THT Daily: Tigers beat Twins

Major League News for September 8

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

Yesterday’s Results

American League
CLE     9  CHA     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Lee: 6 IP, 1 R
DET     7  MIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Verlander: 7 IP, 1 R

National League
PHI    14  FLA     8    (Recap and Boxscore) Howard: HR 54; Cabrera: 4-5, HR
NYN     7  LAN     0    (Recap and Boxscore) Glavine: 6.1 IP, 0 R; Green: 2 2B
PIT     7  CHN     5    (Recap and Boxscore) Duffy: 2 HR
STL     6  ARI     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Spiezio: 2 HR
COL    10  WAS     5    (Recap and Boxscore) Cook: 7 IP, 3 R

Today’s Games

Visitors                        Home                              Starts
KC - Perez O.* (1-3, 5.85)      BOS - Jarvis K. (0-1, 3.60)         7:05
CHC - Guzman A. (0-4, 7.05)     ATL - Hudson T. (11-10, 4.95)       7:05
NYY - Lidle C. (3-2, 3.38)      BAL - Bedard E.* (12-9, 3.94)       7:05
PIT - Snell I. (12-9, 4.83)     CIN - Lohse K. (1-2, 3.26)          7:10
LAD - Kuo H.* (0-4, 5.34)       NYM - Maine J. (5-3, 3.44)          7:10
OAK - Haren D. (12-11, 3.88)    TB - Shields J. (6-6, 4.38)         7:15
PHI - Moyer J.* (1-1, 5.12)     FLA - Olsen S.* (12-7, 4.04)        7:35
HOU - Oswalt R. (11-8, 3.12)    MIL - Sheets B. (4-6, 4.54)         8:05
DET - Ledezma W.* (2-2, 2.38)   MIN - Garza M. (1-4, 5.88)          8:10
CLE - Byrd P. (9-7, 4.78)       CWS - Garcia F. (13-9, 5.10)        8:35
WAS - Armas T. (8-10, 5.23)     COL - Kim B. (8-10, 5.35)           9:05
STL - Reyes A. (5-6, 4.31)      ARI - Hernandez L. (10-12, 5.24)    9:40
TOR - Burnett A. (7-6, 4.22)    LAA - Saunders J.* (4-2, 4.20)     10:05
TEX - Millwood K. (14-9, 4.49)  SEA - Baek C. (2-0, 3.12)          10:05
SD - Peavy J. (8-13, 4.32)      SF - Cain M. (11-9, 4.11)          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     83  55 .601    0.0   82      1      
BOS     75  65 .536    9.0   70      5      
TOR     73  67 .521   11.0   73      0      
BAL     61  78 .439   22.5   60      1      
TB      56  84 .400   28.0   57     -1      
American League Central
DET     86  55 .610    0.0   85      1      
MIN     80  59 .576    5.0   77      3      
CHA     80  60 .571    5.5   79      1      
CLE     67  72 .482   18.0   77     -10     
KC      52  89 .369   34.0   53     -1      
American League West
OAK     80  59 .576    0.0   74      6      
LAA     75  65 .536    5.5   73      2      
TEX     72  69 .511    9.0   74     -2      
SEA     66  73 .475   14.0   67     -1      

National League East         Pwins Diff
NYN     87  52 .626    0.0   83      4      
PHI     71  69 .507   16.5   72     -1      
FLA     70  70 .500   17.5   70      0      
ATL     66  73 .475   21.0   71     -5      
WAS     61  79 .436   26.5   60      1      
National League Central
STL     75  64 .540    0.0   71      4      
CIN     69  71 .493    6.5   67      2      
HOU     68  71 .489    7.0   70     -2      
MIL     64  76 .457   11.5   61      3      
PIT     57  84 .404   19.0   61     -4      
CHN     56  84 .400   19.5   57     -1      
National League West
LAN     74  66 .529    0.0   74      0      
SD      73  66 .525    0.5   71      2      
SF      70  70 .500    4.0   70      0      
ARI     65  75 .464    9.0   67     -2      
COL     64  76 .457   10.0   69     -5      

Wildcard Standings
American League
MIN     80  59 .576    0.0
CHA     80  60 .571    0.5
BOS     75  65 .536    5.5
LAA     75  65 .536    5.5
TOR     73  67 .521    7.5
National League
SD      73  66 .525    0.0
PHI     71  69 .507    2.5
FLA     70  70 .500    3.5
SF      70  70 .500    3.5
CIN     69  71 .493    4.5

Game of the Day

Not many games yesterday, but there was a crucial matchup in the American League Central, in which the Tigers beat the Twins 7-2 in Minnesota. Justin Verlander improved his record to 16-7. Over the last 75 years, the only other Tigers rookie to win 16 or more games was Mark Fidrych (19-9 in 1976).

DETROIT (7) VS MINNESOTA (2) - FINAL

DETROIT                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
C Granderson cf         5  2  2  1   0  2   1  .261
I Rodriguez c           5  2  2  1   0  0   0  .295
C Monroe lf             4  0  1  2   0  1   0  .269
M Ordonez rf            4  0  0  0   0  0   1  .289
S Casey 1b              4  1  1  0   0  0   1  .237
M Thames dh             4  1  2  2   0  1   0  .267
B Inge 3b               4  0  1  0   0  0   1  .248
O Infante 2b            4  1  3  1   0  0   1  .290
N Perez ss              4  0  0  0   0  0   1  .150

Totals                 38  7 12  7   0  4   6

BATTING: 2B - O Infante (10, S Baker); B Inge (26, M Guerrier). HR - C 
Granderson (14, 1st inning off S Baker 0 on, 0 Out), M Thames (25, 2nd inning 
off S Baker 1 on, 0 Out), I Rodriguez (11, 7th inning off M Guerrier 0 on, 1 
Out), O Infante (4, 9th inning off M Guerrier 0 on, 0 Out). RBI - C Granderson 
(57), M Thames 2 (57), C Monroe 2 (80), I Rodriguez (58), O Infante (21). 
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - N Perez 1, C Granderson 1. Team LOB - 
4. 
 
FIELDING: E - O Infante (4, throw). DP: 3 (N Perez-S Casey, N Perez-O 
Infante-S Casey 2). 
 
MINNESOTA              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
L Castillo 2b           4  0  2  0   0  1   0  .298
N Punto 3b              4  0  1  0   0  1   1  .292
J Mauer c               4  0  1  0   0  2   2  .344
M Cuddyer rf            4  2  2  1   0  0   1  .275
J Morneau 1b            2  0  0  0   2  0   1  .317
T Hunter cf             4  0  1  1   0  0   2  .267
R White lf              4  0  1  0   0  1   2  .222
J Tyner dh              4  0  2  0   0  0   2  .310
J Bartlett ss           3  0  0  0   0  1   3  .336

Totals                 33  2 10  2   2  6  14

BATTING: HR - M Cuddyer (21, 7th inning off J Verlander 0 on, 0 Out). RBI - M 
Cuddyer (93), T Hunter (72). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J 
Bartlett 1, J Mauer 1. GIDP - J Tyner, T Hunter, J Bartlett. Team LOB - 6. 
 
BASERUNNING: Picked Off - L Castillo (1st base, J Verlander). 
 
FIELDING: Outfield assists - M Cuddyer (B Inge at 3rd base). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    DETROIT         - 120 020 101   --   7
    MINNESOTA       - 000 000 101   --   2
----------------------------------------------------

DETROIT                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Verlander (W, 16-7)         7       8   1   1   2   5   1   3.19
F Rodney                      1       0   0   0   0   1   0   3.19
T Jones                       1       2   1   0   0   0   0   4.47

MINNESOTA                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
S Baker (L, 4-8)              5       9   5   5   0   2   2   6.72
M Guerrier                    4       3   2   2   0   2   2   3.04

WP - T Jones. Pitches-strikes: J Verlander 107-70; F Rodney 17-10; T Jones 
18-13; S Baker 75-49; M Guerrier 49-35. Ground balls-fly balls: J Verlander 
12-3; F Rodney 2-0; T Jones 1-2; S Baker 6-6; M Guerrier 7-3. Batters faced: J 
Verlander 27; F Rodney 3; T Jones 5; S Baker 23; M Guerrier 15. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Larry Vanover. 1B--Greg Gibson. 2B--Paul Nauert. 3B--Charlie 
Reliford. 

