The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Contenders and Pretenders

by Matthew Carruth
July 21, 2007

Major League News for July 21

Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Top Minor League Performances
Stats

You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/

Player News

Player news items are provided by Rotoworld
Carl Crawford left Saturday's game because of a sprained left ankle sustained when he jammed his foot on the first-base bag.
Crawford is going for precautionary X-rays. If it's a DL-type sprain, the Rays might want to give Justin Ruggiano a look in left field.

Scott Olsen was arrested early Saturday morning in Aventura after refusing to pull over during a traffic stop, police said.
Any good feelings after his strong outing Friday are gone now. Olsen was charged with driving under the influence, resisting arrest with violence and fleeing and eluding a police officer. We hope his next suspension is a little lengthier. The Marlins might be forced to get rid of him in the offseason.

The grand jury investigating Barry Bonds has reportedly been extended for another six months, and the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco is confident it will have enough evidence to secure an indictment once it resumes in September.
The grand jurors have not met for at least three weeks and have been instructed that they will not reconvene until September. Bonds is being investigated for perjury and tax evasion. "If the case is 90 percent now, there's no reason not to go for 100 percent," the source said. "They aren't just waiting around for Greg Anderson." Anderson, Bonds' former personal trainer, remains in prison for refusing to testify.

Erik Bedard struck out 11 Athletics and gave up just one run in seven innings to record his ninth win of the season on Friday.
Bedard gave up just one hit, a solo homer to Mark Ellis in the sixth. The left-hander was supposed to pitch on Wednesday but had the start pushed back due to a stiff neck. It certainly wasn't an issue Friday, as Bedard has now given up just one run while recording 33 strikeouts in his last 23 innings. Overall, his 167 strikeouts leads the majors by a whopping 27.

Nick Swisher left Friday's game after seven innings with a bruised right shoulder.
Swisher was injured trying to make a diving catch and jamming his shoulder into the wall earlier in the game. He was pretty much swinging one-handed in his following at-bat, so it looks like he'll need at least one or two days off. Travis Buck will fill in.

Jose Valentin was diagnosed with a fractured right tibia after fouling a ball off his leg in Friday's game.
Valentin was likely to bounce back offensively, but his absence might actually provide a short-term boost, as Ruben Gotay and his 900 OPS will take over at second base for the foreseeable future. The Mets might now enter the mix for Tadahito Iguchi, Mark Loretta, Ronnie Belliard or another second baseman. However, they'll be able to get by with Gotay, perhaps for the rest of the year.

After leaving Friday's game with soreness in his upper chest, Roy Oswalt probably won't know until Sunday if he can make his next scheduled start.
If Oswalt needs to miss a turn, the Astros could give Dave Borkowski a spot start. A DL stint might cause them to turn to Troy Patton, but there's little reason to think Patton is ready.

Manager Terry Francona said after Friday's game that David Ortiz's strained left shoulder wasn't serious.
Ortiz figures to sit against lefty John Danks on Saturday. Maybe he'll be ready to play Sunday against Jon Garland. Wily Mo Pena should start in his place.

Athletics activated designated hitter Mike Piazza from the disabled list.
The AP reported that Piazza was catching tonight, but the early lineup has him DHing and batting fourth. Kurt Suzuki is catching, and Jack Cust is on the bench. Piazza might do some catching later on, but it didn't seem likely that he was ready to try that now.

Yesterday’s Results

American League
BOS    10  CHA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB     14  NYA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     4  TOR     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC     10  DET     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     7  LAA     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
BAL     6  OAK     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     3  TEX     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
STL     4  ATL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA    10  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     3  WAS     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     6  ARI     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      8  MIL     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     2  PIT     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYN     4  LAN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     7  SD      3    (Recap and Boxscore)

