THT Daily: Happy Baseball
by Matthew CarruthApril 26, 2007
Major League News for April 26
Today’s LinksPlayer News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
THT Links
Bloody Hoax? - Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne accused Curt Schilling of faking the bloody sock game in 2004 on the air yesterday. While it's certainly something that's been said or implied around the Internets, not the kind of thing you'd expect to hear on national TV, I guess.
Frame of Reference - Did Jarrod Washburn shut out the A's yesterday? Or did they do it to themselves?
Swing Mechanics - Jeff Albert breaks down Alex Rodriguez's swing frame by frame over at Baseball Analysts.
Wood Promoted - Halos Heaven reports that Brandon Wood has been called up, with Kendry Morales and Robb Quinlan being sent down to the minors.
Closing in Cleveland - Joe Borowski has been shaky, and Roto Authority runs down his potential replacements.
Ace in the hole - Pedro Martinez appears upbeat and looking forward to contributing in the second half of the season. Bears watching.
The New New Thing - Apparently stats nerds are out and biomechanics nerds are in. Good thing we've got Carlos Gomez on board.
THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at THT Links.
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldBarry Bonds went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer off Randy Wolf as the Giants beat the Dodgers 6-4 on Wednesday. Bonds' 741st home run helped send the Giants to their seventh straight victory. Bonds had only homered off Wolf once previously, that happening in 1999. The homer placed him into a tie with Pete Rose for fifth in career runs scored with 2,165.
Jake Peavy struck out 16 -- including nine in a row at one point -- in seven scoreless innings Wednesday against the Diamondbacks. Peavy appeared to have equaled Tom Seaver's major league record for consecutive strikeouts when Eric Byrnes checked his swing on a 2-2 slider, but the first base ump wouldn't give him the call and Byrnes ended up walking on a close 3-2 fastball, ending the string. Peavy ended up allowing two hits and throwing 117 pitches tonight. Unfortunately, the San Diego bullpen cost him a win.
Jarrod Washburn hurled his third career shutout to outduel Joe Blanton in a 2-0 win over the A's on Wednesday. Both pitchers threw complete games, with Washburn going nine innings for the first time since his first shutout on July 28, 2004. His second shutout -- and his only other complete game since -- came in a rain-shortened, five-inning game against the Royals on July 3, 2005. Washburn is currently 1-2 with a 2.96 ERA.
Tim Hudson struck out a career-high 12 on Wednesday, only to be denied a victory after taking a shutout into the ninth. With the Braves up 3-0, Hudson gave up three straight singles to begin the ninth, causing manager Bobby Cox to bring in Bob Wickman. It didn't work out at all, as Wickman allowed a two-run double and later a bloop single over the drawn-in Chipper Jones. A passed ball scored the winning run. Cox probably made a mistake here by not going to one of his strikeout relievers, either Rafael Soriano or Mike Gonzalez. Wickman gets the job done when he's brought in at the start of the innings, but he's not the reliever to bail guys out of jams. Unfortunately, the ninth-inning meltdown will take the spotlight off another terrific showing from Hudson. He's pitching like a Cy Young contender.
Ben Sheets appears to be questionable to make his next start after straining his right groin Wednesday. Sheets was hurt on his final pitch of the third inning and didn't come back out for the fourth. "It wasn't that it was excruciating, by any means," Sheets said. "There was really no sense in pushing through it and taking that chance right now, especially with the weather the way it was." The Brewers will have a better idea tomorrow when Sheets will pitch next. It's possible we could see Yovani Gallardo if Sheets goes on the DL. If he misses just one start, Carlos Villanueva could receive the assignment.
Gregg Zaun is expected to undergo surgery for a broken thumb and miss 6-8 weeks. Had this happened later in the year, perhaps Curtis Thigpen would have been called up to start at catcher. However, the club will go with veterans Jason Phillips and Sal Fasano for now. Acquiring an upgrade would make sense, but there doesn't seem to be any solid options available right now.
