THT Daily: Closers in Peril
by Matthew CarruthAugust 20, 2008
Major League News for August 20
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 RotoworldJason Isringhausen is expected to miss the rest of the season after an MRI revealed tendinitis and a partially torn tendon in his right elbow.
He'll be placed back on the disabled list on Wednesday, and while it's not definitively the end of his season, neither GM John Mozeliak nor manager Tony La Russa expect him back. It's not a career-threatening injury, but Isringhausen will turn 36 next month, and the free-agent-to-be reportedly told teammates he didn't want to attempt a comeback from the injury. He's 1-5 with a 5.70 ERA this season.
Ricky Nolasco shutout the Giants to pick up his twelfth victory of the season on Tuesday night.
Nolasco was simply dominant: he allowed only two hits, and it could be argued that the first one was an error. He struck out 11 while allowing just one walk on the evening, improving his K/BB ratio this month to 33/2. He even led the team in RBI: he went 1-for-3 with a two-run double. Overall this season, Nolasco is 12-7 with a 3.67 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP and 137 strikeouts in 164 1/3 innings.
Ian Kinsler (sports hernia) will wait two weeks before undergoing surgery in hopes that he can return this season.
After meeting with a specialist, Kinsler was told he has the mildest form of a sports hernia - just inflammation of the abdominal wall, not a strain or tear. Even if he avoids the knife, he'd probably only return for the last week or two of the season.
Orioles placed LHP George Sherrill on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to August 16, with inflammation of the left shoulder.
Sherrill told manager Jim Trembley on Monday that he wasn't able to loosen up, and after taking an MRI today the team stuck him on the disabled list. If inflammation is the only issue, Sherrill could rejoin the team on the 31st of this month. Jim Johnson is the favorite to take over saves in the short-term, but his 35/27 K/BB ratio suggests this could turn into a committee before long.
Dodgers acquired RHP Greg Maddux for two players to be named later or cash considerations from the San Diego Padres.
Maddux was 6-3 with a 3.30 ERA in 12 starts with the Dodgers in the second half of 2006. So far this year, he's 6-9 with a 3.99 ERA for the Padres, but that comes with a 5.75 ERA outside of Petco.
Ryan Braun is not in Tuesday night's lineup after aggravating his rib injury on Monday night.
The good news is that Braun doesn't think he's going to miss significant time. "I think I could play today," said Braun. "It's just one of those nagging injuries that's probably not going to go away completely while I'm playing. I'll have to deal with it."
Josh Beckett's scheduled start on Saturday has been pushed back to Tuesday due to "tingling" in his hand.
Beckett was hammered for eight runs in 2 1/3 innings by the Blue Jays on Sunday, so it's not a huge surprise that he was hurting. He slept awkwardly on his shoulder, according to manager Terry Francona, which is the cause of the tingling. Beckett wouldn't attribute it solely to the way he slept, though, saying he's felt the tingling all season. He also said starting on Tuesday wasn't a certainty.
Yankees activated outfielder Hideki Matsui from the 15-day disabled list.
Matsui hasn't played since June 22 because of a left knee injury that the Yankees initially feared would require season-ending surgery. Manager Joe Girardi has said that he'll limit Matsui to designated hitter duties, which likely leaves Johnny Damon starting in center field and Brett Gardner heading to the bench. Matsui went 2-for-8 with a homer during a brief minor league rehab assignment and is hitting seventh in the Yankees' lineup Tuesday night.
After being examined by doctors Tuesday, SNY reports that Billy Wagner (elbow) has not been cleared to resume throwing.
