THT Daily: Yankees on a Roll
Major League News for August 20
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 BAL 15 TOR 0 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 13 BOS 5 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 5 TB 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 3 DET 1 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 7 KC 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 4 MIN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 9 SEA 7 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 5 FLA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 7 COL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 11 WAS 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 5 STL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 14 PIT 7 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 6 HOU 4 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 5 SD 3 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 14 SF 7 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
Visitors Home Starts ATL - Cormier L. (2-4, 6.08) FLA - Willis D.* (7-10, 4.14) 1:05 TEX - Koronka J.* (7-7, 5.31) DET - Bonderman J. (11-5, 3.69) 1:05 COL - Jennings J. (7-9, 3.34) NYM - Hernandez O. (8-9, 5.54) 1:10 CLE - Westbrook J. (9-8, 4.20) TB - Seo J. (1-5, 4.26) 1:15 PIT - Santos V. (5-7, 5.48) CIN - Harang A. (12-8, 3.82) 1:15 WAS - Astacio P. (3-2, 4.64) PHI - Wolf R.* (1-0, 4.35) 1:35 TOR - Halladay R. (15-3, 3.20) BAL - Bedard E.* (12-8, 3.81) 1:35 HOU - Clemens R. (4-4, 2.71) MIL - Davis D.* (9-6, 4.97) 2:05 CWS - Vazquez J. (11-7, 5.13) MIN - Santana J.* (14-5, 3.10) 2:10 OAK - Saarloos K. (5-6, 4.77) KC - Hernandez R. (3-7, 7.49) 2:10 STL - Carpenter C. (11-6, 3.09) CHC - Mateo J. (1-0, 3.00) 2:20 SEA - Woods J.* (3-1, 4.11) LAA - Santana E. (12-6, 4.36) 3:35 ARI - Batista M. (10-5, 4.67) SD - Young C. (9-5, 3.80) 4:05 LAD - Lowe D. (10-8, 3.97) SF - Morris M. (8-10, 4.62) 4:05 NYY - Mussina M. (13-5, 3.54) BOS - Schilling C. (14-5, 3.83) 8:05
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 73 48 .603 0.0 71 2BOS 69 53 .566 4.5 65 4
TOR 65 58 .528 9.0 64 1
BAL 55 68 .447 19.0 55 0
TB 49 74 .398 25.0 50 -1
American League Central DET 79 44 .642 0.0 76 3
CHA 73 49 .598 5.5 70 3
MIN 71 51 .582 7.5 68 3
CLE 55 67 .451 23.5 66 -11
KC 45 80 .360 35.0 46 -1
American League West OAK 69 54 .561 0.0 63 6
LAA 65 59 .524 4.5 64 1
TEX 64 60 .516 5.5 66 -2
SEA 56 67 .455 13.0 58 -2
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 74 48 .607 0.0 70 4
PHI 60 62 .492 14.0 62 -2
ATL 58 64 .475 16.0 62 -4
FLA 56 66 .459 18.0 59 -3
WAS 54 69 .439 20.5 54 0
National League Central STL 65 57 .533 0.0 62 3
CIN 63 60 .512 2.5 59 4
MIL 59 64 .480 6.5 54 5
HOU 58 65 .472 7.5 60 -2
CHN 53 69 .434 12.0 50 3
PIT 47 76 .382 18.5 54 -7
National League West LAN 65 58 .528 0.0 67 -2
ARI 62 61 .504 3.0 61 1
SD 61 62 .496 4.0 62 -1
SF 59 64 .480 6.0 61 -2
COL 59 64 .480 6.0 63 -4
Wildcard Standings American League CHA 73 49 .598 0.0 MIN 71 51 .582 2.0 BOS 69 53 .566 4.0 TOR 65 58 .528 8.5 LAA 65 59 .524 9.0 National League CIN 63 60 .512 0.0 ARI 62 61 .504 1.0 SD 61 62 .496 2.0 PHI 60 62 .492 2.5 MIL 59 64 .480 4.0
Game of the Day
The Yankees are making a very loud statement in Boston, winning this latest game 13-5 after sweeping the previous day’s doubleheader, 12-4 and 14-11. According to Elias, the Yankees are the first visiting team to score 12-or-more runs in each of three straight games in the history of Fenway Park. It’s also only the third time in Yankees history that they scored at least a dozen runs in each of three straight games. They also did it in May 1936 and in May 1998.
