THT Daily: Brian Matusz

Major League News for August 2

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
The Yankees are shuffling their rotation in advance of the upcoming Red Sox series.
Andy Pettitte takes the mound Tuesday against Toronto. Sergio Mitre moves up to Wednesday, thereby avoiding the Sox all together. Joba Chamberlain will open the series against the Sox on seven days rest as the Yankees are trying to control his innings from hereon out. He’s thrown 10 1/3 innings more this season than last season so far.

Scott Downs left Saturday’s game in the ninth inning with a left toe injury.
Downs was removed after allowing two batters to reach with the Jays up 6-4 in the ninth. Scott Frasor took over in the save opportunity and may be asked to close for the next few games.

Andrew McCutchen went 4-for-5 with three home runs and six RBI to lead the Pirates over the Nationals 11-6 on Saturday night.
Coming out party, anyone? McCutchen has hit .293 with six home runs and 31 RBI since his promotion in early June and has displayed a fine glove in center field. He also scored four runs on the night.

Matt Holliday finished 3-for-4 with two solo home runs Saturday to help the Cardinals defeat the Astros.
Holliday has become a super hero in St. Louis, batting a mind-blogging .603 in 33 at-bats since coming over from Oakland. He has three home runs since the trade and two curtain calls. While the fans at Busch Stadium are clearly falling in love, agent Scott Boras is typing away at his calculator. The outfielder is a free agent after this season. Keep in mind that he turned down a four-year, $72 million contract extension from the Rockies not too long ago.

Kevin Millwood (glute) has been scratched from Monday’s start.
It’s the third time Millwood has been scratched this week, as his glute strain continues to cause him problems. Dustin Nippert is expected to fill in on three days rest. It’s not clear when Millwood will be ready.

Hanley Ramirez left Saturday’s game against the Cubs after taking a wild pitch just above his left knee.
It was a Carlos Zambrano fastball, to be exact. He was able to jog to first base and eventually came around to score, but will probably have a sizable bruise on his thigh and might miss Sunday’s action.

Carlos Zambrano departed after three innings Saturday with a stiff back.
The Cubs were up four runs when he exited. It didn’t seem too serious, but back injuries can linger. We’ll keep you updated.

Brian Matusz was pulled from his Saturday start for Double-A Bowie after one inning, reports Roch Kubato of MASNSports.com
Kubato says he has been given a very strong indication that Matusz is coming up for a Tuesday debut against the Tigers. Counting Chris Tillman, that makes two major league debuts in the space of one week. Exciting times in Charm City.

The Orioles are reportedly considering 2008 first-round draft pick Brian Matusz to replace the injured Brad Bergesen in the rotation.
“I think we’re considering a lot of people, on the club and in the minor league system,” manager Dave Trembley said. “I don’t think Matusz is the only one being considered. I think a lot of people are being considered.” It seems awfully quick for Matusz to make his debut, but the 22-year-old southpaw is 7-0 with a 1.59 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 45/10 K/BB ratio in 45 1/3 innings with Double-A Bowie. The Orioles need a pitcher for Tuesday, so if Matusz starts for Bowie tonight, as scheduled, you’ll know he’s out as an option. Mark Hendrickson and Brian Bass could also be options.

Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday’s games, read “And That Happened” at Shysterball.

American League
BOS     4  BAL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB      7  KC      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA    14  NYA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     4  CLE     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA    11  MIN     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     6  OAK     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     7  TEX     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL     4  LAN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     9  FLA     8    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYN     9  ARI     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     6  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT    11  WAS     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL     3  HOU     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      4  MIL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      2  PHI     0    (Recap and Boxscore)

Check out Fangraphs’ scoreboard to see all the games in action.

