THT Daily: No Hitter
by Matthew CarruthJune 13, 2007
Major League News for June 13
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
6 Weeks Away - As we approach and pass the 40% mark in the season, the contenders and pretenders are starting to sort themselves out and it becomes time to wonder, which playoff possible teams need what help?And Some Look Further Down the Line - A thoroughly detailed look at what the Rays could use for help come the 2008 season. This has the potential to be quite a dangerous team I agree, but their division and league placement puts them at an immeasurable disadvantage. They would probably roll in the NL, though half the AL could probably be the NL's best team.
Just Stay Out of the Way Please - More than a few people are pleased that Mariners 2B Jose Lopez has returned to hitting for power after his mysterious mid-season swoon in 2006.
Word on the Street - Athletics closer Huston Street was shut down during his rehab with more pain in his elbow. At best, this resets his rehab and pushes his return back a little. At worst, he's headed for surgery and a 2008 return.
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 .
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldJustin Verlander threw a no-hitter Tuesday, striking out a career-high 12 Brewers in a 4-0 win. He walked four batters in moving to 7-2 on the year, while trimming his ERA to a sparkling 2.79. Since getting ripped by the Tribe on the final day in May, Verlander has been lights out, throwing 16 shutout innings with just five hits allowed while fanning 18 and walking six. The no-hitter was the second in the majors this season and first in Comerica Park history.
Thrust back into the closer's role, Brad Lidge gave up a game-tying homer to Mark Kotsay to start the top of the ninth Monday against the A's. Same old Lidge. There just wasn't any good reason for the Astros to have Dan Wheeler and Lidge change roles again. Lidge did preserve the tie tonight, even though he gave up a double to the next hitter he faced and threw a wild pitch that got him to third. He'll probably get at least one more chance to save a game this week before the Astros consider going back to Wheeler.
A 17-year-old foster girl living with a relative of Elijah Dukes told police the Devil Rays outfielder got her pregnant. The girl, expected to give birth Nov. 5, told investigators she and Dukes had consensual sex on the living room sofa. She said Dukes got angry when she and another person confronted him about the pregnancy. "Yeah, we sat down and told him and he got mad and threw a Gatorade at me," she told investigators. Dukes is already known to have had at least five children with four different women. This is yet another incident that could add to the Rays' desire to ship him out of town.
The Blue Jays are optimistic that A.J. Burnett's shoulder strain isn't serious. Burnett allowed two runs in 4 2/3 innings before leaving Tuesday's game. "(The trainers) don't think it's any big deal," manager John Gibbons said. "It's a mild strain. You're always concerned when a pitcher feels something and has to come out. They did all the tests and everything came out good but that's not the final say. He'll get checked tomorrow."
Yesterday’s Results
Inter-League WAS 7 BAL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 2 COL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Wakefield: 8 IP, 1 R; Cook: 7.1 IP, 2 R NYA 4 ARI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Wang: 7 IP, 1 R TB 11 SD 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Pena: GS HR, 5 RBI DET 4 MIL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Verlander. No hitter. KC 8 STL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Teahen: 3-5, 2B, 3B; Bannister: 7 IP, 0 R MIN 7 ATL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 3 CLE 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Olsen: 7 IP, 0 R PHI 7 CHA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Utley: 3-3, HR, 4 RBI; Hamels: 8 IP, 2 R SEA 5 CHN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) 13 innings; SEA: 5th straight win in last at bat CIN 5 LAA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Escobar: 6 IP, 14 K; Kotchman: 2B, HR HOU 5 OAK 4 (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings; Ausmus: 3-5, HR, 4 RBI; Kotsay: 4-5, HR PIT 7 TEX 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Bautista: 2 2B, HR; LaRoche: 2B, HR; Duke: 6 IP, 2 R SF 3 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Lowry: 6 IP, 2 R National League LAN 4 NYN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Kuo: 7 IP, 1 R
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Today’s Games
National League --------------- New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Jorge Sosa (6-1) vs. (R) Brad Penny (7-1) Inter-League ------------ Chicago White Sox at Philadelphia Phillies, 1:05 PM (L) John Danks (3-6) vs. (R) Kyle Kendrick (0-0) Toronto Blue Jays at San Francisco Giants, 3:35 PM (R) Dustin McGowan (2-2) vs. (R) Tim Lincecum (2-0) Cleveland Indians at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM (L) Cliff Lee (2-4) vs. (R) Byung-Hyun Kim (3-2) Texas Rangers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Robinson Tejeda (5-6) vs. (R) Ian Snell (5-4) Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Livan Hernandez (5-3) vs. (R) Mike Mussina (2-3) Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (L) Matt Chico (3-4) vs. (R) Steve Trachsel (5-4) Milwaukee Brewers at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (L) Chris Capuano (5-5) vs. (L) Mike Maroth (4-2) Colorado Rockies at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Josh Fogg (1-5) vs. (R) Curt Schilling (6-2) LA Angels of Anaheim at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) John Lackey (9-4) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (3-7) San Diego Padres at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Jake Peavy (7-1) vs. (R) Edwin Jackson (0-7) Seattle Mariners at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM (R) Miguel Batista (7-4) vs. (L) Sean Marshall (2-2) Oakland Athletics at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Joe Blanton (5-4) vs. (R) Chris Sampson (6-5) Atlanta Braves at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (L) Chuck James (5-5) vs. (R) Carlos Silva (3-7) St. Louis Cardinals at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Adam Wainwright (4-5) vs. (L) Odalis Perez (3-6)
