THT Daily: Slugging and All Stars
Major League News for July 7
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Top Minor League Performances
Player News
Stats
Yesterday’s Results
American League KC 6 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Redman: 8 IP, 2 R BOS 12 TB 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Ortiz: 6 RBI, 2 HR OAK 7 LAA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) See below NYA 10 CLE 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 11 BAL 8 (Recap and Boxscore) Thome: 6 RBI, 2 HR; Tejada: 3 2B National League SF 5 LAN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 5 PHI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Barfield: 4 for 4; Park: 7 IP, 3 R HOU 4 STL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Buchholz: 6 IP, 2 R NYN 7 PIT 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Sanchez: 3-3, 2 2B WAS 8 FLA 7 (Recap and Boxscore) 11 innings MIL 2 CHN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Capuano: CG, 0 R, Not an All-Star ATL 8 CIN 7 (Recap and Boxscore) 10 innings; Reds: 6th straight loss
Today’s Games
Visitors Home Time BAL - Benson K. (9-6, 4.35) CLE - Sabathia C.* (6-4, 3.90) 7:05 PIT - Snell I. (7-6, 5.00) PHI - Lieber J. (3-5, 5.79) 7:05 SD - Williams W. (3-1, 3.04) WAS - Ortiz R. (6-6, 4.90) 7:05 FLA - Willis D.* (5-7, 3.96) NYM - Lima J. (0-3, 8.79) 7:10 NYY - Wright J. (4-5, 4.61) TB - Seo J. (0-1, 3.86) 7:15 CIN - Milton E.* (4-4, 5.09) ATL - Ramirez H.* (4-2, 3.47) 7:35 CHC - Zambrano C. (7-3, 3.33) MIL - Jackson Z.* (1-1, 6.11) 8:05 STL - Marquis J. (10-6, 5.78) HOU - Rodriguez W.* (9-5, 4.97) 8:05 TOR - Burnett A. (1-2, 4.30) KC - Hudson L. (1-3, 7.24) 8:10 BOS - Lester J.* (3-0, 3.08) CWS - Buehrle M.* (9-5, 3.86) 8:35 MIN - Silva C. (4-8, 6.62) TEX - Wasdin J. (1-1, 3.86) 8:35 ARI - Batista M. (8-5, 4.94) COL - Kim B. (5-4, 4.83) 9:05 LAA - Lackey J. (6-5, 3.12) OAK - Zito B.* (8-5, 3.28) 10:05 DET - Bonderman J. (7-4, 3.65) SEA - Pineiro J. (6-7, 5.86) 10:05 SF - Morris M. (7-7, 4.12) LAD - Billingsley C. (0-2, 4.91) 10:40
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 gray 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 BOS 51 32 .614 0.0 48 3NYA 48 35 .578 3.0 48 0
TOR 47 38 .553 5.0 46 1
BAL 39 48 .448 14.0 38 1
TB 38 48 .442 14.5 36 2
American League Central DET 57 28 .671 0.0 55 2
CHA 56 29 .659 1.0 53 3
MIN 46 37 .554 10.0 44 2
CLE 39 45 .464 17.5 46 -7
KC 30 54 .357 26.5 30 0
American League West OAK 45 40 .529 0.0 42 3
TEX 43 42 .506 2.0 44 -1
SEA 42 44 .488 3.5 44 -2
LAA 40 45 .471 5.0 41 -1
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 51 34 .600 0.0 48 3
PHI 38 46 .452 12.5 38 0
FLA 36 46 .439 13.5 41 -5
ATL 38 48 .442 13.5 42 -4
WAS 38 49 .437 14.0 38 0
National League Central STL 45 39 .536 0.0 43 2
CIN 44 42 .512 2.0 42 2
MIL 44 43 .506 2.5 38 6
HOU 43 43 .500 3.0 41 2
CHN 31 54 .365 14.5 32 -1
PIT 29 58 .333 17.5 38 -9
National League West SD 45 40 .529 0.0 45 0
COL 44 40 .524 0.5 44 0
LAN 44 41 .518 1.0 48 -4
SF 44 42 .512 1.5 44 0
ARI 40 45 .471 5.0 40 0
Game of the Day
Frank Thomas his a walk-off two-run home run and the Athletics beat the Angels 7-5, breaking the Angels’ five-game winning streak. Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer in the fourth and scored three times for the A’s after missing two games with food poisoning and Dan Johnson also homered. For the Angels, Vladimir Guerrero homered, drove in the tying run with a seventh-inning double and reached base five times, and Juan Rivera hit a pair of solo home runs.
