THT Daily: Texas Wild
Major League News for May 14
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
As expected, J.A. Happ will get the nod in the second half of the Phillies’ double-header against the Nationals on Saturday.
Manager Charlie Manuel made the announcement Wednesday night. Happ is 1-0 with a 2.75 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 14/8 K/BB ratio this season. Facing the Nationals, he could be a worthwhile add for those mixed leaguers desperate for a win.
Indians signed RHP Luis Vizcaino.
It took about a week of bullpen sessions, but Vizcaino finally convinced the Tribe that he’s ready to jump into major league action immediately. He recorded four scoreless appearances for the Cubs earlier this season and will work in middle relief with Cleveland. He’ll earn the major league minimum.
Tigers placed RHP Nate Robertson on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 4, with a lower back strain.
Robertson has a 6.30 ERA, 1.60 WHIP and 7/6 K/BB ratio in eight appearances out of the bullpen this season. He should return in a little over two weeks.
Justin Duchscherer (elbow) is aiming to throw off a mound in one week.
Duchscherer is eligible to return from the disabled list June 4, but he may need a bit more time. The A’s will probably ask him to make several rehab starts before they consider activating him. He’s on the 60-day disabled list following late March elbow surgery.
Angels activated RHP Ervin Santana from the 15-day disabled list.
Santana will make his 2009 debut Thursday against the Red Sox. He’s been decent in his minor league outings, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see him struggle out of the gate against Boston. It’s not exactly an ideal lineup for a pitcher making his season debut, no matter how seasoned he may be.
Orioles recalled outfielder Nolan Reimold from Triple-A Norfolk.
Reimold, and his .396/.484/.755 line at Triple-A could be ignored no longer. The 25-year-old will find plenty of at-bats in the early going with Adam Jones and Felix Pie ailing, and Luke Scott on the disabled list.
Matt Fairel and Mace Thurman combined to strike out 20 batters Wednesday for low Single-A Dayton in a 2-1 win over West Michigan.
Fairel fanned 13 in six innings, and Thurman finished up with seven strikeouts in three scoreless innings. Fairel was a 35th-round pick out of FSL last year, but the Reds spent fourth-round money to sign him and he’s looking like a bargain right now. He’s 1-2 with a 3.13 ERA and a 49/16 K/BB ratio in the Midwest League. Thurman, also a lefty, has 28 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innigs out of the pen.
Joe Crede hit a two-out walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 13th inning against the Tigers on Wednesday night.
Crede’s grand slam was set up by a game-tying single by Matt Tolbert, an intentional walk to Justin Morneau and a walk to Michael Cuddyer. It’s actually the second walk-off grand slam of Crede’s career, as he hit one against the Blue Jays in 2002 as a member of the White Sox. Crede was 2-for-7 on the night.
Matt Palmer moved to 4-0 with a complete game 8-4 win over the Red Sox on Wednesday night.
Palmer gave up four runs in the first two innings of the game, but retired the last 19 batters he faced after a third inning single by Jason Bay. He scattered five hits while striking out eight and walking two in the victory. The 30-year-old rookie continues to be a great story, as he has a 3.38 ERA through four starts.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday’s games, read “And That Happened” at Shysterball.
