The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Hanley

by Matthew Carruth
April 27, 2008

Major League News for April 27

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 Rotoworld
The Diamondbacks have reportedly brought up top prospect Max Scherzer and sent down Yusmeiro Petit.
Odd timing. Scherzer figured to be the choice to replace Micah Owings if Owings' ankle injury proved to be serious, but if they wanted him to fill that role, they would have waited until then to replace him. He's expected to be available in the pen for today's game at least. If he's given a rotation spot, he'd be someone to consider in mixed leagues.

Pirates released RHP Matt Morris.
Not a surprise, but still a tough blow for the Pirates who are going to have to write him an $11 million check. He was 0-4 with a 9.67 ERA in five starts this year. "Matt Morris has been a true professional," said manager John Russell. "He's had a great career. He wanted to help us win, and it just wasn't happening." Phil Dumatrait is going to take his spot in the rotation.

Grady Sizemore, who appeared to injure his ankle Saturday, is out of the lineup Sunday.
It appeared Sizemore sprained his right ankle while stepping on second base after a David Dellucci single. He later legged out the winning run at full speed, but it's not a surprise that his ankle is sore. Franklin Gutierrez is in center.

David Ortiz will be held out of the lineup again Sunday with a bruised right knee.
Manager Terry Francona said Ortiz's knee is still sore. Big Papi apparently told Francona he could go, but the manager didn't want to push it. The Red Sox have an off day Monday, so Ortiz should be back on Tuesday.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Bengie Molina has "general soreness in the legs" and will likely be held out of Sunday's lineup.
Molina got the day off on Saturday as well. Bochy said Molina felt some pain while trying to leg out a double Friday.

Kris Benson was pulled from an extended spring training start in the third inning because of a strained right groin.
Benson was expected back in late May, but this setback pushes his return to June. He hasn't thrown a pitch in a major league game since 2006.

Carlos Gomez, who missed Saturday's game because of a bruised right calf, expects to be in the lineup Sunday.
"He thinks he'll be ready to play (Sunday),'' Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He was in the trainer's room early today, getting his treatment.''

Ben Sheets (triceps) threw a successful bullpen session Saturday afternoon and said he's ready to go Tuesday against the Cubs at Wrigley.
Sheets threw all of his pitches during the ten minute session. When asked, manager Ned Yost said he's "very" optimistic about Sheets making Tuesday's start. Before feeling tightness in his triceps, Sheets had been dominant with a 0.96 ERA and 0.64 WHIP in four starts. He's a high-risk, high-reward fantasy play on Tuesday.

Dodgers placed third baseman Nomar Garciaparra on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left calf.
It's Nomar's 11th career DL stint and fifth in three seasons with the Dodgers. As unreliable as he is, the Dodgers would be foolish to give him back the starting job at third base once he's ready to play again. Blake DeWitt will start for now.

Yesterday’s Results

American League
TB      2  BOS     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     6  BAL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
BAL     5  CHA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     4  NYA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     6  LAA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      2  TOR     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     5  OAK     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN    12  TEX     6    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
NYN     4  ATL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     7  WAS     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     4  FLA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     8  PIT     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL     4  HOU     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN    11  COL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      8  ARI     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN    10  SF      9    (Recap and Boxscore)

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, 1:10 PM
  (R) John Smoltz (3-1) vs. (R) Nelson Figueroa (1-1)
 Philadelphia Phillies at Pittsburgh Pirates, 1:35 PM
  (R) Brett Myers (2-1) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (1-2)
 Chicago Cubs at Washington Nationals, 1:35 PM
  (L) Ted Lilly (1-3) vs. (L) John Lannan (1-2)
 Florida Marlins at Milwaukee Brewers, 2:05 PM
  (R) Ricky Nolasco (1-2) vs. (L) Manny Parra (1-1)
 Houston Astros at St. Louis Cardinals, 2:15 PM
  (R) Brandon Backe (1-2) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (2-0)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres, 4:05 PM
  (R) Brandon Webb (5-0) vs. (R) Jake Peavy (3-0)
 Cincinnati Reds at San Francisco Giants, 4:05 PM
  (R) Edinson Volquez (3-0) vs. (L) Barry Zito (0-5)
 Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers, 4:10 PM
  (L) Jeff Francis (0-2) vs. (R) Esteban Loaiza (1-2)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians, 1:05 PM
  (R) Chien-Ming Wang (4-0) vs. (L) C.C. Sabathia (1-3)
 Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays, 1:40 PM
  (R) Josh Beckett (2-1) vs. (R) James Shields (2-1)
 Minnesota Twins at Texas Rangers, 2:05 PM
  (R) Livan Hernandez (3-0) vs. (R) Vicente Padilla (2-2)
 Baltimore Orioles at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 PM
  (R) Jeremy Guthrie (0-2) vs. (R) Jose Contreras (1-2)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Kansas City Royals, 2:10 PM
  (R) Jesse Litsch (2-1) vs. (R) Gil Meche (1-3)
 Oakland Athletics at Seattle Mariners, 4:10 PM
  (R) Joe Blanton (1-4) vs. (R) Felix Hernandez (2-0)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Detroit Tigers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Jered Weaver (1-3) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (1-3)

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
BAL     14  10 .583    0.0   12     2    
BOS     15  11 .577    0.0   14     1    
TB      13  11 .542    1.0   13     0    
NYA     12  13 .480    2.5   12     0    
TOR     10  15 .400    4.5   13    -3    
American League Central     
CHA     13  10 .565    0.0   14    -1    
CLE     12  12 .500    1.5   13    -1    
KC      11  13 .458    2.5    9     2    
MIN     11  13 .458    2.5   11     0    
DET     11  14 .440    3.0   12    -1    
American League West        
LAA     15  10 .600    0.0   14     1    
OAK     15  10 .600    0.0   15     0    
SEA     12  13 .480    3.0   14    -2    
TEX      8  17 .320    7.0    8     0    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
FLA     14  10 .583    0.0   12     2    
PHI     14  11 .560    0.5   14     0    
NYN     12  11 .522    1.5   12     0    
ATL     12  12 .500    2.0   15    -3    
WAS      8  17 .320    6.5    9    -1    
National League Central     
CHN     16   8 .667    0.0   16     0    
STL     15  10 .600    1.5   15     0    
MIL     14  10 .583    2.0   13     1    
HOU     12  13 .480    4.5   13    -1    
CIN     10  15 .400    6.5   11    -1    
PIT      9  15 .375    7.0    8     1    
National League West        
ARI     17   7 .708    0.0   17     0    
LAN     11  13 .458    6.0   14    -3    
SF      11  14 .440    6.5    9     2    
COL     10  14 .417    7.0   10     0    
SD      10  15 .400    7.5    9     1    

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.

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.