THT Daily: Playoff Races and Pitcher Injuries
Major League News for September 30
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Player News
Stats
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 4 BAL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 7 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Mussina: 6 IP, 1 R; Sheffield: HR CLE 2 TB 1 (Recap and Boxscore) McClung allows bases-loaded walk in bottom of 9th KC 9 DET 7 (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings; Granderson: 2 HR CHA 4 MIN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Garcia: 7.1 IP, 1 R LAA 6 OAK 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Santana: 7 IP, 0 R; Figgins: 2B, HR TEX 6 SEA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 4 HOU 1 (Recap and Boxscore) James: 7 IP, 1 R PHI 14 FLA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Burrell: 2 HR, 4 RBI; Victorino: 5-6 NYN 4 WAS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 5 CHN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Fogg: 7 IP, 2 R; COL: 5 R on 6 1B & 5 BB CIN 5 PIT 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Harang: 9 IP, 2 R STL 10 MIL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Encarnacion: 4-5 ARI 3 SD 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Hernandez: 7 IP, 1 R LAN 4 SF 3 (Recap and Boxscore) See below
Today’s Games
Visitors Home Starts CWS - Garland J. (17-7, 4.61) MIN - Garza M. (3-5, 5.32) 12:10 PHI - Wolf R.* (4-0, 5.24) FLA - Olsen S.* (12-9, 3.97) 1:20 MIL - Sheets B. (6-7, 4.05) STL - Suppan J. (12-7, 4.18) 1:20 COL - Francis J.* (13-11, 4.02) CHC - Mateo J. (1-3, 4.09) 4:05 TEX - Millwood K. (16-11, 4.52) SEA - Hernandez F. (11-14, 4.65) 4:05 TOR - Marcum S. (3-4, 4.92) NYY - Karstens J. (2-1, 4.00) 4:05 LAD - Maddux G. (14-14, 4.26) SF - Cain M. (13-11, 4.09) 4:15 SD - Wells D.* (0-2, 4.43) ARI - Cruz J. (5-6, 4.27) 4:15 TB - Seo J. (1-7, 4.87) CLE - Westbrook J. (14-10, 4.27) 7:05 CIN - Arroyo B. (14-10, 3.27) PIT - McLeary M. (1-0, 3.38) 7:05 NYM - Glavine T.* (14-7, 3.94) WAS - Perez B. (2-0, 1.50) 7:05 BAL - Loewen A.* (6-6, 5.30) BOS - Wakefield T. (7-11, 4.63) 7:05 HOU - Sampson C. (2-0, 2.10) ATL - Cormier L. (4-5, 5.00) 7:05 KC - Burgos A. (4-5, 5.60) DET - Miner Z. (7-5, 4.37) 7:05 OAK - Haren D. (14-13, 4.11) LAA - Saunders J.* (7-3, 4.11) 10:05
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 63 .606 0.0 95 2TOR 85 75 .531 12.0 85 0
BOS 85 75 .531 12.0 79 6
BAL 69 91 .431 28.0 68 1
TB 61 99 .381 36.0 64 -3
American League Central MIN 95 65 .594 0.0 91 3
DET 95 65 .594 0.0 95 0
CHA 89 71 .556 6.0 87 2
CLE 76 84 .475 19.0 88 -12
KC 60 100 .375 35.0 60 0
American League West OAK 92 68 .575 0.0 85 7
LAA 88 72 .550 4.0 83 5
TEX 80 80 .500 12.0 85 -5
SEA 76 84 .475 16.0 76 0
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 95 65 .594 0.0 88 7
PHI 84 76 .525 11.0 85 -1
ATL 78 82 .488 17.0 84 -6
FLA 77 83 .481 18.0 79 -2
WAS 71 89 .444 24.0 70 1
National League Central STL 82 77 .516 0.0 81 1
HOU 81 79 .506 1.5 82 -1
CIN 80 80 .500 2.5 75 5
MIL 74 86 .463 8.5 70 4
CHN 65 95 .406 17.5 68 -3
PIT 65 95 .406 17.5 69 -4
National League West SD 86 74 .538 0.0 85 1
LAN 86 74 .538 0.0 86 0
SF 76 83 .478 9.5 75 1
ARI 76 84 .475 10.0 79 -3
COL 75 85 .469 11.0 80 -5
Wildcard Standings American League DET 95 65 .594 0.0 CHA 89 71 .556 6.0 LAA 88 72 .550 7.0 TOR 85 75 .531 10.0 BOS 85 75 .531 10.0 National League LAN 86 74 .538 0.0 PHI 84 76 .525 2.0 HOU 81 79 .506 5.0 CIN 80 80 .500 6.0 ATL 78 82 .488 8.0
Game of the Day
The Dodgers solidified their wildcard lead, and even moved into a tie with San Diego for the NL West lead, with a 4-3 win over San Francisco. Down 3-0 in the seventh, J.D. Drew smacked a two-run homer to right to make it 3-2. And in the bottom of the ninth, Olmedo Saenz singled in a run and the Giants’ Mike Stanton uncorked a wild pitch with two out to allow the winning score to run. The Giants put runners on the corners with only one out in the bottom of the ninth, but failed to score against Takashi Saito.
