THT Daily: First to 20 from The Hardball Times

THT Daily: First to 20

by Matthew Carruth
September 22, 2007

Major League News for September 22

Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
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
Josh Beckett became the majors' first pitcher to reach 20 wins after holding the Devil Rays to one run in six innings of work on Friday.
Beckett struck out eight and walked two while improving to 20-6. The right-hander has won all four of his starts in September, yielding three runs or less each time. Tonight's victory was certainly well timed as the Red Sox had lost five of their last six games, something that could help Beckett in the minds of Cy Young voters. That he's pitched in just 29 games and still hasn't reached 200 innings could hurt him, but he's still a very deserving candidate.

The Mets are calling Carlos Beltran day-to-day with a bruised patellar tendon in his left knee.
This qualifies as good news. However, Endy Chavez still might be needed to start in his place the next couple of days.

Chad Tracy underwent microfracture surgery on his right knee Friday, leaving him questionable for the start of 2008.
But he's not a basketball player. "He doesn't have to jump and dunk," manager Bob Melvin said. "He doesn't have to do some different things, so hopefully it's not that potential 12-month type of thing. I think on the long end they're looking at more like eight months." The Diamondbacks could open next year with Mark Reynolds at third base. Tracy might be a part-timer if he is able to make it back early on.

The Giants have told Barry Bonds they won't attempt to re-sign him for 2008.
The team has called a press conference, apparently to announce the decision, but Barry beat them to the punch by announcing the news on his website. "During the conversation with Peter McGowan I was told that my play this year far exceeded any expectations the Giants had, but that the organization decided this year would be my last season in San Francisco," Bonds wrote. "Although I am disappointed, I've always said baseball is a business -- and I respect their decision. However, I am saddened and upset that I was not given an earlier opportunity to properly say goodbye to you, my fans, and celebrate with the city throughout the season as I truly believe this was not a last minute decision by the Giants, but one that was made some time ago." Bonds still apparently intends to play next year. It will probably happen with an AL team, perhaps the A's or Angels.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona said he didn't expect Manny Ramirez to play this weekend.
Ramirez has already missed more than three weeks, and it's time to start wondering whether he'll be 95-100 percent for the postseason. Jacoby Ellsbury is starting in left field tonight.

The Pirates are reportedly set to hire Cleveland assistant Neal Huntington as their new GM.
Quite a surprise that would be. It's Chris Antonetti from the Cleveland system who has frequently been mentioned in connection with GM jobs. Antonetti, though, apparently turned down an interview, as he did with the Red Sox a couple of years ago. The 37-year-old Huntington began working with the Expos in 1992 and joined the Indians in 1998. He spent three years as the director of player development before moving up. Judging by his history, he'll do wonders for a weak Pirates farm system. Still, time will tell if he's ready for the rest of it.

Yesterday’s Results

American League
TOR     5  NYA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
BOS     8  TB      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     4  OAK     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     5  KC      4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     6  MIN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     6  LAA     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     3  BAL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
MIL     4  ATL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYN     9  FLA     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     6  WAS     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN    13  PIT     8    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     6  STL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI    12  LAN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     2  SD      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     9  SF      8    (Recap and Boxscore)

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs, 1:05 PM
  (L) Zach Duke (3-7) vs. (L) Rich Hill (9-8)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Atlanta Braves, 3:55 PM
  (R) Yovani Gallardo (9-4) vs. (R) John Smoltz (14-7)
 New York Mets at Florida Marlins, 3:55 PM
  (L) Oliver Perez (14-9) vs. (R) Byung-Hyun Kim (9-7)
 Philadelphia Phillies at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (R) Kyle Kendrick (9-4) vs. (R) Tim Redding (3-5)
 Houston Astros at St. Louis Cardinals, 7:15 PM
  (R) Matt Albers (4-9) vs. (R) Brad Thompson (6-6)
 Cincinnati Reds at San Francisco Giants, 9:05 PM
  (R) Bronson Arroyo (9-14) vs. (R) Kevin Correia (4-6)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (L) David Wells (8-8) vs. (R) Brandon Webb (16-10)
 Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (L) Mark Redman (1-4) vs. (R) Jack Cassel (1-0)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Chicago White Sox at Minnesota Twins, 12:10 PM
  (R) Javier Vazquez (13-8) vs. (R) Scott Baker (9-8)
 Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (R) Shaun Marcum (12-6) vs. (R) Phil Hughes (4-3)
 Seattle Mariners at LA Angels of Anaheim, 3:55 PM
  (R) Miguel Batista (14-11) vs. (R) Bartolo Colon (6-7)
 Oakland Athletics at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Dan Haren (14-8) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (15-6)
 Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (R) Kyle Davies (2-6) vs. (L) Kenny Rogers (3-2)
 Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM
  (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (14-12) vs. (R) Andrew Sonnanstine (6-9)
 Baltimore Orioles at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Radhames Liz (0-2) vs. (R) Edinson Volquez (2-1)

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     91  63 .591    0.0   97    -6    
NYA     88  65 .575    2.5   93    -5    
TOR     78  75 .510   12.5   81    -3    
BAL     65  88 .425   25.5   67    -2    
TB      63  91 .409   28.0   63     0    
American League Central     
CLE     91  62 .595    0.0   87     4    
DET     84  70 .545    7.5   84     0    
MIN     75  78 .490   16.0   77    -2    
CHA     67  87 .435   24.5   62     5    
KC      66  87 .431   25.0   71    -5    
American League West        
LAA     91  63 .591    0.0   87     4    
SEA     82  71 .536    8.5   75     7    
OAK     74  81 .477   17.5   77    -3    
TEX     71  83 .461   20.0   73    -2    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     85  68 .556    0.0   83     2    
PHI     84  70 .545    1.5   83     1    
ATL     80  74 .519    5.5   84    -4    
WAS     68  86 .442   17.5   65     3    
FLA     66  88 .429   19.5   68    -2    
National League Central     
CHN     81  73 .526    0.0   82    -1    
MIL     79  74 .516    1.5   78     1    
STL     71  82 .464    9.5   66     5    
CIN     71  83 .461   10.0   72    -1    
HOU     68  86 .442   13.0   68     0    
PIT     66  88 .429   15.0   67    -1    
National League West        
ARI     87  67 .565    0.0   76    11    
SD      85  68 .556    1.5   85     0    
COL     82  72 .532    5.0   84    -2    
LAN     79  75 .513    8.0   79     0    
SF      67  87 .435   20.0   73    -6    


Wildcard Standings
American League             
NYA     88  65 .575    0.0
DET     84  70 .545    4.5
SEA     82  71 .536    6.0
TOR     78  75 .510   10.0
MIN     75  78 .490   13.0
National League             
SD      85  68 .556    0.0
PHI     84  70 .545    1.5
COL     82  72 .532    3.5
ATL     80  74 .519    5.5
MIL     79  74 .516    6.0