THT Daily: LOOONG Day in Chicago

Major League News for July 10

Yesterday’s Results
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Top Minor League Performances
Player News
Stats

Yesterday’s Results

American League
TOR    11  KC      3    (Recap and Boxscore) Hill: 4-5; Halladay: 7 IP, 1 R
TEX     5  MIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Koronka: 5 IP, 2 R
TB      6  NYA     5    (Recap and Boxscore) Huff: 3-3, 3 RBI; Giambi: GS HR
SEA     3  DET     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Meche over Robertson
LAA     4  OAK     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Santana: 7 IP, 2 R
BAL     5  CLE     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     6  BOS     5    (Recap and Boxscore) See below

National League
LAN     3  SF      1    (Recap and Boxscore) Sele: 6 IP, 1 R
SD     10  WAS     9    (Recap and Boxscore) Piazza: GW PH HR; SD: 5 straight W
STL     7  HOU     5    (Recap and Boxscore) 12 innings
PHI     8  PIT     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYN     7  FLA     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN    11  MIL     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Jones: 2 2B; Pierre: 3 RBI
ARI     8  COL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
ATL     8  CIN     3    (Recap and Boxscore) ATL: Won 7 of last 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 gray 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     53  33 .616    0.0   50      3      
NYA     50  36 .581    3.0   50      0      
TOR     49  39 .557    5.0   48      1      
BAL     41  49 .456   14.0   39      2      
TB      39  50 .438   15.5   37      2      
American League Central
DET     59  29 .670    0.0   57      2      
CHA     57  31 .648    2.0   54      3      
MIN     47  39 .547   11.0   46      1      
CLE     40  47 .460   18.5   48     -8      
KC      31  56 .356   27.5   32     -1      
American League West
TEX     45  43 .511    0.0   46     -1      
OAK     45  43 .511    0.0   43      2      
LAA     43  45 .489    2.0   43      0      
SEA     43  46 .483    2.5   45     -2      

National League East         Pwins Diff
NYN     53  36 .596    0.0   51      2      
PHI     40  47 .460   12.0   40      0      
ATL     40  49 .449   13.0   44     -4      
FLA     38  48 .442   13.5   42     -4      
WAS     38  52 .422   15.5   39     -1      
National League Central
STL     48  39 .552    0.0   45      3      
CIN     45  44 .506    4.0   43      2      
MIL     44  46 .489    5.5   38      6      
HOU     43  46 .483    6.0   42      1      
CHN     34  54 .386   14.5   35     -1      
PIT     30  60 .333   19.5   39     -9      
National League West
SD      48  40 .545    0.0   47      1      
LAN     46  42 .523    2.0   49     -3      
SF      45  44 .506    3.5   46     -1      
COL     44  43 .506    3.5   45     -1      
ARI     43  45 .489    5.0   42      1      

Game of the Day

The Red Sox and White Sox almost played through the All-Star break, but Tadahito Iguchi hit a single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 19th inning to win it for Chicago, 6-5. It was the longest game of the year so far; 19 innings in 6 hours and 19 minutes.

Jermaine Dye tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth with a homer off Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon, the first run the rookie has given up on the road all season. After the Red Sox scored two in the 11th, the White Sox responded with two in their half. Then it looked for a while like the game might never end.

Boston’s Trot Nixon went 0-for-9 and Jason Varitek, hitting directly behind Nixon in the order, went 0-for-8. The last time two major-league teammates each had eight or more at-bats without a hit in the same game was on June 3, 1989, when the Dodgers’ John Shelby (0-for-10) and Mike Davis (0-for-8) did it in a 22-inning game at Houston. (Source: Elias).

The White Sox (57-31) and Tigers (59-29) hit the All-Star break with the two best records in the major leagues. Since 1990, there has been only one other season in which teams from the same division had the two best records in the majors at the break: Montreal and Atlanta did that in 1994.

