THT Daily: Nomar Does it Again

Major League News for September 25

Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Player News
Stats

Yesterday’s Results
 American League
MIN     6  BAL     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Tejada: 2 HR
TB     11  NYA     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Wigginton, Crawford: 3 RBI each
TOR    13  BOS     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Overbay: 2 2B, HR; Chacin: 5 IP, 3 R
CHA    12  SEA     7    (Recap and Boxscore) Konerko: 2 HR, 4 RBI; Uribe: GS HR
DET    11  KC      4    (Recap and Boxscore) Verlander: 5 IP, 2 R; DET: 9 in 2nd inning
LAA     7  OAK     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Santana: 8 IP, 2 H, 1 R
CLE    11  TEX     6    (Recap and Boxscore) Sizemore: 2 HR, 4 RBI; Boone: 4 RBI

National League
WAS     5  NYN     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Zimmerman: 2 2B; Armas: 6 IP, 1 R
PHI    10  FLA     7    (Recap and Boxscore) Utley: 2 HR, 4 RBI; PHI leads wildcard
CIN     3  CHN     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Clayton: GW 2R 1B in 9th; Harang: 9 IP, 2 R
HOU     7  STL     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Clemens: 5 IP, 1 R on 3 days rest; Huff: 3 RBI
MIL     5  SF      3    (Recap and Boxscore) Sheets: 8 IP, 2 R
COL     9  ATL     8    (Recap and Boxscore) McCann: 2 HR, 5 RBI; Holliday: 3B, HR, 4 RBI
LAN     5  ARI     1    (Recap and Boxscore) See below
SD      2  PIT     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Hensley: 6 IP, 1 R; McLeary: 5 IP, 1 R

Today’s Games
 Visitors                          Home                            Starts
CHC - Miller W. (0-2, 4.97)       CIN - Arroyo B. (14-10, 3.38)   12:35
CWS - Garland J. (17-6, 4.37)     CLE - Lee C.* (12-11, 4.58)      7:05
HOU - Albers M. (0-2, 6.00)       PHI - Wolf R.* (4-0, 5.47)       7:05
BOS - Wakefield T. (7-10, 4.50)   TOR - Marcum S. (2-4, 5.51)      7:07
WAS - Perez B. (1-0, 0.77)        NYM - Glavine T.* (14-6, 3.92)   7:10
NYY - Wright J. (10-7, 4.52)      TB - Seo J. (1-6, 4.10)          7:15
SD - Wells D.* (0-2, 4.43)        STL - Suppan J. (12-7, 4.07)     8:10
KC - De La Rosa J.* (3-3, 5.32)   MIN - Bonser B. (6-5, 4.36)      8:10
TEX - Volquez E. (1-5, 6.53)      LAA - Saunders J.* (6-3, 4.29)  10:05
OAK - Loaiza E. (11-8, 4.70)      SEA - Baek C. (4-1, 3.67)       10:05
ARI - Gonzalez E. (2-3, 4.41)     SF - Schmidt J. (11-8, 3.50)    10:15

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     93  62 .600    0.0   91      2      
BOS     83  73 .532   10.5   78      5      
TOR     82  73 .529   11.0   82      0      
BAL     68  88 .436   25.5   67      1      
TB      60  95 .387   33.0   63     -3      
American League Central
DET     94  62 .603    0.0   94      0      
MIN     92  63 .594    1.5   89      3      
CHA     87  69 .558    7.0   87      0      
CLE     72  83 .465   21.5   83     -11     
KC      58  97 .374   35.5   58      0      
American League West
OAK     90  65 .581    0.0   82      8      
LAA     84  71 .542    6.0   80      4      
TEX     78  78 .500   12.5   83     -5      
SEA     75  81 .481   15.5   75      0      

