THT Daily: Santana’s back
by Dave StudemanMay 06, 2008
Major League News for May 6
Player NewsYesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldErvin Santana pitched a complete game shutout last night. In Kansas City, no less. Santana struck out nine and scattered just four hits in the dominating appearance. He didn't issue a walk while lowering his ERA to a paltry 2.02, and he's sitting on a 38/9 K/BB ratio. Santana appears to have turned the corner, and makes a start in Tampa Bay on Sunday.
Jimmy Rollins (ankle) went 4-for-4 with two RBI in an extended spring training game on Monday. "It was fine," Rollins said. "Running around the bases for the first time, it felt good. Second time, I felt a little twinge, but I was still able to kick it in coming around to score, and I was fine." Rollins is expected to come off the DL on Thursday.
Tigers designated outfielder Jacque Jones for assignment. Jones was hitting just .165/.244/.253 in 79 at-bats, so it's hard to blame the Tigers from being frustrated with him. Still, there's a good chance he'll bounce back and be an adequate platoon outfielder for another team, perhaps the Padres or the Marlins. Matt Joyce seems poised to replace him versus right-handers for now, but the Tigers also have Marcus Thames, Brandon Inge and Ryan Raburn as alternatives in left field. Plus, Barry Bonds is still out there awaiting a phone call.
Roger Clemens issued a statement Sunday night apologizing for mistakes in his personal life. Clemens took the opportunity to once again deny his use of performance enhancing drugs, and also claimed that reports he dated a 15-year-old Mindy McCready were untrue. "I know that many people want to know what I have to say about the recent articles in the media. Even though these articles contain many false accusations and mistakes, I need to say that I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry," Clemens said.
An MRI revealed that Chone Figgins suffered a slight sprain of his hamstring after colliding with an umpire on Saturday. Good news, as a stint on the disabled list will likely be avoided. Figgins is day-to-day, and will be reevaluated on Monday, but says he was already feeling significantly better on Sunday.
Yesterday’s Results
American League TOR 1 CHA 0 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 6 DET 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 4 KC 0 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 2 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 7 TEX 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League CIN 5 CHN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 11 ARI 4 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 6 COL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 5 NYN 1 (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 --------------- San Francisco Giants at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (L) Jonathan Sanchez (2-1) vs. (L) Zach Duke (0-2) Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Carlos Zambrano (4-1) vs. (R) Aaron Harang (1-4) Milwaukee Brewers at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Jeff Suppan (1-1) vs. (L) Scott Olsen (3-1) San Diego Padres at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (R) Chris Young (2-2) vs. (R) Jair Jurrjens (3-2) Washington Nationals at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Shawn Hill (0-0) vs. (R) Shawn Chacon (0-0) St. Louis Cardinals at Colorado Rockies, 8:35 PM (R) Braden Looper (4-1) vs. (L) Mark Redman (2-2) Philadelphia Phillies at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Adam Eaton (0-0) vs. (L) Randy Johnson (1-1) New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Nelson Figueroa (2-1) vs. (R) Hiroki Kuroda (1-2) American League --------------- Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Tim Wakefield (2-1) vs. (L) Nate Robertson (1-3) Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) Fausto Carmona (3-1) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (3-3) Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (R) Andy Sonnanstine (4-1) vs. (R) A.J. Burnett (3-2) LA Angels of Anaheim at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Nick Adenhart (0-0) vs. (R) Brian Bannister (3-3) Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (R) Nick Blackburn (2-1) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (2-1) Baltimore Orioles at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (L) Brian Burres (3-2) vs. (R) Justin Duchscherer (2-1) Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) Sidney Ponson (1-0) vs. (R) Miguel Batista (2-3)