T--2:33. Att--21,229. 
Weather: INDOORS

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.

During a 7-5 Pirates win at Wrigley Field over the Cubs, no less than three hitters launched their first home runs of 2006, including two who connected for the first time in their ML career:
* Pittsburgh’s Chris Duffy hit his first two homers of the season, and the second and third of his career overall, covering 398 and 417 feet.
* Chicago pitcher Carlos Marmol hit his first career homer, a 391 foot shot to left field.
* Cubs infielder Scott Moore also hit his first career homer, which interestingly also traveled 391 feet, but to left-center field.

Hitter                      Pitcher                       True Dist Std. Dist. HR #
Cuddyer, Michael    MIN     Verlander, Justin   DET          438       432      21
Valentin, Jose      NYM     Penny, Brad         LAD          423       431      15
Jacobs, Mike        FLA     Lieber, Jon         PHI          415       426      19
Rodriguez, Ivan     DET     Guerrier, Matt      MIN          429       423      11
Thames, Marcus      DET     Baker, Scott        MIN          420       413      25
Granderson, Curtis  DET     Baker, Scott        MIN          418       413      14
Howard, Ryan        PHI     Johnson, Josh       FLA          406       407      54
Reyes, Jose         NYM     Penny, Brad         LAD          406       405      18
Conine, Jeff        PHI     Petit, Yusmeiro     FLA          404       403      10
Johnson, Nick       WAS     Cook, Aaron         COL          431       401      20
Spiezio, Scott      STL     Julio, Jorge        ARI          400       392      11
Cabrera, Miguel     FLA     Lieber, Jon         PHI          398       392      25
Coste, Chris        PHI     Pinto, Renyel       FLA          395       392       6
Duffy, Chris        PIT     Eyre, Scott         CHC          417       390       2
Willingham, Josh    FLA     White, Rick         PHI          383       381      22
Spiezio, Scott      STL     Batista, Miguel     ARI          389       380      10
Gonzalez, Luis      ARI     Weaver, Jeff        STL          386       376      15
Utley, Chase        PHI     Messenger, Randy    FLA          376       371      26
Duffy, Chris        PIT     Marshall, Sean      CHC          398       369       1
Moore, Scott        CHC     Chacon, Shawn       PIT          391       368       1
Martinez, Victor    CLE     Buehrle, Mark       CWS          381       366      14
Ramirez, Aramis     CHC     Chacon, Shawn       PIT          386       364      32
Marmol, Carlos      CHC     Chacon, Shawn       PIT          391       363       1
Holliday, Matt      COL     Bergmann, Jason     WAS          387       362      26
Infante, Omar       DET     Guerrier, Matt      MIN          368       362       4
Nady, Xavier        PIT     Dempster, Ryan      CHC          378       355      16
Sizemore, Grady     CLE     Buehrle, Mark       CWS          367       353      23

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
BOS A-  Jonathan Still     DH  4  3  1  0  0  0  0   
DET A-  Brennan Boesch     CF  5  3  0  1  0  0  2   
FLA A-  C. Coghlan         3B  3  2  1  0  0  1  0   
FLA A-  John Raynor        DH  3  2  1  0  0  1  1  .56 OBP during past week
NYM A-  Dustin Martin      RF  6  5  2  0  0  0  0   
PIT A-  Alexander Presley  LF  3  2  1  0  0  0  1   
PIT A-  Albert Laboy       RF  4  3  0  0  0  0  0   
STL A-  Nathan Southard    LF  4  2  2  0  0  0  2   
TOR A-  Jonathan Baksh     LF  3  3  2  0  0  0  0   
TOR A-  Brian Jeroloman     C  3  2  1  0  0  0  0   
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
BOS A-  Kris Johnson       3.0  2  0  0  3  0  0   
CLE A-  Joshua Tomlin      6.0  3  0  0  2  1  0   
DET A-  Randor Bierd       7.0  2  1  1  5  1  0   
STL A-  Kyle Sadlowski     5.2  3  1  0  6  2  0   
TOR A-  Chris Reddout      3.0  1  0  0  2  0  0   
TOR A-  Brian Bull         2.0  0  0  0  2  0  0   

Player News

Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.

