THT Daily: Rays vs. Red Sox next
by THT StaffSeptember 08, 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 Rotoworld |
| Alex Cora flips over Marlon Byrd in yesterday's Red Sox/Rangers game (Icon/SMI) |
Billy Wagner (elbow) had a setback during his simulated game Sunday and could miss the rest of the season. It was originally reported that he'd throw a bullpen session, but he took part in a simulated game anyway. Newsday reports that Wagner was pitching to Gustavo Molina when he bounced a fastball off Molina's foot. Soon after releasing the pitch, Wagner said, "That's it. I can't do it anymore." The closer will see a doctor tomorrow. It seems pretty unlikely that he'll be back to get any saves this month.
Cliff Lee limited the Royals to one run in 7 1/3 innings on Sunday to improve to 21-2. He allowed seven hits, hit a batter, and issued one walk while striking out five. The outing lowered his ERA to 2.28, leaving only Roy Halladay within half a run of Lee among qualified starters. It's an absolutely incredible season, in part because almost everything else has gone wrong for the Indians. Despite the fact that the club may finish under .500 and was never in contention, not even the BBWAA could screw up this voting and hand the Cy Young to someone else.
Chris Young took a perfect game into the eighth inning on Sunday but had it broken up by a two-out homer from Gabe Kapler. He went on to finish the game in a 10-1 victory and needed just 96 pitches to do so. Young ended up allowing one more hit in the ninth, a double to rookie Mat Gamel, while also striking out five. The right-hander struggled in his first start since returning from a strained forearm, but he looks fine to put back into fantasy lineups now.
Nate McLouth received six stitches to close a cut above his left eye after leaving Sunday's game. McLouth was hit by the ball while attemptign a sliding catch in the outfield. "I was actually lucky I was wearing sunglasses," he said. "The ball kind of glanced off them first." It looks like he's day-to-day. Nyjer Morgan and Steve Pearce would both start if McLouth needs to miss some time.
David Ortiz said after Sunday's game that he's been dealing with "clicking" in his damaged wrist. Ortiz suffered a torn left tendon sheath in his wrist on May 31 and missed nearly eight weeks. He said there's no pain in the wrist, but it still has him concerned. "If it was pain, I wouldn’t be playing," he said. "Pain won’t allow you to play like that. I just try to not think about it and just play. Since I got this thing, my whole swing has changed, you know? I mentally try to keep the same approach going to the plate and not think about it but it’s hard, man, really tough." It's just something he'll have to deal with for the rest of the year.
Yesterday’s Results
Game recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Giants 11, Pirates 6: In 1908, the Giants had the league's best pitcher in Christy Mathewson, who led the NL in wins, games, complete games, strikeouts, ERA, and shutout 11 teams along the way. That same year, the Pittsburgh Pirates had the best hitter in the game, as Honus Wagner won the batting crown, led the league in RBI, doubles, triples, hits, stolen bases, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Each team fell one game short of the pennant that season, losing the race, of course, to the Chicago Cubs, who are getting all of the centennial attention this season because 1908 was the last time they won it all. It only seems like the Giants and Pirates haven't been good since then.
Dodgers 5, Diamondbacks 3: The Dodgers' winning streak and the fact that they've taken five straight against the Dbacks is probably more important, but I can't get past the fact that this game was intended to be Randy Johnson vs. Greg Maddux, yet the former was scrubbed due to a tried shoulder and the latter bumped because his manager thought a rookie would have a better shot against Arizona's lineup. I don't know about you, but I feel a little older this morning than I did yesterday.
Astros 7, Rockies 5: Cassel comes in for the injured starter and leads his team for victory. Same thing happened in this baseball game too.
Phillies 6, Mets 2; Mets 6, Phillies 3: Pedro is shelled (4 IP, 7 H, 6 ER), allowing the Phils to pull within one game of the Mets. Then the Phils can't do a whole lot against Johan Santana, dropping down to two back.
Mariners 5, Yankees 2: Now that New York has fallen into fourth place, is it too much to ask that game stories, recaps, and other assorted reportage about them not include their place in the wild card standings or refer to their playoff hopes, however dim? No one talked about the Blue Jays' chances when they were in fourth, and to be honest, no one is going to talk about them now that they're in third. Can we please now treat the Yankees like any other team playing out the string?
