THT Daily: More on Manny

by Matthew Carruth
May 8, 2009

Major League News for May 8

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
Brian McCann (eye) is on track to return to the Braves Friday night.
McCann is enjoying success with his new prescription eye glasses. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be in the starting lineup, ready to go,” said the Braves catcher, who is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list before the game. “I’m excited to get back and join the team. I think everything is going to go great.”

Kevin Youkilis is expected to miss Friday’s game with lingering pain in his back and oblique region.
Youkilis has been sidelined since Monday, when he first felt the pain during an at-bat. Jeff Bailey will get the nod at first base yet again.

The Diamondbacks have pegged Director of Player Development A.J. Hinch to replace Bob Melvin as manager.
Melvin was given the boot Thursday night. Hinch is an odd hire with no managerial or coaching experience, but he’s a former catcher and has the youth to relate to the Diamondbacks’ young squad. He will be officially announced as the new skipper at a press conference Friday afternoon.

During Thursday’s post-game show on the YES Network, Yankees manager Joe Girardi revealed that Mariano Rivera’s surgically repaired shoulder has been bothering him.
The news came minutes after Rivera suffered his first loss of the season, allowing two home runs to the Rays after entering a tie game in the ninth inning. His velocity has taken a noticeable dip and he may need a few days off. Rivera still has a 3.97 ERA and a 17/0 K/BB ratio over 11 1/3 innings this season.

Jered Weaver finally notched his first complete game Thursday in a 6-1 victory over the Blue Jays.
There was certainly no reason to take Weaver out tonight. He struck out eight, walked none and finished the night at just 103 pitches. The CG comes in his 83rd career start. He’s 3-1 with a 2.66 ERA this season.

A source told Yahoo! Sports that the illegal substance for which Manny Ramirez tested positive is supposed to boost sexual drive.
Cue up the performance enhancing jokes. It’s possible, if rumors of the source of the positive drug test are true, that the sexual enhancer could have been used to boost testosterone for those coming off a steroids cycle.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
BAL     5  MIN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
BOS    13  CLE     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB      8  NYA     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     6  DET     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      3  SEA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     6  TOR     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     9  TEX     4    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL     4  FLA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYN     7  PHI     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     6  MIL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     8  HOU     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL     5  PIT     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      8  COL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS    11  LAN     9    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      4  ARI     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

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

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (L) Jo-Jo Reyes (0-1) vs. (L) Cole Hamels (0-2)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (R) Joel Pineiro (4-1) vs. (R) Johnny Cueto (2-1)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (R) Jeff Karstens (1-1) vs. (L) Jonathon Niese (0-0)
 San Diego Padres at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (R) Chad Gaudin (0-1) vs. (L) Wandy Rodriguez (2-2)
 Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Randy Wells (0-0) vs. (R) Dave Bush (1-0)
 Florida Marlins at Colorado Rockies, 9:10 PM
  (R) Ricky Nolasco (1-3) vs. (R) Jason Hammel (0-0)
 Washington Nationals at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (R) Shairon Martis (3-0) vs. (R) Yusmeiro Petit (0-2)
 San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM
  (L) Barry Zito (0-2) vs. (R) Chad Billingsley (5-0)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (L) CC Sabathia (1-3) vs. (R) Jeremy Guthrie (2-2)
 Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Justin Verlander (2-2) vs. (L) Cliff Lee (1-4)
 Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 PM
  (R) James Shields (3-2) vs. (R) Brad Penny (2-1)
 Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 PM
  (R) Chris Jakubauskas (1-3) vs. (R) Scott Baker (0-4)
 Texas Rangers at Chicago White Sox, 8:11 PM
  (L) Matt Harrison (2-2) vs. (R) Jose Contreras (0-4)
 Kansas City Royals at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (R) Gil Meche (2-2) vs. (R) Matt Palmer (2-0)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM
  (R) Scott Richmond (4-0) vs. (L) Josh Outman (0-0)

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
TOR     20  11 .645    0.0   20     0    
BOS     18  11 .621    1.0   17     1    
TB      14  16 .467    5.5   16    -2    
NYA     13  15 .464    5.5   12     1    
BAL     12  17 .414    7.0   12     0    
American League Central     
KC      18  11 .621    0.0   18     0    
DET     14  13 .519    3.0   14     0    
CHA     13  14 .481    4.0   13     0    
MIN     13  16 .448    5.0   11     2    
CLE     11  18 .379    7.0   13    -2    
American League West        
TEX     15  13 .536    0.0   14     1    
SEA     15  14 .517    0.5   14     1    
LAA     13  14 .481    1.5   13     0    
OAK     10  16 .385    4.0   12    -2    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     14  12 .538    0.0   14     0    
NYN     14  13 .519    0.5   14     0    
FLA     15  14 .517    0.5   13     2    
ATL     13  15 .464    2.0   13     0    
WAS      8  18 .308    6.0   11    -3    
National League Central     
STL     19  10 .655    0.0   18     1    
CHN     16  12 .571    2.5   15     1    
MIL     16  13 .552    3.0   16     0    
CIN     15  13 .536    3.5   13     2    
PIT     12  16 .429    6.5   15    -3    
HOU     11  17 .393    7.5   12    -1    
National League West        
LAN     21   9 .700    0.0   20     1    
SF      14  13 .519    5.5   13     1    
SD      13  16 .448    7.5   12     1    
ARI     12  17 .414    8.5   12     0    
COL     11  16 .407    8.5   14    -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
OAK AA  Corey Brown....... 5  3  1  0  2  0  2  4 RBI
DET AA  Ryan Strieby...... 3  3  0  0  2  1  0  3 R
CHC AA  Tony Thomas....... 5  3  2  1  0  1  1  
SEA A+  Alex Liddi........ 4  3  1  0  1  0  1  
CHW AA  Brandon Allen..... 4  3  1  0  1  1  1  
CIN AA  Chris Heisey...... 5  4  1  0  1  0  0  
CLE A+  Matthew McBride... 4  4  2  0  0  0  0  4 LD
DET AA  Garth Iorg........ 3  2  0  0  2  0  0  
TEX A+  M. Moreland....... 4  3  1  0  0  1  1  3 R
CLE A+  L. Chisenhall..... 4  3  2  0  0  0  0  
BAL A+  Billy Rowell...... 3  2  0  0  1  0  0  
PIT AAA Steven Pearce..... 2  2  0  0  1  1  0  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
KC  AAA Luke Hochevar..... 8  5  0  0  9  0  0  17 GB
CHC AA  Jay Jackson....... 7  5  0  0 10  1  0  
BOS A   Bryan Price....... 6  2  1  0  8  0  0  
LAA AA  Trevor Reckling... 7  2  0  0  7  1  0  
CHC A+  Dan McDaniel...... 6  2  0  0  9  2  0  
CIN A+  Zachary Stewart... 9  5  1  1  6  1  0  
BAL AA  Troy Patton....... 6  2  0  0  6  1  0  
HOU A   Jordan Lyles...... 7  7  1  1  8  0  1  
ATL A   Brett DeVall...... 5  2  0  0  6  1  0  
SD  A   Matthew Latos..... 6  2  0  0  6  2  0  
DET A   Casey Crosby...... 5  1  0  0  7  3  0  
ARI AA  Jarrod Parker..... 6  8  2  2  6  0  0  13 GB

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports: