THT Daily: A Duo in St. Louis
Major League News for August 27
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
Matt Holliday told KSLG 1380 AM in St. Louis that he’s hoping to stick with the Cardinals on a long-term basis.
Holliday, an inmpending free agent, called the atmosphere in St. Louis “second to none” and noted that a Pujols-Holliday era “sounds pretty good.” He also noted there’s a chance an extension could get done by the end of the season. Holliday is batting a ridiculous .386/.448/.667 with six home runs and 28 RBI in 30 games since first donning a Cardinals uniform. But, keep in mind that his agent is Scott Boras and any sort of discount is unlikely.
FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal expects the Dodgers, Rockies, Marlins, Giants and Rays to enter discussions with Brad Penny.
Penny was released from the Red Sox Wednesday night. He won’t clear waivers until Monday, but teams can begin talking to him immediately. The 31-year-old right-hander had a dissapointing 5.61 ERA and 1.53 WHIP in 24 starts with the Red Sox this season, leading Rosenthal and others to suggest that a move back to the National League makes the most sense.
Red Sox released RHP Brad Penny.
Penny requested the move Wednesday night after watching Tim Wakefield toss seven innings of three-hit, one-run ball. The 31-year-old right-hander is hoping to latch on with a contending team before the end of August in order to gain playoff eligibility. He had an 0-4 record and 9.11 ERA in his last five starts, and a 5.61 ERA, 1.53 WHIP and 7-8 record in 24 outings overall.
David Ortiz hit a pair of solo homers, including a walk-off shot, in a win over the White Sox on Wednesday night.
Ortiz may be batting just .211 this month, but he also has seven home runs. In fact, he has seven home runs in each of the past three months, to bring his total to 22 in 427 at-bats this season. It looked unlikely in May, but Ortiz should surpass his total of 23 home runs from 2008 with relative ease.
Adam Jones (back) could return to the lineup on Thursday.
Jones has missed three consecutive games with back pain. “I talked to him today and he says he feels much better,” said Orioles manager Dave Trembley. “He said he wants to go home and sleep in his own bed and he thinks that will help him. I asked him if he thought he’d be ready tomorrow and he said that was a possibility. We’re going to report to the park late tomorrow. …We’re not going to hit on the field. I’m not going to post the lineup at 3 o’clock. I’ll wait till he gets there. I’ll let him test it and see where we’re at.”
Dallas Braden (left foot rash) has been told by a neurologist that a nerve in his left foot has been “traumatized.”
San Francisco Chronicle writer Susan Slusser writes that it is sounding “less and less as if Dallas Braden will pitch again this season.” A’s manager Bob Geren plans to go with a six-man rotation in September, regardless of if Braden can make it back or not. If he’s done for the season, the 25-year-old southpaw finishes with a 3.89 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 22 starts this season.
Diamondbacks activated outfielder Justin Upton from the 15-day disabled list.
He is in Wednesday’s lineup. Upton, who missed three weeks with a right oblique strain, was en midst of a breakthrough campaign prior to his injury. The 22-year-old (he celebrated his birthday yesterday) returns to a .301/.374/.541 line with 20 home runs and 66 RBI in 441 plate appearances. Get him active in all formats immediately.
Alfonso Soriano is penciled in to return to the Cubs’ lineup on Wednesday.
Soriano has not played since Friday due to a sore left knee. He wants to get an MRI, but that might not happen until the club’s next off day on September 10. The knee is bothersome only when he runs, not when he hits. Soriano may start taking cortisone shots to manage the pain.
Red Sox activated RHP Tim Wakefield from the 15-day disabled list.
After more than six weeks on the shelf, the 43-year-old returns to action with a start against the White Sox on Wednesday. We wouldn’t advise activating him right away due to the potential rust factor, but Wakefield’s 11-3 record makes him a potentially useful option down the stretch despite a mediocre 4.31 ERA and 1.38 WHIP this season.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday’s games, read “And That Happened” at Shysterball.
