THT Daily: HR Swings in Seattle

Major League News for July 24

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    13  NYA     5    (Recap and Boxscore) Wells: 2 HR, 4 RBI; Johnson: 4 RBI
CHA     5  TEX     0    (Recap and Boxscore) Garland: 8.1 IP, 0 R
BAL     4  TB      2    (Recap and Boxscore) Bedard: 7 IP, 2 R, 9 K; Kazmir: 7 IP, 2 R, 10 K
SEA     9  BOS     8    (Recap and Boxscore) See below
DET     8  OAK     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Robertson: 7 IP, 4 R; Guillen: 3-3, 2B, 3B
MIN     3  CLE     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Liriano: 10 K in 5 IP, 1 R; MIN P’s: 17 K
LAA     3  KC      1    (Recap and Boxscore) Weaver: 6.2 IP, 1 R

National League
SD      6  SF      5    (Recap and Boxscore) 12 innings
STL     6  LAN     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Marquis: 8 IP, 0 R; Encarnacion: 2 HR; STL sweep
FLA     5  PIT     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Uggla: 2B, HR, GW 1B in 9th
ATL     5  PHI     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Ramirez: 7 IP, 1 R; Myers: 8 IP, 3 R; ATL: 4 in 9th
HOU     8  NYN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     7  CHN     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Armas: 7 IP, 1 R; Soriano: HR, 2B
MIL     4  CIN     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Ohka: 8 IP, 1 R; MIL: 9 hits all singles
COL     9  ARI     7    (Recap and Boxscore) COL: 4 in 9th; No HR; Barmes: 4 for 5

Today’s Games

Visitors                          Home                               Time
DET - Bonderman J. (10-4, 3.53)   CLE - Lee C.* (9-7, 4.86)          7:05
ATL - Hudson T. (7-8, 4.95)       PHI - Hamels C.* (2-4, 5.36)       7:05
NYY - Johnson R.* (10-8, 4.88)    TEX - Millwood K. (10-5, 4.61)     7:05
CHC - Maddux G. (7-11, 4.56)      NYM - Trachsel S. (9-4, 4.68)      7:10
LAA - Lackey J. (8-6, 2.93)       TB - Seo J. (0-4, 4.56)            7:15
MIN - Radke B. (8-7, 4.83)        CWS - Vazquez J. (9-5, 5.20)       8:05
PIT - Duke Z.* (7-8, 5.19)        MIL - Davis D.* (5-6, 4.82)        8:05
STL - Reyes A. (2-3, 3.83)        COL - Francis J.* (7-8, 3.98)      9:05
BOS - Beckett J. (12-5, 4.78)     OAK - Zito B.* (10-6, 3.20)       10:05
TOR - Janssen C. (6-9, 4.77)      SEA - Pineiro J. (6-8, 5.79)      10:05
SD - Young C. (8-4, 3.59)         LAD - Lowe D. (7-7, 4.19)         10:10

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     59  38 .608    0.0   55      4      
NYA     56  40 .583    2.5   55      1      
TOR     55  43 .561    4.5   54      1      
BAL     45  55 .450   15.5   43      2      
TB      41  58 .414   19.0   40      1      
American League Central
DET     66  32 .673    0.0   63      3      
CHA     59  38 .608    6.5   57      2      
MIN     56  41 .577    9.5   53      3      
CLE     43  54 .443   22.5   52     -9      
KC      34  64 .347   32.0   37     -3      
American League West
OAK     51  47 .520    0.0   49      2      
TEX     51  48 .515    0.5   52     -1      
LAA     50  48 .510    1.0   49      1      
SEA     47  51 .480    4.0   49     -2      

