THT Daily: Four Wild Pitches

Major League News for July 26

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    12  SEA     3    (Recap and Boxscore) McDonald: GS HR, 5 RBI; Halladay: 7 IP, 3 R
NYA     7  TEX     4    (Recap and Boxscore) NYA: 7 R on 4 H; Mussina: 6 IP, 3 R
TB      6  LAA     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Wigginton: 2B, HR, 4 RBI; Shields: 6.1 IP, 2 R
BOS    13  OAK     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     4  CHA     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Santana: 7 IP, 3 R; Bartlett: 3-R HR
KC      7  BAL     5    (Recap and Boxscore) Teahen: 2 HR, 5 RBI; Tejada: 4-4
CLE    12  DET     7    (Recap and Boxscore) Rogers: .2 IP, 7 R

National League
WAS     8  SF      6    (Recap and Boxscore) WAS: 8 R on 8 1B, 1 2B; Durham: 2 HR
SD      7  LAN     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Gonzalez: 2 2B, 3 RBI
STL     1  COL     0    (Recap and Boxscore) See below
PIT     6  MIL     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Burnitz: 2 HR, Snell: 7 IP, 1 R; Sheets: 7 IP, 1 R
ARI     6  PHI     5    (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings; Utley: 2 HR; Madson: 4 WP
CHN     8  NYN     6    (Recap and Boxscore) Zambrano: 11th W, 4th HR
CIN     2  HOU     0    (Recap and Boxscore) Harang (8 IP, 0 R) over Clemens (7 IP, 2 R)
FLA     2  ATL     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Ross: 2 HR; Sanchez: 7 IP, 1 R

Today’s Games

Visitors                         Home                                Time
DET - Verlander J. (12-4, 2.77)  CLE - Sabathia C.* (7-6, 3.73)     12:05
CHC - Prior M. (0-4, 8.14)       NYM - Maine J. (1-3, 3.12)         12:10
LAA - Colon B. (1-5, 4.55)       TB - Fossum C.* (4-3, 4.84)        12:15
MIN - Silva C. (5-9, 6.91)       CWS - Buehrle M.* (9-8, 4.53)       2:05
PIT - Maholm P.* (3-9, 5.02)     MIL - Capuano C.* (10-5, 3.49)      2:05
STL - Suppan J. (7-5, 5.17)      COL - Cook A. (6-8, 3.80)           3:05
SD - Peavy J. (4-10, 5.15)       LAD - Penny B. (10-4, 3.23)         3:10
BOS - Snyder K. (2-1, 7.02)      OAK - Haren D. (6-9, 4.02)          3:35
ARI - Webb B. (11-3, 2.51)       PHI - Lieber J. (3-7, 5.55)         7:05
SF - Lowry N.* (5-6, 4.45)       WAS - Astacio P. (1-1, 5.75)        7:05
FLA - Johnson J. (8-5, 2.49)     ATL - Smoltz J. (7-5, 3.43)         7:35
NYY - Wright J. (6-6, 4.71)      TEX - Rheinecker J.* (4-4, 5.13)    8:05
CIN - Arroyo B. (9-6, 2.92)      HOU - Pettitte A.* (8-10, 5.08)     8:05
BAL - Loewen A.* (0-2, 7.09)     KC - Gobble J.* (3-3, 4.88)         8:10
TOR - Burnett A. (2-3, 3.99)     SEA - Moyer J.* (5-9, 4.10)        10:05

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
BOS     61  38 .616    0.0   57      4      
NYA     58  40 .592    2.5   57      1      
TOR     56  44 .560    5.5   56      0      
BAL     45  56 .446   17.0   43      2      
TB      42  59 .416   20.0   41      1      
American League Central
DET     67  33 .670    0.0   63      4      
CHA     59  40 .596    7.5   57      2      
MIN     58  41 .586    8.5   55      3      
CLE     44  55 .444   22.5   53     -9      
KC      35  64 .354   31.5   37     -2      
American League West
OAK     51  49 .510    0.0   49      2      
LAA     51  49 .510    0.0   50      1      
TEX     51  50 .505    0.5   52     -1      
SEA     48  52 .480    3.0   50     -2      

National League East         Pwins Diff
NYN     59  41 .590    0.0   57      2      
ATL     47  52 .475   11.5   52     -5      
FLA     46  52 .469   12.0   48     -2      
PHI     44  53 .454   13.5   45     -1      
WAS     44  56 .440   15.0   45     -1      
National League Central
STL     57  42 .576    0.0   51      6      
CIN     53  47 .530    4.5   49      4      
MIL     48  53 .475   10.0   44      4      
HOU     47  53 .470   10.5   47      0      
CHN     39  60 .394   18.0   40     -1      
PIT     36  66 .353   22.5   44     -8      
National League West
SD      53  47 .530    0.0   51      2      
ARI     51  48 .515    1.5   49      2      
SF      51  49 .510    2.0   51      0      
COL     47  52 .475    5.5   51     -4      
LAN     47  54 .465    6.5   51     -4      

Game of the Day

There was another pitching duel in Colorado; the Cardinals beat the Rockies 1-0 yesterday, behind Chris Carpenter and a solo home run by Albert Pujols. Jason Jennings took the complete-game loss.

