THT Daily: Bullpens, Oy!
by Matthew CarruthMay 26, 2007
Major League News for May 25
Player NewsYesterday’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/
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldMike Gonzalez will require Tommy John surgery on his elbow and miss the rest of the season. This doesn't come as any big surprise. Gonzalez's elbow has been a problem on and off for years, and his inconsistent velocity from the start of the spring suggested there was some significant damage involved. Fortunately, the Braves have Rafael Soriano to keep working the eighth inning in front of Bob Wickman. Now they need Macay McBride to step up and take over as the No. 1 lefty in the pen.
Daisuke Matsuzaka, suffering from nausea, gave up five runs in five innings before leaving Friday's game against the Rangers. Matsuzaka was seen sort of grabbing his side while walking off the field at the end of the second inning, suggesting that he might have suffered a strained oblique. He was cruising at that point, but he ended up giving up five runs in the fourth before rebounding with a scoreless fifth and leaving after 85 pitches. It was announced after he left that it was actually an illness of some sort, not a strain, that sent him to the showers. We assume he'll make his next start.
Roger Clemens will make one more start in the minors before joining the Yankees, GM Brian Cashman confirmed Friday. Clemens will take the ball Monday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre instead of pitching against the Jays. He'll then likely make his return to the majors at Fenway Park on June 2 or 3.
Mark Reynolds went 5-for-5 with two homers, a triple and four RBI as the Diamondbacks crushed the Astros 13-3 on Friday night. Incredible. Reynolds is 17-for-37 with three homers, two triples and three doubles since being hauled out of Double-A as a replacement for the injured Chad Tracy on May 16. Nearly as impressive is that he's yet to commit an error at third base, even though he was having plenty of problems on defense in the minors. Reynolds is almost sure to survive Tracy's comeback with the way he's playing now. Unfortunately, he's probably not much of an option as an occasional starter at shortstop. Still, he could play third base versus some lefties and get a couple of outfield starts per week if he keeps hitting.
Ken Griffey Jr. hit his MLB-leading 10th homer of May in Friday's loss to the Pirates. Griffey moved ahead of Harmon Killebrew for eighth place on the career home run list with No. 574 in the sixth inning off Paul Maholm. It was a solo shot. Nothing more could have been expected when Ryan Freel and Norris Hopper went 1-for-10 ahead of him.
Trevor Hoffman did complain of some arm soreness after being held out of Friday's game versus the Brewers. "It's kind of day-to-day," Hoffman said. "I'm not going to concern myself too much with it other than the fact of it coming on the heels of three out of four and it's a little cranky." Hoffman could be back on the mound before the weekend is over, but the Padres will likely be careful about using him on back-to-back days for a while. If Scott Linebrink is available in your mixed league, this would be a good time to pick him up.
Felix Hernandez didn't want to leave Friday's game because of the tightness in his lower back, and he hopes to make his next start. King Felix was upset about being taken out in the sixth inning, though the Mariners clearly did the smart thing. "You saw the game. You saw my emotion," Hernandez said. "My back felt a little bit tired. I said, 'I feel a little bit tired but I can pitch.' He said, 'No, come on, let's go.' I said I can pitch. He said let's go." If Hernandez has no problems in his next bullpen session, perhaps he'll get a start next week.
Gil Meche doesn't expect to miss a start after leaving Friday's game with lower back tightness. "Nothing was sharp and my velocity dropped quite a bit," he said. "The lower back knotted up so bad I just couldn't push. I need to start stretching more until I get comfortable. I'll be fine tomorrow or the next day."
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres will place Brian Giles on the DL and call up Paul McAnulty on Saturday. Fewer pinch-hit at-bats for Geoff Blum, we hope. McAnulty and Terrmel Sledge will both get outfield starts while Giles rests his knee another 10 days.
