THT Daily: Twins on a Roll; White Sox Aren’t
Major League News for July 27
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 SEA 7 TOR 4 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 8 TEX 7 (Recap and Boxscore) See below LAA 15 TB 6 (Recap and Boxscore) Rivera: 2 2B, 4 RBI OAK 5 BOS 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Thomas: 2 HR, 4 RBI; Haren: 7 IP, 1 R MIN 7 CHA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Morneau: 3-5, HR, 3 RBI BAL 4 KC 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Conine: 4-4, HR; Loewen: 5 IP, 1 R DET 4 CLE 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Verlander: 6.2 IP, 1 R National League WAS 4 SF 3 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS beats Benitez with 2 in 9th SD 10 LAN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) Peavy goes nuts: 7 IP, 2 R, hits 2B, HR, 4 RBI STL 6 COL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) Edmonds: 3-3, HR; Suppan: 6 IP, 1 R PIT 8 MIL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Hall: 4 RBI PHI 6 ARI 4 (Recap and Boxscore) Utley: 2B, HR, 3 RBI NYN 1 CHN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) 10 innings; Prior: 5.2 IP, 0 H; Maine: 7 IP, 0 R HOU 8 CIN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) Berkman: 2 HR, 4 RBI ATL 6 FLA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) LaRoche: 3-3, HR, 2 RS and RBI
Today’s Games
Visitors Home Time ARI - Vargas C. (8-6, 5.16) PHI - Lidle C. (7-7, 4.91) 1:05 SF - Cain M. (7-6, 4.67) WAS - Hernandez L. (7-8, 5.80) 1:05 FLA - Olsen S.* (8-4, 4.01) ATL - Shiell J. (0-1, 9.00) 1:05 STL - Weaver J. (1-1, 6.52) CHC - Hill R.* (0-4, 9.31) 8:05 CIN - Ramirez E. (3-6, 4.43) HOU - Buchholz T. (6-8, 5.57) 8:05 BAL - Lopez R. (6-11, 6.73) KC - Gobble J.* (3-3, 4.88) 8:10 SD - Williams W. (4-2, 3.15) COL - Fogg J. (7-5, 4.25) 9:05 TOR - Lilly T.* (9-8, 3.89) OAK - Blanton J. (10-8, 4.90) 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 BOS 61 39 .610 0.0 57 4NYA 59 40 .596 1.5 57 2
TOR 56 45 .554 5.5 56 0
BAL 46 56 .451 16.0 44 2
TB 42 60 .412 20.0 41 1
American League Central DET 68 33 .673 0.0 64 4
MIN 59 41 .590 8.5 55 4
CHA 59 41 .590 8.5 58 1
CLE 44 56 .440 23.5 53 -9
KC 35 65 .350 32.5 38 -3
American League West OAK 52 49 .515 0.0 50 2
LAA 52 49 .515 0.0 52 0
TEX 51 51 .500 1.5 52 -1
SEA 49 52 .485 3.0 51 -2
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 60 41 .594 0.0 58 2
ATL 48 52 .480 11.5 53 -5
FLA 46 53 .465 13.0 48 -2
PHI 45 53 .459 13.5 46 -1
WAS 45 56 .446 15.0 46 -1
National League Central STL 58 42 .580 0.0 52 6
CIN 53 48 .525 5.5 49 4
HOU 48 53 .475 10.5 48 0
MIL 48 54 .471 11.0 44 4
CHN 39 61 .390 19.0 40 -1
PIT 37 66 .359 22.5 45 -8
National League West SD 54 47 .535 0.0 52 2
ARI 51 49 .510 2.5 50 1
SF 51 50 .505 3.0 51 0
COL 47 53 .470 6.5 51 -4
LAN 47 55 .461 7.5 51 -4
Game of the Day
The Yankees swept the Rangers with a dramatic 8-7 win. Combined with the White Sox’s loss to Minnesota, New York now leads the wild card race by a half-game.
Heroes of the game included Jason Giambi, who hit a two-run homer in the ninth to win it for the Yanks, and Shawn Chacon, who got three key outs in the eighth after Texas had scored three runs to take the lead. Chacon relieved Scott Proctor with the bases loaded and the Rangers ahead 8-7, struck out Mark DeRosa and then grabbed a line drive off the bat of Brad Wilkerson to start an inning-ending double play.
