THT Daily: Walkoffs galore
by THT StaffSeptember 26, 2008
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ and an archive at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/thtdaily_index/
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldRyan Braun hit a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the 10th to give the Brewers a 5-1 win over the Pirates on Thursday. A single would have had the same result, but he got a cookie from Jesse Chavez on a 3-2 pitch with two outs and it turned into a no-doubter. Once again, Pirates manager John Russell refused to use Matt Capps in a close game, even though it had been five days since the closer had pitched. He'll use the excuse that there could have been a save situation later, but when it's meant relying on pitchers like Chavez, T.J. Beam and Craig Hansen, it's highly unlikely that such a situation would ever arise. The slam was the first in 18 career at-bats with the bases loaded for Braun. He has 36 homers and 104 RBI this year. The win keeps the Brewers even with the Mets for the wild card.
Roy Halladay went the distance for the ninth time this year to earn his 20th win Thursday as the Jays beat the Yankees 8-2. The Bombers didn't make it very difficult for him, playing just four of their regulars. Halladay threw 96 pitches in the six-hitter that gave him his second 20-win season. He matched his career high in complete games, which was established in his other 20-win season in 2003. As difficult as his schedule has been -- he's faced the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays a combined 16 times -- there's a good case to be made for him actually being the AL's best pitcher this year. Still, he'll have to settle for finishing second to Cliff Lee in the Cy Young balloting.
Mariano Rivera has been shut down for the season because of a sore shoulder and will have an MRI. So Joe Girardi was lying. And not for the first time. And with absolutely nothing to gain. That Rivera pitched three days in a row twice in a 10-day span probably had something to do with his recent soreness. He ends the year with the second-best ERA (1.43) and best WHIP (0.68) of his career. Joba Chamberlain will close in his place this weekend.
Albert Pujols went 3-for-3 with a three-run homer, a double and a sac fly as the Cardinals eliminated the Diamondbacks by winning 12-3 on Thursday. The Dodgers are the NL West champions. Pujols, who received a rare day off on Wednesday, hit his 35th homer today and upped his RBI total to 112. He also scored twice, giving him 97 runs on the season. He'll need one per game this weekend in order to reach the century mark for the seventh time in eight major league seasons. Considering that he has a .458 OBP, he really should be there already.
Manager Bob Melvin said Thursday that he expects Chad Qualls to close for the Diamondbacks next season. "I don't see why (he) shouldn't," Melvin said. "We have some quality arms and we feel like any of these guys could close and we've had to rotate it around this year. But based on what he's accomplished, especially here as of late, I don't see why he wouldn't be considered the favorite going into spring training next year." Qualls is 4-for-4 in save opportunities and hasn't allowed an earned run since he stole the job from Brandon Lyon.
Kevin Slowey came out of Thursday's game against the White Sox in the fourth inning after being hit on the right arm with a line drive. Slowey's last pitch of a disastrous six-run inning was hit right back at him and left him with a right wrist contusion. He still managed to gather the ball in after being hit, but his throw to first base went wide of the bag, allowing the fifth and six runs of the frame to score. An outfield collision on a Jim Thome "double" and a Brian Buscher miscue on an Alexei Ramirez "single" opened the door for the big inning. Slowey, who had pitched three scoreless innings, was charged with four earned runs, though only one was truly deserved.
Yesterday’s Results
Game recaps provided by Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball.Mets 7, Cubs 6, Brewers 5, Pirates 1: In my book, a walkoff grand slam by Ryan Braun in the bottom of the 10th beats a walkoff single by Carlos Beltran in the bottom of the ninth. The Mets can talk about stopping the bleeding all they want, but they're in the same place this morning as they were yesterday morning. Now Milwaukee gets three at home against a Cubs team likely looking to rest its starters as much as possible while New York has to play three against a scrappy Marlins team and a Nor'Easter. For all of the fireworks last night at Shea, I still say: Advantage Milwaukee.
Twins 7, White Sox 6: I must have some kind of gift, because I have clicked to the Game Cast on ESPN.com three times this week, and all three of them ended less than five pitches later with walkoff hits (the Fielder homer the other night, the Braun homer last night, and now this one). Minnesota now has the Royals (and the lead in the division) while Chicago has the Indians.
Cardinals 12, Diamondbacks 3: And that, as they say, is that. All of the game stories today will talk about how L.A. won the division while sitting around the clubhouse on Thursday afternoon, but that's really not accurate. They won the division on September 6th, 2008. That was the last day the Diamondbacks awoke in first place, only to have their ace beaten by the Dodgers later that evening. In that way, Arizona was decisively vanquished on the field of battle, even if they did not die from their wounds for nearly three more weeks.
