THT Daily: Nomar Does it Again
Major League News for September 25
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Player News
Stats
Yesterday’s Results
American League MIN 6 BAL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Tejada: 2 HR TB 11 NYA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Wigginton, Crawford: 3 RBI each TOR 13 BOS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Overbay: 2 2B, HR; Chacin: 5 IP, 3 R CHA 12 SEA 7 (Recap and Boxscore) Konerko: 2 HR, 4 RBI; Uribe: GS HR DET 11 KC 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Verlander: 5 IP, 2 R; DET: 9 in 2nd inning LAA 7 OAK 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Santana: 8 IP, 2 H, 1 R CLE 11 TEX 6 (Recap and Boxscore) Sizemore: 2 HR, 4 RBI; Boone: 4 RBI National League WAS 5 NYN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Zimmerman: 2 2B; Armas: 6 IP, 1 R PHI 10 FLA 7 (Recap and Boxscore) Utley: 2 HR, 4 RBI; PHI leads wildcard CIN 3 CHN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Clayton: GW 2R 1B in 9th; Harang: 9 IP, 2 R HOU 7 STL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Clemens: 5 IP, 1 R on 3 days rest; Huff: 3 RBI MIL 5 SF 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Sheets: 8 IP, 2 R COL 9 ATL 8 (Recap and Boxscore) McCann: 2 HR, 5 RBI; Holliday: 3B, HR, 4 RBI LAN 5 ARI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) See below SD 2 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Hensley: 6 IP, 1 R; McLeary: 5 IP, 1 R
Today’s Games
Visitors Home Starts CHC - Miller W. (0-2, 4.97) CIN - Arroyo B. (14-10, 3.38) 12:35 CWS - Garland J. (17-6, 4.37) CLE - Lee C.* (12-11, 4.58) 7:05 HOU - Albers M. (0-2, 6.00) PHI - Wolf R.* (4-0, 5.47) 7:05 BOS - Wakefield T. (7-10, 4.50) TOR - Marcum S. (2-4, 5.51) 7:07 WAS - Perez B. (1-0, 0.77) NYM - Glavine T.* (14-6, 3.92) 7:10 NYY - Wright J. (10-7, 4.52) TB - Seo J. (1-6, 4.10) 7:15 SD - Wells D.* (0-2, 4.43) STL - Suppan J. (12-7, 4.07) 8:10 KC - De La Rosa J.* (3-3, 5.32) MIN - Bonser B. (6-5, 4.36) 8:10 TEX - Volquez E. (1-5, 6.53) LAA - Saunders J.* (6-3, 4.29) 10:05 OAK - Loaiza E. (11-8, 4.70) SEA - Baek C. (4-1, 3.67) 10:05 ARI - Gonzalez E. (2-3, 4.41) SF - Schmidt J. (11-8, 3.50) 10:15
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 93 62 .600 0.0 91 2BOS 83 73 .532 10.5 78 5
TOR 82 73 .529 11.0 82 0
BAL 68 88 .436 25.5 67 1
TB 60 95 .387 33.0 63 -3
American League Central DET 94 62 .603 0.0 94 0
MIN 92 63 .594 1.5 89 3
CHA 87 69 .558 7.0 87 0
CLE 72 83 .465 21.5 83 -11
KC 58 97 .374 35.5 58 0
American League West OAK 90 65 .581 0.0 82 8
LAA 84 71 .542 6.0 80 4
TEX 78 78 .500 12.5 83 -5
SEA 75 81 .481 15.5 75 0
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 93 62 .600 0.0 88 5
PHI 82 73 .529 11.0 82 0
FLA 76 80 .487 17.5 78 -2
ATL 75 81 .481 18.5 80 -5
WAS 68 87 .439 25.0 67 1
National League Central STL 80 74 .519 0.0 79 1
HOU 77 78 .497 3.5 79 -2
CIN 76 79 .490 4.5 72 4
MIL 73 83 .468 8.0 69 4
PIT 65 91 .417 16.0 68 -3
CHN 63 93 .404 18.0 66 -3
National League West SD 83 72 .535 0.0 82 1
LAN 82 74 .526 1.5 83 -1
SF 75 80 .484 8.0 74 1
COL 74 82 .474 9.5 80 -6
ARI 73 82 .471 10.0 76 -3
Wildcard Standings American League MIN 92 63 .594 0.0 CHA 87 69 .558 5.5 LAA 84 71 .542 8.0 BOS 83 73 .532 9.5 TOR 82 73 .529 10.0 National League PHI 82 73 .529 0.0 LAN 82 74 .526 0.5 HOU 77 78 .497 5.0 CIN 76 79 .490 6.0 FLA 76 80 .487 6.5
Game of the Day
Nomar Garciaparra hit his second game-winning home run in less than a week, this one a grand slam in the ninth to boost the Dodgers over Arizona, 5-1. Marlon Anderson (who else?) started the ninth with a single, then was sacrificed to second. After another out and two walks (one intentional), Garciaparra blasted a 2-1 pitch from Luis Vizcaino over the left-center field fence.