Orlando Cabrera’s fifth-inning single off Esteban Loaiza extended to 63 his streak of consecutive games reaching base on a hit, a walk or being hit by a pitch. According to Elias, that’s the longest single-season streak by any major-leaguer since Ted Williams had an 84-game streak in 1949.
LA ANGELS (5) VS OAKLAND (7) - FINAL
LA ANGELS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Figgins cf 4 0 1 0 1 1 1 .254
M Izturis 3b 5 1 2 0 0 0 2 .241
O Cabrera ss 5 0 2 0 0 1 1 .298
V Guerrero rf 3 1 3 2 2 0 0 .305
G Anderson lf 4 0 0 0 1 0 6 .257
M Napoli c 4 1 1 1 0 2 3 .282
J Rivera dh 4 2 2 2 0 0 3 .286
K Morales 1b 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 .255
A Kennedy 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .260
Totals 37 5 12 5 4 6 17
BATTING: 2B - M Izturis (4, E Loaiza); V Guerrero (15, C Gaudin). HR - J Rivera
2 (10, 2nd inning off E Loaiza 0 on, 1 Out, 4th inning off E Loaiza 0 on, 2
Out), V Guerrero (18, 4th inning off E Loaiza 0 on, 0 Out), M Napoli (11, 6th
inning off E Loaiza 0 on, 0 Out). RBI - J Rivera 2 (35), V Guerrero 2 (62), M
Napoli (26). 2-out RBI - J Rivera. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - G
Anderson 3. GIDP - M Izturis, J Rivera. Team LOB - 9.
FIELDING: E - K Morales (3, dropped foul ball).
OAKLAND ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
M Kotsay cf 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 .243
N Swisher lf 2 3 1 2 3 1 0 .264
E Chavez 3b 3 1 1 0 2 1 1 .246
F Thomas dh 4 1 1 2 1 0 3 .238
J Payton rf 3 0 2 2 1 0 0 .283
B Crosby ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 6 .247
D Johnson 1b 4 1 1 1 0 0 2 .243
J Kendall c 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 .268
M Ellis 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .222
Totals 33 7 7 7 7 6 13
BATTING: HR - D Johnson (7, 4th inning off K Escobar 0 on, 0 Out), N Swisher
(20, 4th inning off K Escobar 1 on, 2 Out), F Thomas (19, 9th inning off S
Shields 1 on, 2 Out). RBI - J Payton 2 (31), D Johnson (25), N Swisher 2 (51),
F Thomas 2 (44). 2-out RBI - N Swisher 2, F Thomas 2. Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - D Johnson 1, B Crosby 2. Team LOB - 7.
BASERUNNING: SB - J Kendall (5, 2nd base off K Escobar/M Napoli).
FIELDING: DP: 2 (B Crosby-D Johnson, E Chavez-M Ellis-D Johnson).
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LA ANGELS - 010 201 100 -- 5
OAKLAND - 200 300 002 -- 7
Two outs when winning run scored.
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LA ANGELS ip h r er bb so hr era
K Escobar 6 6 5 3 4 3 2 3.88
J Romero 1/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 6.75
H Carrasco 1 2/3 0 0 0 1 1 0 3.81
S Shields (L, 4-6) 2/3 1 2 2 1 1 1 2.53
OAKLAND ip h r er bb so hr era
E Loaiza 5 1/3 8 4 4 3 4 4 6.43
B Halsey (H, 3) 2/3 2 1 1 0 0 0 4.04
C Gaudin (B, 1) 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 3.86
J Duchscherer 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.86
H Street (W, 2-3) 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.35
B Halsey pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.
IBB - G Anderson (by C Gaudin). Pitches-strikes: K Escobar 109-63; J Romero
9-4; H Carrasco 20-13; S Shields 14-6; E Loaiza 90-54; B Halsey 15-9; C Gaudin
14-6; J Duchscherer 21-15; H Street 7-5. Ground balls-fly balls: K Escobar
3-12; J Romero 0-0; H Carrasco 2-2; S Shields 0-1; E Loaiza 6-6; B Halsey 1-1;
C Gaudin 2-0; J Duchscherer 2-2; H Street 0-1. Batters faced: K Escobar 28; J
Romero 2; H Carrasco 6; S Shields 4; E Loaiza 26; B Halsey 4; C Gaudin 4; J
Duchscherer 5; H Street 2.
UMPIRES: HP--Gerry Davis. 1B--Brian Gorman. 2B--Bill Miller. 3B--Eric Cooper.
