THT Daily: Blue Jays Win Anyway
Major League News for July 21
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Top Minor League Performances
Player News
Stats
Yesterday’s Results
American League TOR 5 NYA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) See below BOS 6 TEX 4 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 6 TB 4 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 9 LAA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA: 3 E in 6th DET 2 CHA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Rogers: 6 IP, 1 R; Contreras: 7 IP, 2 R National League SF 9 SD 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Lowry: 8.1 IP, 3 R; Bonds: HR 722 PIT 5 FLA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Johnson: 7 IP, 2 R; PIT: 4th straight 1-run win NYN 4 CIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) 10 innings; Arroyo: 8 IP, 2 R ARI 5 LAN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Webb: 8 IP, 2 R CHN 4 HOU 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Zambrano: 8 IP, 1 R, 10 K, 2 H
Today’s Games
Visitors Home Time MIN - Silva C. (5-9, 6.75) CLE - Sabathia C.* (7-5, 3.59) 7:05 ATL - Smoltz J. (7-5, 3.41) PHI - Lidle C. (6-7, 5.02) 7:05 CHC - Marshall S.* (5-8, 5.00) WAS - Astacio P. (1-1, 6.43) 7:05 OAK - Haren D. (6-8, 3.73) DET - Verlander J. (11-4, 2.83) 7:05 NYY - Wright J. (6-5, 4.29) TOR - Burnett A. (1-3, 4.25) 7:07 MIL - Capuano C.* (10-5, 3.46) CIN - Ramirez E. (3-6, 4.16) 7:10 HOU - Buchholz T. (6-7, 5.31) NYM - Hernandez O. (5-8, 5.52) 7:10 BAL - Bedard E.* (11-6, 4.02) TB - Fossum C.* (3-3, 4.91) 7:15 PIT - Maholm P.* (3-8, 5.05) FLA - Olsen S.* (7-4, 4.28) 7:35 LAA - Colon B. (1-4, 4.56) KC - Hernandez R. (1-4, 7.44) 8:10 TEX - Wasdin J. (2-2, 5.01) CWS - Buehrle M.* (9-7, 4.43) 8:35 COL - Cook A. (6-7, 3.59) ARI - Vargas C. (7-6, 5.30) 9:40 BOS - Snyder K. (1-1, 10.03) SEA - Moyer J.* (5-8, 3.75) 10:05 SD - Peavy J. (4-9, 4.78) SF - Cain M. (6-6, 4.90) 10:15 STL - Suppan J. (6-5, 5.52) LAD - Penny B. (10-3, 3.26) 10:40
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 58 36 .617 0.0 53 5NYA 55 38 .591 2.5 55 0
TOR 53 42 .558 5.5 52 1
BAL 44 53 .454 15.5 42 2
TB 39 57 .406 20.0 38 1
American League Central DET 64 31 .674 0.0 61 3
CHA 58 36 .617 5.5 56 2
MIN 54 40 .574 9.5 52 2
CLE 42 52 .447 21.5 50 -8
KC 33 62 .347 31.0 35 -2
American League West OAK 50 45 .526 0.0 48 2
TEX 49 47 .510 1.5 50 -1
LAA 48 47 .505 2.0 48 0
SEA 45 50 .474 5.0 48 -3
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 57 38 .600 0.0 55 2
ATL 45 50 .474 12.0 50 -5
PHI 43 50 .462 13.0 44 -1
FLA 42 52 .447 14.5 45 -3
WAS 40 56 .417 17.5 42 -2
National League Central STL 53 41 .564 0.0 48 5
CIN 50 46 .521 4.0 47 3
MIL 46 50 .479 8.0 41 5
HOU 46 50 .479 8.0 46 0
CHN 37 57 .394 16.0 38 -1
PIT 35 62 .361 19.5 42 -7
National League West SD 50 45 .526 0.0 48 2
SF 49 47 .510 1.5 48 1
ARI 48 47 .505 2.0 47 1
LAN 47 49 .490 3.5 51 -4
COL 45 49 .479 4.5 48 -3
Game of the Day
There’s been some controversy in Toronto lately, but the Blue Jays waved it away with a 5-4, 11-inning victory over the Yankees yesterday. Vernon Wells won the game with a walkoff home run against Mariano Rivera, only the third regular-season walkoff homer allowed by Rivera, and the first in extra innings.
The Blue Jays designated Shea Hillenbrand for assignment Wednesday after he and manager John Gibbons almost came to blows. Hillenbrand wrote “Play for yourselves. Play for your paycheck. The ship is sinking.” on the clubhouse bulletin board and Gibbons challenged him. There was no fight, but Gibbons made it clear he would no longer manage the club if Hillenbrand remained on the roster.
