Dugout Digest – the rolling Rockies

The Rockies beat the Diamondbacks 3-1 last night to improve their record to 12-4, and a perfect 7-0 at Coors Field. But if you want to talk about a team feasting on a weak schedule, look no further than Colorado. They're 2-1 against Milwaukee, 6-0 against San Diego, 3-0 against the Mets, and a combined 1-3 against Arizona and San Francisco. After the Rockies finish up this series with the Diamondbacks, they'll welcome the Braves to Coors Field before traveling to Arizona and Los Angeles, and then going back home to host the Rays and Yankees. Their next road trip after that will take them to St Louis and Chicago before they end up hosting San Francisco and Arizona again. By mid-May, the Rockies could be a team under .500. They've played four games against possible contenders this year, and have been outscored by 13 runs. Danger, Will Robinson.

PIC OF THE DAY

Mike Trout tumbles after making a diving catch on Friday night. (Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)

Game of the Night: Giants 3, Padres 2. Friday wasn't really a night of close baseball games, so we'll go with the lone walkoff of the night. A Chase Headley solo homer tied the game at two in the sixth, but the Giants wouldn't take that sitting down in the ninth during Luke Gregerson's second inning of work. Gregor Blanco led the inning off with a single, and Andres Torres failed to lay the bunt down successfully, leading to Blanco getting thrown out at second and Torres reaching. He made that point moot by stealing second, and then scored on an Angel Pagan double to give the Giants the victory.

Pitching Lines of the Night: Wandy Rodriguez dominated the Braves in a 6-0 Pirates win, allowing one hit in seven scoreless innings, striking out nine without a walk. Yu Darvish turned the Mariners inside out as the Rangers won 7-0, not allowing a run over seven innings and giving up three hits, striking out ten while walking three. Jhoulys Chacin powered the Rockies staff in their 3-1 win against the Diamondbacks, pitching 6 1/3 shutout frames and giving up three hits, one walk, and punching out five hitters. Mat Latos had a good start as the Reds fell to the Marlins 2-1, giving up one run on six hits in seven innings, striking out ten while walking one.

Hitting Lines of the Night: The Mets beat the Nationals 7-1 thanks to some great offense by Lucas Duda and Ike Davis. Duda went 2/3 with a walk and two solo homers, while Davis went 2/4 with two homers and three RBI. Peter Bourjos had a nice offensive game for the Angels in their 8-1 win over Detroit, going 3/4 with a run, three RBI, and a triple. The Rays beat the A's 8-3, but Coco Crisp went 2/4 with two runs, a walk, a double, and a solo homer. Vernon Wells punished his former team in the Yankees' 9-4 win over Toronto, going 2/5 with two runs, two RBI, and a homer.

Other Games: The Phillies beat the Cardinals 8-2 in a rain-shortened tilt in Philly. The Brewers edged the Cubs 5-4. The Astros slipped by the Indians 3-2. Rain postponed the Dodgers-Orioles and Twins-White Sox games, while the lockdown in Boston postponed the Royals-Red Sox game.

What You Missed: Here are this week's batch of watchability rankings. Jose Canseco had a bizarre AMA on Reddit.

Today's Games: James Shields and Clay Buchholz will duel in what should be an emotional game in Boston. Paul Maholm looks to continue his scoreless streak as the Braves take on the Pirates. Gio Gonzalez starts for Washington against the Mets. Cliff Lee and the Phillies host the Cardinals. Tim Lincecum gets the start for the Giants against the Padres. Scott Kazmir makes his Indians debut against the Astros. Jarrod Parker starts for the A's against the Rays.

National TV: Royals-Red Sox (1 PM, MLB Network), Nationals-Mets (3 PM, Fox), Tigers-Angels (3 PM, Fox), White Sox-Twins (3 PM, Fox), Cardinals-Phillies (7 PM, MLB Network), Braves-Pirates (7 PM, MLB Network [alternate])

Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

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