THT Daily: The Action is in the National
Major League News for September 27
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Game of the Day
Yesterday’s Home Runs
Player News
Stats
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 5 TB 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Ortiz: HR (54), 3 RBI; Schilling: 7 IP, 1 R NYA 5 BAL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Lidle: 6.2 IP, 3 R CLE 6 CHA 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Garko: 2B, HR, 5 RBI; Sabathia: 8 IP, 0 R, 11 K DET 4 TOR 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Bonderman: 6 IP, 1 R MIN 3 KC 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Santana: 8 IP, 2 R; Perez: 6 IP, 2 R TEX 5 LAA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Tejeda: 6.2 IP, 1 R OAK 12 SEA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Harden continues comeback: 5 IP, 0 R National League ATL 12 NYN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) Andruw: 40th HR; Renteria: 4 RBI; Smoltz: 8 IP, 0 R CIN 5 FLA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Ross: 2 HR; CIN: 2.5 games out WAS 4 PHI 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Zimmerman: 3 RBI (103 for season) CHN 14 MIL 6 (Recap and Boxscore) Blanco: 4 RBI HOU 7 PIT 4 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU: 12 singles; Pettitte: 6.2 IP, 3 R SD 7 STL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) See below LAN 11 COL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Martin: 4 RBI; Maddux: 6 IP, 3 R SF 4 ARI 2 (Recap and Boxscore) Alou: GW HR in 9th; Morris: 7 IP, 2 R; Webb: 8 IP, 2 R
Today’s Games
Visitors Home Starts ARI - Vargas C. (11-10, 4.86) SF - Sanchez J.* (3-0, 5.29) 3:35 CWS - McCarthy B. (3-7, 4.88) CLE - Carmona F. (1-9, 5.64) 7:05 HOU - Hirsh J. (3-4, 5.83) PIT - Chacon S. (2-3, 5.09) 7:05 CIN - Michalak C.* (2-3, 4.50) FLA - Sanchez A. (9-3, 2.80) 7:05 PHI - Hamels C.* (9-8, 4.06) WAS - Astacio P. (5-5, 6.12) 7:05 TB - Corcoran T. (4-9, 4.73) BOS - Beckett J. (16-10, 4.82) 7:05 BAL - Benson K. (11-11, 4.49) NYY - Wang C. (18-6, 3.57) 7:05 TOR - Lilly T.* (14-13, 4.41) DET - Robertson N.* (13-12, 3.66) 7:05 NYM - Martinez P. (9-7, 4.08) ATL - Hudson T. (12-12, 4.96) 7:35 MIL - Bush D. (12-11, 4.54) CHC - Hill R.* (6-7, 4.29) 8:05 SD - Young C. (11-5, 3.55) STL - Reyes A. (5-7, 4.92) 8:10 KC - Redman M.* (10-10, 5.83) MIN - Silva C. (10-14, 5.95) 8:10 LAD - Lowe D. (15-8, 3.57) COL - Cook A. (9-14, 4.11) 8:35 TEX - Eaton A. (7-4, 4.80) LAA - Weaver J. (11-2, 2.32) 10:05 OAK - Zito B.* (16-9, 3.89) SEA - Meche G. (11-8, 4.48) 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 95 62 .605 0.0 93 2BOS 84 74 .532 11.5 79 5
TOR 83 74 .529 12.0 84 -1
BAL 68 89 .433 27.0 67 1
TB 60 97 .382 35.0 62 -2
American League Central DET 95 62 .605 0.0 95 0
MIN 94 63 .599 1.0 91 3
CHA 87 71 .551 8.5 86 1
CLE 74 83 .471 21.0 86 -12
KC 58 99 .369 37.0 58 0
American League West OAK 91 66 .580 0.0 84 7
LAA 85 72 .541 6.0 81 4
TEX 79 79 .500 12.5 84 -5
SEA 76 82 .481 15.5 75 1
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 93 64 .592 0.0 88 5
PHI 82 75 .522 11.0 82 0
FLA 76 81 .484 17.0 78 -2
ATL 76 81 .484 17.0 81 -5
WAS 70 87 .446 23.0 68 2
National League Central STL 80 76 .513 0.0 80 0
HOU 79 78 .503 1.5 80 -1
CIN 78 79 .497 2.5 74 4
MIL 73 84 .465 7.5 68 5
PIT 65 92 .414 15.5 68 -3
