THT Daily: Blue Jays Win Anyway

Major League News for July 21

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

Yesterday’s Results

American League
TOR     5  NYA     4    (Recap and Boxscore) See below
BOS     6  TEX     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     6  TB      4    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      9  LAA     4    (Recap and Boxscore) LAA: 3 E in 6th
DET     2  CHA     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Rogers: 6 IP, 1 R; Contreras: 7 IP, 2 R

National League
SF      9  SD      3    (Recap and Boxscore) Lowry: 8.1 IP, 3 R; Bonds: HR 722
PIT     5  FLA     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Johnson: 7 IP, 2 R; PIT: 4th straight 1-run win
NYN     4  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore) 10 innings;  Arroyo: 8 IP, 2 R
ARI     5  LAN     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Webb: 8 IP, 2 R
CHN     4  HOU     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Zambrano: 8 IP, 1 R, 10 K, 2 H

Today’s Games

Visitors                          Home                               Time
MIN - Silva C. (5-9, 6.75)        CLE - Sabathia C.* (7-5, 3.59)     7:05
ATL - Smoltz J. (7-5, 3.41)       PHI - Lidle C. (6-7, 5.02)         7:05
CHC - Marshall S.* (5-8, 5.00)    WAS - Astacio P. (1-1, 6.43)       7:05
OAK - Haren D. (6-8, 3.73)        DET - Verlander J. (11-4, 2.83)    7:05
NYY - Wright J. (6-5, 4.29)       TOR - Burnett A. (1-3, 4.25)       7:07
MIL - Capuano C.* (10-5, 3.46)    CIN - Ramirez E. (3-6, 4.16)       7:10
HOU - Buchholz T. (6-7, 5.31)     NYM - Hernandez O. (5-8, 5.52)     7:10
BAL - Bedard E.* (11-6, 4.02)     TB - Fossum C.* (3-3, 4.91)        7:15
PIT - Maholm P.* (3-8, 5.05)      FLA - Olsen S.* (7-4, 4.28)        7:35
LAA - Colon B. (1-4, 4.56)        KC - Hernandez R. (1-4, 7.44)      8:10
TEX - Wasdin J. (2-2, 5.01)       CWS - Buehrle M.* (9-7, 4.43)      8:35
COL - Cook A. (6-7, 3.59)         ARI - Vargas C. (7-6, 5.30)        9:40
BOS - Snyder K. (1-1, 10.03)      SEA - Moyer J.* (5-8, 3.75)       10:05
SD - Peavy J. (4-9, 4.78)         SF - Cain M. (6-6, 4.90)          10:15
STL - Suppan J. (6-5, 5.52)       LAD - Penny B. (10-3, 3.26)       10:40

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. “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     58  36 .617    0.0   53      5      
NYA     55  38 .591    2.5   55      0      
TOR     53  42 .558    5.5   52      1      
BAL     44  53 .454   15.5   42      2      
TB      39  57 .406   20.0   38      1      
American League Central
DET     64  31 .674    0.0   61      3      
CHA     58  36 .617    5.5   56      2      
MIN     54  40 .574    9.5   52      2      
CLE     42  52 .447   21.5   50     -8      
KC      33  62 .347   31.0   35     -2      
American League West
OAK     50  45 .526    0.0   48      2      
TEX     49  47 .510    1.5   50     -1      
LAA     48  47 .505    2.0   48      0      
SEA     45  50 .474    5.0   48     -3      

National League East         Pwins Diff
NYN     57  38 .600    0.0   55      2      
ATL     45  50 .474   12.0   50     -5      
PHI     43  50 .462   13.0   44     -1      
FLA     42  52 .447   14.5   45     -3      
WAS     40  56 .417   17.5   42     -2      
National League Central
STL     53  41 .564    0.0   48      5      
CIN     50  46 .521    4.0   47      3      
MIL     46  50 .479    8.0   41      5      
HOU     46  50 .479    8.0   46      0      
CHN     37  57 .394   16.0   38     -1      
PIT     35  62 .361   19.5   42     -7      
National League West
SD      50  45 .526    0.0   48      2      
SF      49  47 .510    1.5   48      1      
ARI     48  47 .505    2.0   47      1      
LAN     47  49 .490    3.5   51     -4      
COL     45  49 .479    4.5   48     -3      

