THT Daily: Managerial Casualty
by Matthew CarruthJune 19, 2007
Major League News for June 19
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
Vote of confidence - The Rangers extended general manager Jon Daniels' contract by one year despite their horrendous start to the season. Daniels is now signed through 2009.
Change in plans - If A's reliever (and former All-Star!) Justin Duchscherer's hip situation doesn't improve in the next couple weeks with stretching and rehab, he could undergo surgery that would sideline him for four to six months.
MVP - Did you know that Bud Selig, earning $14.5 million this season, would be the 15th highest paid player in the league?
Replacement level - Tangotiger chimes in with his take on what constitutes a replacement level starter.
Shot in the arm - Marc Hulet at Baseball Analysts looks at which farm systems benefitted the most from the draft.
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 RotoworldChone Figgins capped a 6-for-6 night with a game-winning triple in the bottom of the ninth as the Angels beat the Astros 10-9 on Monday. Figgins also had the game-tying hit in the seventh, a one-hopper off home plate that he barely managed to beat out. Figgins previously had a double and a stolen base. It's the 11th time in 17 games that he's had multiple hits, and he's raised his average from .133 on May 30 to .284 now.
MLB suspended first baseman Derrek Lee five games for his role in Saturday's brawl with the Padres. Only Lee and Chris Young, who also drew a five-game ban, were suspended as a result of the fight. Lee will almost surely appeal the suspension and wait until after Aramis Ramirez returns to serve it.
The Cardinals placed both Jim Edmonds (leg) and Braden Looper (shoulder) on the disabled list. Outfielder Skip Schumaker and reliever Troy Cate are being called up. So Taguchi will likely get the majority of the starts in center while Edmonds is out, though the Cardinals could go to Juan Encarnacion there to get more offense into the lineup.
Rocco Baldelli aggravated his left hamstring in Triple-A Durham's game on Monday and is no longer expected back on Friday. The new problem isn't supposed to be severe, but with all of the hamstring injuries that Baldelli has had, the Rays should be especially careful here. Even a mild setback might stall his return until after the break.
The Tigers confirmed that Kenny Rogers (shoulder) would come off the disabled list to start Friday's game against the Braves. Manager Jim Leyland didn't say who would lose his spot to Rogers, though it's probably going to be Andrew Miller. Rogers will return after just two minor league starts, even though he wasn't all that effective Friday for low Single-A West Michigan. Fantasy leaguers may want to wait and see how he pitches before activating him.
Dodgers placed RHP Jason Schmidt on 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 17, with a right shoulder injury. The Dodgers didn't say who would take Schmidt's rotation spot on Thursday. Mark Hendrickson, Chad Billingsley and Brett Tomko all qualify as candidates. Schmidt didn't complain of any pain while his velocity floundered in his last two outings, but he also refused to complain early in the season. There's probably some pretty serious damage in his shoulder and it may be that surgery will become necessary.
Yesterday’s Results
Inter-League CHA 10 FLA 6 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 10 PHI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 10 HOU 9 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 6 CIN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 5 STL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 10 ARI 2 (Recap and Boxscore) ATL 9 BOS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 8 MIN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 9 WAS 8 (Recap and Boxscore) National League MIL 5 SF 4 (Recap and Boxscore)
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Today’s Games
