The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Oof

by Matthew Carruth
July 06, 2007

Major League News for July 6
Today’s Links
Player 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

MLB Downs - Patrick Sullivan handicaps the playoff contenders in the American League.

Stand Pat's Trade Guide - An overview of the Phillies and the players who will be the subject of rumors but never traded by GM Pat Gillick.

Are the A's Done? - Some people, including some at Athletics Nation, are, while not quite giving up on the 2007 season, at least calling for the focus to shift to 2008.

Phillies on the Basepaths - More from Philadelphia, this time concerning their success thus far at the stolen base. The team is an excellent 70 for 80.

Many Best Friends - The Diamondbacks hit into five, all distinct, double plays in a loss to the Cardinals. The last such occurrence was in 1989.

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 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Player News
Player headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld

Chipper Jones became Atlanta's all-time home run leader with a pair of solo shots Thursday in a 8-6 win over the Dodgers. Jones tied and then passed Dale Murphy with his 371st and 372nd homers. He homered from both sides of the plate for the first time in seven years and the sixth time in his career.

Bill Hall was diagnosed with a high right ankle sprain after landing awkwardly while trying to rob Ryan Doumit of a homer in Tuesday's game. A high ankle sprain can be a six-to-eight week injury, though the Brewers refused to place a timetable on him. They'll likely recall Tony Gwynn Jr. and have him share time with Gabe Gross in center field until Hall returns. Corey Hart also can play some center, which would open up right field for Kevin Mench.

Manager Joe Torre said after Thursday's game that an MRI on Alex Rodriguez's hamstring showed nothing significant. Torre plans on having A-Rod back at third base on Friday. Still, it's possible that Rodriguez will sit out the All-Star Game.

Yesterday’s Results
American League
BOS    15  TB      4    (Recap and Boxscore) Lowell: 5-6, 5 RBI; Crisp: 5 RBI
NYA     7  MIN     6    (Recap and Boxscore) Matsui: GW HR in 8th
CHA    11  BAL     6    (Recap and Boxscore) Iguchi: 2B, 3B, HR
DET    12  CLE     3    (Recap and Boxscore) See below
OAK     3  SEA     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Gaudin: 7.2 IP, 2 R
LAA     5  TEX     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Escobar: 7 IP, 1 R

National League
CHN     4  WAS     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Bergmann, Marshall: 5.1 IP, 2 R
CIN     6  SF      3    (Recap and Boxscore) Arroyo: 6.2 IP, 3 R, hit HR
NYN     6  HOU     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Delgado: 4-4, 2B; Maine: 7.2 IP, 2 R
PIT     6  MIL     3    (Recap and Boxscore) LaRoche: 2B, 2 HR; Gorzelanny: 7 IP, 3 R
STL     3  ARI     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Wainwright: 7 IP, 2 R
ATL     8  LAN     6    (Recap and Boxscore) Chipper: 2 HR; ATL bullpen: 6 IP, 0 R
FLA     3  SD      2    (Recap and Boxscore) Hermida: 2B, HR; Kim: 6.1 IP, 2 R
First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports:
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Today’s Games
National League
 ---------------
 Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (R) Jason Marquis (6-4) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (4-11)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (R) Dave Bush (6-7) vs. (L) Mike Bacsik (2-5)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (R) Micah Owings (5-3) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (4-10)
 New York Mets at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (R) Mike Pelfrey (0-6) vs. (L) Wandy Rodriguez (5-7)
 San Francisco Giants at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:10 PM
  (L) Noah Lowry (8-6) vs. (L) Mike Maroth (0-0)
 Philadelphia Phillies at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM
  (R) Kyle Kendrick (3-0) vs. (L) Jeff Francis (8-5)
 Atlanta Braves at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (R) Buddy Carlyle (2-2) vs. (R) Justin Germano (5-2)
 Florida Marlins at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:40 PM
  (L) Dontrelle Willis (7-7) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (5-0)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 PM
  (R) Scott Baker (2-3) vs. (R) Jon Garland (6-5)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (R) Bartolo Colon (6-4) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (4-6)
 Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (R) Julian Tavarez (5-6) vs. (L) Andrew Miller (3-2)
 Cleveland Indians at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (L) Cliff Lee (5-4) vs. (R) Roy Halladay (9-3)
 Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (R) James Shields (6-4) vs. (L) Odalis Perez (4-7)
 Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM
  (R) Matt Garza (0-0) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (0-0)
 Baltimore Orioles at Texas Rangers, 8:35 PM
  (R) Jeremy Guthrie (4-2) vs. (R) Kameron Loe (5-6)
 Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM
  (R) Jeff Weaver (2-6) vs. (R) Danny Haren (10-2)