Game of the Day

There’s been some controversy in Toronto lately, but the Blue Jays waved it away with a 5-4, 11-inning victory over the Yankees yesterday. Vernon Wells won the game with a walkoff home run against Mariano Rivera, only the third regular-season walkoff homer allowed by Rivera, and the first in extra innings.

The Blue Jays designated Shea Hillenbrand for assignment Wednesday after he and manager John Gibbons almost came to blows. Hillenbrand wrote “Play for yourselves. Play for your paycheck. The ship is sinking.” on the clubhouse bulletin board and Gibbons challenged him. There was no fight, but Gibbons made it clear he would no longer manage the club if Hillenbrand remained on the roster.

The Blue Jays are within three games of New York for second place in the AL East.

NY YANKEES (4) VS TORONTO (5) - FINAL IN 11 INNINGS 

NY YANKEES             ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
J Damon cf              5  0  2  1   0  1   1  .294
D Jeter ss              4  0  0  0   0  1   1  .337
J Giambi dh             4  0  1  0   0  1   2  .256
 B Crosby pr-dh         0  1  0  0   0  0   0  .213
 a-A Guiel ph-dh        1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .234
A Rodriguez 3b          4  1  1  0   1  0   1  .284
J Posada c              5  0  3  1   0  1   0  .286
B Williams rf           5  0  1  1   0  2   4  .279
A Phillips 1b           5  0  0  0   0  1   2  .251
M Cabrera lf            3  1  1  0   1  0   1  .272
M Cairo 2b              3  1  1  1   0  1   1  .252

Totals                 39  4 10  4   2  9  13

a-struck out swinging for B Crosby in the 10th.

BATTING: 2B - B Williams (21, R Halladay); J Damon (23, R Halladay); A 
Rodriguez (14, R Halladay); J Posada (15, R Halladay). S - D Jeter. SF - M 
Cairo. RBI - J Damon (48), B Williams (40), M Cairo (19), J Posada (48). 2-out 
RBI - J Posada. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Damon 1, B Williams 
2, A Rodriguez 1, M Cabrera 1. GIDP - A Phillips. Team LOB - 6. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - M Cairo (10, 2nd base off R Halladay/B Molina), M Cabrera 2 
(6, 2nd base off R Halladay/B Molina, 2nd base off B Ryan/B Molina). 
 
FIELDING: E - A Rodriguez (17, throw). DP: 1 (D Jeter-M Cairo-A Phillips). 
 
TORONTO                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
R Johnson rf            5  1  0  1   0  1   1  .352
F Catalanotto lf        5  1  2  1   0  0   0  .325
V Wells cf              5  2  4  1   0  0   0  .318
T Glaus 3b              4  0  1  2   0  2   2  .242
L Overbay 1b            4  0  0  0   0  1   0  .302
B Molina c              4  0  0  0   0  2   1  .281
G Zaun dh               4  0  0  0   0  1   0  .293
A Hill 2b               4  1  1  0   0  1   0  .302
J McDonald ss           4  0  1  0   0  0   0  .221

Totals                 39  5  9  5   0  8   4

BATTING: 2B - A Hill (18, M Mussina); T Glaus (18, M Mussina). HR - V Wells 
(24, 11th inning off M Rivera 0 on, 1 Out). RBI - R Johnson (26), F Catalanotto 
(45), T Glaus 2 (64), V Wells (74). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B 
Molina 1. GIDP - R Johnson. Team LOB - 3. 
 
BASERUNNING: CS - F Catalanotto (2, 2nd base by M Rivera/J Posada). 
 
FIELDING: E - B Molina (2, throw). DP: 2 (A Hill-J McDonald, J McDonald-A 
Hill-L Overbay). 

