THT Daily: Slamming Manny

Major League News for July 23

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
Manny Ramirez launched a pinch-hit grand slam to push the Dodgers past the Reds on Wednesday night.
Like him or not, this was an impressive feat. Ramirez was out of the starting lineup with a sore left hand, but was called on for pinch-hit duty with the bases loaded in the sixth inning. He deposited the first pitch he saw from Nick Masset into the euphoric “Mannywood” section of the bleachers to give the Dodgers a 6-2 lead. Well worth two curtain calls.

Clay Buchholz gave up three runs in four innings in a 3-1 loss to the Rangers on Wednesday night.
Taking Tim Wakefield’s spot in the rotation, Buchholz was nowhere near as sharp this time, needing 90 pitches just to make it through four innings. He allowed six hits, including a home run to Ian Kinsler, while striking out three and walking two. He’ll hope to bounce back against the Athletics next. The Red Sox have now lost five straight and find themselves two games back of the first-place Yankees.

Nationals placed SP Jordan Zimmerman on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 19, with right elbow discomfort.
Zimmerman has struggled recently, allowing 13 runs — nine earned — in his last three starts spanning 15 2/3 innings. He is 3-5 with a 4.63 ERA in 16 starts for Washington. No word yet on how much time he’s expected to miss.

Jose Guillen left Wednesday’s game against the Angels in the second inning with what a club official called “sudden right leg pain.”
Guillen was taken to a nearby hospital. Guillen played the first two innings in the field but exited prior to his at-bat in the bottom of the second. He has been battling a sore groin for weeks and has said it affects his running. Ryan Freel replaced Guillen as a pinch-hitter and took over in right.

Kevin Slowey (wrist) will begin a rehab assignment by starting for Triple-A Rochester on Saturday.
Slowey threw another bullpen session on Wednesday and then caught a plane to Rochester. He has been battling wrist soreness all year. It’s probable that Slowey will have to make more than one start for Rochester, which pushes his ETA back to August. Slowey was 10-3 with a 4.86 ERA prior to hitting the shelf.

Manny Ramirez was out of Wednesday’s lineup with a sore left hand.
Ramirez was hit on the left hand by a Homer Bailey pitch during Tuesday’s game. X-rays were negative, but Man-Ram is being rested for precautionary reasons. “It was real sore,” Ramirez said. “I was worried, but thank God the X-ray came up negative.” Juan Pierre replaced him in the lineup.

Bobby Jenks will remain the White Sox closer “until he can’t do it anymore,” according to manager Ozzie Guillen.
“He’s my closer and if people don’t want him to be my closer, don’t come to the God damn game,” Guillen said. Well, OK then. Pitching coach Don Cooper said Jenks has a slight mechanical problem with his balance. The pair worked on the problem on Wednesday. Jenks has allowed at least one run in four of his last five appearances. Said Jenks: “It’s been frustrating more than anything, knowing I’m 100 percent healthy and going out there and not seeing the results with the way I feel. I think that’s the biggest thing for me right now, just trying to get past the frustration, trying to do the little things on the side to get back to where I was.”

Cardinals acquired shortstop Julio Lugo from the Red Sox for outfielder Chris Duncan and a player to be named.
The Red Sox designated Lugo for assignment last week and were able to find a willing trade partner. Lugo will split time with Brendan Ryan at shortstop in St. Louis. Lugo hit .251 with 10 homers and 103 RBI in 266 games for the Red Sox after signing a four-year, $36-million contract prior to the 2007 season. Boston will reportedly foot the $13.5 million bill for the rest of Lugo’s contract.

Glen Perkins informed the training staff that he’s having problems with his shoulder when he warms up, reports La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Maybe this explains why Perkins was rocked for eight runs in one-plus innings against the A’s earlier in the day, although he claims he feels fine once he is warmed up. Perkins will join teammate Joe Crede for a visit to Dr. Lewis Yocum on Thursday. Stay tuned. A DL stint would potentially save Anthony Swarzak’s spot in the rotation when Kevin Slowey returns from the DL.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
NYA     6  BAL     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     2  TOR     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB      3  CHA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     9  SEA     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     8  KC      5    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA    10  KC      2    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     3  OAK     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     4  BOS     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL     8  SF      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     4  CHN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     4  NYN     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU    11  STL     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     2  PIT     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     6  COL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN    12  CIN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     3  SD      2    (Recap and Boxscore)

