THT Daily: Penultimate Day
Major League News for October 1
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Player News
Stats
Yesterday’s Results
American League BAL 5 BOS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Millar: GW 2R single in ninth TOR 6 NYA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Jeter: 3-3 CLE 6 TB 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Blake: 2 HR; Westbrook: 7 IP, 1 R KC 9 DET 6 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 6 MIN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Garland: 8.1 IP, 3 R LAA 7 OAK 6 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA: 4 R in 8th to win; LAA bullpen: 8.1 IP, 1 R SEA 3 TEX 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Beltre: 2 HR, 3 RBI; Hernandez: 7 IP, 1 R National League HOU 5 ATL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Pettitte: 7 IP, 1 R PHI 4 FLA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI bullpen: 7.1 IP, 0 R NYN 13 WAS 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Franco: 5 RBI; Glavine: 6 IP, 0 R COL 11 CHN 9 (Recap and Boxscore) 14 innings, 20 pitchers; Hawpe: 2 2B, HR PIT 3 CIN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) McLeary: 7 IP, 0 R STL 3 MIL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) See below SD 3 ARI 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Wells: 6 IP, 0 R LAN 4 SF 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Maddux: 7 IP, 2 R
Today’s Games
Visitors Home Starts TB - Hammel J. (0-5, 7.45) CLE - Lee C.* (13-11, 4.46) 1:05 PHI - Myers B. (12-7, 3.94) FLA - Willis D.* (12-12, 3.89) 1:05 TOR - McGowan D. (1-2, 7.66) NYY - Wright J. (11-7, 4.39) 1:05 KC - Perez O.* (2-4, 5.06) DET - Bonderman J. (14-8, 3.99) 1:05 NYM - Perez O.* (3-13, 6.71) WAS - Ortiz R. (11-15, 5.32) 1:05 HOU - Sampson C. (2-0, 2.10) ATL - Smoltz J. (15-9, 3.58) 1:05 CIN - Belisle M. (2-0, 4.24) PIT - Youman S.* (0-2, 4.30) 1:35 BAL - Penn H. (0-3, 13.76) BOS - Hansack D. (0-1, 5.40) 2:05 CWS - Vazquez J. (11-11, 4.77) MIN - Baker S. (5-8, 6.37) 2:10 MIL - Villanueva C. (1-2, 3.97) STL - Carpenter C. (15-8, 3.09) 2:15 COL - Jimenez U. (0-0, 0.00) CHC - Miller W. (0-2, 3.57) 2:20 OAK - Harden R. (4-0, 3.35) LAA - Moseley D. (1-0, 5.14) 3:35 LAD - Stults E.* (1-0, 6.39) SF - Schmidt J. (11-9, 3.56) 4:05 TEX - Tejeda R. (5-4, 4.19) SEA - Woods J.* (6-4, 4.27) 4:05 SD - Williams W. (11-5, 3.57) ARI - Webb B. (16-7, 2.88) 4:40
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 97 64 .602 0.0 96 1TOR 86 75 .534 11.0 86 0
BOS 85 76 .528 12.0 79 6
BAL 70 91 .435 27.0 69 1
TB 61 100 .379 36.0 64 -3
American League Central MIN 95 66 .590 0.0 92 3
DET 95 66 .590 0.0 96 -1
CHA 90 71 .559 5.0 88 2
CLE 77 84 .478 18.0 89 -12
KC 61 100 .379 34.0 61 0
American League West OAK 92 69 .571 0.0 85 7
LAA 89 72 .553 3.0 84 5
TEX 80 81 .497 12.0 85 -5
SEA 77 84 .478 15.0 77 0
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 96 65 .596 0.0 90 6
PHI 85 76 .528 11.0 86 -1
ATL 78 83 .484 18.0 84 -6
FLA 77 84 .478 19.0 79 -2
WAS 71 90 .441 25.0 69 2
National League Central STL 83 77 .519 0.0 82 1
HOU 82 79 .509 1.5 82 0
CIN 80 81 .497 3.5 75 5
MIL 74 87 .460 9.5 70 4
PIT 66 95 .410 17.5 70 -4
CHN 65 96 .404 18.5 69 -4
National League West SD 87 74 .540 0.0 86 1
LAN 87 74 .540 0.0 87 0
SF 76 84 .475 10.5 76 0
COL 76 85 .472 11.0 81 -5
ARI 76 85 .472 11.0 79 -3
Wildcard Standings American League DET 95 66 .590 0.0 CHA 90 71 .559 5.0 LAA 89 72 .553 6.0 TOR 86 75 .534 9.0 BOS 85 76 .528 10.0 National League LAN 87 74 .540 0.0 PHI 85 76 .528 2.0 HOU 82 79 .509 5.0 CIN 80 81 .497 7.0 ATL 78 83 .484 9.0
Game of the Day
The Padres and Dodgers both clinched postseason appearances yesterday, but the Cardinals’ 3-2 victory over Milwaukee carried more drama and significance than any other game. The Cardinals were losing 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth when Scott Spiezio his a three-run triple with two out against Coco Cordero to plate the winning runs. Spiezio’s hit was the first pinch-hit triple with the bases loaded this year.
