THT Daily: Key Returns for the playoffs
Major League News for September 22
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Player News
Stats
Yesterday’s Results
American League BAL 4 DET 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Benson: 8 IP, 3 R BOS 6 MIN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Beckett: 8 IP, 0 R; Ortiz: 2 HR (52 for season) SEA 9 CHA 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Woods: 7 IP, 0 R OAK 7 CLE 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Kendall: 4 RBI; Harden returns: 3 IP, 1 R, 7 K National League FLA 5 NYN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Sanchez: 7 IP, 2 R; Pedro: 5 IP, 4 R HOU 6 STL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Berkman: 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI MIL 9 SF 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Alou: 2 HR; Bell: 3-4, 3 RBI ATL 6 COL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Andruw: 4 RBI (now at 120); Smoltz: 7 IP, 3 R LAN 5 PIT 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Billingsley: 5 IP, 2 R SD 3 ARI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Williams: 5.2 IP, 1 R
Today’s Games
Visitors Home Starts FLA - Nolasco R. (11-9, 4.56) PHI - Hamels C.* (8-8, 4.21) 7:05 MIN - Silva C. (10-13, 5.88) BAL - Cabrera D. (7-10, 5.10) 7:05 STL - Marquis J. (14-15, 5.82) HOU - Hirsh J. (3-4, 5.59) 7:05 BOS - Tavarez J. (3-4, 4.89) TOR - Lilly T.* (14-12, 4.44) 7:07 CHC - Hill R.* (6-6, 4.12) CIN - Michalak C.* (1-3, 4.88) 7:10 WAS - Astacio P. (4-5, 6.38) NYM - Maine J. (5-5, 3.42) 7:10 NYY - Wang C. (17-6, 3.64) TB - Shields J. (6-7, 4.82) 7:15 ATL - Hudson T. (12-11, 4.83) COL - Fogg J. (9-9, 5.68) 8:05 SF - Sanchez J.* (3-0, 3.38) MIL - Davis D.* (10-11, 4.87) 8:05 DET - Ledezma W.* (2-3, 3.81) KC - Hudson L. (7-5, 5.46) 8:10 SEA - Meche G. (11-8, 4.34) CWS - Contreras J. (13-8, 4.08) 8:35 CLE - Byrd P. (9-8, 4.77) TEX - Eaton A. (6-4, 4.77) 8:35 LAA - Weaver J. (11-2, 2.15) OAK - Zito B.* (16-9, 3.91) 10:05 PIT - Gorzelanny T.* (2-3, 3.62) SD - Young C. (10-5, 3.63) 10:05 ARI - Vargas C. (11-9, 4.96) LAD - Lowe D. (14-8, 3.69) 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 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 92 60 .605 0.0 90 2BOS 82 71 .536 10.5 77 5
TOR 80 72 .526 12.0 80 0
BAL 67 86 .438 25.5 66 1
TB 58 94 .382 34.0 60 -2
American League Central DET 91 62 .595 0.0 91 0
MIN 90 62 .592 0.5 87 3
CHA 85 68 .556 6.0 85 0
CLE 70 82 .461 20.5 82 -12
KC 58 94 .382 32.5 58 0
American League West OAK 89 63 .586 0.0 81 8
LAA 82 70 .539 7.0 77 5
TEX 77 76 .503 12.5 82 -5
SEA 74 79 .484 15.5 74 0
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 92 60 .605 0.0 87 5
PHI 79 73 .520 13.0 79 0
FLA 76 77 .497 16.5 77 -1
ATL 75 78 .490 17.5 79 -4
WAS 66 86 .434 26.0 65 1
National League Central STL 80 71 .530 0.0 78 2
HOU 74 78 .487 6.5 76 -2
CIN 74 78 .487 6.5 71 3
MIL 70 83 .458 11.0 67 3
PIT 65 88 .425 16.0 67 -2
CHN 62 91 .405 19.0 64 -2
National League West SD 80 72 .526 0.0 80 0
LAN 80 73 .523 0.5 81 -1
SF 75 77 .493 5.0 73 2
ARI 72 80 .474 8.0 75 -3
COL 71 82 .464 9.5 78 -7
Wildcard Standings American League MIN 90 62 .592 0.0 CHA 85 68 .556 5.5 LAA 82 70 .539 8.0 BOS 82 71 .536 8.5 TOR 80 72 .526 10.0 National League LAN 80 73 .523 0.0 PHI 79 73 .520 0.5 FLA 76 77 .497 4.0 SF 75 77 .493 4.5 ATL 75 78 .490 5.0
Game of the Day
All three contending teams in the AL Central lost yesterday, and Detroit maintained its half-game lead over the Twins. It was the Orioles who did the Tigers in, scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth on Melvin Mora’s double. Kris Benson pitched a fine game for the O’s.
