THT Daily: Cringe Inducing

Major League News for August 14

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
Torii Hunter was scratched from a rehab appearance Thursday night after coming down with flu-like symptoms.
Hunter was hoping to be activated Saturday, but this illness could push his return to next week. The outfielder will be examined Friday by team physician Craig Milhouse. He’s been out since July 10 with a strained right groin.

Jake Peavy hurled three shutout innings for Triple-A Charlotte Thursday.
Peavy gave up one hit, one walk and whiffed five. He threw 26 of 43 pitches for strikes and opened up the game by striking out the side against Triple-A Pawtucket. It was quite the encouraging start. He will pitch again Tuesday, followed by one more start before being activated. He’s on schedule to start Aug. 28 vs. New York at Yankee Stadium.

Mariners placed 3B Adrian Beltre on the 15-day disabled list with an injured testicle.
Cue the laugh track. Beltre, who doesn’t wear a protective cup, had a ball clip him in the groin during Wednesday’s game. There was some tearing and internal bleeding. The team is waiting to see if he will require surgery. With surgery, he would be out a month. Without, roughly two weeks. Beltre’s certainly been snake-bit in his free agent season.

Chris Getz will be placed on the disabled list with an oblique injury, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Brent Lillibridge would be promoted to fill the roster spot, according to the Times. Jayson Nix would become the starting second baseman, making him a pickup in AL-only leagues. The official move is expected to be announced on either Thursday night or Friday morning.

Brewers manager Doug Melvin does not anticipate a trade for Doug Davis.
The Brewers put a waiver claim on Davis Wednesday and the two sides have until tomorrow to consummate a trade. Melvin, who wouldn’t confirm the report, did say he has spoken with Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes. Is Byrnes asking for too much for Davis? “I’m not saying that,” Melvin said. “He’s asking for what I would probably ask for if we had the same thing. I’m not going to accuse them of asking too much. Teams want to keep their own guys, and Davis has an attachment there because he lives [in the Phoenix area]. It’s not that we haven’t tried.” Davis is owed about $3 million for the rest of the season and then is expected to be a Type B free agent.

Ted Lilly (knee, shoulder) said he is ready to return to the Cubs’ rotation on Monday.
He pitched five shutout innings in a rehab start for Single-A Peoria on Wednesday and reported no problems. “From a health standpoint, I feel really good and I think it was definitely the right decision for me to go down there and pitch in a real game where there is some adrenaline,” Lilly said. He will face the Padres on Monday and is therefore a recommended fantasy option right out of the gate.

Aaron Cook (toe) is scheduled to start Saturday against the Marlins after throwing a successful bullpen session Thursday.
“It feels fine. I will be ready,” Cook said. Cook was scratched from his last scheduled start with a case of turf toe.

Anibal Sanchez told the Knoxville News that his shoulder feels good and he is ready to rejoin the Marlins.
“I’m ready,” he said. “I would like to go to the team. I’m healthy and ready to stay there. It’s the last month and a half of the season and I want to help my team make the playoffs.” The Marlins have him scheduled for one more rehab appearance but it’s obvious that Sanchez would rather be promoted immediately. Sanchez has pitched well recently in his rehab stint.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
DET     2  BOS     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     4  CLE     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      5  MIN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA    11  SEA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
FLA     9  HOU     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     6  CHN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     7  WAS     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL    12  SD      9    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL    10  PIT     1    (Recap and Boxscore)

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

Today’s Games

Royals (45-69) @ Tigers (60-54), 7:05pm
Zack Greinke (25, RHP) vs. Jarrod Washburn (34, LHP)
Angels (68-44) @ Orioles (47-67), 7:05pm
Jered Weaver (26, RHP) vs. Chris Tillman (21, RHP)
Blue Jays (54-59) @ Rays (61-53), 7:38pm
Roy Halladay (32, RHP) vs. James Shields (27, RHP)
RedSox (65-49) @ Rangers (64-49), 8:05pm
Jon Lester (25, LHP) vs. Kevin Millwood (34, RHP)
Indians (49-65) @ Twins (55-59), 8:10pm
Justin Masterson (24, RHP) vs. Scott Baker (27, RHP)
WhiteSox (58-57) @ Athletics (51-63), 10:05pm
Jose Contreras (37, RHP) vs. Brett Anderson (21, LHP)
Yankees (72-43) @ Mariners (60-55), 10:10pm
Andy Pettitte (37, LHP) vs. Ryan Rowland-Smith (26, LHP)
Pirates (46-68) @ Cubs (58-55), 2:20pm
Charlie Morton (25, RHP) vs. Randy Wells (26, RHP)
Nationals (40-75) @ Reds (50-64), 7:10pm
Garrett Mock (26, RHP) vs. Aaron Harang (31, RHP)
Giants (62-52) @ Mets (53-61), 7:10pm
Barry Zito (31, LHP) vs. Bobby Parnell (24, RHP)
Rockies (64-51) @ Marlins (61-54), 7:10pm
Jason Hammel (26, RHP) vs. Josh Johnson (25, RHP)
Phillies (64-48) @ Braves (60-54), 7:30pm
Joe Blanton (28, RHP) vs. Jair Jurrjens (23, RHP)
Astros (56-59) @ Brewers (56-58), 8:05pm
Wandy Rodriguez (30, LHP) vs. Yovani Gallardo (23, RHP)
Padres (49-67) @ Cardinals (64-52), 8:15pm
Mat Latos (21, RHP) vs. Adam Wainwright (27, RHP)
Dodgers (69-46) @ D’backs (52-63), 9:40pm
Clayton Kershaw (21, LHP) vs. Danny Haren (28, RHP)