Cardinals 3, Marlins 1: The latest edition of Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract came out in 2001. The blurb following the player rating for Doc Gooden read thusly:
When a young player comes to the major leagues and has success right away, writers will almost always write about what a fine young man he is as well as a supreme talent. Never pay any attention to those articles or those descriptions. Albert Pujols is going through this now . . . people who didn't know Albert Pujols from Jack the Ripper six months ago and have never talked to him more than six feet from his locker are writing very sincerely about what an exceptional young man he is . . . Sportswriters, despite their cynicism or because of it, desperately want to believe in athletes as heroes, and will project their hopes onto anyone who offers a blank slate. The problem with this is that, when the player turns out to be human and fallible, people feel betrayed. It is a disservice to athletes to try to make them more than they really are.James' point remains a good one. His use of Albert Pujols to describe the phenomenon, however, has turned out to be something of a poor choice. Eight years into his career, Pujols remains by most accounts, everything the glorifiers thought he was back when he provided that blank slate. In addition to stringing together exceptional season after exceptional season, he does things like adopt a child with Down Syndrome. And then sponsor a charity that annually brings Down Syndrome kids to the ballpark and lets them run the bases and stuff. And then he hits a home run on that day and goes 10-for-24 with six homers and 11 RBIs in the six games in the charity's series.
I'm a cynical guy myself, so I'm not going to completely eliminate the possibility that one day they could find a bunch of dead hobos in Pujols' basement or something, but from where I'm sitting, Pujols is pretty much the Platonic Ideal when it comes to baseball players.
Red Sox 7, Rangers 2: If anyone out there believed at the time that the Paul Byrd deal was going to form the basis of a Red Sox September surge, please admit that you pulled such a prediction out of your patootie.
Blue Jays 1, Rays 0: Everyone always talks about teams in the Rays' place going on "skids." Skids themselves aren't that bad, though. I've skidded out on bikes and cars a zillion times. Heck, skidding can be fun! Rather than the skid itself, it's what follows the skid that matters. A nice little fishtail and then an acceleration onto dry pavement? No problem. A scary yet ultimately harmless trip over the handlebars and onto wet grass? Hey, kinda fun! A three game series against a resurgent Red Sox team? I guess we'll know by the time we go to bed on Wednesday night.
Padres 10, Brewers 1: Chris Young gets the complete game, giving up only one run on two hits to beat Milwaukee. Only needed 96 pitches to do it, too. It's been fun to try to come up with those Spahn and Sain jokes, but really, if the Brewers hold on, we're going to have the closest thing to a two-man rotation we've seen since the 2001 Diamondbacks rode Schilling and Johnson.
Tigers 7, Twins 5: Hey Twins, you can start taking advantage of that Carlos Quentin injury any time you'd like. No need to wait for permission. Just go out there and claim the division, OK? Anyone? Lost in the disappointing Tigers' season is the fact that Curtis Granderson is once again having a marvelous year (.309/.391/.527).
Nationals 7, Braves 4: There's a non-trivial chance that the Nats could pass the Braves for fourth place in the NL East before the end of the year. Part of me is actually rooting for such an outcome, as awful as it sounds, so that Frank Wren doesn't enter the offseason with anything approaching hope that this team was just a few breaks away from something good. If that happens, he may just try to tweak things or rearrange some deck chairs when more drastic measures are necessary. You finish below the Nats, though, and you can forget hope and get on with the hard work at hand with relative peace of mind.
Indians 3, Royals 1: You really have to look hard to find a chink in Cliff Lee's armor this season. The best I can do is to note that four of his 21 wins have come against the noodle-bat Royals, which is more than he has won against any other team. Yeah, it's a stretch, but I'm running out of ways to describe just how damn good he's been this year.
Angels 3, White Sox 2: Joe Saunders gets his first win since July, and now the magic number is three.
Reds 4, Cubs 3: A couple friends of mine are big Reds fans, and they were heading down to the Queen City to take this series in, convinced that they were going to be outnumbered and outshouted by Cubs partisans. Well, they were outnumbered, but the interlopers didn't have all that much to shout about in this series, as the Reds take two of three and make Chicago look pretty bad in the process.
