THT Daily: HR Swings in Seattle
Major League News for July 24
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 13 NYA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Wells: 2 HR, 4 RBI; Johnson: 4 RBI CHA 5 TEX 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Garland: 8.1 IP, 0 R BAL 4 TB 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Bedard: 7 IP, 2 R, 9 K; Kazmir: 7 IP, 2 R, 10 K SEA 9 BOS 8 (Recap and Boxscore) See below DET 8 OAK 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Robertson: 7 IP, 4 R; Guillen: 3-3, 2B, 3B MIN 3 CLE 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Liriano: 10 K in 5 IP, 1 R; MIN P’s: 17 K LAA 3 KC 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Weaver: 6.2 IP, 1 R National League SD 6 SF 5 (Recap and Boxscore) 12 innings STL 6 LAN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Marquis: 8 IP, 0 R; Encarnacion: 2 HR; STL sweep FLA 5 PIT 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Uggla: 2B, HR, GW 1B in 9th ATL 5 PHI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Ramirez: 7 IP, 1 R; Myers: 8 IP, 3 R; ATL: 4 in 9th HOU 8 NYN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 7 CHN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Armas: 7 IP, 1 R; Soriano: HR, 2B MIL 4 CIN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Ohka: 8 IP, 1 R; MIL: 9 hits all singles COL 9 ARI 7 (Recap and Boxscore) COL: 4 in 9th; No HR; Barmes: 4 for 5
Today’s Games
Visitors Home Time DET - Bonderman J. (10-4, 3.53) CLE - Lee C.* (9-7, 4.86) 7:05 ATL - Hudson T. (7-8, 4.95) PHI - Hamels C.* (2-4, 5.36) 7:05 NYY - Johnson R.* (10-8, 4.88) TEX - Millwood K. (10-5, 4.61) 7:05 CHC - Maddux G. (7-11, 4.56) NYM - Trachsel S. (9-4, 4.68) 7:10 LAA - Lackey J. (8-6, 2.93) TB - Seo J. (0-4, 4.56) 7:15 MIN - Radke B. (8-7, 4.83) CWS - Vazquez J. (9-5, 5.20) 8:05 PIT - Duke Z.* (7-8, 5.19) MIL - Davis D.* (5-6, 4.82) 8:05 STL - Reyes A. (2-3, 3.83) COL - Francis J.* (7-8, 3.98) 9:05 BOS - Beckett J. (12-5, 4.78) OAK - Zito B.* (10-6, 3.20) 10:05 TOR - Janssen C. (6-9, 4.77) SEA - Pineiro J. (6-8, 5.79) 10:05 SD - Young C. (8-4, 3.59) LAD - Lowe D. (7-7, 4.19) 10:10
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 BOS 59 38 .608 0.0 55 4NYA 56 40 .583 2.5 55 1
TOR 55 43 .561 4.5 54 1
BAL 45 55 .450 15.5 43 2
TB 41 58 .414 19.0 40 1
American League Central DET 66 32 .673 0.0 63 3
CHA 59 38 .608 6.5 57 2
MIN 56 41 .577 9.5 53 3
CLE 43 54 .443 22.5 52 -9
KC 34 64 .347 32.0 37 -3
American League West OAK 51 47 .520 0.0 49 2
TEX 51 48 .515 0.5 52 -1
LAA 50 48 .510 1.0 49 1
SEA 47 51 .480 4.0 49 -2
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 59 39 .602 0.0 57 2
ATL 46 51 .474 12.5 51 -5
PHI 44 51 .463 13.5 44 0
FLA 45 52 .464 13.5 47 -2
WAS 43 56 .434 16.5 44 -1
National League Central STL 56 41 .577 0.0 51 5
CIN 52 47 .525 5.0 48 4
MIL 47 52 .475 10.0 43 4
HOU 47 52 .475 10.0 47 0
CHN 37 60 .381 19.0 38 -1
PIT 35 65 .350 22.5 43 -8
National League West SD 51 47 .520 0.0 49 2
SF 51 48 .515 0.5 50 1
ARI 50 48 .510 1.0 49 1
COL 46 51 .474 4.5 49 -3
LAN 47 52 .475 4.5 51 -4
Game of the Day
Richie Sexson hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth for a dramatic Seattle win, 9-8 over Boston. In the top of the ninth, Jason Varitek had tied the score with a home run off J.J. Putz, after Adrian Beltre had put Seattle ahead in the bottom of the eighth with the first inside-the-park home run ever at Safeco Field.
