THT Daily: Phillies take command
by THT StaffSeptember 23, 2008
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ and an archive at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/thtdaily_index/
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldVladimir Guerrero went 3-for-4 and took Ryan Rowland-Smith deep on Monday night, giving him 25 homers in an 11th straight season. The performance also lifted his average from .299 to .302. If he can stay there, he'll join Lou Gehrig as just the second player ever with 11 straight seasons of a .300 average and 25 homers.
Yesterday’s Results
Game recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Phillies 6, Braves 2: I think the Braves owe the Phillies some collective form of life debt. It's as if there's a spiritual connection between these two teams, with the bonds consisting of grateful servitude flowing north from Atlanta to Philadelphia. When facing the Mets, the Braves become fearsome warriors. When facing the Phillies, their submission knows no bounds. Basically, I think the Braves are Wookiees. There. I said it.
Reds 7, Marlins 5: Jerry Hairston Jr. goes 3-5 with a double and 2 RBI. Unfortunately the pregame picketing, the fierce anti-Hairston editorials, and the incessant booing for each of his at bats really soured the experience for him, just as it has for all of the monsters named in the Mitchell Report.
Royals 6, Tigers 2: There's not much left to root for this season, but one of the things I am rooting for is for Kansas City to pass Detroit in the standings. They're only a game behind now.
Rays 4, Orioles 2: According to the game story, "the victory left the Rays (93-62) one win shy of tying the 1991 Atlanta Braves for most victories by a team that had the worst record in the majors one year earlier." Yeah, but the 1990 Braves had one fewer win than the 2007 Rays, so let's make them win two more before making a big deal about it, OK? I gotta hold on to something here.
Indians 4, Red Sox 3: The Yankees stay mathematically alive for one more night. I wish they'd hurry up and put a bullet in those guys. I have a corpse picture I've been waiting to use for the occasion.
Cubs 9, Mets 5: A grand slam for Jason Marquis is but the latest addition to the Mets' annual nightmare reel. At this point, I'm inclined to simply give the NL Wild Card to the Twins, because neither New York nor Milwaukee seem to want it all that much.
A's 4, Rangers 3: Ziegler blows the save, but the Athletics hold on to win it in the 11th. They've won a lot lately, actually. Remember those late season surges that A's had in 2001 and 2002? Well, this one is just like those except it has lasted only about ten games and it's not going to end up helping them in the standings in any relevant way. But hey, wins.
Diamondbacks 4, Cardinals 2: Brandon Webb wins his 22nd game. I suppose that means that Bochy will start Tim Lincecum four or five more times between now and Sunday. I mean, what else do the Giants have to play for?
Angels 2, Mariners 1: Here's what we're going to do: I'll take the morning shifts, and a couple of you guys volunteer for afternoons and evenings. We'll brew up some coffee, and make sure there's always a TV or a radio on so that he doesn't feel so isolated. We also have to make sure that there are always lots of pictures of his family around, and that we keep the conversation light. No, it's not a guarantee, but that's what the web sites say we need to do in order to keep Zumsteg from killing himself, so we have to try.
You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
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Today’s Games
National League --------------- Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (L) Mike Hampton (2-3) vs. (L) Cole Hamels (14-9) Chicago Cubs at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (L) Sean Marshall (3-4) vs. (L) Johan Santana (14-7) Florida Marlins at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM (L) Scott Olsen (8-10) vs. (R) Shairon Martis (0-3) Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Jeff Karstens (2-6) vs. (R) Dave Bush (9-10) Cincinnati Reds at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Edinson Volquez (16-6) vs. (L) Wandy Rodriguez (8-6) Arizona Diamondbacks at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (L) Randy Johnson (10-9) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (14-6) San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (L) Wade LeBlanc (1-1) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (15-10) Colorado Rockies at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (11-12) vs. (R) Tim Lincecum (17-4) American League --------------- Tampa Bay Rays at Baltimore Orioles, 5:05 PM (R) James Shields (13-8) vs. (L) Garrett Olson (9-9) Cleveland Indians at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (L) Cliff Lee (22-2) vs. (R) Tim Wakefield (9-11) Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Zack Greinke (12-10) vs. (R) Freddy Garcia (1-0) New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (R) Mike Mussina (18-9) vs. (R) Jesse Litsch (12-8) Oakland Athletics at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (L) Josh Outman (1-1) vs. (R) Dustin Nippert (3-5) Tampa Bay Rays at Baltimore Orioles, 8:05 PM (R) Mitch Talbot (0-0) vs. (R) Alfredo Simon (0-0) Chicago White Sox at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (R) Javier Vazquez (12-14) vs. (R) Scott Baker (9-4) LA Angels of Anaheim at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) Jered Weaver (11-10) vs. (L) Ryan Feierabend (1-4)
