Rain, Rain, Go Away

There were four more rainouts Tuesday, including one day game (PIT @ WAS) that was called two hours before the game was supposed to start. The low attendance numbers in baseball are a concern, but they've certainly been exacerbated by some lousy weather to start the season - or as Joe Sheehan calls it, PermaMarch. Other games rained out included FLA @ NYM, TOR @ DET and BAL @ BOS. The Tigers have been rained out twice in the last three days. The Mets' rainout delayed David Wright's move to the DL by a day, which hosed a number of people with mid-week FAAB's as well as those with daily moves.

Braves 3, Astros 1 - 11 innings

- Brian McCann got the typical day-game after a night-game off from the starting lineup, yet was the big story of the game, hitting a game-tying homer in the ninth off of Mark Melancon and the winner in the 11th off of Jeff Fulchino. Before his heroics Tuesday, McCann was actually falling short in the power department, with just two homers and a .362 SLG. Power is down in most places not inhabited by Jose Bautista right now, but still, I expected more out of McCann this year. We'll see if his slower start power-wise is a function of weather, time of season or something else.
- Melancon's blown save was the 11th in 16 attempts by the Astros bullpen so far this season. That stat, as always when it comes to saves and blown saves, is a little misleading - not all of those blown saves came in the final at-bat by the opposing team. Yet it's still indicative of just how brutal the Astros pen has been - collectively they have an ERA over 5.00. But this was Melancon's first blown save in the ninth inning - his other blown save was one that came when he was a set-up man in the eighth inning. The team otherwise has simply had a hard time getting leads to the ninth inning lately.
- Wandy Rodriguez's strong effort (eight scoreless innings, five hits, two walks, six strikeouts) slightly topped that of Derek Lowe, who allowed a solo homer to Brett Wallace in the seventh for the lone run allowed by either starter.
- Jason Heyward (shoulder) and Chipper Jones (knee) both returned from injuries. Heyward went 1-for-3 with two walks and stole his third base.
- Brian Bogusevic was a defensive replacement for Sigh ... Carlos Lee and later had a hit and a stolen base. While I don't think that Bogusevic is an elite prospect, why isn't he playing any more than he has? Since getting called up on April 26, he's had just 14 at-bats. Why not see if he has something, anything to bring to the table? I understand that typically you don't want to punt on a regular season in May, but (a) have you seen the crowd size in Houston lately?; and (b) the cost of Carlos Lee's contract is already sunk. If you don't want to play Bogusevic every day, fine, but two-to-three starts shouldn't be that difficult to manage, especially right now with Jason Bourgeois on the DL.
- HR: Brett Wallace (3), Brian McCann 2 (4); SB: Brian Bogusevic (1), Jason Heyward (3); BS: Mark Melancon (2).

Rockies 5, Giants 3

- Ubaldo Jimenez didn't get the win, but he pitched far better than in his recent outings, going seven innings while allowing three runs on eight hits and one walk, striking out seven.
- Even on a day when he didn't walk anyone, Jonathan Sanchez's control got the best of him, as a throwing error on a bunt proved costly.
- Carlos Gonzalez became the rare lefty to beat the platoon split against Javier Lopez with the game-winning single in the eighth.
- Freddy Sanchez sat out the loss due to swelling in his knee. Mike Fontenot got a start in his place at second base.
- HR: Troy Tulowitzki (11); SV: Huston Street (14).

Yankees 6, Rays 2

- Welcome back, Alex Rodriguez. Of course, A-Rod hadn't gone anywhere, and while a star player slumping during his team's six-game losing streak isn't a good thing, both his struggles and the Yankees' struggles in May were of course overblown.
- Jorge Posada batted seventh Tuesday and had two hits. Manager Joe Girardi wouldn't commit to playing Posada as the DH every day going forward. At this point, just how much power does he have?
- Chris Dickerson was called up by the Yankees from Triple-A and started in right field for the slumping Nick Swisher, who was out with flu-like symptoms.
- The Yankees put Rafael Soriano on the DL before the game to make room for Dickerson. Seeing this move as the backdrop against Soriano's former team, it's worth noting how poorly most of the prominent ex-Rays are doing in their new homes. Soriano and Joaquin Benoit have both blown up in relief, Carl Crawford's slump has been well-documented, and Carlos Pena had a really poor April (albeit was playing with a thumb injury) before heating up this month.
- Elliott Johnson is starting to cut into Reid Brignac's playing time at shortstop now. He homered early in this game.
- HR: Alex Rodriguez 2 (8), Elliott Johnson (2); SB: Elliott Johnson (3).

Reds 7, Cubs 5

- The Cubs did their very best to hand the Reds the game, committing four errors, nearly all at critical times. Kerry Wood's throwing error directly led to two runs in the eighth to tie the game, but the combo of Carlos Pena's fielding and Matt Garza's throwing led to three other runs earlier, when the Cubs were up 3-0, had two outs and Edinson Volquez up at the plate.
- Edinson Volquez gave up three more first-inning runs on Carlos Pena's fifth homer of the month. The Reds have trailed at some point in all nine of Volquez's starts. After the first inning he pitched really well, however, throwing five more shutout innings while striking out nine overall, while only walking one.
- Matt Garza had the critical throwing eror, making all three runs he allowed unearned. He had just three strikeouts in six innings after churning out the K's in his previous start.
- Tony Campana, up to replace Tyler Colvin as the backup outfielder, made his major league debut and had an RBI double in the eighth.
- The Reds activated Juan Francisco from the DL and optioned him to Triple-A Louisville, a casualty of Fred Lewis being back from the DL and playing a decent amount in left field.
- HR: Carlos Pena (5); SB: Darwin Barney (3), Drew Stubbs (14); CS: Fred Lewis (1); SV: Nick Masset (1) - this isn't a role change, only a case of Francisco Cordero receiving heavy work lately.

