The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Hot Sox

by Dave Studeman
May 22, 2008

Major League News for May 22
Player 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/

Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld

Chris Young was taken to the hospital after being diagnosed with a fractured nose on Wednesday. Young, who was hit by an Albert Pujols liner, also suffered lacerations. He'll probably get tested for a concussion, but he never appeared dazed at all while sitting down in front of the mound.

Bartolo Colon earned a win in his Red Sox debut by holding the Royals to two runs in five innings on Wednesday. It was a pretty impressive outing, though he did put eight men on base (six singles, two walks). The first run came on a jam shot off the bat of Jose Guillen, and the second could have been prevented had Kevin Youkilis played Joey Gathright's leadoff bunt single a little better. Colon was often at 93-94 mph with his fastball, and he was able to strike out four batters. Really gutsy mixed leaguers could consider using Colon next week for road starts against the Mariners and Orioles, but most should have better options. He is worth using in AL-only leagues.

Tigers activated LHP Dontrelle Willis from the 15-day disabled list. The Tigers' supposed top four starters have ERAs of 4.76, 5.61, 6.08 and 6.65, but they still can't find room in their rotation for Willis. He probably won't spend very much time in the pen before getting another chance to start.

Eric Gagne won't pitch Wednesday and has been shut down until further notice because of a stiff right shoulder. "It's all in the front of the shoulder," Gagne said. "Now we're just waiting to see. It's just one of those things (where) you usually warm up and it goes away, but it was getting tighter and tighter (Tuesday)." Manager Ned Yost indicated that Salomon Torres would lead the Brewers' closer committee while Gagne is out.

Moises Alou will fly back to New York for an MRI on what the Mets are now calling a strained left calf. The team originally said it was just a cramp. "It’s been bothering me three or four days," Alou said. With Angel Pagan out, the Mets will have to go with Marlon Anderson and Endy Chavez in the outfield.

The Angels have scratched Joe Saunders from his scheduled start Thursday due to flu-like symptoms and replaced him with Ervin Santana. The club had Monday off, so Santana will be going on normal rest. Saunders will probably go back into the rotation on Friday or Saturday.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after Wednesday's game that the process of turning Joba Chamberlain into a starting pitcher has begun. It was pretty curious that Chamberlain pitched the final two innings of an 8-0 game tonight. The Yankees are starting to stretch him out and could seemingly have him make his first start in the first half of June. Ian Kennedy could lose his spot then if he's not pitching any better than he is now. Edwar Ramirez could get a look in an eighth-inning role.

Pedro Martinez returned to the Dominican Republic on Wednesday after learning that the condition of his sick father had worsened. Martinez's father is suffering from brain cancer. Pedro supposed to throw a bullpen session with the team in Atlanta on Wednesday, but instead flew to the Dominican Republic once learning of his father's status. There's no word on how this will affect his return from the disabled list.

Yesterday’s Results
American League
BOS     6  KC      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA     8  BAL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     4  TOR     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     7  CLE     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     9  SEA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX    10  MIN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     9  TB      1    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL    11  NYN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     3  ARI     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI    12  WAS     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     5  CHN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     4  PIT     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      3  COL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     5  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL    11  SD      3    (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:
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Today’s Games
National League
 ---------------
 Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (R) Dave Bush (1-4) vs. (L) Tom Gorzelanny (3-4)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Dan Haren (5-2) vs. (L) Andrew Miller (3-3)
 New York Mets at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM
  (L) Johan Santana (5-2) vs. (R) Tim Hudson (6-3)
 Philadelphia Phillies at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (R) Kyle Kendrick (3-2) vs. (R) Roy Oswalt (4-4)
 Cincinnati Reds at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (R) Aaron Harang (2-5) vs. (L) Randy Wolf (2-4)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Seattle Mariners at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM
  (R) Miguel Batista (3-5) vs. (R) Jeremy Bonderman (2-4)
 Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins, 1:10 PM
  (R) Vicente Padilla (6-2) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (6-2)
 Kansas City Royals at Boston Red Sox, 1:35 PM
  (R) Brian Bannister (4-5) vs. (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (7-0)
 Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (L) Brian Burres (4-4) vs. (R) Ian Kennedy (0-3)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) Ervin Santana (6-1) vs. (R) A.J. Burnett (4-4)
 Cleveland Indians at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM
  (L) Aaron Laffey (2-2) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (2-5)