Here’s another: the Yankees have drawn 28 walks in the first three games of this series. It’s the most walks over any three consecutive nine-inning games for a major league team since the Giants drew 28 bases on balls over three games in August 2000. The last time the Yankees did it was in August 1938.
NY YANKEES (13) VS BOSTON (5) - FINAL NY YANKEES ab r h rbi bb so lob avg J Damon dh 6 1 3 1 0 0 2 .297 D Jeter ss 4 1 0 0 1 1 1 .335 B Abreu rf 4 2 1 0 2 2 0 .392 A Guiel rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .235 J Giambi 1b 2 2 1 0 3 0 1 .256 C Wilson pr-1b 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .259 A Rodriguez 3b 3 2 1 2 2 1 4 .288 N Green 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .187 R Cano 2b 3 2 2 5 2 0 0 .330 J Posada c 4 0 1 4 1 0 2 .270 S Fasano pr-c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .130 B Williams cf 4 1 1 1 1 1 3 .282 M Cabrera lf 4 1 0 0 1 1 2 .291 Totals 35 13 10 13 13 7 15 BATTING: 2B - J Damon 3 (29, J Beckett 3); B Abreu (7, J Beckett); A Rodriguez (22, J Beckett); J Giambi (18, J Van Buren). 3B - J Posada (2, M Delcarmen). HR - B Williams (9, 2nd inning off J Beckett 0 on, 2 Out), R Cano (8, 8th inning off J Van Buren 2 on, 1 Out). S - D Jeter. RBI - B Williams (47), J Damon (67), R Cano 5 (44), A Rodriguez 2 (91), J Posada 4 (63). 2-out RBI - B Williams, J Damon, R Cano 2, A Rodriguez, J Posada 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Damon 1, D Jeter 1, J Posada 1, B Williams 3. GIDP - A Rodriguez. Team LOB - 9. BASERUNNING: SB - M Cabrera (10, 2nd base off J Beckett/J Lopez), B Abreu (7, 2nd base off J Beckett/J Lopez), J Posada (2, 2nd base off J Beckett/J Lopez). FIELDING: DP: 2 (R Cano-D Jeter-J Giambi, D Jeter-R Cano-J Giambi). BOSTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg K Youkilis 1b 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 .292 M Loretta 2b 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 .308 D Ortiz dh 2 1 0 1 1 1 2 .284 M Ramirez lf 1 1 1 3 2 0 0 .327 a-E Hinske ph-lf 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .268 J Lopez c 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 .265 M Lowell 3b 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 .286 W Pena rf 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 .301 G Kapler cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .226 A Cora ss 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 .285 Totals 28 5 5 5 6 4 9 a-struck out swinging for M Ramirez in the 8th. BATTING: HR - M Ramirez (34, 4th inning off Ra Johnson 2 on, 1 Out). S - M Loretta. SF - D Ortiz. RBI - M Ramirez 3 (99), W Pena (35), D Ortiz (116). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Lopez 1, D Ortiz 1. GIDP - M Lowell, G Kapler. Team LOB - 5. FIELDING: PB - J Lopez. DP: 1 (A Cora-M Loretta-K Youkilis). ---------------------------------------------------- NY YANKEES - 021 025 030 -- 13 BOSTON - 000 410 000 -- 5 ---------------------------------------------------- NY YANKEES ip h r er bb so hr era Ra Johnson (W, 14-9) 7 4 5 5 6 3 1 4.98 J Wright 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 4.50 T Beam 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 10.50 BOSTON ip h r er bb so hr era J