THT Daily: AL 8, NL 6

Major League News for June 19

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
American League
BOS    10  ATL     7    (Recap and Boxscore) Francoeur: 4 RBI.  Bullpens blow up
CHA     8  CIN     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Garland: 8 IP, 1 R, hit HR; Mackowiak: 4-4
DET    12  CHN     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Prior shelled, DET: team-record 8 HR, Rogers: 10 W
KC      7  HOU     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Mientkiewicz: 3R HR in 9th; Burke: 3 2B
MIN     8  PIT     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Santana: 7 IP, 1 R
OAK     5  LAN     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Blanton: 8 IP, 2 R, OAK: 10 straight W
SEA     5  SF      1    (Recap and Boxscore) Moyer: 8 IP, 1 R
TEX    10  ARI     7    (Recap and Boxscore) Young: 5-5, 2B, HR
FLA     4  TOR     1    (Recap and Boxscore) FLA: 9 in  a row
MIL     6  CLE     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Lee: 3R HR in 9th to win
NYN     9  BAL     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Wright: 5 RBI; Glavine: 10 W
PHI     8  TB      5    (Recap and Boxscore) Howard: 4 RBI
SD      7  LAA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     3  NYA     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Zimmerman: 2r HR in 9th to win

National League
STL     4  COL     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Carpenter: 7 IP, 1 R

Today’s Games

Visitors                         Home                              Time
ARI - Vargas C. (6-4, 5.21)      PIT - Duke Z.* (5-6, 4.52)        12:3
CHC - Marshall S.* (3-5, 4.82)   CLE - Johnson J. (3-7, 6.00)      7:05
NYY - Johnson R.* (8-5, 5.32)    PHI - Myers B. (4-3, 3.86)        7:05
WAS - Armas T. (6-3, 4.18)       BOS - Snyder K. (0-0, 22.50)      7:05
CIN - Arroyo B. (8-3, 2.51)      NYM - Hernandez O. (4-5, 5.50)    7:10
DET - Bonderman J. (6-4, 4.01)   MIL - Davis D.* (4-4, 5.07)       8:05
OAK - Haren D. (6-5, 3.44)       COL - Kim B. (3-4, 5.40)          9:05
LAA - Escobar K. (5-7, 3.62)     SF - Cain M. (5-5, 5.35)          10:1

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     39  28 .582  0.0    
NYA     38  29 .567  1.0    
TOR     37  32 .536  3.0    
BAL     32  39 .451  9.0    
TB      29  41 .414 11.5    
American League Central
DET     46  24 .657  0.0    
CHA     44  25 .638  1.5    
MIN     34  34 .500 11.0    
CLE     31  37 .456 14.0    
KC      19  49 .279 26.0    
American League West
OAK     38  31 .551  0.0    
TEX     38  32 .543  0.5    
SEA     34  37 .479  5.0    
LAA     31  38 .449  7.0    

National League East
NYN     43  25 .632  0.0    
PHI     34  35 .493  9.5    
WAS     32  39 .451 12.5    
FLA     29  37 .439 13.0    
ATL     30  40 .429 14.0    
National League Central
STL     42  26 .618  0.0    
CIN     37  32 .536  5.5    
HOU     36  34 .514  7.0    
MIL     35  35 .500  8.0    
CHN     26  42 .382 16.0    
PIT     26  44 .371 17.0    
National League West
SD      36  33 .522  0.0    
LAN     36  33 .522  0.0    
ARI     35  34 .507  1.0    
SF      34  35 .493  2.0    
COL     34  35 .493  2.0    

Game of the Day

There were three games decided by ninth-inning home runs yesterday. I’ve chosen the Cleveland/Milwaukee game for our Game of the Day (even though Doug Mientkiewicz hit his game winner on his birthday), decided by Carlos Lee’s three-run homer in the ninth. It was the second straight last-inning win for the Brewers over the Indians. Will Milwaukee trade Lee before he becomes a free agent this offseason?

CLEVELAND              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
G Sizemore cf           5  1  2  0   0  1   3  .293
A Boone 3b              5  0  0  0   0  1   5  .266
E Perez rf              3  1  1  1   0  0   1  .292
 T Hollandsworth lf     1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .200
T Hafner 1b             3  0  1  0   2  1   0  .303
J Peralta ss            5  0  3  1   0  2   3  .250
R Belliard 2b           5  1  3  0   0  1   1  .285
F Gutierrez lf-rf       4  0  1  0   0  0   5  .182
T Laker c               3  0  1  0   0  2   5  .308
 a-B Broussard ph       1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .335
 R Perez p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 R Betancourt p         0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
P Byrd p                3  0  1  0   0  0   4  .333
 F Carmona p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 b-V Martinez ph-c      0  0  0  0   1  0   0  .292

Totals                 38  3 13  2   3 10  27

a-struck out swinging for T Laker in the 8th;  b-walked for F Carmona in the 
8th.

