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left calf.
This is the first DL stint of Wilson's career. The Pirates called up Brian Bixler, who will get most of the starts at shortstop.
Jason Giambi (groin) is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Rays.
Giambi left Saturday's game in the fifth inning complaining of a sore groin. It's obviously still bothering him. Wilson Betemit gets the start at first.
John Lackey (triceps) played catch Saturday and could start throwing off a mound next week.
The Angels are expecting him back in early May.
Jerry Owens (groin) will be out longer than previously reported.
The Chicago Sun-Times said earlier this week that Owens will return Tuesday, April 8. White Sox GM Ken Williams has refuted that report. "I don't have any date in mind, and I won't hear a date until we say, 'We'll bring him back today,'" Williams said. "But it's going to be awhile." Owens will begin a minor league rehab assignment Thursday.
Moises Alou (hernia) has started swinging a bat.
Alou is at home in the Dominican Republic right now, but Mets manager Willie Randolph expects him back with the Mets by the end of April.
Tom Glavine will not face his former team, the Mets, this weekend.
Braves manager Bobby Cox decided to bump up John Smoltz, who is dealing with shoulder inflammation, for Sunday's start against the Mets in Atlanta. Cox doesn't want to expose Smoltz's arm to the sup-40 degree temperatures during the Braves' next series in Colorado. Glavine will start the first game of that series.
Omar Vizquel was scratched from the lineup at Single-A San Jose because of soreness in his surgically-repaired knee.
The Giants were hoping to get Vizquel back April 7, but that's not going to happen. Manager Bruce Bochy said the Giants will take their time with Vizquel, which makes sense because his replacement Brian Bocock has been exceptional. Bocock has a .526 OBP in 19 plate appearances.
Brandon McCarthy (forearm) has started a throwing program.
McCarthy hadn't thrown a ball in two weeks. The Rangers were hoping to get him back in mid-May, but that's not happening. He'll probably be out until early June.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BAL 6 SEA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 6 NYA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 10 BOS 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 5 DET 3 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 6 KC 4 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 2 TEX 1 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 5 CLE 1 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 11 NYN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 7 PIT 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 9 HOU 7 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 4 PHI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 5 SF 4 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 5 WAS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 7 COL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 4 LAN 1 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Pittsburgh Pirates at Florida Marlins, 1:10 PM (R) Ian Snell (0-0) vs. (R) Rick Vanden Hurk (0-0) Philadelphia Phillies at Cincinnati Reds, 1:15 PM (R) Brett Myers (0-0) vs. (R) Edinson Volquez (0-0) New York Mets at Atlanta Braves, 1:35 PM (L) Johan Santana (1-0) vs. (R) John Smoltz (0-0) San Francisco Giants at Milwaukee Brewers, 2:05 PM (L) Barry Zito (0-1) vs. (R) Ben Sheets (0-0) Washington Nationals at St. Louis Cardinals, 2:15 PM (L) John Lannan (0-0) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (0-0) Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (R) Brandon Backe (0-1) vs. (R) Carlos Zambrano (0-0) Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies, 3:05 PM (R) Edgar Gonzalez (0-0) vs. (L) Franklin Morales (0-0) Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres, 4:05 PM (R) Derek Lowe (0-0) vs. (R) Chris Young (1-0) American League --------------- Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM (R) James Shields (1-0) vs. (R) Chien-Ming Wang (1-0) Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM (R) Josh Beckett (0-0) vs. (R) Roy Halladay (0-1) Seattle Mariners at Baltimore Orioles, 1:35 PM (R) Felix Hernandez (0-0) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (0-1) Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins, 2:10 PM (R) Brett Tomko (0-0) vs. (R) Boof Bonser (0-1) Texas Rangers at LA Angels of Anaheim, 3:35 PM (R) Vicente Padilla (0-0) vs. (R) Jon Garland (1-0) Cleveland Indians at Oakland Athletics, 4:05 PM (L) Cliff Lee (0-0) vs. (R) Joe Blanton (0-1) Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers, 8:05 PM (L) Mark Buehrle (0-0) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (0-0)
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 BAL 3 1 .750 0.0 2 1TB 3 1 .750 0.0 3 0
TOR 3 2 .600 0.5 4 -1
BOS 3 3 .500 1.0 2 1
NYA 2 3 .400 1.5 1 1
American League Central CHA 3 2 .600 0.0 2 1
KC 3 2 .600 0.0 3 0
MIN 3 3 .500 0.5 2 1
CLE 2 3 .400 1.0 2 0
DET 0 5 .000 3.0 1 -1
American League West LAA 4 2 .667 0.0 4 0
OAK 3 3 .500 1.0 4 -1
SEA 2 3 .400 1.5 2 0
TEX 2 3 .400 1.5 2 0
National League East Pwins Diff FLA 3 2 .600 0.0 1 2
WAS 3 3 .500 0.5 3 0
NYN 2 2 .500 0.5 3 -1
ATL 2 3 .400 1.0 3 -1
PHI 2 3 .400 1.0 2 0
National League Central STL 4 1 .800 0.0 4 0
MIL 4 1 .800 0.0 4 0
CIN 3 2 .600 1.0 2 1
CHN 2 3 .400 2.0 2 0
PIT 2 3 .400 2.0 2 0
HOU 2 4 .333 2.5 3 -1
National League West SD 4 2 .667 0.0 3 1
ARI 3 2 .600 0.5 4 -1
LAN 3 2 .600 0.5 4 -1
COL 1 4 .200 2.5 1 0
SF 1 4 .200 2.5 1 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 PIT AAA Andrew McCutchen.. 2 2 0 0 1 3 0 3 R FLA AA Cameron Maybin.... 3 2 0 1 1 1 0 COL AAA Ian Stewart....... 4 2 1 0 0 1 0 ARI A+ Pedro Ciriaco..... 4 3 2 0 0 1 0 2 SB NYM AA F. Martinez....... 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 5 1 1 0 0 0 3 DET AAA Jeff Larish....... 4 3 0 0 2 0 0 4 RBI PHI AA Gregory Golson.... 4 3 0 1 0 0 0 4 SB CHC AAA Eric Patterson.... 5 2 0 1 1 0 2 3 R TOR A+ Travis Snider..... 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 ATL AAA B. Lillibridge.... 5 2 1 0 1 0 0 4 RBI BOS AAA Brandon Moss...... 2 2 1 1 0 1 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes CHW AAA Lance Broadway.... 7 2 0 0 4 0 0 BAL A+ Brandon Erbe...... 5 2 0 0 5 1 0 OAK AA Andrew Bailey..... 6 2 1 0 7 2 0 MIN A+ Deolis Guerra..... 5 2 1 1 6 1 1 BOS AA Michael Bowden.... 5 2 1 1 5 2 0 MIN AA Anthony Swarzak... 5 3 1 1 4 1 0 PIT AA Jimmy Barthmaier.. 5 3 2 2 4 1 0 10 GB NYY AAA Alan Horne........ 6 5 2 2 6 2 0 CHC AAA Sean Gallagher.... 5 2 1 1 5 1 1 ARI AAA Juan Gutierrez.... 6 6 2 1 4 1 0 TEX A Neftali Feliz..... 7 5 3 3 6 2 0 CHC AA Mitch Atkins...... 4 5 1 1 6 1 0
Access all of THT’s stats here…
{embed="content/2005stable"}
Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.