National League East         Pwins Diff
NYN     93  62 .600    0.0   88      5      
PHI     82  73 .529   11.0   82      0      
FLA     76  80 .487   17.5   78     -2      
ATL     75  81 .481   18.5   80     -5      
WAS     68  87 .439   25.0   67      1      
National League Central
STL     80  74 .519    0.0   79      1      
HOU     77  78 .497    3.5   79     -2      
CIN     76  79 .490    4.5   72      4      
MIL     73  83 .468    8.0   69      4      
PIT     65  91 .417   16.0   68     -3      
CHN     63  93 .404   18.0   66     -3      
National League West
SD      83  72 .535    0.0   82      1      
LAN     82  74 .526    1.5   83     -1      
SF      75  80 .484    8.0   74      1      
COL     74  82 .474    9.5   80     -6      
ARI     73  82 .471   10.0   76     -3      

Wildcard Standings
American League
MIN     92  63 .594    0.0
CHA     87  69 .558    5.5
LAA     84  71 .542    8.0
BOS     83  73 .532    9.5
TOR     82  73 .529   10.0
National League
PHI     82  73 .529    0.0
LAN     82  74 .526    0.5
HOU     77  78 .497    5.0
CIN     76  79 .490    6.0
FLA     76  80 .487    6.5

Game of the Day

Nomar Garciaparra hit his second game-winning home run in less than a week, this one a grand slam in the ninth to boost the Dodgers over Arizona, 5-1. Marlon Anderson (who else?) started the ninth with a single, then was sacrificed to second. After another out and two walks (one intentional), Garciaparra blasted a 2-1 pitch from Luis Vizcaino over the left-center field fence.

For the first seven innings, the game was a taut pitching duel between Hong-Chih Kuo and Livan Hernandez. The win left the Dodgers a half-game behind the Phillies in the wildcard race.

 ARIZONA (1) VS LA DODGERS (5) - FINAL

ARIZONA                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
A Callaspo 2b           4  0  0  0   0  1   3  .265
C Quentin rf            4  0  1  1   0  2   0  .253
C Jackson 1b            4  0  2  0   0  2   2  .290
E Byrnes cf             4  0  0  0   0  1   1  .272
S Hairston lf           4  0  0  0   0  2   2  .385
D Easley 3b             3  0  1  0   0  1   1  .232
 a-C Counsell ph-3b     1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .261
S Drew ss               3  1  1  0   1  2   0  .320
C Snyder c              3  0  0  0   1  2   2  .286
L Hernandez p           2  0  0  0   0  0   2  .212
 L Vizcaino p           0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000

Totals                 32  1  5  1   2 13  13

a-flied out to left for D Easley in the 9th.

BATTING: 2B - C Quentin (10, H Kuo); C Jackson (25, J Broxton). S - L 
Hernandez. RBI - C Quentin (27). 2-out RBI - C Quentin. Runners left in scoring 
position, 2 out - D Easley 1, S Hairston 1, C Snyder 1, A Callaspo 1, C Jackson 
2. Team LOB - 7. 
 
FIELDING: E - L Hernandez (4, throw). 

LA DODGERS             ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
R Furcal ss             2  1  2  0   3  0   0  .301
K Lofton cf             4  1  1  1   1  0   4  .298
N Garciaparra 1b        4  1  1  4   1  0   2  .300
J Kent 2b               4  0  0  0   0  1   3  .281
J Drew rf               3  0  0  0   1  1   3  .281
W Betemit 3b            4  0  1  0   0  2   0  .262
 T Saito p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
M Anderson lf           3  1  1  0   1  0   2  .291
R Martin c              3  0  0  0   0  0   0  .282
H Kuo p                 2  1  1  0   0  0   1  .143
 a-J Lugo ph            1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .214
 J Broxton p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 O Robles 3b            1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .167

Totals                 31  5  7  5   7  4  15

a-flied out to left for H Kuo in the 7th.

BATTING: 2B - H Kuo (1, L Hernandez). HR - N Garciaparra (19, 9th inning off L 
Vizcaino 3 on, 2 Out). S - R Martin. RBI - K Lofton (38), N Garciaparra 4 (90). 
2-out RBI - N Garciaparra 4. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - K Lofton 
1, M Anderson 1, J Drew 2. Team LOB - 8. 
 
BASERUNNING: CS - R Furcal (12, 2nd base by L Hernandez/C Snyder). 
 
