THT Daily: May 30

Major League News for May 29

Scoreboard
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Stats

Scoreboard

American League
CHA    11  CLE     0    (Recap and Boxscore) 2 Thome HR, 2 CLE hits
KC      6  OAK     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     4  MIN     3    (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings
NYA     4  DET     0    (Recap and Boxscore) R. Johnson is on
TEX     2  SEA     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     7  BOS     6    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
CHN     7  CIN     3    (Recap and Boxscore) Wood pitches well
COL     5  SD      0    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     5  SF      1    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN    12  ATL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYN     8  ARI     7    (Recap and Boxscore) Mets win with 2 in 9th
PHI    11  WAS     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT    14  MIL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL     3  HOU     1    (Recap and Boxscore)

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. Other team graphs and stats can be found on our Team Page.

American League East
BOS     30  19 .612  0.0    
NYA     29  20 .592  1.0    
TOR     28  22 .560  2.5    
BAL     23  28 .451  8.0    
TB      21  30 .412 10.0    
American League Central
DET     35  16 .686  0.0    
CHA     33  17 .660  1.5    
CLE     24  26 .480 10.5    
MIN     23  27 .460 11.5    
KC      12  37 .245 22.0    
American League West
TEX     27  24 .529  0.0    
OAK     23  28 .451  4.0    
LAA     22  29 .431  5.0    
SEA     22  31 .415  6.0    

National League East
NYN     31  19 .620  0.0    
ATL     27  24 .529  4.5    
PHI     26  24 .520  5.0    
WAS     21  31 .404 11.0    
FLA     16  33 .327 14.5    
National League Central
STL     33  18 .647  0.0    
CIN     28  23 .549  5.0    
MIL     26  25 .510  7.0    
HOU     26  26 .500  7.5    
CHN     19  31 .380 13.5    
PIT     17  34 .333 16.0    
National League West
ARI     29  21 .580  0.0    
LAN     29  22 .569  0.5    
COL     27  24 .529  2.5    
SF      26  25 .510  3.5    
SD      26  25 .510  3.5    

Game of the Day

The Blue Jays had a six-run lead, blew it, then beat the Red Sox 7-6. The Red Sox scored all their runs on home runs.

BOSTON (6) VS TORONTO (7) - FINAL

BOSTON                 ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
K Youkilis 1b           5  0  1  0   0  1   1  .317
M Loretta 2b            4  1  2  0   0  0   0  .317
D Ortiz dh              2  2  0  0   1  0   3  .267
M Ramirez lf            4  1  1  2   0  2   4  .309
T Nixon rf              4  0  0  0   0  0   4  .299
J Varitek c             4  1  2  3   0  0   0  .239
M Lowell 3b             4  0  1  0   0  0   1  .322
C Crisp cf              4  1  2  1   0  0   1  .333
A Gonzalez ss           4  0  0  0   0  2   1  .221

Totals                 35  6  9  6   1  5  15

BATTING: 2B - M Lowell (23, J Speier). HR - C Crisp (1, 5th inning off R 
Halladay 0 on, 1 Out), M Ramirez (12, 6th inning off R Halladay 1 on, 1 Out), J 
Varitek (5, 8th inning off J Speier 2 on, 2 Out). RBI - C Crisp (2), M Ramirez 
2 (31), J Varitek 3 (24). 2-out RBI - J Varitek 3. Runners left in scoring 
position, 2 out - C Crisp 1, T Nixon 1. GIDP - K Youkilis. Team LOB - 5. 
 
FIELDING: E - K Youkilis (2, catch); T Nixon (1, bobble). DP: 1 (A Gonzalez-M 
Loretta-K Youkilis). 
 
