Daily ArchiveThursday, May 18th, 2006
Posted on May 18, 2006 by Andrew Flynn
UTK Update
Will Carroll from Baseball Prospectus updates Moises Alou and J.J. Hardy’s injuries in Under the Knife:
We’ll have to wait for his TV show to know what Barry Bonds thinks about it–is that show still on?–but the Giants are excited to see Moises Alou hitting in the cage. His sprained ankle has been slightly ahead of schedule throughout his rehab, a testament to the medical staff and to Alou’s penchant for dealing with injury. It’s not expected that he’d need a rehab assignment, so Alou could be back as soon as early next week. His game isn’t predicated on movement, so he could play a step slower.
J.J. Hardy got stuffed at the plate on Wednesday night, doing a full-stop when Sal Fasano dropped his tree-trunk leg down in front of the plate. The legal but dangerous maneuver cranked Hardy’s ankle around and he left the field with assistance. (Nice picture here of Roger Caplinger and Dan Wright, though I’m sure they’d rather have done without the face time.) Hardy thought he’d broken his ankle. Instead, it’s a severe sprain that will keep him out six weeks, but he won’t need any surgical intervention. Bill Hall will fill in while Hardy is on the DL. As with most ankle sprains, there shouldn’t be much in the way of any long-term problems and Hardy has a decent shot of beating that projection back.
One way to tell how much trouble a pitcher is in is to watch the minor leagues. Teams will often “pair” a major league and minor league pitcher’s schedule to make sure that if the two have to swap places, they’ll be available on the same day, keeping the rotation in order. The Pirates have had Oliver Perez and Tom Gorzelanny on the same day for a while, adjusting the Triple-A rotation a couple times through rainouts to do so. Perez will be on a very short leash on Thursday and if his results aren’t better, they’ll swap temporarily. The Pirates are hoping that the move would go better than their last one. Chris Duffy, the opening day CF, was sent down to Triple-A but chose not to report.
Posted on May 18, 2006 by Andrew Flynn
Overnight Dispatches
From RotoWorld:
After working out yesterday, Rich Aurilia plans to rest today and hopes to be activated from the disabled list on Friday, according to the Cincinnati Post. “I think I’m well enough to play, so I don’t see why not,” said Aurilia. “We’ll see how I feel (today) when I come in after running (Wednesday). I did some harder running and I kind of did some turns around first. It went well.” Aurilia has been sidelined by a strained groin.
The Cubs confirmed yesterday that Kerry Wood will make his season debut on Thursday, according to the Daily Southtown. Wood has been rehabbing the injured shoulder for over eight months and is ready to go. “Mechanically, he is back closer to where he was in ’03,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “I hope we see some velocity and the slider the way it was before the injury occurred.”
Cody Ross (finger) is nearing the 20 day maximum for minor league rehab assignments. Ross is out of options so the Reds will either need to make bring him back to the major league roster or risk losing him by sending him to Triple-A. He has hit .297 with three home runs in 11 games for Triple-A Louisville.
Juan Cruz lasted just two-thirds of an inning against the Padres on Wednesday and gave up nine runs. Brutal. Cruz gave up five hits, walked three and hit two batters. He had a 3.60 ERA in his first three starts, so this alone shouldn’t get him pulled from the rotation. One more bad start might, however. Since he’ll be going against the Pirates, NL-only leaguers can still risk using him next week.
Adrian Gonzalez homered, walked and was hit by a pitch in Wednesday’s win over the Diamondbacks. With three homers in his last six starts, Gonzalez should be regaining a little job security. He was losing quite a bit of time to Mark Bellhorn earlier this month, but he’s playing regularly against right-handers now.
Mark Mulder tossed 8 1/3 shutout innings to outduel Steve Trachsel in the Cardinals’ 1-0 win over the Mets on Wednesday night. The Mets loaded the bases with just one out in the ninth against Mulder, but Jason Isringhausen came on and struck out David Wright before Cliff Floyd grounded out to end it. Mulder improved to 5-1 with a 3.69 ERA. He’ll face the Giants and the Padres next week.