National League East         Pwins Diff
NYN     59  39 .602    0.0   57      2      
ATL     46  51 .474   12.5   51     -5      
PHI     44  51 .463   13.5   44      0      
FLA     45  52 .464   13.5   47     -2      
WAS     43  56 .434   16.5   44     -1      
National League Central
STL     56  41 .577    0.0   51      5      
CIN     52  47 .525    5.0   48      4      
MIL     47  52 .475   10.0   43      4      
HOU     47  52 .475   10.0   47      0      
CHN     37  60 .381   19.0   38     -1      
PIT     35  65 .350   22.5   43     -8      
National League West
SD      51  47 .520    0.0   49      2      
SF      51  48 .515    0.5   50      1      
ARI     50  48 .510    1.0   49      1      
COL     46  51 .474    4.5   49     -3      
LAN     47  52 .475    4.5   51     -4      

Game of the Day

Richie Sexson hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth for a dramatic Seattle win, 9-8 over Boston. In the top of the ninth, Jason Varitek had tied the score with a home run off J.J. Putz, after Adrian Beltre had put Seattle ahead in the bottom of the eighth with the first inside-the-park home run ever at Safeco Field.

Sexson hit his game winner off Mike Timlin. It was the 20th time in his career that Timlin has been on the mound for a walk-off loss. Only three current pitchers have met that fate more often than he: Roberto Hernandez (30 times), Trevor Hoffman (23) and Mike Stanton (22). Other Elias note of trivia: Jon Lester started for the Sox after Kason Gabbard had made his big-league debut in that role yesterday. It was the first time in almost 25 years that Boston started rookie left-handed pitchers in consecutive games (since Bruce Hurst and Bob Ojeda in September 1981).

BOSTON (8) VS SEATTLE (9) - FINAL

BOSTON                 ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
K Youkilis 1b           3  2  2  0   2  0   0  .292
M Loretta 2b            4  2  2  1   1  0   3  .305
D Ortiz dh              5  2  3  2   0  2   1  .281
M Ramirez lf            4  0  1  2   0  1   3  .310
J Varitek c             5  1  2  3   0  1   2  .246
M Lowell 3b             5  0  0  0   0  0   2  .293
C Crisp cf              4  0  2  0   0  1   1  .260
G Kapler rf             4  0  0  0   0  1   2  .277
A Gonzalez ss           3  1  0  0   1  3   1  .276

Totals                 37  8 12  8   4  9  15

BATTING: 2B - C Crisp 2 (11, J Washburn 2); D Ortiz 2 (18, J Washburn 2); J 
Varitek (13, J Washburn). HR - J Varitek (11, 9th inning off J Putz 0 on, 2 
Out). SF - M Ramirez. RBI - D Ortiz 2 (94), M Ramirez 2 (73), J Varitek 3 (47), 
M Loretta (39). 2-out RBI - J Varitek 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 
out - M Loretta 1, G Kapler 1, M Lowell 1. GIDP - M Loretta. Team LOB - 7. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - C Crisp (11, 3rd base off J Washburn/K Johjima). 
 
SEATTLE                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
I Suzuki rf             5  1  1  0   0  0   3  .344
W Bloomquist 2b         3  1  1  0   2  1   0  .246
A Beltre 3b             5  2  2  3   0  1   5  .263
R Ibanez lf             5  1  2  0   0  2   0  .274
R Sexson 1b             5  2  2  1   0  2   3  .227
E Perez dh              3  1  1  3   0  1   2  .302
K Johjima c             3  1  2  1   0  0   0  .286
Y Betancourt ss         4  0  1  1   0  0   3  .302
A Jones cf              4  0  2  0   0  2   1  .259

Totals                 37  9 14  9   2  9  17

BATTING: 2B - A Beltre (26, J Lester); R Ibanez 2 (21, J Lester 2); K Johjima 
(17, M Delcarmen). HR - E Perez (9, 3rd inning off J Lester 1 on, 2 Out), A 
Beltre (8, 8th inning off M Timlin 0 on, 2 Out), R Sexson (20, 9th inning off M 
Timlin 0 on, 0 Out). SF - E Perez. RBI - A Beltre 3 (42), E Perez 3 (27), K 
Johjima (43), Y Betancourt (34), R Sexson (66). 2-out RBI - E Perez 2, K 
Johjima, Y Betancourt, A Beltre. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A 
Beltre 3, Y Betancourt 1. Team LOB - 8. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - A Jones (2, 2nd base off J Lester/J Varitek). 
 