NY YANKEES (8) VS TEXAS (7) - FINAL
NY YANKEES ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Damon cf 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 .293
D Jeter ss 5 2 3 0 0 1 1 .347
J Giambi dh 5 1 1 2 0 1 3 .252
A Rodriguez 3b 5 2 2 1 0 1 1 .280
B Williams rf 2 1 1 0 2 1 0 .277
N Green 2b 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .169
A Phillips 1b 5 1 3 2 0 0 2 .245
M Cabrera lf 4 1 2 2 0 0 2 .282
S Fasano c 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 .333
J Posada c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286
M Cairo 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .237
a-A Guiel ph-rf 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .221
Totals 38 8 14 7 3 6 14
a-struck out swinging for M Cairo in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - D Jeter (24, J Rheinecker); M Cabrera (12, F Cordero). HR - A
Rodriguez (22, 8th inning off F Cordero 0 on, 0 Out), J Giambi (29, 9th inning
off A Otsuka 1 on, 0 Out). S - S Fasano. RBI - A Phillips 2 (26), A Rodriguez
(73), M Cabrera 2 (32), J Giambi 2 (80). 2-out RBI - A Phillips 2. Runners left
in scoring position, 2 out - J Giambi 2, S Fasano 1, M Cabrera 1. GIDP - A
Phillips. Team LOB - 7.
BASERUNNING: CS - J Damon (7, 2nd base by C Wilson/R Barajas).
FIELDING: PB - S Fasano. DP: 1 (S Chacon-A Phillips).
TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
G Matthews Jr cf 4 1 0 0 1 2 0 .323
I Kinsler 2b 5 1 2 0 0 1 0 .294
F Guzman pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286
M Young ss 5 1 1 2 0 0 1 .312
M Teixeira 1b 3 2 3 0 1 0 0 .279
H Blalock 3b 4 2 3 2 0 1 1 .279
K Mench lf 3 0 2 3 0 0 1 .284
J Hairston Jr pr-lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .203
M DeRosa rf 4 0 0 0 0 2 4 .310
B Wilkerson dh 4 0 0 0 0 1 4 .231
R Barajas c 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .257
Totals 36 7 11 7 2 7 12
BATTING: 2B - K Mench (18, J Wright); H Blalock (17, J Wright); I Kinsler (14,
T Beam). SF - K Mench. RBI - K Mench 3 (50), H Blalock 2 (64), M Young 2 (67).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - R Barajas 1. Team LOB - 5.
FIELDING: DP: 2 (M Young-M Teixeira, R Barajas-I Kinsler).
----------------------------------------------------
NY YANKEES - 200 000 042 -- 8
TEXAS - 020 200 030 -- 7
----------------------------------------------------
NY YANKEES ip h r er bb so hr era
J Wright 5 1/3 5 4 3 1 3 0 4.73
R Villone 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 2 0 2.12
T Beam (H, 2) 0 1 2 2 1 0 0 12.38
S Proctor (B, 6) 0 4 1 1 0 0 0 4.08
S Chacon (W, 5-3) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.56
M Rivera (S, 25) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.95
TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era
J Rheinecker 4 1/3 9 2 2 1 1 0 5.06
W Littleton 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.00
C Wilson (H, 4) 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 4.37
F Cordero (B, 9) 1 3 4 4 1 1 1 4.81
A Otsuka (L, 2-4; B, 3) 1 2 2 2 0 2 1 2.30
T Beam pitched to 2 batters in the 8th.
S Proctor pitched to 4 batters in the 8th.
WP - F Cordero. Pitches-strikes: J Wright 88-55; R Villone 19-12; T Beam
15-8; S Proctor 11-9; S Chacon 9-6; M Rivera 13-9; J Rheinecker 80-51; W
Littleton 13-10; C Wilson 15-7; F Cordero 32-17; A Otsuka 15-10. Ground
balls-fly balls: J Wright 6-7; R Villone 1-2; T Beam 0-0; S Proctor 0-0; S
Chacon 0-1; M Rivera 1-1; J Rheinecker 8-4; W Littleton 4-1; C Wilson 0-0; F
Cordero 1-1; A Otsuka 1-0. Batters faced: J Wright 22; R Villone 5; T Beam 2; S
Proctor 4; S Chacon 2; M Rivera 4; J Rheinecker 23; W Littleton 4; C Wilson 3;
F Cordero 7; A Otsuka 5.
