THT Daily: The Circle of Baseball

Major League News for September 13

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

Yesterday’s Results

American League
BOS     6  BAL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA    12  TB      4    (Recap and Boxscore) Abreu: 6 RBI in 1st inning; Matsui: 4 for 4
KC      5  CLE     3    (Recap and Boxscore) German: 4-4, 2 2B, 3B; Royals fight each other
DET     3  TEX     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Guillen: GW HR in 9th
MIN     7  OAK     5    (Recap and Boxscore) MIN: 4 in 8th to win
LAA     4  CHA     3    (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings
SEA     4  TOR     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
NYN     6  FLA     4    (Recap and Boxscore) Perez: 5 IP, 11 K; Mets: 6 R last 3 innings
CHN     9  LAN     8    (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings; CHN pen: 7.1 IP, 0 ER
CIN     5  SD      4    (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings; LaRue: GW HR
STL     6  HOU     5    (Recap and Boxscore) STL: 2 in 9th on Pujols’ GW 2B
WAS     5  ARI     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF     10  COL     6    (Recap and Boxscore) SF: Now 1.5 games behind wildcard lead

Today’s Games

Visitors                            Home                                Starts
MIL - Capuano C.* (11-10, 3.49)     PIT - Snell I. (12-10, 4.88)         12:35
OAK - Haren D. (13-11, 3.95)        MIN - Liriano F.* (12-3, 2.19)        1:10
HOU - Oswalt R. (12-8, 3.15)        STL - Marquis J. (14-14, 5.66)        2:10
CWS - Garcia F. (13-9, 5.02)        LAA - Saunders J.* (5-2, 3.76)        3:35
PHI - Wolf R.* (3-0, 4.97)          ATL - Davies K. (2-5, 7.56)           4:05
MIL - Sheets B. (4-6, 4.38)         PIT - Chacon S. (1-2, 6.33)           4:05
TOR - Burnett A. (7-7, 4.19)        SEA - Baek C. (3-0, 2.22)             4:35
WAS - Armas T. (8-10, 5.14)         ARI - Hernandez L. (11-12, 5.10)      6:40
KC - De La Rosa J.* (2-2, 5.57)     CLE - Westbrook J. (12-9, 4.22)       7:05
NYM - Glavine T.* (13-6, 3.98)      FLA - Olsen S.* (12-8, 4.01)          7:05
TB - Hammel J. (0-2, 5.61)          NYY - Lidle C. (3-3, 4.81)            7:05
BOS - Wakefield T. (7-8, 4.14)      BAL - Bedard E.* (13-9, 3.91)         7:05
TEX - Millwood K. (14-10, 4.49)     DET - Verlander J. (16-7, 3.19)       7:05
SD - Peavy J. (8-14, 4.31)          CIN - Lohse K. (2-2, 2.96)            7:10
PHI - Lieber J. (7-9, 4.99)         ATL - Hudson T. (12-10, 4.85)         7:35
LAD - Penny B. (15-8, 4.21)         CHC - Guzman A. (0-5, 7.53)           8:05
COL - Jennings J. (7-12, 3.48)      SF - Lowry N.* (7-8, 4.00)           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     87  56 .608    0.0   85      2      
BOS     77  67 .535   10.5   72      5      
TOR     75  70 .517   13.0   75      0      
BAL     62  82 .431   25.5   62      0      
TB      57  87 .396   30.5   58     -1      
American League Central
DET     87  58 .600    0.0   86      1      
MIN     85  59 .590    1.5   81      4      
CHA     83  62 .572    4.0   82      1      
CLE     68  75 .476   18.0   79     -11     
KC      55  90 .379   32.0   55      0      
American League West
OAK     82  62 .569    0.0   76      6      
LAA     78  67 .538    4.5   75      3      
TEX     73  72 .503    9.5   76     -3      
SEA     69  75 .479   13.0   69      0      

National League East         Pwins Diff
NYN     89  55 .618    0.0   83      6      
PHI     72  71 .503   16.5   74     -2      
FLA     73  72 .503   16.5   73      0      
ATL     69  74 .483   19.5   73     -4      
WAS     63  82 .434   26.5   62      1      
National League Central
STL     77  67 .535    0.0   73      4      
CIN     72  72 .500    5.0   70      2      
HOU     70  74 .486    7.0   72     -2      
MIL     65  79 .451   12.0   63      2      
PIT     59  86 .407   18.5   62     -3      
CHN     58  87 .400   19.5   60     -2      
National League West
LAN     76  68 .528    0.0   77     -1      
SD      74  69 .517    1.5   73      1      
SF      73  71 .507    3.0   73      0      
ARI     68  77 .469    8.5   71     -3      
COL     67  77 .465    9.0   72     -5      

Wildcard Standings
American League
MIN     85  59 .590    0.0
CHA     83  62 .572    2.5
LAA     78  67 .538    7.5
BOS     77  67 .535    8.0
TOR     75  70 .517   10.5
National League
SD      74  69 .517    0.0
SF      73  71 .507    1.5
PHI     72  71 .503    2.0
FLA     73  72 .503    2.0
CIN     72  72 .500    2.5

Game of the Day

The Tigers regained some momentum by beating the Rangers, 3-2, on Carlos Guillen’s rain-drenched home run in the bottom of the ninth. The Twins kept up the heat, scoring four in the eighth to beat the A’s 7-5 in Oakland, while the Angels beat the White Sox in extra innings to pull closer to the A’s. And that was just the American League.