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     50  31 .617    0.0   51    -1    sparkline graph
TOR     40  42 .488   10.5   43    -3    sparkline graph
NYA     38  41 .481   11.0   46    -8    sparkline graph
BAL     36  45 .444   14.0   42    -6    sparkline graph
TB      33  48 .407   17.0   32     1    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CLE     50  32 .610    0.0   48     2    sparkline graph
DET     47  33 .588    2.0   50    -3    sparkline graph
MIN     42  39 .519    7.5   45    -3    sparkline graph
CHA     35  44 .443   13.5   36    -1    sparkline graph
KC      35  48 .422   15.5   38    -3    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     51  31 .622    0.0   49     2    sparkline graph
SEA     45  34 .570    4.5   42     3    sparkline graph
OAK     42  40 .512    9.0   46    -4    sparkline graph
TEX     34  48 .415   17.0   38    -4    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     46  35 .568    0.0   47    -1    sparkline graph
ATL     43  40 .518    4.0   43     0    sparkline graph
PHI     42  41 .506    5.0   42     0    sparkline graph
FLA     38  45 .458    9.0   39    -1    sparkline graph
WAS     33  49 .402   13.5   30     3    sparkline graph
National League Central     
MIL     48  34 .585    0.0   47     1    sparkline graph
CHN     41  40 .506    6.5   45    -4    sparkline graph
STL     37  42 .468    9.5   34     3    sparkline graph
HOU     36  47 .434   12.5   39    -3    sparkline graph
PIT     35  47 .427   13.0   36    -1    sparkline graph
CIN     31  51 .378   17.0   38    -7    sparkline graph
National League West        
SD      47  34 .580    0.0   50    -3    sparkline graph
LAN     47  36 .566    1.0   47     0    sparkline graph
ARI     46  38 .548    2.5   41     5    sparkline graph
COL     40  43 .482    8.0   42    -2    sparkline graph
SF      35  45 .438   11.5   43    -8    sparkline graph

Game of the Day
Cleveland and Detroit faced off in the American League Central dogfight, where those two teams have been vying for first all year. The Tigers were victorious yesterday, with a 12-3 pasting of the Indians. As is typical of the Tigers, five of their players had at least two hits, including a 3 for 4 performance for Magglio Ordonez (who is now hitting .370) and a 3 for 5 performance by Placido Polanco (now hitting .334).
CLEVELAND (3) VS DETROIT (12) - FINAL

CLEVELAND              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
G Sizemore cf           4  0  0  0   0  0   0  .279
 F Gutierrez cf         0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .288
C Blake 3b              3  1  1  0   0  1   1  .271
 M Rouse 3b             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .132
V Martinez c            3  1  2  2   0  0   1  .326
 K Shoppach c           1  0  1  0   0  0   0  .363
T Hafner dh             4  0  1  0   0  2   2  .257
J Peralta ss            4  0  0  0   0  2   3  .276
R Garko 1b              3  1  1  0   0  1   2  .294
T Nixon rf              4  0  0  0   0  1   3  .240
B Francisco lf          4  0  1  0   0  2   0  .450
J Barfield 2b           4  0  1  0   0  1   1  .257

Totals                 34  3  8  2   0 10  13

BATTING: 2B - C Blake (19, J Verlander); V Martinez (22, J Verlander); J 
Barfield (13, J Verlander). HR - V Martinez (15, 1st inning off J Verlander 0 
on, 2 Out). RBI - V Martinez 2 (66). 2-out RBI - V Martinez. Runners left in 
scoring position, 2 out - T Nixon 1, C Blake 1. GIDP - R Garko. Team LOB - 6. 

