THT Daily: June 15

Major League News for June 15

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

Yesterday’s Results

American League
KC      4  LAA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     8  BOS     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Radke: 6 IP, 1 R; Morneau: 4 RBI
NYA     6  CLE     1    (Recap and Boxscore) R. Johnson: 6.3 IP, 6 K, 1 R
OAK     7  SEA     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Haren: 7 IP, 1 R, OAK has won 11 of 13
TB      5  DET     1    (Recap and Boxscore) 12 innings
TEX     8  CHA     0    (Recap and Boxscore) Padilla: 8 IP, 7 K, 0 R
TOR     6  BAL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
CIN     3  MIL     0    (Recap and Boxscore) 11 Innings; E. Ramirez: 8 IP, 10 K
COL    14  WAS     8    (Recap and Boxscore) COL has scored more runs on road
FLA     6  ATL     5    (Recap and Boxscore) 10 innings, Helms: 2 HR
HOU     5  CHN     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Oswalt beats Maddux
NYN     9  PHI     3    (Recap and Boxscore) NYN: 6 2B, 2 3B, 7 straight W
PIT     9  STL     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      5  LAN     3    (Recap and Boxscore) The NL West is VERY crowded.
SF     11  ARI     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Bonds: 717 HR

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates, 12:35 PM
  (L) Mark Mulder (5-4) vs. (R) Victor Santos (4-6)
 New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, 1:05 PM
  (R) Steve Trachsel (3-4) vs. (R) Cory Lidle (4-5)
 Colorado Rockies at Washington Nationals, 1:05 PM
  (R) Jason Jennings (4-6) vs. (R) Livan Hernandez (5-6)
 Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM
  (R) Fernando Nieve (2-3) vs. (R) Carlos Zambrano (5-3)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres, 3:35 PM
  (R) Chad Billingsley (0-0) vs. (R) Chris Young (6-3)
 San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks, 6:40 PM
  (R) Matt Morris (3-7) vs. (R) Miguel Batista (6-3)
 Atlanta Braves at Florida Marlins, 7:05 PM
  (R) Jorge Sosa (1-8) vs. (R) Ricky Nolasco (4-3)

American League
 ---------------
 Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays, 12:37 PM
  (R) Daniel Cabrera (4-2) vs. (L) Ted Lilly (5-7)
 Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM
  (L) Cliff Lee (4-5) vs. (R) Mike Mussina (8-2)
 Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM
  (L) Casey Fossum (2-2) vs. (R) Zach Miner (1-1)
 Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics, 3:35 PM
  (L) Jarrod Washburn (4-7) vs. (R) Esteban Loaiza (1-3)
 Chicago White Sox at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (L) Mark Buehrle (6-4) vs. (L) John Rheinecker (2-0)
 Boston Red Sox at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM
  (R) Tim Wakefield (4-7) vs. (R) Carlos Silva (2-8)
 Kansas City Royals at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (R) Mike Wood (3-2) vs. (R) John Lackey (4-4)

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 gray bars represent games decided by two runs or less. Other team graphs and stats can be found on our Team Page.

American League East
NYA     37  26 .587  0.0    
BOS     36  27 .571  1.0    
TOR     36  29 .554  2.0    
BAL     30  37 .448  9.0    
TB      27  39 .409 11.5    
American League Central
DET     42  24 .636  0.0    
CHA     40  25 .615  1.5    
MIN     30  34 .469 11.0    
CLE     30  34 .469 11.0    
KC      17  47 .266 24.0    
American League West
TEX     35  31 .530  0.0    
OAK     34  31 .523  0.5    
SEA     31  36 .463  4.5    
LAA     29  36 .446  5.5    

National League East
NYN     41  23 .641  0.0    
PHI     33  32 .508  8.5    
ATL     30  36 .455 12.0    
WAS     30  37 .448 12.5    
FLA     25  37 .403 15.0    
National League Central
STL     38  26 .594  0.0    
CIN     37  29 .561  2.0    
HOU     34  32 .515  5.0    
MIL     32  35 .478  7.5    
CHN     26  38 .406 12.0    
PIT     26  40 .394 13.0    
National League West
LAN     35  30 .538  0.0    
ARI     35  30 .538  0.0    
SD      34  31 .523  1.0    
SF      33  32 .508  2.0    
COL     33  32 .508  2.0    

Game of the Day

Oakland’s cylinders are all clicking. The A’s have won 11 of 13 on good hitting , fielding and pitching and the A’s are now only half a game behind Texas. The bullpen has been outstanding, and Frank Thomas has a 1.113 OPS in June, though he strained a right quad during the game and could be out a while. (Hat tip to Athletics’ Nation and Baseball Musings)