FIELDING: E - A Jones (1, bobble). DP: 1 (A Beltre-W Bloomquist-R Sexson). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    BOSTON          - 003 013 001   --   8
    SEATTLE         - 302 000 211   --   9

No outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------

BOSTON                       ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Lester                      5       8   5   5   1   4   1   3.04
C Hansen (H, 5)               1       1   0   0   1   1   0   4.58
M Delcarmen (B, 3)            1       3   2   2   0   3   0   3.48
M Timlin (L, 5-1)             1       2   2   2   0   1   2   2.72

SEATTLE                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Washburn                    5 1/3   8   5   5   3   6   0   4.58
J Mateo (B, 3)                1 2/3   3   2   1   0   0   0   5.02
M Lowe                        1       0   0   0   1   1   0   0.00
J Putz (W, 2-0; B, 4)         1       1   1   1   0   2   1   2.47

J Lester pitched to 1 batter in the 6th.
M Timlin pitched to 1 batter in the 9th.

HBP - K Johjima (by J Lester). Pitches-strikes: J Lester 92-56; C Hansen 
21-13; M Delcarmen 26-17; M Timlin 18-13; J Washburn 105-69; J Mateo 21-18; M 
Lowe 14-7; J Putz 18-11. Ground balls-fly balls: J Lester 4-7; C Hansen 1-1; M 
Delcarmen 0-0; M Timlin 1-1; J Washburn 4-6; J Mateo 2-3; M Lowe 2-0; J Putz 
0-1. Batters faced: J Lester 25; C Hansen 5; M Delcarmen 6; M Timlin 5; J 
Washburn 27; J Mateo 8; M Lowe 3; J Putz 4. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Larry Poncino. 1B--Ed Hickox. 2B--Rob Drake. 3B--Gary Darling. 

T--3:18. Att--45,975. 
Weather: 77 degrees, sunny. Wind: 3 mph, out to 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 #
Wells, Vernon      TOR     Ponson, Sidney    NYY         441        440      25
Renteria, Edgar    ATL     Myers, Brett      PHI         428        429      11
Podsednik, Scott   CWS     Benoit, Joaquin   TEX         405        427       3
Posada, Jorge      NYY     Marcum, Shaun     TOR         424        423      12
Wells, Vernon      TOR     Chacon, Shawn     NYY         422        421      26
Lopez, Javy        BAL     Kazmir, Scott     TB          417        416       8
Piazza, Mike       SD      Wright, Jamey     SF          433        415      15
Kielty, Bobby      OAK     Robertson, Nate   DET         422        415       4
Glaus, Troy        TOR     Ponson, Sidney    NYY         415        414      26
Hermida, Jeremy    FLA     Capps, Matt       PIT         419        408       4
DaVanon, Jeff      ARI     Kim, Byung-Hyun   COL         418        405       5
Varitek, Jason     BOS     Putz, J.J.        SEA         416        405      11
Delgado, Carlos    NYM     Oswalt, Roy       HOU         414        405      25
Francoeur, Jeff    ATL     Gordon, Tom       PHI         400        404      19
Church, Ryan       WAS     Marmol, Carlos    CHC         416        396       5
Beltre, Adrian     SEA     Timlin, Mike      BOS         401        392       8
Soriano, Alfonso   WAS     Marmol, Carlos    CHC         414        390      31
Phillips, Brandon  CIN     Ohka, Tomo        MIL         409        385       8
Hinske, Eric       TOR     Wilson, Kris      NYY         384        384      10
Encarnacion, Juan  STL     Billingsley, Chad LAD         413        383      13
Scutaro, Marco     OAK     Robertson, Nate   DET         387        381       3
Sexson, Richie     SEA     Timlin, Mike      BOS         386        381      20
Encarnacion, Juan  STL     Billingsley, Chad LAD         410        375      14
Uggla, Dan         FLA     Gorzelanny, Tom   PIT         387        373      14
Perez, Eduardo     SEA     Lester, Jon       BOS         372        367       9
Iguchi, Tadahito   CWS     Padilla, Vicente  TEX         347        364      11
Sledge, Terrmel    SD      Benitez, Armando  SF          388        359       1
Johnson, Reed      TOR     Wilson, Kris      NYY         357        356       6