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     30  19 .612    0.0   29     1    sparkline graph
TB      27  20 .574    2.0   26     1    sparkline graph
BAL     24  21 .533    4.0   23     1    sparkline graph
TOR     23  25 .479    6.5   23     0    sparkline graph
NYA     21  25 .457    7.5   21     0    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CHA     25  20 .556    0.0   27    -2    sparkline graph
MIN     23  23 .500    2.5   22     1    sparkline graph
CLE     22  24 .478    3.5   25    -3    sparkline graph
KC      21  25 .457    4.5   20     1    sparkline graph
DET     19  27 .413    6.5   20    -1    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     28  20 .583    0.0   25     3    sparkline graph
OAK     25  23 .521    3.0   28    -3    sparkline graph
TEX     23  25 .479    5.0   22     1    sparkline graph
SEA     18  29 .383    9.5   20    -2    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
FLA     26  19 .578    0.0   23     3    sparkline graph
ATL     25  21 .543    1.5   29    -4    sparkline graph
PHI     26  22 .542    1.5   26     0    sparkline graph
NYN     22  22 .500    3.5   22     0    sparkline graph
WAS     20  28 .417    7.5   19     1    sparkline graph
National League Central     
CHN     28  19 .596    0.0   30    -2    sparkline graph
STL     28  21 .571    1.0   27     1    sparkline graph
HOU     27  21 .563    1.5   25     2    sparkline graph
MIL     22  24 .478    5.5   21     1    sparkline graph
PIT     21  25 .457    6.5   21     0    sparkline graph
CIN     21  26 .447    7.0   21     0    sparkline graph
National League West        
ARI     28  18 .609    0.0   28     0    sparkline graph
LAN     25  21 .543    3.0   25     0    sparkline graph
SF      19  29 .396   10.0   18     1    sparkline graph
COL     18  29 .383   10.5   19    -1    sparkline graph
SD      17  31 .354   12.0   16     1    sparkline graph

Game of the Day
The Colorado bullpen squandered seven shutout innings by Ubaldo Jimenez and allowed the Giants to score two in the ninth to tie the game, and one more in the tenth to win it, 3-2. Omar Vizquel drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly.
Giants 3, Rockies 2 - FINAL

SAN FRANCISCO          ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
F Lewis lf              5  0  0  0   0  0   2  .280
O Vizquel ss            4  1  2  1   0  0   0  .306
R Winn rf               4  0  0  0   1  0   1  .291
B Molina c              4  0  2  1   0  1   0  .294
 D Ortmeier pr          0  1  0  0   0  0   0  .246
 T Walker p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 vc-T Denker ph         1  0  0  0   0  0   2  .000
 B Wilson p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
A Rowand cf             3  0  0  0   1  0   2  .318
J Bowker 1b             3  0  0  0   0  0   3  .260
 B Sadler p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 A Hinshaw p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 vb-S Holm ph-c         1  0  1  1   0  0   0  .286
J Castillo 3b           3  0  0  0   1  1   3  .261
E Burriss 2b            2  0  0  0   0  0   1  .246
 va-R Durham ph-2b      2  1  1  0   0  1   0  .297
J Sanchez p             2  0  1  0   0  0   0  .095
 R Aurilia 1b           1  0  0  0   1  1   0  .254

Totals                 35  3  7  3   4  4  14   ###

COLORADO               ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
W Taveras cf            5  1  2  0   0  1   3  .233
C Barmes ss             5  0  0  0   0  2   2  .341
M Holliday lf           4  0  2  1   1  1   0  .324
G Atkins 3b             5  0  1  0   0  1   2  .332
T Helton 1b             3  1  0  0   2  2   3  .272
R Spilborghs rf         4  0  2  0   1  0   2  .313
C Iannetta c            3  0  1  0   1  1   5  .292
 S Podsednik pr         0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .293
J Baker 2b              2  0  0  1   0  1   2  .210
 O Quintanilla 2b       1  0  0  0   0  1   1  .267
U Jimenez p             3  0  0  0   0  0   2  .000
 T Buchholz p           0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 ha-J Herrera ph        1  0  0  0   0  0   1  .296
 B Fuentes p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 M Herges p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000

Totals                 36  2  8  2   5 10  23   ###

----------------------------------------------------
    SAN FRANCISCO   - 000 000 002 1  --   3  7 1
    COLORADO        - 110 000 000 0  --   2  8 1
----------------------------------------------------

va-struck out swinging for E Burriss in the 8th;  ha-grounded to third for T 
Buchholz in the 8th;  vb-doubled to deep left for A Hinshaw in the 9th;  
vc-flied out to left for T Walker in the 10th.