DETROIT                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
C Granderson cf         4  1  1  0   0  1   3  .284
P Polanco 2b            5  3  3  1   0  0   1  .334
G Sheffield dh          3  2  2  3   1  0   1  .298
M Ordonez rf            4  2  3  1   0  0   1  .370
 O Infante rf           1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .301
C Guillen ss            3  1  1  4   0  1   3  .328
 N Perez ss             1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .172
I Rodriguez c           4  1  2  0   1  2   0  .285
M Thames 1b             1  0  1  0   1  0   0  .242
 S Casey 1b             3  1  1  2   0  0   2  .295
C Monroe lf             5  0  1  1   0  1   3  .219
B Inge 3b               4  1  2  0   0  0   2  .251

Totals                 38 12 17 12   3  5  16

BATTING: 2B - M Thames (6, C Sabathia); P Polanco (19, C Sabathia); M Ordonez 
(35, C Sabathia); S Casey (21, J Stanford). HR - P Polanco (3, 1st inning off C 
Sabathia 0 on, 1 Out), C Guillen (13, 3rd inning off C Sabathia 2 on, 1 Out), G 
Sheffield (20, 4th inning off C Sabathia 1 on, 2 Out). S - C Granderson. SF - G 
Sheffield , C Guillen. RBI - P Polanco (38), G Sheffield 3 (56), C Guillen 4 
(65), M Ordonez (69), S Casey 2 (33), C Monroe (42). 2-out RBI - G Sheffield 2. 
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C Guillen 1, B Inge 1, C Granderson 
1. Team LOB - 8. 
 
FIELDING: E - C Guillen (14, throw). DP: 1 (B Inge-P Polanco-S Casey). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    CLEVELAND       - 110 001 000   --   3
    DETROIT         - 104 205 00x   --  12
----------------------------------------------------

CLEVELAND                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
C Sabathia (L, 12-3)          4      10   7   7   1   3   3   3.58
T Mastny                      1       1   0   0   1   2   0   4.91
E Mujica                        1/3   3   4   4   1   0   0  10.57
J Stanford                    2 2/3   3   1   1   0   0   0   4.71

DETROIT                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Verlander (W, 10-3)         7       6   3   2   0   7   1   3.14
B Seay                        1       2   0   0   0   1   0   3.57
J Capellan                    1       0   0   0   0   2   0   3.00

WP - J Verlander. HBP - C Blake (by J Verlander); R Garko (by J Verlander). 
Pitches-strikes: C Sabathia 87-56; T Mastny 29-16; E Mujica 14-9; J Stanford 
29-21; J Verlander 110-76; B Seay 16-12; J Capellan 10-7. Ground balls-fly 
balls: C Sabathia 3-6; T Mastny 0-1; E Mujica 0-1; J Stanford 3-5; J Verlander 
5-9; B Seay 2-0; J Capellan 0-1. Batters faced: C Sabathia 23; T Mastny 5; E 
Mujica 5; J Stanford 11; J Verlander 29; B Seay 4; J Capellan 3. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Doug Eddings. 1B--Dana Demuth. 2B--Derryl Cousins. 3B--Kerwin 
Danley. 

T--2:50. Att--40,923. 
Weather: 81 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 2 mph, in from 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.

image

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
ARI AA  Carlos Gonzalez... 4  2  0  0  1  1  0  
BAL A   Billy Rowell...... 6  4  0  0  1  1  2  
CIN AA  Jay Bruce......... 3  1  0  1  0  1  2  
BAL AA  Jeff Fiorentino... 2  2  0  0  2  1  0  
LA  AAA Andy LaRoche...... 4  2  0  0  0  1  0  
BAL A   Brandon Snyder.... 6  4  0  0  1  1  0  4 R
SEA AAA W. Balentien...... 5  3  1  1  0  0  0  
TB  AA  Reid Brignac...... 5  2  0  0  1  0  0  
WAN A+  Justin Maxwell.... 6  2  1  0  1  0  1  
NYM AA  L. Milledge....... 5  2  0  0  1  0  2  
CLE A+  Stephen Head...... 5  2  2  0  0  0  1  
HOU AA  Joshua Flores..... 3  2  2  0  0  1  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
CLE AA  Chuck Lofgren..... 6  3  1  1  6  2  1  
HOU A+  Brian Bogusevic... 7  8  3  3  8  1  0  
STL A   Tyler Herron...... 7  4  1  1  5  1  0  
CLE AAA Sean Smith........ 7  4  0  0  5  3  0  
SEA AA  Justin Thomas..... 6  6  1  1  7  2  0  
KC  AA  Luke Hochevar..... 4  7  5  5  6  2  1  
FLA A+  Brett Sinkbeil.... 7  4  3  3  5  0  2  
BAL AA  Radhames Liz...... 6  5  1  1  7  3  1  
MIL AA  William Inman..... 6  8  3  3  7  0  2  
BOS A-  Jose Capellan..... 5  5  3  3  4  0  0  9 GB
NYY A-  Z. McAllister..... 5  4  1  1  6  1  1  9 GB
BOS A   Bryson Cox........ 2  0  0  0  3  0  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.

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