THT Daily: 600!

Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Top Minor League Performances

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/

On this day at THT: Four years ago, Matthew Namee conducted an interview with Wichita State star Mike Pelfrey.

Player News

Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld

Ken Griffey Jr. hit career homer No. 600 in the first inning Monday against Mark Hendrickson. With a crowd of maybe 10,000-12,000 in Florida to watch it. Griffey’s shot was a no-doubter to right field. It was his first homer of June and seventh of the season. He’s the sixth player to reach 600 homers, and he’s now 10 away from passing Sammy Sosa for fifth place all-time. For more about the occasion, read Joe Posnanski’s 600 Words for Junior.

Nick Swisher went 2-for-2 with two home runs as the White Sox swept the Twins on Monday afternoon. It was the first time the Sox had swept the Twins in a four game series since the 70s. Swisher finished with two runs scored, three RBI and two walks. He had a homer from each side of the plate, putting an exclamation point on a series in which he went 8-for-14 with two doubles and three homers, raising his average to .228. He’s enjoying an eight-game hitting streak, and mixed leaguers looking for some power should make sure he wasn’t dropped.

Mariners fired hitting coach Jeff Pentland. The Mariners have the game’s worst record despite a top-10 payroll, and it’s obviously Pentland’s fault. He’ll know better next time not to overpay for Richie Sexson, Carlos Silva, Miguel Batista and Jarrod Washburn. Also, he never should have traded for Jose Vidro and put together a ridiculous bench that included Miguel Cairo and Willie Bloomquist. And that’s glossing over his biggest mistake of all: he saw two lesbians kissing at Safeco Field and did absolutely nothing to stop them. Lee Elia, his replacement, is very capable of putting the fans in their place when he needs to.

The Mets have reportedly placed Ryan Church on the disabled list because of the aftereffects of a concussion. Moises Alou could come off the DL to replace him before Tuesday’s game. The Mets obviously have no idea when Church will be ready to play again. This could turn out to be a long-term problem. Fernando Tatis and Endy Chavez will be part of the committee of right fielders for now.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he plans to have Ivan Rodriguez and Brandon Inge catch every other game for now. “I’m sure this doesn’t make Pudge happy,” Leyland said. “He’s a gamer. But you have to do what’s right. Maybe less is best. Maybe he can bounce back fresh and get it rolling. He’s in as good of shape as anybody we’ve got, but when you catch that many games, you get worn down.” Rodriguez owners would have more reason for concern if the Tigers stuck with any plan for more than a week lately. Odds are that this won’t last. However, it does suggest that the Tigers will seek to move Rodriguez in July if they’re out of the race.

Brewers placed second baseman Rickie Weeks on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 7, with a sprained left knee. He won’t need surgery, but it sounds like he could be out a while. “We’re still undetermined on his long-term status,” Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash said. “There’s no real certainty on how long it will take to get him [healthy].” He’s eligible to return on June 22.

The Cardinals will place Adam Wainwright on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right middle finger. Joel Pineiro apparently will come off the DL without making a rehab start and replace Wainwright later this week. The Cardinals sure haven’t been afraid to give games away with their starting pitching decisions lately.

Jerry Hairston Jr. suffered a fractured left thumb in the first inning Monday and will go on the disabled list. Hairston was injured while sliding into second in the first of his two steals in the first inning. The Reds will likely call up Adam Rosales to serve as a backup infielder until Jeff Keppinger returns. Paul Janish figures to be the regular shortstop for at least a week.

Yesterday’s Results

Game recaps courtesy of Craig Calcaterra.

Reds 9, Marlins 6: 600. Because I did it for Chipper, I’ll do it for Jr.: #1: Eric King; #100: Billy Brewer; #200: Vaughn Eshelman; #300: Jose Mesa; #400: Rolando Arrojo; #500: Matt Morris; #600: Mark Hendrickson.

