THT Daily: Manny and Big Papi

Major League News for July 30

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
According to the New York Times, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.
The now-infamous 2003 list of positive tests is slowly trickling out. It’s not a huge surprise that Manny tested positive, but Ortiz was not mentioned in the Mitchell Report and has not been linked to performance-enhancers until now. In fact, he told reporters this winter that he felt convicted steroid users should be banned for an entire year. “So what would I do? I won’t use it,” Ortiz said back in February, “and I’m pretty sure that everybody is on the same page.”

According to the Wilmington News Journal, “Shane Victorino was walking with a severe limp” Wednesday night.
Victorino departed Wednesday’s game against the D’Backs with a bruised left knee. X-rays were negative, but he told reporters his knee was “very, very sore.” The newly acquired Ben Francisco could fill in for the next few days in right field, with Jayson Werth manning center.

Albert Pujols finished 3-for-7 with a walk-off RBI single in a 3-2 win in 15 innings on Wednesday night.
From the excellent pitchers’ duel to the tension-filled extras, this was easily one of the most entertaining games of the year. The Cardinals actually trailed 1-0 entering the bottom of the ninth, but scraped across a run in thrilling fashion thanks to a broken-bat RBI single by Colby Rasmus. The teams would go back and forth with runs in the 11th, only to remain scoreless until Pujols’ screamer over the head of Matt Kemp to end it. It was the longest game by the Cardinals since August of 2003.

Indians recalled RHP Fausto Carmona from Triple-A Buffalo.
Carmona replaces former ace Cliff Lee on the roster. Carmona was 2-6 with a 7.42 ERA and 36/41 K/BB rate in 60 2/3 innings over 12 starts for the Indians earlier this season. He was optioned to the minors on June 5. The former 19-game winner went 3-3 with a 2.72 ERA in seven starts in the minors. It hasn’t been decided when he will start for Cleveland, but it’s likely to be either Friday or Saturday, which would have been Lee’s turn. Carmona reworked his delivery in the minors. He’s worth an immediate flier in AL-only leagues, but he shouldn’t be active in any format for his first start against the Tigers.

Joba Chamberlain moved to 7-2 on the year with eight shutout innings against the Rays on Wednesday night.
Chamberlain is absolutely rolling right now. He held the Rays to just three hits, walking a pair and fanning five. It was just the second time he has completed eight innings this season. Over his last three starts, he has allowed just two runs while putting up a 19/8 K/BB ratio. Pretty impressive. He’ll try to keep it going against the Blue Jays next.

Alexei Ramirez left Wednesday’s game against the Twins in the seventh inning with an apparent ankle injury.
Ramirez attempted a hard slide to break up a double-play possibility, but his right leg caught in the dirt and he crumpled to the turf in pain. He was able to walk off the field — with a limp — which is the good news. Jayson Nix shifted to shortstop and Chris Getz entered at second.

Mat Latos and two relievers combined for a one-hitter in a 7-1 win over the Reds on Wednesday night.
A real gem by Latos. The 21-year-old showcased his nasty arsenal, allowing just a solo homer to Jerry Hairston Jr. en route to his second major league win. The promising youngster struck out four and walked a batter, improving his K/BB ratio to 13/4 over his first three major league starts. He may run into an innings limit eventually, but we love him in NL-only leagues going forward. Latos faces the Braves next.

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington “strongly suggested” that outfielder Lastings Milledge will join the Pirates on Friday, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
He would face his former team, the Nationals. Milledge batted .167 in 24 at-bats for Washington earlier this year. Upon his recall, Milledge will deserve a look in mixed leagues for his ever-intriguing speed/power combo.

Giants acquired second baseman Freddy Sanchez from the Pirates for RHP Tim Alderson.
Sanchez, 31, plugs a big hole at second base for San Francisco. He hit .296/.334/.442 in 382 at-bats for the Pirates this year and is a career .300/.336/.421 batter. Sanchez has a $8.1 million vesting option for 2010. He had his injured left knee examined by Giants’ doctors on Wednesday, but no significant issues were found.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
BAL     7  KC      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     8  BOS     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA     6  TB      2    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     3  CHA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     9  CLE     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     3  TOR     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET    13  TEX     5    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
FLA     6  ATL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN    12  HOU     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      7  CIN     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     7  WAS     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL     3  LAN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     4  PHI     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      1  PIT     0    (Recap and Boxscore)

