Behind The Mask:

- Geovanny Soto had another two singles tonight, boosting his batting average to .351. The power still isn't back yet -- just two of his 13 hits have gone for extra bases -- but after last season, his owners are just glad to see him make any kind of contribution.
- Jason Varitek cranked his fourth home run of the season, to go along with a .304 average. Wasn't he supposed to be dead? If he shambles out to the plate tomorrow with 'Voorhees' instead of 'Varitek' on the back of his jersey, don't be overly shocked.
- Matt Wieters went 2-for-5, and like Soto is now hitting over .300 (.318 in Wieters' case) but without much power. The young padewan is almost ready to become a full Jedi.
- John Jaso hit his first big league home run in a win over Toronto, and could be in line for more playing time even if Dioner Navarro wasn't staring down the barrel of a suspension. Sadly though, I have no geeky movie reference to toss in here.

Notables:

- Chris Jakubauskas lasted just four batters Saturday, giving up a hit and getting two outs before taking a vicious comebacker from Lance Berkman that caught him flush in the head, and left him lying on the ground for a few minutes with his feet twitching, although he apparently never lost consciousness. He'll be in the hospital at least overnight, and there's no word yet on how severe his injuries are. We're all hoping and praying he'll be fine.
- Ty Wigginton went 4-for-5 with a solo shot, his sixth home run of the season, and is now hitting .333. This is a bad thing for the Orioles, as the last thing they need is another excuse to give playing time to a veteran over the likes of Nolan Reimold (who can't get steady at-bats even with Felix Pie hurt.)
- Ricky Nolasco looked strong in the first game of the Marlins-Rockies double-header, giving up one run on seven hits over eight innings, with nine strikeouts and no walks.
- Not to be outdone, Aaron Cook responded with a complete game win in the nightcap, giving up one run on five hits and two walks with four K's, and 15:6 GB:FB ratio.
- Wade LeBlanc won his first game, tossing six shutout innings. The 3:2 K:BB ratio wasn't anything special, but he did pick two Reds off first base. The Padres are going to have a hard time getting him out of their rotation.
- Alex Rios went 3-for-4 with his third home run and fourth steal. Those of you banking on a rebound from Rios are looking to be in pretty good shape so far.
- Andy Pettitte continues to refuse going gently into that good night, running his record to 3-0 with eight strong innings: one run on eight hits, and an 8:0 K:BB ratio.
- Brett Gardner, hitting second, goes 3-for-5, scores two runs and steals his ninth base. Yes, ninth.
- Nyjer Morgan went 3-for-7 in a 13 inning loss, with two doubles and his fifth steal. That comes on the heels of a double and a triple on Friday, and he's now got a 182 ISO despite not having a home run.
- Casey Blake cranks two home runs off Craig Stammen. To the best of my knowledge, Stammen is not Swedish for 'batting practice fastball'.
- The Austin Kearns Revival continue their extended run at the Hard Rock Cafe in Cleveland. He got the start in center field, and went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a stolen base. He's now 11-for-30 (.367) in a platoon role. Reds and Nats fans are still waiting patiently for the other cleat to drop.
- Jayson Werth hit two home runs, including the winner in the ninth inning off Juan Gutierrez.

Save Chances:

- Matt Lindstrom, converted, but only just. Two hits and a walk to load the bases with two outs before Ronny Cedeno flew out.
- Jonathan Papelbon, converted ugly. He entered the game with a three run lead, one out and a runner on second, and promptly gave up three straight singles to plate two runners before settling down and fanning two Orioles to end it.
- Leo Nunez, converted. Walked one in a shutout inning.
- David Aardsma, blown in spectacular fashion. Home run to Paul Konerko, walk to Carlos Quentin, then another home run to Alex Rios. He did scatter a couple of outs in the middle, but it was one out too few.
- Francisco Rodriguez: converted. One perfect inning, no walks or K. So far being yo-yo'ed back and forth from the bullpen mound during last week's 20-inning marathon hasn't come back to bite the Mets.
- Jonathan Broxton, blown. His line looks fine though -- two hits and two K's in 1.1 shutout innings. Darn those inherited runners.
- Ryan Madson, converted. A hit and two K's in a shutout ninth.

Other Closer Outings:

- Carlos Marmol: struck out both batters he faced to nail down a 5-1 win.
- Bobby Jenks: enters a tie game in the ninth inning, gives up two runs, then gets the win when David Aardsma pitches even worse than he does. No one said life was fair.
- Matt Capps was uncharacteristically great, entering with the Nats down by a run in the eighth and pitching two shutout innings, giving up two hits while striking out four.
- Chris Perez pitched a scoreless ninth protecting a 6-1 lead, walking one.

Non-Closer Outings:

- Carlos Zambrano got a hold, but it wasn't pretty, getting tagged for a run on two hits and a walk over 1.1 innings, with one K. If Big Z is supposed to be stabilizing the Cubs bullpen, he's doin it rong.
- Scott Downs failed to record an out, giving up two hits and a walk and seeing all three baserunners come around to score when Casey Janssen pitched just as badly after him. Downs now has an ERA of 6.43, and he has just two strikeouts in seven innings. He's had a great run for three seasons, but it might be time to stop considering him as a top middle reliever.
- Juan Gutierrez gave up the game-winning home run to Jayson Werth in the ninth inning of a tie game. He's looking less and less like a viable option as Arizona's closer should something happen to Chad Qualls.

Lineup-ology:

- Rhyne Hughes hit eighth in his big league debut, going 2-for-5 with an RBI. While he doesn't have much apparent upside Brandon Snyder isn't ready, hitting .211/.286/.316 at Triple-A. Hughes could have more short-term value than you'd expect.
- Omar Infante succumbed to the Curse of the Braves Leadoff Hitter, going 0-for-5.

Tough But Not Unexpected Days:

- Joel Pineiro: six runs on 11 hits in six innings. So far this year he's given up five home runs and walks combined though (adding just one walk to that total Saturday), so teams will need to keep racking up double-digit hits to do much damage to him.

Timing Is Everything:

- with Jeff not around on a Saturday to give him his usual post-game thrashing, Carlos Lee took the night off. This is rapidly turning into some kind of sad co-dependency.

Secondary Target of Derision:

- Lyle Overbay, inexplicably still getting at-bats ahead of Randy Ruiz, Brett Wallace, or any other warm bodies the Jays have to play first base, connected on his first home run of the season, stole his first base and boosted his batting average to a stirring .152. It's got to be just a matter of time before he gets Chris Davis'ed. Doesn't it?