THT Daily: Gaining by not playing
by Matthew CarruthSeptember 25, 2007
Major League News for September 25
Today’s LinksPlayer News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
THT Links
Coming soon.
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldPadres acquired outfielder Jason Lane from the Astros for a player to be named later or cash considerations. The Padres needed some outfield depth and got it, though Lane won't be eligible for a spot on the postseason roster. The Astros were likely to non-tender Lane anyway, so they don't mind making the trade. Lane, who hadn't started a game this month, was hitting .178/.257/.349 in 169 at-bats. The secondary skills are there to make him an asset when he's hitting .250. However, he hasn't displayed any ability to hit for average since 2005.
Albert Pujols, who had RBI pinch-hits in both games this weekend, was a late insertion into Monday's lineup versus the Brewers. Miguel Cairo was originally slated to start at first base with Pujols nursing his sore calf.
An MRI revealed that Mike Cameron suffered a partially torn ligament in his thumb and a strained volar plate in the palm of his right hand Sunday. He'll be out of the starting lineup for the final week of the season. Cameron could try to return for the postseason, but this is another big loss for the Padres as they attempt to nail down a playoff spot. Brady Clark will have to be the everyday center fielder with Milton Bradley also out. Cameron could be used as a pinch-runner this week.
Athletics exercised second baseman Mark Ellis' $5 million club option for 2008. There was no doubt this was coming. Completely healthy for the first time since 2004, Ellis has set career highs with 19 homers, 76 RBI, 82 runs scored and nine steals. He's also probably the best defensive second baseman in the AL, though we're guessing Placido Polanco will get the Gold Glove. With neither Kevin Melillo nor Cliff Pennington stepping up this year, the A's might want to discuss an extension with Ellis this winter.
A.J. Burnett was scratched from his start Monday against the Yankees for personal reasons. To give the Jays the benefit of the doubt or not? Burnett threw 124 pitches last time out and has been worked hard all month, so it'd come as little surprise to hear that he was battling a sore arm again. Jesse Litsch will start in his place today.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BAL 3 KC 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 4 NYA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 2 DET 0 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 8 LAA 7 (Recap and Boxscore) National League WAS 13 NYN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 13 STL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 9 SD 4 (Recap and Boxscore)You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
| First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports: |
| {embed="pageblocks/FirstInning_Team_Lookup"} |
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (L) Chuck James (11-10) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (13-11) Chicago Cubs at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM (L) Ted Lilly (15-7) vs. (L) Dontrelle Willis (9-15) Arizona Diamondbacks at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (L) Doug Davis (13-12) vs. (R) Ian Snell (9-12) Houston Astros at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Felipe Paulino (0-1) vs. (R) Homer Bailey (3-2) Washington Nationals at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Jason Bergmann (5-5) vs. (L) Tom Glavine (13-6) St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Braden Looper (12-11) vs. (R) Jeff Suppan (10-12) Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (4-4) vs. (R) Brad Penny (16-4) San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (R) Brett Tomko (4-11) vs. (R) Matt Cain (7-16) American League --------------- Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) AJ Burnett (9-7) vs. (L) Brian Burres (6-6) Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Matt Garza (4-6) vs. (R) Yorman Bazardo (1-1) Oakland Athletics at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Chad Gaudin (11-12) vs. (R) Curt Schilling (8-8) New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Roger Clemens (6-6) vs. (R) Jason Hammel (2-5) LA Angels of Anaheim at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Dustin Moseley (4-3) vs. (L) A.J. Murray (1-1) Kansas City Royals at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) Brian Bannister (12-9) vs. (R) Jose Contreras (10-16) Cleveland Indians at Seattle Mariners, 10:05 PM (L) Aaron Laffey (3-2) vs. (R) Felix Hernandez (13-7)
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 BOS 92 64 .590 0.0 98 -6NYA 90 66 .577 2.0 94 -4
TOR 79 77 .506 13.0 83 -4
BAL 67 89 .429 25.0 68 -1
TB 64 92 .410 28.0 64 0
American League Central CLE 92 63 .594 0.0 87 5
DET 85 72 .541 8.0 85 0
MIN 77 79 .494 15.5 79 -2
CHA 68 88 .436 24.5 63 5
KC 67 89 .429 25.5 72 -5
American League West LAA 92 65 .586 0.0 89 3
SEA 83 72 .535 8.0 75 8
OAK 75 82 .478 17.0 78 -3
TEX 73 84 .465 19.0 75 -2
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 87 69 .558 0.0 84 3
PHI 85 71 .545 2.0 84 1
ATL 82 74 .526 5.0 86 -4
WAS 70 87 .446 17.5 68 2
FLA 66 90 .423 21.0 68 -2
National League Central CHN 83 73 .532 0.0 85 -2
MIL 80 76 .513 3.0 80 0
STL 73 83 .468 10.0 67 6
CIN 71 85 .455 12.0 72 -1
HOU 68 88 .436 15.0 69 -1
PIT 66 90 .423 17.0 67 -1
National League West ARI 88 68 .564 0.0 77 11
SD 85 71 .545 3.0 85 0
COL 84 72 .538 4.0 86 -2
LAN 80 76 .513 8.0 80 0
SF 70 87 .446 18.5 75 -5
Wildcard Standings American League NYA 90 66 .577 0.0 DET 85 72 .541 5.5 SEA 83 72 .535 6.5 TOR 79 77 .506 11.0 MIN 77 79 .494 13.0 National League PHI 85 71 .545 0.0 SD 85 71 .545 0.0 COL 84 72 .538 1.0 ATL 82 74 .526 3.0 LAN 80 76 .513 5.0
Access THT’s stats here…
{embed="content/2005stable"}
Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.
<< Return to Article