THT Daily: Seven for Colorado

by Matthew Carruth
June 11, 2009

Major League News for June 11

Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
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
Paul Konerko aggravated a right thumb injury during Wednesday’s game.
Konerko was pulled after the seventh inning, and may be sidelined for the next couple of days. The injury dates back to April of 2008, when the now-retired Mike Mussina nailed him with an inside pitch. Josh Fields should see most of the starts at first base.

Xavier Nady (elbow) will meet up with teammates in New York this weekend before heading out on a rehab assignment early next week.
Nady can now swing the bat with no pain or discomfort, but the Yankees want him to be able to play the outfield upon returning. He’ll work out with teammates at Yankee Stadium and take in a few games of the Subway Series, then it’s off to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Nomar Garciaparra underwent an MRI Wednesday on his injured right calf.
Garciaparra appears to be making steady progress toward a return, but the results of the MRI should tell the whole story. He has been out since late May with a strained right calf and is hoping to return before the end of June.

Denard Span (dizziness) is hoping to return to the Twins this weekend as they kick off a series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
“Hoping” being the key word. Span is still running through a “battery of tests” in Minnesota, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He’ll have to wait for medical clearance before rejoining the club, and manager Ron Gardenhire didn’t sound too optimistic Wednesday evening. “We have no time limit on him,” said the skipper. “We’ve got to figure out what’s going on before we worry about baseball.”

Jacoby Ellsbury (shoulder) isn’t expected to play in Thursday’s series finale against the Yankees.
C.C. Sabathia is on the mound for the Yanks. “Definitely still soreness,” Ellsbury told reporters Thursday night. “Still really tender. If I have to get out there, dive again, steal bases, that’s where I could possibly make it worse. But I’m pretty happy how I’ve felt from yesterday, so good news.” Look for Mark Kotsay to fill in.

Nick Punto is set to return from the disabled list Friday.
Punto has had his eye on June 12 since he landed on the disabled list with a groin strain in late May. Alexi Casilla is in the dog house with manager Ron Gardenhire for a few mishaps on defense, and faces possible demotion to make room. Punto is likely to share time at second base upon returning, as Brendan Harris has assumed the starting shortstop role with a .288/.339/.406 batting line.

Jed Lowrie’s surgically repaired left wrist is at nearly “85 percent” strength, according to the Boston Herald.
“Ninety percent is a good goal to hit (before I return),” Lowrie said Wednesday. He’s been on the disabled list since early April and is less than a week from the start of a minor league rehab assignment. As it stands, he’ll probably return to a starting role.

Brad Hawpe was 2-for-4 with a home run as the Rockies won their seventh consecutive game.
The Rockies defeated the Brewers 4-2. Hawpe’s fifth-inning double gave the Rockies a one-run advantage. He would later add a home run in the seventh for some additional insurance. Hawpe has a hit in every game this month and now sits fifth in the National League with 45 RBI.

Chase Utley homered twice, including a go-ahead solo home run in the 10th inning in a 5-4 win over the Mets on Wednesday night.
He now has four homers in just 19 at-bats against the Mets this season. With a .303/.439/.590 line along with 15 homers and 41 knocked in so far, Utley hasn’t missed a beat this season.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
SEA     4  BAL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
BOS     6  NYA     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB      9  LAA     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     2  CHA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      9  CLE     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     6  OAK     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
PIT     3  ATL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL    13  FLA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     5  NYN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     4  WAS     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     2  CHN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     4  MIL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      6  ARI     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      3  LAN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)

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

A Hardball Times Update

by RJ McDaniel

Goodbye for now.