UMPIRES: HP--Chris Guccione. 1B--Larry Vanover. 2B--Greg Gibson. 3B--Paul
Nauert.
T--3:18. Att--43,527.
Weather: 92 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 13 mph, in from center.
Bonus Graph: Here is the current status of the race in the AL Central, where the Twins have caught up to the White Sox.
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.
Hitter Pitcher True Dist Std. Dist. HR # Berkman, Lance HOU Arroyo, Bronson CIN 461 460 27 Morneau, Justin MIN Buehrle, Mark CWS 454 444 27 Borchard, Joe FLA Smoltz, John ATL 441 435 7 Sexson, Richie SEA Downs, Scott TOR 430 430 21 Rodriguez, Alex NYY Cordero, Francisco TEX 425 427 22 Dye, Jermaine CWS Silva, Carlos MIN 427 421 26 Jones, Andruw ATL Kensing, Logan FLA 424 421 25 Berkman, Lance HOU Arroyo, Bronson CIN 416 415 28 Baldelli, Rocco TB Colon, Bartolo LAA 410 410 5 Thomas, Frank OAK Snyder, Kyle BOS 408 406 21 Torrealba, Yorvit COL Suppan, Jeff STL 436 405 3 LaRoche, Adam ATL Tankersley, Taylor FLA 421 403 20 Bay, Jason PIT Capuano, Chris MIL 410 403 24 Mackowiak, Rob CWS Neshek, Pat MIN 408 401 3 Furcal, Rafael LAD Penny, Brad SD 421 400 5 Giambi, Jason NYY Otsuka, Akinori TEX 385 399 29 McCann, Brian ATL Johnson, Josh FLA 416 398 12 Thomas, Frank OAK Snyder, Kyle BOS 386 396 22 Gonzalez, Adrian SD Sele, Aaron LAD 415 395 19 Peavy, Jake SD Penny, Brad LAD 408 389 2 Biggio, Craig HOU Arroyo, Bronson CIN 388 386 10 Cuddyer, Michael MIN Buehrle, Mark CWS 383 381 14 Uggla, Dan FLA Smoltz, John ATL 382 381 15 Conine, Jeff BAL Hernandez, Runelvys KC 400 379 8 Beltre, Adrian SEA Burnett, A.J. TOR 375 375 9 Miles, Aaron STL Ramirez, Ramon COL 408 372 1 Kendrick, Howie LAA Camp, Shawn TB 372 371 1 Edmonds, Jim STL Cook, Aaron COL 400 364 16 Aurilia, Rich CIN Pettitte, Andy HOU 364 362 13 Hall, Bill MIL Maholm, Paul PIT 365 359 23 Bautista, Jose PIT Capuano, Chris MIL 375 357 12 Inglett, Joe CLE Verlander, Justin DET 385 351 1 Utley, Chase PHI Webb, Brandon ARI 375 343 19 Dellucci, David PHI Webb, Brandon ARI 366 343 7 Wigginton, Ty TB Colon, Bartolo LAA 342 342 18
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 ARI A+ Chris Rahl CF 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 BOS A Tony Granadillo 3B 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 BOS A- Manuel Arambarris 3B 5 5 2 0 0 0 0 CHC A Alberto Garcia LF 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 5 RBI COL A Eric Young 2B 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 Hitting .522 over last 23 at bats DET A Michael Hollimon SS 3 2 0 1 1 1 0 4 RBI DET A Cameron Maybin DH 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 .515 OBP during past week NYY A- S. Fortenberry LF 5 3 0 1 1 0 1 3 runs scored PIT A Brad Corley RF 4 3 1 0 1 1 1 4 RBI ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes ARI A+ Cody Evans 7.0 6 1 0 4 2 0 BAL AA Radhames Liz 7.0 4 0 0 8 2 0 BAL A Brandon Erbe 5.0 2 0 0 5 0 0 34 K over last 28 IP BOS A Ryan Phillips 5.2 2 1 1 7 3 0 BOS A+ Kevin Guyette 6.0 5 0 0 4 1 0 CLE A+ Scott Lewis 5.2 3 0 0 6 2 0 FLA A Ryan Tucker 7.0 4 2 1 6 1 1 HOU A+ Rory Shortell 7.0 3 0 0 5 2 0 NYM A- Eric Brown 6.0 3 0 0 1 0 0 1.41 ERA over past month NYM A Jeramy Simmons 7.0 2 1 1 6 1 0
Player News
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
Austin Kearns’ sacrifice fly with the bases loaded off San Francisco closer Armando Benitez capped a two-run rally in the ninth inning, lifting Washington past the Giants 4-3 on Wednesday night, the Nationals’ fifth consecutive victory. Benitez (4-2) came on to start the ninth with a 3-2 lead. But the right-hander walked leadoff batter Robert Fick, and, after striking out Alfonso Soriano, he gave up an infield single to Felipe Lopez. Ryan Zimmerman’s RBI single tied the game, and Benitez then walked Nick Johnson to fill the bases. That brought up Kearns, who’s been adjusting to life with his new team since this month’s eight-player trade that brought him to Washington from Cincinnati. It was Benitez’s sixth blown save this season, in 19 chances. The Giants were 40-4 when leading after eight innings this season.
