The Hardball Times

THT Daily: into the Ethier

by Dave Studeman
June 27, 2009

Major League News for June 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
Andre Ethier had his first ever three-homer game and drove in six runs Friday to lead the Dodgers to an 8-2 win over the Mariners.
Incredibly, it's Ethier's fifth multihomer game of the season. He has 14 homers, but he's homered in just eight of the 72 games in which he's played. He had just one multihomer game in his career prior to this season. With the six RBI, he's now tied for James Loney for the Dodger lead at 49. Casey Blake is one behind.

Josh Beckett improved to 9-3 on the season with seven shutout innings in a 4-1 win over the Braves on Friday night.
Figuring in his complete game shutout against the Braves last time out, that makes 16 consecutive scoreless innings against them. Beckett was brilliant, scattering just six hits while striking out six and not issuing a walk. He has a solid 94/32 K/BB ratio in 98 1/3 innings this season. His ERA is down to 3.48 -- it's lowest point since his second start of the year. Beckett has won seven out of his last eight decisions.

Ricky Romero didn't allow a hit over the first six innings, but threw seven scoreless in a 6-0 win over the Phillies on Friday night.
Chase Utley lined a single to right to break up the no-hit bid to lead off the seventh inning. Romero finished allowing just two hits while fanning seven and walking one. The 24-year-old southpaw has allowed three runs or less in five straight starts to bring his ERA down to 3.20 in the win. Romero has a pretty nice 54/20 K/BB ratio in 64 2/3 innings this season. He's worth a start in mixed leagues right now.

According to the New York Post, Xavier Nady will require Tommy John surgery to repair his ailing right elbow and is done for the season.
Nady is also questionable for most of 2010. "It's disappointing," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "I am more disappointed for him than I am the club. You would love to have him back. He has put a lot of time into this. I know how bad he wants to play." He's a free agent after this season, so it's probably safe to assume his time with the Yankees is up.

Aramis Ramirez (shoulder) is hoping to begin a rehab assignment soon.
Ramirez felt strong enough to take batting practice with the rest of his teammates at U.S. Cellular Field on Friday. "I think this is the final step in his rehab," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "I think he'll need three or four games, and maybe [be the designated hitter once], third base a few times. Then we'll get him back in our lineup." He should return before the All-Star break

Roy Halladay (groin) tossed a 50-pitch bullpen session Friday and afterward declared himself ready to go.
Doc said his groin discomfort is "completely gone." Barring some unforeseen setback, he'll be activated from the disabled list Monday to start against the Rays. He'll return to a 10-1 record, a 2.53 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP.

The Mets scratched John Maine from his Saturday rehab start.
Maine had a cortisone shot, and said he expects to be back after the All-Star break, though how soon remains to be seen. None of the estimates have come to pass so far, and he'll be dealing with pain regardless, so don't expect a healthy Maine for a while.


Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.
American League
BAL    11  WAS     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB      7  FLA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     6  PHI     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     5  CHA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     9  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     4  OAK     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX    12  SD      2    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
BOS     4  ATL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA     9  NYN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     5  DET     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     5  SF      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT     5  KC      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     3  STL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA    12  ARI     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     8  SEA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.



Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 San Francisco Giants at Milwaukee Brewers, 7:05 PM
  (L) Barry Zito (4-7) vs. (R) Seth McClung (3-1)
 
