THT Daily: Shrinkage
by Dave StudemanAugust 16, 2009
Major League News for August 16
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
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 RotoworldEric Byrnes (fractured hand) is scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment Monday with Triple-A Reno.
Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch is optimistic that Byrnes will be able to return before September 1. The outfielder will have to get cracking. "Depending on how his hand reacts, we'll see how much volume he can handle," said Hinch. Byrnes was batting .216 with five homers and 24 RBI before the injury.
Julio Borbon finished 4-for-5 with two RBI and four stolen bases Saturday evening as the Rangers topped the Red Sox.
The Rangers had a field day with Jason Varitek behind the plate, racking up an all-time franchise-high eight stolen bases and inducing one balk. Borbon drove in a run in the second inning and another in the fourth. He's batting .389 since his call-up on August 7 with five stolen bases and three RBI.
Aaron Hill launched his 28th home run of the season Saturday in a losing effort against the Blue Jays.
It was a two-run shot and left the park in the third inning. He needed 1,720 major league at-bats to tally his first 28 dingers, but has shot quickly to 66 career bombs this season. The Blue Jays managed just one more run after the fireworks, however, and fell to 55-60 on the year. Hill is batting .286 this season with 80 RBI.
Nate McLouth is expected to miss "more than a couple of days" after aggravating his left hamstring on Saturday afternoon.
"We're not going to disable him," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "But it sure slowed him down. It was very noticeable even more than last night. He's a center fielder and he's limping. You've got to face the facts. But we'll wait three or four days." Ryan Church will see an uptick in playing time.
Nationals team president Stan Kasten indicated Saturday that the Nationals have offered top pick Stephen Strasburg a record-setting deal.
Mark Prior set the record back in 2001 when he was handed a $10.5 million signing bonus from the Cubs. Strasburg, guided by agent Scott Boras, is apparently seeking upwards of $35 million to $50 million. "With 48 hours to go, I simply have no idea whether we're going to be able to reach a deal," Kasten said. The deadline to sign draft picks is Monday at midnight.
According to WFAN's Twitter account, David Wright has been diagnosed with a concussion and will remain hospitalized overnight.
It's mostly good news in the sense that Wright and the Mets have avoided another major injury, but everyone deals with concussions differently. He could be out only a couple of days, or might be placed on the disabled list. It's too early to tell where this is headed. We'll keep you updated.
Brad Lidge blew his eighth save in 30 chances Saturday after allowing two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Braves.
Lidge entered the game with a 3-2 lead. He allowed an infield single, made two errors, issued two walks, then served up the game-winnings single to the Braves' Omar Infante. Lidge is now 0-5 on the season with a 7.27 ERA and a 1.85 WHIP. The Phillies may have to try something different if the NL East race gets any closer. Handing ninth-inning duties to Ryan Madson would make the most sense.
J.D. Drew is expected to miss the next three games with a sore groin.
Drew will probably be healthy by Tuesday, but the Red Sox are facing Blue Jays left-hander Ricky Romero and Brian Anderson is likely to draw the start. Drew has dealt with this groin injury for most of August.
According to Scott Lauber of the Wilmington News Journal, Brett Myers (hip) will miss his start for Single-A Clearwater on Saturday after getting hit in the eye while playing catch with his four-year old son.
No word on the severity of the injury, but general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is expected to provide more details later today. Myers was scheduled to pitch one inning in Saturday's game.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League LAA 5 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 8 TOR 3 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 10 KC 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 7 MIN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 8 OAK 1 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 5 SEA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 7 BOS 2 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 4 PHI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 5 NYN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 3 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 10 CIN 6 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 6 HOU 2 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 7 SD 4 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 4 LAN 3 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