Danys Baez got five outs Wednesday against the Rockies to earn his first save since April 29. Baez entered a 3-2 game with runners on first and second and one out in the eighth and got Miguel Ojeda to ground into a double play. The Rockies did threaten in the ninth, putting two men on with two outs, but Baez got Todd Helton to fly out to end it. Baez, who had blown his last four save opps, should be back as the favorite for saves until Eric Gagne returns. Takashi Saito might also see opportunities.
Brewers placed shortstop J.J. Hardy on 15-day disabled list with a severe sprain of the distal ligament in his right ankle. The Brewers said that Hardy could miss anywhere from two weeks to six weeks. Bill Hall will be the Brewers’ everyday shortstop until Hardy comes back, giving him plenty of value in mixed leagues. Corey Hart replaced Hardy on the active roster and will serve as a backup in the outfield and the infield corners.
The Dodgers’ expect to have Jeff Kent (lower back) in the starting lineup until Friday. Kent will sit out Wednesday’s game to rest his back. Oscar Robles or Ramon Martinez will fill in at second while he is out. Ramon Martinez started at second base in Kent’s place on Wednesday.
Posted on May 18, 2006 by Andrew Flynn
May 18th – Standings and Statistics
Standings: 3rd - 75 points - 14.5 out of first Cover Zero 89.5 / GOK 86.5 / AARR / Pi 73 / X 69.5 HR AVG RBI R SB W ERA WHIP K'S S -- --- --- --- --- --- ---- ----- --- --- 67 .2661 269 257 43 26 4.11 1.394 231 9 2ND 7TH 1ST 2ND 1ST T-2 5TH 7TH 9TH T-8 BOX SCORE FOR 05.17 Atomic Roadrunners ab r h bi | bb so avg --------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Estrada Ari C 4 1 1 1 | 0 0 .312 Ronny Paulino Pit C 4 1 2 0 | 0 1 .307 Prince Fielder Mil 1B 3 1 1 2 | 1 0 .320 Ryan Zimmerman Was 3B 2 0 0 0 | 1 1 .262 Jose Reyes NYM SS 4 0 1 0 | 0 1 .262 Adrian Gonzalez SD 1B 2 3 1 2 | 1 0 .230 Khalil Greene SD SS 5 1 2 2 | 1 2 .233 Adam Dunn Cin OF 2 0 0 0 | 3 1 .219 Dave Roberts SD OF 5 2 2 0 | 1 0 .288 Jeff DaVanon Ari OF 0 0 0 0 | 1 0 .291 Joe Borchard Fla OF 1 1 1 0 | 2 0 .232 --------------------------------------------------------- Totals 32 10 11 7 | 11 6 .344 --------------------------------------------------------- RBI: JEstrada 1(26), PFielder 2(24), AGonzalez 2(19), KGreene 2(30) 2B: JEstrada 1(11), RPaulino 1(3), PFielder 1(10), JReyes 1(8), KGreene 1(8), DRoberts 1(5) HR: AGonzalez 1(4) SB: RZimmerman 1(3) ERRORS: RPaulino 1(4), RZimmerman 1(4), KGreene 1(3) PITCHING ip h r er bb ibb so bf era whip ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Mulder W(5-1) 8.3 4 0 0 2 0 5 31 0.00 0.72 Juan Cruz L(1-2) 0.7 5 9 9 3 0 1 12 115.71 11.43 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals 9.0 9 9 9 5 0 6 43 9.00 1.56 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RESERVE HITTING ab r h bi | bb so avg --------------------------------------------------------- Jason Ellison SF OF 0 1 0 0 | 0 0 .267 --------------------------------------------------------- Totals 0 1 0 0 | 0 0 .267 --------------------------------------------------------- RESERVE PITCHING ip h r er bb ibb so bf era whip ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Danys Baez S(9) 1.7 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.00 0.59 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals 1.7 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.00 0.59 ----------------------------------------------------------------------