Chris Duffy hit his first two home runs of the season, including a tiebreaking shot in the ninth inning, as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Chicago Cubs 7-5 on Thursday. Duffy led off the ninth with a shot to center off Scott Eyre (0-2) for his second homer of the day. For the day, the center fielder went 4-for-4 with three RBI and two stolen bases and three runs scored.

Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui was 0-for-3 but walked and scored a run in a rehab assignment Thursday with the Trenton Thunder, who lost 10-3 to the Portland Sea Dogs to knot the Eastern League’s Northern Division championship series at a game apiece. Matsui, who was the designated hitter and batted cleanup for the second straight game, is now 1-for-6 in the series.

Jose Reyes flew around the bases for his first career inside-the-park home run as the Mets battered Brad Penny and the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-0 Thursday night. Reyes can do no wrong in the eyes of Mets fans, who are anticipating the team’s first NL East title since 1988. The shortstop dropped a popup in the seventh inning but still drew cheers from the crowd of 48,583.

The big ballpark in Queens is Brad Penny’s personal house of horrors: He fell to 1-8 at Shea and saw his ERA there rise to 6.75 in 10 career starts on Thursday night. Penny (15-8) gave up seven runs and 10 hits — including a home run to Jose Valentin and a pair of doubles to Shawn Green — in 5 2/3 innings.

Tom Glavine won for the first time in more than a month as the Mets battered Brad Penny and the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-0 Thursday night. Glavine (13-6) was sharp in his first Shea Stadium outing since Aug. 5, the date of his previous win and before a blood clot in his pitching arm sidelined him for two weeks. The left-hander worked into the seventh inning for the 14th time this season and combined on New York’s second straight shutout. He yielded five hits but no walks in 6 1/3 innings and earned his 288th major league victory — but just his fourth in 14 starts dating to June 18.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that Ray Durham’s legs are healthy and the minor correction in his batting stance is providing dividends. Much of his production has come with Barry Bonds in the lineup ahead of him. “I see more fastballs when he’s on first base,” said Durham. He’s hitting .452 (14-for-31) with four homers and 19 RBI after a walk to Bonds. “(Durham’s) one guy I really don’t want to take out of the lineup,” Manager Felipe Alou said.

It may look as though Joe Mauer and Derek Jeter are tied at .344 for the American League lead in batting average, but Mauer holds a fractional lead (.3444 to .3439). The difference between their batting averages is the equivalent of one hit over 1,981 at-bats. Mauer led Jeter by 26 points just two weeks ago (.361-.335 through August 24). Since then, Mauer has only six hits in 37 at-bats (.162), while Jeter is 21-for-49 (.429).

The Cardinals’ Jeff Weaver (3-4) gave up two runs and five hits in five innings for a win on Thursday at Arizona.

Cliff Lee gave up one run in six strong innings to lead the Cleveland Indians over the slumping Chicago White Sox 9-1 Thursday night. Lee (12-10), who retired the first 10 batters, gave up five hits.

Who needs Travis Hafner when you’ve got Ryan Garko? Garko went 3-for-3 with a pair of walks in the Indians’ 9-1 win at Chicago on Thursday night. According to Elias, the last Indians rookie to record a so-called “perfect day” at the plate in a game of at least five plate appearances was Brian Giles in 1996.

Mark Buehrle (12-12) gave up five runs — four earned — and 10 hits in four-plus innings in a loss on Thursday against Cleveland. The All-Star lefty dropped to 3-6 in the second half and is 0-3 in five starts against the Indians this season.

The Florida Marlins’ bid for back-to-back no-hitters ended in the first inning, and Ryan Howard’s 54th home run helped the Philadelphia Phillies rally for a 14-8 victory Thursday night. Howard hit his 10th homer in 15 games in the third inning.

