The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Replay

by THT Staff
September 04, 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 Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer as the Yankees defeated the Rays on Wednesday night. A-Rod's homer came in the ninth inning and bounced off the catwalk behind the foul pole in left field. Television replays of the homer were inconclusive, but the initial ruling on the field stood after a 2 minute, 15 second delay. Rodriguez drove in four runs on the night, giving him nine ribbies in the last three games. He's up to .315 with 31 homers and 90 RBI this season.

CC Sabathia will not be credited with a no-hitter after MLB on Wednesday upheld the official scorer's ruling from Sunday's game. The Brewers wanted Andy LaRoche's infield hit to be declared an error on Sabathia. The official scorer's ruling would have had needed to be "clearly erroneous" for MLB to overturn the call, and that definitely wasn't the case. It was definitely a borderline call, and we believe the scorer had it right in awarding the hit.

Randy Wolf pitched a complete game shutout against the Cubs to pick up his ninth win of the season on Wednesday. Wolf allowed just six hits, striking out eight and walking just two in the process of sending the Cubs to their fifth consecutive loss. Since joining the Astros just before the deadline, he's 3-1 with a 3.80 ERA, helping pull the team within 11 games of first place in the NL Central. He's not a reliable fantasy option, but his next start is against the Pirates - a team that struggles against lefties - so he could be worth using in NL-only leagues.

Athletics transferred designated hitter Frank Thomas from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list. His season is officially over. Thomas ended up hitting .263/.364/.387 with five homers in 186 at-bats for the A's. He's almost always been a slow starter and gotten better deeper into seasons, but he never had much of a chance this year because of the quad injury that cost him June, July and now September. He probably has at least one more year left in his bat, but it remains to be seen whether any team will want him as a starting DH in 2009. Mike Piazza and Sammy Sosa couldn't find that kind of work last winter.

Although he says he's not injured, Rich Harden isn't slated to pitch again until next Wednesday. It makes sense for the Cubs to give Harden an extra couple of days off now and then, but they wouldn't be giving him 11 days' rest unless there was something wrong. Manager Lou Piniella practically admitted as much. "He needed the time, obviously," Piniella said. "If he could pitch, we would have kept him in the rotation." Be afraid.

Yesterday’s Results

Game recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.

Marlins 5, Braves 3: I already dealt with this one yesterday.

Diamondbacks 4, Cardinals 3
: Same old story for the Cards: blown lead late by a bullpen that has gone from "suspect" to "convicted" and by now has become institutionalized like Brooks Hatlen in Shawshank.

Giants 9, Rockies 2: 36 year-old rookie Scott McClain -- who has launched nearly 300 dingers in his minor league career -- hit a homer and drove in three. This was doubly good news for the Giants inasmuch as (a) they won the game; and (b) McClain's success effectively scuttles the lawsuit he was surely pursuing against the steroid-abiding Giants for keeping him down for so long.

Tigers 9, Angels 6: And if you really want to talk lawsuit, how about the Mike Hessman situation? Ever since he posted a 1.000+ OPS in a measly 21 at bats five years ago, his teams keep giving him chances to play despite the utter absence of any other evidence establishing him as a legitimate major leaguer. Yeah, he hit a homer in this one, but how about the teams suing him for misrepresentation or fraud? See Rick? It's easy to play that game.

Rangers 1, Mariners 0: The Rangers play a home game in two hours, eleven minutes. They've had some innings last that long this season.

Mets 9, Brewers 2: I'd make up some clever doggerel a la "First we'll use Spahn and then we'll use Sain . . ." but I can't find anything that rhymes with Sabathia.

Red Sox 5, Orioles 4: There are a lot of lazy managers hanging around these days. In the Cards-Dbacks game, pitching coach Dave Duncan was ejected. In this one, O's hitting coach Terry Crowley was thrown out. Why were La Russa and Trembley too busy to go up and take the heat for their guys?

