The Hardball Times

THT Daily: NL Takes the Day

by Matthew Carruth
June 14, 2007

Major League News for June 14
Today’s Links
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/

THT Links

Odd infield - They come from all walks of baseball, but have given Devil Rays fans hope and something to cheer for. They are the Devil Rays infielders.

Steady as she goes - The A's extended the contracts of two of their most important properties: general manager Billy Beane and president Mike Crowley, who are now spoken for through 2014.

Notable - A's catcher Jason Kendall hit his first home run in 157 games yesterday as part of a 3-for-4 night.

Taiwanese hits - Hong-Chih Kuo hit the first home run ever hit by a Taiwanese player in Major League Baseball yesterday, while compatriot Chien-Ming Wang got the win a 4-1 Yankees triumph over the Diamondbacks, driving media coverage on the island to a frenzy.

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 Rotoworld

Bud Selig is planning to suspend Jason Giambi next week if he does not cooperate with George Mitchell's investigation on steroid use, a high-ranking MLB official told USA TODAY. It's hard to imagine any such suspension getting past an arbitrator. We're as disgusted with Giambi as anyone, but it's ludicrous to attempt to suspend him for kind of, sort of admitting to something everyone already knew he did, especially when MLB is trying to get players to cooperate with this investigation.

Ian Snell gave up seven hits and an unearned run Wednesday in his first career complete game, an 8-1 victory over Texas. Snell is on fire, having surrendered just three earned runs in three starts this month, improving to 6-4 with an ERA just a shade over 2.50. He entered the night eighth in the NL in ERA and he's also moving up the strikeout leaders with another seven tonight. Snell walked just two, throwing 105 pitches in all -- 69 for strikes. We are definitely witnessing the emergence of one of the league's brightest young starters.

Braves activated third baseman Chipper Jones from the 15-day disabled list. Jones is in the lineup as a designated hitter tonight. Yunel Escobar is going to move into the utility role with Chipper back, but he'll probably get the start at shortstop tonight with Edgar Renteria still hurting.

Devil Rays placed second baseman B.J. Upton on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 9, with a strained left quad. The Rays will go with Ty Wigginton and Josh Wilson at second base until Upton makes it back from the DL. The team is hopeful he won't miss more than the minimum.

Huston Street (elbow) reportedly suffered a setback and has been shut down after experiencing pain when he played catch Friday. Street is expected to seek a second opinion on his elbow after initially being diagnosed with no structural damage to the ligament by Dr. Lewis Yocum. The San Francisco Chronicle suggests that Street returning before the All-Star break now "seems unlikely" and reports that surgery is an option.

A.J. Burnett will miss at least one start with a strained right shoulder suffered in Tuesday's game. "He's fine," manager John Gibbons said Wednesday. "He'll miss one start. He doesn't need to go on the DL, we don't think." Josh Towers, who was supposed to be skipped, will start Sunday in Burnett's place.

Yesterday’s Results
Inter-League
WAS     9  BAL     6    (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings: Payton: 4-5, 2 2B; Lopez: GW 3B
COL    12  BOS     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Fogg: 5 IP, 2 R; Holliday: 3-5, 2B
NYA     7  ARI     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Mussina: 7.2 IP, 2 R; A-Rod, Matsui: HR, 3 RBI
SD      9  TB      0    (Recap and Boxscore) Peavy: 7 IP, 0 R; Kouzmanoff: 2B, HR
MIL     3  DET     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Hall: 2 2B, GW HR in 8th; Maroth: 7 IP, 1 R
STL     7  KC      3    (Recap and Boxscore) Wainwright: 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R
MIN     6  ATL     0    (Recap and Boxscore) Silva: 9 IP, 0 R; Cuddyer: 2 2B
CLE     7  FLA     3    (Recap and Boxscore) 6th inning: 6 CLE runs; 2 FLA E; 3 FLA ejections
PHI     8  CHA     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Rowand: GS HR; Cintron: 3-5, 2 2B
CHN     3  SEA     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Marshall: 8 IP, 2 R
LAA     6  CIN     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Guerrero: 2 2B, 4 RBI; Lackey: 6 IP, 3 R
OAK     7  HOU     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Kendall: 3-4, HR; Blanton: 7 IP, 3 R
PIT     8  TEX     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Snell: 9 IP, 1 R; Bautista: 2B, 3B, 3 RBI
TOR     7  SF      4    (Recap and Boxscore) McGowan: 6 IP, 2 R; Clark: 2-3, 3 RS

National League
LAN     9  NYN     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Furcal: 2 3B; Kemp: 3-4; Penny: 7 IP, 1 R
First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:
{embed="pageblocks/FirstInning_Team_Lookup"}