American League TB 8 BAL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 8 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 4 CHA 0 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 14 DET 10 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 8 BOS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 7 KC 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 6 SEA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 8 NYN 7 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 9 PHI 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 6 SD 4 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 8 FLA 6 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 5 STL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 10 ARI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 15 COL 11 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 6 SF 3 (Recap and Boxscore)
Check out Fangraphs’ scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Florida Marlins at Milwaukee Brewers, 1:05 PM (R) Josh Johnson (3-0) vs. (R) Dave Bush (1-0) Los Angeles Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies, 1:05 PM (R) Chad Billingsley (5-1) vs. (L) Cole Hamels (1-2) San Diego Padres at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (R) Chad Gaudin (0-2) vs. (R) Ryan Dempster (2-2) Houston Astros at Colorado Rockies, 3:10 PM (L) Wandy Rodriguez (3-2) vs. (R) Jason Hammel (0-1) St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Mitchell Boggs (1-0) vs. (R) Jeff Karstens (1-1) New York Mets at San Francisco Giants, 10:15 PM (R) John Maine (3-2) vs. (L) Jonathan Sanchez (1-3) American League --------------- Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins, 1:10 PM (R) Justin Verlander (3-2) vs. (R) Scott Baker (1-4) Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers, 2:05 PM (R) Felix Hernandez (4-2) vs. (L) Matt Harrison (3-2) Boston Red Sox at LA Angels of Anaheim, 3:35 PM (R) Brad Penny (3-1) vs. (R) Ervin Santana (0-0) New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM (L) CC Sabathia (2-3) vs. (L) Brian Tallet (2-1) Cleveland Indians at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:08 PM (R) Fausto Carmona (1-4) vs. (R) James Shields (3-3) Baltimore Orioles at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM (R) Jeremy Guthrie (2-3) vs. (R) Gil Meche (2-3)
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 TOR 23 13 .639 0.0 22 1BOS 21 13 .618 1.0 19 2
NYA 16 17 .485 5.5 15 1
TB 16 19 .457 6.5 19 -3
BAL 14 20 .412 8.0 15 -1
American League Central DET 17 15 .531 0.0 17 0
KC 18 16 .529 0.0 18 0
MIN 17 17 .500 1.0 16 1
CHA 15 18 .455 2.5 14 1
CLE 13 22 .371 5.5 16 -3
American League West TEX 19 14 .576 0.0 19 0
LAA 17 15 .531 1.5 16 1
SEA 16 18 .471 3.5 14 2
OAK 13 18 .419 5.0 16 -3
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 18 15 .545 0.0 18 0
PHI 16 15 .516 1.0 16 0
ATL 17 17 .500 1.5 17 0
FLA 17 17 .500 1.5 16 1
WAS 11 21 .344 6.5 14 -3
National League Central STL 20 14 .588 0.0 19 1
CIN 20 14 .588 0.0 18 2
MIL 20 14 .588 0.0 19 1
CHN 19 14 .576 0.5 17 2
HOU 15 18 .455 4.5 15 0
PIT 14 19 .424 5.5 16 -2
National League West LAN 23 12 .657 0.0 24 -1
SF 18 15 .545 4.0 16 2
COL 13 19 .406 8.5 17 -4
SD 13 21 .382 9.5 12 1
ARI 13 22 .371 10.0 13 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 LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 4 3 1 0 2 1 0 3 R KC AAA Kila Kaaihue...... 5 3 0 0 2 1 1 3 R ATL A+ Jason Heyward..... 3 3 1 0 1 1 0 PIT AAA Andrew McCutchen.. 4 3 2 0 0 1 0 3 R HOU A+ Jason Castro...... 3 2 2 0 0 1 0 TOR AA Bradley Emaus..... 2 2 1 0 0 3 0 SD A Allan Dykstra..... 2 1 0 1 0 3 1 HOU A+ C. Johnson........ 4 2 2 0 0 0 1 SEA A+ Alex Liddi........ 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 DET AA Ryan Strieby...... 3 2 0 0 1 1 1 CHC AAA Jake Fox.......... 4 2 1 0 0 2 1 SD A James Darnell..... 4 1 0 0 1 1 3 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes BOS AAA Clay Buchholz..... 8 4 0 0 11 0 0 SD A Matthew Latos..... 7 3 1 1 7 0 1 HOU A Jordan Lyles...... 5 4 2 2 9 2 0 LA A Ethan Martin...... 5 2 0 0 8 3 0 ARI AA Jarrod Parker..... 5 4 1 1 9 3 0 CHW A+ Daniel Hudson..... 5 2 2 2 6 3 0 COL AA Jhoulys Chacin.... 7 4 1 0 4 2 0 13 GB CHC AA Jay Jackson....... 6 5 2 2 5 2 0 FLA AA Sean West......... 6 4 1 1 6 4 0 LA AA Scott Elbert...... 6 4 2 2 6 3 1 MIL A Cody Scarpetta.... 2 1 0 0 4 1 0 ATL AAA Charlie Morton.... 7 3 1 1 2 3 0
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