THT Daily: A New Tune from Tim
Major League News for September 25
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 Sean McAdam of the Boston Herald, the Red Sox plan to start Jon Lester in Game 1 of their ALDS matchup.
It’s all rumor and speculation until manager Terry Francona makes an official announcement, but the idea does make sense. Lester has been the club’s most dominant pitcher this season, with an unreal 11-2 record and 2.13 ERA since May 31. Josh Beckett would start Game 2 and Clay Buchholz would draw the nod for Game 3. As of now, it appears the Red Sox will face the Angels in a five-game series beginning on October 8.
Tim Lincecum told reporters Thursday that he’s open to signing a long-term extension with the Giants as soon as this offseason.
Lincecum, who’s making just $650,000 this season, is eligible for arbitration this offseason for the first time in his career and could land close to $10 million, maybe more. If the Giants are going to be forced to doll out a huge chunk of cash, they might as well make it part of a long-term deal. “I definitely like San Francisco,” Lincecum said. “I’ve seen nothing but positive things as far as my personal experiences. It’s where I see myself being for awhile.”
According to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun, the Orioles will not pick up Melvin Mora’s $8 million option for 2010.
It will end his nine-year tenure with the Birds, and rightly so. The 37-year-old’s stats have declined sharply and he’s become a major injury risk. “Whatever I am going to be next year,” Mora said Thursday, “I’ll never get tired of thanking the Orioles, because I made my career here.” A career .278/.352/.436 hitter, he’s batting just .259/.317/.361 in ’09.
Jeff Baker crushed a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning Thursday to lead his Cubs over the Giants 3-2.
The Cubs are playing the role of pesky spoiler at this point, holding the Giants back in the NL Wild Card race and preventing the rival Cardinals from clinching the NL Central all in the same night. Baker launched his two-run bomb off hot closer Brian Wilson. He finished 2-for-4 and is batting .306 on the season with four dingers and 22 RBI.
Brad Penny hurled eight innings of one-run ball Thursday but was left with a no-decision in an eventual Cubs win.
Penny was brilliant, fanning four batters against one walk and scattering seven hits. But with his pitch count at 95 and a reliable closer warming in the bullpen, manager Bruce Bochy decided to rest Penny for the ninth. It didn’t work out. Brian Wilson allowed a two-run homer to Jeff Baker and the Cubs prevailed. With a Rockies loss, the Giants remain four games back in the NL Wild Card race.
Zack Greinke was ejected from the dugout Thursday for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Greg Gibson.
Greinke was trying to stick up for Royals starter Anthony Lerew, but obviously went a little too far with his criticisms of the strike zone. Royals manager Trey Hillman was also ejected, just one inning later.
Rich Harden has been shut down for the rest of the season.
Cubs manager Lou Piniella left the decision up to Harden, an impending free agent. “It’d be a lot different if we were in it and they needed me to pitch,” he said. “I’d be out there in a second and I’d be fine. I’m still healthy, feeling good and took that as a positive for this season.” He’ll finish 9-9 with a 4.09 ERA and 171 strikeouts in 141 innings.
Josh Hamilton (glute) is planning to return to the Rangers’ starting lineup on Friday against the Rays.
Hamilton took batting practice and ran in the outfield earlier this week without any issues. “He has been doing pretty good the past couple of days,” manager Ron Washington said. “He hasn’t had any setbacks, so we’ll see how it goes.” He’s been out since September 2.
Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt told SI.com’s Jon Heyman Thursday that his club is going to work on a multi-year extension with Albert Pujols this winter.
The Cardinals have also said they’re hoping to lock up Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa. If DeWitt is serious, and the Cardinals have that kind of cash laying around, we’re talking about a monstrous offseason in St. Louis. Pujols isn’t eligible for free agency until 2012, but the Birds on the Bat obviously want to eliminate any chance of him leaving the franchise. Some believe he could command up to $30 million per year on the open market.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday’s games, read “And That Happened” at Shysterball.
