- CC Sabathia was terrible the previous two Aprils, but his near no-hitter on Saturday against the Rays is another important data point. So often we're quick to classify players as "slow starters" or "second-half players" merely because they have started slowly or finished strong in recent seasons, maybe even for the last 2-to-3 seasons. However, 2-to-3 seasons is really not a strong enough sample to classify a player as that type of player or pitcher, |STAR|unless there are other underlying facts describing why that player has started slowly or finished strongly.|STAR| For instance, if Sabathia had pitched exclusively in colder weather each of the last three Aprils and had three bad Aprils in a row, then there's more than mere correlation at work - maybe. There still could be plenty of other reasons why Sabathia struggled then. Anyhow, I've fallen into this trap, maybe even this year - just be careful not to rely too much on first-half/second-half monikers. On an aside, which dominant start is more impressive - Sabathia's outing on Saturday, or Jorge De La Rosa's gem on Friday? I think it's Sabathia's because of the quality of competition (though the Rays have done worse against lefties than against righties the last two seasons), even with DLR's outing coming in Coors Field.

- Saturday was noteworthy for the number #1 vs. #5 starting pitcher matchups. The relevance of whether a pitcher is a "#1 starter" or "#3 starter" etc... for fantasy purposes has generally been widely dismissed, but the number of 1 vs. 5 matchups on Saturday illustrates that. It used to be that you would hear touts downgrade a particular starter because he had face other aces, but really that's only a sure thing on Opening Day and to a lesser extent for the first game after the All-Star break (discounting those pitchers that actually pitched in the All-Star game). Usually they get off-track soon enough - some teams have more off-days than others in April, some teams will alter their rotation some to have their ace start their home opener, and some teams will skip their fifth starter through the first turn in the rotation whereas others won't. Hence on Saturday we had the following 1 vs. 5 matchups:

Scott Baker vs. Freddy Garcia
John Lannan (ok, work with me on that one) vs. Oliver Perez
Sabathia vs. Wade Davis
Jaime Garcia vs. Yovani Gallardo
Felix Hernandez vs. Matt Harrison
Vicente Padilla (oops, nevermind, he was the Dodgers' #1 - easy mistake) vs. Josh Johnson
Derek Lowe vs. Todd Wellemeyer

Notables:

- Carlos Zambrano blew up on Opening Day, but redeemed himself on Saturday after a shaky beginning to the outing. He ended up allowing three runs over seven innings, striking out nine. Incidentally, many "traditional" leagues draft this weekend, and have the choice of keeping the Week 1 stats or putting that guy on reserve, if you have the replacement ready.
- Jason Heyward went 3-for-3 with a homer and two walks. We're in small sample size land, but I bet he's going to see a lot of left-handers (1-for-7 with 4K's against) in late-inning situations soon enough.
- Hideki Matsui had three hits, including the game-winning single, and is hitting .417 with five RBI to begin the season.
- Jose Reyes returned and went 1-for-4 while batting leadoff.
- The Pirates were 3-for-3 stealing against Dan Haren and hit two homers off of him as well.
- Jason Varitek homered twice in his first start of the season.
- Dana Eveland held the O's scoreless through 7.1 innings despite striking out just two batters.
- Jaime Garcia outdueled Yovani Gallardo. The rookie allowed just one run over six innings.

Save Chances:

- Frank Francisco, blown. Uh-oh. Any closer can have one bad outing, and rarely will his job be in jeopardy after that. Two bad outings in a row, however, especially when they're so bad like Francisco's last two outings, raises the alarm bells. Making matters worse is the Rangers have attractive alternatives in Neftali Feliz and Darren O'Day, and even C.J. Wilson if they decide to stop his conversion to starting. According to Fangraphs, in his first two outings before Saturday, Francisco's fastball was over two mph's slower than it was last year, and he was throwing it less frequently (72.6|PERCENT| in 2009, 63.4|PERCENT| in 2010). Keep in mind that this is a ridiculously small sample size, but if there's anything to this, the warning signs are there. Neftali Feliz has pitched the eighth in both of Francisco's blown saves. Darren O'Day was called upon to clean up Francisco's mess on Saturday and couldn't quite do it, giving up the game-winning single.
- Carlos Marmol, converted. Very impressive 1-2-3 inning, striking out the side.
- Ryan Perry, four-out save. Jose Valverde, Joel Zumaya and Phil Coke were all unavailable after pitching frequently in the previous days.
- Jon Rauch, converted his fourth save of the week.
- David Aardsma, converted - 1-2-3 inning, two strikeouts.
- Matt Capps, converted, but ever so barely. Capps gave up a hit to lead off the inning, was gifted an out on a sacrifice, walked a batter, got a big strikeout of Jason Bay, then found a way to walk Jeff Francoeur to load the bases. He escaped the jam when Willie Harris bailed him out with a diving catch of Rod Barajas' line drive to left field.
- George Sherrill, blown. Sherrill got the call because Jonathan Broxton had pitched the previous two days. With Kuo and Belisario still unavailable, the Dodgers' bullpen is out of kilter. Joe Torre's decisions haven't helped matters (see below).
- Jason Frasor, converted. After a day off, Frasor allowed a hit and a walk, striking out to get his third save of the year.
- Octavio Dotel, converted his first save chance of the year with a 1-2-3 inning while protecting a three-run lead.
- Heath Bell, converted. Bell came on in the 14th inning and loaded the bases before retiring Chris Iannetta to get the save - one of the three baserunners came on an intentional walk.