Up to that point, the game had been a tight pitching duel between Jeff Suppan and Ben Sheets. Sheets was particularly dominant, pitching six innings, allowing no runs and striking out seven but was pulled for a pinch hitter when Milwaukee scored its two runs in the seventh.
Either a Cardinal win or an Astro loss today will put St. Louis in the postseason.
MILWAUKEE (2) VS ST LOUIS (3) - FINAL
MILWAUKEE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
T Gwynn Jr cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .264
T Graffanino 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .286
P Fielder 1b 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .269
B Hall ss 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 .272
G Jenkins rf 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 .266
F Cordero p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
C Hart lf 4 1 1 0 0 2 0 .283
D Bell 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .270
M Rivera c 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 .261
b-G Gross ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .274
D Anderson pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .111
B Sheets p 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .030
a-J Cirillo ph 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 .319
J Capellan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Shouse p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Clark rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .263
Totals 31 2 5 2 5 4 11
a-singled to center for B Sheets in the 7th; b-walked for M Rivera in the
9th.
BATTING: 2B - G Jenkins (26, J Suppan). RBI - J Cirillo 2 (23). 2-out RBI - J
Cirillo 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B Sheets 1, T Gwynn Jr 1.
Team LOB - 7.
BASERUNNING: CS - T Gwynn Jr (1, 2nd base by J Suppan/Y Molina).
ST LOUIS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D Eckstein ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .292
C Duncan rf 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 .293
S Taguchi cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .266
A Pujols 1b 4 1 2 0 0 0 4 .330
P Wilson lf 4 0 2 0 0 2 2 .264
S Rolen 3b 4 1 1 0 0 2 2 .296
J Edmonds cf 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 .257
b-J Encarnacion ph-rf 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .280
R Belliard 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 6 .240
Y Molina c 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 .217
c-S Spiezio ph 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 .270
G Bennett c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .223
J Suppan p 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 .218
a-J Vizcaino ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .234
T Johnson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
d-J Rodriguez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .302
A Wainwright p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500
Totals 34 3 10 3 2 8 19
a-fouled out to left for J Suppan in the 7th; b-intentionally walked for J
Edmonds in the 8th; c-tripled to deep right for Y Molina in the 8th; d-fouled
out to third for T Johnson in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - A Pujols (33, B Sheets); D Eckstein (18, B Sheets); S Rolen (48,
J Capellan). 3B - S Spiezio (4, F Cordero). RBI - S Spiezio 3 (51). 2-out RBI -
S Spiezio 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Rodriguez 1, R
Belliard 1, P Wilson 1, A Pujols 2, Y Molina 1. Team LOB - 9.
BASERUNNING: SB - P Wilson 2 (12, 2nd base off B Sheets/M Rivera 2). CS - J
Suppan (1, 2nd base by B Sheets/M Rivera).
----------------------------------------------------
MILWAUKEE - 000 000 200 -- 2
ST LOUIS - 000 000 03x -- 3
----------------------------------------------------
MILWAUKEE ip h r er bb so hr era
B Sheets 6 7 0 0 1 7 0 3.82
J Capellan (H, 16) 1 1/3 2 2 2 0 1 0 4.40
B Shouse (L, 1-3) 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 3.97
F Cordero (B, 2) 2/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.38
ST LOUIS ip h r er bb so hr era
J Suppan 7 5 2 2 3 2 0 4.12
T Johnson (W, 2-4) 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 4.95
A Wainwright (S, 3) 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 3.12
B Shouse pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
WP - B Sheets. IBB - M Rivera (by J Suppan), J Encarnacion (by B Shouse).
Pitches-strikes: B Sheets 100-79; J Capellan 17-13; B Shouse 4-0; F Cordero
14-10; J Suppan 104-60; T Johnson 16-9; A Wainwright 18-11. Ground balls-fly
balls: B Sheets 5-6; J Capellan 2-1; B Shouse 0-0; F Cordero 0-2; J Suppan 9-9;
T Johnson 0-2; A Wainwright 2-0. Batters faced: B Sheets 26; J Capellan 6; B
Shouse 1; F Cordero 3; J Suppan 28; T Johnson 4; A Wainwright 4.
UMPIRES: HP--Tim Timmons. 1B--Derryl Cousins. 2B--Jeff Nelson. 3B--Fieldin
Culbreth.
T--2:46. Att--44,294.
Weather: 69 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 5 mph, out to center.
The following graph tracks the game’s Win Probability, courtesy of Fan Graphs.