Today’s Games
 Inter-League
 ------------
 San Diego Padres at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 12:10 PM
  (R) Justin Germano (4-0) vs. (L) JP Howell (1-0)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Cincinnati Reds, 12:35 PM
  (R) Bartolo Colon (5-2) vs. (R) Homer Bailey (1-0)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (L) Doug Davis (4-7) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (3-4)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM
  (R) Ben Sheets (6-3) vs. (R) Chad Durbin (5-2)
 Oakland Athletics at Houston Astros, 2:05 PM
  (R) Chad Gaudin (6-1) vs. (R) Jason Jennings (0-1)
 Seattle Mariners at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM
  (R) Jeff Weaver (0-6) vs. (R) Jason Marquis (5-3)
 Texas Rangers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (R) Brandon McCarthy (4-4) vs. (L) Tom Gorzelanny (6-3)
 Cleveland Indians at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM
  Undecided vs. (L) Dontrelle Willis (7-5)
 Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Jason Simontacchi (3-4) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (3-1)
 Colorado Rockies at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jeff Francis (5-5) vs. (R) Josh Beckett (9-0)
 Atlanta Braves at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM
  (R) Tim Hudson (6-4) vs. (L) Johan Santana (6-6)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (R) Kip Wells (2-10) vs. (R) Scott Elarton (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     41  23 .641    0.0   39     2    sparkline graph
NYA     32  31 .508    8.5   37    -5    sparkline graph
TOR     31  34 .477   10.5   32    -1    sparkline graph
TB      29  34 .460   11.5   25     4    sparkline graph
BAL     29  36 .446   12.5   32    -3    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CLE     38  26 .594    0.0   36     2    sparkline graph
DET     37  27 .578    1.0   38    -1    sparkline graph
MIN     32  31 .508    5.5   33    -1    sparkline graph
CHA     27  35 .435   10.0   24     3    sparkline graph
KC      25  41 .379   14.0   26    -1    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     41  25 .621    0.0   39     2    sparkline graph
SEA     35  27 .565    4.0   32     3    sparkline graph
OAK     35  29 .547    5.0   38    -3    sparkline graph
TEX     23  42 .354   17.5   26    -3    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     36  28 .563    0.0   36     0    sparkline graph
ATL     35  31 .530    2.0   32     3    sparkline graph
PHI     35  31 .530    2.0   33     2    sparkline graph
FLA     32  34 .485    5.0   33    -1    sparkline graph
WAS     28  37 .431    8.5   26     2    sparkline graph
National League Central     
MIL     35  30 .538    0.0   32     3    sparkline graph
CHN     29  35 .453    5.5   35    -6    sparkline graph
STL     28  34 .452    5.5   24     4    sparkline graph
PIT     28  37 .431    7.0   28     0    sparkline graph
HOU     27  38 .415    8.0   28    -1    sparkline graph
CIN     26  40 .394    9.5   29    -3    sparkline graph
National League West        
SD      37  27 .578    0.0   39    -2    sparkline graph
LAN     38  28 .576    0.0   36     2    sparkline graph
ARI     37  29 .561    1.0   34     3    sparkline graph
COL     32  33 .492    5.5   29     3    sparkline graph
SF      30  35 .462    7.5   34    -4    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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.
 ORG LVL PLAYER            AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes
SEA AAA Adam Jones........ 5  4  0  0  1  0  0  
CIN A+  Jay Bruce......... 3  2  2  0  0  0  0  
ARI AA  Carlos Gonzalez... 4  3  1  0  0  0  0  
KC  AAA Billy Butler...... 5  2  0  0  1  0  1  
LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 4  1  1  0  0  1  0  
CIN A+  Jay Bruce......... 3  1  1  0  0  1  0  
SEA AAA Jeff Clement...... 5  3  2  0  1  0  1  3 R
COL AAA Ian Stewart....... 4  2  0  0  1  0  1  
LA  A+  Blake Dewitt...... 4  2  1  0  1  1  0  
TOR A   Travis Snider..... 4  2  1  0  0  0  2  
OAK A   J. Mitchell....... 3  1  1  0  0  2  0  
TOR A+  Anthony Hatch..... 4  2  0  0  2  0  0  4 RBI

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
LAA AA  Nick Adenhart..... 7  7  2  2  5  2  0  15 GB
MIL AA  Manny Parra....... 8  4  2  2  9  1  0  
BAL AA  Radhames Liz...... 6  1  0  0 11  3  0  
LA  A   Clayton Kershaw... 7  4  0  0  8  2  0  
MIN A+  Anthony Swarzak... 6  4  1  1  8  1  0  
CIN A+  Johnny Cueto...... 7  4  1  1  6  1  0  
TEX AA  Edinson Volquez... 6  5  4  4  4  0  1  
KC  AAA Tyler Lumsden..... 8  4  0  0  3  1  0  14 GB
NYY AA  Alan Horne........ 7  8  2  1  6  2  0  13 OF
CIN AA  Richie Gardner.... 7  3  2  2  3  1  1  
HOU A+  C. Salamida....... 4  4  3  3  5  2  1  7 GB
ATL A   Jamie Richmond.... 7  4  4  3  2  2  1

Access 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