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

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Colorado Rockies at New York Mets, 12:10 PM
  (R) Jason Hammel (5-5) vs. (L) Johan Santana (11-8)
 San Diego Padres at Cincinnati Reds, 12:35 PM
  (R) Tim Stauffer (0-2) vs. (R) Johnny Cueto (8-7)
 Washington Nationals at Milwaukee Brewers, 2:05 PM
  (R) J.D. Martin (0-1) vs. (R) Yovani Gallardo (9-7)
 Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM
  (R) Russ Ortiz (3-5) vs. (R) Kevin Hart (2-1)
 Colorado Rockies at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (L) Jorge De La Rosa (8-7) vs. (L) Jonathon Niese (1-0)
 Atlanta Braves at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Javier Vazquez (8-7) vs. (R) Rick VandenHurk (1-0)
 Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 PM
  (R) Hiroki Kuroda (3-5) vs. (R) Kyle Lohse (4-6)
 Philadelphia Phillies at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM
  (R) Rodrigo Lopez (3-0) vs. (L) Jonathan Sanchez (3-9)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles, 12:35 PM
  (R) Luke Hochevar (6-3) vs. (R) Brad Bergesen (6-5)
 Oakland Athletics at Boston Red Sox, 1:35 PM
  (L) Gio Gonzalez (2-2) vs. (L) Jon Lester (9-7)
 Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (L) Garrett Olson (3-4) vs. (L) Derek Holland (3-6)
 New York Yankees at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM
  (L) Andy Pettitte (8-6) vs. (R) Gavin Floyd (8-6)

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     62  39 .614    0.0   58     4    
BOS     58  42 .580    3.5   58     0    
TB      55  47 .539    7.5   57    -2    
TOR     49  53 .480   13.5   55    -6    
BAL     43  57 .430   18.5   44    -1    
American League Central     
DET     53  47 .530    0.0   53     0    
MIN     52  50 .510    2.0   53    -1    
CHA     51  51 .500    3.0   51     0    
CLE     42  60 .412   12.0   48    -6    
KC      40  60 .400   13.0   39     1    
American League West        
LAA     60  40 .600    0.0   55     5    
TEX     56  43 .566    3.5   54     2    
SEA     53  48 .525    7.5   46     7    
OAK     43  57 .430   17.0   46    -3    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     58  41 .586    0.0   57     1    
FLA     53  48 .525    6.0   50     3    
ATL     51  50 .505    8.0   53    -2    
NYN     48  51 .485   10.0   46     2    
WAS     32  69 .317   27.0   40    -8    
National League Central     
STL     56  48 .538    0.0   56     0    
CHN     53  46 .535    0.5   53     0    
HOU     51  50 .505    3.5   46     5    
MIL     50  51 .495    4.5   48     2    
CIN     45  55 .450    9.0   42     3    
PIT     43  58 .426   11.5   48    -5    
National League West        
LAN     62  39 .614    0.0   60     2    
SF      55  46 .545    7.0   54     1    
COL     54  46 .540    7.5   55    -1    
ARI     44  58 .431   18.5   48    -4    
SD      40  62 .392   22.5   36     4    

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
OAK AA  Chris Carter...... 5  3  1  0  1  0  0  
WAN AAA Elijah Dukes...... 4  3  2  0  0  0  0  
MIN A   Aaron Hicks....... 3  2  0  1  0  2  0  
CHC A   Junior Lake....... 4  3  1  1  0  0  0  3 R
OAK A+  Greg Desme........ 3  1  0  0  1  1  0  
CHW A+  Brent Morel....... 4  3  0  0  1  0  0  
LAA A   Alexia Amarista... 4  3  1  0  0  0  0  
COL A   Delta Cleary...... 4  2  1  0  0  1  1  
COL A-  Kent Matthes...... 5  2  1  1  0  0  1  
BOS A-  R. Westmoreland... 3  2  1  0  0  2  0  
TEX AAA Justin Smoak...... 4  3  1  0  0  0  1  
TEX AA  Manuel Pina....... 3  3  1  0  0  0  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
ARI A   Wade Miley........ 5  0  0  0  6  0  0  
PIT A+  Jeffrey Locke..... 6  1  1  1  7  0  1  
KC  A   Timothy Melville.. 5  4  1  1  8  2  0  
CLE AAA Chuck Lofgren..... 6  5  3  3  6  2  0  
TB  A   Nick Barnese...... 6  2  1  1  3  1  0  
SF  A   Eric Surkamp...... 3  1  1  0  4  0  0  
FLA A   Brad Hand......... 5  4  1  1  6  3  0  
NYY A+  Pat Venditte...... 2  0  0  0  4  0  0  
TEX A   Wilfredo Boscan... 6  5  0  0  2  0  0  11 GB
CLE AA  Zach Putnam....... 2  2  0  0  4  0  0  
TEX AA  Michael Kirkman... 7  7  3  3  3  0  1  
OAK A+  Anthony Capra..... 6  3  2  2  5  3  1

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

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