FIELDING: E - W Betemit (12, ground ball). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    ARIZONA         - 001 000 000   --   1
    LA DODGERS      - 000 010 004   --   5

Two outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------

ARIZONA                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
L Hernandez                   7       5   1   1   5   2   0   4.95
L Vizcaino (L, 4-6)           1 2/3   2   4   4   2   2   1   3.68

LA DODGERS                   ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
H Kuo                         7       4   1   0   2   8   0   4.12
J Broxton                     1       1   0   0   0   3   0   2.71
T Saito (W, 6-2)              1       0   0   0   0   2   0   2.15

IBB - R Furcal (by L Vizcaino). Pitches-strikes: L Hernandez 118-71; L 
Vizcaino 43-22; H Kuo 100-71; J Broxton 24-18; T Saito 12-8. Ground balls-fly 
balls: L Hernandez 3-15; L Vizcaino 3-0; H Kuo 4-10; J Broxton 0-0; T Saito 
0-1. Batters faced: L Hernandez 30; L Vizcaino 9; H Kuo 28; J Broxton 4; T 
Saito 3. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Rick Reed. 1B--Tim Tschida. 2B--Ted Barrett. 3B--Laz Diaz. 

T--2:58. Att--49,822. 
Weather: 84 degrees, sunny. Wind: 4 mph, out to center.

The following graph tracks the game’s Win Probability, courtesy of Fan Graphs.

image

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. You can read their daily updates at the Hit Tracker Blog.

 Hitter                      Pitcher                       True Dist  Std. Dist.
Monroe, Craig         DET   Hernandez, Runelvys  KC          417         430
Coats, Buck           CHC   Harang, Aaron        CIN         413         425
Ortiz, David          BOS   Chacin, Gustavo      TOR         420         419
Stairs, Matt          DET   Braun, Ryan          KC          434         417
Holliday, Matt        COL   James, Chuck         ATL         467         416
Garciaparra, Nomar    LAD   Vizcaino, Luis       ARI         433         413
Coste, Chris          PHI   Olsen, Scott         FLA         386         405
Helms, Wes            FLA   Moyer, Jamie         PHI         395         402
Guerrero, Vladimir    LAA   Haren, Dan           OAK         408         401
Utley, Chase          PHI   Garcia, Jose         FLA         422         400
Huff, Aubrey          HOU   Flores, Randy        STL         402         396
McCann, Brian         ATL   Morilla, Juan        COL         442         395
Ramirez, Aramis       CHC   Harang, Aaron        CIN         406         395
Bell, David           MIL   Cain, Matt           SF          398         395
McCann, Brian         ATL   Morilla, Juan        COL         443         394
Inge, Brandon         DET   Wellemeyer, Todd     KC          401         390
Hawpe, Brad           COL   Yates, Tyler         ATL         427         386
Jones, Chipper        ATL   Morilla, Juan        COL         432         385
Rollins, Jimmy        PHI   Olsen, Scott         FLA         365         385
Nevin, Phil           MIN   Ortiz, Russ          BAL         415         384
Bard, Josh            SD    Perez, Oliver        PIT         396         384
Crede, Joe            CWS   Feierabend, Ryan     SEA         425         382
Utley, Chase          PHI   Olsen, Scott         FLA         399         377
Broussard, Ben        SEA   Cotts, Neal          CWS         420         375
Sizemore, Grady       CLE   Millwood, Kevin      TEX         402         375
Baker, Jeff           COL   James, Chuck         ATL         417         374
Ross, Cody            FLA   Moyer, Jamie         PHI         359         373
Burrell, Pat          PHI   Petit, Yusmeiro      FLA         355         371
Ibanez, Raul          SEA   Hermanson, Dustin    CWS         401         369
Ramirez, Hanley       FLA   Moyer, Jamie         PHI         359         369
Tejada, Miguel        BAL   Garza, Matt          MIN         403         368
Tejada, Miguel        BAL   Garza, Matt          MIN         387         365
Renteria, Edgar       ATL   Hampson, Justin      COL         410         364
Konerko, Paul         CWS   Cruceta, Francisco   SEA         420         361
Uribe, Juan           CWS   Pineiro, Joel        SEA         403         360
Anderson, Brian       CWS   Feierabend, Ryan     SEA         422         359
Wigginton, Ty         TB    Villone, Ron         NYY         350         349
Overbay, Lyle         TOR   Snyder, Kyle         BOS         348         347
Johjima, Kenji        SEA   Garcia, Freddy       CWS         373         338
Cano, Robinson        NYY   Stokes, Brian        TB          337         337
Jacobs, Mike          FLA   White, Rick          PHI         363         336
Mauer, Joe            MIN   Loewen, Adam         BAL         350         330
Patterson, Corey      BAL   Garza, Matt          MIN         360         326
Konerko, Paul         CWS   Feierabend, Ryan     SEA         361         316
Lopez, Jose           SEA   Cotts, Neal          CWS         344         310
Sizemore, Grady       CLE   Wilson, C.J.         TEX         288         285
Branyan, Russell      SD    McLeary, Marty       PIT         NA          NA
Valentin, Jose        NYM   Armas, Tony          WAS         NA          NA