Craig Monroe had three outfield assists in the Tigers’ triumph.

TEXAS (2) VS DETROIT (3) - FINAL

TEXAS                  ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
G Matthews Jr cf        4  0  2  1   0  0   0  .307
M Young ss              4  1  2  1   0  0   1  .315
M Teixeira 1b           4  0  0  0   0  1   1  .274
C Lee lf                4  0  3  0   0  0   0  .328
M DeRosa 3b             3  0  0  0   1  0   3  .312
H Blalock dh            4  0  1  0   0  1   0  .272
G Laird c               4  1  2  0   0  1   0  .328
I Kinsler 2b            2  0  0  0   1  0   1  .285
N Cruz rf               3  0  0  0   0  0   0  .200

Totals                 32  2 10  2   2  3   6

BATTING: HR - M Young (13, 4th inning off K Rogers 0 on, 1 Out). RBI - M Young 
(90), G Matthews Jr (71). 2-out RBI - G Matthews Jr. Runners left in scoring 
position, 2 out - M DeRosa 1. GIDP - M Young, I Kinsler. Team LOB - 5. 
 
FIELDING: E - M Young (13, throw); G Laird (6, throw). Outfield assists - N 
Cruz (C Monroe at 2nd base). DP: 2 (N Cruz-M Young, M DeRosa-I Kinsler-M 
Teixeira). 
 
DETROIT                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
C Granderson cf         3  0  0  0   1  0   2  .260
I Rodriguez c           4  0  0  0   0  0   1  .296
C Monroe lf             3  0  0  0   1  0   1  .263
M Ordonez rf            3  0  1  0   0  0   2  .293
C Guillen ss            4  2  2  2   0  2   3  .310
S Casey 1b              3  0  0  0   0  0   2  .224
M Thames dh             3  1  1  1   0  1   0  .258
B Inge 3b               3  0  1  0   0  0   0  .246
O Infante 2b            3  0  1  0   0  0   0  .291

Totals                 29  3  6  3   2  3  11

BATTING: 2B - B Inge (28, V Padilla). HR - C Guillen 2 (19, 2nd inning off V 
Padilla 0 on, 0 Out, 9th inning off R Mahay 0 on, 0 Out), M Thames (26, 7th 
inning off V Padilla 0 on, 1 Out). RBI - C Guillen 2 (75), M Thames (58). 
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C Granderson 2. GIDP - M Ordonez. 
Team LOB - 5. 
 
FIELDING: Outfield assists - C Monroe 3 (C Lee at 2nd base, C Lee at Home, I 
Kinsler at Home). DP: 3 (C Guillen-O Infante-S Casey, C Monroe-O Infante, O 
Infante-C Guillen-S Casey). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    TEXAS           - 000 100 100   --   2
    DETROIT         - 010 000 101   --   3

No outs when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------

TEXAS                        ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
V Padilla                     7       5   2   2   1   3   2   4.44
W Littleton                   1       0   0   0   1   0   0   1.80
R Mahay (L, 1-3)              0       1   1   1   0   0   1   4.03

DETROIT                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
K Rogers                      7      10   2   2   2   2   1   3.86
F Rodney (W, 7-3)             2       0   0   0   0   1   0   3.09

R Mahay pitched to 1 batter in the 9th.

HBP - M Ordonez (by V Padilla). Pitches-strikes: V Padilla 105-67; W 
Littleton 13-5; R Mahay 6-3; K Rogers 95-60; F Rodney 24-16. Ground balls-fly 
balls: V Padilla 12-5; W Littleton 3-0; R Mahay 0-0; K Rogers 10-6; F Rodney 
4-1. Batters faced: V Padilla 28; W Littleton 3; R Mahay 1; K Rogers 28; F 
Rodney 6. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Marvin Hudson. 1B--Jerry Layne. 2B--Bob Davidson. 3B--Mark 
Wegner. 

T--2:25. (Plus rain delay totaling 25 minutes in the 1st). Att--24,196. 

Weather: 65 degrees, rain. Wind: 6 mph, in from center.

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

Hitter                      Pitcher                      True Dist Std. Dist.  HR #
Piazza, Mike        SD      Milton, Eric        CIN         451        464      21
Aurilia, Rich       CIN     Young, Chris        SD          418        433      22
Burke, Chris        HOU     Weaver, Jeff        STL         416        433       9
Wilson, Preston     STL     Pettitte, Andy      HOU         422        430      15
Delgado, Carlos     NYM     Tankersley, Taylor  FLA         419        429      38
Ibanez, Raul        SEA     Marcum, Shaun       TOR         418        428      27
Furcal, Rafael      LAD     Marshall, Sean      CHC         419        421      11
Willingham, Josh    FLA     Perez, Oliver       NYM         412        417      24
Young, Michael      TEX     Rogers, Kenny       DET         391        406      13
Guillen, Carlos     DET     Mahay, Ron          TEX         394        405      19
Beltre, Adrian      SEA     Marcum, Shaun       TOR         399        404      17
Lamb, Mike          HOU     Weaver, Jeff        STL         415        400      12
Hudson, Orlando     ARI     O'Connor, Michael   WAS         408        398      14
Wells, Vernon       TOR     Meche, Gil          SEA         389        394      32
Chavez, Eric        OAK     Guerrier, Matt      MIN         395        390      19
Abreu, Bobby        NYY     Corcoran, Tim       TB          392        390      11
Winn, Randy         SF      Affeldt, Jeremy     COL         389        386      11
Johnson, Dan        OAK     Eyre, Willie        MIN         391        385       9
Thames, Marcus      DET     Padilla, Vicente    TEX         372        381      26
Guillen, Carlos     DET     Padilla, Vicente    TEX         367        378      18
Johnson, Nick       WAS     Batista, Miguel     ARI         382        371      22
Iannetta, Chris     COL     Sanchez, Jonathan   SF          378        370       1
LaRue, Jason        CIN     Brocail, Doug       SD          366        368       8
Rivera, Juan        LAA     Buehrle, Mark       CWS         385        366      22
Hernandez, Ramon    BAL     Timlin, Mike        BOS         372        358      20

Player News

Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.

In the National League, the Giants were big winners. Not only did they earn a 10-6 win over the Rockies — after having trailed by four runs early — but the two teams ahead of them in the NL West, the Dodgers and the Padres, both blew leads in one-run losses. And the Marlins, a wild-card rival that had started the night with the same record as the Giants, blew a four-run lead in a loss to the Mets. In fact, in all six National League games played on Tuesday night, the winning team overcame a significant deficit — either a deficit of at least three runs or a deficit in the eighth inning or later.

Albert Pujols smashed a game-winning two-run double off Brad Lidge in the ninth inning of the Cardinals’ 6-5 win over the Astros. It was his fourth walk-off RBI of the season (one behind David Ortiz’s major league-leading total of five), and his 10th over the past four years (second in the majors to Ortiz’s total of 12). It was the 23rd game-winning RBI for Pujols this season, five more than anyone else has.

A seven-run lead wasn’t enough for the Dodgers, who let one get away as the Cubs won, 9-8, in 11 innings. According to Elias, it had been eight years to the day since the Dodgers last lost a game in which they had held a lead of seven-or-more runs; they lost, 8-7, at San Diego on Sept. 12, 1998.

It was an exciting win for the Cubs, who hadn’t exactly covered themselves in glory earlier in the evening. They committed six errors and became the first major-league team to win a game despite so many errors since the Giants were charged with six errors in a 6-5 win at Montreal on April 29, 1999. (Source: Elias)

The Met’s victory eliminated the Braves from contention for the NL East division title — ending Atlanta’s streak of 14 consecutive division titles, the longest in the history of major pro sports in North America.

Bobby Abreu hit a three-run homer and a three-run double in a nine-run first inning and finished with a career-high seven RBI on Tuesday night in the New York Yankees’ 12-4 laugher over Tampa Bay.

In his first game since breaking his left wrist on May 11, Hideki Matsui was 4-for-4 with four singles and a walk in Tuesday’s game against the Devil Rays, tying his major league career-best for hits in a game.

Mike Mussina (14-6) pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings in Tuesday’s game against the Devil Rays to win for the first time in six starts.

The Cardinals got to Brad Lidge, who blew his sixth save in 37 chances on Tuesday, for the third time this season. Lidge (1-5) had a blown save and a loss against St. Louis in the last two games before the All-Star break.

Andy Pettitte (ankle) was removed from Tuesday’s start against the Cardinals due to an injury to his left elbow. The team said Pettitte had a flexor muscle strain and is considered day to day.

Kason Gabbard was removed in the fifth inning in Tuesday’s start at Baltimore due to tightness in his left side. He was replaced by reliever Craig Hansen.

Eric Milton left Tuesday’s game against the Padres after five innings due to a stiff left elbow. The bullpen failed to hold a 3-1 lead, the third time in Milton’s past five starts that it cost him a victory.