Beckett (L, 13-8) 5 2/3 7 9 9 9 2 1 5.35 M Delcarmen 1/3 1 1 1 1 0 0 4.38 J Van Buren 1 1/3 2 3 3 2 2 1 11.77 K Snyder 1 2/3 0 0 0 1 3 0 6.35 IBB - R Cano (by J Beckett), M Ramirez (by Ra Johnson). HBP - A Cora (by Ra Johnson). Pitches-strikes: Ra Johnson 112-61; J Wright 22-15; T Beam 20-12; J Beckett 121-58; M Delcarmen 12-4; J Van Buren 39-20; K Snyder 27-17. Ground balls-fly balls: Ra Johnson 11-7; J Wright 1-1; T Beam 0-3; J Beckett 12-3; M Delcarmen 1-0; J Van Buren 1-1; K Snyder 0-2. Batters faced: Ra Johnson 30; J Wright 4; T Beam 3; J Beckett 32; M Delcarmen 3; J Van Buren 8; K Snyder 6. UMPIRES: HP--Joe West. 1B--Ed Rapuano. 2B--Tony Randazzo. 3B--Jim Wolf. T--3:41. Att--35,738. Weather: 79 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 12 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 # Howard, Ryan PHI Ortiz, Ramon WAS 465 449 43 Hafner, Travis CLE Camp, Shawn TB 449 448 37 Duncan, Chris STL Howry, Bob CHC 432 427 13 Milledge, LastingsNYM Corpas, Manuel COL 428 419 4 Alfonzo, Eliezer SF Tomko, Brett LAD 412 416 10 Ellis, Mark OAK Dohmann, Scott KC 409 407 9 Phillips, Brandon CIN Capps, Matt PIT 416 403 12 Teixeira, Mark TEX Robertson, Nate DET 432 400 20 Olivo, Miguel FLA James, Chuck ATL 381 396 14 Molina, Yadier STL Zambrano, Carlos CHC 387 393 5 Alou, Moises SF Maddux, Greg LAD 387 390 14 Escobar, Alex WAS Hamels, Cole PHI 414 387 4 Atkins, Garrett COL Hernandez, Roberto NYM 380 387 21 Ramirez, Manny BOS Johnson, Randy NYY 414 384 34 Soriano, Alfonso WAS Hamels, Cole PHI 411 382 40 Broussard, Ben SEA Lackey, John LAA 407 382 18 Mackowiak, Rob CWS Radke, Brad MIN 387 382 4 Torrealba, Yorvit COL Williams, Dave NYM 384 370 6 Cano, Robinson NYY Van Buren, Jermaine BOS 408 369 8 Munson, Eric HOU Bush, Dave MIL 399 368 5 Bay, Jason PIT Milton, Eric CIN 391 359 26 Williams, Bernie NYY Beckett, Josh BOS 389 359 9 Markakis, Nick BAL Marcum, Shaun TOR 400 357 8 Roberts, Brian BAL McGowan, Dustin TOR 396 357 6 Monroe, Craig DET Tejeda, Robinson TEX 381 355 20 Tejada, Miguel BAL Marcum, Shaun TOR 388 349 21 Izturis, Maicer LAA Lowe, Mark SEA 378 345 5 Ross, David CIN Maholm, Paul PIT 356 322 15
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 BAL A- C. Vinyard 1B 4 3 2 1 0 0 0 CHC AAA Michael Restovich DH 5 4 1 1 0 0 0 DET AAA Chris Shelton 1B 5 4 0 0 1 1 1 4 runs scored DET AAA Mike Rabelo C 6 4 0 0 1 0 0 5 RBI DET AAA Jack Hannahan 2B 5 3 1 0 1 1 0 5 RBI HOU A- Orlando Rosales CF 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 HOU A+ Neil Sellers 3B 4 4 2 0 0 1 0 .543 OBP during past week OAK AAA Charles Thomas CF 3 2 0 0 2 0 0 SEA A- Daniel Santin DH 5 3 2 0 1 0 0 SEA A- Jair Fernandez C 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 4 RBI ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes BOS A C. Jones 7.0 4 0 0 5 1 0 DET AA Eulogio De La Cruz 7.0 6 0 0 7 1 0 MIN AAA Jason Miller 9.0 2 0 0 7 0 0 NYM AAA Oliver Perez 7.0 1 0 0 11 2 0 27 K over last 23 IP NYY A- Timothy Norton 6.0 4 1 0 8 0 0 SEA AAA Francisco Cruceta 7.1 4 1 1 8 2 1 SEA A+ Justin Thomas 9.0 4 0 0 7 2 0 SF A Dave McKae 7.0 3 0 0 12 1 0 TB AA Mike Prochaska 8.0 3 0 0 6 3 0 TOR A Hector Delgadillo 6.0 3 0 0 5 1 0
Player News
Player news items are provided by CBS SportsLine.com.
