THT Daily: Rockies sweep Padres
by Matthew CarruthSeptember 24, 2007
Major League News for September 22
Today’s LinksPlayer News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
THT Links
Coming soon.
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldAgent Scott Boras said Sunday there's no truth to the New York magazine report that he's contacted a favorite to buy the Cubs and discussed a deal for Alex Rodriguez that would include part ownership of the team. John Canning, chairman of private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, is thought to be the rumored potential owner. "Great players with great demand create great rumors," Boras said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "While I would enjoy having lunch with Mark Cuban and Canning, at this point of the year that conversation would not include Alex Rodriguez. I have not talked to anyone." A-Rod says the whole idea was "nonsense," as far as he knew. It would violate major league rules for a player to have equity or potential equity in a franchise, so anything agreed to couldn't be binding and A-Rod would have to wait until he retires to assume any piece of the team. We agree with A-Rod: The whole report is nonsense.
Milton Bradley was ejected and left with a right leg injury in the eighth inning Sunday against the Rockies. This might be the most bizarre incident of the season. First, it wasn't clear at all what he was arguing about after he singled with the Padres down 6-1 in the eighth. It looked like the game would proceed without incident, but with a 1-2 count on the next batter, Bradley kept jawing with first-base ump Mike Winters and then went after him. The first base coach held him back initally, and manager Bud Black went out to restrain him. Black ended up having to almost throw Bradley to the ground, and he collapsed holding his right hamstring. It looked like a serious injury, one that could keep him out if the Padres reach the playoffs. Scott Hairston would get the majority of the playing time in left field.
C.J. Wilson picked up a save against the Orioles on Sunday with a scoreless ninth inning. Joaquin Benoit had struggled in his last three outings, so manager Ron Washington decided to shake things up. Benoit was brought in for the eighth inning despite the fact that two left-handers and a switch-hitter were due up. Washington then went to Wilson in the ninth with three right-handers due up. Even if the matchups warrant something else, it appears Washington will use Wilson as his closer for the final week of the season.
Yesterday’s Results
American League NYA 7 TOR 5 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 5 BOS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 6 OAK 2 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 7 KC 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 7 CHA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 7 SEA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 3 BAL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 7 MIL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 7 FLA 6 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 5 PHI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 8 PIT 0 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 4 HOU 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 7 ARI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 7 SD 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 5 CIN 4 (Recap and Boxscore)You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
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Today’s Games
National League --------------- Washington Nationals at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (L) Matt Chico (5-9) vs. (R) Mike Pelfrey (3-7) St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Adam Wainwright (13-11) vs. (R) Dave Bush (11-10) San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (R) Chris Young (9-7) vs. (L) Barry Zito (9-13) American League --------------- Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM (R) AJ Burnett (9-7) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (14-8) Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Carlos Silva (12-14) vs. (L) Nate Robertson (8-12) Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Gil Meche (9-12) vs. (R) Daniel Cabrera (9-17) LA Angels of Anaheim at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Ervin Santana (7-13) vs. (R) Armando Galarraga (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 92 64 .590 0.0 98 -6NYA 90 65 .581 1.5 94 -4
TOR 78 77 .503 13.5 82 -4
BAL 66 89 .426 25.5 68 -2
TB 64 92 .410 28.0 64 0
American League Central CLE 92 63 .594 0.0 87 5
DET 85 71 .545 7.5 85 0
MIN 76 79 .490 16.0 78 -2
CHA 68 88 .436 24.5 63 5
KC 67 88 .432 25.0 71 -4
American League West LAA 92 64 .590 0.0 88 4
SEA 83 72 .535 8.5 75 8
OAK 75 82 .478 17.5 78 -3
TEX 72 84 .462 20.0 75 -3
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 87 68 .561 0.0 84 3
PHI 85 71 .545 2.5 84 1
ATL 82 74 .526 5.5 86 -4
WAS 69 87 .442 18.5 66 3
FLA 66 90 .423 21.5 68 -2
National League Central CHN 83 73 .532 0.0 85 -2
MIL 79 76 .510 3.5 79 0