CHN 64 94 .405 17.0 67 -3
National League West SD 85 72 .541 0.0 83 2
LAN 83 74 .529 2.0 84 -1
SF 76 81 .484 9.0 75 1
COL 74 83 .471 11.0 79 -5
ARI 74 83 .471 11.0 78 -4
Wildcard Standings American League MIN 94 63 .599 0.0 CHA 87 71 .551 7.5 LAA 85 72 .541 9.0 BOS 84 74 .532 10.5 TOR 83 74 .529 11.0 National League LAN 83 74 .529 0.0 PHI 82 75 .522 1.0 HOU 79 78 .503 4.0 CIN 78 79 .497 5.0 FLA 76 81 .484 7.0
Game of the Day
Not even Chris Carpenter, the ace of the Cardinals’ staff, could stop the Redbirds’ spiraling descent. St. Louis lost their seventh game in a row, 7-5 to San Diego, and they now hold a scant one-and-a-half game lead in the NL Central over Houston (who beat the Pirates 7-4). One week ago, that lead was seven games. The Cardinals’ seven straight losses are one short of the major league record for consecutive losses by a first-place team in September (the Angels lost eight in a row in 1995).
The Padres scored four runs in the seventh inning, capped by Mike Cameron’s two-run double, as they maintained their two-game lead in the NL West over the Dodgers. Ronnie Belliard hit two home runs for St. Louis.
SAN DIEGO (7) VS ST LOUIS (5) - FINAL SAN DIEGO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg D Roberts lf 5 3 2 0 0 0 1 .294 B Giles rf 5 1 1 1 0 1 2 .267 B Johnson pr-rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 A Gonzalez 1b 4 1 2 1 1 0 0 .301 J Bard c 4 1 3 2 0 1 1 .332 R Bowen pr-c 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .233 R Branyan 3b 3 0 1 0 1 1 3 .293 M Alexander 3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 .176 M Cameron cf 4 0 2 3 0 1 1 .270 G Blum ss 5 0 2 0 0 1 2 .255 J Barfield 2b 5 0 1 0 0 1 6 .284 W Williams p 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .176 a-R Klesko ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 C Meredith p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 b-T Sledge ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .250 S Linebrink p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 T Hoffman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 40 7 15 7 3 7 19 a-lined out to first for W Williams in the 7th; b-singled to right for C Meredith in the 8th. BATTING: 2B - D Roberts (18, C Carpenter); B Giles (36, C Carpenter); J Bard (17, C Carpenter); M Cameron (34, C Carpenter). SF - M Cameron. RBI - B Giles (79), M Cameron 3 (79), J Bard 2 (39), A Gonzalez (80). 2-out RBI - M Cameron 2, A Gonzalez. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Alexander 2, G Blum 1, J Barfield 3. GIDP - J Barfield. Team LOB - 10. BASERUNNING: SB - D Roberts (46, 2nd base off A Wainwright/G Bennett). FIELDING: E - J Bard (3, throw); R Branyan (3, ground ball). DP: 1 (J Barfield-G Blum-A Gonzalez). ST LOUIS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg A Miles ss 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 .268 C Duncan lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .300 S Taguchi lf 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .269 A Pujols 1b 3 1 2 0 2 0 1 .330 J Encarnacion rf 4 1 0 0 1 0 2 .276 S Rolen 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .294 J Edmonds cf 5 1 2 2 0 2 2 .264 R Belliard 2b 4 2 2 3 1 2 2 .243 Y Molina c 3 0 1 0 0 0 3 .217 a-J Rodriguez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .307 A Wainwright