Royals (45-71) @ Tigers (62-54), 1:05pmKyle Davies (25, RHP) vs. Armando Galarraga (27, RHP)
Angels (69-45) @ Orioles (48-68), 1:35pm
Sean O'Sullivan (21, RHP) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (30, RHP)
Blue Jays (55-60) @ Rays (62-54), 1:38pm
Marc Rzepczynski (23, LHP) vs. Matt Garza (25, RHP)
RedSox (66-50) @ Rangers (65-50), 2:05pm
Junichi Tazawa (23, RHP) vs. Dustin Nippert (28, RHP)
Indians (50-66) @ Twins (56-60), 2:10pm
Aaron Laffey (24, LHP) vs. Nick Blackburn (27, RHP)
WhiteSox (60-57) @ Athletics (51-65), 4:05pm
John Danks (24, LHP) vs. Trevor Cahill (21, RHP)
Yankees (74-43) @ Mariners (60-57), 4:10pm
Joba Chamberlain (23, RHP) vs. Doug Fister (25, RHP)
Rockies (64-52) @ Marlins (62-54), 2nd Game
Jorge de la Rosa (28, LHP) vs. Rick VandenHurk (24, RHP)
Nationals (42-75) @ Reds (50-66), 1:10pm
John Lannan (24, LHP) vs. Justin Lehr (31, RHP)
Giants (63-53) @ Mets (54-62), 1:10pm
Jonathan Sanchez (26, LHP) vs. Mike Pelfrey (25, RHP)
Rockies (64-52) @ Marlins (62-54), 1:35pm
Aaron Cook (30, RHP) vs. Chris Volstad (22, RHP)
Astros (56-61) @ Brewers (58-58), 2:05pm
Roy Oswalt (31, RHP) vs. Braden Looper (34, RHP)
Padres (49-69) @ Cardinals (66-52), 2:15pm
Clayton Richard (25, LHP) vs. Kyle Lohse (30, RHP)
Pirates (46-70) @ Cubs (60-55), 2:20pm
Ross Ohlendorf (26, RHP) vs. Rich Harden (27, RHP)
Dodgers (69-48) @ D'backs (54-63), 4:10pm
Randy Wolf (32, LHP) vs. Yusmeiro Petit (24, RHP)
Phillies (65-49) @ Braves (61-55), 8:00pm
J.A. Happ (26, LHP) vs. Javier Vazquez (32, RHP)
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 NYA 74 43 .632 0.0 69 5BOS 66 50 .569 7.5 66 0
TB 62 54 .534 11.5 65 -3
TOR 55 60 .478 18.0 61 -6
BAL 48 68 .414 25.5 50 -2
American League Central DET 62 54 .534 0.0 60 2
CHA 60 57 .513 2.5 60 0
MIN 56 60 .483 6.0 59 -3
CLE 50 66 .431 12.0 55 -5
KC 45 71 .388 17.0 45 0
American League West LAA 69 45 .605 0.0 64 5
TEX 65 50 .565 4.5 63 2
SEA 60 57 .513 10.5 52 8
OAK 51 65 .440 19.0 54 -3
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 65 49 .570 0.0 64 1
FLA 62 54 .534 4.0 58 4
ATL 61 55 .526 5.0 63 -2
NYN 54 62 .466 12.0 54 0
WAS 42 75 .359 24.5 49 -7
National League Central STL 66 52 .559 0.0 65 1
CHN 60 55 .522 4.5 60 0
MIL 58 58 .500 7.0 56 2
HOU 56 61 .479 9.5 51 5
CIN 50 66 .431 15.0 49 1
PIT 46 70 .397 19.0 50 -4
National League West LAN 69 48 .590 0.0 70 -1
COL 64 52 .552 4.5 66 -2
SF 63 53 .543 5.5 61 2
ARI 54 63 .462 15.0 56 -2
SD 49 69 .415 20.5 44 5
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 66 50 .569 0.0 TEX 65 50 .565 0.5 TB 62 54 .534 4.0 CHA 60 57 .513 6.5 SEA 60 57 .513 6.5 National League COL 64 52 .552 0.0 SF 63 53 .543 1.0 FLA 62 54 .534 2.0 ATL 61 55 .526 3.0 CHN 60 55 .522 3.5
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.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes CHW A Jared Mitchell.... 5 3 3 0 0 0 0 TB AAA Matthew Joyce..... 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 BOS A W. Middlebrooks... 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 ARI AAA Cole Gillespie.... 3 2 1 0 0 2 0 HOU AA Collin DeLome..... 4 2 1 1 0 0 0 STL AA Steve Hill........ 4 3 0 0 1 0 1 OAK AA Corey Wimberly.... 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 3 LD CHC AA Tyler Colvin...... 3 3 0 1 0 1 0 SD A A. Cumberland..... 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 CHC A Ryan Flaherty..... 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 BOS A- Derrik Gibson..... 4 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 SB TOR AAA Travis Snider..... 4 2 0 0 1 0 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes ATL A J.J. Hoover....... 7 3 0 0 8 2 0 OAK A+ Anthony Capra..... 6 4 1 1 10 3 0 BAL A+ Zachary Britton... 7 4 1 1 7 2 0 13 GB BOS A+ Stephen Fife...... 5 5 1 1 8 2 0 KC A+ Daniel Duffy...... 4 1 0 0 7 2 0 PHI A Trevor May........ 5 2 1 1 6 3 0 TB AAA J. Hellickson..... 7 2 2 2 7 3 2 LA AA C. Withrow........ 5 6 1 1 4 0 0 LAA AA Alexander Torres.. 6 4 0 0 4 2 0 12 GB ATL A+ Cole Rohrbough.... 6 5 2 1 3 0 1 TEX A Wilfredo Boscan... 6 5 2 2 2 2 0 5 infield flies ARI A+ Trevor Harden..... 5 7 5 4 4 0 1
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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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