Red Sox 6, Indians 1: Boston could still win the division because . . .
Tigers 7, Rays 5: I have to believe that the Rays are sandbagging at this point. I mean, if they lose out and get the wild card, it means that the Red Sox will be the ones that could have to face the Twins in the first round. A Twins team, mind you, that is reminding me of those profoundly annoying 1987 and 1991 teams. Why annoying? Because the 1991 Twins beat my Braves who, in my mind anyway, were better than them. Because the 1987 team beat a Tigers team that, while not really my rooting interest anymore, still had most of the heroes of my youth playing for them and who, again, were probably better than that Twins team. I said in the comments yesterday that I was no conspiracy theorist, but I'm almost willing to buy in to the idea that the Rays are throwin' this thing so that they could go play a fat, happy, and maybe a bit rusty Angels team.
Blue Jays 8, Yankees 2: Roy Halladay wins his 20th. Which is great and all, but check out the names who played for New York last night: Gardner, Betemit, Ransom, Cabrera, Cervelli, Pavano, Giese, Robertson, Ramirez, Sanchez, and Rasner. No A-Rod, no Jeter, no I-Rod, no Damon, no Matsui, and none of the first handful of arms you'd ever see trot out of the Yankee bullpen. Halladay basically beat Scranton on a night when a couple of vets were down on a rehab assignment.
Astros 8, Reds 6: This season started out with Johnny Cueto pitching a gem against the Diamondbacks and causing many of us to wonder if he was the second coming of Bob Gibson. It ends quite differently (2.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER), and with final season stats that are nothing special (9-13, 4.62 ERA), but I've watched this guy pitch an awful lot this year, and I still think he's going to be something special. In some ways I wonder if this season won't be a blessing in disguise for Cueto, in that many of those rough outings ended early, resulting in him only throwing 171 innings this year. If he had maintained even a reasonable approximation of that hot hand all summer, you can bet that Dusty would have ridden him like a Tennessee stud.
Rockies 3, Giants 1: Jorge De La Rosa throws bullets for seven innings to beat Barry Zito and the Giants.
Angels 6, Mariners 4: Given that they've won eight of nine, I should probably take back what I said above about the Angels being fat, happy, and rusty. But I do so like that paragraph, and I always have trouble making choices as a writer.
Padres 7, Dodgers 4: Peavy's line for the year: 10-11, 2.85 ERA, 166K, 59 BB. Still, you just know someone, somewhere is going to look at that record and say "what happened to Jake Peavy?"
Marlins vs. Nationals, cancelled: Given the utter lack of gravity of this game, how long did they wait to call it off? Five minutes? Ten? Did they just agree to cancel it at around 5PM so that everyone could grab some dinner somewhere and not go through the charade of caring?
You can download a compact version of yesterday's boxscores from Heater Magazine.
| First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports: |
| {embed="pageblocks/FirstInning_Team_Lookup"} |
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Washington Nationals at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Collin Balester (3-6) vs. (R) Joe Blanton (3-0) Florida Marlins at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (R) Chris Volstad (5-4) vs. (R) Mike Pelfrey (13-10) Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Ryan Dempster (17-6) vs. (R) Jeff Suppan (10-10) Atlanta Braves at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Jorge Campillo (8-7) vs. (R) Brian Moehler (11-8) Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM (R) Bronson Arroyo (15-11) vs. (R) Braden Looper (12-14) Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Jason Hirsh (0-0) vs. (R) Dan Haren (16-8) Pittsburgh Pirates at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Ian Snell (6-12) vs. (R) Josh Geer (2-1) Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, 10:35 PM (R) Derek Lowe (14-11) vs. (R) Brad Hennessey (1-2) American League --------------- Toronto Blue Jays at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM (R) Scott Richmond (0-3) vs. (L) Chris Waters (3-4) Tampa Bay Rays at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Andy Sonnanstine (13-8) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (10-17) New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Alfredo Aceves (1-0) vs. (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (18-2) Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM (R) Kyle Davies (8-7) vs. (L) Francisco Liriano (6-3) Cleveland Indians at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM (L) Scott Lewis (3-0) vs. (L) John Danks (11-8) Texas Rangers at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Vicente Padilla (13-8) vs. (R) John Lackey (12-4) Oakland Athletics at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM (R) Sean Gallagher (2-2) vs. (R) Brandon Morrow (2-4)
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 TB 96 63 .604 0.0 90 6BOS 94 65 .591 2.0 96 -2
NYA 87 72 .547 9.0 84 3
TOR 84 75 .528 12.0 90 -6
BAL 67 91 .424 28.5 72 -5
American League Central MIN 87 72 .547 0.0 88 -1
CHA 86 72 .544 0.5 87 -1
CLE 79 80 .497 8.0 83 -4
KC 73 86 .459 14.0 70 3
DET 72 86 .456 14.5 76 -4
American League West LAA 99 60 .623 0.0 87 12
TEX 77 82 .484 22.0 73 4
OAK 75 83 .475 23.5 75 0
SEA 58 101 .365 41.0 64 -6
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 89 70 .560 0.0 91 -2
NYN 88 71 .553 1.0 88 0
FLA 82 76 .519 6.5 79 3
ATL 71 88 .447 18.0 77 -6
WAS 59 99 .373 29.5 61 -2
National League Central CHN 96 62 .608 0.0 97 -1
MIL 88 71 .553 8.5 86 2
HOU 84 74 .532 12.0 76 8
STL 83 76 .522 13.5 84 -1
CIN 74 85 .465 22.5 71 3
PIT 65 94 .409 31.5 65 0
National League West LAN 83 76 .522 0.0 85 -2
ARI 79 80 .497 4.0 80 -1
COL 74 85 .465 9.0 73 1
SF 70 89 .440 13.0 67 3
SD 62 97 .390 21.0 67 -5
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 94 65 .591 0.0 NYA 87 72 .547 7.0 CHA 86 72 .544 7.5 TOR 84 75 .528 10.0 CLE 79 80 .497 15.0 National League MIL 88 71 .553 0.0 NYN 88 71 .553 0.0 HOU 84 74 .532 3.5 STL 83 76 .522 5.0 FLA 82 76 .519 5.5
Game of the Day
Twins 7, White Sox 6 - FINAL
CHI WHITE SOX ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D Wise lf 5 0 0 0 0 2 1 .259
O Cabrera ss 5 1 2 1 0 0 0 .283
J Dye rf 4 1 1 0 1 1 1 .285
J Thome dh 4 1 2 0 1 1 0 .247
P Konerko 1b 5 0 0 1 0 0 1 .238
K Griffey Jr cf 3 1 0 0 1 1 2 .244
B Anderson cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .237
A Ramirez 2b 4 1 1 1 0 1 0 .295
A Pierzynski c 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 .280
J Uribe 3b 3 0 1 1 0 1 0 .251
va-N Swisher ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .220
J Fields 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .156
Totals 37 6 7 4 3 9 5 ###
MINNESOTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D Span rf 4 1 3 3 1 0 2 .299
A Casilla 2b 5 0 2 1 0 2 2 .286
J Mauer c 5 0 3 1 0 0 2 .330
J Morneau 1b 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 .306
J Kubel dh 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 .274
ha-M Cuddyer ph-dh 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .248
D Young lf 5 0 0 0 0 2 2 .294
B Buscher 3b 2 1 0 0 1 1 2 .295
hb-B Harris ph-3b 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 .265
N Punto ss 4 1 1 0 1 0 1 .281
C Gomez cf 5 3 4 2 0 0 0 .262
Totals 42 7 15 7 3 7 15 ###
----------------------------------------------------
CHI WHITE SOX - 000 600 000 0 -- 6 7 0
MINNESOTA - 100 201 020 1 -- 7 15 1
Two outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
ha-grounded to shortstop for J Kubel in the 7th; hb-doubled to left for B
Buscher in the 8th; va-struck out swinging for J Uribe in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - J Thome (28, K Slowey); J Mauer (31, G Floyd); C Gomez (24, G
Floyd); D Span (15, G Floyd); B Harris (28, M Thornton). 3B - C Gomez 2 (7, G
Floyd 2); D Span (6, B Jenks). HR - O Cabrera (8, 4th inning off K Slowey 0 on,
1 Out). S - A Casilla , D Span. RBI - O Cabrera (56), P Konerko (56), A Ramirez
(73), J Uribe (39), J Mauer (82), C Gomez 2 (59), D Span 3 (46), A Casilla
(49). 2-out RBI - A Ramirez, J Uribe, C Gomez, D Span, A Casilla. Runners left
in scoring position, 2 out - K Griffey Jr 2, P Konerko 1, D Wise 1, J Kubel 1,
B Buscher 1, J Mauer 1, A Casilla 1, D Span 2. Team LOB - CHI WHITE SOX 5,
MINNESOTA 11. BASERUNNING: SB - O Cabrera (19, 3rd base off J Crain/J Mauer).