p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 R Flores p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 J Hancock p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 C Carpenter p 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 .127 G Bennett c 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .226 Totals 38 5 10 5 4 6 19 a-grounded into fielder's choice to first for Y Molina in the 7th. BATTING: 2B - A Pujols (32, W Williams); S Taguchi (19, S Linebrink). HR - R Belliard 2 (5, 2nd inning off W Williams 0 on, 1 Out, 4th inning off W Williams 1 on, 1 Out). RBI - R Belliard 3 (22), J Edmonds 2 (70). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C Carpenter 2, S Rolen 1, R Belliard 1, J Encarnacion 1, A Pujols 1. GIDP - C Duncan. Team LOB - 11. FIELDING: DP: 1 (A Miles-R Belliard-A Pujols). ---------------------------------------------------- SAN DIEGO - 100 100 410 -- 7 ST LOUIS - 010 220 000 -- 5 ---------------------------------------------------- SAN DIEGO ip h r er bb so hr era W Williams (W, 11-5) 6 7 5 3 4 2 2 3.57 C Meredith (H, 15) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.72 S Linebrink (H, 33) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.45 T Hoffman (S, 44) 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 1.92 ST LOUIS ip h r er bb so hr era C Carpenter (L, 15-8) 7 12 6 6 2 6 0 3.09 A Wainwright 2/3 3 1 1 0 0 0 3.21 R Flores 1/3 0 0 0 1 0 0 5.40 J Hancock 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.91 WP - C Carpenter, W Williams. IBB - R Belliard (by W Williams). HBP - S Rolen (by W Williams). Pitches-strikes: W Williams 107-61; C Meredith 12-9; S Linebrink 16-11; T Hoffman 18-11; C Carpenter 122-75; A Wainwright 20-12; R Flores 10-5; J Hancock 14-10. Ground balls-fly balls: W Williams 11-7; C Meredith 2-0; S Linebrink 1-1; T Hoffman 0-1; C Carpenter 9-6; A Wainwright 2-0; R Flores 1-0; J Hancock 1-1. Batters faced: W Williams 31; C Meredith 4; S Linebrink 4; T Hoffman 4; C Carpenter 34; A Wainwright 5; R Flores 2; J Hancock 3. UMPIRES: HP--Bill Miller. 1B--Eric Cooper. 2B--Gerry Davis. 3B--Brian Gorman. T--3:02. Att--40,443. Weather: 75 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 5 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.
Hitter Pitcher True Dist Std. Dist. HR # Beltre, Adrian SEA Saarloos, Kirk OAK 435 437 22 Hernandez, Ramon BAL Lidle, Corey NYY 420 427 21 Quentin, Carlos ARI Morris, Matt SF 426 421 9 Cano, Robinson NYY Penn, Hayden BAL 413 421 14 Diaz, Matt ATL Perez, Oliver NYM 407 412 7 Ibanez, Raul SEA Saarloos, Kirk OAK 411 411 32 Rivera, Juan LAA Mahay, Ron TEX 407 411 23 Anderson, Marlon LAD Field, Nate COL 444 409 11 Bautista, Jose PIT Pettitte, Andy HOU 423 402 16 Ross, David CIN Willis, Dontrelle FLA 404 402 21 Bay, Jason PIT Pettitte, Andy HOU 423 399 35 Gibbons, Jay BAL Lidle, Corey NYY 404 399 13 Ross, David CIN Willis, Dontrelle FLA 403 399 20 Teixeira, Mark TEX Escobar, Kelvim LAA 388 397 30 Belliard, Ronnie STL Williams, Woody SD 414 395 13 Garciaparra, Nomar LAD Jennings, Jason COL 425 394 20 Swisher, Nick OAK Woods, Jake SEA 392 391 34 Jones, Andruw ATL Perez, Oliver NYM 386 391 40 Mabry, John CHC Gonzalez, Geremi MIL 379 391 5 Jones, Jacque CHC Villanueva, Carlos MIL 385 390 27 Hall, Bill MIL Marshall, Sean CHC 392 386 33 Bradley, Milton OAK Woods, Jake SEA 385 384 14 Abreu, Bobby NYY Lopez, Rodrigo BAL 386 378 14 Ford, Lew MIN Perez, Odalis KC 382 378 4 Aybar, Willy ATL Perez, Oliver NYM 365 375 4 Atkins, Garrett COL Maddux, Greg LAD 395 373 28 Hawpe, Brad COL Stults, Eric LAD 396 370 21 Ortiz, David BOS Hammel, Jason TB 400 369 54 Belliard, Ronnie STL Williams, Woody SD 388 368 12 Alou, Moises SF Lyon, Brandon ARI 378 367 22 Graffanino, Tony MIL Ryu, Jae Kuk CHC 371 363 7 Garko, Ryan CLE Vazquez, Javier CWS 340 356 7 Patterson, Corey BAL Lidle, Corey NYY 357 349 16