BATTING: 2B - R Belliard (12, Z Jackson). 3B - G Sizemore (6, J Gonzalez). SF - 
E Perez. RBI - J Peralta (31), E Perez (21). Runners left in scoring position, 
2 out - P Byrd 2, A Boone 1, J Peralta 1. GIDP - F Gutierrez. Team LOB - 12. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - G Sizemore (10, 2nd base off Z Jackson/C Moeller). 

MILWAUKEE              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
R Weeks 2b              4  0  1  0   0  1   2  .296
C Koskie 3b             4  2  1  2   1  0   2  .268
C Lee lf                5  1  2  3   0  1   2  .280
P Fielder 1b            3  1  1  1   1  0   1  .296
B Hall ss               4  0  1  0   0  1   3  .272
G Jenkins rf            3  0  2  0   1  0   0  .261
C Moeller c             4  0  0  0   0  2   4  .195
B Clark cf              3  0  0  0   0  0   2  .283
 D Kolb p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 B Shouse p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 a-J Cirillo ph         1  0  0  0   0  0   2  .323
 D Turnbow p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Z Jackson p             1  1  1  0   0  0   0  .167
 J Gonzalez p           1  0  0  0   0  0   1  .000
 G Gross cf             1  1  1  0   1  0   0  .229

Totals                 34  6 10  6   4  5  19

a-flied out to left for B Shouse in the 8th.

BATTING: 2B - B Hall (19, R Betancourt); G Gross (3, R Betancourt). HR - C 
Koskie (9, 3rd inning off P Byrd 1 on, 1 Out), P Fielder (13, 6th inning off P 
Byrd 0 on, 0 Out), C Lee (23, 9th inning off R Betancourt 2 on, 1 Out). S - R 
Weeks. RBI - C Koskie 2 (26), P Fielder (39), C Lee 3 (58). Runners left in 
scoring position, 2 out - J Cirillo 1, B Hall 2. Team LOB - 8. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - C Lee 2 (9, 2nd base off P Byrd/T Laker, 3rd base off P 
Byrd/T Laker), P Fielder (5, 2nd base off P Byrd/T Laker). 
 
FIELDING: DP: 1 (B Hall-R Weeks-P Fielder). 

----------------------------------------------------
    CLEVELAND       - 011 100 000   --   3
    MILWAUKEE       - 002 001 003   --   6

One out when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------

CLEVELAND                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
P Byrd                        6       7   3   3   1   4   2   4.78
F Carmona                     1       0   0   0   1   1   0   4.94
R Perez                         1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.00
R Betancourt (L, 0-3)         1       3   3   3   2   0   1   4.82

MILWAUKEE                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Z Jackson                     3       8   2   2   1   4   0   4.67
J Gonzalez                    3       2   1   1   1   1   0   7.36
D Kolb                        1       2   0   0   0   0   0   3.65
B Shouse                      1       0   0   0   1   2   0   2.53
D Turnbow (W, 4-3)            1       1   0   0   0   3   0   3.73

WP - Z Jackson. IBB - G Jenkins (by R Betancourt), C Koskie (by R 
Betancourt). Pitches-strikes: P Byrd 99-68; F Carmona 13-5; R Perez 3-2; R 
Betancourt 29-17; Z Jackson 78-50; J Gonzalez 40-27; D Kolb 9-7; B Shouse 
17-10; D Turnbow 14-10. Ground balls-fly balls: P Byrd 6-8; F Carmona 1-1; R 
Perez 0-1; R Betancourt 1-2; Z Jackson 1-4; J Gonzalez 4-4; D Kolb 3-0; B 
Shouse 0-1; D Turnbow 0-0. Batters faced: P Byrd 26; F Carmona 4; R Perez 1; R 
Betancourt 8; Z Jackson 18; J Gonzalez 12; D Kolb 4; B Shouse 4; D Turnbow 4. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Derryl Cousins. 1B--Tim Timmons. 2B--Joe Brinkman. 3B--Jeff Nelson. 

T--3:27. Att--43,391. Weather: INDOORS

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.