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     72  43 .626    0.0   67     5    
BOS     65  49 .570    6.5   65     0    
TB      61  53 .535   10.5   64    -3    
TOR     54  59 .478   17.0   61    -7    
BAL     47  67 .412   24.5   49    -2    
American League Central     
DET     60  54 .526    0.0   58     2    
CHA     58  57 .504    2.5   58     0    
MIN     55  59 .482    5.0   58    -3    
CLE     49  65 .430   11.0   55    -6    
KC      45  69 .395   15.0   45     0    
American League West        
LAA     68  44 .607    0.0   63     5    
TEX     64  49 .566    4.5   62     2    
SEA     60  55 .522    9.5   52     8    
OAK     51  63 .447   18.0   54    -3    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     64  48 .571    0.0   63     1    
FLA     61  54 .530    4.5   57     4    
ATL     60  54 .526    5.0   62    -2    
NYN     53  61 .465   12.0   53     0    
WAS     40  75 .348   25.5   47    -7    
National League Central     
STL     64  52 .552    0.0   63     1    
CHN     58  55 .513    4.5   57     1    
MIL     56  58 .491    7.0   54     2    
HOU     56  59 .487    7.5   51     5    
CIN     50  64 .439   13.0   48     2    
PIT     46  68 .404   17.0   51    -5    
National League West        
LAN     69  46 .600    0.0   69     0    
COL     64  51 .557    5.0   65    -1    
SF      62  52 .544    6.5   60     2    
ARI     52  63 .452   17.0   55    -3    
SD      49  67 .422   20.5   44     5    


Wildcard Standings
American League             
BOS     65  49 .570    0.0
TEX     64  49 .566    0.5
TB      61  53 .535    4.0
SEA     60  55 .522    5.5
CHA     58  57 .504    7.5
National League             
COL     64  51 .557    0.0
SF      62  52 .544    1.5
FLA     61  54 .530    3.0
ATL     60  54 .526    3.5
CHN     58  55 .513    5.0

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
PIT AA  Pedro Alvarez..... 4  3  2  0  0  2  1  3 LD
ATL A   Adam Milligan..... 7  4  0  1  1  0  0  5 RBI !
PIT A   Tony Sanchez...... 5  3  1  0  1  0  0  3 R
CHC A-  Hak-Ju Lee........ 4  2  1  0  1  1  2  
BAL A+  Brandon Waring.... 4  3  2  0  0  0  0  
SD  A   A. Cumberland..... 2  1  1  0  0  3  0  
COL A-  Kent Matthes...... 4  2  1  0  1  0  0  
BOS A-  R. Westmoreland... 4  2  1  0  0  1  0  2 SB
PIT AAA Jeff Clement...... 4  3  1  0  0  1  0  3 LD
PIT AAA Neil Walker....... 4  3  0  0  1  0  1  
COL AA  Darin Holcomb..... 5  3  0  0  1  0  0  3 R
CHW AA  C.J. Retherford... 5  2  2  0  0  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
ATL A   Randall Delgado... 5  4  1  1  9  1  0  
TB  A   Matthew Moore..... 5  4  1  1  9  1  0  
CLE AAA Hector Rondon..... 7  7  4  1  7  1  0  
ATL AA  Scott Diamond..... 7  6  1  0  7  2  0  
MIN A+  David Bromberg.... 6  6  4  4  7  2  0  
TB  A-  Kyle Lobstein..... 7  4  0  0  4  2  0  13 GB
PHI AA  Yohan Flande...... 6  4  2  2  5  2  0  
NYY AA  Z. McAllister..... 5  3  0  0  3  0  0  
NYY AAA Mark Melancon..... 3  1  0  0  3  0  0  
SF  AA  M. Bumgarner...... 6  4  2  1  2  1  0  12 GB
CLE AA  Eric Berger....... 6  2  2  2  4  3  1  
CHW AAA Carlos Torres..... 4  5  3  3  4  2  0  8 GB

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

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