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 St. Louis Cardinals at Florida Marlins, 12:10 PM
  (R) Todd Wellemeyer (5-6) vs. (L) Andrew Miller (2-2)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at Atlanta Braves, 1:10 PM
  (L) Paul Maholm (4-2) vs. (R) Javier Vazquez (4-5)
 Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros, 2:05 PM
  (R) Ryan Dempster (4-3) vs. (R) Russ Ortiz (3-2)
 Colorado Rockies at Milwaukee Brewers, 2:05 PM
  (R) Aaron Cook (4-3) vs. (R) Yovani Gallardo (6-2)
 San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks, 3:40 PM
  (L) Jonathan Sanchez (2-5) vs. (R) Max Scherzer (2-4)
 Cincinnati Reds at Washington Nationals, 4:35 PM
  (R) Micah Owings (3-7) vs. (L) John Lannan (3-5)
 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (L) Jamie Moyer (4-5) vs. (R) Tim Redding (0-2)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 PM
  (R) Edwin Jackson (6-3) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (4-5)
 Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics, 3:35 PM
  (R) Nick Blackburn (5-2) vs. (R) Trevor Cahill (3-5)
 Seattle Mariners at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (L) Garrett Olson (0-1) vs. (R) Koji Uehara (2-3)
 Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Zack Greinke (8-2) vs. (L) Jeremy Sowers (1-3)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:08 PM
  (R) Ervin Santana (1-2) vs. (L) David Price (1-0)
 New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 PM
  (L) CC Sabathia (5-3) vs. (R) Brad Penny (5-2)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (L) Ricky Romero (3-2) vs. (R) Kevin Millwood (5-4)

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 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     35  24 .593    0.0   34     1    
NYA     34  25 .576    1.0   32     2    
TOR     34  27 .557    2.0   35    -1    
TB      30  31 .492    6.0   35    -5    
BAL     25  34 .424   10.0   24     1    
American League Central     
DET     33  26 .559    0.0   33     0    
MIN     30  31 .492    4.0   32    -2    
CHA     27  33 .450    6.5   27     0    
KC      25  33 .431    7.5   25     0    
CLE     26  35 .426    8.0   29    -3    
American League West        
TEX     33  25 .569    0.0   31     2    
LAA     29  28 .509    3.5   27     2    
SEA     29  30 .492    4.5   27     2    
OAK     26  32 .448    7.0   27    -1    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     34  23 .596    0.0   32     2    
NYN     31  26 .544    3.0   30     1    
ATL     29  29 .500    5.5   28     1    
FLA     29  32 .475    7.0   27     2    
WAS     15  42 .263   19.0   22    -7    
National League Central     
MIL     33  26 .559    0.0   31     2    
CIN     31  27 .534    1.5   30     1    
STL     32  28 .533    1.5   31     1    
CHN     29  27 .518    2.5   29     0    
PIT     27  32 .458    6.0   29    -2    
HOU     26  31 .456    6.0   25     1    
National League West        
LAN     40  21 .656    0.0   39     1    
SF      31  27 .534    7.5   29     2    
SD      28  31 .475   11.0   25     3    
COL     27  32 .458   12.0   31    -4    
ARI     25  35 .417   14.5   26    -1

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
BAL A   Xavier Avery...... 5  5  2  0  1  0  0  4 R
TOR A+  Moises Sierra..... 4  4  2  0  0  1  0  4 RBI
SEA A+  Alex Liddi........ 4  3  1  0  1  0  0  
WAN A   Derek Norris...... 5  3  2  0  0  0  1  
LA  A   Kyle Russell...... 5  2  2  0  0  0  1  
HOU AA  Collin DeLome..... 4  2  1  0  1  0  0  
TEX A   Michael Bianucci.. 3  2  0  0  1  1  0  
SF  A+  Roger Kieschnick.. 5  3  0  0  1  0  0  
CLE AA  Beau Mills........ 4  2  1  0  0  0  1  2 SB
CLE AA  Nicholas Weglarz.. 5  2  0  2  0  0  2  5 RBI !
TOR A+  Justin Jackson.... 2  1  1  0  0  2  0  
NYM A+  Isaac Davis....... 5  2  0  0  1  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
HOU A   Jordan Lyles...... 6  7  3  3 10  0  0  
PHI A   Jason Knapp....... 7  4  0  0  6  0  0  
CHW A+  Daniel Hudson..... 7  5  2  2  8  1  1  
CLE AA  Jeanmar Gomez..... 6  1  0  0  5  1  0  
COL A+  C. Friedrich...... 7  5  2  2  6  1  0  
CLE A+  Eric Berger....... 6  2  1  1  5  4  0  
MIN A+  David Bromberg.... 6  10  4  4  7  0  1  
SF  AA  Tim Alderson...... 6  8  3  2  5  1  0  
MIL A+  Zach Braddock..... 2  1  0  0  4  0  0  
LAA A   William Smith..... 7  5  2  1  4  3  0  
BOS A   Stephen Fife...... 5  5  1  1  3  0  0  11 GB
BOS A+  Casey Kelly....... 5  6  4  4  4  0  1

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports: