The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Here come the ChiSox

by Dave Studeman
July 04, 2009

Major League News for July 4


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
Alfonso Soriano could be bumped from the leadoff spot Saturday.
"We'll probably make some adjustments in our lineup [Saturday],'' manager Lou Piniella said when asked about Soriano's continuing struggles. ''We'll leave it at that. ... Soriano will start hitting. I have confidence in the young man and feel he'll hit. I have all the confidence in the world in him. We need to get him jump-started somehow.'' Look for rookie Sam Fuld at the top of the order on July 4 as the Cubs play out a series with the Brewers.

Angels activated RHP Ervin Santana from the 15-day disabled list.
Santana has been sidelined since June 11 with right elbow tendinitis. He gets the start Friday against the Orioles. Santana still hasn't shown that he has the stuff that made him great in 2008, so it's wise to lower your expectations for Santana the rest of the season, but he'll still be a serviceable fantasy player.

Carlos Quentin (foot) is scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte on Saturday.
Quentin has been sidelined since late May and is hoping to return just before the All-Star break. He'll play three innings with Charlotte on Saturday, five on Sunday and DH for a full nine on Monday. The outfielder was batting just .229/.325/.458 before he was injured.

According to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark, three teams interested in Ben Sheets have indicated Sheets won't be able to pitch in 2009.
Sheets had flexor tendon surgery in February, same as Jason Jennings, who needed well over a year to contribute again. Don't plan on Sheets giving your fantasy team a second-half push.

Reds activated 3B Edwin Encarnacion from the 60-day disabled list.
Encarnacion, who had been out with a wrist fracture, had been hitting in his rehab games, and should slot in immediately as the everyday third baseman for the Reds. If healthy, he could provide massive value in the second half.

Raul Ibanez (groin) could return to the Phillies' lineup Monday if he's able to play for Double-A Reading Friday night.
Ibanez's rehab assignment has been delayed twice, but he's been able to fully participate in pregame workouts and should be close. He only needs between 10 and 12 minor league at-bats.

Dodgers activated outfielder Manny Ramirez from the restricted list.
Ramirez will return to the Dodgers' starting lineup Friday in San Diego. He spent the last 50 games serving a PED-related suspension without publicly addressing the issue. Strap in; the media circus begins tonight.

Derrek Lee homered twice to drive in a career-high seven runs and lead the Cubs to a 9-5 win over the Brewers on Thursday.
Lee, easily the Cubs' best player over the last two months, had a grand slam and a three-run homer to supply most of his team's offense. He now has 14 homers and 48 RBI, which is 16 more than any other Cub.


Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.
American League
SEA     7  BOS     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA     4  TOR     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE    15  OAK     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     5  KC      0    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET    11  MIN     9    (Recap and Boxscore)
BAL     6  LAA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     3  TB      1    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
PIT     7  FLA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     7  NYN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
ATL     9  WAS     8    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     2  MIL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL     7  CIN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     5  ARI     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     6  SD      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF     13  HOU     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.



Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals, 1:05 PM
  (R) Tommy Hanson (4-0) vs. (L) John Lannan (5-5)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs, 1:05 PM
  (R) Braden Looper (6-4) vs. (R) Rich Harden (5-4)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds, 1:10 PM
  (R) Brad Thompson (2-4) vs. (R) Micah Owings (5-8)
 New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, 4:05 PM
  (R) Fernando Nieve (3-1) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (6-6)
 Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants, 4:05 PM
  (R) Russ Ortiz (3-3) vs. (R) Tim Lincecum (8-2)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres, 4:10 PM
  (L) Randy Wolf (3-3) vs. (R) Josh Geer (1-3)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at Florida Marlins, 6:10 PM
  (L) Zach Duke (8-6) vs. (L) Andrew Miller (2-4)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies, 8:10 PM
  (R) Yusmeiro Petit (0-3) vs. (R) Aaron Cook (8-3)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox, 1:05 PM
  (L) Garrett Olson (3-2) vs. (R) Brad Penny (6-3)
 Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (R) Roy Halladay (10-2) vs. (R) Chien-Ming Wang (1-6)
 Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals, 1:10 PM
  (R) Gavin Floyd (6-5) vs. (R) Luke Hochevar (3-3)
 Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins, 4:10 PM
  (R) Edwin Jackson (6-4) vs. (L) Francisco Liriano (4-8)
 Oakland Athletics at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Vin Mazzaro (2-3) vs. (R) Carl Pavano (6-7)
 Tampa Bay Rays at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (L) David Price (2-2) vs. (L) Derek Holland (1-5)
 Baltimore Orioles at LA Angels of Anaheim, 9:05 PM
  (R) Jason Berken (1-5) vs. (R) Sean O`Sullivan (2-0)


