THT Daily: AL 10, NL 4

Major League News for June 21

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

Yesterday’s Results

Interleague
BOS    11  WAS     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Wakefield: 6 IP, 1 R; 
CHA    20  STL     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     4  CHN     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Lee: 7.2 IP, 1 ER
DET    10  MIL     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Ordonez: 2 HR; Miner: CG, 1 R
KC     10  PIT     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     6  HOU     5    (Recap and Boxscore) 10 innings; MIN: 8 straight W
NYA     9  PHI     7    (Recap and Boxscore) Howard: 2 HR, 7 RBI; Williams: 5-5, 2 2B
SEA     9  LAN     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Beltre: 2 BB, 2B, HR, 4 RS
TB      8  ARI     5    (Recap and Boxscore) Huff: 4-5; Baldelli: 2B, HR
TOR     6  ATL     5    (Recap and Boxscore) Johnson: 3-4, HR; ATL: 18 L in last 21 G
COL     6  OAK     0    (Recap and Boxscore) Jennings: 7 IP, 1 H
FLA     6  BAL     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Willis: 8.2 IP, 2 R; FLA: 9 straight W
SD      6  TEX     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      3  LAA     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Morris over Lackey; Morris: 2 RBI

National League
NYN     9  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Nady: 2 HR; Trachsel: 6 IP, 2 R, hit HR

Today’s Games

Visitors                        Home                              Time
DET - Robertson N.* (7-3 3.43)  MIL - Capuano C.* (7-4 3.30)      2:05
LAA - Weaver J. (3-9 6.02)      SF - Lowry N.* (2-5 4.20)         3:35
CHC - Zambrano C. (5-3 2.82)    CLE - Sabathia C.* (5-3 3.08)     7:05
NYY - Wright J. (3-4 4.86)      PHI - Hamels C.* (1-2 4.91)       7:05
WAS - Hill S. (1-1 2.42)        BOS - Lester J.* (1-0 3.48)       7:05
FLA - Nolasco R. (5-3 3.06)     BAL - Bedard E.* (6-6 5.60)       7:05
CIN - Mays J. (0-0 1.29)        NYM - Soler A. (2-1 3.00)         7:10
ARI - Webb B. (8-2 2.37)        TB - Shields J. (3-0 3.13)        7:15
TOR - Lilly T.* (6-7 4.12)      ATL - Hudson T. (6-5 3.88)        7:35
STL - Marquis J. (9-4 4.55)     CWS - Buehrle M.* (7-4 3.13)      8:05
SD - Young C. (6-3 3.27)        TEX - Millwood K. (8-3 4.47)      8:05
MIN - Silva C. (3-8 7.07)       HOU - Rodriguez W.* (8-4 4.59)    8:05
PIT - Snell I. (7-4 4.71)       KC - Wood M. (3-2 4.69)           8:10
OAK - Zito B.* (8-3 3.51)       COL - Cook A. (5-7 3.66)          9:05
SEA - Washburn J.* (4-8 4.66)   LAD - Billingsley C. (0-0 3.38)  10:10

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 gray bars represent games decided by two runs or less. Other team graphs and stats can be found on our Team Page.

American League East
BOS     41  28 .594  0.0    
NYA     39  30 .565  2.0    
TOR     38  32 .543  3.5    
BAL     32  40 .444 10.5    
TB      30  41 .423 12.0    
American League Central
DET     48  24 .667  0.0    
CHA     45  25 .643  2.0    
MIN     35  34 .507 11.5    
CLE     32  38 .457 15.0    
KC      20  49 .290 26.5    
American League West
TEX     38  33 .535  0.0    
OAK     38  33 .535  0.0    
SEA     35  37 .486  3.5    
LAA     31  40 .437  7.0    

