- How disappointing was it to see such a light slate, and no day games? I understand the former (protection against rainouts), but not the latter. MLB missed out on a chance to market the game when they were up against nothing else.

- Make sure to catch our snippet with Jake Fox. He's big on Jorge De La Rosa and Gio Gonzalez.

- The alarm bells are sounding for Michael Napoli's owners after he was benched for the second game in a row. My tweet in frustration about the situation resonated with many other Napoli owners, and led to an interesting conversation with Sam Miller from the Orange County Register (@SamMillerOCR), who thinks that Napoli might sit as many as 2/3 of the game. Napoli's defense has been criticized again this spring, enough that his six spring training homers have been brushed aside. If that's really the case, I think that the Angels need to trade Napoli - sure his bat has to have enough currency to address some of their other needs. What's even more aggravating if you're a Napoli owner is that between Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera, there are no DH at-bats available. He might pick up a spare pinch-hit at-bat, because they do have a third catcher on the roster (Bobby Wilson). Now, I think this might actually provide a good buy low opportunity to go get Napoli, because I don't think Jeff Mathis' bat will hold up enough to keep this situation static. But in the short-term it's really aggravating. This isn't a Brandon Wood-type situation - Napoli's bat is firmly established. But clearly the Halos value Mathis' defense more.

Notables:

- The Orioles' young cornerstones, Adam Jones and Matt Wieters, had excellent debuts in a losing effort. Jones had three hits, including a double and homer in his first two at-bats against James Shields. Wieters got robbed by B.J. Upton on the warning track at the deepest part of the park, then followed with a single and homer.
- Alfredo Aceves picked up where he left off with a relief win. He had 10 wins last year despite starting just one game. On Tuesday he threw two shutout innings while the Yankees ultimately pulled ahead.
- Dallas Braden had 10 K's over seven innings against the Mariners while allowing four hits and a walk.
- The Padres have the green light - Tony Gwynn Jr., Chase Headley and Everth Cabrera all had stolen bases. Cabrera had three hits - a single, double and triple - and four RBI out of the eight-hole.
- Big game for the Padres' Chris Young - six shutout innings, striking out five while allowing one hit and three walks.
- Ian Stewart homered for the second day in a row, to go along with a double, triple and three runs scored. The double and homer came against lefty Randy Wolf. Last year Stewart had just 101 at-bats against lefties, hitting .178/.278/.386.

Save Chances:

- Mike Gonzalez - blown. For the second day in a row, the first save opportunity of the slate gets blown. After striking out  Jim Johnson, 1 clean inning.
- Brian Wilson - Two days, two easy saves. One strikeout tonight.
- Mariano Rivera - converted. Rivera allowed a double off the Monster to Marco Scutaro, but otherwise went unscathed. One strikeout. Joba Chamberlain struck out two batters to finish off the eighth inning, after David Robertson began the inning.
- Trevor Hoffman - converted, but made it a little interesting by giving up a run and putting the tying run on second base before getting out of it. He did have a three-run cushion to start the ninth, however.
- Jon Rauch - converted, 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.
- Heath Bell - converted, struck out Justin Upton to finish the game. Meanwhile, Luke Gregerson had a tough outing, giving up three runs on three hits and a walk while retiring just one batter.

Other Closer Outings:

- Rafael Soriano - One messy scoreless inning - he gave up two hits and a walk, but benefited by having the lead runner thrown out at home on a fielder's choice.
- Andrew Bailey - For the second game in a row, Bailey came into a tie game, this time starting the ninth. He allowed one single but no runs.
- Chad Qualls - Allowed a bomb to Adrian Gonzalez while pitching with a two-run deficit. Despite traditionally having a high G:F ratio, Qualls has had some issues with the gopher-ball. He's an extreme strike-thrower (seven walks all of last year) - is it possible that he needs to nibble a little bit more? The pitch that Gonzalez crushed was a hanging slider that got all of the plate.

Job Battle Watch:

- Giants RF - Andres Torres got the nod in right field against Wandy Rodriguez, after John Bowker started there on Opening Day. Nate Schierholtz is the odd man out right now. Torres went 0-for-3 with a walk while batting eighth.
- Yankees LF - Marcus Thames got the start in left field, ahead of Brett Gardner. Randy Winn is the odd man out for now. Thames went 0-for-1 with a walk before getting replaced by Gardner as soon as a right-hander was on the mound.
- Orioles LF - Felix Pie got the start ahead of Nolan Reimold in LF for the Rays. Meanwhile, Luke Scott, Garrett Atkins and Luke Scott all found lineup spots. Pie went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. Scott hit a long homer. Atkins went 1-for-4. I have no problem with Pie playing, but don't like it being at the expense of Nolan Reimold. There's no reason why the O's had to sign both Atkins and Miguel Tejada, especially given where they are as an organization. Barring injury, both Pie and Reimold should play everyday.

Lineup-ology:

- Yankees: Curtis Granderson is batting ninth against lefty Jon Lester. Given his historical splits against lefties (.210/.270/.344), this makes a lot of sense.

Tough Days:

- Joe Saunders - 3 HR's, 5 ER, 8 H and 2 BB in 5 IP.
- Miguel Tejada - 0-for-5, seven runners LOB while batting cleanup.
- Pat Burrell - One double, but also two K's and a GIDP.
- Rajai Davis - 0-for-5, 2 K's, 7 LOB.
- The Mariners' offense - seven baserunners in 10 innings. Their one run came
- Chris Iannetta - 0-for-4 with 2 K's, and a passed ball. He's in a job battle with Miguel Olivo, who will get the next two starts behind the plate for the Rockies.

Managing By the Save Rule:

- In a 1-1 tie ball game, the Mariners had Shawn Kelley pitch the seventh and Mark Lowe pitch the 8th - no problem there. In the 9th, they turned to ... Rule 5 pick Kanekoa Texeira. Texeira struggled with command, throwing just 8 strikes among his 17 pitches, but eventually worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam. Rajai Davis did his part by striking out on a curve ball in the dirt. So the Mariners didn't get punished for it, but why use Texeira in that situation? Then they left him for another inning, and he almost got out of another jam, retiring two batters before Mark Ellis hit a rocket to plate the winning run. David Aardsma and Brandon League never got into the game.
- Trailing by one run in the eighth inning against the Brewers, the Rockies turned to Matt Belisle instead of Rafael Betancourt or Franklin Morales. Belisle gave up two runs, which ended up mattering after the Rockies scored one run in the top of the ninth. For what it's worth, the Rockies had Manuel Corpas pitching in the sixth, when they were trailing 5-3.

This Just In:

- The Astros are searching for offense. Who knew that a lineup that had Pedro Feliz, Chris Johnson, Humberto Quintero and Tommy Manzella batting 5-8 would struggle? If you're into streaming starting pitchers, the Astros are high on my list of teams to go against, even when Lance Berkman returns. Also on the list - San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland and Seattle.