The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Two in New York

by Matthew Carruth
June 28, 2008

Major League News for June 28

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 Rotoworld
Hank Blalock experienced pain in his surgically repaired wrist during batting practice Friday.
Team doctors have told Blalock to take a week off. He has been out since late April and continues to struggle with his rehab. It'd be a miracle if the guy returns before the end of July.

C.C. Sabathia hurled eight scoreless innings and struck out 11 in a defeat of the Reds on Saturday.
Sabathia has returned to Cy Young form with a complete-game shutout and three 10-strikeout games in his last four starts. He allowed 27 runs in his first four starts of the season and just 21 in 13 starts since.

Yankees placed outfielder Hideki Matsui, retroactive to June 23, on the 15-day disabled list with a sore left knee.
Matsui's consecutive games streak is ancient history now. He's been quite productive this year, but this guarantees that he'll play in fewer than 150 games for a third year in a row. Wilson Betemit will benefit most from his absence and could have a little short-term value in AL-only leagues.

Cardinals activated LHP Mark Mulder from the 15-day disabled list.
Even though the left-hander has never worked in relief before, the Cards are going to throw Mulder right into their pen. The experiment has disaster written all over it. Mulder had a 6.55 ERA and a .338 average against in the minors, and he hasn't pitched in a week after being scratched from his last start with back stiffness.

Carlos Delgado had a grand slam, a three-run homer and a two-run double for a career-high nine RBI as the Mets steamrolled the Yankees 15-6 in the first game of Friday's two-stadium doubleheader.
It was a Mets record, breaking the mark of eight held by Dave Kingman. The grand slam off Ross Ohlendorf was the 12th of his career, and he later took LaTroy Hawkins deep. The Mets also got four hits from David Wright today. Luis Castillo scored five runs, and Carlos Beltran homered and scored four runs. Delgado, however, was the story. He has 13 homers and 44 RBI this season.

Rays activated first baseman Carlos Pena from the 15-day disabled list.
Pena returns after going 0-for-4 in his only minor league game. He's batting sixth tonight, so the Rays are sort of easing him back in. Eric Hinske will go back to getting most of his time in the outfield with Pena back. Willy Aybar and Gabe Gross will lose at-bats.

Alberto Callaspo was arrested early Friday morning on DUI charges.
A second ugly incident involving Callaspo, who last May was arrested for assaulting his wife. That incident most certainly played a role in Arizona's decision to trade him to Kansas City. Since he's yet to establish himself as more than a mediocre utilityman, he can't afford to keep embarrassing his teams with his off-the-field behavior.

According to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, the Orioles and Nationals are well into discussions about a deal that would send Felipe Lopez to Baltimore.
Rosenthal doesn't believe a deal will come until after the weekend series concludes. If the Orioles are going to take on the rest of the $4.9 million that Lopez is due this year, then they'll hardly have to give up anything to get him. He's become their primary shortstop. The Nats will likely go with Ronnie Belliard at second base the rest of the way.



Yesterday’s Results
American League
NYN    15  NYA     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
ATL     4  TOR     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA    10  CHN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     6  CIN     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     7  COL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      7  STL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     7  MIL     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     4  SF      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     8  PHI     7    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
FLA     3  ARI     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA     9  NYN     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     4  BAL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
BOS     6  HOU     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB     10  PIT     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     6  LAA     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     5  SD      2    (Recap and Boxscore)


Today’s Games
National League
 ---------------
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Brandon Webb (11-4) vs. (L) Andrew Miller (5-6)
 
 Inter-League
 ------------
 Atlanta Braves at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM
  (R) Tim Hudson (8-5) vs. (L) John Parrish (0-0)
 Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox, 3:55 PM
  (R) Sean Gallagher (3-3) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (7-6)
 New York Yankees at New York Mets, 3:55 PM
  (L) Andy Pettitte (8-5) vs. (L) Johan Santana (7-6)
 Boston Red Sox at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jon Lester (6-3) vs. (R) Brandon Backe (5-8)
 Tampa Bay Rays at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (R) Edwin Jackson (4-6) vs. (R) Ty Taubenheim (0-0)
 Cincinnati Reds at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Johnny Cueto (5-8) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (3-8)
 Colorado Rockies at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jeff Francis (3-7) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (4-9)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Kansas City Royals, 7:10 PM
  (R) Mitchell Boggs (2-0) vs. (R) Kyle Davies (3-0)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 PM
  (L) Manny Parra (7-2) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (8-4)
 Baltimore Orioles at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM
  (L) Garrett Olson (5-3) vs. (L) John Lannan (4-8)
 Philadelphia Phillies at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (L) Cole Hamels (7-5) vs. (R) Vicente Padilla (10-3)
 San Francisco Giants at Oakland Athletics, 9:05 PM
  (R) Tim Lincecum (8-1) vs. (R) Justin Duchscherer (8-4)
 Seattle Mariners at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (R) Carlos Silva (3-9) vs. (R) Cha Seung Baek (1-2)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM
  (R) Jered Weaver (7-7) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (6-7)


