THT Daily: Surging athletics
by Dave StudemanJune 09, 2009
Major League News for June 9
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 RotoworldRich Harden allowed two runs -- one earned -- over 4 1/3 innings Monday in a rehab start with Triple-A Iowa.
Harden struck out six and walked two. He has been on the disabled list since May 18 with a mid-back strain, but is finally nearing a return. There's a possibility he could start Saturday against the Twins.
Aaron Cunningham suffered a concussion Monday night.
Cunningham was nailed in the helmet with an Anthony Swarzak pitch. He was allowed to run for himself, but probably shouldn't have. He was taken to nearby Summit Medical Center for a CT scan and probably won't be in the starting lineup for several days. The A's are awfully light on outfield depth, so look for Gregorio Petit or Adam Kennedy to fill in.
Tony Clark (hand) is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Reno on Thursday.
Clark has been out since May 6 with a strained ligament in his right hand, and may require an extended stay in Triple-A to find his swing. Part of the reason he was placed on the disabled list in the first place was because he couldn't comfortably take cuts with the bat.
Brandon McCarthy is headed for the DL with a stress fracture in his right shoulder.
It's similar to the injury that McCarthy had two years ago. GM Jon Daniels said McCarthy won't pick up a ball for several weeks. According to the Dallas Morning News, Doug Mathis is expected to make Tuesday's start.
Evan Longoria returned to the starting lineup on Monday.
Longoria left last Tuesday's game with a sore hamstring. He has been limited to a pair of pinch-hitting appearances since that time.
Josh Hamilton (abdomen) will have surgery on Tuesday and is expected to miss four to six weeks, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The procedure to repair a partial tear in Hamilton's abdominal muscle will occur in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning. "Given what it could have been, I think it's probably better than what some of the alternatives are," general manager Jon Daniels said. "I think this team has done a very good job of playing early in the season either without Josh or without Josh at 100 percent. We really haven't had what you expect from a healthy Josh Hamilton yet."
Jason Marquis took over the NL lead with his eighth victory after limiting the Cardinals to two runs in 6 2/3 innings on Monday.
The Rockies won four straight in St. Louis to improve to 25-32 on the season. Marquis is 8-4 and it's not really about run support, as the team has scored more than five runs in just two of his victories. After only giving up Luis Vizcaino to acquire Marquis from the Cubs, the Rockies could turn quite a profit if they opt to move him in July.
Torii Hunter was unavailable Sunday due to a nagging groin injury.
Hunter initially suffered the injury when he ran into the Dodger Stadium outfield wall two weeks ago, and aggravated it while the Angels were on the field turf in Toronto last week. "The turf is almost like a truth serum," Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. "It has a way of bringing out every ache and pain that you have." Monday's off day should help, but it's still not clear if he'll be ready to play Tuesday.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League NYA 5 TB 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 6 DET 1 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 5 CHA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 4 MIN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 6 TEX 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 7 PIT 6 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 4 SF 0 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 5 STL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 6 ARI 3 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Cincinnati Reds at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM (R) Johnny Cueto (5-3) vs. (R) Jordan Zimmermann (2-3) St. Louis Cardinals at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (R) Chris Carpenter (4-0) vs. (R) Josh Johnson (5-1) Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (L) J.A. Happ (4-0) vs. (L) Johan Santana (7-3) Pittsburgh Pirates at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (R) Ross Ohlendorf (5-5) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (6-3) Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (L) Ted Lilly (6-4) vs. (R) Brian Moehler (2-3) Colorado Rockies at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Jason Hammel (2-3) vs. (R) Braden Looper (5-3) San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Matt Cain (7-1) vs. (R) Billy Buckner (2-1) San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Chris Young (4-4) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (7-3) American League --------------- Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Brian Bannister (4-3) vs. (L) Cliff Lee (3-6) Seattle Mariners at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (L) Jason Vargas (2-0) vs. (R) Brad Bergesen (2-2) LA Angels of Anaheim at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:08 PM (R) Jered Weaver (5-2) vs. (R) James Shields (5-4) New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 PM (R) A.J. Burnett (4-2) vs. (R) Josh Beckett (6-2) Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (L) Brian Tallet (3-3) vs. (R) Doug Mathis (0-0) Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (L) Dontrelle Willis (1-3) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (6-2) Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Scott Baker (3-6) vs. (L) Brett Anderson (3-5)
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 34 23 .596 0.0 31 3BOS 33 24 .579 1.0 33 0
TOR 33 27 .550 2.5 33 0
TB 29 30 .492 6.0 34 -5
BAL 24 33 .421 10.0 23 1
American League Central DET 31 26 .544 0.0 32 -1
MIN 28 31 .475 4.0 30 -2
CHA 27 31 .466 4.5 26 1
KC 24 32 .429 6.5 24 0
CLE 25 34 .424 7.0 29 -4
American League West TEX 33 24 .579 0.0 31 2
LAA 28 27 .509 4.0 27 1
SEA 28 29 .491 5.0 26 2
OAK 26 30 .464 6.5 26 0
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 33 22 .600 0.0 31 2
NYN 30 25 .545 3.0 29 1
ATL 28 28 .500 5.5 27 1
FLA 28 31 .475 7.0 27 1
WAS 15 40 .273 18.0 21 -6
National League Central MIL 33 24 .579 0.0 31 2
STL 31 27 .534 2.5 30 1
CHN 28 26 .519 3.5 28 0
CIN 29 27 .518 3.5 29 0
PIT 26 31 .456 7.0 28 -2
HOU 25 30 .455 7.0 25 0
National League West LAN 39 20 .661 0.0 38 1
SF 29 27 .518 8.5 28 1
SD 27 30 .474 11.0 24 3
COL 25 32 .439 13.0 29 -4
ARI 25 33 .431 13.5 26 -1
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 AA Brandon Allen..... 4 4 0 0 1 1 0 3 R MIL AAA Alcides Escobar... 5 3 0 1 1 0 0 SEA AAA Mike Carp......... 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 3 LD OAK AA Chris Carter...... 5 3 0 0 1 0 1 COL AAA Eric Young........ 4 2 0 0 1 1 2 PHI A Anthony Gose...... 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 SB TOR A+ Moises Sierra..... 5 2 0 0 1 0 0 4 RBI CLE AAA Michael Brantley.. 5 2 1 0 0 0 2 CIN AAA Drew Sutton....... 4 2 0 1 0 1 0 3 R SF AAA Kevin Frandsen.... 5 3 1 0 0 0 0 TEX A Michael Bianucci.. 4 1 0 0 1 0 1 MIN A Angel Morales..... 4 2 1 0 0 0 1 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes LA AAA James McDonald.... 7 4 1 1 10 2 1 TB AAA Wade Davis........ 6 4 0 0 7 3 0 ARI AAA Cesar Valdez...... 7 5 0 0 3 0 0 LAA AA Trevor Bell....... 6 6 4 1 6 3 0 TEX A Wilfredo Boscan... 5 5 3 1 4 1 0 STL AAA P.J. Walters...... 5 8 2 2 6 2 0 9 GB BOS A+ Kyle Weiland...... 6 2 1 0 3 3 0 14 GB ATL A J.J. Hoover....... 6 8 4 3 5 2 0 KC A M. Montgomery..... 6 5 1 1 1 0 0 11 GB NYY A+ D.J. Mitchell..... 5 5 3 2 2 1 0 9 GB STL AAA Jesse Todd........ 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 NYY A Pat Venditte...... 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
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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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