National League East
NYN     44  26 .629  0.0    
PHI     35  36 .493  9.5    
FLA     30  37 .448 12.5    
WAS     32  41 .438 13.5    
ATL     30  41 .423 14.5    
National League Central
STL     42  27 .609  0.0    
CIN     38  33 .535  5.0    
HOU     36  35 .507  7.0    
MIL     35  37 .486  8.5    
CHN     27  43 .386 15.5    
PIT     26  46 .361 17.5    
National League West
SD      37  33 .529  0.0    
LAN     36  34 .514  1.0    
SF      36  35 .507  1.5    
COL     36  35 .507  1.5    
ARI     36  35 .507  1.5    

Game of the Day

The White Sox went nuts against Mark Mulder and the Cardinals, beating them 20-6, scoring eleven runs in the third inning and six runs in the sixth. The number 5 through 8 hitters had 14 hits, including two home runs from Joe Crede. In the sixth inning, Cardinal reliever Sidney Ponson twice hit batters with the bases loaded. Chicago’s David Riske subsequently hit Chris Duncan, and he and Ozzie Guillen were ejected from the game.

ST LOUIS (6) VS CHI WHITE SOX (20) - FINAL

ST LOUIS               ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
D Eckstein ss           3  0  0  0   1  0   1  .319
 Y Molina 1b            1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .215
S Taguchi lf-cf         5  2  2  0   0  0   2  .287
S Rolen 3b              2  0  1  0   0  0   1  .343
 a-C Duncan ph-1b-lf    2  1  1  2   0  0   2  .306
J Edmonds cf            3  1  2  0   0  0   1  .262
 H Luna lf-ss           2  1  1  0   0  0   2  .307
J Encarnacion rf        2  0  2  1   1  0   0  .285
 T Perez rf             2  1  1  0   0  1   0  .231
S Spiezio 1b-3b         5  0  2  2   0  1   4  .296
J Rodriguez dh          5  0  1  0   0  3   2  .316
G Bennett c             5  0  1  1   0  0   3  .203
A Miles 2b              5  0  2  0   0  0   4  .274

Totals                 42  6 16  6   2  5  22

a-grounded to shortstop for S Rolen in the 5th.

BATTING: 2B - J Edmonds (9, J Vazquez); A Miles (9, D Riske); G Bennett (5, N 
Cotts). HR - C Duncan (3, 9th inning off A Montero 1 on, 1 Out). RBI - J 
Encarnacion (39), S Spiezio 2 (22), C Duncan 2 (9), G Bennett (9). 2-out RBI - 
J Encarnacion. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A Miles 3, S Spiezio 
2, G Bennett 1, H Luna 1. GIDP - C Duncan. Team LOB - 12. 
 
FIELDING: E - Y Molina (2, ground ball). 

CHI WHITE SOX          ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
P Ozuna lf              5  2  1  1   0  0   1  .424
T Iguchi 2b             6  2  3  1   0  1   4  .292
J Thome dh              4  1  1  0   1  1   3  .276
 a-C Widger ph-dh       1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .250
P Konerko 1b            4  1  2  3   0  1   1  .320
 R Gload 1b             2  0  2  2   0  0   0  .265
J Dye rf                6  2  4  1   0  0   2  .313
A Pierzynski c          6  3  3  3   0  0   4  .327
J Uribe ss              6  3  3  3   0  0   2  .222
J Crede 3b              5  4  4  3   0  0   0  .307
B Anderson cf           4  2  1  2   0  1   0  .178

Totals                 49 20 24 19   1  5  17

a-struck out looking for J Thome in the 8th.

BATTING: 2B - J Crede (14, M Mulder); B Anderson (5, M Mulder); A Pierzynski 
(15, S Ponson). HR - A Pierzynski (4, 3rd inning off M Mulder 2 on, 1 Out), J 
Crede 2 (12, 3rd inning off M Mulder 1 on, 1 Out, 7th inning off T Johnson 0 
on, 1 Out), J Uribe (7, 4th inning off B Thompson 1 on, 0 Out). RBI - B 
Anderson 2 (18), T Iguchi (27), P Konerko 3 (55), J Dye (54), A Pierzynski 3 
(21), J Crede 3 (48), J Uribe 3 (27), P Ozuna (13), R Gload 2 (6). 2-out RBI - 
P Konerko 2, R Gload 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Uribe 1, J 
Dye 1, P Konerko 1, A Pierzynski 1. Team LOB - 8. 
 