Philadelphia’s Chase Utley hit a three-run home run in the second inning against Arizona on Wednesday night to extend his hitting streak to 26 games, tying for the fourth-longest in Phillies history. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins has the longest streak in team history at 38 games – the final 36 of last season and the first two this year. Utley flied out in his first at-bat against Brandon Webb, but hit a 1-2 pitch into the right-field seats for his 19th homer in the second, extending the longest streak in the majors this season. Ed Delahanty had a 31-game hitting streak in 1899, Billy Hamilton had a 27-gamer in 1894 and Chuck Klein twice hit in 26 straight games in 1930.
Braves 3B Chipper Jones returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing three games with a strained side muscle. He went 0-for-3 with a walk, ending a 20-game hitting streak that equaled the longest of his career.
The White Sox posted a 57-31 mark during the unofficial “first half” of the season, but they’re only 2-10 since play resumed after the All-Star break. According to Elias, no other team that was at least 25 games over .500 at the time of the All-Star Game has ever lost 10 of its first 12 games after the break.
The San Diego Padres were thrilled about Jake Peavy’s improved pitching and his run production. Peavy helped himself on Wednesday with a homer, double and four RBI, winning his first game in almost two months as the NL West-leading Padres rolled to a 10-3 victory. Peavy (5-10) threw 129 pitches over seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits with eight strikeouts and three walks. The right-hander came in 0-5 with a 6.61 ERA in eight starts since beating St. Louis 10-8 on May 28. A simple adjustment like pitching from the third base side of the rubber helped him considerably.
Adrian Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 17 games with his 19th home run for San Diego on Wednesday at the Dodgers.
Oft-injured All-Star Mark Prior threw 5 2/3 hitless innings before departing after 103 pitches Tuesday. “That was as far as he could go,” Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. He made his sixth start of the season and second since his latest stint on the DL — he was sidelined with a strained muscle on his left side. He lowered his ERA from 8.14 to 6.60 but is winless in nine starts since last September, the longest drought of his career. The 25-year-old Prior walked four in the first four innings, including the leadoff batter three times.
The Mets pulled out the win behind rookie John Maine, who is making a strong bid for a regular spot in the rotation. He tossed seven innings of three-hit ball (all soft singles). “He really showed me a lot,” Carlos Beltran said. “He’s got a good fastball.”
Justin Verlander outdueled C.C. Sabathia in the Tigers’ 4-1 victory at Cleveland to notch his 13th win of the season and grab a share of the major league lead in that category. Since 1900, the only pitcher to lead the majors in victories (either tied or outright) in his rookie season was Grover Alexander (28-13), who did it for the Phillies in 1911. Alexander (in his debut season) led the NL in wins and tied Jack Coombs (28-12) of the Philadelphia A’s for the most in the majors. (Source: Elias)
The Los Angeles Angels’ biggest offensive performance of the season was overshadowed by Bartolo Colon’s sore right elbow. Colon, the 2005 AL Cy Young Award winner, left after one inning of the Angels’ 15-6 win Wednesday over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays because of irritation in his pitching elbow. “He had a little stiffness,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “We’ll evaluate him on a day-to-day basis and come up with some options, if we have to, in case he can’t make his next start.”
