THT Daily: Matchups
by Matthew CarruthMay 04, 2008
Major League News for May 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 RotoworldCurt Schilling (biceps) is about one week away from beginning a throwing program.
"I would argue we're close to throwing, in a week to 10 days probably," Schilling said Saturday. "I feel great. I feel strong. I feel everything I'm supposed to feel. There's no comparison to where I am physically, strength-wise, any of it." He's still not expected back until after the All-Star break.
James Loney had a three-run double and a three-run homer to lead the Dodgers to a 12-7 in over the Rockies on Saturday.
It was no career high in RBI for him, though. Loney had a nine-RBI game in the final week of the 2006 season. The six did double his high total for 2008. He hadn't homered since April 11 and his OPS was all of the way down to 715, so he did need a big game. This makes eight straight victories for the Dodgers.
Chone Figgins was sent for an MRI after injuring his right hamstring during Saturday's game.
"He said he cramped up a little bit, and there’s a little knot in there. We’ll just see how it is tomorrow," manager Mike Scioscia said. If Figgins has to do on the DL, Matt Brown would likely be called up to share time with Brandon Wood at third. Howie Kendrick could return early in the week to take over at second.
Brandon Webb became the first pitcher to reach seven wins though he wasn't his normal self, allowing four earned runs over six innings.
The Diamondbacks' offense really had Webb's back today with a 10-run performance, none of which came on homers. Webb struck out three and walked two. His season ERA is still a solid 2.49 and he'll face the Phillies next week.
Chone Figgins sat out the final inning of Saturday's game after tweaking a hamstring scoring a run in the eighth.
The Angels were hopeful Howie Kendrick would play in a minor league on Sunday. If this is serious at all, the Angels could just bring Kendrick back then. Figgins, though, is probably day-to-day.
Julio Franco, who had been playing in the Mexican League, confirmed that he is retiring from baseball.
Franco was hoping to play in the majors at age 50, but he didn't help the Mets or Braves last season and there was no interest in him entering 2008. Franco finishes his career with a .298/.365/.417 line, 173 homers and 281 steals in 23 seasons over a 26-year span. Had any team believed him in the late 90s, he could have gotten to 3,000 hits. Still, that wouldn't have made him a Hall of Famer. He was a three-time All-Star, but he lacked defensive value even in his days as a second baseman, he never finished higher than ninth in his league in OPS and he never drove in 100 runs in a season.
Cubs optioned LHP Rich Hill to Triple-A Iowa.
Hill walked four in the first inning Friday before manager Lou Piniella pulled him. He has walked 18 total batters in 19 2/3 innings this season. Hill will remain at Triple-A until he shows some signs of confidence and maybe a pitch that doesn't look completely flat. Jon Lieber will take his spot in the rotation.
Tom Gorzelanny will not make his next scheduled start because of a strained lower back.
"If he had to pitch Tuesday, he could," manager John Russell said. "We just want to make sure this isn't something that lingers for months, so we'll give him a few extra days to feel better and to get some work on the side."
The Marlins will bat Hanley Ramirez third in the lineup until Josh Willingham comes off the disabled list.
