I'll be in the Sunday Nightcap chair for the foreseeable future. Here's what I saw today...
Observations:
- The San Diego Padres are 2nd place in the NL in stolen bases. The Washington Nationals are first. The Padres are in first place in the NL West. The Nationals are over .500.
- Don't look now, but after sweeping the Pirates, the Astros are 2 games back of .500 and have won 3 series in a row... I know, shocking.
- Who leads MLB in home runs? That's right, Paul Konerko with 8.
- You do not run on Jose Molina. He threw out Carl Crawford twice, B.J. Upton once, and Sean Rodriguez once.
- Memo to the Milwaukee Brewers: What goes around, comes around. One series after sweeping and outscoring the Pirates 36-1, the Brewers were swept and outscored by the Cubs 25-4. That factoid is courtesy of STATS LLC.
Notables:
- David Price out dueled Brandon Morrow, by pitching a complete game shutout on 108 pitches against the Blue Jays. His line was 9 IP, 4 HA, 1 BB, 9 K. Yeah, I'd say the Rays have a pretty decent 4th starter on their hands.
- Homer Bailey (aka Christian Bale) made it out of the first inning unscathed, something he had been unable to do previously. He struck out a season high 8 with 1 walk, but still gave up 4 runs in a no decision. This was his best outing of the season.
- Chad Billingsley finally had a good outing, going 6 innings with 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, and 5 K. In that same game, Scott Olsen pitched 7 innings of shutout ball by striking out 8 and walking 1. Olsen's line was somewhat unexpected.
- John Danks went 8 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. He's now 3-0 on the season. No word on when he starts teaching Jake Peavy how to pitch.
- Rock Superstar and demigod to some, Colby Lewis struck out 10 and walked 2 in a 8-4 win. He's 3-0 on the season and wants me to let you know, there's still room on his bandwagon. Check the Texas Rangers' schedule to see when he's coming to a town near you.
- Javier Vazquez only gave up 1 home run today.
- Gio Gonzalez threw 7 innings of shutout ball. Brad Pitt was pleased.
- The Braves/Mets game was called after the 5th inning because of rain. Mike Pelfrey received the win. No word if either he or Tommy Hanson got a complete game.
- Seth Smith hit his 3rd and 4th home runs of the season. Why can't he get more playing time again?
- Adrian Gonzalez homered in his 4th straight game. Of his 6 home runs, 5 of them have come on the road.
- Kelly Johnson and Jose Guillen also hit home runs. They're tied with Albert Pujols and Mark Reynolds, with 7 on the season.
- Michael Bourn stole 3 bases against the Pirates. That makes 8 on the season for him.
- Michael Young went 3-4 with 5 RBI and 1 R. That gives Young 9 RBI in his last 7 games.
- Jay Bruce went 3-4 with 1 RBI and 1 R. This was Bruce's first 3 hit game of the season.
- Andrew McCutchen went 3-5. He also swiped his 10th stolen base.
- Ryan Theriot went 5-6 with 3 RBI, 2 R, and 1 SB. That'll help the batting average.
- Kosuke Fukudome went 3-4 with 1HR, 2 RBI, 3 R, and 2 BB. He homered on Friday night as well.
Save Chances:
- Francisco Cordero, 1 IP, 2 BB, converted. He came in with a 1 run lead and proceeded to get two outs, before walking two men to make things dicey. Jerry Hairston Jr. flied out to end things. That's save number 7 for Coco Cordero.
- Matt Capps, 1 IP, 1 H, converted. With a 1 run lead, he gave up a lead-off double to James Loney, before finishing the Dodgers off. That's save number 8 for Capps.
- Bobby Jenks, 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K, converted. With a 1 run lead, he got a ground out and strike out, before giving up a double to Casey Kotchman. After he walked Eric Byrnes, Ozzie came out to have a talk with him. Thornton was warming up, but Jenks stayed in to strikeout Ken Griffey Jr. That's 4 saves for Jenks.
- Joakim Soria, 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2K, converted. He came in with a 2 run lead and got Orlando Hudson to ground out. After a single by Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau hit a double, to drive Mauer in. Soria struck out Cuddyer and Thome to end it. That's 5 saves for Soria.
- Cla Meredith, 0.2 IP, converted. With a 7 to 4 lead in the 10th inning, Dave Trembley left Jim Johnson in, after getting the last 5 outs. Why? I have no idea. Johnson proceeded to give up a double to Youkilis, get Ortiz to fly out, give up a double to Drew, which scored Youkilis, give up a single to Beltre, and a single to Bill Hall, which scored Drew, before Trembley brought in Meredith. What took so long?! Meredith got McDonald and Scutaro out to end things. I'm still wondering what Trembley was thinking, leaving Johnson in to get 8 outs, when he's had trouble getting 3 on most days. That was Meredith's first save of the season.