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
ATL A+  Kala Kaaihue       1B  3  2  1  0  1  1  0   
CIN A+  Cody Strait        RF  4  3  1  1  0  0  0  Hitting .52 over last 25 at bats
CLE A+  Jordan Brown       LF  2  2  1  0  1  1  0   
COL A+  Corey Wimberly     2B  3  3  0  0  0  2  0  3 runs scored
NYM A+  Alhaji Turay       LF  3  3  1  0  1  0  0   
NYY A+  Victor Hall        CF  5  4  0  1  0  0  0   
NYY A+  Hector Made        2B  3  3  1  0  0  0  0   
OAK A-  Matthew Sulentic   RF  5  4  1  0  0  0  0  .522 OBP during past week
PHI A+  J.J. Johnson       DH  2  2  1  0  1  1  0   
STL A   Jose Martinez      2B  3  3  1  0  0  1  0   
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
HOU A-  C. Salamida        5.0  2  0  0  5  1  0  0.74 ERA over past month
LA  MLB Chi-Hung Cheng     6.0  3  0  0  8  1  0   
NYY A+  Alan Horne         5.0  3  0  0  5  1  0   
OAK A-  TJ Franco Jr.      5.0  1  0  0  3  3  0   
PHI A-  Andrew Cruse       6.0  2  0  0  3  3  0   
SEA A   David Asher        7.0  2  1  1  2  2  1   
STL A+  Jaime Garcia       7.2  3  1  1  5  2  0   
STL A   Donnie Smith       6.0  4  0  0  1  0  0   
TB  A   Gregory Reinhard   7.0  3  0  0  9  2  0  38 K over last 31 IP

Player News

Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.

The Chicago White Sox acquired veteran catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. from the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor-league pitcher B.J. LaMura on Sunday after designating backup Chris Widger for assignment. The Dodgers are expected to activate Jason Repko (ankle) from the 60-day disabled list on Monday.

Jered Weaver became the first rookie in 25 years to win his first seven starts, pitching the Los Angeles Angels past the Kansas City Royals 3-1 Sunday. Weaver (7-0) allowed one run and three hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking four. The 23-year-old right-hander has a 1.15 ERA in 47 innings. The last pitcher to win his first seven major league starts was Fernando Valenzuela.

Joe Mauer went 2-for-2 as Minnesota’s designated hitter, raising his season average to .381. Mauer is batting .564 as a DH this year (22-for-39), collecting at least two hits in eight of his 11 games in that role. Only two players have posted a single-season batting average of .500 or better in that many at-bats as a designated hitter: Jim Dwyer (.538, 21-for-39 for the 1980 Red Sox) and Rico Carty (.500, 25-for-50 for the 1974 Indians). (Source: Elias)

The Astros avoided a sweep with a victory over the Mets in their series finale at Shea Stadium. Bizarre fact: Despite owning the National League’s best record, New York is the only team in the majors that hasn’t swept a home series of three-or-more games this season.

The Cardinals completed a sweep of their season series against the Dodgers and set a franchise record by homering in their 19th straight game. But that’s not even the longest current streak of its kind in the majors. Edgar Renteria and Jeff Francoeur homered in Atlanta’s victory at Philadelphia to extend the Braves’ home-run streak to 22 games (three games shy of the NL record set by Atlanta in 1998). (Source: Elias)

The Mets’ Paul Lo Duca said after Sunday’s game against the Astros that his left thumb is still bothering him and he might require surgery during the offseason. The team’s official website reports he has been playing with a wrap under his catcher’s mitt for the past week.