Hitter                     Pitcher                    True Dist   Stnd Dist    #
Ramirez, Manny      BOS    Smoltz, John         ATL        444         429     17
Shelton, Chris      DET    Prior, Mark          CHC        450         422     13
Ellison, Jason      SF     Moyer, Jamie         SEA        405         416      2
Ortiz, David        BOS    Smoltz, John         ATL        422         410     20
Bay, Jason          PIT    Eyre, Scott          MIN        412         404     20
Beltre, Adrian      SEA    Wright, Jamey        SF         388         403      6
Green, Shawn        ARI    Cordero, Francisco   TEX        405         400      7
Dye, Jermaine       CWS    Burns, Mike          CIN        430         398     20
Ramirez, Aramis     CHC    Rogers, Kenny        DET        430         396     12
Young, Michael      TEX    Gonzalez, Enrique    ARI        401         395      5
Branyan, Russell    TB     Madson, Ryan         PHI        404         393      8
Hudson, Orlando     ARI    Loe, Kameron         TEX        400         393      3
Koskie, Corey       MIL    Byrd, Paul           CLE        399         391      9
Shelton, Chris      DET    Novoa, Roberto       CHC        409         390     13
Fielder, Prince     MIL    Byrd, Paul           CLE        391         385     13
Cameron, Mike       SD     Colon, Bartolo       LAA        401         383      4
Gonzalez, Adrian    SD     Colon, Bartolo       LAA        393         383      9
Lee, Carlos         MIL    Betancourt, Rafael   CLE        390         382     23
Granderson, Curtis  DET    Prior, Mark          CHC        405         381     10
Byrnes, Eric        ARI    Loe, Kameron         TEX        390         381     11
Thames, Marcus      DET    Novoa, Roberto       CHC        406         380     14
Rolen, Scott        STL    Fogg, Josh           COL        426         378      9
Garciaparra, Nomar  LAD    Blanton, Joe         OAK        380         375      8
Nevin, Phil         CHC    Grilli, Jason        DET        405         372     13
Hunter, Torii       MIN    Perez, Oliver        PIT        392         371     10
Garland, Jon        CWS    Yan, Esteban         CIN        388         369      1
Sanders, Reggie     KC     Pettitte, Andy       HOU        368         367      9
Inge, Brandon       DET    Novoa, Roberto       CHC        396         366     14
Mientkiewicz, Doug  KC     Qualls, Chad         HOU        366         365      2
Castro, Ramon       NYM    Britton, Chris       BAL        379         362      3
Francoeur, Jeff     ATL    Seanez, Rudy         BOS        376         362     15
Howard, Ryan        PHI    McClung, Seth        TB         356         360     23
Wilson, Vance       DET    Prior, Mark          CHC        381         358      2
Crawford, Carl      TB     Madson, Ryan         PHI        369         355     10
Inge, Brandon       DET    Novoa, Roberto       CHC        387         354     14
Blanco, Henry       CHC    Rogers, Kenny        DET        377         350      2
Guillen, Carlos     DET    Prior, Mark          CHC        371         350      9
Youkilis, Kevin     BOS    Paronto, Chad        ATL        363         347      9
Zimmerman, Ryan     WAS    Wang, Chien-Ming     NYY        367         346     10
Wright, David       NYM    Loewen, Adam         BAL        371         335     15
Buck, John          KC     Pettitte, Andy       HOU        334         333      4
Wilson, Preston     HOU    Duckworth, Brandon   KC          NA          NA      7

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
BAL AAA Luis Terrero       LF  3  3  1  0  2  1  0  3 runs scored
CHC A   Jesus Valdez       DH  4  4  2  0  0  0  0   
CLE AA  David Wallace       C  3  3  1  0  1  1  0  4 runs scored
COL A   C. Nelson          SS  5  4  2  0  1  0  0   
KC  AA  Donnie Murphy      2B  4  4  2  0  0  0  0  3 runs scored
LAA AAA Howie Kendrick     2B  5  3  0  2  1  0  1  4 RBI
MIN A   Andrew Thompson    SS  5  4  0  0  1  0  0   
PHI AAA Bobby Scales       3B  4  4  2  0  0  0  0   
WAN A   Edgardo Baez       RF  5  4  1  0  1  0  0  .545 OBP during past week
WAN AA  Tim RainesJr.      RF  5  3  0  0  2  1  1  5 RBI
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
ARI AAA Adam Bass          8.0  4  1  1  3  1  0   
BAL AA  Eric DuBose        9.0  3  0  0  6  1  0   
BOS AAA Matt Ginter        7.0  4  2  2  4  0  0   
CIN A   Zachary Ward       7.0  3  1  1  7  1  0   
CLE AA  Aaron Laffey       7.0  5  2  1  7  1  0   
COL AA  Marc Kaiser        9.0  5  1  1  4  0  1   
COL A   Brandon Durden     7.0  8  0  0  4  0  0  1.40 ERA over past month
DET AAA Humberto Sanchez   6.1  2  0  0  5  2  0   
MIL A   Rafael Lluberes    6.0  1  0  0  2  3  0   
MIN A   Kyle Waldrop       8.0  5  2  1  3  1  1   

Player News

Florida’s Josh Johnson (6-4) went 5 2/3 innings despite throwing a total of 55 pitches in the first two innings. He gave up one run and eight hits with six walks and five strikeouts, threw a career-high 119 pitches and lowered his ERA to 2.01.

