Notables:
- Livan Hernandez also threw a complete game shutout against the Brewers. I have decided that I will no longer be amazed by anything the man does, ever again.
- Ricky Nolasco didn't have quite as interesting a day, but holding the Phillies to one run in a complete game win is still fairly impressive. He walked another three batters though, against four strikeouts, and the guy who was aiming for only 25 walks on the whole season is on pace to pass that mark before the end of May.
- it's weird to think that in 2007, Nelson Cruz was having trouble beating out the likes of Jason Botts and Brad Wilkerson for playing time. He smacked his seventh home run in 11 games today, to round his SLG off to an even 1.000. This just in off the wire: Cruz is pretty good.
- Rick Ankiel cranked two home runs off Nick Blackburn in a losing effort, and is now hitting .308/.349/.615. His 2:11 BB:K is even worse than what he managed last season though, and a correction is almost inevitable. I'm not saying 'sell high', I'm saying 'sell period.' Take what you can get. Don't be proud.
- Joey Votto, 3-for-4 with his fourth steal on the season. Votto had four steals all of last year and just 12 in his major league career coming into 2010, but he did steal 40 bags between Double-A and Triple-A in '06-'07, so this is not completely out of the blue. His owners may be getting some nice extra value from him this season.
- Tim Lincecum: six shutouts innings with seven K's, plus a 3-for-4 night at the plate with three RBI. Timmy's a one man army!
- back to the Mets-Cards for a second. Yadier Molina came through with a herculean effort for St. Louis, catching all 20 innings, going 3-for-9 and even driving in the tying run in the 19th. I'm thinking he gets the day off Sunday.
Save Chances:
- Rafael Soriano, converted. One strikeout in a scoreless inning.
- Chris Perez, converted. One strikeout in a perfect inning. If anyone needed a confidence-boosting outing (both for himself and for manager Manny Acta), it was Perez.
- Fernando Rodriguez, blown. In the bottom of the 19th. Albert Pujols doubles, then scores on a Yadier Molina single. Well, it's Albert, not much you can do there.
- Fernando Rodney, converted. Two strikeouts in a perfect inning. Brian Fuentes may need to pitch very well indeed when he gets back if he wants to keep his job.
- Jon Rauch, converted. It's now six-for-six for Rauch. The Twins aren't missing wazzizname at all.. you know, Nathan something...
- Jim Johnson, blown. It was an ugly one too, featuring two wild pitches -- one of which came on a third strike to the eventual winning run, Rajai Davis. Mike Gonzalez owners may want to start looking at Kam Mickolio as their insurance policy.
- Francisco Cordero, blown. Two hits and three walks in 0.2 innings. No cause for alarm though; it happens to the best of them, and Nick Masset hasn't exactly been lights outs so far anyway. Cordero's job is safe.
- Mike Pelfrey, converted. Mike Pelfrey? Hey, it was the 20th inning. At least Jerry Manuel turned to his off-day starters, and not his bench, to pitch in relief.
Other Closer Outings:
- Ryan Franklin pitched a scoreless 17th in the Cards-Mets marathon, giving up a hit. Jason Motte struck out two in 1.1 scoreless earlier in the night, so both guys stay in LaRussa's good books for the night. Unlike Joe Mather.
Lineup-ology:
- Ryan Zimmerman steps back into the lineup after a mild hamstring injury and goes 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI. He's just fine.
Tough Days:
- Juan Pierre went 0-for-4, and is now hitting .186 on the season with a .271 OBP. Out of the leadoff spot. It's amazing the White Sox have scored any runs at all this season.
- Scott Feldman kindly waited until I defended him to Joe Sheehan before putting up his first ugly outing of the season, and boy was it ugly. 73 pitches to get seven outs. He seemed to be blowing on his hand a lot though, so I'll chalk up his lack of a fastball (he was barely breaking 90) or any semblance of control to the weather, 55 degrees at game time. Not to a completely predictable regression to the mean.
- Jhonny Peralta went 0-for-3 to drop his batting average to .121, but he's already walked eight times, which puts him on pace to shatter his previous career high of 61. Last season was fairly miserable, but he might make for an interesting speculative buy.
Pick Up of the Day:
- Justin Maxwell. After Elijah Dukes got cut loose by the Nationals Maxwell was the first option to replace him, but his miserable spring made that impossible. He got off to a good start at Triple-A though and homered today off Randy Wolf in his second game after being called up, and with the Nats in dire need of someone to supply some actual offense from right field, look for Maxwell to start soaking up more than just platoon at-bats against lefties.