Detroit loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the fifth inning but didn’t score. According to Elias, it was the fourth time this season that the Tigers had the bases full with nobody out and did not score in that inning, tying Seattle and Toronto for the highest total in the major leagues.
Nearly a thousand disgruntled Orioles fans walked out of the game in the fourth inning, culminating a demonstration aimed at team owner Peter Angelos, who has been in charge of the team during its club-record run of nine straight losing seasons.
DETROIT (3) VS BALTIMORE (4) - FINAL
DETROIT ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Granderson cf 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 .266
A Gomez lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .281
S Casey 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 .237
M Ordonez rf 4 1 1 2 0 0 3 .295
C Guillen ss 3 0 1 0 1 0 3 .311
M Stairs dh 4 0 1 0 0 2 2 .241
B Inge 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .250
N Perez 2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .200
a-M Thames ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .257
R Santiago pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .224
V Wilson c 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .277
b-C Monroe ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .258
Totals 34 3 8 3 3 6 18
a-walked for N Perez in the 9th; b-flied out to center for V Wilson in the
9th.
BATTING: 2B - C Granderson (30, K Benson); C Guillen (39, K Benson). HR - M
Ordonez (24, 1st inning off K Benson 1 on, 2 Out), C Granderson (16, 3rd inning
off K Benson 0 on, 0 Out). RBI - M Ordonez 2 (100), C Granderson (61). 2-out
RBI - M Ordonez 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Stairs 1, C
Guillen 2. Team LOB - 7.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (C Guillen-N Perez-S Casey).
BALTIMORE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Gomez 2b 5 0 2 0 0 0 4 .330
M Mora 3b 3 0 1 2 2 0 1 .273
N Markakis rf 5 0 1 0 0 0 4 .295
M Tejada ss 5 1 3 0 0 0 1 .330
R Hernandez c 3 1 0 0 1 2 4 .277
K Millar 1b 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 .261
C Patterson cf 3 0 0 0 0 2 6 .271
F Tatis dh 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 .264
a-B Roberts ph-dh 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .292
D Newhan lf 3 0 0 0 0 3 3 .241
J Fiorentino pr-lf 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .263
Totals 31 4 9 4 5 7 25
a-singled to right center for F Tatis in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - K Millar (24, N Robertson); M Mora (25, F Rodney). SF - F Tatis.
RBI - K Millar (58), F Tatis (8), M Mora 2 (80). Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - C Gomez 1, M Tejada 1, C Patterson 4, N Markakis 2. GIDP - M
Mora. Team LOB - 12.
BASERUNNING: SB - M Mora (11, 3rd base off N Robertson/V Wilson), B Roberts
(36, 3rd base off F Rodney/V Wilson), J Fiorentino (1, 2nd base off F Rodney/V
Wilson).
FIELDING: Outfield assists - C Patterson (C Guillen at 1st base). DP: 1 (C
Patterson-K Millar).
----------------------------------------------------
DETROIT - 201 000 000 -- 3
BALTIMORE - 000 200 02x -- 4
----------------------------------------------------
DETROIT ip h r er bb so hr era
N Robertson 6 5 2 2 5 5 0 3.66
J Grilli (H, 8) 2/3 2 0 0 0 1 0 4.25
J Walker (H, 13) 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.05
F Rodney (L, 7-4; B, 4) 1 2 2 2 0 0 0 3.44
BALTIMORE ip h r er bb so hr era
K Benson (W, 11-11) 8 8 3 3 2 4 2 4.49
C Ray (S, 33) 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 2.86
WP - N Robertson. HBP - C Patterson (by N Robertson); K Millar (by J Grilli);
D Newhan (by F Rodney). Pitches-strikes: N Robertson 98-58; J Grilli 14-9; J
Walker 4-3; F Rodney 31-19; K Benson 111-66; C Ray 21-11. Ground balls-fly
balls: N Robertson 4-9; J Grilli 0-1; J Walker 0-0; F Rodney 1-2; K Benson
5-14; C Ray 0-1. Batters faced: N Robertson 28; J Grilli 5; J Walker 1; F
Rodney 6; K Benson 33; C Ray 4.