BOSTON (5) VS CHI WHITE SOX (6) - FINAL IN 19 INNINGS 

BOSTON                 ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
K Youkilis 1b           5  2  0  0   4  2   3  .297
M Loretta 2b            7  0  2  3   0  1   2  .305
D Ortiz dh              7  0  1  1   2  1   5  .278
M Ramirez lf            8  0  1  0   1  2   4  .306
T Nixon rf              9  0  0  0   0  4   5  .311
J Varitek c             8  0  0  0   1  3   0  .232
M Lowell 3b             5  1  3  1   0  1   0  .307
 W Harris pr            0  1  0  0   0  0   0  .159
 A Cora 3b              4  0  0  0   0  1   1  .300
C Crisp cf              5  1  2  0   2  1   2  .268
A Gonzalez ss           7  0  2  0   1  2   5  .284

Totals                 65  5 11  5  11 18  27

BATTING: 2B - M Ramirez (16, N Cotts); C Crisp 2 (8, M Thornton, N Cotts); A 
Gonzalez (13, J Vazquez). HR - M Lowell (11, 4th inning off J Contreras 0 on, 2 
Out). S - C Crisp. RBI - D Ortiz (87), M Lowell (46), M Loretta 3 (37). 2-out 
RBI - M Lowell, M Loretta 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C Crisp 
1, M Ramirez 1, T Nixon 3, D Ortiz 2, A Gonzalez 3. GIDP - D Ortiz 2. Team LOB 
- 17. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - C Crisp (8, 2nd base off J Contreras/A Pierzynski), W 
Harris (6, 3rd base off B Jenks/A Pierzynski), K Youkilis (5, 2nd base off B 
Jenks/A Pierzynski). 
 
FIELDING: DP: 3 (J Varitek-A Gonzalez, M Loretta-A Gonzalez-K Youkilis, A 
Cora-K Youkilis). 
 
CHI WHITE SOX          ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
S Podsednik lf          8  0  3  0   1  2   2  .276
T Iguchi 2b             7  1  2  2   2  2   4  .287
J Thome dh              7  1  2  1   0  2   2  .298
 P Ozuna pr-dh          1  0  0  0   0  0   2  .413
P Konerko 1b            5  0  1  0   0  0   2  .313
 R Gload pr-1b          3  1  0  0   0  1   2  .288
J Dye rf                8  1  2  2   0  3   2  .318
A Pierzynski c          7  0  2  0   1  2   0  .320
J Crede 3b              8  0  1  0   0  1   5  .294
J Uribe ss              3  0  0  0   0  1   0  .237
 a-A Cintron ph-ss      5  1  1  1   0  0   2  .284
B Anderson cf           4  1  2  0   0  1   0  .192
 b-R Mackowiak ph-cf    4  0  2  0   0  1   2  .309

Totals                 70  6 18  6   4 16  25

a-grounded to second for J Uribe in the 10th;  b-struck out swinging for B 
Anderson in the 11th.

BATTING: 2B - B Anderson (9, C Schilling); J Thome (12, J Lopez); J Dye (15, M 
Timlin); J Crede (18, J Tavarez). HR - T Iguchi (10, 4th inning off C Schilling 
0 on, 0 Out), J Dye (25, 9th inning off J Papelbon 0 on, 2 Out). RBI - T Iguchi 
2 (40), J Thome (77), J Dye 2 (68), A Cintron (20). 2-out RBI - J Dye. Runners 
left in scoring position, 2 out - R Mackowiak 2, A Cintron 1, J Dye 1, R Gload 
1. GIDP - R Gload, P Ozuna. Team LOB - 13. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - S Podsednik (29, 2nd base off C Hansen/J Varitek). CS - B 
Anderson (2, 2nd base by C Schilling/J Varitek). 
 
FIELDING: PB - A Pierzynski. DP: 2 (J Crede-P Konerko, B McCarthy-J Crede-R 
Gload). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    BOSTON          - 100 200 000 020 000 000 0  --   5
    CHI WHITE SOX   - 000 101 001 020 000 000 1  --   6

One out when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------

BOSTON                       ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
C Schilling                   6       5   2   2   1   6   1   3.60
M Delcarmen (H, 7)            2       0   0   0   0   2   0   3.52
J Papelbon (B, 3)             2       3   1   1   0   2   1   0.59
J Lopez (H, 7)                0       1   1   1   0   0   0   5.40
M Timlin (B, 3)               1       2   1   1   1   1   0   2.59
C Hansen                      1       1   0   0   0   2   0   4.63
J Tavarez                     4       1   0   0   1   2   0   4.56
R Seanez (L, 2-1)             2 1/3   5   1   1   1   1   0   4.86

CHI WHITE SOX                ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Contreras                   6       4   3   3   5   6   1   3.37
N Cotts                       1 2/3   2   0   0   0   3   0   2.95
D Riske                         1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   2.75
B Jenks                       2 2/3   2   2   2   2   2   0   2.83
J Vazquez                     1 2/3   1   0   0   2   2   0   5.07
M Thornton                    1 1/3   1   0   0   1   3   0   3.13
B McCarthy                    4 1/3   1   0   0   1   1   0   4.25
C Politte (W, 2-2)            1       0   0   0   0   1   0   8.04

J Lopez pitched to 1 batter in the 11th.