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 TB 93 62 .600 0.0 88 5BOS 91 65 .583 2.5 94 -3
NYA 85 71 .545 8.5 83 2
TOR 83 73 .532 10.5 88 -5
BAL 67 88 .432 26.0 71 -4
American League Central CHA 86 69 .555 0.0 86 0
MIN 84 72 .538 2.5 86 -2
CLE 79 77 .506 7.5 83 -4
DET 71 84 .458 15.0 75 -4
KC 71 86 .452 16.0 68 3
American League West LAA 97 59 .622 0.0 86 11
OAK 75 81 .481 22.0 75 0
TEX 75 82 .478 22.5 71 4
SEA 57 99 .365 40.0 63 -6
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 89 68 .567 0.0 90 -1
NYN 86 70 .551 2.5 87 -1
FLA 81 75 .519 7.5 78 3
ATL 69 88 .439 20.0 75 -6
WAS 58 98 .372 30.5 60 -2
National League Central CHN 95 60 .613 0.0 96 -1
MIL 85 71 .545 10.5 83 2
HOU 82 73 .529 13.0 74 8
STL 80 76 .513 15.5 81 -1
CIN 73 83 .468 22.5 70 3
PIT 65 91 .417 30.5 64 1
National League West LAN 81 75 .519 0.0 82 -1
ARI 79 77 .506 2.0 80 -1
COL 71 85 .455 10.0 70 1
SF 70 86 .449 11.0 67 3
SD 61 95 .391 20.0 67 -6
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 91 65 .583 0.0 NYA 85 71 .545 6.0 MIN 84 72 .538 7.0 TOR 83 73 .532 8.0 CLE 79 77 .506 12.0 National League NYN 86 70 .551 0.0 MIL 85 71 .545 1.0 HOU 82 73 .529 3.5 FLA 81 75 .519 5.0 STL 80 76 .513 6.0
Game of the Day
Athletics 4, Rangers 3 - FINAL
OAKLAND ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
T Buck rf-lf 5 0 1 1 1 0 3 .182
A Cunningham lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .271
C Gonzalez cf 2 0 0 0 0 1 5 .247
R Sweeney cf-rf 5 1 2 0 0 3 0 .293
J Cust dh 4 1 1 1 1 2 1 .230
K Suzuki c 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 .279
B Crosby ss 5 1 2 0 0 0 1 .243
C Pennington 2b 4 1 2 1 1 0 1 .263
D Barton 1b 4 0 1 0 1 2 2 .215
J Baisley 3b 4 0 2 0 1 0 3 .280
Totals 42 4 11 3 5 10 20 ###
TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
G Duran 2b 4 1 2 1 0 1 2 .226
ha-R Vazquez ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .292
hb-G Laird ph-c 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .281
M Young ss 4 0 1 0 1 0 0 .278
J Hamilton cf 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 .303
M Bradley dh 3 0 2 1 1 0 1 .318
M Byrd lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .295
B Boggs lf 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .228
H Blalock 1b 5 2 3 1 0 1 1 .282
N Cruz rf 5 0 1 0 0 2 3 .309
C Davis 3b 5 0 1 0 0 1 2 .275
T Teagarden c 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 .349
hc-F Catalanotto ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .275
J Arias 2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .271
Totals 41 3 11 3 3 8 21 ###
----------------------------------------------------
OAKLAND - 021 000 000 01 -- 4 11 1
TEXAS - 110 000 001 00 -- 3 11 1
----------------------------------------------------
ha-hit for G Duran in the 9th; hb-lined out to third for R Vazquez in the 9th;
hc-tripled to deep right for T Teagarden in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - B Crosby (39, K Millwood); J Cust (19, K Millwood); C Pennington
(4, L Mendoza); G Duran (6, G Smith). 3B - F Catalanotto (1, B Ziegler). HR - H
Blalock (9, 9th inning off B Ziegler 0 on, 0 Out). SF - M Bradley. RBI - C
Pennington (6), J Cust (73), T Buck (17), M Bradley (75), G Duran (15), H
Blalock (30). 2-out RBI - J Cust. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - K
Suzuki 1, T Buck 1, C Gonzalez 2, J Baisley 1, J Hamilton 2, G Laird 1. GIDP -
C Gonzalez, G Duran, C Davis. Team LOB - OAKLAND 10, TEXAS 9. BASERUNNING: SB -
C Pennington 2 (4, 2nd base off K Millwood/T Teagarden, 2nd base off F
Francisco/T Teagarden). FIELDING: E - A Cunningham (2, fly ball); J Hamilton
(6, bobble). Outfield assists - A Cunningham (C Davis at Home). DP: (B
Crosby-C Pennington-D Barton, C Pennington-B Crosby-D Barton, H Blalock, L
Mendoza-M Young-H Blalock).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.
Yesterday’s Home Runs
The following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected “true” distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its "standard" distance, which is corrected for weather conditions. Each homer is also categorized into one of three types: Just Enough (JE) for homers that cleared the fence by ten feet or less, Plenty (PL) for those that were sure home runs but not “blasts,” and No Doubt (ND) for true “blasts”—homers that cleared the fence by at least 20 feet and landed at least 50 feet beyond the fence.Hitter Team Pitcher Team True Stnd. # Type Hank Blalock TEX Brad Ziegler OAK 402 406 8 PL Pat Burrell PHI Julian Tavarez ATL 393 394 33 PL Stephen Drew ARI Todd Wellemeyer STL 385 380 20 PL Vladimir Guerrero LAA Ryan Rowland-Smith SEA 418 424 25 PL Kelly Johnson ATL J.A. Happ PHI 381 381 12 PL Derrek Lee CHC Nelson Figueroa NYM 406 436 20 PL Jason Marquis CHC Jonathon Niese NYM 385 418 2 PL David Ortiz BOS Zach Jackson CLE 398 412 22 JE David Wright NYM Jason Marquis CHC 364 388 32 JE
Access THT’s stats here…
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