Dr. James Andrews performed a debridement of Mark Prior’s right rotator cuff as well as repair of labral and capsular injuries in his right shoulder during season-ending surgery Tuesday. That's all the detail the Cubs provided. If the labrum was torn, Prior is going to have a lot to overcome in his rebab over the next year. He was essentially done for 2007 no matter what the surgery turned up, and what was discovered seems to be significant enough to put his status for the beginning of 2008 in doubt. Perhaps the best-case scenario would have him back at 100 percent in 2009. However, there's a real chance he never returns as an effective major league pitcher.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 6 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Ortiz: 2-3, 2 BB; Schilling: 7 IP, 1 R DET 6 CHA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) I-Rod: 3-5, 2 2B; Durbin: 8 IP, 0 R CLE 8 TEX 7 (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings KC 4 MIN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) DeJesus: 3-4, HR; Sweeney: 2-3, HR; Hunter: 2B, HR LAA 9 TB 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Lackey: 6 IP, 1 R SEA 2 OAK 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Washburn: 9 IP, 0 R over Blanton: 9 IP, 2 R National League FLA 4 ATL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA: 4 in bottom of ninth; Hudson, Olsen: 8 IP, 3 R COL 11 NYN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Taveras: 5-6, Helton: 4-5, 2 2B, Mabry: HR, 4 RBI PHI 9 WAS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Utley: 5-5, 2 2B; Lieber: 6 IP, 2 R CHN 9 MIL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Lee: 4-5, 2 2B, HR; Floyd: 4-5; Lilly: 7 IP, 2 R PIT 4 HOU 3 (Recap and Boxscore) 16 innings; Duke: 7 IP, 1 R STL 5 CIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) STL: 4 in bottom of 8th; Arroyo, Looper: 7 IP, 1 R ARI 3 SD 2 (Recap and Boxscore) See below SF 6 LAN 4 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Houston Astros at Pittsburgh Pirates, 12:35 PM (L) Wandy Rodriguez (0-2) vs. (R) Tony Armas (0-2) Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals, 1:10 PM (R) Kyle Lohse (1-0) vs. (L) Randy Keisler (0-0) Washington Nationals at Philadelphia Phillies, 3:05 PM (R) Shawn Hill (1-2) vs. (L) Cole Hamels (2-0) San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Chris Young (2-1) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (1-1) San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Russ Ortiz (2-1) vs. (R) Brad Penny (3-0) American League --------------- Texas Rangers at Cleveland Indians, 12:05 PM (R) Kameron Loe (1-0) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (1-1) Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins, 1:10 PM (R) Zack Greinke (1-2) vs. (R) Boof Bonser (0-1) Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics, 3:35 PM (R) Miguel Batista (1-2) vs. (L) Joe Kennedy (0-2) Tampa Bay Devil Rays at LA Angels of Anaheim, 3:35 PM (R) Jae Seo (1-1) vs. (R) Bartolo Colon (1-0) Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) AJ Burnett (1-1) vs. (R) Philip Hughes (0-0) Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Josh Beckett (4-0) vs. (L) Adam Loewen (2-0) Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (L) Nate Robertson (2-1) vs. (R) Jose Contreras (1-2)
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 13 7 .650 0.0 13 0BAL 11 10 .524 2.5 11 0
TOR 10 10 .500 3.0 11 -1
TB 9 12 .429 4.5 8 1
NYA 8 11 .421 4.5 11 -3
American League Central CLE 11 7 .611 0.0 9 2
DET 12 9 .571 0.5 12 0
CHA 11 9 .550 1.0 10 1
MIN 11 10 .524 1.5 11 0
KC 7 14 .333 5.5 8 -1
American League West LAA 11 10 .524 0.0 10 1
OAK 11 10 .524 0.0 11 0
SEA 7 9 .438 1.5 6 1
TEX 8 12 .400 2.5 9 -1
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 13 7 .650 0.0 15 -2
ATL 13 8 .619 0.5 11 2
FLA 10 11 .476 3.5 10 0
PHI 9 11 .450 4.0 11 -2
WAS 6 15 .286 7.5 5 1
National League Central MIL 13 8 .619 0.0 11 2
CIN 10 11 .476 3.0 10 0
PIT 9 10 .474 3.0 8 1
HOU 9 11 .450 3.5 9 0
STL 9 11 .450 3.5 8 1
CHN 8 13 .381 5.0 12 -4
National League West LAN 13 8 .619 0.0 13 0
SF 11 8 .579 1.0 10 1
SD 12 9 .571 1.0 12 0
ARI 11 11 .500 2.5 10 1
COL 9 13 .409 4.5 9 0
Game of the Day
There were a lot of great games yesterday. The Pirates beat the Astros in 16 innings; the Marlins scored four in the bottom of the ninth to beat Atlanta, 4-3; Washburn outdueled Blanton. But the game of the day was held in Arizona, where the Diamondbacks overcame a sensational performance by Jake Peavy to prevail, 3-2.
Peavy struck out 16 batters in only seven innings, but the best bullpen in the majors (San Diego’s) gave up three runs in the last two innings to give the Diamondbacks the win. Steven Drew had the huge hit of the game, a home run in the bottom of the ninth with two out and a runner on first—perhaps the biggest blast of the season so far (WPA of .898). Brandon Webb had kept the Diamondbacks in the game, but he wasn’t Peavyesque.