Player News
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
Ryan Zimmerman drove in three runs for the Nats, raising his season total to 107, the most by a rookie since Albert Pujols drove in 130 in 2001. Ryan Howard drove in one run for the Phillies, but that’s all it took to set a new National League record for sophomores (146). Chuck Klein had 145 runs batted in in 1929. (Source: Elias)
Chase Utley’s shot down the right-field line that was ruled foul — but replays showed should have been called fair — was a key part of Philadelphia’s 4-3 loss to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night, though the Phillies had other reasons to be disappointed in themselves, too.
Ryan Garko drove in five runs in the Indians’ 6-0 victory over the White Sox, raising his total for the month of September to 22 runs batted in. Garko, the Indians’ full-time cleanup hitter since Travis Hafner was injured, ranks fifth in the AL in RBI this month behind Frank Thomas (30), Torii Hunter (27), Robinson Cano (25), and Bobby Abreu (25).
Javier Vazquez struck out 12 batters but allowed six runs over seven innings in Chicago’s 6-0 loss to the Indians, a microcosm of Vazquez’s month. In five starts during September, Vazquez struck out 50 batters, but posted an 0-3 record. Only three other pitchers during the live-ball era recorded 50 strikeouts in a month without earning a victory. The others were Pedro Martinez (0-1, 55 SO in May 2006), Kerry Wood (0-3, 55 SO in August 2002), and Randy Johnson (0-2, 59 SO in September 1992). (Source: Elias)
Johan Santana all but wrapped up the unofficial Triple Crown for pitchers with his victory over the Royals on Wednesday night. Santana leads the majors in wins (19), ERA (2.77), and strikeouts (245). Only one pitcher has led the majors in all three categories in the same season since Sandy Koufax retired following the 1966 season: Dwight Gooden in 1985. Koufax did so three times over his last four seasons.
Moises Alou hit a game-winning home run in the ninth inning of the Giants’ 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks. It was Alou’s fifth walk-off homer in the last five seasons, to tie for the second most in the NL during that time behind Albert Pujols (7).
When Dusty Baker called for Jae-Kuk Ryu to pitch the ninth inning of the Cubs’ 14-6 win over the Brewers, it marked Chicago’s 522nd pitching change of the season, a new major league record. The previous mark was set by Felipe Alou’s Giants in 2004.
Since July 2, the Cubs (35-43) have a better record than the White Sox (34-44).
Placido Polanco drove in three runs in the Tigers’ 4-3 win over the Blue Jays, for a total of five RBI in two games after missing five weeks with a separated left shoulder.
On Monday, the Reds signed SS Juan Castro to a two-year contract extension.
THT Stats
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