You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
| First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports: |
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Today’s Games
National League --------------- Florida Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Anibal Sanchez (2-3) vs. (R) Joe Blanton (1-0) Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Edinson Volquez (16-5) vs. (R) Dave Bush (9-10) Pittsburgh Pirates at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Ian Snell (6-10) vs. (R) Alberto Arias (0-0) Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Greg Maddux (7-11) vs. (R) Cha Seung Baek (4-9) Arizona Diamondbacks at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (R) Yusmeiro Petit (3-4) vs. (R) Tim Lincecum (15-3) American League --------------- Oakland Athletics at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (L) Gio Gonzalez (1-3) vs. (R) Zach Miner (8-4) Cleveland Indians at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Fausto Carmona (8-5) vs. (L) Garrett Olson (8-7) Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Edwin Jackson (11-9) vs. (L) Jon Lester (13-5) Toronto Blue Jays at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) A.J. Burnett (16-10) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (11-12) New York Yankees at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Carl Pavano (2-0) vs. (R) Jon Garland (12-8)
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 85 56 .603 0.0 79 6BOS 84 58 .592 1.5 86 -2
TOR 76 66 .535 9.5 81 -5
NYA 76 67 .531 10.0 76 0
BAL 63 78 .447 22.0 66 -3
American League Central CHA 80 62 .563 0.0 80 0
MIN 78 65 .545 2.5 79 -1
CLE 69 72 .489 10.5 75 -6
DET 69 74 .483 11.5 70 -1
KC 61 81 .430 19.0 58 3
American League West LAA 86 56 .606 0.0 77 9
TEX 70 74 .486 17.0 66 4
OAK 65 77 .458 21.0 67 -2
SEA 56 86 .394 30.0 60 -4
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 80 63 .559 0.0 80 0
PHI 78 65 .545 2.0 81 -3
FLA 72 71 .503 8.0 68 4
ATL 62 82 .431 18.5 69 -7
WAS 56 88 .389 24.5 56 0
National League Central CHN 86 57 .601 0.0 89 -3
MIL 82 61 .573 4.0 79 3
STL 77 66 .538 9.0 77 0
HOU 76 67 .531 10.0 69 7
CIN 64 79 .448 22.0 62 2
PIT 60 82 .423 25.5 58 2
National League West LAN 73 70 .510 0.0 74 -1
ARI 71 71 .500 1.5 72 -1
COL 67 77 .465 6.5 66 1
SF 62 80 .437 10.5 59 3
SD 55 88 .385 18.0 60 -5
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 84 58 .592 0.0 MIN 78 65 .545 6.5 TOR 76 66 .535 8.0 NYA 76 67 .531 8.5 CLE 69 72 .489 14.5 National League MIL 82 61 .573 0.0 PHI 78 65 .545 4.0 STL 77 66 .538 5.0 HOU 76 67 .531 6.0 FLA 72 71 .503 10.0
Game of the Day
CHICAGO CUBS (3) VS CINCINNATI (4) - FINAL
CHICAGO CUBS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Soriano lf 3 0 0 0 2 1 2 .289
M Hoffpauir rf 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 .333
N Cotts p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Marmol p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-D Ward ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .221
K Wood p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
D Lee 1b 4 0 1 0 1 0 3 .296
A Ramirez 3b 5 0 2 0 0 2 2 .275
G Soto c 3 1 0 0 0 1 2 .290
M DeRosa 2b 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 .288
J Edmonds cf 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 .234
R Theriot ss 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .310
R Cedeno ss 2 0 1 1 0 0 2 .285
S Marshall p 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 .417
a-M Fontenot ph 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .301
K Fukudome rf 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .262
Totals 31 3 7 2 6 7 17
a-hit sacrifice fly to right for S Marshall in the 7th; b-fouled out to third
for C Marmol in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - R Cedeno (10, A Harang); A Ramirez (38, D Weathers). SF - M
Fontenot. RBI - R Cedeno (27), M Fontenot (36). Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - D Lee 2, M DeRosa 1, A Ramirez 1, R Cedeno 1. GIDP - G Soto,
A Soriano. Team LOB - 10.
BASERUNNING: SB - A Soriano 2 (19, 2nd base off A Harang/R Hanigan, 2nd base
off F Cordero/R Hanigan).
FIELDING: E - N Cotts (2, catch); J Edmonds (6, bobble). Outfield assists - A
Soriano (J Votto at Home). DP: 1 (A Soriano-G Soto).