----------------------------------------------------
    NY YANKEES      - 001 110 010 00  --   4
    TORONTO         - 000 004 000 01  --   5

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

NY YANKEES                   ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
M Mussina                     7       6   4   4   0   6   0   3.39
S Proctor                     2       1   0   0   0   2   0   4.20
M Rivera (L, 4-5)             1 1/3   2   1   1   0   0   1   2.10

TORONTO                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
R Halladay                    7 2/3   8   3   3   0   3   0   3.08
B Ryan (B, 3)                 1 1/3   2   1   1   2   4   0   1.12
J Speier                      1       0   0   0   0   2   0   3.37
B Tallet (W, 3-0)             1       0   0   0   0   0   0   5.27

Pitches-strikes: M Mussina 92-67; S Proctor 17-16; M Rivera 15-11; R Halladay 
93-61; B Ryan 36-24; J Speier 17-10; B Tallet 9-6. Ground balls-fly balls: M 
Mussina 10-6; S Proctor 1-3; M Rivera 2-1; R Halladay 11-8; B Ryan 0-0; J 
Speier 1-0; B Tallet 1-2. Batters faced: M Mussina 27; S Proctor 7; M Rivera 5; 
R Halladay 29; B Ryan 8; J Speier 3; B Tallet 3. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Alfonso Marquez. 1B--Larry Young. 2B--Tom Hallion. 3B--Mike 
Everitt. 

T--3:08. Att--42,336. 
Weather: INDOORS

The following graph tracks the game’s Win Probability, courtesy of Fan Graphs.

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 Std. Dist.  HR #
Bay, Jason       PIT   Johnson, Josh      FLA          437       441      22
Ramirez, Aramis  CHC   Pettitte, Andy     HOU          446       429      17
Feliz, Pedro     SF    Sweeney, Brian     SD           440       425      16
Barrett, Michael CHC   Pettitte, Andy     HOU          430       418      10
McLouth, Nate    PIT   Kensing, Logan     FLA          411       413       5
Cantu, Jorge     TB    Rincon, Juan       MIN          409       403       7
Bonds, Barry     SF    Sweeney, Brian     SD           425       402      14
Lee, Travis      TB    Santana, Johan     MIN          403       398       6
Quentin, Carlos  ARI   Hendrickson, Mark  LAD          406       395       1
Santos, Chad     SF    Park, Chan Ho      SD           411       391       1
Delgado, Carlos  NYM   Arroyo, Bronson    CIN          393       390      23
Wells, Vernon    TOR   Rivera, Mariano    NYY          391       390      24
Durham, Ray      SF    Sweeney, Brian     SD           397       369      16
Floyd, Cliff     NYM   Arroyo, Bronson    CIN          356       357      10
Jacobs, Mike     FLA   Snell, Ian         PIT          342       340      14

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
BOS A-  Zak Farkes         1B  4  3  0  0  1  0  0   
CIN A+  Jeremiah Piepkorn  3B  4  4  1  0  0  0  0   
COL A+  Justin Nelson      LF  4  3  1  1  0  0  0   
FLA A-  John Raynor        RF  2  2  0  0  1  0  0  4 RBI
LA  A   Bridger Hunt       CF  5  4  1  0  0  0  1   
LAA AA  Nathan Haynes      RF  5  4  1  0  0  0  0  .519 OBP during past week
MIL AA  Ryan Braun         3B  4  3  1  0  1  0  0   
MIN A   Dwayne White       DH  5  4  1  0  1  0  0  5 RBI
PHI AA  Peter Bergeron     CF  4  3  0  0  1  0  0   
PIT A   Steve Lerud         C  3  2  1  0  1  1  0   
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
ARI A-  Cesar Valdez       9.0  6  1  1  8  0  0   
ATL A   Jeff Lyman         7.0  3  0  0  5  3  0  29 K over last 25 IP
BAL A-  Jeffrey Moore      7.2  2  1  0  5  1  0  0.49 ERA over past month
CHC A   Mitch Atkins       7.1  7  0  0  7  0  0   
CHC A+  Donald Veal        5.0  0  0  0  9  4  0   
DET A   Burke Badenhop     6.2  4  1  1  7  1  0   
MIL AA  Yovani Gallardo    6.0  5  0  0  9  1  0   
MIN AA  Kevin Slowey       7.1  5  0  0  5  3  0   
MIN A   Alexander Smit     6.2  3  0  0  8  2  0   
PIT AA  Shane Youman       7.0  4  0  0  9  2  0   

Player News

Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.

