The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Nats win three straight

by Dave Studeman
June 20, 2009

Major League News for June 20


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
Kevin Slowey grabbed a share of the American League lead in wins by holding the Astros to one run over six innings on Friday night.
The Twins topped the Astros 5-2. Slowey allowed just three hits -- all singles -- while walking four and striking out six. His ERA currently sits at a season-low 4.04. Slowey tied the injured Roy Halladay with his 10th win. He'll go for the league lead in wins in his next start against the Brewers.

Colby Rasmus enjoyed his first career four-hit game in a win over the Royals on Friday night.
He's had three three-hit games already, including two this month, but this was his first four-hit contest. The current front-runner for the NL Rookie of the Year drove in two runs with a double in the fifth inning. He scored twice in the 10-5 rout. His wicked .429 clip this month has brought his batting average all the way up to .285.

Andy Pettitte held the Marlins to a single run over seven innings in a 5-1 win on Friday night.
Pettitte's finest start of the year. He limited the Marlins to just three hits while not issuing a walk. The only run scored on a solo home run by Cody Ross in the third inning. He even drove in a run with a double in the second inning. Pettitte matched a season-high with seven strikeouts in the win, improving to 7-3 on the season. He now leads the Yankees in wins.

An MRI on Erik Bedard's ailing shoulder revealed no structural damage.
This is great news for Bedard and his fantasy owners. He will go back to his regular routine on Monday and if all goes well, he will be activated in 11 days for their series against the Yankees beginning on June 30. Since Bedard's had injury issues in the past, there's no guarantee that this plan will stick.

Jose Reyes (hamstring) performed light running drills and batting practice Friday.
This comes just two days after manager Jerry Manuel said that Reyes would need at least one week of rest before beginning rehabilitation. This marks Reyes's first baseball activity since partially tearing a hamstring tendon on June 3. While the Mets refused to even speculate on a timetable for their shortstop's return, this is positive news nonetheless.


Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.
American League
ATL     8  BOS     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET    10  MIL     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL    10  KC      5    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     5  HOU     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     5  LAN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     4  ARI     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
NYA     5  FLA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYN     5  TB      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
BAL     7  PHI     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     2  TOR     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     8  CLE     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     4  CHA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     7  PIT     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     7  SD      5    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      6  TEX     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.



Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Pittsburgh Pirates at Colorado Rockies, 8:10 PM
  (R) Charlie Morton (0-0) vs. (R) Jason Hammel (4-3)
 
 Inter-League
 ------------
 Cleveland Indians at Chicago Cubs, 1:05 PM
  (R) Tomo Ohka (0-1) vs. (L) Ted Lilly (7-4)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Detroit Tigers, 4:05 PM
  (R) Dave Bush (3-3) vs. (R) Alfredo Figaro (0-0)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Kansas City Royals, 4:10 PM
  (R) Chris Carpenter (4-1) vs. (R) Brian Bannister (5-3)
 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Mets, 4:10 PM
  (R) James Shields (5-5) vs. (L) Johan Santana (8-4)
 Baltimore Orioles at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (R) Brad Bergesen (4-2) vs. (L) J.A. Happ (4-0)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (L) Brett Cecil (2-1) vs. (L) Ross Detwiler (0-3)
 Houston Astros at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Brian Moehler (3-4) vs. (R) Scott Baker (4-6)
 Chicago White Sox at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (L) Clayton Richard (2-1) vs. (R) Johnny Cueto (6-4)
 New York Yankees at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) A.J. Burnett (5-3) vs. (R) Josh Johnson (6-1)
 Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 PM
  (R) Derek Lowe (7-4) vs. (R) Josh Beckett (7-3)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at LA Angels of Anaheim, 9:05 PM
  (R) Jeff Weaver (3-1) vs. (R) Jered Weaver (7-2)
 Texas Rangers at San Francisco Giants, 9:05 PM
  (L) Derek Holland (1-4) vs. (R) Matt Cain (9-1)
 Oakland Athletics at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (L) Brett Anderson (3-7) vs. (R) Walter Silva (0-0)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM
  (R) Billy Buckner (2-3) vs. (L) Jason Vargas (2-2)