STL 73 82 .471 9.5 67 6
CIN 71 85 .455 12.0 72 -1
HOU 68 88 .436 15.0 69 -1
PIT 66 90 .423 17.0 67 -1
National League West ARI 88 68 .564 0.0 77 11
SD 85 70 .548 2.5 85 0
COL 84 72 .538 4.0 86 -2
LAN 80 76 .513 8.0 80 0
SF 69 87 .442 19.0 74 -5
Wildcard Standings American League NYA 90 65 .581 0.0 DET 85 71 .545 5.5 SEA 83 72 .535 7.0 TOR 78 77 .503 12.0 MIN 76 79 .490 14.0 National League SD 85 70 .548 0.0 PHI 85 71 .545 0.5 COL 84 72 .538 1.5 ATL 82 74 .526 3.5 LAN 80 76 .513 5.5
Game of the Day
There were more exciting games yesterday—the Mets winning in extra innings, or the Astros and Cardinals swapping ninth-inning leads—but the most important game yesterday was Colorado’s 7-3 victory over the Padres, completing a series sweep of San Diego and putting the Rockies just one-and-a-half games behind the wild card leader. It was the Rockies’ seventh win in a row and a franchise-best 84th win of the season. Jeff Francis tied a club record with his 17th win.COLORADO (7) VS SAN DIEGO (3) - FINAL
COLORADO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
K Matsui 2b 3 1 0 0 2 0 1 .289
T Tulowitzki ss 4 0 1 1 0 1 3 .292
T Helton 1b 5 0 2 2 0 1 1 .317
G Atkins 3b 5 1 1 1 0 1 5 .293
J Carroll 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .220
B Hawpe rf 3 2 2 1 2 0 0 .288
R Spilborghs lf 5 1 3 1 0 0 0 .300
Y Torrealba c 5 1 1 1 0 1 3 .257
C Sullivan cf 3 1 1 0 1 1 2 .308
J Francis p 3 0 1 0 0 1 5 .177
L Hawkins p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 36 7 12 7 5 6 20
BATTING: 2B - T Helton (40, G Maddux). 3B - R Spilborghs (1, G Maddux). HR - G
Atkins (24, 7th inning off W Ledezma 0 on, 0 Out), B Hawpe (28, 9th inning off
J Hampson 0 on, 1 Out). S - J Francis. SF - T Tulowitzki. RBI - T Helton 2
(85), R Spilborghs (50), Y Torrealba (45), T Tulowitzki (91), G Atkins (105), B
Hawpe (106). 2-out RBI - T Helton 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out -
G Atkins 4, J Francis 2. GIDP - Y Torrealba. Team LOB - 9.
BASERUNNING: SB - K Matsui (32, 2nd base off G Maddux/J Bard), Y Torrealba
(2, 2nd base off G Maddux/J Bard).
FIELDING: DP: 1 (K Matsui-T Tulowitzki-T Helton).
SAN DIEGO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
B Giles rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 .270
M Bradley lf 4 1 2 1 0 1 0 .313
T Sledge pr-lf 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .204
K Kouzmanoff 3b 4 0 3 1 0 0 0 .275
A Gonzalez 1b 4 0 0 0 0 3 3 .274
K Greene ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .251
M Cameron cf 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .242
B Clark cf 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .234
c-B Myrow ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .167
J Bard c 4 1 3 1 0 1 0 .280
M Giles 2b 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 .230
d-G Blum ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .247
G Maddux p 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .133
K Cameron p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-C Stansberry ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .286
W Ledezma p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-M Ensberg ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .232
J Hampson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 34 3 8 3 1 9 7
a-struck out swinging for K Cameron in the 5th; b-lined out to left for W
Ledezma in the 8th; c-struck out swinging for B Clark in the 9th; d-grounded
to second for M Giles in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - K Kouzmanoff 3 (29, J Francis 3). HR - M Bradley (11, 3rd inning
off J Francis 0 on, 1 Out), J Bard (5, 9th inning off L Hawkins 0 on, 2 Out).
RBI - M Bradley (30), K Kouzmanoff (69), J Bard (46). 2-out RBI - K Kouzmanoff,
J Bard. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A Gonzalez 2, G Maddux 1, K
Greene 1. GIDP - M Giles. Team LOB - 5.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (K Kouzmanoff-M Giles-A Gonzalez).
----------------------------------------------------
COLORADO - 001 400 101 -- 7
SAN DIEGO - 001 000 011 -- 3
----------------------------------------------------
COLORADO ip h r er bb so hr era
J Francis (W, 17-8) 8 7 2 2 1 8 1 4.17
L Hawkins 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 3.37
SAN DIEGO ip h r er bb so hr era
G Maddux (L, 13-11) 3 2/3 8 5 5 2 1 0 4.10
K Cameron 1 1/3 1 0 0 1 1 0 2.37
W Ledezma 3 1 1 1 2 3 1 6.75
J Hampson 1 2 1 1 0 1 1 2.79
IBB - C Sullivan (by W Ledezma). Pitches-strikes: J Francis 112-75; L Hawkins
13-9; G Maddux 81-49; K Cameron 20-13; W Ledezma 46-26; J Hampson 16-11. Ground
balls-fly balls: J Francis 13-3; L Hawkins 2-0; G Maddux 7-3; K Cameron 1-2; W
Ledezma 3-3; J Hampson 2-0. Batters faced: J Francis 31; L Hawkins 4; G Maddux
21; K Cameron 6; W Ledezma 12; J Hampson 4.
UMPIRES: HP--Brian Runge. 1B--Mike Winters. 2B--Bruce Froemming. 3B--Hunter
Wendelstedt.
EJECTIONS: SAN DIEGO's Bradley by Winters (8th), SAN DIEGO's Black by Wendelstedt (8th).
T--2:50. Att--37,984.
Weather: 70 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 7 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.
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.