SEATTLE (2) VS OAKLAND (7) - FINAL

SEATTLE                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
I Suzuki rf             3  1  2  0   1  0   0  .367
A Beltre 3b             4  0  1  0   0  0   2  .234
J Lopez 2b              4  0  2  1   0  1   1  .280
R Ibanez lf             4  0  0  0   0  1   4  .274
R Sexson 1b             2  0  0  0   2  1   1  .202
C Everett dh            4  0  1  0   0  0   2  .243
K Johjima c             4  0  0  0   0  1   3  .267
J Reed cf               2  0  0  0   0  0   1  .228
 a-W Bloomquist ph-cf   2  0  0  0   0  0   1  .263
Y Betancourt ss         3  1  1  0   0  1   1  .288

Totals                 32  2  7  1   3  5  16

a-fouled out to first for J Reed in the 8th.

BATTING: RBI - J Lopez (51). 2-out RBI - J Lopez. Runners left in scoring 
position, 2 out - R Ibanez 1, R Sexson 1. GIDP - R Ibanez, K Johjima. Team LOB 
- 6. 
 
FIELDING: E - A Beltre (10, ground ball). DP: 1 (A Beltre-J Lopez-R Sexson). 

OAKLAND                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
M Kotsay cf             5  0  2  1   0  0   1  .274
N Swisher lf            3  1  0  0   1  0   1  .294
E Chavez 3b             3  2  1  0   1  1   0  .265
F Thomas dh             1  1  1  1   0  0   0  .239
 M Bradley pr-dh        1  0  0  0   1  0   0  .213
B Crosby ss             3  0  0  0   1  1   4  .250
D Johnson 1b            3  1  1  1   0  1   4  .230
B Kielty rf             4  2  2  2   0  0   2  .280
J Kendall c             4  0  2  2   0  0   2  .268
M Scutaro 2b            4  0  0  0   0  0   3  .196

Totals                 31  7  9  7   4  3  17

BATTING: 2B - J Kendall (8, J Pineiro); D Johnson (7, J Pineiro); B Kielty (6, 
J Pineiro). SF - D Johnson. RBI - J Kendall 2 (21), F Thomas (39), B Kielty 2 
(7), M Kotsay (24), D Johnson (16). 2-out RBI - J Kendall 2, F Thomas, M 
Kotsay, B Kielty. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Scutaro 1, J 
Kendall 1. GIDP - N Swisher. Team LOB - 6. 
 
BASERUNNING: CS - M Kotsay (2, 2nd base by J Pineiro/K Johjima). 
 
FIELDING: DP: 2 (M Scutaro-B Crosby-D Johnson, M Scutaro-D Johnson). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    SEATTLE         - 100 000 010   --   2
    OAKLAND         - 021 220 00x   --   7
----------------------------------------------------

SEATTLE                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Pineiro (L, 5-7)            4       6   7   5   2   0   0   5.42
J Woods                       4       3   0   0   2   3   0   4.91

OAKLAND                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
D Haren (W, 6-5)              7       4   1   1   2   4   0   3.44
B Halsey                      1       3   1   1   0   0   0   4.19
C Gaudin                      1       0   0   0   1   1   0   4.43

J Pineiro pitched to 2 batters in the 5th.

HBP - F Thomas (by J Pineiro). Pitches-strikes: J Pineiro 81-46; J Woods 
59-33; D Haren 104-67; B Halsey 17-12; C Gaudin 17-9. Ground balls-fly balls: J 
Pineiro 7-4; J Woods 4-5; D Haren 8-9; B Halsey 1-2; C Gaudin 0-2. Batters 
faced: J Pineiro 21; J Woods 16; D Haren 25; B Halsey 6; C Gaudin 4. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Jerry Meals. 1B--Andy Fletcher. 2B--Mike Reilly. 3B--Jeff 
Kellogg. 

T--2:26. Att--20,550. 
Weather: 65 degrees, overcast. Wind: 17 mph, in from left.