Mark Bellhorn has started four of the past five games at third base since the Padres discarded veteran Vinny Castilla on Wednesday. General manager Kevin Towers said he is cooling to the idea of adding a third baseman at the trading deadline, so that might be good news for Mark Bellhorn. “There’s not a lot out there [at third base]. I think our guys can get the job done.”

The Cubs’ official website is reporting Carlos Marmol suffered a bruised pitching hand in Sunday’s game at Washington during an at-bat. “We can’t lose any more guys here,” Baker said. “His hand is swollen. He couldn’t grip the fastball. He got that hit [in the third], and it jammed him pretty badly.”

Baltimore’s Russ Ortiz is out of the rotation and sent to the bullpen, so Hayden Penn or Daniel Cabrera could be brought up from Triple-A to start as the No. 5 during the weekend series vs. the Chicago White Sox. Bruce Chen is also an option.

Alfonso Soriano says he wants to stay with the Washington Nationals, but he doubts he’ll reach an agreement on a new contract before the July 31 trade deadline. “I don’t think so. I think that my agent and the club, they have to talk a lot,” Soriano said after homering in Washington’s 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.

The Nationals optioned IF/OF Melvin Dorta to Double-A Harrisburg. Dorta had his first career major league at-bat Saturday, appearing as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning Saturday.

The Indians recalled RHP Jason Davis from Triple-A Buffalo of the IL.

Royce Ring, 2-0 with a 1.99 ERA in 29 appearances, in Triple-A is the subject of trade rumors. “We’re very pleased with his pitching,” Mets GM Omar Minaya told the New York Post. “His name always comes up as a potential player to be brought up.”

The Reds called up LHP Brian Shackelford from Triple-A Louisville Sunday to take LHP Kent Mercker’s spot in the bullpen. Mercker went on the 15-day DL a day earlier with a sore elbow.

Rickie Weeks was hit by a pitch for the 19th time, most in the majors.

Tomo Ohka bounced two pitches way in front of the plate — one landed in the grass, the other in the dirt — and threw another that registered 58 mph on the ballpark’s radar gun. Everything else was amazingly good. In a sign that he has fully recovered from shoulder problems, Ohka allowed only three hits in eight innings Sunday, helping the struggling Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-1 to avoid a three-game sweep.

THT Stats

BABIP stands for Batting Average on Balls In Play. It’s the ratio of batted balls (not including home runs) that fall in for hits. As a general rule, players who hit line drives have higher BABIP’s, as you can see on the following list of batters with the highest BABIP’s in the majors. As a general rule, LD% plus .110 is a good proxy for BABIP.

Last         First     Team        LD%   BABIP
Mauer        Joe       MIN         27%    .409
Jeter        Derek     NYA         23%    .394
Sanchez      Freddy    PIT         29%    .375
Jones        Chipper   ATL         22%    .375
Granderson   Curtis    DET         24%    .373
Suzuki       Ichiro    SEA         21%    .372
Hawpe        Brad B    COL         22%    .372
Cabrera      Miguel    FLA         20%    .371
DeRosa       Mark      TEX         25%    .369
Matthews Jr. Gary      TEX         20%    .368
Sullivan     Cory      COL         33%    .368
Carroll      Jamey     COL         23%    .360
Holliday     Matt T    COL         21%    .359
Abreu        Bobby     PHI         26%    .358
Renteria     Edgar     ATL         24%    .358
Wright       David A   NYN         20%    .355
Weeks        Rickie    MIL         20%    .354
Freel        Ryan      CIN         23%    .354
Sizemore     Grady     CLE         20%    .352
Utley        Chase     PHI         20%    .350

Access all of THT’s stats here…