Don't Panic ... Don't Panic ... OK, Panic!

- The Cubs moved Carlos Zambrano to the bullpen on Wednesday, one day after the best of his four starts this season. The move was made less because of Zambrano's numbers and more because of the failings of the bullpen aside from Carlos Marmol and Sean Marshall. The timing coincides with Ted Lilly's return from the DL, and it keeps both Carlos Silva (0.95 ERA after Wednesday's win over the Mets) and Tom Gorzelanny in the rotation. See this week's Charging the Mound (which will be up on Thursday morning) to see that there might be a case for the move, albeit a tenuous one. Here's one other thought - what happens if Carlos Marmol goes through another stretch where he loses his command? It hasn't happened yet, but couldn't it be possible that Big Z slides right into the closer role? The Opening Day starter-to-closer routine isn't entirely foreign: Brett Myers has done it as one example in recent memory (keep in mind, I didn't necessarily suggest that it was successful).

Strikeouts as an Indicator

- David Wright struck out for the 18th time this season on Wednesday night, putting him on pace to exceed last year's career-high 140 strikeouts. He overcame those strikeouts to hit .307 last year thanks to a .400 BABIP. This year his BABIP has normalized but his .65 CT rate is at an astounding career low. Because he's running (he stole his sixth base on Wednesday) and hitting for a little more power, there's hope that his overall numbers might rebound over last year, but I'm not advising that people make a buy-low play for him. I think there's a legitimate chance that he causes batting average pain for his owners.

Ruh-Roh:

- Chad Qualls. Pitching for the third consecutive day in a 4-4 game, Qualls got just one out, giving up a homer to Colby Rasmus, nearly getting decapitated by a Yadier Molina single and then giving up a double to Brendan Ryan. The only reason why we're not at Threat Level Midnight with Qualls is the lack of suitable alternatives in the Arizona bullpen. Bobby Howry has found a way to be worse than Qualls, Aaron Heilman hasn't covered himself in glory, and Juan Gutierrez had two high-profile meltdowns last weekend.

Ruh-Roh, Part II:

- Brian Fuentes, pitching for the first time since coming off the DL, gave up a game-tying homer to Miguel Cabrera to lead off the inning. He then walked two of the next three hitters, picked off one runner but then allowed a dink single to Ramon Santiago to give up the winning run. On the latter run, it looked as if Juan Rivera double-clutched before his throw home, which was barely late. Still, the fault lies with Fuentes here, and is reminiscent of his late-season struggles last year. We could see Fernando Rodney getting more save chances sooner rather than later.

Notables:

- Phil Hughes took a no-hitter into the eighth and lost it on a bit of a fluke comebacker. All in all, he allowed the one hit and one run, striking out 10 while walking two.
- Roy Halladay is good at baseball. His seven-inning Opening Day win is his shortest outing of the year. No need to fret about Ryan Madson or whatever mediocre reliever that might come in to blow the lead.
- Yovani Gallardo struck out 10 while throwing five shutout innings against the Pirates. The only negative was that he needed 103 pitches to get through his five innings of work.
- Andrew McCutchen stole two more bases, making him 9-for-10 on the season.
- Carlos Gonzalez went 4-for-5 and had his first stolen base of the year.
- Josh Willingham keeps thriving in (relative) obscurity, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and his third stolen base of the season.
- Matt Kemp was just one of many Dodger hitters to destroy the Reds' pitching on Wednesday. He hit his seventh homer of the year and scored four runs. Rafael Furcal went 3-for-5 with three runs, four RBI and his seventh stolen base. Furcal's resurgence this spring is a reminder of what a destructive force he was with the Dodgers in 2008 before he got hurt in early May. It took him over a full season to fully recover, but he's back in that form right now. All-in-all, the Dodgers pounded out 18 hits and took six walks.
- Josh Hamilton went 3-for-4 with his first homer of the year, a three-run shot off Josh Beckett that tied the game in the seventh inning.
- Alfonso Soriano went 3-for-4 with a triple and homer and even drew a walk.
- Francisco Liriano threw eight shutout innings against the Indians, allowing six hits and two walks while striking out six. It's killing me that I got shut out on him this year.
- Wade Davis gave up a bunt single and two walks in the first inning against the White Sox but got out of that jam. He allowed just one more hit and more walk over the next five innings to cruise.
- Colby Rasmus hit the go-ahead homer against Chad Qualls in the ninth to cap off a two-homer, 3-for-4 game. After slumping last week, he's up to .273/.407/.705.
- Felix Hernandez not only threw a complete game, allowing one unearned run, but also threw 81 of his 113 pitches for strikes and avoided walking a single batter.
- Zack Greinke and Chris Carpenter had nice bounceback outings only to see the non-closer relievers cost them wins in the eighth inning.
- Adrian Gonzalez had his first homer at home and his first overall since the second game of the season. Despite the homer drought, he came into the game slugging .511. The Padres swept the Giants and Diamondbacks to go 7-2 on their homestand.