SAN DIEGO (2) VS ARIZONA (3) - FINAL
SAN DIEGO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
M Giles 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .321
M Cameron cf 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 .205
B Giles rf 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .307
A Gonzalez 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .315
K Greene ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .298
T Sledge lf 4 2 3 1 0 0 1 .250
K Kouzmanoff 3b 4 0 1 1 0 2 1 .132
P LaForest c 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 .357
J Peavy p 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 .250
S Linebrink p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
T Hoffman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 33 2 7 2 1 7 9
BATTING: 2B - K Kouzmanoff (2, B Webb). HR - T Sledge (2, 4th inning off B Webb
0 on, 2 Out). RBI - K Kouzmanoff (4), T Sledge (3). 2-out RBI - K Kouzmanoff, T
Sledge. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Cameron 1, J Peavy 1. GIDP
- B Giles. Team LOB - 6.
ARIZONA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Young cf 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 .197
A Callaspo 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 .237
O Hudson 2b 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 .353
C Tracy 1b 3 1 1 0 1 2 2 .247
E Byrnes lf 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 .292
S Drew ss 4 1 1 2 0 2 1 .224
C Quentin rf 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 .161
C Snyder c 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 .167
a-M Montero ph-c 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 .241
B Webb p 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 .000
b-S Hairston ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .216
T Pena p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 29 3 4 3 4 18 7
a-homered to left for C Snyder in the 8th; b-struck out swinging for B Webb in
the 8th.
BATTING: HR - M Montero (2, 8th inning off S Linebrink 0 on, 0 Out), S Drew (1,
9th inning off T Hoffman 1 on, 2 Out). RBI - M Montero (5), S Drew 2 (7). 2-out
RBI - S Drew 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B Webb 1. Team LOB -
4.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (C Tracy-S Drew-C Tracy).
----------------------------------------------------
SAN DIEGO - 010 100 000 -- 2
ARIZONA - 000 000 012 -- 3
Two outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
SAN DIEGO ip h r er bb so hr era
J Peavy 7 2 0 0 3 16 0 1.67
S Linebrink (H, 2) 1 1 1 1 0 2 1 3.60
T Hoffman (L, 1-1; B, 1) 2/3 1 2 2 1 0 1 2.57
ARIZONA ip h r er bb so hr era
B Webb 8 6 2 2 1 6 1 3.60
T Pena (W, 2-1) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.38
WP - B Webb. IBB - P LaForest (by B Webb). HBP - B Giles (by B Webb).
Pitches-strikes: J Peavy 117-75; S Linebrink 18-10; T Hoffman 17-9; B Webb
106-71; T Pena 11-8. Ground balls-fly balls: J Peavy 2-2; S Linebrink 0-1; T
Hoffman 1-1; B Webb 16-2; T Pena 2-0. Batters faced: J Peavy 25; S Linebrink 4;
T Hoffman 4; B Webb 31; T Pena 4.
UMPIRES: HP--Mike Reilly. 1B--Jeff Kellogg. 2B--Eric Cooper. 3B--James Hoye.
EJECTIONS: ARIZONA's Melvin by Reilly (5th).
T--2:26. Att--18,307.
Weather: 87 degrees, clear. Wind: 5 mph, out to 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.ORG LVL PLAYER POS AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes
BAL AAA Luis Montanez RF 4 3 1 0 1 0 0
BAL A+ Ryan Finan 3B 4 3 0 0 2 0 1
FLA AA Jai Miller CF 4 4 2 0 0 0 0
FLA AA Lee Mitchell 3B 4 3 1 0 1 0 1 .577 OBP during past week
FLA A Greg Burns CF 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 Hitting .571 over last 21 at bats
HOU A+ Eli Iorg DH 4 3 1 1 0 0 0
KC A+ Kila Kaaihue DH 4 3 0 0 1 0 0
SEA AA Matt Tuiasosopo 3B 5 5 0 0 1 0 0 4 runs scored
SEA A+ Jeffrey Dominguez SS 4 3 3 0 0 0 1
ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes
ATL AAA Buddy Carlyle 5.0 2 0 0 7 1 0
LAA A+ Robert Mosebach 7.0 3 0 0 5 1 0
MIL AA Mike Jones 6.0 3 0 0 5 2 0
PIT AA Luis Munoz 8.2 3 1 1 7 0 0
TB AAA Jason Hammel 6.0 2 1 1 8 3 1
WAN AA Michael Hinckley 6.0 1 0 0 5 3 0 Access THT’s stats here…
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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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