Jon Lieber (7-9) won despite allowing first-inning homers to Miguel Cabrera and Mike Jacobs on Thursday at Florida. Lieber allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Phillies closer Tom Gordon, sidelined since Aug. 12 with a strained right shoulder, pitched the ninth inning on Thursday at Florida.

Jeremy Hermida may miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his right ankle, manager Joe Girardi said. Hermida, who last started Aug. 30, is wearing a protective boot and will be re-evaluated in a week.

Carlos Silva, who excused himself from Wednesday night’s start following six shutout innings because he had an upset stomach, apologized to the entire team for letting them down during the pennant race during an on-field meeting before Thursday’s batting practice. Though Silva pulled himself from starts twice before this season, once for fatigue and another time for a knee problem, manager Ron Gardenhire said he wasn’t worried about it. “He was a man about it, coming out and saying he wishes he would’ve stayed out there,” Gardenhire said. “That was good enough for all of us.”

The Twins still haven’t set a day for LHP Francisco Liriano’s minor league rehabilitation start, because it’s uncertain when their minor league affiliates will be playing postseason games.

After releasing veteran Dmitri Young following Wednesday night’s game, the Tigers started Marcus Thames at DH on Thursday. Leyland said Thames will probably fill that role the rest of the season.

The Colorado Rockies added five players Thursday, recalling outfielders Jeff Baker and Jeff Salazar and right-handed pitcher Denny Bautista from Colorado Springs and purchasing the contracts of left-handers Justin Hampson and Mike Venafro from the Triple-A team. “Jeff Baker will be given plenty of opportunity to play and not just against left-handed pitchers,” Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. “I like a lot of the things that Jeff Salazar does. He does need work on his bunting and base stealing.”

Washington Nationals outfielder Alex Escobar had surgery Thursday to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Escobar was hurt sliding back to a base Aug. 25 in Atlanta. He was placed on the 15-day DL the following day.

Reds closer Eddie Guardado was scheduled for surgery Friday to replace a torn ligament in his left elbow, an operation that likely will sideline him next season. In need of a closer, the Reds obtained the 35-year-old Guardado from Seattle in a trade July 6, the start of Cincinnati’s move to remake its bullpen. Guardado pitched well at the outset, but his elbow started bothering him soon after he arrived. He was 10-for-12 in save chances when he went on the disabled list Aug. 20. A test on Wednesday detected the torn ligament.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays left-hander Casey Fossum is scheduled to have surgery Friday on his injured throwing shoulder. The procedure to repair fraying of the rotator cuff and labrum will be done by Devil Rays team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Koco Eaton. “They’ll go in there and clean it up,” Fossum said. “I should be ready for spring training.” Fossum missed the first 5 1/2 weeks of the 2004 season after surgery on the shoulder the previous September. Dr. James Andrews reviewed Fossum’s test results.

Astros right-hander Brandon Backe underwent ligament replacement surgery on his pitching elbow Thursday, and his recovery is expected to last a year to 18 months. Backe twice sprained the ulnar collateral ligament this season. He decided to have season-ending surgery, which was performed by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.

The Rockies purchased the contract of LHP Mike Venafro from Triple-A Colorado Springs and transferred RHP Mike DeJean (shoulder) from the 15- to the 60-day DL.

The Astros recalled RHP Chris Sampson from Triple-A Round Rock of the PCL on Thursday.

The Cubs activated LHP Ryan O’Malley from the 15-day DL on Thursday.

The Reds outrighted LHP Michael Gosling to Triple-A Louisville on Thursday. He had been designated for assignment.

The Phillies recalled OF Michael Bourn from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Phillies also purchased the contract of C Tim Gradoville from Double-A Reading.

The Orioles purchased the contract of LHP Brian Burres from Triple-A Ottawa, adding him to the roster man roster as a September call-up.

The Astros activated RHP Fernando Nieve from the 15-day DL on Wednesday and optioned RHP Matt Albers to Triple-A Round Rock of the PCL.

Manager Terry Francona said the team will wait a while before deciding whether rookie closer Jonathan Papelbon will pitch again this season. “This needs to work its course with the medical people before we make a decision on him pitching again this season,” Francona said.

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