Royals 3, Yankees 2: Jose Guillen wins the game on a homer in the ninth, then does a bunch of fist pumps or something that got the otherwise placid Mariano Rivera angry, and the jawing commenced. Please mark August 15th on your calendar, for that is the day the big Yankees-Royals brawl is scheduled.

Indians 8, Tigers 2: D-Train gets an F (1.1 IP, 3 H, 8 ER, 5 BB). Cliff Lee isn’t pitching like he did in April and early May, but he keeps winning, and now stands at 10-1.

Rays 13, Angels 4: Isn’t it so much nicer when we all get along?

Pirates 5, Diamondbacks 4: Randy Johnson was wild, it was hot, and the Pirates were scoring runs on little dinks, bloops, and bad Diamondback defense. To top it off, a Pirate fan reached over to grab a ball that may or may not have gone over the fence on its own, and the umps reversed their original call, taking away a Diamondback home run. Just sounds like a miserable day for Arizona.

In other action:

White Sox 7, Twins 5;

Mariners 3, Blue Jays 2;

Giants 3, Nats 2

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 Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (R) Tim Redding (6-3) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (4-5)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (R) Micah Owings (6-4) vs. (R) John Maine (6-4)
 Philadelphia Phillies at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Brett Myers (3-7) vs. (R) Ricky Nolasco (5-4)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (R) Mitchell Boggs (0-0) vs. (R) Homer Bailey (0-1)
 Milwaukee Brewers at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (R) Seth McClung (3-2) vs. (R) Roy Oswalt (4-6)
 Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 PM
  (L) Tom Glavine (2-2) vs. (L) Ted Lilly (5-5)
 San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM
  (L) Patrick Misch (0-2) vs. (R) Aaron Cook (8-3)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (L) Clayton Kershaw (0-1) vs. (R) Greg Maddux (3-4)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox, 6:05 PM
  (R) Daniel Cabrera (5-2) vs. (R) Josh Beckett (6-4)
 Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (R) Jose Contreras (6-3) vs. (L) Nate Robertson (3-6)
 Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Scott Baker (2-0) vs. (L) C.C. Sabathia (3-8)
 Seattle Mariners at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) Carlos Silva (3-6) vs. (R) Dustin McGowan (4-4)
 Texas Rangers at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (R) Kevin Millwood (4-3) vs. (R) Gil Meche (3-8)
 Tampa Bay Rays at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (R) James Shields (4-4) vs. (R) Jered Weaver (5-6)
 New York Yankees at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM
  (R) Chien-Ming Wang (6-2) vs. (L) Dana Eveland (4-4)

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     40  26 .606    0.0   39     1    
TB      38  26 .594    1.0   35     3    
BAL     31  31 .500    7.0   30     1    
NYA     32  32 .500    7.0   31     1    
TOR     33  33 .500    7.0   36    -3    
American League Central     
CHA     37  26 .587    0.0   40    -3    
MIN     31  33 .484    6.5   29     2    
CLE     29  35 .453    8.5   33    -4    
DET     26  37 .413   11.0   29    -3    
KC      25  39 .391   12.5   25     0    
American League West        
LAA     39  26 .600    0.0   32     7    
OAK     34  29 .540    4.0   37    -3    
TEX     32  33 .492    7.0   31     1    
SEA     23  41 .359   15.5   26    -3    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     39  26 .600    0.0   40    -1    
FLA     34  29 .540    4.0   31     3    
ATL     32  32 .500    6.5   37    -5    
NYN     30  32 .484    7.5   31    -1    
WAS     25  40 .385   14.0   24     1    
National League Central     
CHN     40  24 .625    0.0   41    -1    
STL     38  27 .585    2.5   36     2    
MIL     33  30 .524    6.5   31     2    
HOU     32  32 .500    8.0   31     1    
PIT     31  33 .484    9.0   30     1    
CIN     31  34 .477    9.5   31     0    
National League West        
ARI     34  30 .531    0.0   36    -2    
LAN     30  33 .476    3.5   33    -3    
SF      29  35 .453    5.0   29     0    
SD      28  37 .431    6.5   26     2    
COL     24  39 .381    9.5   25    -1    