Dave Bush took care of the offense himself Saturday night with the biggest hit of the game. He pitched seven solid innings and capped a rally with a two-out, two-run single to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-4 win over the Houston Astros. Bush (9-9) allowed four runs and eight hits with five strikeouts and no walks. “Bushy pitched a good game,” Brewers manager Ned Yost said. “To get us into the eighth inning was a great job.”
Houston’s Willy Taveras extended his hitting streak to 22 games in the first with a single on Saturday at Milwaukee. He was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI in the game.
Greg Maddux moved into a tie for 10th with Steve Carlton on the career victories list with No. 329 and the Los Angeles Dodgers snapped the San Francisco Giants ‘ five-game winning streak with a 14-7 victory Saturday night. Maddux retired the final 22 Giants batters in his previous start last Sunday at Dodger Stadium, then 10 straight to start Saturday’s outing before Omar Vizquel blooped a one-out single to shallow right in the fourth. If the two were added together for 32 straight outs, Maddux had five more than a 27-out perfect game. Maddux (11-11) struck out six in six innings and didn’t walk a batter for the second straight game and is 2-0 since coming to the Dodgers in a trade from the Chicago Cubs on July 31. The 40-year-old right-hander has won four straight decisions.
The Philadelphia Phillies bolstered their starting rotation, acquiring 43-year-old left-hander Jamie Moyer from the Seattle Mariners for two minor leaguers on Saturday night. Moyer was 6-12 with a 4.39 ERA for the Mariners. He’s expected to start for the Phillies on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs. Philadelphia has played well since overhauling its roster before last month’s trade deadline, and is 2½ games behind NL wild-card leading Cincinnati. Moyer will replace rookie right-hander Scott Mathieson, who has struggled since the Phillies called him up from Double-A Reading.
Maicer Izturis went 3-for-5 with a homer as the Los Angeles Angels extended the Seattle Mariners’ losing streak to 10 games with a 9-7 victory on Saturday night. Seattle’s Ben Broussard finished 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBI.
The Indians’ Jeremy Sowers won his fourth consecutive decision on Saturday at Tampa Bay. He gave up two runs and four hits in six innings. Travis Hafner has four homers and 15 RBI during a 10-game hitting streak.
Tom Mastny earned himself a chance to become the Cleveland Indians’ closer. Mastny allowed one hit and struck out three over two scoreless innings for his first career save as the Indians beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-3 on Saturday night. Cleveland, which has lost a major league-high seven games this year when leading after eight innings, has been looking to fill the closer role since Bob Wickman was traded to Atlanta last month. “He throws a lot of strikes,” Wedge said of Mastny. “From what we’ve seen up there, his secondary stuff has been a little better maybe than we anticipated. His fastball has some life to it, and he trusts his stuff.” Mastny made just his fourth appearance since having his contract purchased from Triple-A Buffalo on July 24.
New York Mets left-hander Dave Williams was forced out of Saturday night’s game in the sixth inning by cramps in both legs. Williams allowed a two-out single to Colorado’s Matt Holliday before a trainer came out to check on him at the mound. He walked off toward the dugout about a minute later.
Lastings Milledge had a homer and three hits, driving in the tying run in New York’s six-run sixth inning, and the Mets beat Colorado 7-4 on Saturday night. Milledge homered in the ninth, his first since being recalled August 1.
Robinson Tejeda, who was recalled from Oklahoma City before Saturday’s game, allowed one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings to beat the Tigers. “I was really excited about tonight’s win,” said Tejeda “It meant a lot to me that I pitched the way they wanted me to.” The Rangers optioned outfielder Freddy Guzman to Oklahoma to make room on the roster.
Barry Zito pitched eight strong innings and the surging Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals 7-2 on Saturday night. Zito (13-8) gave up two runs and eight hits while striking out seven and walking two.
Jon Garland refuses to recognize the pressure of the pennant race, which may be why he keeps winning. Garland pitched 7 2/3 strong innings, retiring 14 straight at one point, to help the Chicago White Sox beat Minnesota 4-1 on Saturday night to move two games up on the Twins in the wild card race. “Every game is big,” Garland said when asked about the magnitude of this win. “It doesn’t matter who your facing or the time of the season, you have to win.” Garland allowed five hits and one unearned run, while striking out five and walking just one.
Cole Hamels struck out seven in six strong innings as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals 11-2 on Saturday night. The 22-year-old southpaw surrendered two runs on five hits, walking one.