UMPIRES: HP--Chuck Meriwether. 1B--Jerry Crawford. 2B--Brian Onora. 3B--Phil
Cuzzi.
T--2:47. Att--17,877.
Weather: 75 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 4 mph, right to left.
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. You can read their daily updates at the Hit Tracker Blog.
Hitter Pitcher True Dist Std. Dist. HR # Berkman, Lance HOU Carpenter, Chris STL 456 454 43 Holliday, Matt COL Smoltz, John ATL 468 450 30 Ortiz, David BOS Guerrier, Matt MIN 445 426 52 Alou, Moises SF Bush, Dave MIL 429 426 19 Sizemore, Grady CLE Harden, Rich OAK 427 412 25 Saenz, Olmedo LAD Youman, Shane PIT 425 412 11 Berkman, Lance HOU Carpenter, Chris STL 414 412 42 Ibanez, Raul SEA Vazquez, Javier CWS 403 412 29 Hillenbrand, Shea SF Bush, Dave MIL 414 411 21 Ortiz, David BOS Santana, Johan MIN 434 408 51 Beltre, Adrian SEA Riske, David CWS 412 405 20 Granderson, Curtis DET Benson, Kris BAL 394 398 16 Bell, David MIL Morris, Matt SF 395 393 9 Jones, Andruw ATL Kim, Byung-Hyun COL 393 388 37 Alou, Moises SF Bush, Dave MIL 387 384 20 Lowell, Mike BOS Guerrier, Matt MIN 376 376 18 Ordonez, Magglio DET Benson, Kris BAL 361 352 24
Player News
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
Oakland SP Rich Harden returned to the mound Thursday against the Cleveland Indians. He threw 55 pitches in three innings recording seven strikeouts, yielding two hits, an earned run and a walk. The Athletics won 7-4 but Harden did not factor in the decision.
Another pitcher on the mend, Pedro Martinez, had a no-hitter through four innings, but the Marlins tagged him for four runs in the fifth inning to take a 4-1 lead and Willie Randolph removed Martinez after that half inning.
David Ortiz hit his 51st and 52nd home runs on Thursday night, breaking the Red Sox’s single-season record of 50 by Jimmie Foxx in 1938. Foxx continues to hold the Athletics’ single-season home run record.
Lance Berkman hit two home runs in Houston’s 6-5 win against St. Louis. According to Elias, this is the sixth straight year in which Berkman has homered on Sept. 21. That’s one shy of the major-league record on any date. Lou Gehrig hit a home run on June 8 in seven straight seasons, from 1932 through 1938.
San Francisco’s pitchers walked six Milwaukee batters in the fifth inning. The Brewers scored five runs in that stanza in their 9-4 victory. It was the third time this season that San Francisco’s pitchers issued six walks in an inning. Only one other team has done that even once this year: Baltimore on April 7.
The Atlanta Braves have exercised the team’s 2007 option with John Smoltz, ensuring the right-hander will return for his 19th season with the team. The announcement was made before Smoltz started for the Braves at Colorado Thursday night, and came one day after the Braves agreed on a 2007 contract with closer Bob Wickman. General manager John Schuerholz said he told Smoltz Wednesday of the team’s plans to exercise the option. “John has been a constant for this organization, both with his pitching and his leadership, and our plan to exercise this contract option for next season was never in question,” Schuerholz said. He’s 13-9 with a 3.71 ERA, heading into his start Thursday against Colorado.