Game of the Day

Royals 3, Yankees 2 - FINAL

KANSAS CITY            ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
D DeJesus lf            4  0  0  0   0  0   1  .298
M Grudzielanek 2b       4  0  0  0   0  1   1  .287
M Teahen 1b             4  0  0  0   0  1   0  .249
J Guillen rf            4  2  2  1   0  0   0  .269
A Gordon 3b             4  0  1  0   0  1   1  .263
M Olivo dh              4  1  2  2   0  1   0  .289
J Buck c                4  0  1  0   0  1   2  .252
M Aviles ss             3  0  2  0   0  0   0  .294
 T Pena ss              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .155
J Gathright cf          2  0  0  0   0  0   2  .240

Totals                 33  3  8  3   0  5   7   ###

NY YANKEES             ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
J Damon lf              4  0  1  0   0  1   1  .326
D Jeter ss              3  0  0  0   1  0   1  .276
B Abreu rf              4  1  1  0   0  1   3  .289
A Rodriguez 3b          4  1  2  2   0  1   1  .317
H Matsui dh             4  0  0  0   0  0   1  .323
J Giambi 1b             3  0  0  0   1  1   0  .254
 W Betemit pr           0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .240
R Cano 2b               4  0  1  0   0  1   2  .231
J Molina c              2  0  0  0   0  1   1  .217
 ha-J Posada ph         1  0  1  0   0  0   0  .311
 C Moeller pr-c         0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .254
M Cabrera cf            3  0  0  0   0  1   3  .270

Totals                 32  2  6  2   2  7  13   ###

----------------------------------------------------
    KANSAS CITY     - 000 000 201   --   3  8 1
    NY YANKEES      - 000 000 200   --   2  6 0
----------------------------------------------------

ha-singled to right for J Molina in the 8th.

BATTING: 2B - J Guillen (21, M Mussina); M Aviles (3, M Mussina); B Abreu (14, 
L Hochevar). HR - M Olivo (8, 7th inning off M Mussina 1 on, 2 Out), A 
Rodriguez (10, 7th inning off L Hochevar 1 on, 0 Out), J Guillen (11, 9th 
inning off M Rivera 0 on, 0 Out). S - J Gathright , M Cabrera. RBI - M Olivo 2 
(25), J Guillen (48), A Rodriguez 2 (31). 2-out RBI - M Olivo 2. Runners left 
in scoring position, 2 out - M Grudzielanek 1, J Gathright 2, A Rodriguez 1, B 
Abreu 1, J Molina 1, M Cabrera 2. GIDP - J Buck. Team LOB - KANSAS CITY 4, NY 
YANKEES 7. BASERUNNING: SB - J Damon (11, 2nd base off L Hochevar/J Buck). 
FIELDING: E - J Guillen (2, bobble). DP:  (R Cano-D Jeter-J Giambi). 

KANSAS CITY                  ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
L Hochevar                    6       4   2   2   0   4   1   4.91
R Ramirez                     1 2/3   1   0   0   1   2   0   3.30
Y Yabuta (W, 1-0)               1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   4.91
J Soria (S, 14)               1       1   0   0   1   1   0   1.61

NY YANKEES                   ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
M Mussina                     8       7   2   2   0   3   1   3.82
M Rivera (L, 2-2)             1       1   1   1   0   2   1   0.93

L Hochevar pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.

HBP - C Moeller (by J Soria). Pitches-strikes: L Hochevar 87-56; R Ramirez 
29-16; Y Yabuta 7-4; J Soria 18-10; M Mussina 89-65; M Rivera 13-12. Ground 
balls-fly balls: L Hochevar 7-7; R Ramirez 2-1; Y Yabuta 1-0; J Soria 1-1; M 
Mussina 12-9; M Rivera 1-0. Batters faced: L Hochevar 22; R Ramirez 7; Y Yabuta 
1; J Soria 6; M Mussina 30; M Rivera 4. UMPIRES: HP--Chris  Tiller. 1B--Ed 
Montague. 2B--Jim Wolf. 3B--Phil Cuzzi.   T--2:47. Att--53,633. Weather: 94 
degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 11 mph, out to right.

