THT Daily: Welcome David Price from The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Welcome David Price

by Matthew Carruth
September 13, 2008

Major League News for September 13

Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings

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
According to The Providence Journal, J.D. Drew (back) is likely to miss the entire three-game series against the Rays beginning on Monday.
Drew received an injection to treat his stiff back Friday and is expected to return from his grandmother's funeral on Monday, but the paper is suggesting he'll be out until next weekend. He hasn't played in a game since August 17.

The Cardinals announced that Rick Ankiel will sit out the rest of the season with his abdominal injury.
Ankiel visited a specialist on Friday and was diagnosed with what the Cardinals called "an abdominal strain/athletic pubalgia." He's expected to undergo surgery that would sideline him about five weeks. Skip Schumaker will keep playing center field for the rest of the season.

In his fourth try, Brandon Webb finally got his 20th win Friday after hurling eight scoreless innings against the Reds.
It still very nearly wasn't enough. Aaron Harang might have matched him if not for his own error leading a run in the sixth. After Harang left a 1-0 game following the seventh, the Diamondbacks were able to supply two extremely important insurance runs in the eighth. They ended up needing them both, as Brandon Lyon was terrible again, and it took Chad Qualls striking out Jerry Hairston Jr. with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position to end the game. Webb gave up just five hits in his bounce-back performance. He was facing an awful offense, but he would have done well against any lineup tonight.

The Rays will add David Price and Jonny Gomes to their roster on Saturday.
Jeff Niemann and Mitch Talbot are expected to follow on Monday. Price will be available out of the bullpen right away, but he is expected to make at least one start before the season ends, that coming in a Sept. 23 doubleheader.

Evan Longoria will be in the starting lineup for the first game of the Rays' doubleheader on Saturday.
It'll be his first start since early August. "I'm excited, it's good to be back," Longoria said. "It's good to feel healthy again and be back with the team."

Rockies activated first baseman Todd Helton from the 60-day disabled list.
Helton wasn't included in Friday's lineup, and he'll likely be a part-timer the rest of the way. The Rockies will want to continue to give Ian Stewart as many at-bats as possible, and Garrett Atkins is a fixture now.

J.D. Drew (back) is hoping to return to the starting lineup on Saturday.
"That's the hope," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "[We'll] let him run around today. If he feels OK, we'll play him in the day game tomorrow." Drew has been out since his back tightened up during pregame workouts on Wednesday.

Joel Zumaya has a stress fracture in a bone at the front of his right shoulder and will be shut down from baseball activities for six to eight weeks.
The hope was that Zumaya's only issue was scar tissue, but that obviously wasn't the case. After he threw a light session Monday and felt renewed pain in the shoulder, tests revealed a non-displaced stress fracture of the right coracoid. Surgery won't be necessary, and an offseason of rest could get him back to 100 percent. Still, the Tigers probably won't be able to turn over closing duties to him after a lost 2008.

Reds acquired RHP Micah Owings from the Diamondbacks to complete the Adam Dunn deal.
The Reds received Owings, Dallas Buck and Wilkin Castillo from Arizona for a couple of months of Dunn and, more importantly, two draft picks. How Owings bounces back next year will determine whether or not it was worth it. He's been shut down for a month now with shoulder woes.

Yesterday’s Results

American League
BOS     7  TOR     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE    12  KC      5    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     5  SEA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     7  OAK     0    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
FLA     2  WAS     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT    10  STL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     3  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     7  COL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      5  SD      2    (Recap and Boxscore)

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Milwaukee Brewers at Philadelphia Phillies, 3:55 PM
  (L) Manny Parra (10-7) vs. (L) Cole Hamels (12-9)
 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, 3:55 PM
  (L) Mike Hampton (2-2) vs. (L) Johan Santana (13-7)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (R) Adam Wainwright (9-3) vs. (R) Jeff Karstens (2-5)
 Washington Nationals at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Tim Redding (10-8) vs. (R) Josh Johnson (4-1)
 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, 7:30 PM
  (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (3-10) vs. (L) Jonathon Niese (0-0)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado Rockies, 8:05 PM
  (L) Clayton Kershaw (3-5) vs. (L) Jorge De La Rosa (8-7)
 Cincinnati Reds at Arizona Diamondbacks, 8:10 PM
  (R) Edinson Volquez (16-5) vs. (L) Randy Johnson (10-9)
 San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (R) Tim Lincecum (16-3) vs. (R) Chris Young (5-5)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox, 12:35 PM
  (R) A.J. Burnett (17-10) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (11-11)
 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (R) James Shields (12-8) vs. (R) Mike Mussina (17-8)
 Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians, 1:05 PM
  (R) Zack Greinke (10-10) vs. (R) Fausto Carmona (8-6)
 Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, 3:55 PM
  (L) Kenny Rogers (9-13) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (11-13)
 Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics, 4:05 PM
  (R) Scott Feldman (5-6) vs. (L) Josh Outman (0-0)
 Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles, 5:05 PM
  (R) Scott Baker (8-4) vs. (R) Daniel Cabrera (8-9)
 Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Robinson Tejeda (1-2) vs. (R) Bryan Bullington (0-0)
 Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (R) Matt Garza (11-9) vs. (R) Sidney Ponson (8-5)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM
  (R) Jesse Litsch (11-8) vs. (R) Bartolo Colon (4-2)
 Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, 7:30 PM
  (R) Zach Miner (8-4) vs. (R) Lance Broadway (1-0)
 Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles, 8:05 PM
  (L) Glen Perkins (12-4) vs. (L) Garrett Olson (9-7)
 Seattle Mariners at LA Angels of Anaheim, 9:05 PM
  (L) Ryan Feierabend (1-2) vs. (R) Jon Garland (13-8)

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      87  57 .604    0.0   81     6    
BOS     86  60 .589    2.0   89    -3    
TOR     79  68 .537    9.5   83    -4    
NYA     77  69 .527   11.0   76     1    
BAL     65  80 .448   22.5   68    -3    
American League Central     
CHA     81  65 .555    0.0   82    -1    
MIN     80  66 .548    1.0   81    -1    
CLE     72  74 .493    9.0   78    -6    
DET     70  76 .479   11.0   72    -2    
KC      62  84 .425   19.0   58     4    
American League West        
LAA     90  57 .612    0.0   81     9    
TEX     73  75 .493   17.5   69     4    
OAK     67  80 .456   23.0   68    -1    
SEA     57  89 .390   32.5   61    -4    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
NYN     82  63 .566    0.0   81     1    
PHI     80  67 .544    3.0   83    -3    
FLA     75  72 .510    8.0   71     4    
ATL     65  82 .442   18.0   71    -6    
WAS     56  91 .381   27.0   57    -1    
National League Central     
CHN     88  58 .603    0.0   91    -3    
MIL     83  64 .565    5.5   80     3    
HOU     80  67 .544    8.5   73     7    
STL     78  69 .531   10.5   78     0    
CIN     66  81 .449   22.5   64     2    
PIT     61  86 .415   27.5   60     1    
National League West        
LAN     76  71 .517    0.0   77    -1    
ARI     72  74 .493    3.5   74    -2    
COL     67  81 .453    9.5   67     0    
SF      66  81 .449   10.0   62     4    
SD      57  91 .385   19.5   62    -5