FIELDING: DP: 1 (P Konerko-J Uribe-J Vazquez). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    ST LOUIS        - 100 001 004   --   6
    CHI WHITE SOX   - 0011 206 10x   --  20
----------------------------------------------------

ST LOUIS                     ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
M Mulder (L, 6-5)             2 1/3  10   9   9   0   0   2   6.09
B Thompson                    1 2/3   5   4   4   1   1   1   4.36
S Ponson                      1       4   6   6   0   2   0   5.30
T Johnson                     1 1/3   3   1   1   0   1   1   4.38
J Hancock                       2/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   3.35
R Flores                      1       2   0   0   0   1   0   3.22

CHI WHITE SOX                ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Vazquez (W, 8-4)            6       7   2   2   2   3   0   4.43
D Riske                         2/3   1   0   0   0   0   0   3.18
N Cotts                       1 1/3   2   0   0   0   2   0   3.18
A Montero                     1       6   4   4   0   0   1   7.20

S Ponson pitched to 6 batters in the 6th.

WP - T Johnson. HBP - B Anderson (by S Ponson); P Ozuna (by S Ponson); C 
Duncan (by D Riske). Pitches-strikes: M Mulder 49-33; B Thompson 37-26; S 
Ponson 28-19; T Johnson 28-17; J Hancock 15-8; R Flores 20-13; J Vazquez 97-60; 
D Riske 10-6; N Cotts 22-13; A Montero 28-20. Ground balls-fly balls: M Mulder 
2-5; B Thompson 2-2; S Ponson 0-1; T Johnson 0-3; J Hancock 2-0; R Flores 0-2; 
J Vazquez 9-6; D Riske 0-2; N Cotts 1-1; A Montero 1-2. Batters faced: M Mulder 
17; B Thompson 11; S Ponson 9; T Johnson 7; J Hancock 3; R Flores 5; J Vazquez 
26; D Riske 4; N Cotts 6; A Montero 9. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Mike Everitt. 1B--Alfonso Marquez. 2B--Larry Young. 3B--Chad  
Fairchild. 
EJECTIONS:  CHI WHITE SOX's Riske by Everitt (7th), CHI WHITE SOX's Guillen by Everitt (7th). 
T--3:23. Att--39,463. 
Weather: 71 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 6 mph, left to right.

Yesterday’s Home Runs

The following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected distance of each home run (if it were to land uninterrupted at field level) and its “standard” distance, which is corrected for weather conditions.

