The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Patriot’s Day

by Matthew Carruth
April 17, 2007

Major League News for April 17
Today’s Links
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Top Minor League Performances
Player News

THT Links

Coming soon.

Yesterday’s Results
American League
BOS     7  LAA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
BAL     9  TB      7    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET    12  KC      5    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
WAS     5  ATL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN    12  SD      4    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL    10  CIN     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     4  FLA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT     3  STL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     5  ARI     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      8  COL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)

Today’s Games
National League
 ---------------
 Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals, 1:10 PM
  (L) Tom Gorzelanny (1-0) vs. (R) Adam Wainwright (1-0)
 San Diego Padres at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM
  (R) Greg Maddux (1-1) vs. (R) Wade Miller (0-1)
 Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (R) John Smoltz (1-1) vs. (R) Jerome Williams (0-2)
 New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (L) Tom Glavine (2-1) vs. (R) Freddy Garcia (0-0)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (R) Dave Bush (1-1) vs. (R) Matt Belisle (2-0)
 Florida Marlins at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (R) Sergio Mitre (0-2) vs. (R) Roy Oswalt (2-0)
 San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies, 8:35 PM
  (R) Matt Cain (0-1) vs. (R) Jason Hirsh (1-1)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (R) Brett Tomko (0-0) vs. (R) Micah Owings (1-1)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jorge De La Rosa (1-1) vs. (L) Mike Maroth (2-0)
 Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (R) Jake Westbrook (0-1) vs. (L) Chase Wright (0-0)
 Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-1) vs. (L) Gustavo Chacin (1-0)
 Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7:10 PM
  (R) Steve Trachsel (0-0) vs. (L) Casey Fossum (0-1)
 Texas Rangers at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM
  (R) Robinson Tejeda (1-1) vs. (R) Jon Garland (0-0)
 Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners, 10:05 PM
  (R) Ramon Ortiz (2-0) vs. (R) Jeff Weaver (0-1)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM
  (R) Jered Weaver (0-0) vs. (R) Chad Gaudin (0-0)

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      7   4 .636    0.0    8    -1    sparkline graph
TOR      7   5 .583    0.5    7     0    sparkline graph
BAL      7   6 .538    1.0    7     0    sparkline graph
NYA      5   6 .455    2.0    7    -2    sparkline graph
TB       5   8 .385    3.0    5     0    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CLE      6   3 .667    0.0    6     0    sparkline graph
DET      8   5 .615    0.0    7     1    sparkline graph
MIN      7   5 .583    0.5    6     1    sparkline graph
CHA      5   6 .455    2.0    5     0    sparkline graph
KC       3  10 .231    5.0    4    -1    sparkline graph
American League West        
SEA      5   3 .625    0.0    4     1    sparkline graph
LAA      6   7 .462    1.5    5     1    sparkline graph
OAK      6   7 .462    1.5    6     0    sparkline graph
TEX      5   7 .417    2.0    5     0    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
ATL      8   4 .667    0.0    6     2    sparkline graph
NYN      7   4 .636    0.5    8    -1    sparkline graph
FLA      6   6 .500    2.0    7    -1    sparkline graph
WAS      4   9 .308    4.5    3     1    sparkline graph
PHI      3   8 .273    4.5    4    -1    sparkline graph
National League Central     
MIL      7   5 .583    0.0    6     1    sparkline graph
CIN      7   6 .538    0.5    6     1    sparkline graph
STL      6   6 .500    1.0    6     0    sparkline graph
HOU      5   6 .455    1.5    5     0    sparkline graph
PIT      5   6 .455    1.5    5     0    sparkline graph
CHN      5   7 .417    2.0    7    -2    sparkline graph
National League West        
LAN      9   4 .692    0.0    9     0    sparkline graph
ARI      9   5 .643    0.5    8     1    sparkline graph
SD       7   6 .538    2.0    6     1    sparkline graph
COL      5   8 .385    4.0    6    -1    sparkline graph
SF       4   7 .364    4.0    4     0    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            POS AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes
ARI AA  Jon Zeringue       LF  5  3  1  0  2  0  1  6 RBI
ARI AA  Carlos Gonzalez    RF  4  3  0  0  1  1  1   
CLE AAA Jason Cooper       RF  4  3  2  1  0  1  1  5 RBI
CLE AAA Ryan Mulhern       1B  5  4  2  0  1  0  0  6 RBI
COL AAA Ryan Spilborghs    CF  5  3  2  0  1  0  0   
COL A   Logan Wiens        DH  4  3  1  0  1  0  0   
FLA AA  Lee Mitchell       3B  3  2  0  0  2  1  0  3 runs scored
LA  AA                     1B  5  3  0  0  2  1  0   
NYM AAA Carlos Gomez       CF  3  3  0  1  0  2  0   
NYY A   S. Fortenberry     LF  5  4  2  0  0  0  0   
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
ATL AAA Kevin Barry        5.0  2  1  1  8  1  0   
ATL AA  Matt Harrison      6.0  2  0  0  5  2  0   
BOS A   C. Jones           6.0  3  1  1  4  0  0   
CLE A   Hector Rondon      6.0  2  0  0  2  2  0   
DET AAA Virgil Vasquez     5.0  3  0  0  9  1  0  18 K over last 14 IP
DET A+  Andrew Miller      8.0  3  1  0  6  0  0   
KC  A   Harold Mozingo     6.0  1  0  0  5  0  0   
LAA AAA Kasey Olenberger   7.0  4  2  2  7  2  1   
OAK AA  Benjamin Fritz     6.0  2  1  1  6  1  0   
STL A+  Tyler Norrick      6.0  2  0  0  2  2  0  0 ER allowed over last 18 IP

Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld

Alfonso Soriano will undergo an MRI on Tuesday. He said he believed he'd miss at least five days with a strained left hamstring suffered Monday night. "Yes, I don't like to get hurt," Soriano said, when asked if he's worried. "I know that I'm not going to be able to play tomorrow, so it's sad for me because ... I like to play every day. We'll see how I look tomorrow." Consider it better than 50-50 that Soriano lands on the DL. Felix Pie would likely be called up to play in his place and get a chance to start regularly in center field.

Randy Johnson will make one more rehab start Thursday for Triple-A Tucson. "I didn't feel I was ready," Johnson said. "I'm coming off back surgery. I didn't have a regular spring training, absolutely. I'm feeling good about everything, and I want to have one more productive start and know that it's my last start." Johnson is now set to make his season debut against the Padres on April 24.

The Angels will have Bartolo Colon (shoulder) come off the DL and start Saturday against the Mariners. Colon was to pitch Friday before Sunday's game was rained out. Since he'll be facing the Mariners, he should probably be activated right away in AL-only leagues.

Blue Jays placed third baseman Troy Glaus on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 13, with a bone spur in his left heel. Glaus doesn't want to have surgery to take care of the problem. Two weeks off should do him a fair amount of good, but it probably won't make him 100 percent. Jason Smith, John McDonald and Ryan Roberts can fill in at third base.

Diamondbacks activated outfielder Carlos Quentin from the 15-day disabled list. Quentin is starting in right field and batting fifth on Monday night. Brian Barden was sent down to make room on the roster, and Scott Hairston will return to the bench role he was supposed to occupy this year.

Ryan Freel will make $7 million over two years under the terms of his two-year extension agreed to on Monday. GM Wayne Krivsky was smart to lock him up at that price. Even if Freel reverts to a superutility role at some point, he'll be worth $3 million in 2008 and $4 million in 2009. As before, he'll be eligible for free agency for the first time after 2009.

The Blue Jays expect B.J. Ryan to miss 4-6 weeks due to a strained ligament in his left elbow. Ryan avoids Tommy John surgery for now, but that still may be a possibility if he doesn't recover as hoped. Jason Frasor is set to occupy the closer's role in his absence. Shaun Marcum and Victor Zambrano are the fallbacks.

Reed Johnson will undergo surgery for a herniated disc in his back and isn't expected to return before July. Back surgery can be tricky, so Johnson can't be counted on to show up at full strength after the All-Star break. Fortunately, the Jays have Adam Lind to cover for him in left field and should be fine there. However, now the only backup they have for the outfield, first base and DH is Matt Stairs. They'll want to add some depth, even if it's just a quad-A player. Alex Rios is likely to remain in the leadoff spot until Johnson returns, giving him some additional value.

X-rays on Vladimir Guerrero's right hand were negative. He's day-to-day with a soft tissue contusion. The Angels' season is saved. Reggie Willits will fill in if Guerrero needs to miss a few days after getting hit by a Josh Beckett pitch in the first inning of Monday's game.

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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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