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     48  31 .608    0.0   47     1    sparkline graph
NYA     46  33 .582    2.0   45     1    sparkline graph
TB      44  37 .543    5.0   49    -5    sparkline graph
TOR     42  39 .519    7.0   44    -2    sparkline graph
BAL     36  44 .450   12.5   35     1    sparkline graph
American League Central     
DET     44  35 .557    0.0   42     2    sparkline graph
CHA     42  38 .525    2.5   41     1    sparkline graph
MIN     41  40 .506    4.0   43    -2    sparkline graph
KC      33  46 .418   11.0   32     1    sparkline graph
CLE     32  49 .395   13.0   38    -6    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     43  35 .551    0.0   41     2    sparkline graph
TEX     43  35 .551    0.0   41     2    sparkline graph
SEA     41  38 .519    2.5   38     3    sparkline graph
OAK     33  45 .423   10.0   34    -1    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     40  37 .519    0.0   40     0    sparkline graph
FLA     41  40 .506    1.0   38     3    sparkline graph
ATL     39  40 .494    2.0   39     0    sparkline graph
NYN     39  40 .494    2.0   38     1    sparkline graph
WAS     22  55 .286   18.0   29    -7    sparkline graph
National League Central     
STL     44  38 .537    0.0   43     1    sparkline graph
MIL     42  38 .525    1.0   40     2    sparkline graph
CHN     39  38 .506    2.5   39     0    sparkline graph
CIN     39  39 .500    3.0   37     2    sparkline graph
HOU     38  40 .487    4.0   36     2    sparkline graph
PIT     37  43 .463    6.0   41    -4    sparkline graph
National League West        
LAN     51  29 .638    0.0   49     2    sparkline graph
SF      43  36 .544    7.5   44    -1    sparkline graph
COL     42  37 .532    8.5   43    -1    sparkline graph
SD      34  45 .430   16.5   29     5    sparkline graph
ARI     31  49 .388   20.0   35    -4    sparkline graph


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            AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes
BOS A+  Luis Exposito..... 4  4  2  0  1  2  0  
MIL AAA Alcides Escobar... 4  3  3  0  0  1  0  
OAK A+  Greg Desme........ 3  2  0  0  1  1  1  3 SB
SD  A   Blake Tekotte..... 4  2  1  0  1  1  2  
LA  A   D. Strange-Gordo.. 6  4  0  0  1  0  0  
TB  AAA Reid Brignac...... 4  2  0  0  2  0  0  
MIN A   Aaron Hicks....... 4  2  1  1  0  0  0  
SD  AA  Eric Sogard....... 2  2  0  1  0  2  0  
LAA A   Alexia Amarista... 3  1  1  0  0  2  0  
PIT AA  Jose Tabata....... 5  3  1  0  0  1  1  
OAK AA  Josh Donaldson.... 3  1  1  0  0  3  2  
FLA AAA Gaby Sanchez...... 4  3  1  0  0  1  1  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
TEX A   Joseph Wieland.... 5  2  3  1  9  0  0  
TB  A   Matthew Moore..... 8  5  0  0  9  2  0  
ATL A   J.J. Hoover....... 7  4  1  1  8  1  0  
BAL AAA C. Tillman........ 8  4  0  0  7  1  0  
MIL AAA Manny Parra....... 7  2  0  0  7  2  0  
PIT AAA Tom Gorzelanny.... 8  5  1  0  5  0  0  
BOS A+  Bryan Price....... 6  3  0  0  6  0  0  
LA  A   Nathan Eovaldi.... 5  5  0  0  7  0  0  9 GB
LAA A+  Alexander Torres.. 6  5  3  2  9  4  0  11 GB
WAN AAA Garrett Mock...... 6  4  0  0  5  1  0  
PHI AA  Michael Stutes.... 6  7  3  3  5  0  0  
OAK A+  Ben Hornbeck...... 5  2  2  1  6  3  0


First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:


Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.

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