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     50  32 .610    0.0   49     1    sparkline graph
TB      48  31 .608    0.5   45     3    sparkline graph
NYA     43  37 .538    6.0   42     1    sparkline graph
BAL     40  38 .513    8.0   38     2    sparkline graph
TOR     38  43 .469   11.5   43    -5    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CHA     44  35 .557    0.0   48    -4    sparkline graph
MIN     44  36 .550    0.5   41     3    sparkline graph
DET     39  40 .494    5.0   40    -1    sparkline graph
CLE     37  43 .463    7.5   42    -5    sparkline graph
KC      37  43 .463    7.5   36     1    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     48  32 .600    0.0   41     7    sparkline graph
OAK     44  35 .557    3.5   47    -3    sparkline graph
TEX     41  40 .506    7.5   39     2    sparkline graph
SEA     29  50 .367   18.5   32    -3    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     43  38 .531    0.0   48    -5    sparkline graph
FLA     41  38 .519    1.0   38     3    sparkline graph
ATL     40  41 .494    3.0   45    -5    sparkline graph
NYN     39  40 .494    3.0   39     0    sparkline graph
WAS     32  49 .395   11.0   29     3    sparkline graph
National League Central     
CHN     49  31 .613    0.0   50    -1    sparkline graph
STL     45  36 .556    4.5   43     2    sparkline graph
MIL     43  36 .544    5.5   39     4    sparkline graph
PIT     37  42 .468   11.5   35     2    sparkline graph
HOU     37  43 .463   12.0   36     1    sparkline graph
CIN     36  45 .444   13.5   34     2    sparkline graph
National League West        
ARI     40  40 .500    0.0   40     0    sparkline graph
LAN     37  42 .468    2.5   40    -3    sparkline graph
SF      34  46 .425    6.0   35    -1    sparkline graph
COL     32  48 .400    8.0   33    -1    sparkline graph
SD      32  49 .395    8.5   32     0    sparkline graph


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 AAA Danny Richar...... 5  4  1  0  1  0  0  
CLE AA  Trevor Crowe...... 5  3  1  0  1  1  0  4 R
CLE A+  Beau Mills........ 4  3  0  0  2  1  0  3 R
STL AAA Joe Mather........ 4  3  1  0  1  1  1  5 RBI !
SD  A+  Kellen Kulbacki... 4  2  0  0  2  1  2  
PIT AAA Brian Bixler...... 5  3  1  1  0  0  1  3 R
BOS AAA George Kottaras... 4  3  1  0  1  0  1  
DET AAA Matthew Joyce..... 3  2  1  0  1  1  1  
CHC AA  W. Castillo....... 4  2  1  0  1  1  1  
CLE AA  Joshua Rodriguez.. 5  3  0  2  0  1  1  
SD  A+  Eric Sogard....... 5  2  1  0  1  0  1  
KC  A+  Derrick Robinson.. 3  1  0  0  0  2  0  4 SB

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
TEX AA  Tommy Hunter...... 6  3  0  0  8  1  0  
TEX A-  Neil Ramirez...... 6  1  0  0  7  1  0  
ATL AA  K. Medlen......... 6  5  0  0  8  0  0  
CLE A   K. De La Cruz..... 6  3  2  0  7  1  0  
SD  A   Jeremy Hefner..... 5  3  3  3 10  2  1  
PHI A+  Andrew Carpenter.. 7  1  0  0  3  1  0  
MIN AA  Zachary Ward...... 6  4  2  1  5  1  0  
ATL A   Edgar Osuna....... 6  6  3  3  8  1  1  
NYM AA  Jonathon Niese.... 9  7  4  4  4  2  0  
LA  A   Bryan Morris...... 5  2  0  0  3  0  0  
MIL A   Robert Bryson..... 3  1  1  1  4  0  0  
DET A+  Rick Porcello..... 6  5  1  0  2  0  0  12 GB


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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.