"We'll try it for 10 games and see if it's permanent or it's not permanent," manager Fredi Gonzalez said Friday. "I think the time has come where we may need to. It's a totally different lineup without (Miguel) Cabrera there." Either Alfredo Amezaga or Cody Ross will lead off.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 12 TB 4 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 6 SEA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 5 CHA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 4 CLE 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 3 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 6 OAK 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 9 CIN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 7 FLA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 3 PHI 2 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 9 PIT 8 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 6 MIL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 9 STL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 10 NYN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 12 COL 7 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Pittsburgh Pirates at Washington Nationals, 1:05 PM (L) Paul Maholm (2-2) vs. (L) Matt Chico (0-5) New York Mets at Arizona Diamondbacks, 3:45 PM (R) Mike Pelfrey (2-1) vs. (R) Brandon Webb (6-0) Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, 3:45 PM (L) Ted Lilly (1-4) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (3-0) Milwaukee Brewers at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM (L) Manny Parra (1-1) vs. (R) Brandon Backe (1-3) San Francisco Giants at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Matt Cain (1-2) vs. (R) Brett Myers (2-2) San Diego Padres at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Jake Peavy (3-1) vs. (R) Ricky Nolasco (1-2) Cincinnati Reds at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (R) Matt Belisle (1-1) vs. (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (0-0) Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado Rockies, 8:05 PM (R) Esteban Loaiza (1-2) vs. (L) Jorge De La Rosa (0-0) American League --------------- Seattle Mariners at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM (R) Felix Hernandez (2-1) vs. (R) Mike Mussina (3-3) Chicago White Sox at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM (L) John Danks (2-2) vs. (R) Jesse Litsch (3-1) Baltimore Orioles at LA Angels of Anaheim, 3:45 PM (R) Daniel Cabrera (2-0) vs. (R) Jon Garland (3-3) Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) James Shields (3-1) vs. (R) Josh Beckett (2-2) Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Luke Hochevar (1-1) vs. (L) C.C. Sabathia (1-4) Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 PM (R) Justin Verlander (1-4) vs. (R) Scott Baker (2-0) Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics, 9:05 PM (L) A.J. Murray (0-0) vs. (R) Chad Gaudin (3-1)
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 19 13 .594 0.0 18 1BAL 16 14 .533 2.0 15 1
TB 16 14 .533 2.0 16 0
NYA 16 16 .500 3.0 16 0
TOR 14 17 .452 4.5 17 -3
American League Central CHA 14 14 .500 0.0 17 -3
MIN 14 14 .500 0.0 13 1
CLE 14 16 .467 1.0 16 -2
DET 14 16 .467 1.0 14 0
KC 13 16 .448 1.5 11 2
American League West LAA 19 13 .594 0.0 17 2
OAK 18 14 .563 1.0 20 -2
SEA 13 18 .419 5.5 15 -2
TEX 13 18 .419 5.5 12 1
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 17 14 .548 0.0 17 0
NYN 15 13 .536 0.5 14 1
FLA 16 14 .533 0.5 13 3
ATL 14 15 .483 2.0 18 -4
WAS 13 18 .419 4.0 12 1
National League Central STL 19 12 .613 0.0 18 1
CHN 18 12 .600 0.5 20 -2
MIL 16 14 .533 2.5 14 2
HOU 15 16 .484 4.0 16 -1
PIT 12 18 .400 6.5 13 -1
CIN 12 19 .387 7.0 13 -1
National League West ARI 21 9 .700 0.0 20 1
LAN 17 13 .567 4.0 19 -2
SF 14 17 .452 7.5 11 3
SD 12 19 .387 9.5 11 1
COL 11 19 .367 10.0 11 0
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 SF AA Travis Ishikawa... 5 3 1 0 1 1 1 3 R SF AA E. Martinez Este.. 4 2 2 0 0 1 0 PIT AAA Andrew McCutchen.. 4 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 SB FLA AA Cameron Maybin.... 3 1 0 0 0 3 1 TB AAA Reid Brignac...... 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 TOR AA Travis Snider..... 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 OAK AA Cliff Pennington.. 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 BAL AA Nolan Reimold..... 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 CIN A+ Chris Valaika..... 4 1 0 0 1 1 2 CHC AAA Jake Fox.......... 5 2 0 0 1 0 0 HOU A Ronald Ramirez.... 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 STL AAA Nick Stavinoha.... 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes WAN AAA Tyler Clippard.... 7 2 0 0 6 1 0 TB A+ J. Hellickson..... 6 6 3 2 5 0 0 DET AAA Chris Lambert..... 6 4 0 0 6 1 0 ARI AA Matthew Torra..... 5 6 1 1 7 0 1 TEX AA Kason Gabbard..... 4 1 1 1 6 3 0 BAL A Zachary Britton... 7 3 0 0 3 3 0 13 GB MIN A+ Alex Burnett...... 6 5 0 0 3 1 0 DET A Ramon Garcia...... 6 10 5 5 5 2 0 BAL AA Jason Berken...... 6 5 1 1 2 1 0 HOU A Sergio Severino... 6 5 1 1 1 1 0 NYY AA J.B. Cox.......... 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 BOS AAA Edgar Martinez.... 2 0 0 0 1 0 0
Access all of THT’s stats here…
{embed="content/2005stable"}
Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.
<< Return to Article