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Mets, 1:10 PM
  (R) Jon Garland (5-10) vs. (R) Mike Pelfrey (8-6)
 Colorado Rockies at Cincinnati Reds, 1:10 PM
  (R) Jason Marquis (12-7) vs. (R) Bronson Arroyo (10-10)
 Washington Nationals at Pittsburgh Pirates, 1:35 PM
  (R) Collin Balester (1-1) vs. (L) Paul Maholm (6-5)
 Houston Astros at St. Louis Cardinals, 2:15 PM
  (R) Bud Norris (0-0) vs. (R) Adam Wainwright (12-6)
 Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres, 4:05 PM
  (R) Carlos Villanueva (2-8) vs. (R) Kevin Correia (7-8)
 Philadelphia Phillies at San Francisco Giants, 4:05 PM
  (L) Cole Hamels (7-5) vs. (L) Barry Zito (6-10)
 Chicago Cubs at Florida Marlins, 5:05 PM
  (R) Ryan Dempster (5-5) vs. (R) Ricky Nolasco (7-7)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta Braves, 8:00 PM
  (R) Chad Billingsley (10-6) vs. (R) Jair Jurrjens (9-7)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians, 1:05 PM
  (R) Armando Galarraga (5-9) vs. (R) Carl Pavano (8-8)
 Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 1:35 PM
  (R) Clay Buchholz (1-1) vs. (R) Jason Berken (1-8)
 Kansas City Royals at Tampa Bay Rays, 1:38 PM
  (R) Brian Bannister (6-7) vs. (R) James Shields (6-7)
 New York Yankees at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 PM
  (L) CC Sabathia (10-7) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (11-4)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Minnesota Twins, 2:10 PM
  (R) Jered Weaver (10-3) vs. (L) Glen Perkins (6-6)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Oakland Athletics, 4:05 PM
  (L) Ricky Romero (9-4) vs. (R) Vin Mazzaro (2-7)
 Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Ian Snell (0-0) vs. (R) Scott Feldman (9-4)

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
NYA     62  42 .596    0.0   58     4    
BOS     61  42 .592    0.5   60     1    
TB      57  47 .548    5.0   60    -3    
TOR     50  54 .481   12.0   56    -6    
BAL     44  59 .427   17.5   45    -1    
American League Central     
DET     54  48 .529    0.0   54     0    
CHA     54  51 .514    1.5   54     0    
MIN     52  52 .500    3.0   53    -1    
CLE     43  61 .413   12.0   49    -6    
KC      40  63 .388   14.5   39     1    
American League West        
LAA     62  40 .608    0.0   57     5    
TEX     58  44 .569    4.0   55     3    
SEA     54  50 .519    9.0   47     7    
OAK     44  59 .427   18.5   47    -3    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     59  43 .578    0.0   58     1    
FLA     54  50 .519    6.0   51     3    
ATL     53  51 .510    7.0   55    -2    
NYN     50  53 .485    9.5   49     1    
WAS     32  72 .308   28.0   41    -9    
National League Central     
STL     58  49 .542    0.0   58     0    
CHN     55  47 .539    0.5   55     0    
HOU     51  53 .490    5.5   47     4    
MIL     51  53 .490    5.5   49     2    
CIN     45  58 .437   11.0   42     3    
PIT     45  58 .437   11.0   49    -4    
National League West        
LAN     64  40 .615    0.0   62     2    
COL     57  47 .548    7.0   57     0    
SF      57  47 .548    7.0   56     1    
ARI     45  59 .433   19.0   49    -4    
SD      43  62 .410   21.5   39     4    

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
DET AAA Scott Sizemore.... 5  3  0  0  2  0  0  
TOR AAA Travis Snider..... 3  2  1  0  1  1  0  
CHC AA  Tyler Colvin...... 3  3  1  0  1  0  0  
PIT AA  Pedro Alvarez..... 1  1  0  0  1  4  0  
OAK AA  Chris Carter...... 2  2  0  1  1  1  0  3 R
KC  AAA Jordan Parraz..... 4  3  2  0  0  0  0  
HOU A+  Jack Shuck........ 5  3  1  1  0  0  0  
CHC AAA Darwin Barney..... 6  2  2  0  0  0  2  
DET AAA Wilkin Ramirez.... 5  2  1  0  0  1  2  
DET AA  Casper Wells...... 2  1  0  0  1  2  1  
CLE AA  Beau Mills........ 5  4  1  0  0  0  0  
TOR AA  Bradley Emaus..... 3  2  0  0  1  1  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
PHI A   Trevor May........ 7  5  3  3  9  2  0  
TEX A   Wilmer Font....... 5  2  2  2  8  2  0  
ATL A   Randall Delgado... 6  6  3  2  7  0  0  
TOR A   H. Alvarez........ 5  8  1  1  7  0  0  
MIL AAA Christopher Cody.. 7  5  2  2  6  1  1  
LAA A   Tyler Chatwood.... 5  2  0  0  5  2  0  
PIT A   Brett Lorin....... 6  4  1  1  3  1  0  
ATL A+  Richard Sullivan.. 6  9  5  3  6  2  0  12 GB
PIT AA  Tim Alderson...... 6  7  2  1  4  1  0  11 GB
HOU A   Brad Dydalewicz... 6  4  1  0  3  2  0  13 GB
BOS A   Stolmy Pimentel... 5  5  2  2  3  1  0  
CIN AAA Matthew Maloney... 8  7  3  3  5  1  2

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Pick A TeamARIATLBALBOSCHACHNCINCLECOLDETFLAHOUKCLAALANMILMINNYANYNOAKPHIPITSDSEASFSTLTBTEXTORWAS