- It pains me (no pun intended) as a Yankees fan to know that the BoSox are 0-6, the Rays are 0-6 and the Yankees are 4-2. Yes, it's extremely earlier but believe me when I say Yankees fans are loving baseball these days. Onto Thursday's slate of games.
Houston 3 - Cincinnati 2
- Brett Myers followed up his fine performance in Philly with another stellar outing. He only allowed two runs over 6.1 innings, striking out four and walking three. A Scott Rolen homer in the seventh tied the game and sent Myers to the showers.
- The Astros got in the win column for the first time this season, although Brandon Lyon made it interesting in the ninth, allowing two hits. Count me in the group that thinks it's a matter of when and not if Lyon loses his role.
- HRs – Scott Rolen (2)
- SBs – Jason Bourgeois (2)
Colorado 7 – Pittsburgh 1
- I'll be honest; my man-crush on Jhoulys Chacin had Esmil Rogers no where near being on my radar. Rogers turned in a dominant outing, allowing only one run and no extra base hits over 7.1 innings. It's easy to look at and say it was against the Pirates but this is probably the best lineup we seen from them (Pit) in quite some time. Rogers routinely worked in the mid-90s with his fastball and has three other pitches in his arsenal. Last year's 6.13 ERA is ugly but his 3.44 FIP suggest he was a much better pitcher (the .385 BABIP didn't help him). Rogers may continue to find success since he's consistently had over a 50|PERCENT| GB rate during his short tenure with the Rockies.
- Justin Bieber enthusiast Troy Tulowitzki homered for the third straight game and I'd invite anyone to step forward and question the high ranking we had for him in the preseason.
- HRs – Troy Tulowitzki (3)
Cleveland 1 – Boston 0
- Both Jon Lester and Fausto Carmona bounced back from horrible starts to keep the game scoreless for the first seven innings. Lester struck out nine and walked three while Carmona went four and two.
- While it's not that important of a stat, Dan Bard took his second loss when the Red Sox gave up the only run on a squeeze play. To put the loss in perspective, Bard had two losses total last season. Until you hear something to the contrary, he'll be just fine.
- Chris Perez picked up his second save of the season. With all the craziness I'm anticipating at the closer position this year, don't be surprised if we're talking about him as a top-5 closer next season.
- SBs – Adam Everett (1)
Oakland 2 – Toronto 1
- Trevor Cahill put together a gem, yielding only one run over eight innings. He struck out seven and walked none while counterpart Ricky Romero allowed only one run over 7.1 innings.
- Aaron Hill is seems to be channeling ex-Blue Jay Rickey Henderson, swiping his second bag of the early season. The second bag equals his total from all of last year and indicates he could crack the double-digit mark for the first time in his career. More importantly any leg/quad issue appears to no longer be a problem.
- SBs – Coco Crisp 2 (3), Jayson Nix (1), Aaron Hill (2)
Milwaukee 4 – Atlanta 2
- Shaun Marcum settled down in his second start for his new club, holding the Braves to two runs over six innings. The bullpen took care of the rest with three shutout innings.
- Ryan Braun recorded his third home run off Tommy Hanson a two-run shot in the first inning.
- Nyjer Morgan continued his hot start by scoring the go-ahead run. His batting average now sits at .462 and the change of scenery seems to have suit him well.
-John Axford nailed down his second consecutive save. Owners should relax and realize Casey McGehee was as much to blame as Axford for the first blown save.
- Jonny Venters recorded two shutout innings, lowering his early ERA to 1.93. Don't forget that even though he's not the first closing choice, the peripheral numbers will be there and he should be very valuable in leagues that use holds as a category.
- HRs – Ryan Braun (3)
- SBs – Nyjer Morgan (1)
Philadephia 11 – New York 0
- Now this is the score we expect to see when these two teams meet this year. I actually read somewhere that Roy Halladay "struggled" to get through seven scoreless innings because he threw 113 pitches. I'm sure most pitchers would love to struggle the way Doc did. He recorded seven Ks and only one free pass.
- The ageless wonder that is Raul Ibanez went yard for his first bomb of the season and owners have to be happy to see him hitting .304 after last year's disappointing first half.
- Jose Reyes went 2-for-4 on the day and now has gone 10-for-22 against Halladay for his career.
- Jonathon Niese owners will cringe at the six runs over four innings but the 7:1 K:BB mark should be seen as a silver lining.
- HRs – Raul Ibanez (1)
- SBs – Angel Pagan (3)
Chicago 5 – Tampa Bay 1
- Edwin Jackson turned in a remarkable performance, striking out 13 Rays over eight innings. He struck out two batters in each of the first five innings and allowed only one walk.
- The lone bright spot for the Rays offense was Sam Fuld, who reached base twice and stole three bags. In deeper/AL- only leagues take a flier on him as the Rays don't really have a leadoff hitter given Jon Jaso's early struggles.
- David Price allowed three runs over six innings but struck out only two batters. Given the way the Rays offense is playing, he might have a hard time getting to 15 wins this season.
- SBs – Sam Fuld 3 (4), Juan Pierre (3), Alexei Ramirez (1), Brent Lillibridge (1)
New York Yankees 4 – Minnesota 2
- A.J. Burnett ran his record to 2-0 and remains undefeated as a Yankee during the month of April (7-0, 12 starts). Oddly, Mark Teixeira did not homer going 0-for-3 at the plate. Consider dropping him.
- Francisco Liriano had another bad outing, allowing four runs in only five innings. The most worrisome stat on Liriano is the eight walks over 8.1 innings. He hasn't made it out of the fifth inning in either of his starts and should be watched in all leagues if you don't own him. During the preseason he dealt with shoulder soreness due to a lack of offseason conditioning. He may still be pitching his way into shape and therefore not hit his peak yet. If this is the case, he could make for a nice buy-low candidate in a couple of weeks.
- Newcomer Tsuyoshi Nishioka left the game with a fractured fibula after a hard slide from Nick Swisher. He's going on the 15-day DL but don't expect to see him for the next two months.
- SBs – Brett Gardner (2), Alexi Casilla (1)
Baltimore 9 – Detroit 5
- The Orioles continue to surprise most, getting down early and coming back to win their fifth game. Chris Tillman came back to earth, allowing four runs over 4.2 innings. Jim Johnson picked up the win with 1.2 scoreless innings, striking out three.
- Vladimir Guerrero and Adam Jones provided the offense with both hitting their first homers of the year.
- Brad Penny…err he's not in St. Louis anymore and should be left alone.
- Alex Avila deserves a look after hitting his second homer of the season. He's 24 and with Victor Martinez not catching so much these days, Avila should get a lot of playing time.
- Kevin Gregg was nowhere to be seen tonight. I don't think that was a coincidence.
- HRs – Alex Avila (2), Vladimir Guerrero (1), Adam Jones (1)
- SBs – Adam Jones (2)
Washington 5 – Florida 3
- Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche both hit homers for their new club. The LaRoche homer was the difference giving his team the win in the 11th inning.
- Drew Storen threw two perfect innings, striking out three. Yet, it was Sean Burnett who closed the game out in the bottom of the eleventh to preserve the win.
- Josh Johnson allowed only one earned run over six innings, striking out six and walking none. Expect him to work further into games going forward.
- HRs – Jayson Werth (1), Adam LaRoche (1)
- SBs – Ian Desmond 2 (2)