Batter                     Pitcher                      True Dist. Stnd. Dist
Jones       Andruw  ATL    Towers      Josh     TOR         448     445
Wilson      Craig   PIT    Redman      Mark     KC          458     440
Gonzalez    Adrian  SD     Padilla     Vicente  TEX         422     438
Glaus       Troy    TOR    Sosa        Jorge    ATL         451     436
Crede       Joe     CWS    Johnson     Tyler    STL         429     436
Patterson   Corey   BAL    Willis      DontrelleFLA         438     428
Napoli      Mike    LAA    Kline       Steve    SF          413     427
Uggla       Dan     FLA    Cabrera     Daniel   BAL         422     425
Duncan      Chris   STL    Montero     Agustin  CWS         426     418
Howard      Ryan    PHI    Mussina     Mike     NYY         429     414
Ramirez     Aramis  CHC    Lee         Cliff    CLE         408     414
Monroe      Craig   DET    Villanueva  Carlos   MIL         419     412
Crede       Joe     CWS    Mulder      Mark     STL         405     408
Beltre      Adrian  SEA    Penny       Brad     LAD         426     407
Ordonez     Magglio DET    Helling     Rick     MIL         413     406
Ordonez     Magglio DET    Helling     Rick     MIL         412     406
Johnson     Reed    TOR    Sosa        Jorge    ATL         407     406
Treanor     Matt    FLA    Cabrera     Daniel   BAL         404     406
Morneau     Justin  MIN    Miller      Trever   HOU         401     400
Nady        Xavier  NYM    Coffey      Todd     CIN         424     399
Cuddyer     Michael MIN    Oswalt      Roy      HOU         394     393
Howard      Ryan    PHI    Mussina     Mike     NYY         437     387
Closser     J.D.    COL    Loaiza      Esteban  OAK         427     387
Byrnes      Eric    ARI    Meadows     Brian    TB          384     383
Nady        Xavier  NYM    Weathers    David    CIN         395     379
Uribe       Juan    CWS    Thompson    Brad     STL         375     378
Rodriguez   Ivan    DET    Villanueva  Carlos   MIL         381     376
Amezaga     Alfredo FLA    Cabrera     Daniel   BAL         386     370
Wilson      Jack    PIT    Burgos      Ambiorix KC          388     367
Trachsel    Steve   NYM    Ramirez     Elizardo CIN         373     367
Cameron     Mike    SD     Feldman     Scott    TEX         371     367
Berkman     Lance   HOU    Radke       Brad     MIN         367     366
Crisp       Coco    BOS    Bray        Bill     WAS         383     365
Sexson      Richie  SEA    Penny       Brad     LAD         386     364
Burke       Chris   HOU    Radke       Brad     MIN         361     360
Sizemore    Grady   CLE    Maddux      Greg     CHC         351     360
Giambi      Jason   NYY    Lidle       Corey    PHI         390     359
Pierzynski  A.J.    CWS    Mulder      Mark     STL         367     359
Baldelli    Rocco   TB     Batista     Miguel   ARI         360     359
Delgado     Carlos  NYM    Ramirez     Elizardo CIN         378     346
Wilson      Preston HOU    Nathan      Joe      MIN         338     338
Posada      Jorge   NYY    Lidle       Corey    PHI         379     334

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            POS AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes
ARI AA  Jesus Cota         1B  5  3  1  0  1  1  0  4 runs scored
BOS AA  Jeremy West        1B  4  3  1  0  2  0  0  .545 OBP during past week
CHC AA  Scott Moore        3B  4  3  0  0  1  0  0   
CHW AAA Ernie Young        DH  3  3  1  0  0  0  0   
CIN AAA Matt Kata          2B  4  4  0  0  0  0  0  Hitting .538 over last 26 at bats
DET A-  Brandon Timm       LF  5  4  0  0  1  0  1   
KC  A+  Wilver Perez       2B  4  4  0  0  0  1  0  3 runs scored
MIN A+  Brock Peterson     1B  5  3  1  0  1  0  0   
NYM AA  Rashad Eldridge    LF  4  3  0  0  1  0  1  4 RBI
OAK A+  Tommy Everidge     1B  5  3  2  0  1  0  0   
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
BOS AA  Kason Gabbard      7.0  2  0  0  5  0  0   
CHW A+  Adam Russell       6.0  2  0  0  4  3  0  1.46 ERA over past month
CHW AAA Sean Tracey        9.0  6  0  0  8  1  0   
CLE A+  Chuck Lofgren      5.0  2  0  0  8  3  0   
COL MLB Jorge De Paula     7.0  5  0  0  5  0  0   
MIL AA  Tim Dillard        9.0  3  0  0  7  1  0   
MIN AAA Scott Baker        6.0  2  0  0  8  3  0  17 K over last 12 IP
NYM A+  Michael Devaney    9.0  2  0  0 10  2  0   
NYM AA  Mike Pelfrey       7.0  4  1  1  6  3  0   

Player News

The Indians designated Jason Johnson for assignment, optioned right-hander Jeremy Guthrie to Triple-A Buffalo, recalled right-hander Edward Mujica from the Bisons and purchased the contract of utility man Joe Inglett. The Indians also confirmed that they will bring up top prospect Jeremy Sowers to fill Johnson’s rotation slot.

The Royals traded left-hander J.P. Howell to Tampa Bay for outfielder Joey Gathright and minor league infielder Fernando Cortez. The Devil Rays say Howell will join their rotation in AAA, while Gathright will take over center field for the Royals and David DeJesus will move to left.