It was the 10th shutout in 46 games in Colorado this season (22 percent). From 1993-2005 there were only 38 shutouts in 1020 games played in Denver (4 percent). The game was only the fourth 1-0 game played in Colorado, and only the second in which the only run scored via a homer.

ST LOUIS (1) VS COLORADO (0) - FINAL

ST LOUIS               ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
D Eckstein ss           4  0  1  0   0  2   0  .302
S Taguchi lf            4  0  1  0   0  0   0  .280
A Pujols 1b             4  1  1  1   0  0   2  .327
S Rolen 3b              3  0  0  0   1  0   0  .320
J Encarnacion rf        3  0  1  0   0  0   3  .284
J Edmonds cf            3  0  0  0   0  1   0  .253
Y Molina c              3  0  0  0   0  0   0  .218
A Miles 2b              2  0  0  0   1  0   0  .261
C Carpenter p           3  0  0  0   0  1   1  .075
 R Flores p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 J Isringhausen p       0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000

Totals                 29  1  4  1   2  4   6

BATTING: HR - A Pujols (33, 6th inning off J Jennings 0 on, 2 Out). RBI - A 
Pujols (86). 2-out RBI - A Pujols. GIDP - J Encarnacion. Team LOB - 3. 
 
BASERUNNING: CS - J Encarnacion (4, 2nd base by J Jennings/Y Torrealba). 
 
FIELDING: DP: 1 (Y Molina-A Miles). 

COLORADO               ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
J Carroll 2b            5  0  2  0   0  1   2  .320
C Barmes ss             4  0  1  0   0  0   3  .237
G Atkins 3b             3  0  0  0   1  0   2  .313
M Holliday lf           3  0  1  0   1  1   2  .321
T Helton 1b             4  0  0  0   0  0   3  .280
B Hawpe rf              3  0  2  0   1  1   1  .304
Y Torrealba c           3  0  0  0   0  2   4  .236
 a-J Smith ph           1  0  1  0   0  0   0  .278
C Freeman cf            4  0  1  0   0  1   4  .273
J Jennings p            3  0  0  0   0  0   2  .171
 b-J Piedra ph          0  0  0  0   1  0   0  .188
 C Sullivan pr          0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .278

Totals                 33  0  8  0   4  6  23

a-singled to left for Y Torrealba in the 9th;  b-walked for J Jennings in the 
9th.

BATTING: 2B - J Carroll (17, C Carpenter). S - C Barmes. Runners left in 
scoring position, 2 out - J Jennings 1, T Helton 1, C Freeman 1, C Barmes 1. 
Team LOB - 11. 
 
BASERUNNING: CS - B Hawpe (4, 2nd base by C Carpenter/Y Molina). 
 
FIELDING: DP: 1 (C Barmes-J Carroll-T Helton). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    ST LOUIS        - 000 001 000   --   1
    COLORADO        - 000 000 000   --   0
----------------------------------------------------

ST LOUIS                     ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
C Carpenter (W, 10-4)         7 1/3   7   0   0   3   4   0   2.68
R Flores (H, 15)                2/3   0   0   0   0   1   0   5.02
J Isringhausen (S, 28)        1       1   0   0   1   1   0   3.02

COLORADO                     ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Jennings (L, 6-9)           9       4   1   1   2   4   1   3.70

IBB - B Hawpe (by C Carpenter). Pitches-strikes: C Carpenter 112-67; R Flores 
7-5; J Isringhausen 24-14; J Jennings 105-69. Ground balls-fly balls: C 
Carpenter 9-8; R Flores 0-1; J Isringhausen 1-1; J Jennings 12-10. Batters 
faced: C Carpenter 31; R Flores 2; J Isringhausen 5; J Jennings 31. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Travis  Reininger. 1B--Brian Onora. 2B--Chuck Meriwether. 
3B--Phil Cuzzi. 

T--2:30. Att--31,673. 
Weather: 77 degrees, overcast. Wind: 15 mph, in from right.