WP - J Contreras 2. IBB - D Ortiz (by J Vazquez), A Pierzynski (by M Timlin), 
M Ramirez (by M Thornton). HBP - M Loretta 2 (by J Contreras, J Vazquez). 
Pitches-strikes: C Schilling 86-57; M Delcarmen 20-14; J Papelbon 29-23; J 
Lopez 4-2; M Timlin 20-13; C Hansen 22-14; J Tavarez 49-25; R Seanez 41-27; J 
Contreras 114-68; N Cotts 27-17; D Riske 3-2; B Jenks 31-20; J Vazquez 38-17; M 
Thornton 18-13; B McCarthy 55-33; C Politte 13-10. Ground balls-fly balls: C 
Schilling 4-7; M Delcarmen 2-2; J Papelbon 2-2; J Lopez 0-0; M Timlin 1-1; C 
Hansen 0-1; J Tavarez 8-2; R Seanez 3-3; J Contreras 3-9; N Cotts 2-0; D Riske 
0-1; B Jenks 5-1; J Vazquez 0-3; M Thornton 1-0; B McCarthy 5-7; C Politte 0-2. 
Batters faced: C Schilling 23; M Delcarmen 6; J Papelbon 9; J Lopez 1; M Timlin 
6; C Hansen 4; J Tavarez 13; R Seanez 12; J Contreras 28; N Cotts 7; D Riske 1; 
B Jenks 11; J Vazquez 9; M Thornton 6; B McCarthy 14; C Politte 3. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Jim Reynolds. 1B--Bill Welke. 2B--Kerwin Danley. 3B--Chris 
Guccione. 

T--6:19. Att--39,335. 
Weather: 84 degrees, sunny. Wind: 12 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 #
Iguchi, Tadahito CWS    Schilling, Curt    BOS         416       422      10
Johnson, Nick    WAS    Hensley, Clay      SD          418       416      14
Hinske, Eric     TOR    Wellemeyer, Todd   KC          422       415       8
Cantu, Jorge     TB     Villone, Ron       NYY         416       415       6
Gonzalez, Luis   ARI    Cook, Aaron        COL         429       413       7
Olivo, Miguel    FLA    Wagner, Billy      NYM         423       413      10
Lee, Carlos      MIL    Novoa, Roberto     CHC         432       410      26
Piazza, Mike     SD     Cordero, Chad      WAS         425       409      12
Molina, Bengie   TOR    Nelson, Joe        KC          414       407       7
Dunn, Adam       CIN    Villarreal, Oscar  ATL         443       406      28
Jones, Andruw    ATL    Coffey, Todd       CIN         441       405      20
Lowell, Mike     BOS    Contreras, Jose    CWS         394       403      11
Giambi, Jason    NYY    Fossum, Casey      TB          401       400      27
Weeks, Rickie    MIL    Rusch, Glendon     CHC         428       399       8
Ordonez, Magglio DET    Meche, Gil         SEA         402       396      16
Rivera, Rene     SEA    Robertson, Nate    DET         401       396       2
Ramirez, Aramis  CHC    Davis, Doug        MIL         427       395      16
Hudson, Orlando  ARI    Mesa, Jose         COL         407       394       8
Francoeur, Jeff  ATL    Arroyo, Bronson    CIN         428       392      17
Schneider, Brian WAS    Cassidy, Scott     SD          391       392       3
Lopez, Javy      BAL    Westbrook, Jake    CLE         396       387       7
Greene, Khalil   SD     Cordero, Chad      WAS         401       386      12
Teixeira, Mark   TEX    Santana, Johan     MIN         393       382       9
Molina, Jose     LAA    Haren, Dan         OAK         351       381       2
Glaus, Troy      TOR    Gobble, Jimmy      KC          381       375      23
Barmes, Clint    COL    Cruz, Juan         ARI         396       374       4
Escobar, Alex    WAS    Hensley, Clay      SD          385       373       1
Huff, Aubrey     TB     Wilson, Kris       NYY         374       373       8
Matthews, Gary   TEX    Santana, Johan     MIN         376       368      10
Rolen, Scott     STL    Wheeler, Dan       HOU         367       365      14
Nady, Xavier     NYM    Olsen, Scott       FLA         406       360      12
Burke, Chris     HOU    Carpenter, Chris   STL         362       360       5
Wright, David    NYM    Kensing, Logan     FLA         395       351      20
Dye, Jermaine    CWS    Papelbon, Jonathan BOS         343       338      25
Thorman, Scott   ATL    Arroyo, Bronson    CIN         353       326       2
Pagan, Angel     CHC    Gonzalez, Geremi   MIL          NA        NA       3