Sensing a playoff surge, the Braves have acquired Bob Wickman from the Indians for Class A catcher Max Ramirez. Fausto Carmona would take over as the Indians’ closer, while Jorge Sosa and Kenny Ray would lose their closing chances. The 37-year-old Wickman has been successful on 15 of 18 save chances this season, and tied for the AL lead last year with 45 saves.

According to Elias, Wickman’s hours might be changing for his new employer. Wickman has pitched one inning or less in his last 127 saves — by far the longest streak in major league history, dating back to September 2000. No other pitcher has reached the 100-mark. But few managers ask their closers to work overtime more often than Bobby Cox does. Over the last six seasons, during which time Wickman has never earned a save of more than one inning, Braves pitchers have done so 53 times. Only three teams have higher totals: Yankees, 62; Devil Rays, 57; White Sox, 54.

Tim Wakefield has a broken rib and is expected to spend at least three weeks on the disabled list, manager Terry Francona said. Francona said Wakefield doesn’t remember how he injured himself. It might have been from sleeping on it wrong. “He’s actually been pitching with pain in his ribs for about a month or six weeks,” Francona said. “I think there’s a chance we could have him back with us, best-case scenario, three weeks.” Francona said.

B.J. Ryan blew a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth. It was the fifth time this season that the Blue Jays’ bullpen cost Roy Halladay a victory, tying Halladay for the American League lead with Scott Elarton and Jake Westbrook. John Smoltz leads the majors (6). (Source: Elias)

The Twins completed a four-game sweep with their victory over the Devil Rays on Thursday. It was Minnesota’s eighth series sweep of three or more games this season, the highest total in franchise history by the end of July. The previous high was seven in 2003, when the Twins set a franchise record for a full season (11). (Source: Elias)

Jose Contreras suffered his second consecutive defeat in the White Sox’ 2-1 loss to the Tigers. Contreras wasn’t the first pitcher ever to lose consecutive starts to snap a streak of 17 or more wins, but he was the first to do so in 68 years. The last was Johnny Allen (1938). Prior to Allen, it was done by Pat Luby (1891) and Mickey Welch (1885). (Source: Elias)

The Angels committed four errors in their loss. It was the sixth game this season in which Los Angeles made three or more errors, tying the Indians for the most such games in the majors. This season’s combined record of teams that committed at least three errors in a game is 17-73 (.189). (Elias)

Manager Grady Little shook up his lineup Thursday night after the Dodgers lost six of their first seven games coming out of the All-Star break. Little benched CF Kenny Lofton, moved clean-up man J.D. Drew to the No. 2 slot and put hot-hitting rookie Andre Ethier at clean-up.

RHP Scott Elarton may be lost for the season. Royals manager Buddy Bell said Elarton “is probably going to have something done to his shoulder,” and that it was probably season-ending.

Barry Bonds hit his 722nd homer Thursday night, connecting off San Diego’s Brian Sweeney just hours after the federal grand jury considering possible perjury and tax-evasion charges against the slugger expired without an indictment. Given a reprieve after catcher Mike Piazza dropped a foul popup for an error, Bonds drove a shot over the wall in center field two pitches later to give the San Francisco Giants a 7-0 lead with his 14th homer of the season. Sweeney became the 428th pitcher to give up a homer to Bonds, who has hit 84 longballs in his career against San Diego – his most against any team.