TORONTO                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
A Rios rf               3  1  1  2   2  0   1  .351
F Catalanotto lf        4  0  1  0   0  1   2  .313
 R Johnson lf           0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .350
V Wells cf              4  1  1  2   1  0   5  .316
T Glaus 3b              4  0  0  0   0  1   1  .256
L Overbay 1b            3  1  1  1   1  0   0  .306
G Zaun dh-c             4  1  1  0   0  0   1  .333
B Molina c              4  1  3  1   0  0   1  .285
 E Hinske pr            0  1  0  0   0  0   0  .266
 B Ryan p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
A Hill ss               3  1  2  0   0  0   1  .252
E Alfonzo 2b            3  0  0  0   0  0   3  .094
 a-S Hillenbrand ph     1  0  1  1   0  0   0  .338
 L Figueroa 2b          0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .250

Totals                 33  7 11  7   4  2  15

a-singled to left for E Alfonzo in the 8th.

BATTING: 2B - B Molina 2 (6, D Riske, M Clement); A Hill (11, M Clement). HR - 
V Wells (12, 3rd inning off M Clement 1 on, 2 Out), L Overbay (8, 4th inning 
off M Clement 0 on, 0 Out). S - A Hill. RBI - V Wells 2 (39), L Overbay (29), B 
Molina (14), A Rios 2 (38), S Hillenbrand (24). 2-out RBI - V Wells 2. Runners 
left in scoring position, 2 out - V Wells 3, A Hill 1. GIDP - E Alfonzo. Team 
LOB - 8. 
 
BASERUNNING: SB - A Rios (6, 2nd base off J Van Buren/J Varitek). 
 
FIELDING: DP: 1 (E Alfonzo-A Hill-L Overbay). 
 
----------------------------------------------------
    BOSTON          - 000 012 030   --   6
    TORONTO         - 002 400 01x   --   7
----------------------------------------------------

BOSTON                       ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
M Clement                     3 1/3   7   6   6   2   0   2   6.91
J Van Buren                   2 1/3   1   0   0   2   1   0   1.69
M Delcarmen                   1 1/3   1   0   0   0   1   0   7.20
D Riske (L, 0-1)                2/3   2   1   1   0   0   0  10.12
K Foulke                        1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   4.50

TORONTO                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
R Halladay                    7       7   3   3   0   2   2   2.87
S Downs (H, 1)                0       0   2   2   1   0   0   4.87
J Speier (B, 1)                 2/3   2   1   1   0   1   1   2.84
B Ryan (W, 1-0)               1 1/3   0   0   0   0   2   0   0.73

S Downs pitched to 2 batters in the 8th.

HBP - D Ortiz (by R Halladay); M Loretta (by S Downs); R Johnson (by D 
Riske). Pitches-strikes: M Clement 86-48; J Van Buren 39-23; M Delcarmen 22-16; 
D Riske 15-12; K Foulke 1-1; R Halladay 97-63; S Downs 8-3; J Speier 11-7; B 
Ryan 14-10. Ground balls-fly balls: M Clement 5-5; J Van Buren 4-2; M Delcarmen 
3-0; D Riske 1-1; K Foulke 0-1; R Halladay 7-12; S Downs 0-0; J Speier 0-1; B 
Ryan 0-2. Batters faced: M Clement 19; J Van Buren 9; M Delcarmen 5; D Riske 5; 
K Foulke 1; R Halladay 28; S Downs 2; J Speier 4; B Ryan 4. 
 
UMPIRES: HP--Tom Hallion. 1B--Mike Everitt. 2B--Alfonso Marquez. 3B--Larry 
Young. 

T--3:03. Att--24,038. 
Weather: 93 degrees, clear. Wind: 7 mph, left to right.

Yesterday’s Home Runs

The following stats are provided by Hit Tracker, which logs the projected distance of each home run (if it flew uninterrupted back to field level) and its “standard” distance, which is corrected for weather conditions.

The team-announced distance on the Fielder homer at PNC was 471 feet. This was actually in very close agreement with the initial HitTracker distance. However, the landing spot, on the sidewalk next to the river, is about 22 feet below field level. When you reconstruct the trajectory, the true distance is 452 feet – the extra 18 feet came after the ball had descended below field level, but before it hit the sidewalk.