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#
Thome, Jim        CWS     Santana, Johan     MIN          443       460      32
Crede, Joe        CWS     Santana, Johan     MIN          434       402      21
Beltran, Carlos   NYM     Zambrano, Carlos   CHC          432       423      28
Teahen, Mark      KC      Benson, Kris       BAL          428       406      10
Ramirez, Aramis   CHC     Glavine, Tom       NYM          427       406      23
Utley, Chase      PHI     Julio, Jorge       ARI          427       397      18
Durham, Ray       SF      Bowie, Micah       WAS          421       419      18
Ross, Cody        FLA     James, Chuck       ATL          421       402       7
Cameron, Mike     SD      Hendrickson, Mark  LAD          419       389      15
Nevin, Phil       CHC     Glavine, Tom       NYM          418       407      18
Utley, Chase      PHI     Batista, Miguel    ARI          416       388      17
Ramirez, Manny    BOS     Windsor, Jason     OAK          412       396      28
Durham, Ray       SF      Ortiz, Ramon       WAS          410       400      17
Terrero, Luis     BAL     Redman, Mark       KC           409       406       1
Inge, Brandon     DET     Byrd, Paul         CLE          407       401      20
Nixon, Trot       BOS     Windsor, Jason     OAK          403       404       7
Wigginton, Ty     TB      Santana, Ervin     LAA          403       402      17
Blake, Casey      CLE     Grilli, Jason      DET          401       391      12
Young, Dmitri     DET     Byrd, Paul         CLE          400       388       2
Lofton, Kenny     LAD     Park, Chan Ho      SD           397       375       1
Fielder, Prince   MIL     Snell, Ian         PIT          396       387      18
Alfonzo, Eliezer  SF      Ortiz, Ramon       WAS          394       399       7
Quentin, Carlos   ARI     Franklin, Ryan     PHI          394       363       3
Kubel, Jason      MIN     Contreras, Jose    CWS          393       357       8
Teahen, Mark      KC      Benson, Kris       BAL          392       364      11
Burnitz, Jeromy   PIT     Bush, Dave         MIL          388       372      14
Chavez, Endy      NYM     Zambrano, Carlos   CHC          387       380       2
Guiel, Aaron      NYY     Mahay, Ron         TEX          385       373       6
McDonald, John    TOR     Fruto, Emiliano    SEA          381       378       2
Burnitz, Jeromy   PIT     Sheets, Ben        MIL          380       370      13
Catalanotto, FrankTOR     Woods, Jake        SEA          374       371       7
Pujols, Albert    STL     Jennings, Jason    COL          371       356      31
Barajas, Rod      TEX     Mussina, Mike      NYY          370       361       9
Zambrano, Carlos  CHC     Glavine, Tom       NYM          357       355       4
Bartlett, Jason   MIN     Contreras, Jose    CWS          354       359       1
Ross, Cody        FLA     James, Chuck       ATL          352       332       8
Gonzalez, Luis    ARI     Cormier, Rheal     PHI          340       306       9

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 A+  Rusty Ryal         3B  4  4  1  0  1  0  0  Hitting .524 over last 21 at bats
BAL A+  Carlos Duran       LF  4  3  1  1  0  0  0   
BOS AA  Brandon Moss       RF  4  2  0  0  2  1  2  .519 OBP during past week
CLE A+  Rodney Choy Foo    DH  5  3  1  0  1  1  0  3 runs scored
COL A+  Justin Nelson      LF  3  2  0  1  1  2  0  3 runs scored
DET A   Michael Hernandez  DH  5  4  1  1  1  0  0  5 RBI
HOU A-  Tim Torres         SS  2  2  1  0  1  2  0  3 runs scored
MIL A+  Carlos Corporan     C  4  3  1  0  1  0  0  5 RBI
NYM A   Rafael Arroyo       C  4  3  1  0  0  0  1   
TOR A-  Scott Campbell     2B  5  4  3  0  0  1  0  4 runs scored
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
CHW A+  Carlos Torres      6.1  3  0  0  7  0  0  0.84 ERA over past month
DET A   Burke Badenhop     7.0  5  0  0  8  0  0   
MIL A+  Robert Hinton      5.0  2  0  0  6  1  0  29 K over last 21 IP
NYM AA  Miguel Perez       8.0  6  1  1  7  3  0   
NYY A-  Edgar Soto         7.0  1  1  0  5  0  0   
NYY AA  Tyler Clippard     8.0  5  1  1  2  2  0   
NYY A   Erick Abreu        6.0  2  0  0  1  2  0   
OAK A-  Andrew Bailey      6.0  1  0  0  8  0  0   
PHI A   Randy Wolf         5.0  0  0  0  5  1  0   

Player News

Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have added some help by acquiring pitcher Elmer Dessens from Kansas City. The Dodgers sent disgruntled lefty Odalis Perez to the Royals, along with about $8 million in cash to offset part of what’s left of Perez’s $7.25 million contract this season and his $7.75 million salary in 2007. The Dodgers also included two minor league pitchers in the deal, right-handers Blake Johnson and Julio Pimentel.