National League --------------- San Francisco Giants at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Tim Lincecum (2-1) vs. (R) Ben Sheets (7-3) Inter-League ------------ Philadelphia Phillies at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Kyle Kendrick (0-0) vs. (L) Jason Stanford (1-0) Detroit Tigers at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM (R) Chad Durbin (5-3) vs. (R) Jason Simontacchi (4-4) Los Angeles Dodgers at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (R) Brad Penny (8-1) vs. (R) Dustin McGowan (3-2) Minnesota Twins at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (L) Johan Santana (6-6) vs. (R) Jorge Sosa (6-2) Boston Red Sox at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 PM (R) Josh Beckett (9-1) vs. (R) Tim Hudson (6-4) Kansas City Royals at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:10 PM (R) Scott Elarton (2-2) vs. (R) Brad Thompson (4-2) Florida Marlins at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (L) Dontrelle Willis (7-6) vs. (L) John Danks (3-6) Chicago Cubs at Texas Rangers, 8:35 PM (L) Sean Marshall (3-2) vs. (R) Robinson Tejeda (5-7) New York Yankees at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (R) Mike Mussina (3-3) vs. (R) Josh Fogg (2-5) Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (L) JP Howell (1-1) vs. (L) Doug Davis (4-8) Pittsburgh Pirates at Seattle Mariners, 10:05 PM (L) Tom Gorzelanny (6-4) vs. (R) Miguel Batista (7-5) Cincinnati Reds at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Homer Bailey (1-0) vs. (R) Chad Gaudin (6-1) Baltimore Orioles at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Steve Trachsel (5-4) vs. (R) Jake Peavy (8-1) Houston Astros at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Jason Jennings (0-1) vs. (R) Bartolo Colon (6-2)
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 44 25 .638 0.0 42 2NYA 35 32 .522 8.0 40 -5
TOR 33 35 .485 10.5 35 -2
TB 31 37 .456 12.5 27 4
BAL 29 40 .420 15.0 33 -4
American League Central CLE 41 28 .594 0.0 40 1
DET 40 29 .580 1.0 41 -1
MIN 34 34 .500 6.5 34 0
CHA 29 37 .439 10.5 27 2
KC 29 42 .408 13.0 30 -1
American League West LAA 45 26 .634 0.0 42 3
OAK 38 31 .551 6.0 40 -2
SEA 35 31 .530 7.5 33 2
TEX 26 43 .377 18.0 29 -3
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 38 30 .559 0.0 38 0
ATL 38 33 .535 1.5 35 3
PHI 36 34 .514 3.0 34 2
FLA 33 38 .465 6.5 34 -1
WAS 30 40 .429 9.0 28 2
National League Central MIL 39 31 .557 0.0 36 3
CHN 31 37 .456 7.0 36 -5
STL 30 37 .448 7.5 26 4
PIT 30 39 .435 8.5 29 1
HOU 30 40 .429 9.0 32 -2
CIN 27 44 .380 12.5 31 -4
National League West SD 40 28 .588 0.0 43 -3
LAN 39 30 .565 1.5 37 2
ARI 40 31 .563 1.5 36 4
COL 35 34 .507 5.5 33 2
SF 30 39 .435 10.5 35 -5
Game of the Day
The Angels beat the Astronauts, 10-9, in a back-and-forth affair that went right to the end. The Angels’ star was Chone Figgins, who went 6 for 6 with a double and a game-winning triple in the bottom of the ninth. Figgins has batted .456 in his last 17 games.The game also featured a grand slam home run by Mark Loretta off John Lackey, and a key strikeout of Craig Biggio by Francisco Rodriguez with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth.
HOUSTON (9) VS LA ANGELS (10) - FINAL
HOUSTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Biggio 2b 6 1 1 0 0 2 5 .235
H Pence cf 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 .337
L Berkman dh 3 1 1 0 2 1 0 .255
C Lee lf 4 2 1 0 1 1 3 .299
M Loretta ss 5 2 4 3 0 0 2 .329
E Bruntlett pr-ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500
M Lamb 1b 5 2 2 3 0 2 2 .312
L Scott rf 3 1 1 1 1 0 1 .250
E Munson c 4 0 1 0 1 1 3 .240
M Ensberg 3b 3 0 0 1 1 1 6 .213
Totals 38 9 12 8 6 9 23
BATTING: 2B - H Pence (16, J Lackey); M Loretta (10, J Lackey). 3B - C Lee (1,
H Carrasco). HR - L Scott (7, 2nd inning off J Lackey 0 on, 1 Out), M Lamb (6,
5th inning off J Lackey 2 on, 2 Out). SF - M Ensberg. RBI - L Scott (33), M
Loretta 3 (21), M Lamb 3 (20), M Ensberg (20). 2-out RBI - M Loretta 2, M Lamb
3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Loretta 1, C Biggio 3, M Ensberg
2. Team LOB - 10.
BASERUNNING: SB - E Bruntlett (1, 2nd base off S Shields/M Napoli). CS - L
Berkman (3, 2nd base by J Lackey).
FIELDING: DP: 3 (M Loretta-M Lamb 2, D Borkowski-M Loretta-M Lamb).