Sexson hit his game winner off Mike Timlin. It was the 20th time in his career that Timlin has been on the mound for a walk-off loss. Only three current pitchers have met that fate more often than he: Roberto Hernandez (30 times), Trevor Hoffman (23) and Mike Stanton (22). Other Elias note of trivia: Jon Lester started for the Sox after Kason Gabbard had made his big-league debut in that role yesterday. It was the first time in almost 25 years that Boston started rookie left-handed pitchers in consecutive games (since Bruce Hurst and Bob Ojeda in September 1981).
BOSTON (8) VS SEATTLE (9) - FINAL
BOSTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
K Youkilis 1b 3 2 2 0 2 0 0 .292
M Loretta 2b 4 2 2 1 1 0 3 .305
D Ortiz dh 5 2 3 2 0 2 1 .281
M Ramirez lf 4 0 1 2 0 1 3 .310
J Varitek c 5 1 2 3 0 1 2 .246
M Lowell 3b 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 .293
C Crisp cf 4 0 2 0 0 1 1 .260
G Kapler rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .277
A Gonzalez ss 3 1 0 0 1 3 1 .276
Totals 37 8 12 8 4 9 15
BATTING: 2B - C Crisp 2 (11, J Washburn 2); D Ortiz 2 (18, J Washburn 2); J
Varitek (13, J Washburn). HR - J Varitek (11, 9th inning off J Putz 0 on, 2
Out). SF - M Ramirez. RBI - D Ortiz 2 (94), M Ramirez 2 (73), J Varitek 3 (47),
M Loretta (39). 2-out RBI - J Varitek 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2
out - M Loretta 1, G Kapler 1, M Lowell 1. GIDP - M Loretta. Team LOB - 7.
BASERUNNING: SB - C Crisp (11, 3rd base off J Washburn/K Johjima).
SEATTLE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
I Suzuki rf 5 1 1 0 0 0 3 .344
W Bloomquist 2b 3 1 1 0 2 1 0 .246
A Beltre 3b 5 2 2 3 0 1 5 .263
R Ibanez lf 5 1 2 0 0 2 0 .274
R Sexson 1b 5 2 2 1 0 2 3 .227
E Perez dh 3 1 1 3 0 1 2 .302
K Johjima c 3 1 2 1 0 0 0 .286
Y Betancourt ss 4 0 1 1 0 0 3 .302
A Jones cf 4 0 2 0 0 2 1 .259
Totals 37 9 14 9 2 9 17
BATTING: 2B - A Beltre (26, J Lester); R Ibanez 2 (21, J Lester 2); K Johjima
(17, M Delcarmen). HR - E Perez (9, 3rd inning off J Lester 1 on, 2 Out), A
Beltre (8, 8th inning off M Timlin 0 on, 2 Out), R Sexson (20, 9th inning off M
Timlin 0 on, 0 Out). SF - E Perez. RBI - A Beltre 3 (42), E Perez 3 (27), K
Johjima (43), Y Betancourt (34), R Sexson (66). 2-out RBI - E Perez 2, K
Johjima, Y Betancourt, A Beltre. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A
Beltre 3, Y Betancourt 1. Team LOB - 8.
BASERUNNING: SB - A Jones (2, 2nd base off J Lester/J Varitek).
FIELDING: E - A Jones (1, bobble). DP: 1 (A Beltre-W Bloomquist-R Sexson).
----------------------------------------------------
BOSTON - 003 013 001 -- 8
SEATTLE - 302 000 211 -- 9
No outs when winning run scored.
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BOSTON ip h r er bb so hr era
J Lester 5 8 5 5 1 4 1 3.04
C Hansen (H, 5) 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 4.58
M Delcarmen (B, 3) 1 3 2 2 0 3 0 3.48
M Timlin (L, 5-1) 1 2 2 2 0 1 2 2.72
SEATTLE ip h r er bb so hr era
J Washburn 5 1/3 8 5 5 3 6 0 4.58
J Mateo (B, 3) 1 2/3 3 2 1 0 0 0 5.02
M Lowe 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.00
J Putz (W, 2-0; B, 4) 1 1 1 1 0 2 1 2.47
J Lester pitched to 1 batter in the 6th.
M Timlin pitched to 1 batter in the 9th.
HBP - K Johjima (by J Lester). Pitches-strikes: J Lester 92-56; C Hansen
21-13; M Delcarmen 26-17; M Timlin 18-13; J Washburn 105-69; J Mateo 21-18; M
Lowe 14-7; J Putz 18-11. Ground balls-fly balls: J Lester 4-7; C Hansen 1-1; M
Delcarmen 0-0; M Timlin 1-1; J Washburn 4-6; J Mateo 2-3; M Lowe 2-0; J Putz
0-1. Batters faced: J Lester 25; C Hansen 5; M Delcarmen 6; M Timlin 5; J
Washburn 27; J Mateo 8; M Lowe 3; J Putz 4.