Wagner had been planning to come off the disabled list when eligible Monday, but those plans were scrapped over the weekend. He still has soreness and swelling in his injured elbow, so it sounds like the Mets' bullpen will remain a closer-by-committee mess for a while longer.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 7 BAL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 4 LAA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 2 NYA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 5 SEA 0 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 9 KC 4 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 13 OAK 2 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 11 TEX 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League NYN 7 ATL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 5 WAS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 5 CIN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 5 MIL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 4 STL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 7 SD 6 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 8 LAN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 6 SF 0 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Houston Astros at Milwaukee Brewers, 2:05 PM (L) Wandy Rodriguez (7-5) vs. (L) Manny Parra (9-6) Washington Nationals at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Collin Balester (2-5) vs. (R) Brett Myers (5-10) Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Jair Jurrjens (11-8) vs. (R) Mike Pelfrey (11-8) Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM (R) Bronson Arroyo (10-10) vs. (L) Ted Lilly (12-6) Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (R) Jason Davis (1-2) vs. (R) Todd Wellemeyer (10-4) San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Jake Peavy (9-8) vs. (R) Dan Haren (13-6) Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (L) Jeff Francis (3-8) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (12-9) Florida Marlins at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (L) Scott Olsen (6-8) vs. (R) Matt Cain (8-9) American League --------------- Oakland Athletics at Minnesota Twins, 1:10 PM (L) Dallas Braden (3-2) vs. (L) Francisco Liriano (3-3) Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 PM (R) R.A. Dickey (3-7) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (12-6) Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Clay Buchholz (2-8) vs. (L) Chris Waters (1-0) Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Gil Meche (10-9) vs. (L) Zach Jackson (0-0) New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (L) Andy Pettitte (12-9) vs. (L) David Purcey (2-3) LA Angels of Anaheim at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Jered Weaver (10-9) vs. (R) Matt Garza (10-7) Detroit Tigers at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (L) Nate Robertson (7-9) vs. (R) Kevin Millwood (6-7)
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 TB 77 48 .616 0.0 71 6BOS 73 53 .579 4.5 75 -2
NYA 66 59 .528 11.0 67 -1
TOR 65 60 .520 12.0 68 -3
BAL 60 65 .480 17.0 63 -3
American League Central CHA 72 53 .576 0.0 74 -2
MIN 71 54 .568 1.0 68 3
DET 62 64 .492 10.5 65 -3
CLE 57 67 .460 14.5 63 -6
KC 55 70 .440 17.0 51 4
American League West LAA 76 48 .613 0.0 68 8
TEX 62 65 .488 15.5 57 5
OAK 57 68 .456 19.5 60 -3
SEA 46 79 .368 30.5 52 -6
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 69 57 .548 0.0 69 0
PHI 67 58 .536 1.5 69 -2
FLA 65 61 .516 4.0 60 5
ATL 56 70 .444 13.0 63 -7
WAS 44 82 .349 25.0 46 -2
National League Central CHN 77 48 .616 0.0 79 -2
MIL 72 55 .567 6.0 69 3
STL 70 58 .547 8.5 68 2
HOU 64 62 .508 13.5 59 5
PIT 57 69 .452 20.5 55 2
CIN 55 71 .437 22.5 52 3
National League West ARI 65 60 .520 0.0 66 -1
LAN 64 61 .512 1.0 66 -2
COL 58 69 .457 8.0 58 0
SF 53 72 .424 12.0 51 2
SD 48 77 .384 17.0 51 -3
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 OAK AA Javier Herrera.... 6 5 0 1 2 0 0 6 RBI ! WAN A+ Michael Burgess... 4 3 0 0 2 1 1 6 RBI ! TB AAA Fernando Perez.... 5 3 0 1 1 0 0 SD A+ Cedric Hunter..... 5 4 0 0 1 0 0 CIN AAA Danny Richar...... 4 2 2 0 0 1 1 CIN AAA Drew Stubbs....... 6 3 0 0 1 0 0 CHW A+ John Shelby....... 5 2 1 0 1 0 0 CHC A- Josh Vitters...... 5 3 2 0 0 0 1 OAK AA Adrian Cardenas... 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 ATL AA Kala Kaaihue...... 4 4 1 0 0 0 0 BOS AA Zachary Daeges.... 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 NYY AA Colin Curtis...... 4 3 0 0 1 0 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes TOR A Marc Rzepczynski.. 6 3 0 0 9 2 0 CIN AA Travis Wood....... 8 1 1 1 3 2 0 TB AA Lewis Rollins..... 7 5 3 3 7 1 1 TB AAA Mitch Talbot...... 6 6 2 2 8 3 0 CLE AAA Scott Lewis....... 6 3 1 1 4 1 0 CHW AA Aaron Poreda...... 6 6 1 0 6 2 0 PHI AA Edgar Garcia...... 6 4 1 1 5 2 0 COL A Bruce Billings.... 7 6 2 2 6 1 1 TEX A+ Omar Poveda....... 6 3 1 1 6 4 0 MIN AAA Kevin Mulvey...... 6 3 1 0 7 5 0 NYY AA George Kontos..... 6 3 1 1 5 3 0 PIT AAA Ross Ohlendorf.... 6 6 4 4 7 2 1
Access all of 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.
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