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
BAL AA  Cory Keylor        RF  4  4  1  0  1  0  0  8 RBI
BOS A-  Aaron Bates        1B  4  3  1  0  1  0  0  .536 OBP during past week
DET A   Michael Hollimon   SS  4  4  1  1  1  1  0  4 RBI
KC  A+  Juan Senreiso      CF  5  4  0  1  0  0  0  3 runs scored
LA  A+  Cory Dunlap        1B  4  3  0  0  1  1  0  4 RBI
LAA A+  Cody Fuller        RF  4  3  1  1  1  0  0   
OAK A   Isaac Omura        2B  5  4  2  0  0  0  0   
PHI A-  Quintin Berry      CF  6  5  0  1  0  0  0  3 runs scored
PHI AA  Peeter Ramos       2B  4  3  0  0  1  1  0  4 RBI
PHI A   Mike Spidale       CF  5  5  1  1  0  0  0   
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
ARI A-  Cesar Valdez       6.0  1  0  0  5  2  0   
BAL A+  Luis Ramirez       7.2  5  2  2  6  1  0   
CHW AAA Charlie Haeger     5.0  2  1  0  9  1  0   
CIN A+  James Avery        7.0  4  0  0  2  0  0   
COL AAA Jose Acevedo       7.0  6  0  0  4  0  0   
KC  A   Rayner Oliveros    6.2  4  1  1  7  3  0   
MIN A   Oswaldo Sosa       8.0  6  2  1  6  2  0   
NYY A-  Francisco Castillo 5.0  1  0  0  7  2  0   
PHI AAA Eude Brito         9.0  5  0  0  7  1  0   
PIT AAA Marty McLeary      6.1  3  2  2 11  2  0  1.23 ERA over past month

Player News

Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.

RHP Brett Myers, who took a leave of absence after his arrest on charges that he hit his wife in the face, will rejoin the Phillies on Friday. A decision about his return to the rotation will be made at a later date.

Glendon Rusch filled in for Mark Prior with five solid innings and the Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-4 Sunday for their third straight win. Prior was scratched before the game with a strained muscle in his left side, suffered while he was taking batting practice Saturday. The team said it was too early to decide whether the injury would put the right-hander on the disabled list for the seventh time in his five-year career.

Brewers LHP Chris Capuano was named to the NL All-Star team before Sunday’s game, replacing Tom Glavine of the New York Mets.

Carlos Lee’s 26 home runs are tied for the most hit by a Brewers player at the All-Star break.

Milton Bradley (shoulder) felt fine on Sunday after his successful rehab outing with Triple-A Sacramento at Salt Lake. He went 4-for-6 with two homers, six RBIs and three runs scored on Saturday night. “Milton’s health was 100 percent,” trainer Larry Davis said. “Milton said he felt perfect.”

Chone Figgins stole his 32nd base of the year in the fifth inning on Sunday at Oakland and then his 33rd in the seventh. He has 25 career steals against Oakland – eight this year and five this series – for his most vs. any team. He has four against Cleveland. Figgins went 9-for-18 (.500) with a home run and two RBIs this series and is batting 15-for-37 (.405) on the year vs. Oakland – his second-best average against any club. He is hitting .412 against Detroit.

Jeff Kent (abdominal) was out of the starting lineup for Saturday’s game against the Giants, as he missed his sixth straight game. Ramon Martinez started at second base in his absence.

Toronto rookie RHP Shaun Marcum, who has an 8.22 ERA in five relief appearances, will be moving into the rotation after the All-Star break, replacing RHP Ty Taubenheim, who is 0-5 with a 4.99 ERA in seven starts. Marcum was 4-0 with a 3.42 ERA in 18 games, including four starts, with Triple-A Syracuse before his July 2 promotion.

Francisco Liriano (10-1), the major league ERA leader at 1.83, is only the second rookie to go into the All-Star break with an ERA under 2.00 and at least 10 wins. Jerry Koosman was 11-4 with a 1.94 ERA for the New York Mets heading into the 1968 break.