It marked the third game in a row in which Los Angeles has come back from a deficit of three runs or more. According to Elias, they last did that in 1925.
LA DODGERS (4) VS SAN FRANCISCO (3) - FINAL LA DODGERS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg R Furcal ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .300 K Lofton cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .297 N Garciaparra 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .303 J Loney 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286 J Kent 2b 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 .290 J Repko pr-lf 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .252 J Drew rf 4 1 1 2 0 1 1 .281 R Martin c 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 .284 M Anderson lf 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .299 c-O Saenz ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .292 D Young pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 T Saito p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 J Lugo 3b-2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .219 H Kuo p 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .125 a-M Kemp ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .253 A Sele p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .192 b-W Betemit ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .264 J Beimel p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 J Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 d-R Martinez ph-3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .279 Totals 34 4 7 3 2 7 11 a-struck out swinging for H Kuo in the 6th; b-struck out swinging for A Sele in the 7th; c-singled to right for M Anderson in the 9th; d-grounded to third for J Broxton in the 9th. BATTING: HR - J Drew (20, 7th inning off N Lowry 1 on, 0 Out). RBI - J Drew 2 (98), O Saenz (48). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - R Martinez 1. Team LOB - 5. FIELDING: DP: 1 (R Furcal-J Kent-N Garciaparra). SAN FRANCISCO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg R Winn cf-rf 5 1 3 1 0 1 0 .262 O Vizquel ss 4 0 2 0 1 0 2 .298 S Hillenbrand 1b 4 0 1 1 0 0 2 .247 b-M Sweeney ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .253 B Bonds lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 3 .268 T Linden lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .271 R Durham 2b 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 .296 M Alou rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .302 F Lewis pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .455 M Stanton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 P Feliz 3b 4 0 0 0 0 4 3 .245 E Alfonzo c 4 1 2 1 0 2 1 .267 N Lowry p 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .152 a-L Niekro ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .247 K Correia p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .083 S Finley cf 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .248 Totals 37 3 12 3 1 12 14 a-struck out swinging for N Lowry in the 7th; b-struck out looking for S Hillenbrand in the 9th. BATTING: 2B - R Durham 2 (30, A Sele, H Kuo); O Vizquel (22, H Kuo); R Winn (34, H Kuo). S - N Lowry. RBI - E Alfonzo (39), R Winn (56), S Hillenbrand (29). 2-out RBI - E Alfonzo, S Hillenbrand. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Sweeney 2, B Bonds 2, E Alfonzo 1. GIDP - S Hillenbrand. Team LOB - 9. ---------------------------------------------------- LA DODGERS - 000 000 202 -- 4 SAN FRANCISCO - 010 020 000 -- 3 ---------------------------------------------------- LA DODGERS ip h r er bb so hr era H Kuo 5 8 3 3 0 6 0 4.22 A Sele 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 4.53 J Beimel 1 2/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 3.00 J Broxton (W, 4-1) 1/3 1 0 0 0 1 0 2.63 T Saito (S, 23) 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 2.09 SAN FRANCISCO ip h r er bb so hr era N Lowry 7 5 2 2 1 4 1 4.74 K Correia (H, 10) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.54 M Stanton (L, 7-7; B, 6) 1 2 2 2 1 1 0 3.99 WP - M Stanton. Pitches-strikes: H Kuo 80-58; A Sele 15-10; J Beimel 22-14; J Broxton 7-5; T Saito 22-17; N Lowry 105-66; K Correia 10-7; M Stanton 23-13. Ground balls-fly balls: H Kuo 5-4; A Sele 0-1; J Beimel 3-1; J Broxton 0-0; T Saito 0-1; N Lowry 12-5; K Correia 0-1; M Stanton 2-0. Batters faced: H Kuo 22; A Sele 4; J Beimel 6; J Broxton 2; T Saito 5; N Lowry 27; K Correia 3; M Stanton 6. UMPIRES: HP--Jerry Meals. 1B--John Hirschbeck. 2B--Mike Reilly. 3B--Jeff Kellogg. T--2:55. Att--42,587. Weather: 55 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 15 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.
TO BE ADDED LATER TODAY
Player News
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
Yankees lefty Randy Johnson has a herniated disc in his lower back, an injury that could prevent him from pitching in the playoffs next week. The injury was discovered during an MRI exam Thursday. After being examined by team physician Dr. Stuart Hershon and back specialist Dr. Paul Kuflick, Johnson received an epidural injection Friday.
Cincinnati’s Aaron Harang had a complete-game win with no walks and nine strikeouts for the second start in a row. Last Sunday, he dominated the Cubs, and he did it again against the Pirates last night.
Baltimore’s Miguel Tejada broke Cal Ripken’s club record for most hits in a season with a second-inning single. It was his 212th hit of the year.
Philadelphia more extra-base hits in one game, six doubles, two triples and two home runs, than they’ve had in any single game since 2001.
Cleveland Indians lefthander C.C. Sabathia underwent surgery on his right knee. The team announced on Friday that Sabathia had a meniscus tear repaired in a 35-minute procedure at the Cleveland Clinic. Sabathia is expected to begin his normal offseason throwing progression in December before reporting to spring training in February.
Barry Bonds told MLB.com that he is going to have bone chips removed from his left elbow early next week. The procedure will be conducted by Dr. Arthur Ting, the orthopedic surgeon who has done all of Bonds’ surgeries on his knees and elbow.
Juan Pierre reached the 200-hit plateau in a season for the fourth time in his major league career in the Cubs’ loss to the Rockies.
Negro leagues great Buck O’Neil took a turn for the worse late Thursday but was resting comfortably in a Kansas City hospital Friday, friends said. The 94-year-old O’Neil was admitted to the hospital Sept. 17 with extreme fatigue. O’Neil, one of the driving forces in the creation of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, has lost his voice and can only whisper.
Seattle Mariners right-hander Mark Lowe, on the disabled list since Aug. 20, will have minor arthroscopic surgery on his pitching elbow. The team said Friday that Lowe is expected to be ready for spring training.
Eric Gagne (elbow/back) will start a throwing program in three weeks and expects to be ready for spring training, the LA Times reports.
Ichiro Suzuki told manager Mike Hargrove this week he is willing to play center field full time next season if asked, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.
Nationals left fielder Alfonso Soriano said on Friday night that he and agent Diego Bentz will meet with front-office personnel next week in hopes that Soriano can remain with the club past this season.
A bronze bust of former Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett was found in a roadside box Friday after it was stolen this week from the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
THT Stats
Access all of THT’s stats here…