White Sox 4, Indians 2: The game story has six paragraphs discussing Bobby Jenks' five-out save like it was landing a man on the moon or something. Dude threw ten pitches. I got really sick of Rich Gossage's crusty old school act around Hall of Fame induction time this year, but I really do wish that he'd find the AP writer responsible and explain a few things about what being a relief ace is all about.

Blue Jays 5, Twins 4: Then there's the two-inning WTF? Joe Nathan blew the save in the bottom of the ninth, but Gardenhire sent him right back out there to pitch the tenth, resulting in a 45-pitch night for the Twins' closer.

Nationals 9, Phillies 7: They have served no other purpose, but I suppose the Nats will sleep well this winter if they manage to be the spoiler in the NL East this year. Ryan Zimmerman got a double and a homer. Because he was so close to hitting for the cycle, the Nats are currently protesting the scoring decisions that had him flying out in the third, walking in the fifth, and flying out in the eighth.

Pirates 6, Reds 5: Pirates manager John Russell on the status of Freddy: "He had an MRI Tuesday. We'll monitor him. If it gets ouchy, we'll sit him a couple of days." Ouchy?

Astros 4, Cubs 0: And they laughed when Ed Wade acquired Randy Wolf at the deadline. Well, they're still laughing because the deal still doesn't make any sense, but a shutout against the best team in the game is a shutout against the best team in the game.

Yankees 8, Rays 4: A-Rod's homer was reviewed by instant replay. It's like we're in the future or something.

Dodgers 6, Padres 4: They've now won five after dropping eight. Now they start over again with Arizona and San Diego for the next six games. Weird schedule. Weird team. I couldn't say right now whether they'd be dangerous or whether they'd be cupcakes if they made the playoffs.

A's vs. Royals
: Postponed due to a lack of interest and/or rain. To be rescheduled for reasons that are not quite clear at a time when no one will be watching.

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
 ---------------
 Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds, 12:35 PM
  (L) Tom Gorzelanny (6-9) vs. (R) Josh Fogg (2-7)
 Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM
  (R) Jason Bergmann (2-10) vs. (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (3-10)
 San Diego Padres at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM
  (L) Shawn Estes (1-1) vs. (R) Jeff Suppan (10-7)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM
  (R) Ervin Santana (14-5) vs. (L) Kenny Rogers (9-12)
 Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) Kevin Slowey (11-8) vs. (R) Jesse Litsch (9-8)
 New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM
  (R) Darrell Rasner (5-9) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (10-6)
 Oakland Athletics at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (L) Dan Meyer (0-3) vs. (R) Kyle Davies (5-6)

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
TB      84  53 .613    0.0   78     6    sparkline graph
BOS     82  57 .590    3.0   84    -2    sparkline graph
NYA     75  64 .540   10.0   74     1    sparkline graph
TOR     72  66 .522   12.5   77    -5    sparkline graph
BAL     63  76 .453   22.0   66    -3    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CHA     78  61 .561    0.0   78     0    sparkline graph
MIN     77  62 .554    1.0   77     0    sparkline graph
CLE     67  71 .486   10.5   73    -6    sparkline graph
DET     67  72 .482   11.0   69    -2    sparkline graph
KC      58  79 .423   19.0   56     2    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     84  54 .609    0.0   75     9    sparkline graph
TEX     69  72 .489   16.5   65     4    sparkline graph
OAK     63  75 .457   21.0   64    -1    sparkline graph
SEA     54  85 .388   30.5   58    -4    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     79  61 .564    0.0   79     0    sparkline graph
PHI     76  64 .543    3.0   79    -3    sparkline graph
FLA     71  69 .507    8.0   67     4    sparkline graph
ATL     60  80 .429   19.0   67    -7    sparkline graph
WAS     54  86 .386   25.0   54     0    sparkline graph
National League Central     
CHN     85  55 .607    0.0   88    -3    sparkline graph
MIL     80  59 .576    4.5   78     2    sparkline graph
STL     75  65 .536   10.0   75     0    sparkline graph
HOU     74  66 .529   11.0   67     7    sparkline graph
CIN     61  78 .439   23.5   59     2    sparkline graph
PIT     59  79 .428   25.0   56     3    sparkline graph
National League West        
ARI     71  68 .511    0.0   72    -1    sparkline graph
LAN     70  70 .500    1.5   71    -1    sparkline graph
COL     66  75 .468    6.0   65     1    sparkline graph
SF      60  79 .432   11.0   58     2    sparkline graph
SD      53  86 .381   18.0   57    -4    sparkline graph