As an added bonus, check out Atlanta’s pitching boxscore from yesterday:
ATLANTA ip h r er bb so hr era L Cormier 5 1/3 8 2 2 2 1 2 4.89 C Paronto 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.18 O Villarreal 2/3 2 0 0 0 2 0 3.61 M McBride 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3.54 T Yates 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.07 B Wickman (L, 0-2) 1/3 2 3 0 0 0 0 1.08 W Franklin 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.04 K Ray 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.52
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 # Cameron, Mike SD Gonzalez, Edgar ARI 455 444 22 Willingham, Josh FLA Wolf, Randy PHI 434 444 26 Berkman, Lance HOU Cormier, Lance ATL 472 436 45 Beltre, Adrian SEA Millwood, Kevin TEX 423 429 24 Franco, Julio NYM Perez, Beltran WAS 420 426 2 Cabrera, Miguel FLA Wolf, Randy PHI 409 425 26 Chavez, Endy NYM Perez, Beltran WAS 413 423 4 Sweeney, Mike KC Miner, Zach DET 425 420 8 Rodriguez, Alex NYY Marcum, Shaun TOR 436 415 35 Ramirez, Manny BOS Loewen, Adam BAL 432 413 35 Overbay, Lyle TOR Karstens, Jeff NYY 414 412 22 Holliday, Matt COL Mateo, Juan CHC 405 411 34 Choo, Shin-Soo CLE Seo, Jae TB 427 410 3 Hawpe, Brad COL Walrond, Les CHC 406 409 22 Beltre, Adrian SEA Millwood, Kevin TEX 399 404 25 Green, Shawn NYM Schroder, Chris WAS 392 404 15 Chavez, Eric OAK Gregg, Kevin LAA 410 402 22 Cuddyer, Michael MIN Garland, Jon CWS 407 401 24 Iguchi, Tadahito CWS Guerrier, Matt MIN 406 401 18 Anderson, Garret LAA Haren, Dan OAK 404 399 17 Drew, Stephen ARI Meredith, Cla SD 406 398 5 Carroll, Jamey COL Mateo, Juan CHC 387 397 5 Iannetta, Chris COL Wuertz, Michael CHC 384 397 2 LaRoche, Adam ATL Miller, Trever HOU 427 395 32 Niekro, Lance SF Maddux, Greg LAD 418 394 5 Swisher, Nick OAK Saunders, Joe LAA 398 389 35 Huff, Aubrey HOU Cormier, Lance ATL 414 388 21 Blake, Casey CLE Seo, Jae TB 394 379 18 Teixeira, Mark TEX Hernandez, Felix SEA 375 379 33 Blake, Casey CLE Meadows, Brian TB 390 376 19 Wright, David NYM Rodriguez, Felix WAS 381 376 26 Kennedy, Adam LAA Haren, Dan OAK 371 369 4 Castro, Ramon NYM Bergmann, Jason WAS 381 363 4 Sheffield, Gary NYY Marcum, Shaun TOR 380 359 6
Player News
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
There is one postseason slot still in play: The Astros head into the final game of the 162-game schedule with a 1 1/2-game deficit to the Cardinals. In order to stay in the NL Central race, the Cardinals must lose on Sunday and the Astros must win. That scenario would force the Cardinals to host the Giants in a makeup game on Monday at Busch Stadium.
According a report on the Los Angeles Times’ website Saturday, Jason Grimsley named Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts and Jay Gibbons as teammates who had taken performance-enhancing drugs. The names had been blacked out in an affidavit previously filed in federal court.
Pedro Matinez will have right rotator cuff surgery next week and won’t resume throwing off a mound until June, Mets general manager Omar Minaya said Saturday. Martinez, who turns 35 next month, lasted only 2 2/3 innings at Atlanta on Wednesday as he tried to recover from an injury to his right calf muscle. Exams Thursday revealed a problem with his other calf — which was announced — and also uncovered the trouble in his rotator cuff. “He never complained to me about his shoulder bothering him,” New York manager Willie Randolph said. “I don’t know — it could have been something that was lingering.” Martinez got a second opinion on the shoulder, which matched the initial reading, and opted for the operation rather than trying to rehabilitate the injury.
The Angels’ K-Rod struck out the side in the ninth inning for his major league-leading 47th save. The save also broke the Angels’ team record, set by Bryan Harvey in 1991.
In the Dodgers’ postseason-clinching game, Greg Maddux won his 15th game. It’s the 18th time he’s won 15 games in a season, tying Cy Young’s major league record.
Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run home run Saturday, giving him 35 home runs and 121 RBI this year. It’s his ninth consecutive season with 35 or more home runs and at least 100 RBI, tying a major league record. According to Elias, Jimmie Foxx, Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa also did that nine consecutive times.
Major League Baseball broke its season attendance record Saturday and was on track to finish with the second-highest per-game average in the sport’s history. The 30 major league teams drew 75,470,941 through Saturday, topping the 74,926,174 fans who attended games in 2005. The average of 31,381 was on track to be the highest for a full season, topping 1993’s 31,337. The only higher average was in the strike-shortened 1994 season, when baseball averaged 31,632 before players walked out in mid-August.
THT Stats
Access all of THT’s stats here…