Hitter                  Pitcher                   True Dist. Std. Dist. HR #
Ramirez, Manny    BOS   Halladay, Roy       TOR        450       448    12
Fielder, Prince   MIL   Duke, Zach          PIT        452       446     9
Walker, Todd      CHC   Mercker, Kent       CIN        418       440     3
Tracy, Chad       ARI   Heilman, Aaron      NYM        425       438     9
Floyd, Cliff      NYM   Vargas, Claudio     ARI        423       428     6
Overbay, Lyle     TOR   Clement, Matt       BOS        434       422     8
Murton, Matt      CHC   Ramirez, Elizardo   CIN        412       421     4
Thome, Jim        CWS   Mota, Guillermo     CLE        417       409    20
Spilborghs, Ryan  COL   Brower, Jim         SD         419       405     1
Castillo, Jose    PIT   Mabeus, Chris       MIL        415       404     5
Thome, Jim        CWS   Lee, Cliff          CLE        415       400    19
Bautista, Jose    PIT   Gonzalez, Jeremi    MIL        412       399     4
Martinez, Ramon   LAD   Paronto, Chad       ATL        402       392     1
Hawpe, Brad       COL   Thompson, Mike      SD         416       391    11
Valentin, Jose    NYM   Vargas, Claudio     ARI        376       387     3
Uribe, Juan       CWS   Lee, Cliff          CLE        388       385     4
Jacobs, Mike      FLA   Morris, Matt        SF         368       381     6
Byrnes, Eric      ARI   Trachsel, Steve     NYM        393       379     8
Holliday, Matt    COL   Thompson, Mike      SD         402       378    12
Thomas, Frank     OAK   Etherton, Seth      KC         377       377    10
Dunn, Adam        CIN   Eyre, Scott         CHC        392       373    17
Crisp, Coco       BOS   Halladay, Roy       TOR        392       372     1
Teixeira, Mark    TEX   Washburn, Jarrod    SEA        380       372     6
Konerko, Paul     CWS   Lee, Cliff          CLE        370       370    15
Durham, Ray       SF    Olsen, Scott        FLA        359       359     4
Swisher, Nick     OAK   Burgos, Ambiorix    KC         375       358    15
Howard, Ryan      PHI   Majewski, Gary      WAS        354       357    18
Wells, Vernon     TOR   Clement, Matt       BOS        352       355    12
Cuddyer, Michael  MIN   Lackey, John        LAA        358       341     7
Zimmerman, Ryan   WAS   Lieber, Jon         PHI        354       339     9
Byrnes, Eric      ARI   Trachsel, Steve     NYM        352       337     7
Varitek, Jason    BOS   Speier, Justin      TOR        349       331     5
Pujols, Albert    STL   Qualls, Chad        HOU        368       331    25

THT’s Stats

Here are the twenty pitchers who have given up the lowest percentage of line drives off batted balls. Jose Contreras has a big lead over the competition, which shows how dominant he has been so far. Also, the Defense Efficiency Ratio for each pitcher is listed, because DER tends to fluctuate with how often batters hit line drives. The exceptions are groundball pitchers such as Brandon Webb and Jake Westbrook.

Team    Last         First          LD%    DER
CHA     Contreras    Jose            9%   .805
SF      Cain         Matt           12%   .767
BOS     Beckett      Josh           12%   .778
LAN     Lowe         Derek          13%   .762
STL     Marquis      Jason          13%   .776
TB      Hendrickson  Mark           13%   .761
CLE     Westbrook    Jake           13%   .691
SD      Peavy        Jake           14%   .714
SD      Hensley      Clay A         14%   .753
NYN     Martinez     Pedro          15%   .799
OAK     Zito         Barry          15%   .762
NYA     Johnson      Randy          15%   .705
BOS     Clement      Matt           16%   .674
NYA     Mussina      Mike           16%   .753
BOS     Wakefield    Tim            16%   .744
ARI     Webb         Brandon        16%   .705
HOU     Buchholz     Taylor         16%   .749
SEA     Washburn     Jarrod         17%   .760
CHA     Buehrle      Mark           17%   .742
MIL     Capuano      Chris          17%   .730

Access all of THT’s stats here…