- Ryan Franklin, 1 IP, 1 H, converted. Came in with a 2 run lead and except for a ground-rule double to Travis Ishikawa, he we was pretty efficient, needing only 11 pitches. Franklin now has 6 saves on the season.
- Chad Qualls, 1 IP, 2K, converted. He struck out Chase Utley to end it. AJ Hinch gave him a vote of confidence earlier in the week.
Non-Save Outings:
- Jim Johnson, 2.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 K, W. He was effective for the 8th and 9th innings of a tied game, before the Orioles took the lead in the top of the 10th. The rest of what happened is above in the notes on Cla Meredith. Why Dave Trembley? Why?
- Trevor Hoffman, 1 IP, 1 H. Compared to some of his recent outings, this is a gem.
- Neftali Feliz, 1 IP, 1 H. And he only needed 7 pitches.
- Fernando Rodney, 1 IP, 1 BB. Nothing to see here.
- Andrew Bailey, 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K. Just getting some work in.
- Franklin Morales, 1 IP, 1K. Like Bailey, just getting some work in.
- Daniel Bard, 1 IP, 3 K. Then Scott Atchison (see below) came in.
Oops:
- Dave Bush, 3.2 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. Maybe he took the day off for religious reasons. Maybe not.
- Jason Frasor, 0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. Wonder how many vulture saves he'll be getting after this one.
- Scott Atchison, 0.0 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB. How did you think the Orioles won the game?
- Damaso Marte, 0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP. He started to walk Kendry Morales, but then Joe Girardi changed his mind and had him pitch to him. Morales settled the matter with a home run.
- Garret Anderson went 0-4 with 3 K. He's batting .143 and might get more playing time with Man-Ram on the DL.
- Nick Hundley went 0-3 with 1 BB and 3K. He's hitting .262 on the season.
- Adam Lind went 0-4 with 3 K. David Price was dealing.
This Is More Than a Crush:
- Tyler Clippard, 1 IP, 1K. He's been kicking ass and taking names for 3 weeks now.
- Burke Badenhop, 1.2 IP, 1H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1K. Hey, at least he knows how to fill-up the stat sheet, right?
- Andy Marte, 0-1. To be in this group, you must be a relatively unknown reliever or a failed prospect that catches my eye.
Lineup-ology:
- Tyler Colvin started in place of Marlon Byrd and went 3-4 with 1 HR and 3 RBI. Sweet Lou is still trying to get Colvin at-bats when he can.
- Rhyne Hughes, once again, started in place of Garrett Atkins for the Orioles. He went 2-4 with 1 R and 1 RBI.
- Mark DeRosa started at second base, in place of Juan Uribe. For those of you in leagues where a player only has to play at a position one game to gain eligibility, this might be important to you.
- Alex Avila started against right-hander Colby Lewis. Gerald Laird was on the bench, in what has become a straight platoon.
Comings/Goings:
- Eric Young Jr. was called up by the Rockies. In his only at-bat today, he got a hit and stole 2nd base. Speed seekers, take note.
- Brian Burres & Brian Bass were recalled by the Pirates.
- Jon Link was recalled by the Dodgers.
- Wilton Lopez was optioned to Round Rock.
- Jason Vargas will reportedly stay in the rotation, when Cliff Lee comes back this week for the Mariners. Ian Snell will go to the bullpen.
- Tim Wakefield will move to the bullpen, when Daisuke Matsuzaka comes back to the Red Sox.
- Jeff Suppan will move to the bullpen and Chris Narveson will join the Brewers rotation.
Injuries:
- Vicente Padilla was placed on the 15 day DL with right forearm soreness, retroactive to 4/23.
- Chris Jakubauskas was placed on the 15 day DL, with a head contusion and concussion.
- Brad Hawpe was placed on the 15 day DL with a quad injury.
- Josh Fields will have surgery on his ailing right hip. This will likely end his 2010 season.
- Sammy Gervacio was activated by from the 15 day DL by the Houston Astros.
- Freddy Sanchez is reportedly within 2 weeks of returning from a shoulder injury that currently has him on the DL.
- Daric Barton suffered a fractured middle finger against the Indians, while sliding into the dugout to catch a pop-up. No word on if he'll need to miss any time.
- The MRI on Juan Uribe's elbow came back negative. He should be back in the Giants lineup as soon as Monday.
- Justin Upton fouled a ball off his shin. After scoring on a Mark Reynolds home run, he came out of the game. No word on the severity of his injury.
Lost:
- Aramis Ramirez went 1-5 with 0 R, 1 K, 5 LOB. That's now 23 strikeouts on the season. The Cubs scored 12 runs in this game.
- Carlos Lee somehow hit for a triple and stole a base. I'm not sure if I'm impressed with Lee's effort or disappointed in the Pirates.
- Brandon Wood went 1-4, 2 RBI. These were Wood's first RBI of the season.
- Lou Marson went 0-3. He has 3 hits in 34 at-bats this season.