T--2:43. Att--14,673.
Weather: 63 degrees, clear. Wind: 13 mph, in from right.
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.
Batter Pitcher True Dist Stnd Dist Wells, Vernon TOR Redman, Mark KC 456 451 Thomas, Frank OAK Shields, Scot LAA 423 450 Rivera, Juan LAA Loaiza, Esteban OAK 429 446 Thome, Jim CWS Ortiz, Russ BAL 447 443 Rivera, Juan LAA Loaiza, Esteban OAK 401 436 Edmonds, Jim STL Buchholz, Taylor HOU 435 433 Ramirez, Manny BOS Shields, James TB 434 433 Guerrero, Vladimir LAA Loaiza, Esteban OAK 413 428 Thome, Jim CWS Ortiz, Russ BAL 411 421 Johnson, Dan OAK Escobar, Kelvim LAA 392 420 Ortiz, David BOS Camp, Shawn TB 420 419 Jones, Andruw ATL Mays, Joe CIN 419 413 Crawford, Carl TB Wakefield, Tim BOS 411 410 Napoli, Mike LAA Loaiza, Esteban OAK 384 405 Hatteberg, Scott CIN Hudson, Tim ATL 423 404 Wright, David NYM Bayliss, Jonah PIT 397 400 Dye, Jermaine CWS Williams, Todd BAL 393 399 Swisher, Nick OAK Escobar, Kelvim LAA 362 396 Michaels, Jason CLE Johnson, Randy NYY 390 394 Teahen, Mark KC Taubenheim, Ty TOR 406 393 Valentin, Javier CIN Sosa, Jorge ATL 398 393 Pierzynski, A.J. CWS Williams, Todd BAL 403 389 Jacobs, Mike FLA Hernandez, Livan WAS 409 384 Lamb, Mike HOU Ponson, Sidney STL 384 383 Ortiz, David BOS Shields, James TB 374 373 Giambi, Jason NYY Lee, Cliff CLE 380 368 Mirabelli, Doug BOS Shields, James TB 361 360 Huff, Aubrey TB Wakefield, Tim BOS 357 356 Cantu, Jorge TB Wakefield, Tim BOS 357 355
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 POS AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes BOS A Matthew Mercurio 2B 5 4 1 0 1 0 1 .520 OBP during past week HOU A+ Louis Santangelo C 4 3 1 0 2 0 0 LA AAA Wilkin Ruan CF 6 4 1 1 0 1 0 MIN AA J.R. Taylor SS 3 3 1 0 1 2 0 3 runs scored NYM A Nicholas Evans 1B 4 4 2 0 0 0 0 OAK AAA Scott McClain 3B 5 3 0 0 2 0 1 6 RBI ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes ARI AA Steven Jackson 8.0 2 1 1 8 0 0 BAL A- Kyle Schmidt 7.0 4 1 1 12 1 0 33 K over last 26 IP BAL AAA Brian Bowles 8.1 5 1 1 7 2 1 CHC AAA Rich Hill 7.0 2 1 1 6 3 1 1.13 ERA over past month CHC A Todd Blackford 7.0 3 1 0 5 0 0 CHW AA Lance Broadway 8.0 6 0 0 7 0 0 CLE AA Jensen Lewis 7.0 6 0 0 7 0 0 DET A Josh Rainwater 6.1 2 0 0 7 1 0 LA AAA Justin Reid 6.0 2 0 0 5 1 0 NYM A- Jacob Ruckle 8.2 1 0 0 5 0 0
Player News
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski edged out Minnesota rookie pitcher Francisco Liriano for the final AL All-Star spot, while NL batting leader Nomar Garciaparra earned the last NL slot Thursday in fan voting on the Internet. Garciaparra tops the NL in hitting at .359, with 10 home runs and 49 RBI. In his first year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he’s playing first base. The All-Star game will be Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. The rosters were announced Sunday, save for the last two players to be picked in fan voting on the Internet.
The Cincinnati Reds acquired Eddie Guardado and cash from the Seattle Mariners on Thursday for minor league pitcher Travis Chick. The Reds made the trade a day after blowing two leads in extra innings before losing 6-5 in the 13th at Milwaukee. After the game, Cincinnati reliever Brian Shackelford was arrested on suspicion of third-degree sexual assault.
The Reds activated third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and obtained outfielder Dewayne Wise from Triple-A Louisville. To make room, the Reds designated outfielder Quinton McCracken for assignment and shipped pitcher Elizardo Ramirez to Class-A Dayton so he can start on his regular turn Monday during the All-Star break. Wise and Encarnacion were set to join the Reds for Thursday’s game in Atlanta.
