THT Daily: Cubs in the News
by Matthew CarruthJuly 17, 2007
Major League News for July 17
Today’s LinksPlayer News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Top Minor League Performances
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THT Links
Coming soon.
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldKen Griffey Jr. had a three-run homer off Oscar Villarreal to move past Frank Robinson on the career home run list. Griffey is in sixth place all-time with 587 homers. Next up is Sammy Sosa, who is at 602 and counting. Griffey also singled in a run and was intentionally walked twice tonight. He had been 2-for-16 since hitting his previous home run 10 days ago.
Cubs acquired catcher Jason Kendall and cash from the Athletics for catcher Rob Bowen and LHP Jerry Blevins. The cash will cover a portion of his $13 million salary, which had been being paid by both the A's ($8 million) and the Pirates ($5 million). With a .226/.261/.281 line this year, Kendall is no sure upgrade, not like Ramon Hernandez would have been. However, he is hitting a respectable .276 since the beginning of June. The Cubs did well to get him for such a small price, while the A's, since they had no hope of getting a draft pick for him this winter, also did the right thing by making room for Kurt Suzuki.
Indians signed manager Eric Wedge to a three-year contract extension through 2010. This seems rather excessive for a guy who very easily could have been fired last year. Wedge is hardly a top manager when it comes to tactics, but he does seem to play the right hitters most of the time and his players seem to have few problems with him. Keeping him around was a good idea. It's just that 3 1/2 years is a long time, and there's a good chance the Indians will be paying two managers by the time 2010 rolls around.
Ben Sheets was placed on the disabled list Monday even though an MRI reportedly showed no further damage to his right index finger. The Brewers are still calling his injury a sprain. Sheets, though, will have further tests Tuesday to determine whether he'll miss more than two or three starts. Yovani Gallardo is scheduled to start in his place Thursday against the Diamondbacks and is worth using in all formats.
Curt Schilling (shoulder) had no problems throwing 31 pitches in a two-inning simulated game Monday and is scheduled to start Saturday for Triple-A Pawtucket. Schilling is expected to throw three innings Saturday and then five innings for Pawtucket on July 26. That puts him on pace to rejoin the rotation on the final day of the month.
Phillies activated RHP Tom Gordon from the 60-day disabled list. Gordon will be eased back into a late-inning role, so expect him to pitch in middle relief his first couple of times out. Maybe he'll resume closing over Antonio Alfoneseca in a week or two.
Barry Bonds, originally set to start in left field on Monday night, has been scratched due to sore legs. The slumping Bonds should be back in left field for Tuesday's game. Fred Lewis is likely to start in his place tonight.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 4 KC 0 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 6 TOR 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 11 CLE 10 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 4 OAK 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 4 BAL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) National League CIN 10 ATL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 5 FLA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 4 HOU 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 3 SF 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 4 ARI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 10 PIT 8 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 10 PHI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 5 NYN 1 (Recap and Boxscore)
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Today’s Games
National League --------------- Colorado Rockies at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Josh Fogg (4-6) vs. (L) Shane Youman (2-0) St. Louis Cardinals at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM (R) Brad Thompson (6-3) vs. (R) Rick Vanden Hurk (2-2) Houston Astros at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM (R) Chris Sampson (6-6) vs. (R) Tim Redding (1-1) Cincinnati Reds at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (R) Bronson Arroyo (3-10) vs. (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (0-0) San Francisco Giants at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM (L) Barry Zito (6-9) vs. (L) Sean Marshall (4-3) Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Yusmeiro Petit (1-1) vs. (R) Claudio Vargas (6-2) New York Mets at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Orlando Hernandez (5-4) vs. (R) Jake Peavy (9-3) Philadelphia Phillies at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) J.D. Durbin (0-2) vs. (L) Mark Hendrickson (4-4) American League --------------- Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Roy Halladay (10-4) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (5-6) Kansas City Royals at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Leo Nunez (0-0) vs. (R) Tim Wakefield (10-8) Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Jon Garland (7-6) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (7-4) LA Angels of Anaheim at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Ervin Santana (5-10) vs. (R) James Shields (7-5) Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (L) Nate Robertson (5-6) vs. (R) Matt Garza (1-0) Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Robinson Tejeda (5-8) vs. (R) Chad Gaudin (8-4) Baltimore Orioles at Seattle Mariners, 10:05 PM (R) Jeremy Guthrie (4-3) vs. (R) Felix Hernandez (6-4)
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 56 36 .609 0.0 56 0NYA 46 44 .511 9.0 53 -7
TOR 45 47 .489 11.0 47 -2
BAL 41 51 .446 15.0 45 -4
TB 35 56 .385 20.5 34 1
American League Central DET 54 36 .600 0.0 55 -1
CLE 54 38 .587 1.0 52 2
MIN 49 43 .533 6.0 51 -2
CHA 41 50 .451 13.5 39 2
KC 39 53 .424 16.0 42 -3
American League West LAA 55 36 .604 0.0 51 4
SEA 52 38 .578 2.5 46 6
OAK 44 49 .473 12.0 48 -4
TEX 40 52 .435 15.5 42 -2
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 51 41 .554 0.0 48 3
ATL 50 43 .538 1.5 47 3
PHI 46 46 .500 5.0 45 1
FLA 44 49 .473 7.5 43 1
WAS 38 54 .413 13.0 35 3
National League Central MIL 52 40 .565 0.0 50 2
CHN 48 43 .527 3.5 50 -2
STL 42 47 .472 8.5 38 4
PIT 40 52 .435 12.0 38 2
HOU 39 54 .419 13.5 41 -2
CIN 38 55 .409 14.5 44 -6
National League West LAN 53 40 .570 0.0 52 1
SD 51 40 .560 1.0 54 -3
ARI 49 45 .521 4.5 44 5
COL 46 46 .500 6.5 45 1
SF 38 52 .422 13.5 44 -6
Game of the Day
The Cubs continued to apply the heat to the front-running Brewers, beating the Giants 3-2 on Aramis Ramirez’s two-run double in the eighth. Youngsters Rich Hill and Tim Lincecum both had find starts for their teams.Meanwhile, the Brewers beat the Diamondbacks, 4-3, to stay 3 1/2 games ahead of the Cubs.