The Blue Jays are within three games of New York for second place in the AL East.
NY YANKEES (4) VS TORONTO (5) - FINAL IN 11 INNINGS
NY YANKEES ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Damon cf 5 0 2 1 0 1 1 .294
D Jeter ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .337
J Giambi dh 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .256
B Crosby pr-dh 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .213
a-A Guiel ph-dh 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .234
A Rodriguez 3b 4 1 1 0 1 0 1 .284
J Posada c 5 0 3 1 0 1 0 .286
B Williams rf 5 0 1 1 0 2 4 .279
A Phillips 1b 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 .251
M Cabrera lf 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 .272
M Cairo 2b 3 1 1 1 0 1 1 .252
Totals 39 4 10 4 2 9 13
a-struck out swinging for B Crosby in the 10th.
BATTING: 2B - B Williams (21, R Halladay); J Damon (23, R Halladay); A
Rodriguez (14, R Halladay); J Posada (15, R Halladay). S - D Jeter. SF - M
Cairo. RBI - J Damon (48), B Williams (40), M Cairo (19), J Posada (48). 2-out
RBI - J Posada. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Damon 1, B Williams
2, A Rodriguez 1, M Cabrera 1. GIDP - A Phillips. Team LOB - 6.
BASERUNNING: SB - M Cairo (10, 2nd base off R Halladay/B Molina), M Cabrera 2
(6, 2nd base off R Halladay/B Molina, 2nd base off B Ryan/B Molina).
FIELDING: E - A Rodriguez (17, throw). DP: 1 (D Jeter-M Cairo-A Phillips).
TORONTO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
R Johnson rf 5 1 0 1 0 1 1 .352
F Catalanotto lf 5 1 2 1 0 0 0 .325
V Wells cf 5 2 4 1 0 0 0 .318
T Glaus 3b 4 0 1 2 0 2 2 .242
L Overbay 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .302
B Molina c 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .281
G Zaun dh 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .293
A Hill 2b 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 .302
J McDonald ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .221
Totals 39 5 9 5 0 8 4
BATTING: 2B - A Hill (18, M Mussina); T Glaus (18, M Mussina). HR - V Wells
(24, 11th inning off M Rivera 0 on, 1 Out). RBI - R Johnson (26), F Catalanotto
(45), T Glaus 2 (64), V Wells (74). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B
Molina 1. GIDP - R Johnson. Team LOB - 3.
BASERUNNING: CS - F Catalanotto (2, 2nd base by M Rivera/J Posada).
FIELDING: E - B Molina (2, throw). DP: 2 (A Hill-J McDonald, J McDonald-A
Hill-L Overbay).
----------------------------------------------------
NY YANKEES - 001 110 010 00 -- 4
TORONTO - 000 004 000 01 -- 5
One out when winning run scored.
----------------------------------------------------
NY YANKEES ip h r er bb so hr era
M Mussina 7 6 4 4 0 6 0 3.39
S Proctor 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 4.20
M Rivera (L, 4-5) 1 1/3 2 1 1 0 0 1 2.10
TORONTO ip h r er bb so hr era
R Halladay 7 2/3 8 3 3 0 3 0 3.08
B Ryan (B, 3) 1 1/3 2 1 1 2 4 0 1.12
J Speier 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.37
B Tallet (W, 3-0) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.27
Pitches-strikes: M Mussina 92-67; S Proctor 17-16; M Rivera 15-11; R Halladay
93-61; B Ryan 36-24; J Speier 17-10; B Tallet 9-6. Ground balls-fly balls: M
Mussina 10-6; S Proctor 1-3; M Rivera 2-1; R Halladay 11-8; B Ryan 0-0; J
Speier 1-0; B Tallet 1-2. Batters faced: M Mussina 27; S Proctor 7; M Rivera 5;
R Halladay 29; B Ryan 8; J Speier 3; B Tallet 3.
UMPIRES: HP--Alfonso Marquez. 1B--Larry Young. 2B--Tom Hallion. 3B--Mike
Everitt.
T--3:08. Att--42,336.
Weather: INDOORS
The following graph tracks the game’s Win Probability, courtesy of Fan Graphs.