Two of the criticisms of Alex Rodriguez in Tom Verducci’s current article in Sports Illustrated are Rodriguez’s poor clutch hitting and his struggle to hit fastballs. At the intersection of those two charges is this amazing statistic: During his three seasons with the Yankees, A-Rod has batted .105 with runners in scoring position against pitchers who averaged at least one strikeout per inning (in the season in question). That’s four hits in 38 at-bats, with one home run and 16 strikeouts. (Source: Elias)
Yankees GM Brian Cashman said pitcher Carl Pavano won’t throw anymore this season. “He’s still experiencing shoulder pain,” Cashman said. “Because of the broken ribs, he altered his mechanics.” Pavano hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since June 2005 because of shoulder, back, buttocks and elbow injuries. He broke the ribs in an Aug. 15 car crash he didn’t disclose to the team until after he made three minor league rehab starts. He had been scheduled to throw Friday in Tampa. Pavano agreed to a $39.95 million, four-year contract as a free agent after the 2004 season, then went 4-6 with a 4.77 ERA in 17 major league starts before getting hurt. Cashman didn’t know whether Pavano would need to have a rehab plan during the offseason.
Jason Giambi has a small ligament tear in his left wrist and will miss the New York Yankees’ series this weekend against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Giambi had a third injection in the wrist Thursday, when he was examined in New York by hand specialist Dr. Melvin Rosenwasser and team physician Dr. Stuart Hershon. The Yankees said MRI and CT scans didn’t show any changes from previous results, which showed the tear and tendinitis. “We’ll have to see how he comes out of it,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “There’s no doubt he’ll be able to play through it. The question is: Will he get his stroke back?” New York said he might need surgery after the season if pain continues.
With the Yankees having clinched their ninth straight AL East title on Wednesday, Gary Sheffield is likely to take over at first base starting Friday. Sheffield, sidelined since May 29 and coming off wrist surgery, has been worked out at first base during his rehabilitation.
Giants OF Barry Bonds is still wishy-washy on the topic of retirement. So, as the Giants head into their final homestand of 2006 starting Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, it could mark the last time Bonds is in a Giants uniform. The 42-year-old Bonds would like to finish his career in San Fran. Yet he repeatedly has said his future is in the hands of the Giants. “Did you read the quotes that I’d like to stay at home? That hasn’t changed,” Bonds said of next year, which likely would be his final season. “I’m not at an age where I can pick where I play. If you want me, call me. … I don’t even know what I’m going to do. Right now, I’m going to wait until the offseason, take care of my family and talk to my son and my wife. (The Giants are) the ones who are iffy, not me.”
The Reds said pitcher Eric Milton will have arthroscopic surgery Friday on his left elbow. He is expected to be ready for spring training. Milton went 8-8 with a 5.19 ERA in 26 starts for the Reds this season.
Reds outfielder Ryan Freel will miss the rest of the season because of a hairline fracture of his left thumb, the team said Thursday. Freel was injured Tuesday night while diving for Luke Scott’s first-inning triple in Houston. He finished that game and started Wednesday’s game before leaving in the fourth inning. Freel hit .271 with 30 doubles and 37 stolen bases this season.
RHP Salomon Torres became the fourth pitcher in major-league history to appear in 90 games in a season. Mike Marshall (twice), Kent Tekulve (three times)and Wayne Granger are the only pitchers to accomplish that feat.
OF Jeff Francoeur has started all 152 games this year. Only four players in franchise history have played 162 games, the last being OF Andruw Jones in 1999.
Manager Mike Hargrove said RHP Felix Hernandez will make his final start of the season Saturday at Chicago. Hernandez has already thrown 179 innings and Hargrove doesn’t want to expose the 20-year-old’s valuable arm to more wear and tear, so he’ll be shut down for the rest of the season after Saturday.
The Indians recalled 1B Michael Aubrey, OF Jason Dubois, UTL Lou Merloni, UTL Mike Rouse and OF Brad Snyder from the minors, but they are not to report to the team. Also, the Indians sent RHP Jake Dittler and LHP Jason Stanford outright to Triple-A Buffalo of the IL.
The Diamondbacks recalled IF Alberto Callaspo from Triple-A Tucson after the Sidewinders won the Pacific Coast League title.
Justin Morneau is just one RBI from tying Harmon Killebrew (1962) for second on the team’s single-season list with 126. Killebrew also owns the club record with 140 in 1961.
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