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

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves, 1:10 PM
  (L) Barry Zito (5-10) vs. (R) Kenshin Kawakami (5-7)
 San Diego Padres at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (R) Kevin Correia (6-7) vs. (L) Cole Hamels (5-5)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (R) Adam Wainwright (10-6) vs. (R) Jordan Zimmermann (3-5)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (R) Charlie Morton (2-2) vs. (R) Dan Haren (10-5)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Cleveland Indians at Toronto Blue Jays, 12:37 PM
  (L) David Huff (4-4) vs. (L) Marc Rzepczynski (1-1)
 Seattle Mariners at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM
  (L) Jarrod Washburn (7-6) vs. (L) Lucas French (1-0)
 Tampa Bay Rays at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 PM
  (L) Scott Kazmir (4-5) vs. (L) Mark Buehrle (10-3)
 Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (R) Vin Mazzaro (2-6) vs. (L) CC Sabathia (9-6)
 Minnesota Twins at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (R) Scott Baker (8-7) vs. (R) Jered Weaver (10-3)

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     56  37 .602    0.0   53     3    
BOS     55  38 .591    1.0   54     1    
TB      52  42 .553    4.5   55    -3    
TOR     46  48 .489   10.5   50    -4    
BAL     41  52 .441   15.0   41     0    
American League Central     
DET     49  42 .538    0.0   49     0    
CHA     48  45 .516    2.0   46     2    
MIN     48  46 .511    2.5   50    -2    
KC      37  56 .398   13.0   37     0    
CLE     37  57 .394   13.5   42    -5    
American League West        
LAA     54  38 .587    0.0   51     3    
TEX     51  41 .554    3.0   50     1    
SEA     49  44 .527    5.5   45     4    
OAK     39  53 .424   15.0   41    -2    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     53  38 .582    0.0   52     1    
ATL     48  46 .511    6.5   50    -2    
FLA     48  47 .505    7.0   45     3    
NYN     44  49 .473   10.0   41     3    
WAS     27  66 .290   27.0   35    -8    
National League Central     
STL     51  45 .531    0.0   51     0    
CHN     47  45 .511    2.0   47     0    
HOU     48  46 .511    2.0   45     3    
MIL     48  46 .511    2.0   46     2    
CIN     44  49 .473    5.5   40     4    
PIT     41  52 .441    8.5   46    -5    
National League West        
LAN     60  34 .638    0.0   58     2    
COL     51  43 .543    9.0   52    -1    
SF      50  43 .538    9.5   50     0    
ARI     40  54 .426   20.0   42    -2    
SD      37  57 .394   23.0   34     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            AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes
SEA AAA Jeff Clement...... 5  4  4  0  0  0  0  
CHC A+  Starlin Castro.... 5  2  1  0  0  2  1  4 SB
TOR A+  Moises Sierra..... 3  3  2  0  0  2  0  4 RBI
ARI AAA Brandon Allen..... 4  2  0  0  2  0  1  4 RBI
PHI A   Travis D'Arnaud... 3  2  0  0  1  2  0  
ARI A   Marc Krauss....... 5  2  1  0  1  0  1  
TB  A   Timothy Beckham... 5  4  0  0  1  0  0  4 RBI
ATL AA  F. Freeman........ 4  2  1  0  1  0  1  
OAK AA  Josh Donaldson.... 4  2  2  0  0  1  1  4 RBI
PIT A   Robbie Grossman... 5  3  1  0  0  0  1  
BAL A+  Pedro Florimon.... 3  1  0  0  1  2  0  
SF  A+  Roger Kieschnick.. 5  2  2  0  0  0  2  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
BOS AA  Felix Doubront.... 7  4  0  0 10  0  0  
PIT AAA Tom Gorzelanny.... 6  4  1  0  9  1  0  
NYY A-  Arodys Vizcaino... 5  4  1  0  9  0  0  
PHI AA  Kyle Drabek....... 8  6  2  2  7  1  0  14 GB
STL AA  Lance Lynn........ 7  5  1  0  7  1  0  
CHW A   Dexter Carter..... 6  5  0  0  9  2  0  
TB  AAA Wade Davis........ 7  3  1  1  9  4  1  
TOR A   H. Alvarez........ 5  2  0  0  4  0  0  
ATL A   Randall Delgado... 7  5  2  2  5  0  1  
SF  AA  M. Bumgarner...... 7  3  1  1  4  0  1  
MIL A+  Mark Rogers....... 4  2  0  0  4  0  0  
TOR A+  Tim Collins....... 3  0  0  0  4  1  0

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Pick A TeamARIATLBALBOSCHACHNCINCLECOLDETFLAHOUKCLAALANMILMINNYANYNOAKPHIPITSDSEASFSTLTBTEXTORWAS