Yesterday’s Results
American League OAK 3 BAL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 10 NYA 6 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 5 TB 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 7 DET 4 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 10 KC 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 4 TOR 3 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 10 TEX 6 (Recap and Boxscore) National League PHI 8 ATL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 6 FLA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 10 CIN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 5 STL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 13 HOU 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 9 CHN 8 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 8 MIL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 5 SF 3 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves, 3:55 PM (R) Adam Eaton (4-3) vs. (R) Buddy Carlyle (0-0) Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:55 PM (R) Carlos Zambrano (4-4) vs. (L) Mark Hendrickson (2-1) New York Mets at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM (R) John Maine (5-2) vs. (R) Wes Obermueller (1-2) Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Shawn Chacon (1-0) vs. (R) Bronson Arroyo (2-4) Washington Nationals at St. Louis Cardinals, 7:15 PM (R) Levale Speigner (1-0) vs. (R) Brad Thompson (2-1) Colorado Rockies at San Francisco Giants, 9:05 PM (R) Aaron Cook (3-1) vs. (R) Matt Morris (5-1) Houston Astros at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Chris Sampson (4-4) vs. (R) Brandon Webb (3-3) Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Claudio Vargas (3-0) vs. (R) Justin Germano (2-0) American League --------------- LA Angels of Anaheim at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM (R) Kelvim Escobar (5-2) vs. (R) Chien-Ming Wang (3-3) Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers, 3:55 PM (L) CC Sabathia (6-1) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (5-1) Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Chicago White Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Edwin Jackson (0-6) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (2-2) Seattle Mariners at Kansas City Royals, 7:10 PM (R) Cha Seung Baek (1-2) vs. (R) Brian Bannister (0-2) Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 PM (R) Tomo Ohka (2-4) vs. (R) Ramon Ortiz (3-4) Oakland Athletics at Baltimore Orioles, 7:35 PM (L) Joe Kennedy (1-3) vs. (L) Brian Burres (1-2) Boston Red Sox at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Tim Wakefield (4-5) vs. (R) Vicente Padilla (2-6)
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 32 15 .681 0.0 31 1NYA 21 25 .457 10.5 26 -5
TOR 21 26 .447 11.0 23 -2
BAL 21 27 .438 11.5 23 -2
TB 19 28 .404 13.0 17 2
American League Central CLE 29 17 .630 0.0 27 2
DET 29 18 .617 0.5 27 2
CHA 24 20 .545 4.0 21 3
MIN 23 24 .489 6.5 24 -1
KC 19 30 .388 11.5 19 0
American League West LAA 29 20 .592 0.0 28 1
OAK 24 23 .511 4.0 27 -3
SEA 22 22 .500 4.5 21 1
TEX 18 30 .375 10.5 21 -3
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 30 17 .638 0.0 29 1
ATL 28 20 .583 2.5 26 2
PHI 24 24 .500 6.5 25 -1
FLA 23 25 .479 7.5 23 0
WAS 20 29 .408 11.0 19 1
National League Central MIL 28 20 .583 0.0 26 2
CHN 21 25 .457 6.0 26 -5
HOU 21 27 .438 7.0 20 1
PIT 20 27 .426 7.5 20 0
STL 19 26 .422 7.5 17 2
CIN 18 31 .367 10.5 22 -4
National League West LAN 28 20 .583 0.0 26 2
SD 27 21 .563 1.0 28 -1
ARI 27 23 .540 2.0 25 2
SF 24 23 .511 3.5 26 -2
COL 21 27 .438 7.0 19 2
Game of the Day
Let’s do the inning warp again. At the end of five innings, the Dodgers were leading the Cubs, 5-0. Two innings later, the Cubs were winning 8-5. One innings later, the Dodgers had regained the lead, 9-8, the winning tally.Perhaps it was preordained. The Dodgers now have a 10-2 record in one-run games, while the Cubs are 2-11 in one-run contests. Those are, respectively, the best and worst records in the majors.
CHICAGO CUBS (8) VS LA DODGERS (9) - FINAL
CHICAGO CUBS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Soriano lf 5 2 3 2 0 1 1 .298
M DeRosa 2b 4 1 1 1 1 0 1 .256
D Lee 1b 5 0 2 2 0 1 2 .371
A Ramirez 3b 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 .291
C Floyd rf 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 .284
A Pagan cf 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .313
M Barrett c 5 1 2 1 0 2 3 .256
J Jones cf-rf 4 1 2 1 0 0 1 .250
C Izturis ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 3 .265
T Lilly p 2 0 0 0 0 2 3 .091
C Marmol p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-M Murton ph 1 1 0 0 1 1 2 .280
M Wuertz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Howry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
W Ohman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
A Guzman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 38 8 13 7 4 8 17
a-walked for C Marmol in the 7th.
BATTING: 2B - D Lee 2 (19, D Lowe, J Broxton); A Soriano (15, Y Brazoban); M
DeRosa (9, Y Brazoban); J Jones (9, J Broxton). RBI - D Lee 2 (27), A Soriano 2
(11), M DeRosa (20), M Barrett (25), J Jones (16). 2-out RBI - M Barrett, J
Jones. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Barrett 1, T Lilly 2, M
Murton 1. GIDP - A Soriano, D Lee. Team LOB - 7.
BASERUNNING: SB - A Soriano (8, 2nd base off D Lowe/R Martin), J Jones (2,
2nd base off Y Brazoban/R Martin). CS - D Lee (3, 2nd base by J Broxton), A
Soriano (2, 2nd base by R Seanez/R Martin).
FIELDING: DP: 2 (C Marmol-C Izturis-D Lee, C Izturis-M DeRosa-D Lee).
LA DODGERS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Furcal ss 5 0 1 1 0 0 2 .302
J Pierre cf 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 .275
N Garciaparra 1b 3 3 1 0 2 0 2 .283
J Kent 2b 3 1 2 4 1 0 0 .295
R Martin c 3 1 2 1 1 0 1 .321
L Gonzalez lf 4 1 1 0 0 1 4 .275
T Abreu 3b 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 .286
A Ethier rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .271
b-O Saenz ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .231
B Clark pr-rf 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .256
D Lowe p 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .105
a-W Betemit ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .188
J Beimel p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Y Brazoban p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Seanez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
c-A LaRoche ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .206
T Saito p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 32 9 12 8 6 3 11
a-walked for D Lowe in the 6th; b-singled to center for A Ethier in the 8th;
c-walked for R Seanez in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - N Garciaparra (10, T Lilly); J Kent (14, T Lilly); T Abreu (1, C
Marmol). HR - J Kent (8, 3rd inning off T Lilly 1 on, 2 Out). SF - J Pierre.
RBI - R Martin (33), J Kent 4 (29), O Saenz (7), R Furcal (14), J Pierre (11).
2-out RBI - R Martin, J Kent 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - L
Gonzalez 2. GIDP - R Furcal, N Garciaparra. Team LOB - 6.
BASERUNNING: CS - J Pierre (6, 2nd base by T Lilly).
FIELDING: E - J Kent (9, ground ball); T Abreu (2, throw). DP: 2 (R Furcal-J
Kent-N Garciaparra 2).
----------------------------------------------------
CHICAGO CUBS - 000 001 700 -- 8
LA DODGERS - 102 020 04x -- 9
----------------------------------------------------
CHICAGO CUBS ip h r er bb so hr era
T Lilly 4 1/3 6 5 5 4 2 1 3.20
C Marmol 1 2/3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0.00
M Wuertz (H, 5) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.71
B Howry (H, 7) 0 3 3 3 0 0 0 5.56
W Ohman (L, 0-2; H, 8) 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 4.97
A Guzman (B, 1) 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2.84
LA DODGERS ip h r er bb so hr era
D Lowe 6 4 1 1 3 5 0 3.64
J Beimel 1/3 1 1 1 0 0 0 4.15
Y Brazoban 0 2 3 3 1 0 0 27.00
J Broxton (B, 2) 1/3 5 3 2 0 0 0 1.78
R Seanez (W, 2-0) 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 2 0 2.70
T Saito (S, 15) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.64
Y Brazoban pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.
B Howry pitched to 3 batters in the 8th.
W Ohman pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
WP - A Guzman. Pitches-strikes: T Lilly 75-46; C Marmol 17-10; M Wuertz 6-4;
B Howry 12-7; W Ohman 8-6; A Guzman 10-5; D Lowe 83-49; J Beimel 6-4; Y
Brazoban 13-7; J Broxton 17-10; R Seanez 24-19; T Saito 9-7. Ground balls-fly
balls: T Lilly 6-4; C Marmol 3-1; M Wuertz 1-2; B Howry 0-0; W Ohman 0-0; A
Guzman 2-1; D Lowe 11-2; J Beimel 0-1; Y Brazoban 0-0; J Broxton 0-0; R Seanez
0-1; T Saito 0-2. Batters faced: T Lilly 22; C Marmol 6; M Wuertz 3; B Howry 3;
W Ohman 1; A Guzman 4; D Lowe 24; J Beimel 2; Y Brazoban 3; J Broxton 5; R
Seanez 5; T Saito 3.
UMPIRES: HP--Kerwin Danley. 1B--Doug Eddings. 2B--Dana Demuth. 3B--Derryl
Cousins.
T--3:14. Att--46,011.
Weather: 61 degrees, clear. Wind: 14 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 LA AAA James Loney....... 4 2 2 0 0 1 2 OAK AAA Daric Barton...... 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 BAL A Billy Rowell...... 5 2 0 0 1 1 0 LA A+ Blake Dewitt...... 5 4 2 0 0 0 1 CHW AAA Ryan Sweeney...... 5 5 0 0 1 0 0 TB AA John Jaso......... 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 LA A P. Mattingly...... 5 3 1 1 1 0 0 3 R PIT AA Andrew McCutchen.. 4 2 1 0 0 1 1 TEX AAA Jason Botts....... 6 4 1 0 0 0 2 LAA A Hank Conger....... 5 2 2 0 0 0 2 3 LD BOS AAA Jacoby Ellsbury... 5 2 1 0 0 0 0 NYY A+ Jose Tabata....... 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes MIN AAA Kevin Slowey...... 8 7 0 0 7 0 0 MIL A+ William Inman..... 6 3 1 1 12 1 1 FLA A+ Aaron Thompson.... 7 4 1 0 10 1 0 TB A+ Jacob McGee....... 6 4 2 2 8 1 0 DET AA Jair Jurrjens..... 7 7 1 0 6 1 0 14 GB CHC A+ Mitch Atkins...... 8 2 0 0 3 0 0 NYY A+ Ian Kennedy....... 5 5 2 2 8 1 0 HOU AA Troy Patton....... 8 3 1 1 2 3 0 ARI A+ Brooks Brown...... 5 3 2 2 7 1 0 CIN A Rafael Gonzalez... 7 3 0 0 3 0 0 TB AAA Jeff Niemann...... 6 6 3 3 7 3 1 KC A+ Blake Johnson..... 7 4 2 2 5 2 0
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.
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