UMPIRES: HP--Larry Poncino. 1B--Ed Hickox. 2B--Rob Drake. 3B--Gary Darling.
T--3:18. Att--45,975.
Weather: 77 degrees, sunny. Wind: 3 mph, out to right.
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 # Wells, Vernon TOR Ponson, Sidney NYY 441 440 25 Renteria, Edgar ATL Myers, Brett PHI 428 429 11 Podsednik, Scott CWS Benoit, Joaquin TEX 405 427 3 Posada, Jorge NYY Marcum, Shaun TOR 424 423 12 Wells, Vernon TOR Chacon, Shawn NYY 422 421 26 Lopez, Javy BAL Kazmir, Scott TB 417 416 8 Piazza, Mike SD Wright, Jamey SF 433 415 15 Kielty, Bobby OAK Robertson, Nate DET 422 415 4 Glaus, Troy TOR Ponson, Sidney NYY 415 414 26 Hermida, Jeremy FLA Capps, Matt PIT 419 408 4 DaVanon, Jeff ARI Kim, Byung-Hyun COL 418 405 5 Varitek, Jason BOS Putz, J.J. SEA 416 405 11 Delgado, Carlos NYM Oswalt, Roy HOU 414 405 25 Francoeur, Jeff ATL Gordon, Tom PHI 400 404 19 Church, Ryan WAS Marmol, Carlos CHC 416 396 5 Beltre, Adrian SEA Timlin, Mike BOS 401 392 8 Soriano, Alfonso WAS Marmol, Carlos CHC 414 390 31 Phillips, Brandon CIN Ohka, Tomo MIL 409 385 8 Hinske, Eric TOR Wilson, Kris NYY 384 384 10 Encarnacion, Juan STL Billingsley, Chad LAD 413 383 13 Scutaro, Marco OAK Robertson, Nate DET 387 381 3 Sexson, Richie SEA Timlin, Mike BOS 386 381 20 Encarnacion, Juan STL Billingsley, Chad LAD 410 375 14 Uggla, Dan FLA Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 387 373 14 Perez, Eduardo SEA Lester, Jon BOS 372 367 9 Iguchi, Tadahito CWS Padilla, Vicente TEX 347 364 11 Sledge, Terrmel SD Benitez, Armando SF 388 359 1 Johnson, Reed TOR Wilson, Kris NYY 357 356 6
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 ATL A+ Kala Kaaihue 1B 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 CIN A+ Cody Strait RF 4 3 1 1 0 0 0 Hitting .52 over last 25 at bats CLE A+ Jordan Brown LF 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 COL A+ Corey Wimberly 2B 3 3 0 0 0 2 0 3 runs scored NYM A+ Alhaji Turay LF 3 3 1 0 1 0 0 NYY A+ Victor Hall CF 5 4 0 1 0 0 0 NYY A+ Hector Made 2B 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 OAK A- Matthew Sulentic RF 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 .522 OBP during past week PHI A+ J.J. Johnson DH 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 STL A Jose Martinez 2B 3 3 1 0 0 1 0 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes HOU A- C. Salamida 5.0 2 0 0 5 1 0 0.74 ERA over past month LA MLB Chi-Hung Cheng 6.0 3 0 0 8 1 0 NYY A+ Alan Horne 5.0 3 0 0 5 1 0 OAK A- TJ Franco Jr. 5.0 1 0 0 3 3 0 PHI A- Andrew Cruse 6.0 2 0 0 3 3 0 SEA A David Asher 7.0 2 1 1 2 2 1 STL A+ Jaime Garcia 7.2 3 1 1 5 2 0 STL A Donnie Smith 6.0 4 0 0 1 0 0 TB A Gregory Reinhard 7.0 3 0 0 9 2 0 38 K over last 31 IP
Player News
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
The Chicago White Sox acquired veteran catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. from the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor-league pitcher B.J. LaMura on Sunday after designating backup Chris Widger for assignment. The Dodgers are expected to activate Jason Repko (ankle) from the 60-day disabled list on Monday.
Jered Weaver became the first rookie in 25 years to win his first seven starts, pitching the Los Angeles Angels past the Kansas City Royals 3-1 Sunday. Weaver (7-0) allowed one run and three hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking four. The 23-year-old right-hander has a 1.15 ERA in 47 innings. The last pitcher to win his first seven major league starts was Fernando Valenzuela.