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 # Bay, Jason PIT Johnson, Josh FLA 437 441 22 Ramirez, Aramis CHC Pettitte, Andy HOU 446 429 17 Feliz, Pedro SF Sweeney, Brian SD 440 425 16 Barrett, Michael CHC Pettitte, Andy HOU 430 418 10 McLouth, Nate PIT Kensing, Logan FLA 411 413 5 Cantu, Jorge TB Rincon, Juan MIN 409 403 7 Bonds, Barry SF Sweeney, Brian SD 425 402 14 Lee, Travis TB Santana, Johan MIN 403 398 6 Quentin, Carlos ARI Hendrickson, Mark LAD 406 395 1 Santos, Chad SF Park, Chan Ho SD 411 391 1 Delgado, Carlos NYM Arroyo, Bronson CIN 393 390 23 Wells, Vernon TOR Rivera, Mariano NYY 391 390 24 Durham, Ray SF Sweeney, Brian SD 397 369 16 Floyd, Cliff NYM Arroyo, Bronson CIN 356 357 10 Jacobs, Mike FLA Snell, Ian PIT 342 340 14
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 BOS A- Zak Farkes 1B 4 3 0 0 1 0 0 CIN A+ Jeremiah Piepkorn 3B 4 4 1 0 0 0 0 COL A+ Justin Nelson LF 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 FLA A- John Raynor RF 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 4 RBI LA A Bridger Hunt CF 5 4 1 0 0 0 1 LAA AA Nathan Haynes RF 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 .519 OBP during past week MIL AA Ryan Braun 3B 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 MIN A Dwayne White DH 5 4 1 0 1 0 0 5 RBI PHI AA Peter Bergeron CF 4 3 0 0 1 0 0 PIT A Steve Lerud C 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes ARI A- Cesar Valdez 9.0 6 1 1 8 0 0 ATL A Jeff Lyman 7.0 3 0 0 5 3 0 29 K over last 25 IP BAL A- Jeffrey Moore 7.2 2 1 0 5 1 0 0.49 ERA over past month CHC A Mitch Atkins 7.1 7 0 0 7 0 0 CHC A+ Donald Veal 5.0 0 0 0 9 4 0 DET A Burke Badenhop 6.2 4 1 1 7 1 0 MIL AA Yovani Gallardo 6.0 5 0 0 9 1 0 MIN AA Kevin Slowey 7.1 5 0 0 5 3 0 MIN A Alexander Smit 6.2 3 0 0 8 2 0 PIT AA Shane Youman 7.0 4 0 0 9 2 0
Player News
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
Sensing a playoff surge, the Braves have acquired Bob Wickman from the Indians for Class A catcher Max Ramirez. Fausto Carmona would take over as the Indians’ closer, while Jorge Sosa and Kenny Ray would lose their closing chances. The 37-year-old Wickman has been successful on 15 of 18 save chances this season, and tied for the AL lead last year with 45 saves.
According to Elias, Wickman’s hours might be changing for his new employer. Wickman has pitched one inning or less in his last 127 saves — by far the longest streak in major league history, dating back to September 2000. No other pitcher has reached the 100-mark. But few managers ask their closers to work overtime more often than Bobby Cox does. Over the last six seasons, during which time Wickman has never earned a save of more than one inning, Braves pitchers have done so 53 times. Only three teams have higher totals: Yankees, 62; Devil Rays, 57; White Sox, 54.
Tim Wakefield has a broken rib and is expected to spend at least three weeks on the disabled list, manager Terry Francona said. Francona said Wakefield doesn’t remember how he injured himself. It might have been from sleeping on it wrong. “He’s actually been pitching with pain in his ribs for about a month or six weeks,” Francona said. “I think there’s a chance we could have him back with us, best-case scenario, three weeks.” Francona said.
B.J. Ryan blew a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth. It was the fifth time this season that the Blue Jays’ bullpen cost Roy Halladay a victory, tying Halladay for the American League lead with Scott Elarton and Jake Westbrook. John Smoltz leads the majors (6). (Source: Elias)
The Twins completed a four-game sweep with their victory over the Devil Rays on Thursday. It was Minnesota’s eighth series sweep of three or more games this season, the highest total in franchise history by the end of July. The previous high was seven in 2003, when the Twins set a franchise record for a full season (11). (Source: Elias)
Jose Contreras suffered his second consecutive defeat in the White Sox’ 2-1 loss to the Tigers. Contreras wasn’t the first pitcher ever to lose consecutive starts to snap a streak of 17 or more wins, but he was the first to do so in 68 years. The last was Johnny Allen (1938). Prior to Allen, it was done by Pat Luby (1891) and Mickey Welch (1885). (Source: Elias)
The Angels committed four errors in their loss. It was the sixth game this season in which Los Angeles made three or more errors, tying the Indians for the most such games in the majors. This season’s combined record of teams that committed at least three errors in a game is 17-73 (.189). (Elias)
Manager Grady Little shook up his lineup Thursday night after the Dodgers lost six of their first seven games coming out of the All-Star break. Little benched CF Kenny Lofton, moved clean-up man J.D. Drew to the No. 2 slot and put hot-hitting rookie Andre Ethier at clean-up.
RHP Scott Elarton may be lost for the season. Royals manager Buddy Bell said Elarton “is probably going to have something done to his shoulder,” and that it was probably season-ending.
Barry Bonds hit his 722nd homer Thursday night, connecting off San Diego’s Brian Sweeney just hours after the federal grand jury considering possible perjury and tax-evasion charges against the slugger expired without an indictment. Given a reprieve after catcher Mike Piazza dropped a foul popup for an error, Bonds drove a shot over the wall in center field two pitches later to give the San Francisco Giants a 7-0 lead with his 14th homer of the season. Sweeney became the 428th pitcher to give up a homer to Bonds, who has hit 84 longballs in his career against San Diego – his most against any team.
Carlos Quentin homered in his major league debut as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-2 on Thursday night. Quentin, promoted from Triple-A Tucson earlier Thursday, hit a two-run home run off Mark Hendrickson in his third at-bat. Quentin, 23, was Arizona’s second pick in the first round of the 2003 draft and the 29th overall selection.
Right-hander Octavio Dotel, working his way back from elbow surgery, reported soreness in his arm after pitching an inning for Double-A Trenton. “He finished his stint today. He just didn’t feel good. He felt sore and tender,” Torre said. Dotel hasn’t pitched for the New York this season after undergoing elbow ligament replacement surgery a year ago. Torre had hoped to have him on the roster on Sunday. He’ll see the team doctor on Friday.
Pittsburh’s Mike Gonzalez pitched a scoreless ninth to remain perfect in 16 save opportunities on Thursday at Florida.
The Nationals granted catcher Matthew LeCroy his unconditional release, three days after he was designated for assignment.
The Nationals announced that right-hander John Patterson had successful exploratory surgery on his right forearm. He is expected to be out at least four weeks.
The Washington Nationals placed right fielder Jose Guillen on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right elbow. The move was made retroactive to Wednesday. The elbow injury has been bothering Guillen all month and caused him to leave Tuesday’s 7-6 win over Florida in the third inning. It’s the latest in a series of ailments that have contributed to a disappointing season for Guillen, the team’s home run and RBI leader in 2005. He was batting .216 with nine home runs and 40 RBI in 69 games this year. He will have the elbow examined next week by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.
The Chicago White Sox released right-handed pitcher Cliff Politte. Politte lost his spot in the bullpen when Chicago recalled right-hander Sean Tracey from Triple-A Charlotte on Sunday. Politte was designated for assignment July 15 after allowing four runs and four hits in two innings of a 14-3 loss to the New York Yankees. The reliever was 2-2 with a 8.70 ERA in 30 games this season with the White Sox.
Tampa Bay’s Seth McClung has taken over as the Triple-A closer with outstanding results. He has a win and two saves with a 2.31 ERA, striking out 20 hittings in 11 2/3 innings. He has allowed nine hits and just one walk.
Phillies pitching prospect Scott Mathieson has moved up to Triple-A and was solid in his first start there, going six innings. He allowed six hits, two runs and one walk. He struck out seven.
THT Stats
One of the little-noticed stories out on the baseball field has been Michael Young’s improvement at shortstop this year. Last year, John Dewan’s Fielding Bible rated Young the worst shortstop in baseball after moving there from second base in 2004. Dewan reviewed videotape and found that Young was playing too close to second and too many balls were finding the third-base hole.
It appears that Young has made some adjustments this year; he ranks first among all major league shortstops in fielding Win Shares. Although fielding Win Shares aren’t a perfect assessment of fielding prowess, Young has also raised his zone rating from .807 last year to .840 this year.
Last First Team Field WS Young M TEX 4.8 Everett A HOU 4.5 Greene K SD 3.9 Crosby B OAK 3.9 Counsell C ARI 3.7 Peralta J CLE 3.7 Gonzalez A BOS 3.5 Cabrera O LAA 3.4 Rollins J PHI 3.4 Betancourt Y SEA 3.3 Barmes C COL 3.3 Uribe J CHA 3.2 Vizquel O SF 3.1 Tejada M BAL 3.1 Guillen C DET 2.9 Renteria E ATL 2.9 Reyes J NYN 2.7 Jeter D NYA 2.6 Lugo J TB 2.6 Cedeno R CHN 2.5 Castro J MIN 2.4 Eckstein D STL 2.2 Furcal R LAN 2.1 Wilson J PIT 2.1 Clayton R WAS 2.0 Ramirez H FLA 1.9 Berroa A KC 1.9 Cora A BOS 1.7 Hall B MIL 1.6
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