The 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
Willy Aybar           TB      Joe Saunders         LAA     397    382   2  JE/L
Paul Bako             CIN     Mark Hendrickson     FLA     398    400   6  PL
Paul Bako             CIN     Renyel Pinto         FLA     369    374   5  PL
Stephen Drew          ARI     Damaso Marte         PIT     359    362   9  PL
Ryan Garko            CLE     Dontrelle Willis     DET     387    373   6  PL
Ken Griffey           CIN     Mark Hendrickson     FLA     406    411   7  ND
Jose Guillen          KC      Mariano Rivera       NYY     389    342  12  JE/L
Torii Hunter          LAA     Edwin Jackson        TB      419    413   8  PL
Mike Jacobs           FLA     Bill Bray            CIN     393    407  14  PL
Paul Konerko          CWS     Matt Guerrier        MIN     351    348   8  JE
Evan Longoria         TB      Joe Saunders         LAA     431    415  10  ND
Evan Longoria         TB      Darren Oliver        LAA     385    380   9  JE
Dioner Navarro        TB      Joe Saunders         LAA     391    380   3  PL
Miguel Olivo          KC      Mike Mussina         NYY     399    372   8  PL
Brandon Phillips      CIN     Mark Hendrickson     FLA     393    387  11  JE/L
Mark Reynolds         ARI     Zach Duke            PIT     406    389  14  JE
Alex Rodriguez        NYY     Luke Hochevar        KC      380    345  10  PL
Kelly Shoppach        CLE     Dontrelle Willis     DET     397    385   2  PL
Nick Swisher          CWS     Glen Perkins         MIN     376    373   8  PL
Nick Swisher          CWS     Jesse Crain          MIN     410    406   7  PL
Jose Vidro            SEA     Jesse Litsch         TOR     421    419   4  ND

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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.

ORG LVL PLAYER            AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes
MIL AA  Matt LaPorta...... 3  2  0  0  2  1  0  
LA  AA  Russell Mitchell.. 4  2  0  0  2  1  0  4 RBI
FLA AA  C. Coghlan........ 5  2  0  0  2  0  0  
SD  A+  Mitch Canham...... 6  3  2  0  0  0  0  3 R
LA  A+  Carlos Santana.... 5  2  2  0  0  1  0  3 R
SD  AAA Chase Headley..... 5  2  2  0  0  0  0  
TEX AAA C. Davis.......... 4  2  2  0  0  0  2  
CLE AAA Jordan Brown...... 3  2  0  0  1  1  0  
FLA AA  Gaby Sanchez...... 4  2  2  0  0  0  0  
TEX A   Ian Gac........... 3  2  0  0  1  1  0  
SF  AAA Nate Schierholtz.. 4  2  0  0  1  0  0  
FLA AAA Jai Miller........ 2  1  1  0  0  2  1  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
KC  A   Daniel Duffy...... 5  2  2  0  8  0  0  
SF  A+  Benjamin Snyder... 8  4  0  0  7  2  0  
TEX A   Neftali Feliz..... 5  4  1  1  9  2  0  
OAK AA  Vincent Mazzaro... 6  5  2  1  6  1  0  11 GB
MIN AAA Brian Duensing.... 7  5  0  0  3  0  0  14 GB
SD  A+  Cory Luebke....... 6  4  3  2  5  2  0  
TEX A+  Kasey Kiker....... 7  9  3  3  5  2  0  
NYY AAA Daniel McCutchen.. 6  6  4  4  4  2  0  
COL AA  Brandon Hynick.... 7  6  3  2  3  2  0  
OAK A+  Trevor Cahill..... 7  4  1  1  4  4  0  
LAA A   Jordan Walden..... 5  5  3  3  3  1  0  
CHC A+  Jose Ceda......... 2  1  0  0  3  0  0  

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