Also, Tampa Bay optioned right-hander Seth McClung to Durham, where the right-hander will convert from a starter to a closer. Right-hander Tim Corcoran will replace McClung in the rotation, and the Devil Rays also recalled right-hander Edwin Jackson from Durham for the bullpen.

Boston Right-hander Craig Hansen was recalled from Pawtucket and pitcher Jermaine Van Buren was sent down. The Dodgers activated shortstop Cesar Izturis and optioned INF Willy Aybar to Las Vegas. The Oakland Athletics placed Milton Bradley on the 15-day disabled list again due to a strained shoulder.

Baltimore third baseman Melvin Mora left in the sixth inning with a bruised left knee after being struck by a pitch from Dontrelle Willis. X-rays were negative.

Phillie Rehabs: Phillies left-hander Randy Wolf, who had elbow surgery last July, will make his third rehab start at Double-A Reading Wednesday night. Phillies right-hander Jon Lieber, sidelined with a groin injury, will start Thursday night for Philadelphia’s Gulf Coast team in Clearwater.

Kip Wells’ start for Pittsburgh was his first since undergoing surgery on March 6 to repair total blockage in the artery carrying blood to his brain and arm, “Fortunately, my stuff was as good as it can be. I take heart in that,” he said. “But obviously you want to have consistent command.”

Pujols and Lee are getting ready to return to action. The Cardinals’ Albert Pujols hit in the batting cage, took grounders and ran hard in the outfield before the game, and the Cubs’ Derrek Lee took batting practice on the field for the first time.

A couple of first-round picks from the draft signed: The White Sox signed Kyle McCulloch, a right-handed pitcher from the University of Texas, and the Dodgers signed left-hander Clayton Kershaw, the seventh overall selection.

Regarding Ryan Howard’s great game, pitcher Robert Person was the last Phillie to drive in seven runs in one game. He did it against Montreal on June 2, 2002.

Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 19 games.

The Royals sent eight men to the plate in the eighth inning but had only two official at-bats.

The Devil Rays improved to 6-1 in interleague play this season. They lost 15 of 18 against the NL last year.

Colorado’s shutout of Oakland was its second in a row. It marked the second time there have been back-to-back shutouts at Coors; five Rockies pitchers did it in consecutive games April 30 and May 1, 2002. It was also the seventh overall shutout — fourth by the Rockies — at the park this season. That’s one more than the team record set in 1997 with 47 home games still left on the schedule.

THT’s Stats

The list of leading double hitters is always enlightening, because doubles are often overlooked in favor of their more glamorous extra base hit brethren, home runs. Also, the hitters with the most doubles are often some of the most overlooked productive hitters in the majors. For instance, in this list of the 25 major leaguers with at least 19 doubles, you’ll find the renewed Mike Lowell and the surprising Gary Matthews Jr. at the top. I’ve included each player’s Slugging Percentage for reference.

Last          First     Team        2B    SLG
Lowell        Mike      BOS         26   .508
Matthews Jr.  Gary      TEX         25   .554
Young         Michael   TEX         25   .458
Teixeira      Mark      TEX         24   .435
Biggio        Craig     HOU         24   .444
Cabrera       Miguel    FLA         23   .567
Johnson       Nick      WAS         23   .561
Holliday      Matt T    COL         22   .622
Rolen         Scott     STL         22   .576
Atkins        Garrett   COL         22   .519
Sanchez       Freddy    PIT         21   .509
Koskie        Corey     MIL         21   .505
Cabrera       Orlando   LAA         21   .431
Garciaparra   Nomar     LAN         20   .592
Fielder       Prince G  MIL         20   .543
Guillen       Carlos    DET         20   .492
Zimmerman     Ryan W    WAS         20   .470
Gonzalez      Luis      ARI         20   .410
Wells         Vernon    TOR         19   .608
Rios          Alexis I  TOR         19   .602
Mauer         Joe       MIN         19   .524
Youkilis      Kevin E   BOS         19   .512
Sizemore      Grady     CLE         19   .534
Hall          Bill      MIL         19   .583
Tracy         Chad A    ARI         19   .464

Access all of THT’s stats here…