THT Daily: Junior Ends It in 14

Major League News for August 13

Player News
Yesterday’s Results
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
According to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Glen Perkins will avoid shoulder surgery after a second MRI showed no major damage.
Perkins’ first MRI came back inconclusive, so the Twins opted to give it another try. He was placed on the DL on Wednesday with left shoulder tendinitis after posting an 8.59 ERA and 11/9 K/BB ratio in his last seven starts. There’s a chance he could help the team in September.

Pinch-hitter Ken Griffey Jr. singled in Adrian Beltre in the bottom of the 14th to break a scoreless tie and give the Mariners a win over the White Sox on Wednesday.
It would have a two-run double under other circumstances, but he only needed to round first to end the game. Griffey very likely missed his calling while playing center field all of those years. He’s 20-for-78 with six homers as a pinch-hitter in his career, giving him a better OPS off the bench than he has in his starts. Plus, he probably wouldn’t have gotten hurt so much if given the Lenny Harris treatment.

Ubaldo Jimenez blanked the Pirates over eight innings in a 8-0 win on Wednesday night.
The hardest throwing starter in the majors held the Bucs to just three singles on the way to his 10th win. While he did walk four, he also struck out six. Jimenez now ranks seventh in the National League with 140 strikeouts in 158 1/3 innings. It was his first shutout performance since his first start of the season. He’s a solid start against the Nationals next week.

In his Phillies debut on Wednesday, Pedro Martinez allowed three runs over five innings in a 12-5 win over the Cubs.
A 30-pitch fifth inning ended his night, but Martinez pitched pretty well in his debut, scattering seven hits against five strikeouts and one walk. He tossed 64 of 99 pitches for strikes and topped out at 93 MPH on the radar gun. Making history, he passed Bob Gibson for 13th place on the all-time strikeout list by fanning Jake Fox in the first. While he looked uncomfortable at times in the stretch, all in all it was an impressive debut after a 10-month layoff. The 215-game winner toes the rubber against the Diamondbacks next week.

Doug Davis has been claimed on waivers by the Brewers, reports SI.com’s Jon Heyman.
The Diamondbacks now have 48 hours to consummate a trade. Davis is owed about $3 million for the rest of this season and will then be a free agent. He is 7-10 with a 3.62 ERA in 144 1/3 innings and would be a good middle-rotation fit for Milwaukee down the stretch.

Hunter Pence homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs in a win over the Marlins on Wednesday night.
Pence slugged three-run homers in the first and fourth innings on the way to the 14-6 win. The power display was impressive considering his production has steadily dropped since May. Wednesday marked just the second time all season that Pence has driven in more than two runs in a game.

Francisco Liriano tossed seven innings of one-run ball in a 7-1 win over the Royals on Wednesday night.
Where has this guy been? Unquestionably his best start of the season, he allowed just three hits, including a first-inning solo homer, while walking one and striking out eight. He even retired 13 batters in a row at one point. After shutting down a Royals lineup that has hit quite well this month, Liriano warrants watching against the Rangers next week.

Joe Crede was 3-for-3 with a three-run homer in his return to the lineup on Wednesday night.
Welcome back, Joe. He missed four straight games after receiving a cortisone shot in his right shoulder on Friday night.

Josh Beckett earned his major league best 14th win in an 8-2 win over the Tigers on Wednesday night.
After his brilliant effort against the Yankees last Friday, Beckett was dazzling yet again, allowing just three hits over seven innings while whiffing six and walking just one. Two of the three hits he gave up were solo homers. In addition to leading the majors in wins, Beckett ranks in the top 10 in ERA, strikeouts and WHIP.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
OAK     6  BAL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
BOS     8  DET     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA     4  TOR     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     5  CLE     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     7  KC      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA    10  TB      5    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     1  CHA     0    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL     6  WAS     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU    14  FLA     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI    12  CHN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      6  MIL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL     5  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYN     6  ARI     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     8  PIT     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      4  LAN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

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

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     71  43 .623    0.0   66     5    
BOS     65  48 .575    5.5   65     0    
TB      61  53 .535   10.0   64    -3    
TOR     54  59 .478   16.5   61    -7    
BAL     47  67 .412   24.0   49    -2    
American League Central     
DET     59  54 .522    0.0   57     2    
CHA     58  57 .504    2.0   58     0    
MIN     55  58 .487    4.0   57    -2    
CLE     49  64 .434   10.0   55    -6    
KC      44  69 .389   15.0   44     0    
American League West        
LAA     68  44 .607    0.0   63     5    
TEX     63  49 .563    5.0   61     2    
SEA     60  54 .526    9.0   52     8    
OAK     51  63 .447   18.0   54    -3    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     63  48 .568    0.0   62     1    
ATL     60  54 .526    4.5   62    -2    
FLA     60  54 .526    4.5   56     4    
NYN     53  61 .465   11.5   53     0    
WAS     40  74 .351   24.5   47    -7    
National League Central     
STL     64  52 .552    0.0   63     1    
CHN     58  54 .518    4.0   57     1    
HOU     56  58 .491    7.0   51     5    
MIL     55  58 .487    7.5   53     2    
CIN     49  64 .434   13.5   47     2    
PIT     46  67 .407   16.5   51    -5    
National League West        
LAN     69  46 .600    0.0   69     0    
COL     63  51 .553    5.5   64    -1    
SF      62  52 .544    6.5   60     2    
ARI     52  63 .452   17.0   55    -3    
SD      49  66 .426   20.0   44     5    

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
PHI AAA Michael Taylor.... 5  5  2  1  1  0  0  4 RBI
LAA AAA Sean Rodriguez.... 4  4  0  0  2  0  0  7 RBI !
CHC A   Brett Jackson..... 4  3  0  0  2  1  0  3 R
KC  AA  David Lough....... 5  3  1  0  1  0  1  
BAL AA  Joshua Bell....... 4  3  1  0  1  0  1  
TOR AA  David Cooper...... 5  3  1  0  1  0  0  3 R
TEX AA  M. Moreland....... 4  2  1  0  1  1  1  
MIN AA  Rene Tosoni....... 4  2  1  0  1  0  0  
WAN A+  Danny Espinosa.... 3  2  0  0  0  2  0  3 SB
BOS AA  Yamaico Navarro... 5  2  1  0  1  0  1  4 RBI
TEX AAA C. Davis.......... 3  1  0  0  1  2  1  
CIN AAA Chris Heisey...... 3  2  0  0  1  1  1  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
CLE AA  Scott Barnes...... 5  4  2  2  6  0  1  9 OF
ATL A   Julio Teheran..... 7  4  1  1  2  0  0  
PHI AA  Vance Worley...... 7  4  2  2  4  0  1  
KC  A+  Daniel Gutierrez.. 4  0  0  0  3  1  0  
MIL A   Wily Peralta...... 5  2  0  0  3  2  0  
PIT A+  Bryan Morris...... 7  6  3  2  4  3  0  12 GB
NYY AA  Jeremy Bleich..... 5  6  1  1  5  3  0  10 GB
CLE A   Nick Hagadone..... 3  1  2  2  3  2  0  
NYM AA  Jenrry Mejia...... 3  2  3  3  3  2  0  
ATL AAA Luis Valdez....... 1  0  0  0  2  0  0  
PIT AA  Jeffrey Sues...... 2  1  0  0  2  1  0  
NYY A   Andrew Brackman... 2  1  1  1  5  4  0

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Pick A TeamARIATLBALBOSCHACHNCINCLECOLDETFLAHOUKCLAALANMILMINNYANYNOAKPHIPITSDSEASFSTLTBTEXTORWAS