THT Daily: Pen Woes in Philly

Major League News for September 18

Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Top Minor League Performances

You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/

Player News

Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has expressed a lack of confidence in Brett Myers’ ability to close games.
“Watching him the three or four times we’ve run him out there, he’s not quite ready” to be a closer, Manuel said. It’s more of a physical issue than anything. Myers had hip surgery only a few months ago and still feels routine soreness. The job currently belongs to Ryan Madson and is likely to fall back to Brad Lidge once the playoffs roll around.

Rich Harden has denied a Thursday Chicago Tribune report that he is being shut down for the rest of the season.
“No, I guess that was just one person who decided to run with that,” Harden said. “They’re not shutting me down and I am still feeling good and looking forward to getting back out there.” The 27-year-old will miss Monday’s start against the Brewers, but could see two more outings before the year is up.

Royals signed RHP Aaron Crow to a three-year, $4.5 million deal.
Crow, the 12th overall pick in the 2009 draft, was given a $1.5 million signing bonus and will earn $3 million over the next three seasons (2010-2012) as long as he stays in the major leagues. The 22-year-old has a nice fastball-slider combination, but will need to have a great spring to crack the Royals’ starting rotation in 2010. Some scouts believe he’s better suited for a bullpen role.

Brett Tomko (arm) has been shut down for the rest of the season.
Tomko was diagnosed with nerve damage in his throwing arm earlier this week. He’ll finish the year 5-3 with a 3.77 ERA and 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA over his last six starts. The impending free agent has said he’d like to re-sign with Oakland, but other teams might desire his services after such a fine finish. A bidding war for Brett Tomko? Should be a fun offseason.

Chan Ho Park has been diagnosed with a strained right hamstring and won’t be available to pitch for another two or three weeks.
Park will head to the Phillies’ spring training complex in Clearwater, Florida this weekend to begin treatment and rehab. He had a 1.93 ERA and 23/7 K/BB ratio since the All-Star break, and will be sorely missed in the middle of the Philadelphia ‘pen.

According to the Tacoma News Tribune, the Mariners have hired Jeff Kingston as their new assistant general manager.
Kingston was given the title of Padres Director of Baseball Operations in November 2002 and is now moving on to bigger and better things. “I am excited to add Jeff to our front office staff,” Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik said Thursday evening. “He assisted in several capacities with San Diego and his skill set and diversity will aid this organization as we move forward.”

Gavin Floyd (hip) has been scratched from his scheduled Monday start.
Floyd left his last outing after three innings with left hip soreness and, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, could soon be shut down for the entire season. “The main thing for us is to make sure we keep this guy healthy for the future,” manager Ozzie Guillen said Thursday. “The way this guy has pitched for us the last two years, he deserved and earned our consideration.” It’s not yet clear who will replace him.

Edwin Jackson allowed five earned runs over five innings Thursday afternoon as the Tigers fell to the Royals.
Jackson surrendered six hits, including a Miguel Olivo three-run jack. He’s looked very hittable in his last two starts and isn’t a great fantasy bet next week, even against the bottom-dwelling Indians. The Tigers’ AL Central lead over the Twins has now fallen to 4 games, and the two clubs will face each other in a crucial three-game set this weekend.

According to ESPN Chicago’s Bruce Levine, the Cubs are not shutting Rich Harden down for the rest of the season.
The Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan heard from sources Thursday afternoon that the Cubs are calling it quits on the ’09 season for Harden, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Or at least the Cubs aren’t ready to make that announcement just yet. We do know that he’ll be skipped on his next turn through the starting rotation and that Tom Gorzelanny has been pegged to fill in.

Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday’s games, read “And That Happened” at Shysterball.

American League
TB      3  BAL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     4  BOS     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
KC      9  DET     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     5  CLE     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     4  CHA     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL     7  NYN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     4  WAS     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     7  CHN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     3  FLA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

Check out Fangraphs’ scoreboard to see all the games in action.