Alfonso Soriano hit his career-high 40th home run on Saturday and became the 10th player in major league history with at least 40 homers and at least 30 steals in a season.
Washington starter Ramon Ortiz was ejected by home plate umpire Paul Nauert in the second inning after hitting Aaron Rowand with a pitch in Saturday’s game with the Philadelphia Phillies. Ortiz was roughed up for eight runs, including Ryan Howard’s NL-best 43rd home run, in the second inning. Ortiz, who hadn’t hit a batter all season, hit Chase Utley with a pitch. Utley took a step toward the pitcher’s mound, but then turned to go to first base, maintaining eye contact with Ortiz the entire way. After Howard’s long home run to center field, Ortiz hit Rowand square in the back and was immediately thrown out of the game by Nauert. Ortiz was replaced by Ryan Wagner.
Chuck James allowed two runs — one earned — and five hits, while striking out five in six innings and the Atlanta Braves defeated the Florida Marlins 5-3 on Saturday night. He improved to 4-1 on the road.
Pirates 3B Freddy Sanchez, the league’s leading hitter at .355, went 3-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games (21-for-41, .512) on Saturday at Cincinnati.
David Ross homered and drove in a career-high five runs to help the Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 14-7 on Saturday night.
Claudio Vargas combined with three relievers on a five-hitter and helped himself with a two-run double to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres on Saturday. The inconsistent Padres managed only three hits and one run off Vargas (10-8) in seven innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked two in his third straight strong start.
Daniel Cabrera pitched a five-hitter for his second career shutout as the Baltimore Orioles became the last major league team this season to win a fourth straight game, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 15-0 Saturday. Cabrera (6-8) struck out 10, and walked two. The right-hander’s lack of control led to his demotion to the minor leagues last month, but he was exceptionally sharp in beating the Blue Jays for the second time in 12 days.
Michael Wurtz picked up his first win in relief Saturday vs. St. Louis. He pitched 1 1/3 innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two. Ryan Dempster blew his sixth save of the season.
Chris Duncan went 2-for-4 with a home run in the Cardinals loss to the Cubs. Duncan has a slugging percentage of .731 in 108 at-bats since July 14. Only three players in the major leagues have a higher slugging percentage than Duncan since that date (minimum: 100 at-bats): Alfonso Soriano (.762), Adam LaRoche (.748) and Ryan Howard (.733). (Source: Elias)
Giants infielder Kevin Frandsen had his broken jaw wired shut Saturday and went on the 15-day disabled list only five days after being called up from Triple-A Fresno. San Francisco was counting on giving the 24-year-old Frandsen some playing time in the final month of the season to figure out if he could be the team’s starting second baseman next season.
The Giants designated infielder Chad Santos for assignment on Saturday and purchased the contract of infielder Tomas De La Rosa from Triple-A Fresno.
Tigers LHP Mike Maroth was impressive in his third rehab start on Saturday night at Triple-A Toledo. He allowed a hit and an earned run in six innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three.
Padres shortstop Khalil Greene was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left middle finger on Saturday, and rookie right-hander Mike Thompson was brought up from Triple-A for the fourth time this season to start against Arizona. Thompson started the afternoon game in place of Clay Hensley, who reported a pain in his left buttocks in recent days.
3B Miguel Cabrera began the weekend series against Atlanta needing two homers to become only the fifth active player to reach 100 homers before his 24th birthday. Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones and Albert Pujols did it.
Houston pitcher Brandon Backe was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a sprained right elbow, and the Astros recalled left-hander Wandy Rodriguez from Triple-A Round Rock to fill his roster spot.
New York called up righty Jeff Karstens and outfielder Aaron Guiel from Triple-A Columbus and designated righty Sidney Ponson for assignment and optioned righty Brian Bruney to Columbus.
Boston recalled right-hander Jermaine Van Buren from Triple-A Pawtucket and designated righty Rudy Seanez for assignment after Saturday’s game vs. the N.Y. Yankees.
Going into Friday night’s game, C Paul Lo Duca was hitting .377 since July 1, second highest average in the majors trailing only Chase Utley of Philadelphia (.379).
All-Star closer Tom Gordon probably won’t be available until next week. Gordon has been sidelined with a shoulder injury that isn’t considered serious enough to land him on the DL.
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