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 22 .651 0.0 40 1NYA 31 31 .500 9.5 36 -5
TOR 30 34 .469 11.5 32 -2
TB 29 33 .468 11.5 26 3
BAL 29 35 .453 12.5 32 -3
American League Central CLE 37 26 .587 0.0 36 1
DET 37 26 .587 0.0 38 -1
MIN 31 31 .500 5.5 32 -1
CHA 27 34 .443 9.0 24 3
KC 25 40 .385 13.0 26 -1
American League West LAA 40 25 .615 0.0 38 2
SEA 35 26 .574 3.0 32 3
OAK 34 29 .540 5.0 37 -3
TEX 23 41 .359 16.5 26 -3
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 36 27 .571 0.0 36 0
ATL 35 30 .538 2.0 32 3
PHI 34 31 .523 3.0 32 2
FLA 32 33 .492 5.0 32 0
WAS 27 37 .422 9.5 25 2
National League Central MIL 34 30 .531 0.0 32 2
CHN 28 35 .444 5.5 34 -6
STL 27 34 .443 5.5 23 4
HOU 27 37 .422 7.0 28 -1
PIT 27 37 .422 7.0 27 0
CIN 26 39 .400 8.5 29 -3
National League West SD 36 27 .571 0.0 38 -2
ARI 37 28 .569 0.0 34 3
LAN 37 28 .569 0.0 35 2
COL 31 33 .484 5.5 28 3
SF 30 34 .469 6.5 34 -4
Game of the Day
Justin Verlander was hitting 100 mph on the radar gun and had his changeup working beautifully amidst the seagulls in Comerica Park. As a result, he pitched the Tigers’ first no-hitter since Jack Morris in 1984.MILWAUKEE (0) VS DETROIT (4) - FINAL
MILWAUKEE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Counsell 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .244
T Graffanino 2b 4 0 0 0 0 4 0 .230
J Hardy ss 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .278
P Fielder 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .295
C Hart rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .288
G Jenkins lf 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 .266
J Estrada c 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .273
B Hall cf 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 .252
G Gross dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 .191
Totals 26 0 0 0 4 12 6
BATTING: GIDP - G Gross. Team LOB - 3.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (J Suppan-T Graffanino-P Fielder).
DETROIT ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Granderson cf 4 1 1 1 0 0 2 .288
P Polanco 2b 3 0 0 1 0 0 2 .344
G Sheffield dh 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .281
M Ordonez rf 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .362
S Casey 1b 3 0 1 0 1 0 2 .280
I Rodriguez c 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .293
C Monroe lf 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 .244
B Inge 3b 2 2 2 2 1 0 0 .250
N Perez ss 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .180
Totals 28 4 7 4 3 2 8
BATTING: 2B - G Sheffield (9, J Suppan); C Monroe (17, J Suppan). 3B - C
Granderson (13, J Suppan). HR - B Inge (11, 3rd inning off J Suppan 0 on, 1
Out). S - N Perez. SF - P Polanco. RBI - B Inge 2 (31), C Granderson (34), P
Polanco (33). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - S Casey 1, P Polanco 1.
GIDP - I Rodriguez. Team LOB - 5.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (N Perez-P Polanco-S Casey).
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MILWAUKEE - 000 000 000 -- 0
DETROIT - 001 002 10x -- 4
----------------------------------------------------
MILWAUKEE ip h r er bb so hr era
J Suppan (L, 7-7) 6 1/3 7 4 4 2 1 1 4.04
J Capellan 1 2/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 4.70
DETROIT ip h r er bb so hr era
J Verlander (W, 7-2) 9 0 0 0 4 12 0 2.79
IBB - M Ordonez (by J Suppan). Pitches-strikes: J Suppan 102-61; J Capellan
21-12; J Verlander 112-73. Ground balls-fly balls: J Suppan 10-8; J Capellan
2-2; J Verlander 11-4. Batters faced: J Suppan 27; J Capellan 6; J Verlander
30.
UMPIRES: HP--Ron Kulpa. 1B--Dale Scott. 2B--Paul Emmel. 3B--Dan Iassogna.
T--2:11. Att--33,555.
Weather: 79 degrees, clear. Wind: 13 mph, left 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 LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 SEA AAA Adam Jones........ 3 1 0 0 1 1 2 NYM AA F. Martinez....... 5 1 0 0 1 0 2 NYY A+ M. Vechionacci.... 5 4 3 1 0 0 0 PIT AA Steven Pearce..... 5 3 1 0 2 0 0 3 R BAL A Billy Rowell...... 5 2 1 1 0 0 2 OAK A+ Javier Herrera.... 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 CHW AAA Ryan Sweeney...... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 LA AAA Andy LaRoche...... 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 CHC AAA Eric Patterson.... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 PIT AA Andrew McCutchen.. 5 3 1 0 0 0 1 STL AA Colby Rasmus...... 5 2 1 0 0 0 2 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes MIL AAA Yovani Gallardo... 6 4 2 2 12 1 1 TOR AA Kyle Yates........ 7 5 0 0 7 0 0 NYY AA Joba Chamberlain.. 5 3 0 0 9 2 0 LAA AAA Joe Saunders...... 6 7 5 5 11 3 0 MIN A Jeffrey Manship... 7 5 1 1 9 1 0 12 GB COL AAA Ubaldo Jimenez.... 5 4 3 1 8 4 0 NYM A+ Deolis Guerra..... 5 4 2 1 6 0 0 FLA A+ C. Volstad........ 7 7 5 1 9 2 1 WAN AA Collin Balester... 5 6 4 4 8 1 1 ARI AAA Dustin Nippert.... 6 3 0 0 7 2 0 BOS AAA Devern Hansack.... 7 8 2 2 6 0 0 TB A+ M. Wlodarczyk..... 6 3 0 0 5 3 0
Access THT’s stats here…
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.