SAN FRANCISCO (2) VS CHICAGO CUBS (3) - FINAL
SAN FRANCISCO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D Roberts cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .243
O Vizquel ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .238
R Winn rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 .282
R Durham 2b 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .248
B Molina c 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .274
R Aurilia 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .243
P Feliz 3b 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 .239
K Frandsen lf 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .255
T Lincecum p 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 .087
P Misch p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-G Rodriguez ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .222
K Correia p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500
R Messenger p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 29 2 4 2 2 4 5
a-singled to left for P Misch in the 8th.
BATTING: HR - P Feliz (13, 5th inning off R Hill 0 on, 1 Out). S - K Frandsen.
RBI - P Feliz (38), G Rodriguez (5). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out -
O Vizquel 1. Team LOB - 3.
BASERUNNING: CS - G Rodriguez (1, Home by R Hill/K Hill).
FIELDING: DP: 2 (O Vizquel-R Durham-R Aurilia 2).
CHICAGO CUBS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Soriano lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .308
R Theriot ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 .281
D Lee 1b 3 1 1 0 1 1 0 .335
A Ramirez 3b 4 0 1 2 0 2 1 .312
D Ward rf 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 .333
A Pagan pr-rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .273
M DeRosa 2b 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .296
J Jones cf 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 .230
K Hill c 3 1 1 1 0 0 2 .156
R Hill p 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 .091
a-M Fontenot ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .330
B Howry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 26 3 5 3 5 8 7
a-grounded to first for R Hill in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - A Ramirez (16, R Messenger). HR - K Hill (2, 3rd inning off T
Lincecum 0 on, 0 Out). S - M DeRosa. RBI - K Hill (7), A Ramirez 2 (58). 2-out
RBI - A Ramirez 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A Pagan 1. GIDP -
R Theriot, K Hill. Team LOB - 5.
FIELDING: E - A Soriano (1, bobble).
----------------------------------------------------
SAN FRANCISCO - 000 010 010 -- 2
CHICAGO CUBS - 001 000 02x -- 3
----------------------------------------------------
SAN FRANCISCO ip h r er bb so hr era
T Lincecum 6 1/3 2 1 1 5 8 1 4.37
P Misch 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.69
K Correia (L, 1-5; H, 7) 2/3 2 2 2 0 0 0 4.46
R Messenger (B, 1) 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.05
CHICAGO CUBS ip h r er bb so hr era
R Hill (W, 6-6) 8 4 2 2 2 3 1 3.70
B Howry (S, 6) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.37
Pitches-strikes: T Lincecum 108-60; P Misch 3-1; K Correia 11-9; R Messenger
9-5; R Hill 95-66; B Howry 8-5. Ground balls-fly balls: T Lincecum 10-1; P
Misch 2-0; K Correia 1-1; R Messenger 1-0; R Hill 9-11; B Howry 1-1. Batters
faced: T Lincecum 25; P Misch 1; K Correia 4; R Messenger 2; R Hill 29; B Howry
3.
UMPIRES: HP--Gary Cederstrom. 1B--Jim Reynolds. 2B--Tim Welke. 3B--Lance
Barksdale.
T--2:23. Att--40,282.
Weather: 74 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 3 mph, in from center.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 Andy LaRoche...... 5 2 0 0 2 0 0 3 R ARI A+ Aaron Cunningham.. 4 3 0 0 1 1 1 2 SB TB A+ Sergio Pedroza.... 3 2 0 0 2 1 1 4 RBI CHW AAA Ryan Sweeney...... 3 1 0 0 1 2 1 4 RBI SD AA Chase Headley..... 4 2 1 0 1 1 2 4 RBI COL AAA Joseph Koshansky.. 5 1 0 0 1 0 1 BAL AA Jeff Fiorentino... 4 2 0 0 1 0 0 TB AAA Ben Zobrist....... 4 2 1 0 0 1 0 HOU AAA Brooks Conrad..... 4 2 0 0 2 0 2 DET AA Jeff Larish....... 3 3 1 0 0 1 0 HOU A Nicholas Moresi... 4 3 0 0 1 0 1 SD AA William Venable... 5 3 0 0 1 0 0 3 R ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes BOS A+ Kris Johnson...... 7 4 0 0 7 0 0 TB AAA J.P. Howell....... 7 5 2 2 10 3 1 SD AA Cesar Ramos....... 6 6 4 3 5 2 1 SF A+ Sergio Romo....... 3 2 0 0 5 1 0 MIN AA Jose Mijares...... 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 PIT AAA Bryan Bullington.. 5 4 4 4 5 1 1 NYY A- Z. McAllister..... 5 3 1 1 5 4 0 9 GB LAA A+ Jose Arredondo.... 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 SF A+ Jonathan Sanchez.. 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 BOS AA Andrew Dobies..... 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 MIN A+ Zachary Ward...... 5 4 5 4 4 1 1 11 GB BOS AAA Clay Buchholz..... 3 5 3 2 4 0 1
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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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