For the first seven innings, the game was a taut pitching duel between Hong-Chih Kuo and Livan Hernandez. The win left the Dodgers a half-game behind the Phillies in the wildcard race.
ARIZONA (1) VS LA DODGERS (5) - FINAL ARIZONA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg A Callaspo 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .265 C Quentin rf 4 0 1 1 0 2 0 .253 C Jackson 1b 4 0 2 0 0 2 2 .290 E Byrnes cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .272 S Hairston lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .385 D Easley 3b 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 .232 a-C Counsell ph-3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .261 S Drew ss 3 1 1 0 1 2 0 .320 C Snyder c 3 0 0 0 1 2 2 .286 L Hernandez p 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .212 L Vizcaino p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 32 1 5 1 2 13 13 a-flied out to left for D Easley in the 9th. BATTING: 2B - C Quentin (10, H Kuo); C Jackson (25, J Broxton). S - L Hernandez. RBI - C Quentin (27). 2-out RBI - C Quentin. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - D Easley 1, S Hairston 1, C Snyder 1, A Callaspo 1, C Jackson 2. Team LOB - 7. FIELDING: E - L Hernandez (4, throw). LA DODGERS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg R Furcal ss 2 1 2 0 3 0 0 .301 K Lofton cf 4 1 1 1 1 0 4 .298 N Garciaparra 1b 4 1 1 4 1 0 2 .300 J Kent 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .281 J Drew rf 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 .281 W Betemit 3b 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 .262 T Saito p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 M Anderson lf 3 1 1 0 1 0 2 .291 R Martin c 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .282 H Kuo p 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 .143 a-J Lugo ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .214 J Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 O Robles 3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 Totals 31 5 7 5 7 4 15 a-flied out to left for H Kuo in the 7th. BATTING: 2B - H Kuo (1, L Hernandez). HR - N Garciaparra (19, 9th inning off L Vizcaino 3 on, 2 Out). S - R Martin. RBI - K Lofton (38), N Garciaparra 4 (90). 2-out RBI - N Garciaparra 4. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - K Lofton 1, M Anderson 1, J Drew 2. Team LOB - 8. BASERUNNING: CS - R Furcal (12, 2nd base by L Hernandez/C Snyder). FIELDING: E - W Betemit (12, ground ball). ---------------------------------------------------- ARIZONA - 001 000 000 -- 1 LA DODGERS - 000 010 004 -- 5 Two outs when winning run scored. ---------------------------------------------------- ARIZONA ip h r er bb so hr era L Hernandez 7 5 1 1 5 2 0 4.95 L Vizcaino (L, 4-6) 1 2/3 2 4 4 2 2 1 3.68 LA DODGERS ip h r er bb so hr era H Kuo 7 4 1 0 2 8 0 4.12 J Broxton 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 2.71 T Saito (W, 6-2) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 2.15 IBB - R Furcal (by L Vizcaino). Pitches-strikes: L Hernandez 118-71; L Vizcaino 43-22; H Kuo 100-71; J Broxton 24-18; T Saito 12-8. Ground balls-fly balls: L Hernandez 3-15; L Vizcaino 3-0; H Kuo 4-10; J Broxton 0-0; T Saito 0-1. Batters faced: L Hernandez 30; L Vizcaino 9; H Kuo 28; J Broxton 4; T Saito 3. UMPIRES: HP--Rick Reed. 1B--Tim Tschida. 2B--Ted Barrett. 3B--Laz Diaz. T--2:58. Att--49,822. Weather: 84 degrees, sunny. Wind: 4 mph, out to center.