American League SEA 5 TOR 4 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 6 CLE 5 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 10 KC 3 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 12 TEX 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League LAN 7 WAS 6 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 9 MIL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 4 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 5 COL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 3 SF 2 (Recap and Boxscore)
Check out Fangraphs’ scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
RedSox (91-61) @ Yankees (97-56), 7:05pm
Jon Lester (25, LHP) vs. Joba Chamberlain (23, RHP)
Orioles (60-92) @ Indians (61-91), 7:05pm
David Hernandez (24, RHP) vs. Fausto Carmona (25, RHP)
Mariners (80-73) @ Blue Jays (69-84), 7:07pm
Doug Fister (25, RHP) vs. Roy Halladay (32, RHP)
Rays (78-74) @ Rangers (83-69), 8:05pm
James Shields (27, RHP) vs. Derek Holland (22, LHP)
Twins (79-73) @ Royals (63-90), 8:10pm
Carl Pavano (33, RHP) vs. Robinson Tejeda (27, RHP)
Tigers (82-70) @ WhiteSox (73-80), 8:11pm
Eddie Bonine (28, RHP) vs. Jake Peavy (28, RHP)
Athletics (73-80) @ Angels (90-62), 10:05pm
Gio Gonzalez (23, LHP) vs. Jered Weaver (26, RHP)
Dodgers (92-61) @ Pirates (56-95), 7:05pm
Jon Garland (29, RHP) vs. Jeff Karstens (26, RHP)
Braves (82-70) @ Nationals (52-100), 7:05pm
Javier Vazquez (32, RHP) vs. John Lannan (24, LHP)
Mets (65-88) @ Marlins (82-71), 7:10pm
Tim Redding (31, RHP) vs. Ricky Nolasco (26, RHP)
Phillies (89-63) @ Brewers (75-78), 8:05pm
Cliff Lee (30, LHP) vs. Manny Parra (26, LHP)
Reds (72-81) @ Astros (71-81), 8:05pm
Matt Maloney (25, LHP) vs. Brian Moehler (37, RHP)
Cardinals (89-64) @ Rockies (86-67), 8:10pm
Chris Carpenter (34, RHP) vs. Aaron Cook (30, RHP)
Padres (71-83) @ D'backs (66-87), 9:40pm
Kevin Correia (28, RHP) vs. Max Scherzer (24, RHP)
Cubs (79-73) @ Giants (82-71), 10:15pm
Carlos Zambrano (28, RHP) vs. Tim Lincecum (25, 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 97 56 .634 0.0 90 7BOS 91 61 .599 5.5 90 1
TB 78 74 .513 18.5 82 -4
TOR 69 84 .451 28.0 78 -9
BAL 60 92 .395 36.5 64 -4
American League Central DET 82 70 .539 0.0 77 5
MIN 79 73 .520 3.0 79 0
CHA 73 80 .477 9.5 75 -2
KC 63 90 .412 19.5 63 0
CLE 61 91 .401 21.0 68 -7
American League West LAA 90 62 .592 0.0 86 4
TEX 83 69 .546 7.0 80 3
SEA 80 73 .523 10.5 70 10
OAK 73 80 .477 17.5 78 -5
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 89 63 .586 0.0 88 1
ATL 82 70 .539 7.0 85 -3
FLA 82 71 .536 7.5 77 5
NYN 65 88 .425 24.5 66 -1
WAS 52 100 .342 37.0 60 -8
National League Central STL 89 64 .582 0.0 87 2
CHN 79 73 .520 9.5 81 -2
MIL 75 78 .490 14.0 73 2
CIN 72 81 .471 17.0 69 3
HOU 71 81 .467 17.5 65 6
PIT 56 95 .371 32.0 61 -5
National League West LAN 92 61 .601 0.0 95 -3
COL 86 67 .562 6.0 85 1
SF 82 71 .536 10.0 80 2
SD 71 83 .461 21.5 63 8
ARI 66 87 .431 26.0 70 -4
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 91 61 .599 0.0 TEX 83 69 .546 8.0 SEA 80 73 .523 11.5 MIN 79 73 .520 12.0 TB 78 74 .513 13.0 National League COL 86 67 .562 0.0 ATL 82 70 .539 3.5 SF 82 71 .536 4.0 FLA 82 71 .536 4.0 CHN 79 73 .520 6.5
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 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes
| First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports: |
Actually, I think Greine’s criticism was pretty mild (you could hear the “discussion” word for word on the broadcast). He yelled, “Hey Greg, where’s the strike zone?” Gibson turned to the dugout and asked him to repeat himself, so Greinke did. Gibson said, “You know what? You’re out of the game!” I suppose just the simple act of repeating is what got him tossed. There’s sure been plenty worse than that said on baseball fields.
“Some believe he could command up to $30 million per year on the open market.”
Count me among the “some,” and I hope the Cards get some sort of discount off that amount from Pujols. I can see something in the range of A-Rod’s 10-year, $252 million deal from the Rangers.