LA ANGELS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Willits lf 4 1 1 1 1 0 2 .328
C Figgins 3b 6 1 6 3 0 0 0 .284
O Cabrera ss 5 0 2 1 0 0 4 .343
V Guerrero rf 3 1 1 0 2 0 2 .329
G Matthews Jr cf 4 1 1 0 1 1 4 .282
H Kendrick dh 4 3 2 0 1 0 2 .283
S Hillenbrand 1b 5 1 3 2 0 0 2 .255
M Napoli c 5 1 2 2 0 0 1 .248
E Aybar 2b 5 1 1 1 0 0 3 .243
Totals 41 10 19 10 5 1 20
BATTING: 2B - O Cabrera (23, C Sampson); C Figgins (9, C Sampson). 3B - C
Figgins (1, T Miller). SF - R Willits. RBI - M Napoli 2 (27), C Figgins 3 (19),
O Cabrera (39), S Hillenbrand 2 (20), E Aybar (14), R Willits (18). 2-out RBI -
C Figgins 3, M Napoli. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - O Cabrera 3, G
Matthews Jr 1, E Aybar 1. GIDP - E Aybar, G Matthews Jr, S Hillenbrand. Team
LOB - 11.
BASERUNNING: SB - O Cabrera (8, 3rd base off C Sampson/E Munson), C Figgins
(15, 2nd base off C Qualls/E Munson).
FIELDING: E - H Carrasco (1, catch).
----------------------------------------------------
HOUSTON - 010 050 300 -- 9
LA ANGELS - 021 100 501 -- 10
Two outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
HOUSTON ip h r er bb so hr era
C Sampson 6 14 6 6 2 1 0 3.70
C Qualls (B, 3) 1 3 3 3 1 0 0 4.17
D Borkowski (L, 1-1) 1 2/3 1 1 1 2 0 0 3.23
T Miller 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7.50
LA ANGELS ip h r er bb so hr era
J Lackey 4 2/3 8 6 6 4 4 2 2.96
H Carrasco 1 2/3 3 3 1 0 2 0 6.25
C Bootcheck 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.44
S Shields 1 1/3 1 0 0 1 2 0 2.11
F Rodriguez (W, 1-2) 2/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 2.37
C Sampson pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.
T Miller pitched to 1 batter in the 9th.
WP - J Lackey, H Carrasco, C Qualls. HBP - L Scott (by J Lackey).
Pitches-strikes: C Sampson 102-61; C Qualls 31-20; D Borkowski 23-12; T Miller
3-2; J Lackey 103-60; H Carrasco 29-20; C Bootcheck 3-3; S Shields 28-18; F
Rodriguez 14-6. Ground balls-fly balls: C Sampson 9-8; C Qualls 2-1; D
Borkowski 3-2; T Miller 0-0; J Lackey 2-7; H Carrasco 3-1; C Bootcheck 0-2; S
Shields 1-1; F Rodriguez 0-1. Batters faced: C Sampson 32; C Qualls 7; D
Borkowski 7; T Miller 1; J Lackey 26; H Carrasco 9; C Bootcheck 2; S Shields 6;
F Rodriguez 3.
UMPIRES: HP--Mark Carlson. 1B--Larry Young. 2B--Angel Hernandez. 3B--Ted
Barrett.
T--3:31. Att--42,232.
Weather: 74 degrees, clear. Wind: 9 mph, out to right.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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes KC AAA Billy Butler...... 3 2 2 0 0 1 0 DET A+ Cameron Maybin.... 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 2 SB CHC A+ Tyler Colvin...... 4 3 1 0 2 0 0 4 RBI TB AAA Elliot Johnson.... 3 2 1 0 0 1 0 STL AA Colby Rasmus...... 4 1 0 0 1 1 1 CHC AAA Geovany Soto...... 4 2 1 0 1 1 1 TB AAA Joel Guzman....... 2 1 0 0 1 2 1 BOS AAA Brandon Moss...... 5 3 2 0 0 0 1 NYY A+ Jose Tabata....... 5 2 0 0 0 1 1 TEX AAA Tim Hulett........ 4 1 0 0 1 1 2 TEX AAA Jason Botts....... 5 2 1 0 0 0 2 CHC A+ Brian Dopirak..... 5 2 0 0 1 0 2 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes TEX AA Edinson Volquez... 5 4 2 2 10 4 0 FLA A+ Brett Sinkbeil.... 7 3 1 0 6 1 0 MIN A+ Anthony Swarzak... 6 4 2 1 5 1 0 PHI A+ Joshua Outman..... 7 4 3 3 7 3 0 CIN AA Richie Gardner.... 7 4 0 0 6 0 0 TB A+ M. Wlodarczyk..... 5 5 3 2 7 3 0 BOS AAA Devern Hansack.... 6 4 2 2 6 1 1 MIN A+ Eduardo Morlan.... 2 1 0 0 4 0 0 ATL AA Joey Devine....... 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 KC AA Jarod Plummer..... 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 SEA AA Justin Thomas..... 6 9 4 3 3 3 0 HOU AAA Chad Reineke...... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 GB
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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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