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 #
Kemp, Matt          LAD  Linebrink, Scott   SD       444       448       7
Damon, Johnny       NYY  Johnson, Jason     CLE      407       442       9
Helms, Wes          FLA  Ray, Ken           ATL      425       439       4
Francoeur, Jeff     ATL  Willis, Dontrelle  FLA      411       425      14
Dunn, Adam          CIN  Kolb, Dan          MIL      456       423      23
Grudzielanek, Mark  KC   Escobar, Kelvim    LAA      407       421       3
Rolen, Scott        STL  Capps, Matt        PIT      417       419       8
Green, Shawn        ARI  Cain, Matt         SF       431       418       5
Kubel, Jason        MIN  Clement, Matt      BOS      422       416       4
Giles, Marcus       ATL  Willis, Dontrelle  FLA      390       415       4
Blalock, Hank       TEX  Vazquez, Javier    CWS      417       414      10
Phillips, Andy      NYY  Johnson, Jason     CLE      405       406       5
Catalanotto, Frank  TOR  Lopez, Rodrigo     BAL      399       403       5
Matthews, Gary      TEX  Vazquez, Javier    CWS      390       403       6
Bellhorn, Mark      SD   Penny, Brad        LAD      391       402       5
Aybar, Willy        LAD  Thompson, Mike     SD       402       391       3
Wright, David       NYM  Myers, Brett       PHI      397       389      13
Castillo, Jose      PIT  Thompson, Brad     STL      397       388      10
Wells, Vernon       TOR  Lopez, Rodrigo     BAL      404       386      17
Quinlan, Robb       LAA  Redman, Mark       KC       399       386       1
Rios, Alex          TOR  Lopez, Rodrigo     BAL      394       382      15
Finley, Steve       SF   Vargas, Claudio    ARI      391       381       3
Atkins, Garrett     COL  Armas, Tony        WAS      382       373       9
Rollins, Jimmy      PHI  Hernandez, Orlando NYM      376       373       9
Helton, Todd        COL  Cordero, Chad      WAS      373       371       6
Crisp, Coco         BOS  Radke, Brad        MIN      372       367       2
Bonds, Barry        SF   Valverde, Jose     ARI      368       359       9
Helms, Wes          FLA  Thomson, John      ATL      360       357       3
Morneau, Justin     MIN  Delcarmen, Manny   BOS      358       353      15
Carroll, Jamey      COL  Bray, Bill         WAS      353       347       3

Top Minor League Games

First Inning is a cutting-edge minor league website that tracks the individual play of every minor leaguer. The site includes historical and current stats, splits, scouting reports, game logs, major league projections and player news, and I’ve probably forgotten a few things. 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 AAA Scott Hairston     LF  4  3  0  0  1  2  0  4 runs scored
ATL A+  Matt Young         CF  3  3  1  1  0  0  0   
CLE A   John Drennen       CF  4  4  1  0  0  1  0   
COL A+  Neil Wilson        DH  5  4  1  1  0  0  1  .52 OBP during past week
FLA A   Trent D'Antonio     C  4  4  1  0  0  0  0   
HOU AAA Luke Scott         LF  5  4  0  1  1  0  0  .559 OBP during past week
LAA A+  Sean Rodriguez     SS  5  4  1  0  1  0  1  .529 OBP during past week
NYY AA  Gabe Lopez         2B  4  4  0  1  0  0  0   
SD  AAA Paul McAnulty      3B  5  5  0  0  1  0  0  .524 OBP during past week
SEA AAA Shin-Soo Choo      RF  4  3  1  0  1  0  0  .548 OBP during past week
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
CLE AA  Dan Denham         5.0  0  0  0  7  0  0   
COL AA  Ubaldo Jimenez     6.0  1  0  0  6  3  0  1.23 ERA over past month
FLA AA  Anibal Sanchez     6.0  4  0  0  10  3  0   
MIL AA  Tim Dillard        7.0  2  0  0  4  4  0   
OAK AA  David Bradley      7.1  5  1  1  8  0  1   
PHI AAA Adam Bernero       9.0  4  2  2  3  2  0   
PIT AAA Tom Gorzelanny     7.0  2  0  0  10  1  0   
SEA AA  Ryan Feierabend    6.2  5  0  0  10  0  0   
STL A+  Mitchell Boggs     9.0  1  0  0  11  0  0   

THT’s Stats

It’s the stat that Moneyball made famous. On Base Percentage (OBP) is important for two reasons: One, because getting on base generally leads to runs. Two, when you get on base you don’t make an out. Arguably, the second reason is more important than the first. Here’s a list of the top non-out makers this year; all batters with an OBP of at least .400.

Last         First    Team       OBP
Abreu        Bobby    PHI       .454
Hafner       Travis   CLE       .452
Giambi       Jason    NYA       .450
Pujols       Albert   STL       .442
Mauer        Joe      MIN       .442
Bay          Jason    PIT       .436
Youkilis     Kevin E  BOS       .435
Ramirez      Manny    BOS       .432
Johnson      Nick     WAS       .431
Rolen        Scott    STL       .431
Cabrera      Miguel   FLA       .430
Jeter        Derek    NYA       .428
Nixon        Trot     BOS       .427
Posada       Jorge    NYA       .419
Suzuki       Ichiro   SEA       .416
Thome        Jim      CHA       .415
Vizquel      Omar     SF        .413
Beltran      Carlos   NYN       .412
Helton       Todd     COL       .408
Wright       David A  NYN       .406
Hatteberg    Scott    CIN       .403
Renteria     Edgar    ATL       .401
Atkins       Garrett  COL       .401

Access all of THT’s stats here…