Phillies starter Ryan Madson tied the major league record with four wild pitches in one inning Tuesday night against Arizona. Madson allowed a leadoff double in the third inning to Luis Gonzalez, who scored after the right-hander threw two wild pitches. Chad Tracy followed with a single and also advanced two bases on two wild pitches, but was left stranded. Atlanta’s Phil Niekro was the last National League pitcher to throw four in one inning, with the knuckleballer doing it in the fifth inning of a 1979 game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Walter Johnson threw four in one inning for the Washington Nationals in 1914 and Anaheim’s Kevin Gregg was the last to do it in 2004.

Chase Utley had another two hits tonight, both home runs, to extend his hitting streak to 25 games. Utley has had two or more hits in 15 of the 25 games and has a batting average of .398 (43-for-108) during the streak.

Adam Eaton (finger) returned to the rotation for the Rangers on Tuesday after being activated from the 15-day disabled list earlier in the day. He made his season debut against the Yankees and was tagged for three earned runs, four walks and a hit in just 3 2/3 innings. “He was pretty good the first three innings, but he lost command in the fourth,” manager Buck Showalter said. “We got a good glimpse of what he’s capable of. He was pretty impressive the first three innings.”

Carlos Quentin talked like a modest rookie, saying he would do anything to help Arizona win. On Tuesday night, his contribution was the winning home run in extra innings. Quentin’s solo homer in the 11th gave Arizona a 6-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies and kept the Diamondbacks in the thick of the NL West race. “I just happened to put a good swing on it,” Quentin said. Quentin hit his third homer of the season leading off the inning against Ryan Franklin (1-5), the seventh Phillies pitcher.

Carlos Zambrano’s hitting has been almost as good as his pitching. Just imagine if he was swinging from his favorite side of the plate. Zambrano hit his fourth homer of the season and won his eighth straight decision, leading the Chicago Cubs to an 8-6 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday night. “The weird thing is, I’m a much better hitter lefty,” Zambrano said, adding that one of his homers this year came from that side. But he shies away from batting left-handed because he doesn’t want to expose his pitching arm and possibly let it get hit by a fastball.

Anibal Sanchez topped Florida’s rookie record for consecutive scoreless innings set by Willis in 2003 to lift the Marlins over the Atlanta Braves 2-1 Tuesday night. Sanchez (4-0) won his third straight start and gave Braves rookie Chuck James his first loss. Sanchez allowed one run and seven hits in seven innings. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter. Sanchez’s streak of 23 consecutive scoreless innings was snapped when Marcus Giles singled in a run in the sixth inning.

Cody Ross, another Florida rookie, hit two home runs in the 2-1 win over the Braves. Ross also had a two-homer game for the Dodgers earlier this season. Ross is the second rookie in major league history to have a multi-homer game for two different teams in the same season. Jose Cruz, Jr. had four multi-homer games in 1997, two for the Mariners and two for the Blue Jays. (Source: Elias)

Jeromy Burnitz hit a pair of home runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-1 Tuesday night to ruin Ben Sheets’ strong return from the disabled list. Sheets pitched seven innings, giving up only one run and retiring the final 14 batters he faced in his first appearance in nearly three months. Dave Bush (6-8) relieved him and allowed five runs in the eighth. Sheets’ outing still gave the Brewers plenty of reasons for hope, despite the loss. The right-hander, out since May 3 with tendinitis in his pitching shoulder, gave up six hits, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Aaron Harang outpitched Roger Clemens on Tuesday night and dominated the Houston Astros for the third time this season, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 2-0 victory. Clemens allowed seven hits and struck out four, but the Astros suffered their 11th shutout when he pitches since the start of last season. Houston has mustered two runs or fewer in four of Clemens’ seven starts this year.

The Kansas City Royals traded veteran infielder Tony Graffanino to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday for pitcher Jorge De La Rosa. The Royals recalled Nuñez from Triple-A Omaha.

The New York Post reports that Kris Wilson was designated for assignment on Monday. The team has 10 days to trade, release or assign to a minor-league team.

According to broadcast reports, Sammy Sosa is claiming that he is taking a break from baseball and that he’s not retired yet. He was also recently upset that MLB did not include him among the Cubs’ five hometown heroes, a recent promotion by the league.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Andy Marte has been working with Indians infield coach Robby Thompson on his defense. The Indians director of scouting John Mirabelli has followed Marte for several days after the All-Star break. General manager Mark Shapiro is at Triple-A Buffalo currently for three or four days evaluating when they should bring Marte up. The Indians will probably move Aaron Boone in a trade first, however.

Jeff Kent, sidelined since July 17 due to a strained muscle on his left side, isn’t expected to swing a bat for about another week.

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