 Inter-League
 ------------
 Philadelphia Phillies at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM
  (L) J.A. Happ (4-0) vs. (L) Brad Mills (0-0)
 Minnesota Twins at St. Louis Cardinals, 1:10 PM
  (R) Kevin Slowey (10-2) vs. (R) Todd Wellemeyer (6-7)
 Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox, 4:05 PM
  (R) Ryan Dempster (4-5) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (7-2)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Arizona Diamondbacks, 4:10 PM
  (R) John Lackey (2-3) vs. (L) Doug Davis (3-8)
 Boston Red Sox at Atlanta Braves, 4:10 PM
  (R) Tim Wakefield (9-3) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (5-6)
 Cincinnati Reds at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Homer Bailey (0-0) vs. (R) Tomo Ohka (0-1)
 Detroit Tigers at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM
  (R) Alfredo Figaro (1-0) vs. (R) Felipe Paulino (1-4)
 Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Shairon Martis (5-2) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (5-7)
 Kansas City Royals at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (L) Bruce Chen (0-0) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (4-4)
 Florida Marlins at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:08 PM
  (R) Chris Volstad (5-7) vs. (R) Jeff Niemann (6-4)
 New York Yankees at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (R) A.J. Burnett (5-4) vs. (R) Tim Redding (1-2)
 San Diego Padres at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Kevin Correia (4-5) vs. (L) Derek Holland (1-4)
 Colorado Rockies at Oakland Athletics, 9:05 PM
  (L) Jorge De La Rosa (3-7) vs. (R) Trevor Cahill (5-5)
 Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM
  (R) Felix Hernandez (7-3) vs. (L) Eric Milton (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     45  28 .616    0.0   43     2    sparkline graph
NYA     41  32 .562    4.0   41     0    sparkline graph
TOR     41  34 .547    5.0   43    -2    sparkline graph
TB      40  35 .533    6.0   45    -5    sparkline graph
BAL     33  40 .452   12.0   32     1    sparkline graph
American League Central     
DET     41  32 .562    0.0   40     1    sparkline graph
MIN     38  37 .507    4.0   40    -2    sparkline graph
CHA     35  38 .479    6.0   34     1    sparkline graph
KC      31  41 .431    9.5   30     1    sparkline graph
CLE     31  44 .413   11.0   36    -5    sparkline graph
American League West        
TEX     40  32 .556    0.0   38     2    sparkline graph
LAA     39  32 .549    0.5   37     2    sparkline graph
SEA     37  36 .507    3.5   34     3    sparkline graph
OAK     31  41 .431    9.0   32    -1    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     37  34 .521    0.0   37     0    sparkline graph
NYN     37  35 .514    0.5   36     1    sparkline graph
FLA     38  37 .507    1.0   35     3    sparkline graph
ATL     34  39 .466    4.0   34     0    sparkline graph
WAS     21  50 .296   16.0   27    -6    sparkline graph
National League Central     
MIL     39  34 .534    0.0   37     2    sparkline graph
STL     40  35 .533    0.0   40     0    sparkline graph
CHN     35  35 .500    2.5   36    -1    sparkline graph
CIN     35  37 .486    3.5   34     1    sparkline graph
HOU     34  37 .479    4.0   32     2    sparkline graph
PIT     34  39 .466    5.0   37    -3    sparkline graph
National League West        
LAN     48  26 .649    0.0   46     2    sparkline graph
SF      39  33 .542    8.0   37     2    sparkline graph
COL     38  35 .521    9.5   39    -1    sparkline graph
SD      31  41 .431   16.0   27     4    sparkline graph
ARI     30  44 .405   18.0   33    -3    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
SD  AA  Cedric Hunter..... 5  4  2  0  0  0  0  3 LD
DET AA  Alexander Avila... 3  2  1  0  1  1  1  
SD  A   Blake Tekotte..... 4  2  1  0  1  0  0  
CHC A+  Starlin Castro.... 4  2  1  1  0  1  0  5 RBI !
KC  A+  Mike Moustakas.... 2  2  1  0  0  1  0  3 R
SD  AA  Logan Forsythe.... 4  3  1  0  0  1  1  3 LD
NYM A   Wilmer Flores..... 4  3  1  0  0  0  0  
LA  A   Kyle Russell...... 4  3  1  0  0  0  1  
CHC A   Josh Vitters...... 4  2  0  0  1  0  1  
BOS A+  Tim Federowicz.... 5  3  1  0  0  0  0  
KC  A+  J. Giavotella..... 4  2  1  0  0  0  1  
LA  A+  Pedro Baez........ 4  2  1  0  0  1  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
SEA A+  Steven Hensley.... 8  4  1  1 11  1  0  
SF  A+  Scott Barnes...... 6  5  2  0 10  0  0  
MIL A+  Evan Anundsen..... 7  5  3  3  9  2  0  
ATL A+  Jacob Thompson.... 7  3  0  0  8  2  0  
SF  A   Eric Surkamp...... 7  5  1  1  7  1  0  
MIL A   Wily Peralta...... 6  5  2  2 10  1  1  
LAA AA  Jordan Walden..... 7  6  2  2  6  0  0  
CLE A   T.J. House........ 6  7  2  1  5  0  0  
ARI AAA Bryan Augenstein.. 4  5  2  2  6  0  0  
CLE AAA Chuck Lofgren..... 7  10  5  4  5  0  0  
WAN AAA Collin Balester... 7  6  3  1  5  2  0  
PHI AAA Carlos Carrasco... 6  7  1  1  7  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.

<< Return to Article