Wildcard Standings
American League             
BOS     82  57 .590    0.0
MIN     77  62 .554    5.0
NYA     75  64 .540    7.0
TOR     72  66 .522    9.5
TEX     69  72 .489   14.0
National League             
MIL     80  59 .576    0.0
PHI     76  64 .543    4.5
STL     75  65 .536    5.5
HOU     74  66 .529    6.5
FLA     71  69 .507    9.5

Game of the Day

Diamondbacks 4, Cardinals 3 - FINAL

ST LOUIS               ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
C Izturis ss            5  1  1  0   0  0   4  .251
T Glaus 3b              5  1  1  2   0  0   3  .272
A Pujols 1b             4  0  1  0   1  0   0  .360
R Ludwick rf            4  0  0  0   1  1   3  .300
J Phelps lf             3  0  0  0   0  2   3  .200
 A Miles 2b             1  0  1  0   0  0   0  .319
 J Motte p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 C Perez p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Y Molina c              4  0  0  0   0  0   3  .307
F Lopez 2b-lf           4  1  2  0   0  0   0  .259
K Lohse p               2  0  2  1   0  0   0  .107
 K McClellan p          0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 R Villone p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 A Kennedy 2b           1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .272
S Schumaker cf          4  0  2  0   0  0   2  .306

Totals                 37  3 10  3   2  4  18   ###

ARIZONA                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
S Drew ss               5  1  2  0   0  0   0  .288
D Eckstein 2b           3  0  1  0   2  0   2  .364
C Jackson lf            5  1  2  2   0  1   2  .294
A Dunn rf-1b            3  0  1  1   2  1   3  .240
M Reynolds 3b           4  0  0  0   0  4   5  .240
 T Pena p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 C Qualls p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
C Tracy 1b              3  0  3  0   0  0   0  .270
 A Romero pr-rf         0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .240
C Young cf              4  0  0  0   0  1   7  .244
C Snyder c              2  0  0  0   0  1   0  .239
 ha-A Ojeda ph-3b       2  1  1  0   0  0   1  .251
D Davis p               2  0  0  0   0  1   0  .086
 J Cruz p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 hb-M Montero ph-c      1  1  0  0   1  0   1  .277

Totals                 34  4 10  3   5  9  21   ###

----------------------------------------------------
    ST LOUIS        - 002 001 000   --   3 10 0
    ARIZONA         - 000 000 202   --   4 10 2

One out when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------

ha-doubled to center for C Snyder in the 7th;  hb-walked for J Cruz in the 
7th.

BATTING: 2B - K Lohse (1, D Davis); S Drew (37, K Lohse); A Ojeda (9, K 
McClellan); A Dunn (19, C Perez). 3B - S Drew (11, C Perez). HR - T Glaus (23, 
3rd inning off D Davis 1 on, 0 Out). S - K Lohse. RBI - T Glaus 2 (89), K Lohse 
(5), C Jackson 2 (72), A Dunn (88). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C 
Izturis 2, T Glaus 1, J Phelps 1, Y Molina 1, S Schumaker 1, D Eckstein 1, C 
Young 3, M Reynolds 1. GIDP - C Young. Team LOB - ST LOUIS 10, ARIZONA 11. 
FIELDING: E - S Drew (12, ground ball); M Reynolds (27, throw). DP:  (C 
Izturis-F Lopez-A Pujols). 

