The Lord giveth (with three extra inning games) and the Lord taketh away (with one rainout)
Dodgers 5, Marlins 4 (10 innings): Andre Ethier can do it all for Dodgers, can’t he? First he extends his hit streak to 24 and then he hits the game-winning homer in extra innings. With the starts to 2011 he and Matt Kemp have had, there may not be a better duo in baseball right now. Vicente Padilla also stepped in to pick up his first save of the season and seems like a good bet to get plenty more chances now that Jonathan Broxton has been booted from the role.
Reds 7, Brewers 6 (10 innings): Another extra inning game, another game-winning homer, this time from Drew Stubbs. Stubbs had a big overall day, scoring three runs and going 2-for-5, as did Joey Votto who had four RBIs and a homer of his own.
Braves 7, Padres 0: It may seem like random bit of statistical trivia, but his two-run homer in the game Chipper Jones is now all alone in second place in career RBIs from switch-hitters. On a related note, with that last sentence I am now seventh all-time in word count written by Bloguin bloggers that live on the West Coast, are over 6’4″ and part their hair slightly to the left. Oh, and Tommy Hanson pretty much owned the Padres over the course of seven shutout innings.
Phillies 8, Diamondbacks 4: Despite two home runs from Chris Young, Arizona could not complete the sweep of Philadelphia. The Phillies jumped all over Joe Saunders who saw his ERA balloon to 5.93 and Cole Hamels took care of the rest, limiting the D’Backs to three runs on four hits while fanning eight.
Orioles 5, Red Sox 4: The Orioles tried their hardest to blow this game, but Vladimir Guerrero had to go and ruin it with a go-ahead single in the bottom of the eighth after three Baltimore relievers combined to surrender a four-run lead in the top half of the inning. Jeremy Guthrie’s six shutout innings went to waste as a result, but at least Luke Scott, who had a two-run homer in the game, showed that he wasn’t going to be distracted in the wake of Barack Obama finally presenting his real birth certificate
Yankees 3, White Sox 1: OK, it isn’t funny any more. Bartolo Colon clearly found the fountain of youth and isn’t telling the rest of us. Colon was solid in his only other start of the season last week, but he was flatout dominant in his second start of the season tonight, despite being 37 years and out of baseball entirely last season. Due Colon’s strong outing, the Yankees were able to get the win even though the only runs they got came off of a three-run homer from Robinson Cano. Adding to the intrigue, Ozzie Guillen got ejected from the game for arguing strikes and then sent out some typo-laden tweets about the ejection within minutes of getting the boot. Ain’t technology great?
Indians 7, Royals 2: Josh Tomlin improved to 4-0 on the year and continues to be one of the biggest surprises of the early season. The Indians locked this game up early by pounding Jeff Francis for six runs and chasing him after just three innings of work.
Mets 6, Nationals 3: Talk about a great substitution. Daniel Murphy pinch-hit for Josh Turner in the eighth inning and promptly tied the game on a solo homer. The very next inning, Murphy finished off a Sean Burnett meltdown with a two-run double to put the Mets up by three and getting them the win.
Athletics 2, Angels 1 (10 innings): The hits in the extra-inning game were scarce, just eleven total from both teams, but the costly miscues were abundant. The two squads traded unearned runs in the first nine innings before Vernon Wells settled the game by allowing his epic hitting slump to extend into the field as he misplayed a Cliff Pennington line drive that resulted in Pennington getting a leadoff triple and eventually score the game-winning run in the tenth.
Mariners 10, Tigers 1: No, the world is not ending even though two horsemen of the apocalypse might have shown up at this game as the Mariners not only exploded for ten runs, against Justin Verlander no less, but Erik Bedard pitched a very effective game, allowing just one run in seven innings of work. Justin Smoak did much of the heavy lifting for Seattle tonight, driving in a career-high five runs.
Pirates 2, Giants 0: James McDonald and four relievers combined to shutout the Giants, not that anyone in Pittsburgh noticed since the stadium was almost totally empty for the game. The loss wasn’t all bad news for San Francisco though as Madison Bumgarner finally turned in a strong outing, allowing just one run over six innings and lowering his ERA to a slightly less wretch-inducing 6.17.
Cardinals 6, Astros 5: Despite not feeling well, Kyle Lohse was dazzling once again and extended his shutout streak to 19.2 innings. The bullpen nearly ruined his effort though as they gave up five runs late but managed to stop the bleeding just in time to secure the victory.
Rangers 7, Blue Jays 6: None of the runs were earned, but Jo-Jo Reyes surrendered six runs and got the hook after just 2.2 innings. Although Derek Holland didn’t fair a whole lot better for Texas, the early damage was simply too much for Toronto to overcome.
Rays 8, Twins 2: After losing their first six games of the season, the Tampa Bay Rays finally clawed their way back over .500. They did so by beating up on Francisco Liriano who had hoped to build on his first good start of the season last time out, but it wasn’t meant to be. Liriano got lit up for seven runs in just three innings of work and now has an ugly ERA of 9.13.
Rockes @ Cubs (Postponed): Rain sucks
Pitchers of the Night:
Tommy Hanson, Braves: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K
Bartolo Colon, Yankees: 8 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K
Dan Haren, Angels: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K
Tyson Ross, Athletics: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Kyle Lohse, Cardinals: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Hitters of the Night:
Placido Polanco, Phillies: 4/5, 3 R, 1 2B
Chris Young, Diamondbacks: 2/4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR
Daniel Murphy, Mets: 2/2, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 1 HR
Justin Smoak, Mariners: 2/4 IP, 2 R, 5 RBI, 1 HR
Matt Holliday, Cardinals: 3/4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HR
Links of the Day:
Livan Hernandez is being linked to a drug dealer trial in Puerto Rico
Roy Oswalt has left the Phillies to tend to his family in tornado-ravaged Mississippi
Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell has been accused of hurling gay slurs at some Giants fans
Frank McCourt seems ready to go toe-to-toe with MLB over the ownership of the Dodgers
What To Watch For:
Rays vs. Twins (1:10 p.m. EST and 8:10 ET): Double your pleasure, double your Super Sam Fuld!
Mariners vs. Tigers (1:05 p.m. EST): Michael Pineda continues his Rookie of the Year campaign.
Giants vs. Pirates (12:35 p.m. EST): Because if you don’t watch, nobody else will.
Enjoy your day of baseball.