Carlos Beltran’s 25 home runs are the second most by a Mets player at the All-Star break. Dave Kingman had 30 in 1976.

Curt Schilling’s right elbow was swollen and sore after he was hit by a line drive off Jim Thome’s bat in the sixth inning of Boston’s 6-5, 19-inning loss to the White Sox on Sunday. X-rays were negative.

Mike Lieberthal, who is recovering from a strained left hip, already has begun his rehabilitation with Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He caught all nine innings of Sunday’s game against Rochester and went 3-for-4 with a double and one RBI.

Randy Wolf, out since last season after undergoing “Tommy John” surgery, will make a rehab start at Class A Lakewood this week.

It is believed that 2B Dan Uggla is the first player to earn a berth in the All-Star Game the season immediately after his selection in the Rule 5 draft.

The Mets announced that Jose Reyes, voted the starting shortstop for the National League, will not play in Tuesday’s All-Star Game. Reyes needed seven stitches to repair a cut on his left pinkie suffered in Friday’s game against Florida and was used only as a pinch runner the last two games.

RHP Eric Bedard did something in the first half of the season that he hasn’t done in his whole professional baseball career — win 10 games. Bedard went 10-6 in the first half with 4.28 ERA. “It was the best half of my career,” said Bedard, whose previous high win total was nine in 2000 for Class A Delmarva and in 2001 for Class A Frederick.

Since Rocco Baldelli returned from the disabled list June 7, the Devil Rays are 15-15. Before that they were 24-35.

Aubrey Huff’s past 23 games, he hit .433 (39-for-90) with 13 doubles, five home runs and 16 RBI. He hit safely in 20 games with 12 multi-hit games.

If the All-Star Futures Game is any indication, there’s hope for the lowly Kansas City Royals. A pair of their prospects, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon, led the United States to an 8-5 victory over the World team Sunday in the eighth annual showcase for top minor leaguers. Butler hit a two-run homer and singled to earn MVP honors. Gordon added two RBIs for a U.S. squad managed by Hall of Famer Gary Carter, opening All-Star festivities at gorgeous PNC Park.

Oklahoma State quarterback Josh Fields showed he can play some baseball, too, in the All-Star Futures Game. Now a rising third base prospect with the Chicago White Sox, Fields doubled, singled, scored and knocked in a run. Power-hitting prospect Wladimir Balentien of the Seattle Mariners had a pair of doubles and an RBI and San Diego catcher George Kottaras homered and doubled for the World team.

Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said a tender middle finger on LHP Scott Kazmir’s throwing hand is not a problem and the team would have no concern about him pitching in the All-Star game on Tuesday night. A callous on the finger softened during Saturday’s start against the Yankees, but Kazmir said it didn’t affect his performance.

The New York Mets on Saturday signed Dominican prospect Francisco Pena, the son of former major-league catcher Tony Pena, a source told ESPNdeportes.com. The Mets, who paid Pena a bonus of $750,000, are not planning to make the move public until next week. “After intense negotiations with the most interested teams — around 10 — the Pena family decided to accept the Mets’ offer,” the source said. Pena, 16, is considered to be one of the best catching prospects in the Dominican Republic’s baseball history.

THT Stats

Individual players don’t win games, teams do. But for some insane reason, baseball writers continue to count wins and losses as pitching stats. So I thought I’d follow this thoughtless tradition and show you the wins, losses and ERA of every pitcher that has reached double figures in wins. Look at the list and tell me: are these the 17 best pitchers in baseball? Does the list contain even half of the 17 best pitchers in baseball?

Last       First      Team      Wins  Losses     ERA
Halladay   Roy        TOR         12       2    2.92
Glavine    Tom        NYN         11       2    3.48
Beckett    Josh       BOS         11       4    4.75
Marquis    Jason      STL         11       6    5.55
Rogers     Kenny      DET         11       3    3.85
Penny      Brad       LAN         10       2    2.91
Capuano    Chris      MIL         10       4    3.21
Santana    Ervin R    LAA         10       3    3.96
Bedard     Erik       BAL         10       6    4.28
Liriano    Francisco  MIN         10       1    1.83
Kazmir     Scott E    TB          10       6    3.27
Garcia     Freddy     CHA         10       5    4.91
Verlander  Justin B   DET         10       4    3.01
Schilling  Curt       BOS         10       3    3.60
Mussina    Mike       NYA         10       3    3.24
Johnson    Randy      NYA         10       7    5.13

Access all of THT’s stats here…