- Sunday was a wonderful sports day. We had debuts by Aroldis Chapman, Stephen Strasburg and Mike Leake. The Masters had a fantastic leaderboard, albeit an anticlimatic finish. The Flyers-Rangers game went to OT and then a shootout to determine the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Even the NFL chimed in with the Santonio Holmes trade to the Jets. It was enough to make my head spin. Let's jump right in.

Notables:

- Stephen Strasburggave up four runs in his Double-A debut, albeit only one earned. His fastball regularly was at 97 mph, though it was down a notch or two with runners on base, but he topped out at 100 mph. According to Keith Law (sub. required), Strasburg's most consistent pitch was his curveball, and his changeup needs more refining.
- Aroldis Chapmanwas dynamite in his Triple-A debut, striking out nine while walking one in 4.2 innings. 10 of his 81 pitches were clocked at 99 mph or higher on the stadium radar. He had a misstep covering first base on his final batter, which cost him getting the win. As soon as he can go a little deeper into games, he'll be ready to go, though. Kudos to MiLB.com for making both starts available to watch online.
- Mike Leakeskipped the minors entirely and made his major league debut against the Cubs. Going against form, he walked seven after walking four batters for all of spring training. But he was able to work out of a number of jams, including a bases loaded, no out situation in the first inning, and managed to allow just one run. The control (and a more favorable strike zone from home plate umpires) will come eventually.

Save Chances:

- Chris Perez, blown save. This was a crushing loss for the Indians, who were up at one point 7-1 and 8-6 when Perez entered the game with two out in the eighth inning. Perez ended up allowing three runs on three hits and three walks while ending the game on a wild pitch. Afterward, Perez deflected the blame a little bit. Talking about the pitch that walked Ramon Santiago to load the bases on a 3-2 pitch, Perez said: "The last pitch to Santiago, I thought was a good pitch," said Perez. "The umpire gave me the same pitch again Raburn, but this time he balled me. That's baseball." Later, after another walk, he threw the game-losing wild pitch, which might have been a passed ball by catcher Lou Marson. Perez had no problem saying as much: "He [Marson] got a piece of it, but it got by him. He's trying to stop it, but at the same time, it's happened a lot recently. That needs to change, for sure. Pitchers need that confidence to throw stuff in the dirt." Both comments might have been valid, but they rang hollow after the result, and after seeing he threw just 17 of his 37 pitches for strikes. Nonetheless, given the lack of other alternatives in the Indians' bullpen, Perez will probably get the next save chance so long as Kerry Wood is still out.
- Trevor Hoffman, blown save when he gave up back-to-back homers to Albert Pujols (two-run) and Matt Holliday (solo). Hoffman has blown back-to-back chances and has given up three homers already after giving up two all of last season.
- Kevin Gregg, converted. Jason Frasor was unavailable after pitching four of the first five games. The Jays have now had save opportunities in all six games that they've played so far.
- Leo Nunez, converted. Two baserunners, two strikeouts.
- Matt Capps, converted. 1-2-3 ninth with a three-run lead.
- Francisco Cordero, converted. One hit allowed, two strikeouts.
- Bobby Jenks, converted. Jenks benefited from J.J. Hardy's gamble to score from first base on a long single and a heads-up relay play by third baseman Mark Teahen. Teahen was playing virutally at shortstop thanks to their shift on Thome, and when the ball went into the left-center gap, Hardy assumed that Teahen would cover third. Instead, Teahen stayed put, took the relay throw, and gunned down Hardy at the plate by a huge margin.
- Tyson Ross, three inning save, converted.
- Jonathan Papelbon, converted - 1-2-3 ninth inning. Papelbon got the save thanks only to Ramon Ramirez giving up a three-run homer to Jose Guillen in the eighth.
- Franklin Morales, converted. This was a much cleaner save than the one he registered on Opening Day, retiring the Padres in order.
- Jeremy Affeldt, converted. Affeldt was in for the eighth inning, protecting a 3-2 lead, but stayed for the ninth when the Giants scored three runs in the bottom of the inning. He allowed a homer to Jason Heyward in the ninth but escaped further damage to get the two-inning save.

Other Closer Outings:

- Mariano Rivera- allowed a hit and a walk but avoided allowing a run in a 7-3 game.
- Francisco Rodriguez- still hasn't had a save opportunity this season. He threw a scoreless inning, despite walking a batter and hitting another one, which led to a little bit of chirping between he and Willie Harris.
- Chad Qualls- came on to get the last out in a |STAR|nine|STAR| run game. Why? Classic "get work" situation, but at least it lasted just one batter. Meanwhile, Bobby Howry gave up his third homer of this season to prompt Qualls' entry into the game.

Closer Non-Outing:

- Ryan Madsonhad a save opportunity yanked away from him on Saturday due to the Astros' ineptitude, and then didn't get a save chance on Sunday when Roy Halladay went the distance.
- Andrew Baileyhasn't yet had a save opportunity and lost a chance on Sunday when the A's scored three unearned runs in the ninth to turn a three-run lead into a 9-3 lead.

Job Battle Watch:

- Neftali Felizis the Rangers' new "temporary closer" while Frank Francisco works out his kinks. Manager Ron Washington said that Francisco will close again, but didn't put a timeframe on it. If Feliz dominates, that promise could ring hollow.
- Cubs OF: Kosuke Fukudomesat on Friday so that Xavier Nady could get a start, and Tyler Colvin started in CF. But both Fukudome and Marlon Byrd played on Saturday and Sunday.
- Angels C: Michael Napoligot just his second start of the season behind the plate and went 0-for-4 while the Angels lost.

Lineup-ology:

- Jay Brucegot the day off from the starting lineup with the Reds facing a lefty, Tom Gorzelanny. Bruce really struggled against lefties last year.
- Not only did the Astros give Roy Halladay an unneeded benefit by benching Hunter Pence, but they compounded that gift by batting his replacement, Cory Sullivan, in the third spot in the order. Though if you look at the Astros' lineup on Sunday, it's an open question as to who might have been a better fit for the spot.

Tough Days:

- Brandon Wood: Department of redundancy department. Wood went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a throwing error that led to three unearned runs, turning a potentially salvagable game into a rout in the eighth inning. He's now 1-for-19 with 7 strikeouts so far.

Injuries:

- Grady Sizemorewas scratched due to mid-back tightness.
- Gil Mechecame off the DL to start on Sunday against the Red Sox. While I try to avoid making blanket statements, rarely will you see me investing in a pitcher coming off of a shoulder injury. While the matchup was tough and it was just Meche's first outing back, I'm very pessimistic about him this season.