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     40  27 .597    0.0   39     1    sparkline graph
NYA     38  29 .567    2.0   37     1    sparkline graph
TOR     37  32 .536    4.0   38    -1    sparkline graph
TB      35  34 .507    6.0   41    -6    sparkline graph
BAL     30  37 .448   10.0   29     1    sparkline graph
American League Central     
DET     36  31 .537    0.0   36     0    sparkline graph
MIN     35  34 .507    2.0   37    -2    sparkline graph
CHA     31  36 .463    5.0   31     0    sparkline graph
KC      29  37 .439    6.5   29     0    sparkline graph
CLE     29  40 .420    8.0   33    -4    sparkline graph
American League West        
TEX     37  29 .561    0.0   35     2    sparkline graph
LAA     36  29 .554    0.5   33     3    sparkline graph
SEA     33  34 .493    4.5   31     2    sparkline graph
OAK     29  37 .439    8.0   30    -1    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     36  29 .554    0.0   35     1    sparkline graph
NYN     34  31 .523    2.0   33     1    sparkline graph
ATL     32  34 .485    4.5   32     0    sparkline graph
FLA     33  36 .478    5.0   31     2    sparkline graph
WAS     19  46 .292   17.0   25    -6    sparkline graph
National League Central     
MIL     37  30 .552    0.0   35     2    sparkline graph
STL     37  31 .544    0.5   36     1    sparkline graph
CIN     34  32 .515    2.5   33     1    sparkline graph
CHN     32  31 .508    3.0   32     0    sparkline graph
PIT     31  36 .463    6.0   34    -3    sparkline graph
HOU     30  35 .462    6.0   29     1    sparkline graph
National League West        
LAN     44  24 .647    0.0   42     2    sparkline graph
SF      35  31 .530    8.0   34     1    sparkline graph
COL     34  33 .507    9.5   36    -2    sparkline graph
SD      29  37 .439   14.0   25     4    sparkline graph
ARI     29  39 .426   15.0   31    -2    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
LA  A   Kyle Russell...... 3  3  2  0  1  2  0  
LA  A+  Pedro Baez........ 4  3  2  0  0  1  1  
HOU AAA Brian Bogusevic... 5  3  0  0  2  0  1  4 RBI
MIN AA  Daniel Valencia... 4  3  1  0  1  0  0  3 R
FLA AAA Cameron Maybin.... 3  3  0  1  0  3  0  3 R
OAK AAA Aaron Cunningham.. 5  3  0  1  1  0  0  4 RBI
LA  A   D. Strange-Gordo.. 4  2  1  0  0  1  1  2 SB
SF  A+  Buster Posey...... 4  2  1  0  1  0  0  
ATL AA  Brandon Hicks..... 4  3  1  0  0  1  1  
CHW AAA Brandon Allen..... 4  3  2  0  0  0  0  
MIL AAA Angel Salome...... 6  3  1  1  0  0  1  3 R
BOS A   Anthony Rizzo..... 4  2  2  0  0  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
CHW A   Dexter Carter..... 7  1  0  0  7  1  0  
PHI AA  Kyle Drabek....... 8  4  0  0  5  0  0  14 OF
TB  AAA Wade Davis........ 7  4  3  1  9  2  1  
LAA A+  Alexander Torres.. 6  5  0  0  6  1  0  
SEA A   Brett Lorin....... 6  5  2  2  5  0  0  
LA  AA  Scott Elbert...... 5  3  4  3 10  5  0  
OAK AAA Chad Reineke...... 6  4  2  2  7  1  1  
SEA AAA G. Hernandez...... 5  6  5  5  8  3  0  
BAL A+  Zachary Britton... 5  7  1  1  7  2  0  11 GB
TOR AAA David Purcey...... 7  2  0  0  3  3  0  
DET A   Casey Crosby...... 5  2  0  0  5  3  0  
NYY A-  Arodys Vizcaino... 4  5  4  1  7  1  1


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