Notables:

- After hitting just 11 homers all last season, B.J. Upton is already up to four homers following his three-run shot on Monday.
- Doug Fister took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the O's. He's a good match for the Mariners - extreme strike-thrower, decent ground ball rate, good ballpark and great defense behind him. So far he has a 1.42 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. It helps that he's faced the A's twice before Monday's home start against the O's. Still, this probably gives him some leeway over Jason vargas once Cliff Lee returns from the DL.
- Joel Pineiro had a second consecutive good start, shutting out the Tigers over 2.1 innings. He gave up nine hits, but no walks and induced 12 groundball outs.
- The Cardinals have been getting superb starting pitching, and Brad Penny continued that on Monday by going seven innings against the Diamondbacks, allowing two runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out five. As Brian Walton points out, seven consecutive Cardinals starters have gone seven or more innings while allowing two or fewer earned runs.
- Ike Davis went 2-for-4 with an RBI in his major league debut. He was raking to start off Triple-A, and he's a good prospect, but I think that the noise-to-substance ratio is going to be pretty high on him.
- Two struggling Blue Jay hitters had big games against Brian Bannister and the Royals. Jose Bautista had two homers and five RBI, and Travis Snider went 2-for-5 with a homer. Both now are at risk to lose their respective jobs now that the Jays have acquired Fred Lewis. Meanwhile, Mike McCoy, who is serving as a part-time injury replacement for Aaron Hill, stole two bases and also scored from second base on a wild pitch.

Save Chances:

- Matt Capps, converted. Capps is now 6-for-6 in save chances, despite a 1.64 WHIP and a 5:5 K:BB in 7.1 IP. He's now tied for the major league lead in saves with the Twins' Jon Rauch.
- Ryan Franklin, converted. Franklin pitched a perfect ninth, striking out one.
- Heath Bell, blown. Bell gave up a game-tying homer to Juan Uribe for his first blown save of the year. He allowed the one run on two hits, striking out two while walking none.
- Fernando Rodney, converted. Rodney is now 4-for-4 in save chances since Brian Fuentes went on the DL. He struck out one in his perfect inning of work.

Other Closer Outings:

- Chad Qualls pitched the ninth inning with the Diamondbacks trailing 3-2. He gave up a run on three hits, striking out one while walking none. It was his first game since blowing back-to-back save chances against the Dodgers on Wednesday and Thursday.

Non-Closer Outings

- Though Franklin Morales' job as the temporary closer is in jeopardy, Manuel Corpas isn't going to be the one replacing him if such a move happens. Corpas came into Monday's game in the fourth inning.
- Kameron Mickolio was brought into Monday's loss to the Mariners with a six-run deficit. He pitched the final two innings, allowing a run on three hits and two walks, striking out two. He might be a closer someday, but it's not going to happen quickly.

Lineup-ology:

- Nate Schierholtz has started the last three games for the Giants despite getting his first start of the season on Saturday. He went 2-for-3 and stole a base while batting eighth.
- Gerardo Parra started in left field for the Snakes with Conor Jackson hitting the DL. You might see a platoon between Parra and Rusty Ryal while Jackson is out.
- Fred Lewis batted leadoff against a right-handed hitter for the second consecutive game. We'll see if he continues to start in LF against righties once Edwin Encarnacion returns to the lineup, and pushes Jose Bautista back to the OF.

Tough Days:

- John Lackey had two great starts to begin the season, but on Patriots Day he was smacked around by the Rays for eight runs on nine hits and a walk over 3.1 innings. The Rays swept the four-game series in Fenway.
- Things are going well for the Rays, but Dioner Navarro hasn't done much with the opportunity afforded him by Kelly Shoppach's knee injury. His 0-for-3 on Monday dropped him down to .162 on the year.
- Aaron Cook didn't have his command on Monday night, walking four in his three innings of work while throwing just 46 of his 83 pitches for strikes. He ended up allowing five runs on seven hits to go with those four walks, including a three-run homer by Willie Harris.
- Bradley Bergesen had a third consecutive terrible outing, giving up seven runs (four earned) over 2.2 innings. He gave up six hits and three walks while striking out none. Remember, he had a sore shoulder at the start of spring training, the result of filming a team promo commercial over the winter. It's worth asking whether he's fully healthy. One of the few things keeping him active is that Chris Tillman has been pitching terribly in Triple-A.
- How can a team with a high payroll like the Cubs have such an awful bullpen? Carlos Marmol's job is a lot safer than it should be, because there's simply no viable alternatives out there. On a related note, Jeff Samardzija failed to retire a hitter, though one of the three he faced reached via an error.

Late Injuries:

- Franklin Gutierrez left late in Monday's win over the Orioles with tightness in his groin.
- Felix Pie has a torn left latissimus dorsi muscle and will be out three months, though he won't require surgery. He suffered the injury on Opening Day and has tried to play through it. This is a particularly damaging injury for the O's, given the state of the franchise. They needed this season to evaluate what they had in Pie, before he started to get expensive in terms of service time.
- Miguel Tejada (groin) sat out again, but hopes to return on Tuesday.
- Mike Cameron had another kidney stone immediately before Monday's game and was replaced by Bill Hall in center field.
- Adam LaRoche (quad) returned to the lineup on Monday and went 2-for-4.
- Trevor Cahill (shoulder) made his first rehab start on Monday, throwing 3.2 innings for Triple-A Sacramento. He allowed two unearned runs on two hits and three walks, striking out four.

Managing By the Save Rule

- For the second game in a row, the Giants lost with someone other than their best reliever late in the game. On Sunday, Sergio Romo came in with a runner on and one out and gave up a pinch-hit game-winning homer by Manny Ramirez. On Monday, David Eckstein took Jeremy Affeldt deep in the bottom of the 10th inning. Now I happen to like both Romo and Affeldt, but in both cases, closer Brian Wilson didn't get into the game, and for that matter hasn't pitched since Wednesday, the 14th. How many times this season have we seen a visiting team lose a game in extra innings while saving their closer for the save chance that never happened? How infrequently does the manager of that team get called out for this practice? About the only solace that Giants fans can take from this is that Wilson didn't have to warm up multiple times but not enter the game, a la Francisco Rodriguez, who warmed up |STAR|nine|STAR| times before eventually getting into Saturday's 20-inning marathon.

Struggling Prospect Watch

- Madison Bumgarner had his first decent Triple-A outing on Monday, allowing two runs (one earned) over six innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out three. On the downside, he gave up his fourth homer in three starts. His fastball was clocked regularly in the low 90's, topping out at 93 mph. It was interesting to see Giants GM Brian Sabean throw Bumgarner under the bus, saying that Bumgarner was ill-prepared to start the season. Of course, this ignores that Bumgarner's velocity numbers started declining last year, not just this spring.