Player News

Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.

The Tigers clinched their first playoff berth since 1987 with an 11-4 win over the Royals. Three MLB franchises have a longer current postseason drought than Detroit: the Expos/Nationals (who last played a postseason game in 1981), Brewers (1982) and Royals (1985).

Minnesota kept pace with Detroit in the AL Central as six relievers combined to shut down the Orioles over the final 3 2/3 innings in the Twins’ 6-3 victory. Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth inning to notch his 35th save of the year.

One day after tying Lee Smith’s record for career saves, Trevor Hoffman earned the 479th save of his career to become the all-time leader in that category. Smith had held the record mark since April 8, 1993.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

David Ortiz’s home run at Rogers Centre on Sunday was his 32nd homer on the road this year, tying the American League single-season record set by Babe Ruth in 1927.

The Reds beat the Cubs in walk-off fashion when Royce Clayton delivered the winning run with a pinch-hit single on the 11th pitch of his at-bat against Scott Eyre.

The Braves suffered a 9-8 loss at Colorado after scoring five first-inning runs and building a 7-0 lead through the top of the fourth inning. It was the second loss this season for the Braves in a game in which they scored at least five runs in the top of the first inning.

Moises Alou’s second-inning double in the Giants’ loss at Milwaukee was the 2,000th hit of his major-league career.

Grady Sizemore hit a pair of home runs, including an inside-the-park job.

Joe Crede hit his 30th home run of the season against the Mariners. Crede joins Jermaine Dye (43 home runs), Jim Thome (42) and Paul Konerko (35) as the first quartet of White Sox players to have at least 30 home runs in the same season. It’s the 10th time this feat has been accomplished in Major League history, but the White Sox join the 2000 Angels and Blue Jays as just the third American League squad to hit the elite target.

Carl Crawford’s sixth-inning triple was his 15th this season. The hit brought him within two triples of Mets shortstop Jose Reyes for the big-league lead, and edged him one step nearer to his career high of 19. That triple off Yankees reliever Mike Myers gave the 25-year-old Crawford 15 or more triples in three straight seasons, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since 1930, when three Hall of Famers did it: the Yankees’ Earle Combs (1927-30), Pittsburgh’s Paul Waner (1926-30) and Detroit’s Charlie Gehringer (1928-30).

Jose Contreras will not start another game this season for the White Sox. The hamstring problem that has caused Contreras to collapse in a heap on the field on his way to covering first base during each of his last two starts is nothing too serious, according to White Sox trainer Herm Schneider. It’s also hard to explain a specific cause for the problem.

Nick Johnson’s fractured leg should be healed in time for spring training. Johnson was injured Saturday in a gruesome collision with right fielder Austin Kearns during a 12-6 loss to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. He was carted off the field and taken to a hospital, where a titanium rod was inserted into his fractured right femur during a two-hour procedure Saturday night. “The surgery went well. He is expected to make a full recovery, and be ready for 2007 spring training,” team orthopedist Dr. Ben Shaffer said in a statement Sunday. “Nick will remain in the hospital for one or two days, and begin his rehabilitation today.”

The Rockies called up P Juan Morillo from the minors.

THT Stats

Access all of THT’s stats here…

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Dave Studeman was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Follow his sporadic tweets @dastudes.

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