Save Chances:

- Joakim Soria, converted. The Royals bullpen did its best to prevent Soria from getting a save opportunity, blowing Zack Greinke's win in the 8th, but Alex Gordon's homer in the 10th set up Soria for the chance, which he converted in 1-2-3 fashion with a strikeout.
- Matt Capps, converted. Capps picked up his seventh save of the year, striking out the side while giving up a single and a walk. He got Ian Stewart looking to end the game. Tyler Clippard, official mascot for Stay For a Nightcap, threw two scoreless innings while recording three strikeouts.
- Mariano Rivera, converted. Rivera gave up a hit and hit another batter, but worked out of the jam to remained unscored upon.
- Matt Lindstrom, converted. One hit, no walks or strikeouts. Lindstrom has converted saves in the last four Astros games over the last five days.
- Jose Valverde, converted. After seeing Fuentes cough up his chance, Valverde came in and threw a perfect ninth.

Other Closer Outings:

- Brian Wilson pitched a clean inning down 5-1 in the bottom of the eighth.
- Neftali Feliz threw two electric innings in his first outing in a week, striking out three without allowing a hit or a walk. He needed just 23 pitches to get through his two innings, so there's a chance he might be available if needed on Thursday.
- Jon Papelbon pitched two scoreless innings in extra innings after Dan Bard threw two scoreless innings of his own. The last two days the Red Sox bullpen has saved their collective bacon - that's the difference between the Red Sox and Rangers right now.
- Carlos Marmol threw a scoreless inning while protecting a six-run lead, striking out one and walking one. This would have been a save chance, but for the Cubs scoring three runs in the top of the ninth.
- Ryan Franklin - perfect inning, two strikeouts.

Non-Closer Outings

- Scott Downs gave up the game-winning homer to lefty Alex Gordon.
- Rafael Betancourt gave up two runs on two hits and a walk to pick up the loss to the Nats. This pushes back any likelihood of him stealing saves from Franklin Morales.
- Burke Badenhop has been excellent this year, but he blew a lead for Josh Johnson in the seventh by giving up a two-run triple to Geoff Blum on Wednesday.
- Ronald Belisario made his 2010 debut after his odd offseason and threw a perfect inning of relief.

Lineup-ology:

- Fred Lewis hit leadoff again on Wednesday, knocked in the tying run in the eighth inning and stole a base. With Edwin Encarnacion going on the DL, Lewis will get a longer look at the better side of the left field platoon.
- Mike Lowell started at DH in place of David Ortiz with the Rangers starting lefty Matt Harrison, but also stayed in the game once the progression of relievers had started for the Rangers.
- Ben Zobrist was given the day off, with Sean Rodriguez starting at second base (and having a huge game) and Gabe Kapler starting in right field.
- With Milton Bradley (calf) out, Matt Tuiasosopo started in left field and batted seventh, going 1-for-4 with a run scored.

Tough Days:

- Aaron Harang - Former Reds and Nats GM Jim Bowden called for Harang's removal from the rotation on his show on XM175 today, before Harang's start against the Dodgers. Harang didn't do much to rebut Bowden's assertion. He's never been the same since throwing four innings of relief on two days' rest against the Padres in 2008, and then making his next start on three days' rest. There have been a few glimpses of his previous form, but for the most part it's been a steady decline. The Dodgers crushed Harang for seven runs on 10 hits and two walks over 5.2 innings.
- Mark Buehrle got knocked out in the fifth inning by the Rays after allowing six runs on nine hits and a walk.
- Zach Duke gave up three homers among his seven hits, seven runs (six earned) and four walks over five innings.
- Todd Wellemeyer lost his sixth consecutive decision dating back to last season. At one point he walked four consecutive batters.
- Jason Heyward's splashy debut has partially obscured just how awful the other three Braves outfielders have hit so far. Nate McLouth went 0-for-4 from the leadoff spot to drop to .147, Melky Cabrera went 1-for-3 to raise his average to .133 (with one double as his only extra-base hit) and Matt Diaz idled at .197. The Braves are getting production from only four spots in the order, with Yunel Escobar and Troy Glaus also slumping.
- Aramis Ramirez went 0-for-6 and is 0-for-14 in the three games against the Mets, with five K's in those games. He'll get the day off on Thursday.
- Carlos Quentin went 0-for-4 and is 0-for-his-last-20.
- Justin Upton went 0-for-4 with four K's and a throwing error. He now has 22 strikeouts on the year, more than teammate whiff-ologist Mark Reynolds.
- After sitting out in favor of Maicer Izturis on Tuesday, Wood went 0-for-3 with a strikeout while batting ninth. Something is going to have give soon with Wood - the Angels aren't the Pirates, and can't afford the same sort of patience that we'd normally advocate for a player like Wood.
- Austin Jackson is hitting .311, but he also has struck out 23 times out of the leadoff spot, including three more K's on Wednesday.

Late Injuries:

- Ryan Zimmerman aggravated his right hamstring injury and left in the seventh inning. He hasn't ruled out playing Thursday. The weather had something to do with his early departure - it was cold and misty out. That, and the Caps game was probably on in the clubhouse.
- Jason Marquis went on the 15-day DL with floating bodies in his pitching elbow. There's your offseason pitching investment, Nats fans. This is the sort of news you expect to see on the heels of an uber-disaster outing like he had on Sunday.
- Nelson Cruz once again left the game with cramping in his hamstring. Don't be surprised if he sits out on Thursday to make sure the problem doesn't worsen.
- Mark Reynolds sat out Wednesday's loss to the Cards to rest his quad. Combined with Thursday's off-day, he'll get two full days to recover before the team will re-evaluate him.
- Travis Buck was a late scratch with a strained right oblique, and A's reliever Jerry Blevins left with back spasms.
- Jeff Weaver left with a twinge in his back. While it's not considered a big deal (and really, because it's Jeff Weaver, anything short of a traumatic injury by definition isn't a big deal), it could be a convenient way to make room for Hong-Chih Kuo to come off the DL.
- Indians catching prospect left Wednesday's Triple-A game with a bruised/twisted (depending on which reports you read) left knee after fouling a pitch off that knee.
- Nick Punto (groin) missed a fifth consecutive game. Gardy must be going through withdrawal pains.

Rare Reversal

- In the Reds-Dodgers game, the Reds had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the 4th. Aaron Harang hit a line drive to right field that Andre Ethier appeared to short-hop, but was called an out by first base umpire Tim McClelland. After Dusty Baker came out to argue the call, the umps huddled together and reversed the call, giving Harang a single and advancing the runners one base apiece. Joe Sheehan (@Joe|UNDER|Sheehan) discussed the play on Twitter, and neither of us have seen a catch/trap play reversed like that. Has anyone else seen such a play? For what it's worth, replay might |STAR|not|STAR| have reversed the call - I thought it was a trap, but it wasn't overly obvious, like the pair of blown calls in the SF-SD series or the calls in the TEX-BOS series the last couple of days.

Back From the (Nearly) Dead:

- Jose Guillen hit his sixth homer of the year and is hitting .377 with 13 RBI. While his Royals tenure has mostly been a bust, he had a few torrid streaks in 2008 with them. But the headline also refers to Guillen's remarkable health story, and his subsequent turnaround from a health standpoint.

Rehab Start Update:

- Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out eight and walked none in 5.2 innings for Triple-A Pawtucket. He allowed three runs on four hits.
- After he threw 70 pitches in a simulated game on Tuesday, the Mariners announced that Cliff Lee will come off the DL to make his Mariners debut on April 30 against the Rangers. The Mariners will give one more start apiece to Ian Snell, Jason Vargas and Doug Fister to help decide who gets bumped from the rotation to make room.

For One Night, the Slaggings Will Stop:

- Carlos Lee went 2-for-3 and had his first RBI of the season.