Carlos Quentin homered in his major league debut as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-2 on Thursday night. Quentin, promoted from Triple-A Tucson earlier Thursday, hit a two-run home run off Mark Hendrickson in his third at-bat. Quentin, 23, was Arizona’s second pick in the first round of the 2003 draft and the 29th overall selection.

Right-hander Octavio Dotel, working his way back from elbow surgery, reported soreness in his arm after pitching an inning for Double-A Trenton. “He finished his stint today. He just didn’t feel good. He felt sore and tender,” Torre said. Dotel hasn’t pitched for the New York this season after undergoing elbow ligament replacement surgery a year ago. Torre had hoped to have him on the roster on Sunday. He’ll see the team doctor on Friday.

Pittsburh’s Mike Gonzalez pitched a scoreless ninth to remain perfect in 16 save opportunities on Thursday at Florida.

The Nationals granted catcher Matthew LeCroy his unconditional release, three days after he was designated for assignment.

The Nationals announced that right-hander John Patterson had successful exploratory surgery on his right forearm. He is expected to be out at least four weeks.

The Washington Nationals placed right fielder Jose Guillen on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right elbow. The move was made retroactive to Wednesday. The elbow injury has been bothering Guillen all month and caused him to leave Tuesday’s 7-6 win over Florida in the third inning. It’s the latest in a series of ailments that have contributed to a disappointing season for Guillen, the team’s home run and RBI leader in 2005. He was batting .216 with nine home runs and 40 RBI in 69 games this year. He will have the elbow examined next week by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.

The Chicago White Sox released right-handed pitcher Cliff Politte. Politte lost his spot in the bullpen when Chicago recalled right-hander Sean Tracey from Triple-A Charlotte on Sunday. Politte was designated for assignment July 15 after allowing four runs and four hits in two innings of a 14-3 loss to the New York Yankees. The reliever was 2-2 with a 8.70 ERA in 30 games this season with the White Sox.

Tampa Bay’s Seth McClung has taken over as the Triple-A closer with outstanding results. He has a win and two saves with a 2.31 ERA, striking out 20 hittings in 11 2/3 innings. He has allowed nine hits and just one walk.

Phillies pitching prospect Scott Mathieson has moved up to Triple-A and was solid in his first start there, going six innings. He allowed six hits, two runs and one walk. He struck out seven.

THT Stats

One of the little-noticed stories out on the baseball field has been Michael Young’s improvement at shortstop this year. Last year, John Dewan’s Fielding Bible rated Young the worst shortstop in baseball after moving there from second base in 2004. Dewan reviewed videotape and found that Young was playing too close to second and too many balls were finding the third-base hole.

It appears that Young has made some adjustments this year; he ranks first among all major league shortstops in fielding Win Shares. Although fielding Win Shares aren’t a perfect assessment of fielding prowess, Young has also raised his zone rating from .807 last year to .840 this year.

Last      First  Team   Field WS
Young      M     TEX       4.8
Everett    A     HOU       4.5
Greene     K     SD        3.9
Crosby     B     OAK       3.9
Counsell   C     ARI       3.7
Peralta    J     CLE       3.7
Gonzalez   A     BOS       3.5
Cabrera    O     LAA       3.4
Rollins    J     PHI       3.4
Betancourt Y     SEA       3.3
Barmes     C     COL       3.3
Uribe      J     CHA       3.2
Vizquel    O     SF        3.1
Tejada     M     BAL       3.1
Guillen    C     DET       2.9
Renteria   E     ATL       2.9
Reyes      J     NYN       2.7
Jeter      D     NYA       2.6
Lugo       J     TB        2.6
Cedeno     R     CHN       2.5
Castro     J     MIN       2.4
Eckstein   D     STL       2.2
Furcal     R     LAN       2.1
Wilson     J     PIT       2.1
Clayton    R     WAS       2.0
Ramirez    H     FLA       1.9
Berroa     A     KC        1.9
Cora       A     BOS       1.7
Hall       B     MIL       1.6

Access all of THT’s stats here…