The Hardball Times

THT Daily: Westbrook Needs TJ

by Matthew Carruth
June 07, 2008

Major League News for June 7

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
Jake Westbrook is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of the season.
The AL Central is down two quality starting pitchers in one day. Westbrook, who had a 3.12 ERA in five starts, will be replaced by Jeremy Sowers in the rotation until Fausto Carmona gets back. He'll probably miss the first two or three months of 2009.

Tigers placed RHP Jeremy Bonderman on the 15-day disabled list due to a blood clot of the axillary vein.
Bonderman had a surgery similar to the one Aaron Cook had two years ago and figures to miss the rest of the season. It's a big blow to the Tigers' chances, though it's not like Bonderman was looking like an ace this season. Armando Galarraga can return to the rotation as his replacement.

Blue Jays activated outfielder Vernon Wells from the 15-day disabled list.
Manager John Gibbons thought Wells would be activated in the middle of next week, but he clearly underestimated just how desperate his team was. With Aaron Hill going on the DL, the Jays have declined to drop one of their veteran outfielders right now. However, they don't need both Kevin Mench and Shannon Stewart with Wells back. A Brad Wilkerson-Stewart platoon seems to be the most likely scenario, though Wilkerson still isn't playing very well. Wells, who isn't in today's lineup, will probablly make his first start in center on Sunday.

An MRI on Vladimir Guerrero's right knee Friday confirmed the original diagnosis of a hyperflexion.
Vlad started at DH Friday night and probably won't play the outfield until next week, but it's great news that he'll avoid the DL.

Johan Santana was seen wearing an anti-inflammatory bandage after getting hit in the shoulder by a Randy Wolf fastball during Friday's game.
Santana was trying to lay down a bunt when the ball rode in on him and pegged him just below the left shoulder. He'll likely wake up with a good amount of soreness, but it's hard to say at this point if he'll miss any time. "Right now, I can't say," he said. "We'll see how it feels."

Hiroki Kuroda pitched a four-hit shutout Friday in the Dodgers' 3-0 defeat of the Cubs.
Kuroda's best outing as a major leaguer followed his worst, as he was pitching five days after giving up six runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Mets. Kuroda fanned 11 batters, besting his previous MLB-high total by six, and walked none in the dominant performance. He's now 3-5 with a 3.49 ERA in 13 starts. It was the third time this year that the Cubs were held scoreless, and it was the first shutout for a Dodgers pitcher since Jeff Weaver had one in Sept. 2005.

X-rays on Michael Young's finger reportedly showed a hairline fracture, but the shortstop expects to avoid the disabled list and play on Saturday.
That's how he feels. We'll have to wait and see if the Rangers let him play through the injury. Young supposedly hurt his finger during pregame workouts on Friday. The incident just happened to take place on the same day that Sidney Ponson was released for mysterious reasons.



Yesterday’s Results
American League
SEA     8  BOS     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      2  NYA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
BAL     6  TOR     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA    10  MIN     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     4  DET     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     3  OAK     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB     12  TEX     4    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
PHI     4  ATL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN    11  FLA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF     10  WAS     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     6  STL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     3  PIT     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     6  MIL     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     3  CHN     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      2  NYN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)


Today’s Games
National League
 ---------------
 Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:55 PM
  (R) Carlos Zambrano (8-1) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (3-5)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (R) Dan Haren (6-4) vs. (L) Tom Gorzelanny (4-5)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM
  (R) Adam Wainwright (5-3) vs. (R) Shawn Chacon (2-1)
 Cincinnati Reds at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Bronson Arroyo (4-5) vs. (L) Scott Olsen (4-2)
 San Francisco Giants at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM
  (L) Jonathan Sanchez (4-3) vs. (R) Shawn Hill (0-2)
 Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM
  (R) Kyle Kendrick (5-2) vs. (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (2-3)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Colorado Rockies, 8:05 PM
  (R) Dave Bush (2-5) vs. (R) Greg Reynolds (0-3)
 New York Mets at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (L) Oliver Perez (4-4) vs. (R) Cha Seung Baek (1-1)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (R) Brian Bannister (5-6) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (5-5)
 Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays, 1:07 PM
  (R) Jeremy Guthrie (2-6) vs. (R) A.J. Burnett (5-5)
 Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox, 3:55 PM
  (R) Miguel Batista (3-6) vs. (R) Tim Wakefield (3-4)
 Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers, 3:55 PM
  (L) Aaron Laffey (3-3) vs. (L) Kenny Rogers (4-4)
 Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox, 7:05 PM
  (R) Livan Hernandez (6-2) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (2-6)
 Tampa Bay Rays at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Andy Sonnanstine (6-3) vs. (R) Scott Feldman (1-2)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Oakland Athletics, 9:05 PM
  (R) Jon Garland (5-3) vs. (L) Greg Smith (3-4)