Toronto recalled RHP Josh Towers from Triple-A Syracuse and optioned RHP Vinnie Chulk. RHP A.J. Burnett (elbow) allowed one earned run in six innings in a rehab start Saturday night.

Kenny Rogers, 41, and Tom Glavine, 40, became the first 10-game winners in the majors with their victories. According to Elias, it marks the third time in the last four seasons that the first 10-game winner in the majors was over 40 years old (Jamie Moyer in 2003 and Roger Clemens in 2004). Prior to that, there had been only one season in which a 40-year-old was the first pitcher in the majors to accumulate ten wins (Rick Reuschel for the 1989 Giants).

Baltimore’s Adam Loewen became the first pitcher to face a former Cy Young Award winner in each of his first four major league starts.

Jon Garland’s home run was the first by a Chicago White Sox pitcher in 35 years. Jim Thome made his first start of the season at first base.

The Devil Rays used five consecutive pinch hitters against the Phillies in the top of the eighth inning. The Brewers have trailed in 20 of their 24 victories at Miller Park this season.

Michael Young was Texas’s designated hitter and fit the role well, going 5 for 5 with a double, home run, 3 R and 3 RBI.

The Tigers hit four home runs off Mark Prior and four more off Roberto Novoa. According to Elias, Prior and Novoa became the first pair of teammates in major league history each to allow at least four homers in the same game.

In that Detroit/Cubs game, Chris Shelton was 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs and three RBI and Brandon Inge was 2-for-4 with a couple of solo home runs.

In his first start in two months, Bartolo Colon gave up four runs (two earned) in seven innings. He struck out five and walked one. The Angels have now given up 51 unearned runs, the most in the majors by far (The Reds are second with 39).

San Diego’s Dave Roberts will be placed on the 15-day disabled list, although an MRI showed no structural damage to his knee after Saturday’s collision with the wall.

Ichiro went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, tying his AL-best streak this season.

Michael Barrett missed his third straight start on Sunday against the Tigers due to his sore back.

Oakland’s Steve Karsay announced his retirement.

In Pittsburgh, Kip Wells was activated off the 15-day DL and will start Tuesday night in Kansas City. Right-hander Victor Santos went on the 15-day DLt with a strained right rotator cuff, and outfielder Jody Gerut was moved from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list.

The Mets activated right fielder Xavier Nady from the DL and the Cubs placed Glendon Rusch on the DL Saturday. The Braves placed Brian Jordan on the 15-day disabled list.

THT’s Stats

Sometimes baserunners score and sometimes they don’t. Overall, about 70% of baserunners cross home plate (not including those who score on home runs) and research has shown that most pitchers tend to drift back to 70% over time (although good pitchers will do somewhat better and bad pitchers will do somewhat worse).

Here’s a list of the top twenty pitchers this year in leaving men on base, along with their LOB% in 2005 and their 2006 ERA. As you can see, Chris Young has achieved a lot of his success this year by leaving baserunners on base. He may be due for a fall in the second half of the year.

Last         First     Team     2005    2006    2006 ERA
Young        Chris     SD       69%     84%       3.27
Carpenter    Chris     STL      76%     84%       2.46
Zambrano     Carlos    CHN      75%     84%       2.82
Verlander    Justin B  DET      61%     82%       3.21
Arroyo       Bronson   CIN      66%     81%       2.51
Glavine      Tom       NYN      74%     81%       3.48
Penny        Brad      LAN      74%     81%       2.49
Webb         Brandon   ARI      74%     80%       2.37
Schmidt      Jason     SF       70%     79%       2.84
Santana      Johan     MIN      76%     79%       2.87
Zito         Barry     OAK      72%     79%       3.51
Rogers       Kenny     DET      74%     79%       3.17
Lilly        Ted       TOR      71%     79%       4.12
Robertson    Nate      DET      69%     78%       3.43
Maholm       Paul G    PIT      85%     78%       4.50
Martinez     Pedro     NYN      77%     78%       3.01
Johnson      Josh      FLA      77%     78%       2.01
Kazmir       Scott E   TB       72%     78%       3.39
Haren        Danny     OAK      73%     77%       3.44
Schilling    Curt      BOS      67%     77%       3.55

Access all of THT’s stats here…