THT Daily: Two Shutouts

by Dave Studeman
July 8, 2006

Major League News for July 8

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

Yesterday’s Results

American League
KC     13  TOR     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Mientkiewicz; 1B, 2B, 3B; Hudson: 5 IP, 1 R
TEX     9  MIN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA     1  TB      0    (Recap and Boxscore) Wright over Seo
DET     6  SEA     1    (Recap and Boxscore) Bonderman: 8.2 IP, 1 R
LAA     3  OAK     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     9  BAL     0    (Recap and Boxscore) Hafner: GS HR; Sabathia: CG Shutout
BOS     7  CHA     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Lester: 6 IP, 2 R; Ortis: 30th HR

National League
LAN     9  SF      7    (Recap and Boxscore) Bonds: HR #720, 4 RBI;  Nomar: GW HR, 3 RBI
SD      3  WAS     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Williams: 5.1 IP, 2 R
STL     8  HOU     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Marquis: 7.2 IP, 2 R
PIT     3  PHI     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Snell: 7 IP, 1 R
FLA     7  NYN     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Willis: 7.1 IP, 3 R, hit GS HR
CHN     7  MIL     2    (Recap and Boxscore) Zambrano: 6 IP, 1 R
ARI     4  COL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN    10  ATL     5    (Recap and Boxscore) Freel: 3-4, 2 2B

Today’s Games

Visitors                       Home                              Time
BOS - Beckett J. (10-4, 4.59)  CWS - Garcia F. (10-5, 4.72)      1:20
FLA - Johnson J. (7-4, 2.34)   NYM - Maine J. (0-2, 5.40)        1:20
SF - Lowry N.* (3-5, 3.88)     LAD - Lowe D. (7-4, 3.49)         4:05
STL - Reyes A. (1-3, 3.30)     HOU - Clemens R. (1-2, 2.76)      4:05
FLA - Nolasco R. (6-5, 3.97)   NYM - Pelfrey M. (0-0, -)         4:50
BAL - Bedard E.* (9-6, 4.44)   CLE - Sowers J.* (1-1, 4.50)      7:05
PIT - Maholm P.* (3-7, 4.76)   PHI - Lidle C. (4-7, 5.07)        7:05
SD - Young C. (7-4, 3.13)      WAS - Astacio P. (1-0, 1.80)      7:05
CHC - Marmol C. (1-3, 4.73)    MIL - Bush D. (5-6, 4.45)         7:05
CIN - Harang A. (9-5, 3.65)    ATL - Smoltz J. (5-5, 3.77)       7:05
TOR - Lilly T.* (8-8, 3.82)    KC - Elarton S. (3-9, 5.13)       7:10
NYY - Wang C. (8-4, 4.21)      TB - Kazmir S.* (10-5, 3.29)      7:15
ARI - Webb B. (9-3, 2.72)      COL - Jennings J. (6-6, 3.85)     8:05
MIN - Liriano F.* (9-1, 1.99)  TEX - Rheinecker J.* (4-2, 3.88)  8:05
LAA - Weaver J. (5-0, 1.35)    OAK - Blanton J. (8-7, 4.78)      9:05
DET - Miner Z. (5-1, 2.68)     SEA - Washburn J.* (4-8, 4.75)   10:05

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 gray 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     52  32 .619    0.0   49      3      
NYA     49  35 .583    3.0   49      0      
TOR     47  39 .547    6.0   46      1      
BAL     39  49 .443   15.0   38      1      
TB      38  49 .437   15.5   36      2      
American League Central
DET     58  28 .674    0.0   56      2      
CHA     56  30 .651    2.0   53      3      
MIN     46  38 .548   11.0   44      2      
CLE     40  45 .471   17.5   47     -7      
KC      31  54 .365   26.5   31      0      
American League West
OAK     45  41 .523    0.0   42      3      
TEX     44  42 .512    1.0   45     -1      
SEA     42  45 .483    3.5   44     -2      
LAA     41  45 .477    4.0   42     -1      

National League East         Pwins Diff
NYN     51  35 .593    0.0   48      3      
PHI     38  47 .447   12.5   38      0      
FLA     37  46 .446   12.5   42     -5      
ATL     38  49 .437   13.5   42     -4      
WAS     38  50 .432   14.0   38      0      
National League Central
STL     46  39 .541    0.0   44      2      
CIN     45  42 .517    2.0   43      2      
MIL     44  44 .500    3.5   38      6      
HOU     43  44 .494    4.0   41      2      
CHN     32  54 .372   14.5   33     -1      
PIT     30  58 .341   17.5   39     -9      
National League West
SD      46  40 .535    0.0   45      1      
LAN     45  41 .523    1.0   48     -3      
COL     44  41 .518    1.5   44      0      
SF      44  43 .506    2.5   45     -1      
ARI     41  45 .477    5.0   41      0

Game of the Day

It’s been over two years since the last no-hitter in the majors, but John Lackey came close last night. Lackey gave up a double to Mark Kotsay, the very first A’s batter, then retired the next 27 batters to lead the Angels over the A’s, 3-0.

The last pitcher to retire 27 in a row after allowing the first batter to reach base was Jerry Reuss, who did it for the Dodgers against the Reds on June 11, 1982. Eddie Milner led off the game with a double, and he was the last batter to reach base against Reuss.

Meanwhile, Orlando Cabrera’s base-reaching streak ended at 63 games as he went 0-for-4 against Barry Zito, the pitcher against whom he has his lowest on-base percentage (minimum: 25 plate appearances). Cabrera is 2-for-24 (.083) vs. Zito with two walks and a hit by pitch for a .185 on-base percentage. (Source: Elias)

LA ANGELS (3) VS OAKLAND (0) - FINAL

LA ANGELS              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
C Figgins 2b            4  1  2  1   0  0   0  .257
M Napoli c              4  0  1  0   0  0   1  .281
O Cabrera ss            4  0  0  0   0  0   2  .294
V Guerrero rf           4  1  1  0   0  0   0  .304
R Quinlan 3b            2  1  2  2   1  0   0  .304
 M Izturis 3b           1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .238
J Rivera lf             4  0  0  0   0  2   2  .279
T Salmon dh             3  0  0  0   0  0   1  .267
K Morales 1b            3  0  0  0   0  1   0  .250
T Murphy cf             3  0  0  0   0  1   0  .250

Totals                 32  3  6  3   1  4   6

BATTING: HR - R Quinlan (5, 2nd inning off B Zito 1 on, 0 Out), C Figgins (5, 
5th inning off B Zito 0 on, 2 Out). RBI - R Quinlan 2 (14), C Figgins (31). 
2-out RBI - C Figgins. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - O Cabrera 1. 
GIDP - O Cabrera. Team LOB - 3. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - C Figgins (29, 2nd base off B Zito/J Kendall). 

OAKLAND                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
M Kotsay cf             4  0  1  0   0  0   0  .243
N Swisher lf            3  0  0  0   0  2   1  .261
E Chavez 3b             3  0  0  0   0  1   0  .243
F Thomas dh             3  0  0  0   0  2   1  .234
J Payton rf             3  0  0  0   0  0   0  .279
B Crosby ss             3  0  0  0   0  1   0  .245
D Johnson 1b            3  0  0  0   0  0   0  .239
J Kendall c             3  0  0  0   0  1   0  .265
M Scutaro 2b            2  0  0  0   0  2   0  .218
 a-A Melhuse ph         1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .236

Totals                 28  0  1  0   0 10   2

a-struck out swinging for M Scutaro in the 9th.

BATTING: 2B - M Kotsay (14, J Lackey). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out 
- F Thomas 1. Team LOB - 1. 
 
FIELDING: DP: 1 (E Chavez-M Scutaro-D Johnson). 

----------------------------------------------------
    LA ANGELS       - 020 010 000   --   3
    OAKLAND         - 000 000 000   --   0
----------------------------------------------------

LA ANGELS                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Lackey (W, 7-5)             9       1   0   0   0  10   0   2.88

OAKLAND                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
B Zito (L, 8-6)               8       6   3   3   1   4   2   3.29
K Calero                      1       0   0   0   0   0   0   3.41

Pitches-strikes: J Lackey 109-77; B Zito 110-74; K Calero 12-8. Ground 
balls-fly balls: J Lackey 4-13; B Zito 11-9; K Calero 1-2. Batters faced: J 
Lackey 28; B Zito 30; K Calero 3. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Brian Gorman. 1B--Bill Miller. 2B--Eric Cooper. 3B--Gerry Davis. 

T--2:01. Att--20,711. 
Weather: 75 degrees, clear. Wind: 15 mph, left to right.

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.