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 21 13 .618 0.0 19 2TB 16 15 .516 3.5 16 0
NYA 17 16 .515 3.5 17 0
BAL 16 16 .500 4.0 15 1
TOR 16 17 .485 4.5 18 -2
American League Central MIN 16 14 .533 0.0 14 2
CHA 14 16 .467 2.0 18 -4
CLE 14 17 .452 2.5 16 -2
KC 14 17 .452 2.5 12 2
DET 14 19 .424 3.5 15 -1
American League West LAA 21 13 .618 0.0 18 3
OAK 20 14 .588 1.0 21 -1
SEA 14 19 .424 6.5 16 -2
TEX 13 20 .394 7.5 12 1
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 19 14 .576 0.0 19 0
FLA 17 14 .548 1.0 14 3
NYN 16 14 .533 1.5 15 1
ATL 15 15 .500 2.5 19 -4
WAS 14 18 .438 4.5 13 1
National League Central STL 21 12 .636 0.0 20 1
CHN 18 14 .563 2.5 21 -3
MIL 16 15 .516 4.0 15 1
HOU 16 16 .500 4.5 17 -1
CIN 13 20 .394 8.0 13 0
PIT 12 19 .387 8.0 13 -1
National League West ARI 21 11 .656 0.0 20 1
LAN 18 14 .563 3.0 20 -2
SF 14 18 .438 7.0 12 2
COL 12 20 .375 9.0 13 -1
SD 12 20 .375 9.0 11 1
Game of the Day
The White Sox and Blue Jays engaged in a pitching duel last night, with the Blue Jays coming out on top, 1-0. Javier Vazquez and Dustin McGowan locked horns for over seven innings and Matt Stairs provided the only run of the game with a solo homer. B.J. Ryan walked three straight Chicagoans to load the bases with only one out in the top of the ninth, but Pablo Ozuna hit into a double play to end the game.Blue Jays 1, White Sox 0 - FINAL
CHI WHITE SOX ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
O Cabrera ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .213
C Quentin lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 .271
J Thome dh 4 0 1 0 0 2 2 .215
P Konerko 1b 3 0 0 0 1 2 1 .227
B Anderson pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .281
J Dye rf 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .253
N Swisher cf 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .204
P Ozuna 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .172
J Uribe 2b 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 .181
T Hall c 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .286
va-A Pierzynski ph-c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .273
Totals 30 0 4 0 3 6 13 ###
TORONTO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Rios rf 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 .300
S Stewart lf 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 .257
S Rolen 3b 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 .273
M Stairs dh 4 1 1 1 0 2 3 .307
V Wells cf 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 .274
L Overbay 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .252
A Hill 2b 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 .266
G Zaun c 3 0 1 0 0 2 2 .263
D Eckstein ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .239
J McDonald ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .143
Totals 30 1 8 1 1 10 8 ###
----------------------------------------------------
CHI WHITE SOX - 000 000 000 -- 0 4 0
TORONTO - 000 000 10x -- 1 8 0
----------------------------------------------------
va-hit by pitch for T Hall in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - T Hall (1, D McGowan); V Wells (5, J Vazquez); A Hill (10, J
Vazquez). 3B - S Stewart (2, J Vazquez). HR - M Stairs (4, 7th inning off J
Vazquez 0 on, 0 Out). RBI - M Stairs (9). Runners left in scoring position, 2
out - J Thome 2, C Quentin 1, G Zaun 2, M Stairs 2, S Rolen 1. GIDP - P Ozuna,
D Eckstein. Team LOB - CHI WHITE SOX 7, TORONTO 6. FIELDING: Outfield assists -
C Quentin (S Rolen at 2nd base). DP: (P Konerko-O Cabrera, B Ryan-G Zaun-L
Overbay).
CHI WHITE SOX ip h r er bb so hr era
J Vazquez (L, 3-3) 7 2/3 8 1 1 1 9 1 3.30
M Thornton 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.65
TORONTO ip h r er bb so hr era
D McGowan (W, 2-2) 7 1/3 4 0 0 0 6 0 2.95
J Carlson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.23
S Camp (H, 3) 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
B Ryan (S, 5) 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0.00
J Carlson pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
HBP - A Pierzynski (by J Carlson). Pitches-strikes: J Vazquez 121-81; M
Thornton 6-4; D McGowan 103-66; J Carlson 4-1; S Camp 4-3; B Ryan 28-12. Ground
balls-fly balls: J Vazquez 8-5; M Thornton 0-0; D McGowan 11-5; J Carlson 0-0;
S Camp 1-1; B Ryan 3-0. Batters faced: J Vazquez 30; M Thornton 1; D McGowan
26; J Carlson 1; S Camp 2; B Ryan 5. UMPIRES: HP--Ron Kulpa. 1B--Dale Scott.
2B--Rob Drake. 3B--Mike Estabrook. T--2:40. Att--16,602. Weather: INDOORSThe 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.

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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes LA AAA Andy LaRoche...... 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 FLA AA Cameron Maybin.... 5 4 1 0 1 0 1 4 R COL AAA Ian Stewart....... 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 OAK AA Cliff Pennington.. 2 1 1 0 0 4 1 OAK AAA Jeffrey Baisley... 5 3 0 0 2 0 1 7 RBI ! NYY AA Jose Tabata....... 4 3 1 0 0 0 1 CHC AAA Jake Fox.......... 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 DET AAA Jeff Larish....... 5 2 1 0 1 0 0 COL AA C. Nelson......... 4 3 0 0 1 0 0 PIT AA Brad Corley....... 5 3 2 0 0 0 1 LAA AAA Kendry Morales.... 3 2 0 0 2 1 1 3 R TOR A+ Brian Dopirak..... 3 2 0 0 1 2 1 3 R ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes CIN AAA Homer Bailey...... 7 7 4 4 7 3 0 TB AAA Mitch Talbot...... 7 4 0 0 8 0 0 PHI AA Carlos Carrasco... 7 2 0 0 7 2 0 SD AA William Inman..... 6 5 2 2 8 1 0 FLA AAA E. De La Cruz..... 7 5 0 0 9 1 0 FLA AA Ryan Tucker....... 7 3 0 0 5 1 0 ATL A+ Thomas Hanson..... 6 1 1 1 7 1 0 BOS AA Justin Masterson.. 5 4 4 4 6 2 0 9 GB CHC AA Jeff Samardzija... 6 4 1 1 5 2 0 WAN A+ Craig Stammen..... 5 3 0 0 4 1 0 9 GB BOS AAA Charlie Zink...... 8 3 1 1 3 1 0 TB AA Jacob McGee....... 6 3 0 0 3 3 0
Access THT’s stats here…
{embed="content/2005stable"}
Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.
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TB 16 15 .516 3.5 16 0
NYA 17 16 .515 3.5 17 0
BAL 16 16 .500 4.0 15 1
TOR 16 17 .485 4.5 18 -2
American League Central
MIN 16 14 .533 0.0 14 2
CHA 14 16 .467 2.0 18 -4
CLE 14 17 .452 2.5 16 -2
KC 14 17 .452 2.5 12 2
DET 14 19 .424 3.5 15 -1
American League West
LAA 21 13 .618 0.0 18 3
OAK 20 14 .588 1.0 21 -1
SEA 14 19 .424 6.5 16 -2
TEX 13 20 .394 7.5 12 1
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 19 14 .576 0.0 19 0
FLA 17 14 .548 1.0 14 3
NYN 16 14 .533 1.5 15 1
ATL 15 15 .500 2.5 19 -4
WAS 14 18 .438 4.5 13 1
National League Central
STL 21 12 .636 0.0 20 1
CHN 18 14 .563 2.5 21 -3
MIL 16 15 .516 4.0 15 1
HOU 16 16 .500 4.5 17 -1
CIN 13 20 .394 8.0 13 0
PIT 12 19 .387 8.0 13 -1
National League West
ARI 21 11 .656 0.0 20 1
LAN 18 14 .563 3.0 20 -2
SF 14 18 .438 7.0 12 2
COL 12 20 .375 9.0 13 -1
SD 12 20 .375 9.0 11 1 