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Chicago Cubs, 1:05 PM
  (R) Micah Owings (5-5) vs. (L) Rich Hill (6-6)
 New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:55 PM
  (R) Jorge Sosa (7-4) vs. (R) Brad Penny (11-1)
 Colorado Rockies at Washington Nationals, 3:55 PM
  (R) Rodrigo Lopez (5-2) vs. (L) Mike Bacsik (2-6)
 San Francisco Giants at Milwaukee Brewers, 3:55 PM
  (R) Tim Lincecum (4-2) vs. (R) Dave Bush (8-7)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves, 7:05 PM
  (R) Braden Looper (7-7) vs. (R) Buddy Carlyle (4-2)
 Cincinnati Reds at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM
  (L) Bobby Livingston (2-0) vs. (R) Byung-Hyun Kim (4-5)
 Houston Astros at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:15 PM
  (L) Wandy Rodriguez (6-8) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (5-12)
 Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (L) Jamie Moyer (7-8) vs. (L) David Wells (5-5)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Tampa Bay Devil Rays at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (R) Jason Hammel (1-0) vs. (L) Kei Igawa (2-2)
 Seattle Mariners at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM
  (R) Jeff Weaver (2-7) vs. (R) Josh Towers (4-6)
 Chicago White Sox at Boston Red Sox, 3:55 PM
  (L) John Danks (6-6) vs. (L) Kason Gabbard (3-0)
 Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jorge De La Rosa (7-10) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (11-3)
 Tampa Bay Devil Rays at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (L) JP Howell (1-3) vs. (R) Matt DeSalvo (1-3)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Jered Weaver (6-5) vs. (R) Boof Bonser (5-6)
 Cleveland Indians at Texas Rangers, 8:35 PM
  (L) Cliff Lee (5-6) vs. (R) Jamey Wright (3-2)
 Baltimore Orioles at Oakland Athletics, 9:05 PM
  (R) Steve Trachsel (5-6) vs. (R) Danny Haren (10-3)

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     57  39 .594    0.0   58    -1    
NYA     48  46 .511    8.0   55    -7    
TOR     46  50 .479   11.0   48    -2    
BAL     43  52 .453   13.5   48    -5    
TB      38  57 .400   18.5   37     1    
American League Central     
DET     57  37 .606    0.0   57     0    
CLE     57  39 .594    1.0   54     3    
MIN     50  46 .521    8.0   52    -2    
CHA     43  52 .453   14.5   40     3    
KC      42  53 .442   15.5   45    -3    
American League West        
LAA     56  39 .589    0.0   52     4    
SEA     54  39 .581    1.0   48     6    
OAK     45  51 .469   11.5   49    -4    
TEX     41  55 .427   15.5   44    -3    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     54  42 .563    0.0   51     3    
ATL     51  46 .526    3.5   50     1    
PHI     48  48 .500    6.0   49    -1    
FLA     46  51 .474    8.5   46     0    
WAS     40  56 .417   14.0   36     4    
National League Central     
MIL     54  42 .563    0.0   52     2    
CHN     51  44 .537    2.5   53    -2    
STL     44  49 .473    8.5   39     5    
HOU     41  55 .427   13.0   43    -2    
CIN     41  56 .423   13.5   45    -4    
PIT     40  55 .421   13.5   39     1    
National League West        
SD      53  42 .558    0.0   55    -2    
LAN     54  43 .557    0.0   52     2    
ARI     50  48 .510    4.5   45     5    
COL     49  47 .510    4.5   48     1    
SF      40  54 .426   12.5   45    -5    

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
COL AAA Joseph Koshansky.. 5  3  1  0  2  1  2  3 R
ARI AAA Carlos Quentin.... 5  3  1  0  0  0  0  
OAK AAA Daric Barton...... 3  3  1  1  0  2  0  
ATL AAA B. Lillibridge.... 5  4  2  0  1  0  0  5 RBI !
CLE AAA Andy Marte........ 4  2  1  0  0  0  0  3 LD
ARI AA  Carlos Gonzalez... 4  3  0  0  0  0  0  
CIN AAA Jay Bruce......... 2  0  0  0  0  2  2  
TB  AA  Evan Longoria..... 4  1  0  0  1  1  2  
ARI A+  Pedro Ciriaco..... 5  4  2  0  0  0  0  
CHC AAA Felix Pie......... 4  2  0  0  1  0  1  
COL A+  C. Nelson......... 4  2  1  0  1  0  0  
NYY A+  Austin Jackson.... 4  3  1  0  1  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
CLE AAA Jeremy Sowers..... 9  6  2  0  8  3  0  
ARI A+  Matthew Torra..... 7  5  1  1  8  0  0  
HOU AA  Jimmy Barthmaier.. 6  5  2  2  7  1  0  
KC  AAA Luke Hochevar..... 5  1  0  0  4  5  0  
OAK AAA Dan Meyer......... 6  1  1  1 11  3  0  
TOR AA  Kyle Yates........ 6  5  1  0  7  2  0  
DET AA  Dallas Trahern.... 7  6  3  2  6  2  0  12 GB
MIN AA  Anthony Swarzak... 7  4  1  1  5  2  0  
CHW AAA Lance Broadway.... 6  7  4  4  7  2  0  
CHC A+  Mitch Atkins...... 6  4  2  2  7  2  0  
BOS AA  Justin Masterson.. 7  4  1  1  6  2  0  12 GB
WAN A   Jhonny Nunez...... 6  3  1  0  5  1  0  

THT Stats

Access all of THT’s stats here…



Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.

<< Return to Article