BATTING: 2B - O Vizquel (3, B Fuentes); S Holm (5, B Fuentes); W Taveras (8, J 
Sanchez). S - O Quintanilla. SF - O Vizquel , J Baker. RBI - B Molina (24), S 
Holm (5), O Vizquel (4), M Holliday (23), J Baker (8). 2-out RBI - S Holm. 
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Castillo 1, T Denker 1, C Barmes 1, 
W Taveras 2, C Iannetta 3, R Spilborghs 1. GIDP - J Bowker, F Lewis. Team LOB - 
SAN FRANCISCO 7, COLORADO 12. BASERUNNING: SB - W Taveras (19, 2nd base off J 
Sanchez/B Molina), M Holliday (8, 2nd base off B Sadler/B Molina). FIELDING: E 
- R Winn (2, bobble); G Atkins (7, throw). DP:  (J Baker-C Barmes-T Helton, C 
Barmes-J Baker-T Helton). 

SAN FRANCISCO                ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Sanchez                     6 1/3   8   2   2   3   5   0   4.39
B Sadler                        2/3   0   0   0   1   1   0   2.57
A Hinshaw                     1       0   0   0   0   1   0   0.00
T Walker (W, 2-2)             1       0   0   0   0   1   0   6.30
B Wilson (S, 14)              1       0   0   0   1   2   0   5.49

COLORADO                     ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
U Jimenez                     7       3   0   0   2   1   0   4.61
T Buchholz (H, 10)            1       0   0   0   0   2   0   1.42
B Fuentes (B, 3)              1       3   2   2   0   1   0   3.05
M Herges (L, 2-1)             1       1   1   1   2   0   0   2.63

B Sadler pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

WP - J Sanchez. IBB - R Winn (by M Herges), T Helton (by B Sadler). HBP - C 
Iannetta (by B Sadler). Pitches-strikes: J Sanchez 103-65; B Sadler 19-8; A 
Hinshaw 17-8; T Walker 10-8; B Wilson 24-12; U Jimenez 97-63; T Buchholz 13-8; 
B Fuentes 24-17; M Herges 25-12. Ground balls-fly balls: J Sanchez 8-6; B 
Sadler 0-1; A Hinshaw 2-0; T Walker 2-0; B Wilson 0-1; U Jimenez 16-4; T 
Buchholz 1-0; B Fuentes 0-2; M Herges 1-2. Batters faced: J Sanchez 30; B 
Sadler 4; A Hinshaw 3; T Walker 3; B Wilson 4; U Jimenez 25; T Buchholz 3; B 
Fuentes 6; M Herges 6. UMPIRES: HP--Derryl Cousins. 1B--Eric Cooper. 2B--Marty 
Foster. 3B--Angel Campos.   T--3:10. Att--27,081. Weather: 72 degrees, partly 
cloudy. Wind: 5 mph, in from 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.

image

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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.
ORG LVL PLAYER            AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes
LA  A+  Joshua Bell....... 3  3  2  0  1  1  0  3 R
TEX A   Ian Gac........... 4  4  3  0  0  0  0  3 R
SD  AAA Chase Headley..... 5  3  1  0  1  1  1  3 R
TEX AA  M. Ramirez........ 5  4  1  0  1  0  0  4 R
SEA A+  Gregory Halman.... 5  2  0  0  2  0  1  6 RBI !
CLE A+  Nicholas Weglarz.. 5  3  1  0  1  1  1  
TOR A   Kevin Ahrens...... 6  3  3  0  0  0  1  4 RBI
TB  AAA Reid Brignac...... 3  3  1  0  1  0  0  
BOS AA  Aaron Bates....... 4  2  1  0  1  1  0  3 R
NYY AA  Austin Jackson.... 5  2  0  1  1  1  2  7 RBI !
KC  AAA Mike Aviles....... 6  3  2  0  0  0  0  
CHC AAA Eric Patterson.... 6  4  1  0  0  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
COL A   Jhoulys Chacin.... 8  3  2  1 10  3  0  
TB  AA  Jacob McGee....... 7  3  0  0  9  2  0  
MIL A+  Jeremy Jeffress... 5  4  0  0 10  1  0  
FLA AA  Ryan Tucker....... 6  2  0  0  6  1  0  
ATL A   Chad Rodgers...... 7  4  2  2  6  1  0  
BAL A+  Jake Arrieta...... 8  3  0  0  5  2  0  
FLA AAA E. De La Cruz..... 9  5  2  0  4  1  0  16 GB
CLE AA  David Huff........ 7  4  1  1  6  0  1  
PHI A   Drew Naylor....... 8  6  2  2  6  0  1  
PHI A+  Joe Savery........ 7  5  1  1  7  1  1  
CHW A+  John Ely.......... 6  4  3  2  9  3  1  
MIN AA  Oswaldo Sosa...... 6  2  1  1  5  2  0  

Access THT’s stats here…
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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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