Jeremy Sowers (7-4) gave up four runs and seven hits over five innings in Tuesday’s start against the Royals. It was his first loss since July 16 and final start of the season. The 23-year-old rookie is being shut down to avoid too much work after pitching a combined 185 2/3 innings between Triple-A Buffalo and Cleveland.

Oliver Perez struck out a season-high 11 in five innings on Tuesday at Florida, allowing five hits and four runs. Rain delayed the start by 46 minutes, then interrupted play for another 82 minutes in the second inning — after the Marlins built a 2-0 lead on Helms’ two-run, two-out double in the first. Perez returned and struck out eight after the delay.

Francisco Rodriguez walked Paul Konerko with one out in the ninth in Tuesday’s game against the White Sox, and pinch-runner Jerry Owens advanced to third on a line drive by A.J. Pierzynski that fooled right fielder Vladimir Guerrero and sailed over his head for a single. But Joe Crede struck out and Rob Mackowiak grounded out on K-Rod’s 24th pitch of the inning, extending the right-hander’s scoreless streak to 29 1/3 innings.

Arizona’s Luis Gonzalez became the oldest player to hit 50 doubles in a season with a shot to the left-center gap off Nationals starter Jason Bergmann leading off the third inning on Tuesday.

Derek Jeter batted in each of the first four innings in Tuesday’s game against the Devil Rays without getting an official at-bat: He had three walks and was hit by a pitch. He didn’t bat again, and his career-high 21-game hitting streak remained intact.

Gil Meche kept the Blue Jays hitless through three innings on Tuesday against the Mariners. He gave up a single to Aaron Hill to start the fourth, followed by Vernon Wells’ homer to left field. Meche worked out a two-out bases loaded jam in the fifth, and was pulled with one out in the sixth after giving up singles to Lyle Overbay and Bengie Molina. Meche threw only 91 pitches, striking out seven and walking two.

Justin Morneau’s two-run double turned a one-run deficit into a one-run lead in the midst of an eighth-inning rally that left the Twins a 7-5 winner over the A’s. It was Morneau’s 18th game-winning RBI of the season, tying Alex Rodriguez for the American League lead, and the eighth one of them that came in the eighth inning or later, the most in the majors.

Frank Thomas went 0-for-4 in Tuesday’s game at Minnesota to snap a string of six straight games with a homer. It was a franchise record and a personal best for Thomas.

After striking out Ryan Garko with two runners on to end the third inning in Tuesday’s game at Cleveland, Runelvys Hernandez (6-9) jogged to the dugout, pointed at catcher John Buck and began yelling. The players charged each other and began throwing punches before being separated by teammates and coaches. Both players remained in the game, and Hernandez allowed three runs over five innings to earn the win.

Esteban German went 4-for-4 and scored three times in Tuesday’s game at Cleveland. German is batting .351 (39-for-111) in his last 43 gamesk.

Kansas City’s Joe Nelson picked up his seventh save of the season on Tuesday night at Cleveland, working a scoreless ninth inning.

Tuesday’s game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves was rained out and has been rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates was rained out and has been rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on Wednesday.

Joel Zumaya has a sprained right wrist and won’t be available until at least Friday. Team trainer Kevin Rand said Tuesday that Zumaya has tendinitis. A doctor gave him a cortisone shot Monday.

Brad Radke, out with a stress fracture in his pitching shoulder, threw before Tuesday’s game against the Athletics. It was the first time he has been able to throw in two weeks. He said the session was pain-free and better than expected.

Cardinals.mlb.com reports Mark Mulder (shoulder) had successful arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder on Tuesday. He will require approximately 10-12 weeks of rehabilitation time.

Indians DH Travis Hafner had his broken right hand re-examined on Monday and said doctors told him he will not need surgery.

Closer Mariano Rivera said if all goes well when he plays catch Wednesday, he could throw bullpen sessions Friday and Saturday. Rivera hasn’t pitched since Aug. 31 because of a muscle strain near his right elbow. Kyle Farnsworth will serve as a the Yankees’ closer through the weekend, a eight-game week for the Yankees.

Gary Sheffield took BP with the Yankees before Tuesday’s game, and manager Joe Torre said Sheffield could return to the lineup late this week. Sheffield had surgery June 13 to repair a torn ligament and dislocated tendon in his left wrist, which he injured April 29 during a collision with Shea Hillenbrand during a game against Toronto.

Washington second baseman Jose Vidro sought out manager Frank Robinson recently. Vidro wanted Robinson to know that he was no longer bothered by the hamstring injury that sidelined him for a month. “The season’s not over until the last game,” Vidro said. “I told Frank the other day I want to finish strong and I want you to play me more often now. He listened and I’m glad he did.” Vidro drove in four runs to help the Nationals edge the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-6 on Monday night. He went 2-for-4 with his 23rd double.

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