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. Monroe, Craig DET Hernandez, Runelvys KC 417 430 Coats, Buck CHC Harang, Aaron CIN 413 425 Ortiz, David BOS Chacin, Gustavo TOR 420 419 Stairs, Matt DET Braun, Ryan KC 434 417 Holliday, Matt COL James, Chuck ATL 467 416 Garciaparra, Nomar LAD Vizcaino, Luis ARI 433 413 Coste, Chris PHI Olsen, Scott FLA 386 405 Helms, Wes FLA Moyer, Jamie PHI 395 402 Guerrero, Vladimir LAA Haren, Dan OAK 408 401 Utley, Chase PHI Garcia, Jose FLA 422 400 Huff, Aubrey HOU Flores, Randy STL 402 396 McCann, Brian ATL Morilla, Juan COL 442 395 Ramirez, Aramis CHC Harang, Aaron CIN 406 395 Bell, David MIL Cain, Matt SF 398 395 McCann, Brian ATL Morilla, Juan COL 443 394 Inge, Brandon DET Wellemeyer, Todd KC 401 390 Hawpe, Brad COL Yates, Tyler ATL 427 386 Jones, Chipper ATL Morilla, Juan COL 432 385 Rollins, Jimmy PHI Olsen, Scott FLA 365 385 Nevin, Phil MIN Ortiz, Russ BAL 415 384 Bard, Josh SD Perez, Oliver PIT 396 384 Crede, Joe CWS Feierabend, Ryan SEA 425 382 Utley, Chase PHI Olsen, Scott FLA 399 377 Broussard, Ben SEA Cotts, Neal CWS 420 375 Sizemore, Grady CLE Millwood, Kevin TEX 402 375 Baker, Jeff COL James, Chuck ATL 417 374 Ross, Cody FLA Moyer, Jamie PHI 359 373 Burrell, Pat PHI Petit, Yusmeiro FLA 355 371 Ibanez, Raul SEA Hermanson, Dustin CWS 401 369 Ramirez, Hanley FLA Moyer, Jamie PHI 359 369 Tejada, Miguel BAL Garza, Matt MIN 403 368 Tejada, Miguel BAL Garza, Matt MIN 387 365 Renteria, Edgar ATL Hampson, Justin COL 410 364 Konerko, Paul CWS Cruceta, Francisco SEA 420 361 Uribe, Juan CWS Pineiro, Joel SEA 403 360 Anderson, Brian CWS Feierabend, Ryan SEA 422 359 Wigginton, Ty TB Villone, Ron NYY 350 349 Overbay, Lyle TOR Snyder, Kyle BOS 348 347 Johjima, Kenji SEA Garcia, Freddy CWS 373 338 Cano, Robinson NYY Stokes, Brian TB 337 337 Jacobs, Mike FLA White, Rick PHI 363 336 Mauer, Joe MIN Loewen, Adam BAL 350 330 Patterson, Corey BAL Garza, Matt MIN 360 326 Konerko, Paul CWS Feierabend, Ryan SEA 361 316 Lopez, Jose SEA Cotts, Neal CWS 344 310 Sizemore, Grady CLE Wilson, C.J. TEX 288 285 Branyan, Russell SD McLeary, Marty PIT NA NA Valentin, Jose NYM Armas, Tony WAS NA NA
Player News
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
The Tigers clinched their first playoff berth since 1987 with an 11-4 win over the Royals. Three MLB franchises have a longer current postseason drought than Detroit: the Expos/Nationals (who last played a postseason game in 1981), Brewers (1982) and Royals (1985).
Minnesota kept pace with Detroit in the AL Central as six relievers combined to shut down the Orioles over the final 3 2/3 innings in the Twins’ 6-3 victory. Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth inning to notch his 35th save of the year.
One day after tying Lee Smith’s record for career saves, Trevor Hoffman earned the 479th save of his career to become the all-time leader in that category. Smith had held the record mark since April 8, 1993.
David Ortiz’s home run at Rogers Centre on Sunday was his 32nd homer on the road this year, tying the American League single-season record set by Babe Ruth in 1927.
The Reds beat the Cubs in walk-off fashion when Royce Clayton delivered the winning run with a pinch-hit single on the 11th pitch of his at-bat against Scott Eyre.
The Braves suffered a 9-8 loss at Colorado after scoring five first-inning runs and building a 7-0 lead through the top of the fourth inning. It was the second loss this season for the Braves in a game in which they scored at least five runs in the top of the first inning.
Moises Alou’s second-inning double in the Giants’ loss at Milwaukee was the 2,000th hit of his major-league career.
Grady Sizemore hit a pair of home runs, including an inside-the-park job.
Joe Crede hit his 30th home run of the season against the Mariners. Crede joins Jermaine Dye (43 home runs), Jim Thome (42) and Paul Konerko (35) as the first quartet of White Sox players to have at least 30 home runs in the same season. It’s the 10th time this feat has been accomplished in Major League history, but the White Sox join the 2000 Angels and Blue Jays as just the third American League squad to hit the elite target.
Carl Crawford’s sixth-inning triple was his 15th this season. The hit brought him within two triples of Mets shortstop Jose Reyes for the big-league lead, and edged him one step nearer to his career high of 19. That triple off Yankees reliever Mike Myers gave the 25-year-old Crawford 15 or more triples in three straight seasons, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since 1930, when three Hall of Famers did it: the Yankees’ Earle Combs (1927-30), Pittsburgh’s Paul Waner (1926-30) and Detroit’s Charlie Gehringer (1928-30).
Jose Contreras will not start another game this season for the White Sox. The hamstring problem that has caused Contreras to collapse in a heap on the field on his way to covering first base during each of his last two starts is nothing too serious, according to White Sox trainer Herm Schneider. It’s also hard to explain a specific cause for the problem.
Nick Johnson’s fractured leg should be healed in time for spring training. Johnson was injured Saturday in a gruesome collision with right fielder Austin Kearns during a 12-6 loss to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. He was carted off the field and taken to a hospital, where a titanium rod was inserted into his fractured right femur during a two-hour procedure Saturday night. “The surgery went well. He is expected to make a full recovery, and be ready for 2007 spring training,” team orthopedist Dr. Ben Shaffer said in a statement Sunday. “Nick will remain in the hospital for one or two days, and begin his rehabilitation today.”
The Rockies called up P Juan Morillo from the minors.
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