Orioles right-hander Kris Benson returned to Baltimore on Wednesday to have his sore elbow examined. Benson is 0-4 with a 6.52 ERA in five starts this month. “Kris has complained a little bit about his elbow hurting the last couple of months,” Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo said. “We’ve got him in Baltimore right now as a precautionary measure just to make sure that it’s nothing more than a little inflammation. We just want to see what’s up, where’s he’s at. He says he’s had it every year, but has been managing it pretty well. He complained a little bit last night so we thought we would err on the side of caution and just get it checked out. We feel like it’s just minor tendinitis that hasn’t been allowed to totally calm down.”
The Mariners have acquired left-handed hitting 1B/DH Ben Broussard from the Indians in exhange for outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and a player to be named later. Broussard will join the Mariners on Friday when the team begins a three-game series at Cleveland.
Choo will join the Indians immediately and start in right field against right-handed pitching. He also will spend some time in left field, GM Mark Shapiro said. Casey Blake, who has been playing right field for the Indians this season, and catcher Victor Martinez will split time at first. This opens more time behind the plate for catching prospect Kelly Shoppach.
The Mariners designated Carl Everett for assignment Wednesday and recalled outfielder Chris Snelling from Triple-A Tacoma to take his roster spot.
The Reds activated C David Ross from the 15-day DL and designated RHP Joe Mays for assignment. Jason LaRue and Ross will likely compete for the primary catching at-bats, with Javier Valentin getting the table scraps.
The Royals have shuffled their rotation and will start LHP Jorge de la Rosa, who was acquired in a trade Tuesday with Milwaukee, on Saturday at Texas. Manager Buddy Bell said de la Rosa would replace Brandon Duckworth, who is 1-4 in eight starts, in the rotation. Bell also said LHP Odalis Perez, who was acquired from the Dodgers on Tuesday, would also be inserted into the rotation. Perez is expected to join the club Thursday. Luke Hudson or Thursday’s starter Jimmy Gobble are on the bubble for the Perez substitution if Mark Redman is not dealt at the trading deadline.
The Athletics recalled LHP Randy Keisler From Triple-A Sacramento and optioned RHP Jason Windsor to Sacramento. Kirk Saarloos or Brad Halsey could return to the No. 5 spot for the A’s, who gave the young Windsor a shot that failed quickly.
The Reds have released RHP Esteban Yan, who was designated for assignment. The Mets’ RHP Heath Bell will be optioned to Triple-A Norfolk to make room on the roster for Pedro Martinez (hip, illness) on Friday.
The Rangers designated RHP Bryan Corey for assignment Tuesday night. They have 10 days to trade, release or outright him to the minor leagues. The Brewers optioned UTL Chris Barnwell to Triple-A Nashville of the PCL on Tuesday night.
The Royals called up infielder Andres Blanco from Triple-A Omaha on Wednesday. Blanco, who had 15 extra-base hits in 264 at-bats and had committed 19 errors with Omaha, was up earlier this season, hitting .176 in six games with Kansas City.
The New York Post reports the Yankees are talking to the Braves about Wilson Betemit and might be willing to give up Scott Proctor. “He is a (Placido) Polanco-type hitter with more pop,” a scout told the paper.
The Yankees acquired catcher Sal Fasano from the Phillies on Wednesday for minor league second baseman Hector Made. Kelly Stinnett looks headed for the minors or the open market.
Right-hander Brian Lawrence said Wednesday he will probably wait until spring training to return from the shoulder injury that has sidelined him all season.
The Tigers called up right-hander Colby Lewis from Triple-A Toledo on Wednesday. He went 4-7 with a 3.86 ERA in 20 starts for Toledo and will join the Tigers’ bullpen. To make room for Lewis, the Tigers designated outfielder Alexis Gomez for assignment.
Scott Hatteberg, who took over at first base for the Reds and has been an important part of their resurgence, got a one-year contract extension Wednesday that will pay him at least $1.65 million. As one of his first moves after taking over as general manager in February, Wayne Krivsky signed Hatteberg as a free agent from Oakland. Hatteberg replaced first baseman Sean Casey, who had been traded to Pittsburgh before Krivsky was hired.
With his start in left Tuesday, Carlos Lee has appeared in 263 consecutive games as a Brewer, the second-longest streak in club history. Robin Yount holds the team record with 274 consecutive games from Aug. 13, 1987-June 14, 1989. Lee has appeared in 274 consecutive games, the fifth-longest active streak in the majors.
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