Joe Mauer went 2-for-2 as Minnesota’s designated hitter, raising his season average to .381. Mauer is batting .564 as a DH this year (22-for-39), collecting at least two hits in eight of his 11 games in that role. Only two players have posted a single-season batting average of .500 or better in that many at-bats as a designated hitter: Jim Dwyer (.538, 21-for-39 for the 1980 Red Sox) and Rico Carty (.500, 25-for-50 for the 1974 Indians). (Source: Elias)
The Astros avoided a sweep with a victory over the Mets in their series finale at Shea Stadium. Bizarre fact: Despite owning the National League’s best record, New York is the only team in the majors that hasn’t swept a home series of three-or-more games this season.
The Cardinals completed a sweep of their season series against the Dodgers and set a franchise record by homering in their 19th straight game. But that’s not even the longest current streak of its kind in the majors. Edgar Renteria and Jeff Francoeur homered in Atlanta’s victory at Philadelphia to extend the Braves’ home-run streak to 22 games (three games shy of the NL record set by Atlanta in 1998). (Source: Elias)
The Mets’ Paul Lo Duca said after Sunday’s game against the Astros that his left thumb is still bothering him and he might require surgery during the offseason. The team’s official website reports he has been playing with a wrap under his catcher’s mitt for the past week.
Mark Bellhorn has started four of the past five games at third base since the Padres discarded veteran Vinny Castilla on Wednesday. General manager Kevin Towers said he is cooling to the idea of adding a third baseman at the trading deadline, so that might be good news for Mark Bellhorn. “There’s not a lot out there [at third base]. I think our guys can get the job done.”
The Cubs’ official website is reporting Carlos Marmol suffered a bruised pitching hand in Sunday’s game at Washington during an at-bat. “We can’t lose any more guys here,” Baker said. “His hand is swollen. He couldn’t grip the fastball. He got that hit [in the third], and it jammed him pretty badly.”
Baltimore’s Russ Ortiz is out of the rotation and sent to the bullpen, so Hayden Penn or Daniel Cabrera could be brought up from Triple-A to start as the No. 5 during the weekend series vs. the Chicago White Sox. Bruce Chen is also an option.
Alfonso Soriano says he wants to stay with the Washington Nationals, but he doubts he’ll reach an agreement on a new contract before the July 31 trade deadline. “I don’t think so. I think that my agent and the club, they have to talk a lot,” Soriano said after homering in Washington’s 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.
The Nationals optioned IF/OF Melvin Dorta to Double-A Harrisburg. Dorta had his first career major league at-bat Saturday, appearing as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning Saturday.
The Indians recalled RHP Jason Davis from Triple-A Buffalo of the IL.
Royce Ring, 2-0 with a 1.99 ERA in 29 appearances, in Triple-A is the subject of trade rumors. “We’re very pleased with his pitching,” Mets GM Omar Minaya told the New York Post. “His name always comes up as a potential player to be brought up.”
The Reds called up LHP Brian Shackelford from Triple-A Louisville Sunday to take LHP Kent Mercker’s spot in the bullpen. Mercker went on the 15-day DL a day earlier with a sore elbow.
Rickie Weeks was hit by a pitch for the 19th time, most in the majors.
Tomo Ohka bounced two pitches way in front of the plate — one landed in the grass, the other in the dirt — and threw another that registered 58 mph on the ballpark’s radar gun. Everything else was amazingly good. In a sign that he has fully recovered from shoulder problems, Ohka allowed only three hits in eight innings Sunday, helping the struggling Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-1 to avoid a three-game sweep.
THT Stats
BABIP stands for Batting Average on Balls In Play. It’s the ratio of batted balls (not including home runs) that fall in for hits. As a general rule, players who hit line drives have higher BABIP’s, as you can see on the following list of batters with the highest BABIP’s in the majors. As a general rule, LD% plus .110 is a good proxy for BABIP.
Last First Team LD% BABIP Mauer Joe MIN 27% .409 Jeter Derek NYA 23% .394 Sanchez Freddy PIT 29% .375 Jones Chipper ATL 22% .375 Granderson Curtis DET 24% .373 Suzuki Ichiro SEA 21% .372 Hawpe Brad B COL 22% .372 Cabrera Miguel FLA 20% .371 DeRosa Mark TEX 25% .369 Matthews Jr. Gary TEX 20% .368 Sullivan Cory COL 33% .368 Carroll Jamey COL 23% .360 Holliday Matt T COL 21% .359 Abreu Bobby PHI 26% .358 Renteria Edgar ATL 24% .358 Wright David A NYN 20% .355 Weeks Rickie MIL 20% .354 Freel Ryan CIN 23% .354 Sizemore Grady CLE 20% .352 Utley Chase PHI 20% .350
Access all of THT’s stats here…