White Sox 4, Rangers 3

- Brent Morel hit a big three-run homer to dig the White Sox out of a three-run hole, and perhaps starting to dig himself out of his personal slump. The homer was his first of the season, and he still has a sub-.600 OPS. Like a number of teams this year, third base has been a wasteland for the White Sox this year. They just sent Mark Teahen to the DL, and Dayan Viciedo is now an outfielder, so there's not much in the way of an immediate, permanent replacement. Right now Omar Vizquel is getting some at-bats, and Dallas McPherson just called up.
- John Danks cosmetically looks like he pitched better Tuesday night, but a closer look reveals that not to be the case. He allowed three runs (two earned) over 6.1 innings, but he walked six batters and striked out only two. Matt Harrison walked four, too - must have been a hoot to be there.
- Josh Hamilton had an encouraging batting practice session and will start a rehab assignment as early as Wednesday.
- HR: Brent Morel (1); CS: Alexis Rios (3); SV: Sergio Santos (6).

Indians 7, Royals 3

- Travis Hafner just keeps at it - two more doubles, including one with the bases loaded. He's now up to .345 on the season. How many times do we overlook older players simply because we believe that they'll never get healthy again?
- Nate Adcock will fill in the starting rotation for the injured Kyle Davies on Saturday. This to me is a decent indication that Danny Duffy could stick in the rotation should he pitche well in his debut against the Rangers on Wednesday - with the thought being that they would have chosen to call another pitcher up for the start if their intention was to send Duffy right back down.
- HR: Asdrubal Cabrera (7), Carlos Santana (6); SB: Melky Cabrera (5); CS: Eric Hosmer (1).

Cardinals 2, Phillies 1

- Remember last year when the Cardinals swept a big series from the Reds, but then couldn't buy a win against Pirates, Nationals and Astros? This is the opposite experience for them so far, taking both games from the Phillies to start the week.
- Albert Pujols was back at first base after playing third base Monday. He went 3-for-5 with a double, so of course the ticker on ESPN yesterday focused instead on his 84 at-bat homerless streak.
- You know your defense is at a pretty sad state of affairs when Tyler Greene |STAR|is|STAR| the defensive replacement at second base. He dropped a pop-up that led to the only run scored for the Phillies.
- Roy Oswalt pitched reasonably well coming off the DL, allowing a run on seven hits and a walk while striking out three over five innings.
- Colby Rasmus (abdominal injury) sat out again Tuesday, but said that he was close to returning.
- SB: John Mayberry Jr. (4); Closer: Fernando Salas pitched the ninth in a tie game and then got the win.

Diamondbacks 6, Padres 1

- Daniel Hudson continued his emergence from a rough start to the season, holding the Padres to one run over seven innings. He struck out six and walked two. The first inning remains his problem inning - that was when the Padres scored their one run.
- Cameron Maybin sat out with patella tendinitis in his right knee, and Will Venable wasn't really available either, so the Padres' bench was really thin. They compounded the problems by sending down Logan Forsythe before the game to call up another reliever, Pat Neshek.
- Chris Denorfia is the one Padre that's still raking - he went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple to raise his average to .348 on the season.
- SB: Chase Headley (4), Eric Patterson (3); CS: Ryan Ludwick (1).

A's 14, Angels 0

- Gio Gonzalez went from having a seven-run deficit wiped off the books because of rain last week to pitching seven shutout innings Tuesday night, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out seven. Yet this game was still delayed 42 minutes by rain and it was raining throughout the game.
- While I had the misfortune of having Vin Mazzaro active in AL Tout Wars on Monday, at least I resisted the trade offers from Jason Grey to acquire Tyler Chatwood, who was blown p for seven runs on seven hits and two walks over 2.1 innings. Mazzaro was still more painful, but at least I didn't give up anything to get him. It's the little victories, people.
- THe A's scored those 14 runs without the benefit of a single homer. They did get five doubles among their 15 hits, however.
- Andrew Bailey continued his slow progress in his return from a forearm strain, pitching in an extended spring training game.

Dodgers 3, Brewers 0

- Matt Kemp homered in the first inning and then made two great catches up against the wall to give Hiroki Kuroda virtually all of the support that he needed in this one. Prior to this game, Kemp had been 0-for-5 with 5 K's against Brewers' starter Randy Wolf.
- THe Dodgers used Kenley Jansen in the eighth and then Matt Guerrier to get the save in the ninth. I wonder if they would have used Guerrier in the ninth had they not scored an insurance run in the eighth.
- HR: Matt Kemp (8); SB: Ryan Braun (8); SV: Matt Guerrier (1).

Twins 2, Mariners 1

- Fallen Star redemption, part 2: Francisco Liriano outdueled Felix Hernandez in his best start of the year, and that includes his no-hitter. Liriano went seven strong innings, allowing a run on three hits and just one walk, while striking out nine. Of course we need to discount that a little bit because he was facing the woeful Mariners' offense, in Safeco no less. But he's still going to be very difficult to sell-high - maybe he's a sell-medium now, at least.
- Brandon League would have gotten the ball in a save situation had one arose. Instead, he pitched a scoreless inning with the M's trailing by one, which is still fairly encouraging.
- Delmon Young was benched in favor of Ben Revere in this one.
- The Twins still needed Felix Hernandez to not settle in the first inning to win this one - he issued two walks in the first, and both came around to score on a Michael Cuddyer single for their only runs in the game.
- Franklin Gutierrez will come off the DL on Wednesday for the Mariners. He won't play every day, at least initially.
- SB: Ben Revere (2); SV: Matt Capps (6).