Today’s Games

RedSox (86-59) @ Orioles (60-86), 7:05pm
    Clay Buchholz (24, RHP) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (30, RHP)
Blue Jays (66-80) @ Rays (74-73), 7:38pm
    Scott Richmond (29, RHP) vs. James Shields (27, RHP)
Angels (87-59) @ Rangers (80-65), 8:05pm
    Scott Kazmir (25, LHP) vs. Tommy Hunter (22, RHP)
Tigers (78-68) @ Twins (74-72), 8:10pm
    Rick Porcello (20, RHP) vs. Brian Duensing (26, LHP)
Royals (59-87) @ WhiteSox (72-75), 8:11pm
    Luke Hochevar (25, RHP) vs. Mark Buehrle (30, LHP)
Indians (61-85) @ Athletics (68-78), 10:05pm
    David Huff (24, LHP) vs. Brett Anderson (21, LHP)
Yankees (94-53) @ Mariners (76-71), 10:10pm
    A.J. Burnett (32, RHP) vs. Felix Hernandez (23, RHP)
Padres (66-81) @ Pirates (55-89), 7:05pm
    Tim Stauffer (27, RHP) vs. Charlie Morton (25, RHP)
Marlins (78-69) @ Reds (68-79), 7:10pm
    Rick VandenHurk (24, RHP) vs. Homer Bailey (23, RHP)
Nationals (50-96) @ Mets (63-84), 7:10pm
    J.D. Martin (26, RHP) vs. Mike Pelfrey (25, RHP)
Phillies (85-60) @ Braves (78-68), 7:30pm
    J.A. Happ (26, LHP) vs. Tim Hudson (33, RHP)
Astros (70-76) @ Brewers (71-75), 8:05pm
    Bud Norris (24, RHP) vs. Chris Narveson (27, LHP)
Cubs (75-70) @ Cardinals (85-62), 8:15pm
    Ted Lilly (33, LHP) vs. John Smoltz (42, RHP)
Rockies (83-64) @ D'backs (64-83), 9:40pm
    Jason Marquis (30, RHP) vs. Kevin Mulvey (24, RHP)
Giants (79-67) @ Dodgers (88-59), 10:10pm
    Jonathan Sanchez (26, LHP) vs. Vicente Padilla (31, RHP)

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     94  53 .639    0.0   87     7    
BOS     86  59 .593    7.0   85     1    
TB      74  73 .503   20.0   78    -4    
TOR     66  80 .452   27.5   74    -8    
BAL     60  86 .411   33.5   63    -3    
American League Central     
DET     78  68 .534    0.0   73     5    
MIN     74  72 .507    4.0   75    -1    
CHA     72  75 .490    6.5   73    -1    
CLE     61  85 .418   17.0   67    -6    
KC      59  87 .404   19.0   60    -1    
American League West        
LAA     87  59 .596    0.0   83     4    
TEX     80  65 .552    6.5   78     2    
SEA     76  71 .517   11.5   68     8    
OAK     68  78 .466   19.0   72    -4    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     85  60 .586    0.0   83     2    
ATL     78  68 .534    7.5   82    -4    
FLA     78  69 .531    8.0   75     3    
NYN     63  84 .429   23.0   64    -1    
WAS     50  96 .342   35.5   59    -9    
National League Central     
STL     85  62 .578    0.0   83     2    
CHN     75  70 .517    9.0   76    -1    
MIL     71  75 .486   13.5   70     1    
HOU     70  76 .479   14.5   65     5    
CIN     68  79 .463   17.0   64     4    
PIT     55  89 .382   28.5   60    -5    
National League West        
LAN     88  59 .599    0.0   90    -2    
COL     83  64 .565    5.0   81     2    
SF      79  67 .541    8.5   78     1    
SD      66  81 .449   22.0   59     7    
ARI     64  83 .435   24.0   68    -4    


Wildcard Standings
American League             
BOS     86  59 .593    0.0
TEX     80  65 .552    6.0
SEA     76  71 .517   11.0
MIN     74  72 .507   12.5
TB      74  73 .503   13.0
National League             
COL     83  64 .565    0.0
SF      79  67 .541    3.5
ATL     78  68 .534    4.5
FLA     78  69 .531    5.0
CHN     75  70 .517    7.0

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            AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Pick A TeamARIATLBALBOSCHACHNCINCLECOLDETFLAHOUKCLAALANMILMINNYANYNOAKPHIPITSDSEASFSTLTBTEXTORWAS