Hitter                     Pitcher                    True Dist Std. Dist  HR #
Rodriguez, John     STL    Nieve, Fernando    HOU        453      451       1
Young, Michael      TEX    Silva, Carlos      MIN        444      436       7
Bonds, Barry        SF     Billingsley, Chad  LAD        464      431      12
Mauer, Joe          MIN    Wasdin, John       TEX        433      421       7
Monroe, Craig       DET    Pineiro, Joel      SEA        419      414      13
Kubel, Jason        MIN    Wasdin, John       TEX        431      413       7
Aurilia, Rich       CIN    Villarreal, Oscar  ATL        408      412      11
Matthews, Gary      TEX    Eyre, Scott        MIN        425      406       9
Gonzalez, Adrian    SD     Ortiz, Ramon       WAS        431      403      12
Jones, Chipper      ATL    Milton, Eric       CIN        395      401      11
Garciaparra, Nomar  LAD    Accardo, Jeremy    SF         420      396      11
Lowell, Mike        BOS    McCarthy, Brandon  CWS        389      394      10
Quinlan, Robb       LAA    Zito, Barry        OAK        384      393       5
Buck, John          KC     Burnett, A.J.      TOR        389      389       8
Willis, Dontrelle   FLA    Lima, Jose         NYM        387      388       1
Woodward, Chris     NYM    Willis, Dontrelle  FLA        374      387       2
Crisp, Coco         BOS    McCarthy, Brandon  CWS        367      386       4
Morneau, Justin     MIN    Mahay, Ron         TEX        408      385      23
Stairs, Matt        KC     Burnett, A.J.      TOR        376      383       8
Rivera, Mike        MIL    Dempster, Ryan     CHC        388      382       1
DaVanon, Jeff       ARI    Kim, Byung-Hyun    COL        399      379       4
Figgins, Chone      LAA    Zito, Barry        OAK        361      379       5
Walker, Todd        CHC    Capellan, Jose     MIL        378      372       4
Ortiz, David        BOS    Buehrle, Mark      CWS        365      371      30
Hafner, Travis      CLE    Benson, Kris       BAL        361      367      25
Ensberg, Morgan     HOU    Marquis, Jason     STL        366      365      19
Durham, Ray         SF     Billingsley, Chad  LAD        385      353      11

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
ARI A+  Mark Reynolds      LF  3  3  2  0  0  0  0   
ATL A   Jordan Schafer     CF  4  3  2  0  1  0  0   
CLE A+  Brian Barton       CF  3  3  0  0  1  0  0   
CLE AAA Ryan Garko         1B  4  3  0  0  2  0  0   
NYY A   Ben Jones          1B  3  2  0  0  2  2  0  3 runs scored
OAK AAA Hiram Bocachica    LF  4  3  2  0  1  0  1   
PIT AA  David Parrish       C  3  3  0  1  0  1  0   
SD  AAA Jon Knott          LF  5  4  1  2  1  0  0  3 runs scored
SD  A+  Peter Ciofrone     LF  4  4  1  1  0  0  0   
SEA AAA Greg Dobbs         LF  4  4  2  0  0  0  0   
 
ORG LVL PLAYER             IP   H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
BAL A-  Wilfredo Perez     6.0  2  1  1 10  2  0  25 K over last 17 IP
CHW AAA Tim Redding        8.0  2  1  1  9  2  1   
DET AAA Chad Durbin        7.2  7  1  0  8  0  0   
HOU A-  Cory Lapinski      7.0  3  0  0  5  2  0   
HOU A   Brad James         8.1  1  1  1  8  2  1   
KC  A   Mario Santiago     7.0  2  0  0  4  3  0   
PHI A   Matthew Maloney    8.0  3  0  0  6  4  0  1.01 ERA over past month
STL AAA Dennis Tankersley  7.0  3  0  0  4  3  0

THT Stats

C.C. Sabathia and John Lackey shut out the Orioles and A’s, respectively, but the individual complete game shutout is joining the dodo and the Model T on Obsolete Island. Last year, there were only 63 of them, the lowest total for both major leagues ever. In contrast, there were 146 in 1992 and 238 in 1978.

This year, there have been only 28 complete-game shutouts, on pace for a new record of 56. Here are all major leagues pitchers with at least one:

A Hardball Times Update

by RJ McDaniel

Goodbye for now.

Last         First     Team  Shutouts
Capuano      Chris     MIL       2
Harang       Aaron     CIN       2
Webb         Brandon   ARI       2
Sabathia     C.C.      CLE       2
Jennings     Jason     COL       2
Kazmir       Scott E   TB        1
Verlander    Justin B  DET       1
Blanton      Joe M     OAK       1
Fogg         Josh      COL       1
Pettitte     Andy      HOU       1
Westbrook    Jake      CLE       1
Lackey       John      LAA       1
Park         Chan Ho   SD        1
Hudson       Tim       ATL       1
Cain         Matt      SF        1
Buchholz     Taylor    HOU       1
Schmidt      Jason     SF        1
Bush         Dave T    MIL       1
Smoltz       John      ATL       1
Moyer        Jamie     SEA       1
Hensley      Clay A    SD        1
Duke         Zach      PIT       1
Hendrickson  Mark      TB        1

Access all of THT’s stats here…

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