Right-hander Jon Lieber, out for more than a month due to a groin injury, was reinstated from the disabled list and will start Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was hurt while fielding a ground ball on May 29 against Washington. Lieber is 3-5 with a 5.79 ERA in 11 starts this season. To make room on the roster for Lieber, the Phillies optioned Scott Mathieson to Double-A Reading.
Devil Rays closer Tyler Walker had Tommy John surgery Thursday on his right arm by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. His expected recovery time is 12 months.
All-Star ace Pedro Martinez was placed on the disabled list by the New York Mets on Thursday due to pain in his right hip. Martinez missed his scheduled start on Monday and can now rest through the All-Star break. “This is the perfect time to do this,” Martinez said. Martinez was chosen for the NL All-Star team but won’t take part in next week’s festivities in Pittsburgh, general manager Omar Minaya said. Heath Bell was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to take Martinez’s place on the Mets’ roster.
Jose Lima will take the mound for the Mets on Friday against the Marlins and Mike Pelfrey will make his major-league debut on Saturday.
Los Angeles Dodgers closer Eric Gagne, limited to 16 appearances since the beginning of last season because of elbow problems, might need back surgery. The 30-year-old right-hander was admitted to St. Vincent Medical Center on Wednesday because of lower back pain the Dodgers said was unrelated to baseball activity. “Gagne was seen by Dr. (Robert) Watkins, and had an MRI today,” Dodgers trainer Stan Johnston said before Thursday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants. Johnston said the examination revealed two herniated disks.
Cubs starter Greg Maddux (7-9) gave up six hits and two runs in six innings on Thursday at Milwaukee to drop to 7-9, meaning he will likely go into the All-Star break with a losing record for only the second time since 1991 and fourth time in his career. Maddux is now 2-9 since starting the year 5-0.
The Giants optioned LHP Jack Taschner to Triple-A Fresno.
The Orioles designated outfielder Luis Matos for assignment and purchased the contract of outfielder Luis Terrero from Triple-A Ottawa. Terrero first joined the Orioles in April 19 when Matos went on the DL.
Two days after hitting a game-ending home run, Ryan Zimmerman delivered a game-winning, two-out single in the 11th inning Thursday to give the Washington Nationals an 8-7 victory over the Florida Marlins. Zimmerman hit a 3-1 pitch from reliever Jason Vargas through the middle to score Nick Johnson, who had started the inning by reaching base on an error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Zimmerman entered the game leading the National League with 34 hits with runners in scoring position, and the rookie third baseman has hit game-ending homers on Father’s Day and Independence Day. This game-winning hit gave him 58 RBI, tops among all rookies in the majors.
The Nationals reinstated outfielder Alex Escobar from the 15-day disabled list Thursday and optioned left-handed pitcher Mike O’Connor to Triple-A New Orleans.
According to the Rocky Mountain News, Rockies 2B Kaz Matsui, who is currently with their Triple-A team, had an MRI on his back and has a bulging disk. The veteran, who was on fire while hitting for the Sky Sox, is on the minor league disabled list.
THT Stats
Yesterday, we looked at each batter’s “predicted OPS” (or PrOPS) to see who was most likely to perform worse in the second half of the year. Today, we’ll do the same thing, only in reverse. Here’s a list of the twenty batters with the biggest negative difference between their actual OPS and predicted OPS, which indicates a strong chance for improvement in the second half.
Adam Dunn has had a negative variance each of the past three years (he’s sort of an un-PrOPS batter) but never this negative, and Yadier Molina, who is having a terrible season at bat (even by his standards) should improve, too. Unfortunately for Pirate and Royal fans, not a single one of their players made the list.
Last First Team OPS-PrOPS Dunn Adam CIN -.144 Molina Yadier B STL -.129 Everett Carl SEA -.109 Chavez Eric OAK -.104 Ensberg Morgan HOU -.101 Barmes Clint COL -.100 Giambi Jason NYA -.095 Kendall Jason OAK -.093 Sexson Richie SEA -.093 Lee Carlos MIL -.088 Johnson Dan R OAK -.088 Clark Brady MIL -.087 Delgado Carlos NYN -.086 Glaus Troy TOR -.085 Burrell Pat PHI -.083 Bell David PHI -.078 Wilson Jack PIT -.078 Ortiz David BOS -.076 Varitek Jason BOS -.074 Ramirez Aramis CHN -.073
Access all of THT’s stats here…
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