FIELDING: E - K Slowey (1, throw).
CHI WHITE SOX ip h r er bb so hr era
G Floyd 5 2/3 11 4 4 1 4 0 3.91
M Thornton (H, 20) 1 2/3 1 1 1 0 1 0 2.74
B Jenks (L, 3-1; B, 4) 2 1/3 3 2 2 2 2 0 2.71
MINNESOTA ip h r er bb so hr era
K Slowey 3 2/3 5 6 4 1 3 1 3.99
M Guerrier 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 5.00
D Reyes 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.38
B Bonser 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 5.86
J Crain 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 3.65
C Breslow 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.93
J Nathan (W, 1-2) 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1.36
WP - B Jenks. IBB - D Span (by B Jenks). HBP - A Pierzynski (by K Slowey).
Pitches-strikes: G Floyd 101-70; M Thornton 19-13; B Jenks 34-22; K Slowey
59-44; M Guerrier 18-9; D Reyes 4-3; B Bonser 12-6; J Crain 16-10; C Breslow
13-7; J Nathan 26-16. Ground balls-fly balls: G Floyd 6-7; M Thornton 3-1; B
Jenks 4-1; K Slowey 3-5; M Guerrier 2-0; D Reyes 0-0; B Bonser 1-1; J Crain
1-2; C Breslow 1-1; J Nathan 1-3. Batters faced: G Floyd 29; M Thornton 6; B
Jenks 12; K Slowey 18; M Guerrier 5; D Reyes 1; B Bonser 3; J Crain 5; C
Breslow 3; J Nathan 6. IRS - B Jenks. UMPIRES: HP--Mike Reilly. 1B--Andy
Fletcher. 2B--Bob Davidson. 3B--Alfonso Marquez. T--3:27. Att--43,601.
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.
Yesterday’s Home Runs
The following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected “true” distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its "standard" distance, which is corrected for weather conditions. Each homer is also categorized into one of three types: Just Enough (JE) for homers that cleared the fence by ten feet or less, Plenty (PL) for those that were sure home runs but not “blasts,” and No Doubt (ND) for true “blasts”—homers that cleared the fence by at least 20 feet and landed at least 50 feet beyond the fence.Hitter Team Pitcher Team True Stnd. # Type Clint Barmes COL Barry Zito SF 394 374 11 PL/L Yuniesky Betancourt SEA Jose Arredondo LAA 399 403 7 JE Ryan Braun MIL Jesse Chavez PIT 401 400 36 PL Orlando Cabrera CWS Kevin Slowey MIN 381 375 8 PL Adam Dunn ARI Joel Pineiro STL 363 358 39 PL Brian Giles SD Eric Stults LAD 372 363 12 JE/L Adrian Gonzalez SD Ramon Troncoso LAD 408 405 36 PL Curtis Granderson DET Chad Bradford TB 373 367 22 PL Vladimir Guerrero LAA Randy Messenger SEA 350 354 27 JE Vladimir Guerrero LAA J.J. Putz SEA 369 373 26 JE Jerry Hairston CIN Fernando Nieve HOU 367 359 5 PL Mike Hessman DET Scott Kazmir TB 404 400 6 PL Micah Hoffpauir CHC Pedro Martinez NYM 0 0 2 PL Micah Hoffpauir CHC Ricardo Rincon NYM 0 0 1 PL Matt Kemp LAD Heath Bell SD 390 387 18 PL Evan Longoria TB Armando Galarraga DET 376 385 27 PL Ryan Ludwick STL Yusmeiro Petit ARI 370 364 36 JE Corey Patterson CIN Roy Oswalt HOU 0 0 10 0 Steve Pearce PIT Yovani Gallardo MIL 401 398 3 PL Albert Pujols STL Yusmeiro Petit ARI 365 360 35 JE Dusty Ryan DET Scott Kazmir TB 428 421 2 ND Ramon Santiago DET Scott Kazmir TB 376 377 3 PL Ramon Santiago DET Scott Kazmir TB 393 386 2 PL Vernon Wells TOR Carl Pavano NYY 381 380 18 JE Kevin Youkilis BOS Tom Mastny CLE 340 351 28 JE Ben Zobrist TB Armando Galarraga DET 398 411 10 ND Ben Zobrist TB Armando Galarraga DET 436 442 9 JE
Access THT’s stats here…
{embed="content/2005stable"}
<< Return to Article