American League BOS 3 CHA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 9 TEX 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 3 TB 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 4 KC 2 (Recap and Boxscore) BAL 5 MIN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 4 DET 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 5 OAK 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League SD 12 ATL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 5 NYN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 9 WAS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 4 MIL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 4 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 3 HOU 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 6 COL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 4 ARI 3 (Recap and Boxscore)
Check out Fangraphs’ scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
Rangers (70-55) @ Yankees (79-47), 1:05pm
Dustin Nippert (28, RHP) vs. A.J. Burnett (32, RHP)
Indians (56-70) @ Orioles (52-75), 7:05pm
Aaron Laffey (24, LHP) vs. David Hernandez (24, RHP)
WhiteSox (63-64) @ RedSox (73-53), 7:10pm
John Danks (24, LHP) vs. Junichi Tazawa (23, RHP)
Royals (48-78) @ Mariners (66-61), 10:10pm
Kyle Davies (25, RHP) vs. Doug Fister (25, RHP)
Athletics (55-71) @ Angels (75-50), 10:25pm
Trevor Cahill (21, RHP) vs. Ervin Santana (26, RHP)
Mets (57-70) @ Marlins (67-59), 1:10pm
Tim Redding (31, RHP) vs. Anibal Sanchez (25, RHP)
Reds (54-71) @ Brewers (61-65), 2:05pm
Justin Lehr (31, RHP) vs. David Bush (29, RHP)
Astros (61-65) @ Cardinals (74-54), 2:15pm
Brian Moehler (37, RHP) vs. Chris Carpenter (34, RHP)
Nationals (45-82) @ Cubs (63-61), 2:20pm
J.D. Martin (26, RHP) vs. Randy Wells (26, RHP)
Dodgers (75-52) @ Rockies (72-55), 3:10pm
Vicente Padilla (31, RHP) vs. Jorge de la Rosa (28, LHP)
Padres (54-74) @ Braves (66-60), 7:00pm
Clayton Richard (25, LHP) vs. Javier Vazquez (32, RHP)
Phillies (73-51) @ Pirates (52-72), 7:05pm
J.A. Happ (26, LHP) vs. Charlie Morton (25, RHP)
D'backs (55-72) @ Giants (69-58), 10:15pm
Yusmeiro Petit (24, RHP) vs. Joe Martinez (26, RHP)
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 79 47 .627 0.0 73 6BOS 73 53 .579 6.0 73 0
TB 69 57 .548 10.0 71 -2
TOR 58 67 .464 20.5 64 -6
BAL 52 75 .409 27.5 55 -3
American League Central DET 67 59 .532 0.0 64 3
CHA 63 64 .496 4.5 64 -1
MIN 63 64 .496 4.5 64 -1
CLE 56 70 .444 11.0 61 -5
KC 48 78 .381 19.0 49 -1
American League West LAA 75 50 .600 0.0 69 6
TEX 70 55 .560 5.0 68 2
SEA 66 61 .520 10.0 58 8
OAK 55 71 .437 20.5 59 -4
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 73 51 .589 0.0 73 0
FLA 67 59 .532 7.0 63 4
ATL 66 60 .524 8.0 69 -3
NYN 57 70 .449 17.5 57 0
WAS 45 82 .354 29.5 53 -8
National League Central STL 74 54 .578 0.0 71 3
CHN 63 61 .508 9.0 64 -1
HOU 61 65 .484 12.0 55 6
MIL 61 65 .484 12.0 60 1
CIN 54 71 .432 18.5 52 2
PIT 52 72 .419 20.0 56 -4
National League West LAN 75 52 .591 0.0 77 -2
COL 72 55 .567 3.0 72 0
SF 69 58 .543 6.0 68 1
ARI 55 72 .433 20.0 58 -3
SD 54 74 .422 21.5 49 5
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 73 53 .579 0.0 TEX 70 55 .560 2.5 TB 69 57 .548 4.0 SEA 66 61 .520 7.5 MIN 63 64 .496 10.5 National League COL 72 55 .567 0.0 SF 69 58 .543 3.0 FLA 67 59 .532 4.5 ATL 66 60 .524 5.5 CHN 63 61 .508 7.5
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 WAN A- J.P. Ramirez...... 6 4 1 0 2 0 1 3 R ARI AAA Chris Young....... 5 4 1 0 1 0 0 ARI AA Evan Frey......... 5 5 1 0 0 0 0 3 LD LAA AAA Sean Rodriguez.... 2 1 0 0 1 2 1 CHW AAA Tyler Flowers..... 5 2 0 0 1 1 1 4 RBI HOU AA Collin DeLome..... 4 2 0 0 1 1 1 KC AA David Lough....... 5 3 0 0 1 0 2 BOS AA Ryan Kalish....... 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 3 LD TOR AA David Cooper...... 3 2 0 0 1 1 0 CLE AA Carlos Santana.... 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 OAK A+ Greg Desme........ 4 2 0 0 1 0 0 SF A+ Thomas Neal....... 4 3 0 0 1 0 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes CHC A+ Jay Jackson....... 5 5 3 2 11 1 0 SF A+ Clayton Tanner.... 7 3 1 1 6 2 0 OAK A+ Anthony Capra..... 5 4 4 4 9 1 1 FLA A Brad Hand......... 5 1 0 0 5 1 0 SEA A+ Steven Hensley.... 6 4 1 1 8 2 1 CIN A+ Matthew Fairel.... 7 6 2 2 5 1 0 PIT A+ Jeffrey Locke..... 6 6 1 1 5 0 0 STL A+ Richard Castillo.. 7 4 1 1 3 0 0 MIN A+ Tyler Robertson... 6 2 1 0 5 2 0 11 GB LA AA C. Withrow........ 5 6 2 2 5 0 0 SF AA M. Bumgarner...... 7 4 0 0 2 1 0 TEX A Joseph Wieland.... 5 7 3 3 6 2 0
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