Other Closer Outings:

- Matt Lindstrom: Perhaps the last closer off the draft board, Lindstrom hasn't had a save chance yet. But on Saturday he prevented the Phillies Ryan Madson from having a save chance by serving up a two-run homer to Shane Victorino, turning a two-run deficit into a four-run deficit.
- Ryan Madson: Madson still pitched the ninth on Saturday, giving up a run on two hits.
- Franklin Morales: Gave up one hit in a scoreless ninth inning in a tie game. Rafael Betancourt pitched the eighth (no runs, 2H, 2K), Manny Corpas allowed a run in the 14th to get the loss - it was his second inning of work.

Job Battle Watch:

- Nate McLouth moved up to the leadoff spot while Melky Cabrera got the night off. Matt Diaz got his second start of the year and first against a right-hander while playing in left field, batting seventh.
- Jeff Mathis started behind the plate over Mike Napoli for the fifth time in six games.

Lineup-ology:

- Maicer Izturis batted leadoff on Friday when he started ahead of Erick Aybar, but seventh when he started at third in place of Brandon Wood. He has started the last three games after not starting the first three.
- Stephen Drew was given a routine day off - Tony Abreu started at shortstop in his place.
- Jeremy Hermida got his first start of the year, giving Mike Cameron the night off from the starting lineup.
- Ty Wigginton got his first start of the year, playing first base, with Garrett Atkins moving to DH.
- The Marlins pinch-hit for Cameron Maybin in the ninth, with another right-hander in Ronny Paulino.

Tough Days:

- Juan Francisco got a spot start for the Reds in place of Scott Rolen and proceded to go 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
- The Rockies' 2-3-4 hitters Dexter Fowler, Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki went a combined 0-for-17 with five strikeouts and a walk, diminishing the impacts of Brad Hawpe (3-for-6, 2HR and a 2B) and Ian Stewart (3-for-5 with a walk) hitting directly behind them.
- Will Venable had 3 RBI - a good day, right? No, he went 1-for-7 and left 10 other runners stranded.
- Hey kids, let's all point at Ed Wade and laugh at Brandon Lyon's (1 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 ER and the loss) contract. "Hah hah..." "Hey, that hurt!"

Injuries:

- Miguel Montero injured his right knee against the Pirates, and he's due an MRI on Sunday. Noted scoundrel Chris Liss beat me to the Chris Snyder pickup in Yahoo Friends & Family by two minutes on Saturday night (I'm a Montero owner there).
- Ryan Zimmerman left with a tight left hamstring and will be out for a few days. Willie Harris took over at third base for Zimmerman on Saturday.
- Aaron Hill remains out with his hamstring injury.
- Brian Roberts' ab strain will keep him out at least 4-to-6 days and could land on the DL.
- Chipper Jones (oblique) took grounders on Saturday, but it's questionable at best that he could play on Sunday. Monday is a better bet.
- Felix Pie (shoulder) is due back on Sunday. With a left-hander starting, Ty Wigginton got his first token start of the year. He went 0-for-3.
- Andre Ethier (ankle) once again didn't start, but did have a pinch-hit RBI single.

Managing By the Save Rule

- Jonathan Broxton never made it into the game in the Dodgers' 10-inning loss to the Pirates on Wednesday. Instead, Ramon Ortiz pitched the 10th inning and got the loss. Then, because he hadn't gotten any work in the first two games, Broxton mopped up the ninth in a 10-2 win. Torre then Broxton in to protect a 7-1 lead in the ninth on Friday, thus making him unavailable on Saturday's save opportunity. George Sherrill, off to a brutal start to the season, blew the save to get the loss.
- Craig Breslow started the ninth inning for the A's in a 3-3 tie and got the loss, giving up two hits along with an intentional walk. Andrew Bailey hasn't had a save situation this year despite the A's having won four games.

Managing By the Pony League Rules?

- The Royals are having all sorts of troubles getting games to the ninth inning for Joakim Soria. As bad as their set-up crew was last year, this year's bunch might even be worse. Zack Greinke left while behind this time, but on Opening Day his bullpen turned a 4-2 lead into an 8-4 deficit in no-time flat. If this persists, dock a few saves from Joakim Soria.