ST LOUIS                     ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
K Lohse                       6       5   0   0   2   7   0   3.76
K McClellan (H, 30)             2/3   1   2   2   2   0   0   3.71
R Villone                     0       0   0   0   1   0   0   5.15
J Motte (H, 1)                1 1/3   1   0   0   0   2   0   0.00
C Perez (L, 2-2; B, 3)          1/3   3   2   2   0   0   0   3.41

ARIZONA                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
D Davis                       6       8   3   3   1   3   1   4.58
J Cruz                        1       1   0   0   1   0   0   2.93
T Pena                        1       1   0   0   0   1   0   3.84
C Qualls (W, 4-8)             1       0   0   0   0   0   0   3.30

R Villone pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.

WP - R Villone, T Pena. HBP - C Tracy (by K Lohse). Pitches-strikes: K Lohse 
107-67; K McClellan 21-9; R Villone 11-7; J Motte 25-21; C Perez 20-13; D Davis 
91-56; J Cruz 16-8; T Pena 19-13; C Qualls 11-7. Ground balls-fly balls: K 
Lohse 8-3; K McClellan 2-0; R Villone 0-0; J Motte 0-2; C Perez 0-1; D Davis 
9-6; J Cruz 2-1; T Pena 1-1; C Qualls 2-1. Batters faced: K Lohse 25; K 
McClellan 5; R Villone 1; J Motte 5; C Perez 4; D Davis 28; J Cruz 5; T Pena 4; 
C Qualls 3. IRS - R Villone. UMPIRES: HP--Dale Scott. 1B--Bill Hohn. 2B--Dan 
Iassogna. 3B--Ron Kulpa. EJECTIONS:  ST LOUIS' Duncan by Scott (7th).   
T--3:14. Att--24,350. Weather: INDOORS

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

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
Clint Barmes          COL     Barry Zito           SF      416    387   7  JE
Angel Berroa          LAD     Wade LeBlanc         SD      378    367   1  PL
Casey Blake           LAD     Mike Adams           SD      422    407  19  PL
Ryan Church           NYM     Dave Bush            MIL     375    352  11  PL/L
Blake DeWitt          LAD     Wade LeBlanc         SD      377    364   7  PL
Chris Dickerson       CIN     Ross Ohlendorf       PIT     425    409   6  PL
Troy Glaus            STL     Doug Davis           ARI     447    422  23  PL/L
Gabe Gross            TB      Carl Pavano          NYY     440    439  12  ND
J.J. Hardy            MIL     Oliver Perez         NYM     400    394  21  PL
Mike Hessman          DET     Justin Speier        LAA     407    413   1  PL
Ryan Howard           PHI     Odalis Perez         WAS     402    389  39  PL/L
Ryan Howard           PHI     Johnny Estrada       WAS     403    395  38  PL
Joe Inglett           TOR     Nick Blackburn       MIN     350    347   3  PL
Kevin Kouzmanoff      SD      Hiroki Kuroda        LAD     425    413  20  ND
Scott McClain         SF      Steven Register      COL     422    390   1  PL
Dustin Pedroia        BOS     Jamie Walker         BAL     340    336  17  JE
Alexei Ramirez        CWS     Jeremy Sowers        CLE     408    398  16  PL
Hanley Ramirez        FLA     Jorge Campillo       ATL     446    441  29  PL
Alex Rodriguez        NYY     Troy Percival        TB      425    424  31  ND
Pablo Sandoval        SF      Steven Register      COL     392    363   2  PL
Brian Schneider       NYM     Dave Bush            MIL     382    362   7  PL/L
Nick Swisher          CWS     Jeremy Sowers        CLE     396    397  22  ND
Mark Teixeira         LAA     Zach Miner           DET     381    381  29  PL
Joey Votto            CIN     Ross Ohlendorf       PIT     398    385  16  ND
Ty Wigginton          HOU     Ryan Dempster        CHC     395    391  22  PL
Ryan Zimmerman        WAS     Chad Durbin          PHI     413    412  11  PL

Access THT’s stats here…
{embed="content/2005stable"}




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