CINCINNATI ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Cabrera lf 5 0 1 1 0 2 1 .289
J Keppinger ss 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 .264
B Phillips 2b 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .262
J Votto 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 .292
E Encarnacion 3b 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 .254
J Bruce rf 2 1 1 0 1 1 0 .259
R Hanigan c 3 1 0 0 1 0 4 .279
C Patterson cf 2 0 1 1 0 0 3 .204
b-J Valentin ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .246
W Castillo pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .333
A Harang p 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .130
a-A Phillips ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .210
D Weathers p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
F Cordero p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
c-C Dickerson ph 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 .322
Totals 29 4 6 4 5 6 15
a-struck out swinging for A Harang in the 7th; b-walked for C Patterson in the
9th; c-doubled to shortstop for F Cordero in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - C Dickerson (9, K Wood). S - A Harang. SF - C Patterson. RBI - C
Patterson (28), C Dickerson 2 (15), J Cabrera (9). Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - A Harang 1, J Keppinger 1. Team LOB - 8.
BASERUNNING: SB - J Votto (6, 2nd base off S Marshall/G Soto).
FIELDING: DP: 2 (J Keppinger-B Phillips-J Votto, E Encarnacion-J Votto).
----------------------------------------------------
CHICAGO CUBS - 000 100 200 -- 3
CINCINNATI - 010 000 003 -- 4
One out when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
CHICAGO CUBS ip h r er bb so hr era
S Marshall 6 3 1 1 2 3 0 3.77
N Cotts (H, 7) 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.94
C Marmol (H, 26) 1 1/3 0 0 0 1 2 0 2.62
K Wood (L, 4-4; B, 6) 1/3 3 3 3 2 0 0 3.26
CINCINNATI ip h r er bb so hr era
A Harang 7 6 3 3 3 5 0 5.18
D Weathers 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 3.23
F Cordero (W, 5-4) 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 3.47
IBB - J Edmonds (by D Weathers). HBP - J Bruce (by S Marshall); G Soto (by A
Harang); M DeRosa (by A Harang). Pitches-strikes: S Marshall 103-64; N Cotts
11-8; C Marmol 22-11; K Wood 28-14; A Harang 111-68; D Weathers 18-8; F Cordero
24-13. Ground balls-fly balls: S Marshall 7-7; N Cotts 0-1; C Marmol 2-0; K
Wood 1-0; A Harang 10-6; D Weathers 0-2; F Cordero 0-2. Batters faced: S
Marshall 23; N Cotts 3; C Marmol 5; K Wood 6; A Harang 30; D Weathers 5; F
Cordero 5.
UMPIRES: HP--Scott Barry. 1B--Greg Gibson. 2B--Charlie Reliford. 3B--Brian
Runge.
T--3:02. Att--37,540.
Weather: 75 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 6 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.
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 Jason Bay BOS Jamey Wright TEX 374 363 27 PL Adrian Beltre SEA Mike Mussina NYY 358 342 27 PL/L Miguel Cabrera DET Glen Perkins MIN 366 361 32 JE Carlos Delgado NYM Cole Hamels PHI 430 427 32 ND Carlos Delgado NYM Cole Hamels PHI 422 419 31 ND Greg Dobbs PHI Pedro Martinez NYM 386 382 8 JE Adam Dunn ARI Clayton Kershaw LAD 407 400 36 PL Alberto Gonzalez WAS Julian Tavarez ATL 396 383 1 JE/L Toby Hall CWS Joe Saunders LAA 379 364 2 PL Brad Hawpe COL Chris Sampson HOU 384 360 22 JE Chase Headley SD Manny Parra MIL 356 351 9 JE Ryan Howard PHI Johan Santana NYM 409 405 40 PL Mike Jacobs FLA Adam Wainwright STL 415 410 30 PL Derek Jeter NYY Ryan Feierabend SEA 393 390 10 PL Gabe Kapler MIL Chris Young SD 405 384 8 ND Paul Konerko CWS Joe Saunders LAA 416 405 16 PL Kevin Kouzmanoff SD David Riske MIL 416 398 21 PL Jose Lopez SEA Mike Mussina NYY 362 367 14 JE Jose Lopez SEA Jose Veras NYY 350 354 13 JE Lastings Milledge WAS Jo-Jo Reyes ATL 381 371 14 JE Xavier Nady NYY Ryan Feierabend SEA 418 424 23 ND Magglio Ordonez DET Boof Bonser MIN 430 424 18 ND David Ortiz BOS Brandon McCarthy TEX 451 439 18 ND Albert Pujols STL Josh Johnson FLA 407 401 32 PL Dusty Ryan DET Glen Perkins MIN 351 347 1 JE Chris Snyder ARI Clayton Kershaw LAD 399 391 14 PL Taylor Teagarden TEX Manny Delcarmen BOS 404 397 3 PL
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