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
BOS     38  26 .594    0.0   37     1    sparkline graph
TB      36  25 .590    0.5   33     3    sparkline graph
TOR     32  31 .508    5.5   35    -3    sparkline graph
BAL     30  30 .500    6.0   29     1    sparkline graph
NYA     30  31 .492    6.5   29     1    sparkline graph
American League Central     
CHA     34  26 .567    0.0   36    -2    sparkline graph
MIN     31  30 .508    3.5   29     2    sparkline graph
CLE     28  33 .459    6.5   32    -4    sparkline graph
DET     24  36 .400   10.0   27    -3    sparkline graph
KC      24  37 .393   10.5   24     0    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     38  24 .613    0.0   32     6    sparkline graph
OAK     33  28 .541    4.5   35    -2    sparkline graph
TEX     31  32 .492    7.5   30     1    sparkline graph
SEA     22  39 .361   15.5   25    -3    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     37  26 .587    0.0   38    -1    sparkline graph
FLA     32  28 .533    3.5   29     3    sparkline graph
ATL     32  30 .516    4.5   36    -4    sparkline graph
NYN     30  30 .500    5.5   31    -1    sparkline graph
WAS     25  37 .403   11.5   23     2    sparkline graph
National League Central     
CHN     39  23 .629    0.0   40    -1    sparkline graph
STL     36  27 .571    3.5   34     2    sparkline graph
MIL     32  29 .525    6.5   30     2    sparkline graph
HOU     32  30 .516    7.0   30     2    sparkline graph
CIN     30  32 .484    9.0   29     1    sparkline graph
PIT     29  32 .475    9.5   28     1    sparkline graph
National League West        
ARI     33  28 .541    0.0   35    -2    sparkline graph
LAN     29  32 .475    4.0   32    -3    sparkline graph
SF      26  35 .426    7.0   26     0    sparkline graph
SD      26  37 .413    8.0   25     1    sparkline graph
COL     23  38 .377   10.0   23     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
ARI AAA Emilio Bonifacio.. 6  3  0  1  1  1  0  4 R
CIN AA  Daniel Dorn....... 6  4  0  0  2  0  1  3 R
ARI AAA Josh Whitesell.... 3  2  0  0  1  3  1  
ATL AA  Jordan Schafer.... 5  2  0  0  2  0  1  4 RBI
CHW A+  John Shelby....... 4  3  1  1  0  0  0  3 R
MIL AA  Michael Brantley.. 6  4  0  0  1  1  0  4 R
KC  AAA Chris Lubanski.... 3  2  1  0  1  0  1  
CHC AAA Eric Patterson.... 4  3  0  0  1  1  0  3 R
BAL A+  Brandon Snyder.... 6  5  1  0  0  0  0  5 R
CHC A   Josh Donaldson.... 5  2  1  0  1  0  1  
CIN A+  Juan Francisco.... 5  2  1  0  1  0  0  
ATL A+  Eric Campbell..... 5  2  1  0  1  0  0  4 RBI

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
TB  AAA Mitch Talbot...... 7  2  1  0  7  0  0  
MIL A+  Jeremy Jeffress... 7  4  0  0  8  1  0  
FLA A+  Sean West......... 6  3  0  0  8  1  0  
COL A   Jhoulys Chacin.... 9  7  3  3  6  1  0  20 GB
STL A   Nicholas Additon.. 4  1  0  0  7  0  0  
NYY A   Lance Pendleton... 6  2  0  0  6  1  0  
NYY A+  Z. McAllister..... 7  7  0  0  6  0  0  
CLE AAA David Huff........ 6  3  1  1  5  1  0  
SD  AA  Steve Garrison.... 6  5  0  0  6  1  0  
BAL A+  Brandon Erbe...... 6  7  4  4  6  0  0  
CLE A   K. De La Cruz..... 5  3  0  0  7  2  0  
CHW AAA Jack Egbert....... 5  9  4  2  8  1  0



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

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