Wally Pipp Time?

- Chris Heisey got a spare start in center field, giving Drew Stubbs the night off. He went 3-for-4 while batting leadoff, hitting his first career homer. Could this lead to more frequent starts? What happens on the roster once Chris Dickerson is ready to come off the DL?

Glimmer of Hope:

- Lance Berkman (3) and Hunter Pence (4) both homered off of Jason Motte in the eighth inning of the Astros' win over the Cardinals. Pence's homer was a wall-scraper that appeared to glance off the top of Matt Holliday's glove or the wall, or both.

Going For Speed:

- Scott Kazmir is no threat to go the distance, as per usual. He needed 108 pitches to get through five innings in Tuesday's loss and hasn't gotten into the seventh inning in any of his starts this year.

Regression to the Mean:

- After giving up just 12 walks in 42.1 innings before Tuesday night, Zito walked seven in five innings to get the loss against the Padres. He needed 109 pitches to get through five innings.

Notables:

- Cliff Lee only struck out two while scattering eight hits over 7.1 innings, holding the O's to one run. He has now gone 22.1 innings without issuing a walk.
- Johnny Cueto allowed just two baserunners in the Reds' romp over the Pirates - a hit batter and a single that just went off the glove of shortstop Paul Janish. For at least one night, he fulfilled the potential he displayed when he was first called up in 2008. He needed just 102 pitches to go the distance.
- David Wright went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored. True to form this season, he walked once and struck out once.
- Scott Olsen wasn't quite as dominant as his previous outing, allowing nine hits while striking out just two in 5.1 innings. Still, he allowed just two runs and was in line for the win before the Nats' bullpen imploded in the eighth inning.
- Daisuke Matsuzaka looked like a completely different pitcher than he did last week, striking out nine without allowing a walk and giving up just three hits over seven innings.
- In a rematch from last week, Trevor Cahill allowed fewer runs than Colby Lewis, but Lewis went deeper into the game. That ended up mattering, with Brad Ziegler giving up a two-run homer later on, leading to a 13-inning epic.
- Joe Mauer returned behind the plate and went 3-for-4 in a losing effort.
- Russell Branyan hit his first two homers of the year. He has a hard time staying on the field, but when he's healthy his power is legit.
- Tim Hudson allowed one run over six innings despite walking six (one intentional) and striking out only one. Sure enough, his G:F on Tuesday night was 13:4 and he induced two double plays.
- Brad Penny gave up four unearned runs after taking a 2-0 lead into the seventh to get a tough loss. He has 14 runs of support in his seven starts this year.
- John Ely appears to be an extreme control pitcher, cut out of the Doug Fister mold. He went six solid innings against the D-Backs on Tuesday, giving up two runs on six hits but no walks, with six strikeouts.
- The Dodgers teed off on Dan Haren (10 hits) and the Arizona bullpen (13 runs), getting just one homer among their 17 hits, but six doubles, including two each from Andre Ethier and James Loney.
- Jeff Niemann took a shutout into the eighth before running out of steam, eventually giving up two runs over 7.1 innings. Lance Cormier and Randy Choate provided no relief for him, allowing his two inherited runners to score without retiring a batter.
- The Giants and Padres combined to leave 26 runners on base.

Save Chances:

- Brandon League, converted (1). This was a non-traditional save chance - League came into the game in the eighth inning with a four-run lead, one out and two runners on (hence, tying run on-deck). He relieved Cliff Lee and immediately induced an inning-ending double play against Miguel Tejada, then got three more ground outs in the ninth.
- Francisco Rodriguez, converted (5). Threw a perfect ninth, no strikeouts.
- Leo Nunez, converted (7). 1-2-3 inning, one strikeout.
- Andrew Bailey, blown (1). Bailey gave up his first run since last September, with a leadoff walk to Justin Smoak coming back to haunt him. The run-scoring single by Elvis Andrus that tied the game was a bloop that dropped in.
- Neftali Feliz, blown (2). For some reason, Feliz didn't start the ninth, but instead came into the game with a runner on third and one out in the ninth. He hit a batter and gave up three singles before getting out of the ninth inning.
- Bobby Jenks, converted (6). This was a nice cushy three-run lead to protect, and Jenks came through despite allowing a double to Jim Thome.
- Matt Lindstrom, converted (7). Lindstrom allowed one hit while recording one strikeout.
- Heath Bell, converted (9). No runs or hits, one walk allowed.
 
Other Closer Outings:

- Joakim Soria gave up Russell Branyan's second homer of the game while mopping up what ended being an 8-2 loss. He has allowed three homers in his last two outings.

Non-Closer Outings

- Tyler Clippard has been vulturing wins lately after being somewhat less than superb in his last few outings, and it finally caught up with him on Tuesday night. He and Brian Bruney conspired to give up six runs (three apiece) while recording just one out. Despite the disastrous outing, Clippard still has a 1.88 ERA, but he's been fairly shaky lately.
- Tyson Ross blew one save in the 11th, got out of the 12th inning by having a runner thrown out at home, and then got the win in the 13th.
- Matt Thornton pitched the eighth inning in the first White Sox game after Bobby Jenks' implosion over the weekend against the Blue Jays.
- Brandon Lyon threw a scoreless inning on Tuesday, giving him 10 scoreless innings since allowing three runs on April 17 against the Cubs.
- Juan Gutierrez capped off Bullpen Implosion Night, allowing four runs in two-thirds of an inning - he, Daniel Stange and Blaine Boyer conspired to allow nine runs on seven hits and four walks.

Lineup-o-logy:

- Michael Saunders started in left again for the Mariners and went 2-for-4 while batting ninth.
- Mark DeRosa's offseason wrist surgery has been deemed a "total failure." He missed Tuedsay night's game and will also sit out on Wednesday, and ultimately he'll need another surgery, though not necessarily right away. Matt Downs started at second and Andres Torres in left with DeRosa out on Tuesday.
- Mike Aviles started ahead of Chris Getz at second base again and went 2-for-4 in the Royals' loss to the Indians.
- The run-starved Cardinals moved Colby Rasmus up to the leadoff spot and Skip Schumaker down to seventh. Both Schumaker and Brendan Ryan are really struggling at the plate right now, and Ryan committed two errors to boot on Tuesday night.
- Carlos Pena, in the throes of a 1-for-40 slump, didn't start on Tuesday.

Tough Days:

- Jeff Karstens went from throwing six shutout innings as a starter on Saturday against the Cardinals to pitching with the Bucs already down 5-0 in the seventh inning. He served up four more runs of his own in the eighth. Oddly enough, Brian Burres, who remained in the rotation ahead of Karstens and will start on Friday in Chicago, pitched the ninth in a mop-up role.
- Starlin Castro committed his fifth error after having three errors the night before. Cubs manager Lou Piniella is already having to answer questions whether Castro will remain in the lineup - how fickle we can be. Meanwhile, Aramis Ramirez went 0-for-3 and struck out to end a rally in the eighth inning.
- The Brewers' bullpen allowed eight runs over the last three innings to blow open a close game. Carlos Villanueva had his first rotten game, giving up four runs while retiring just two batters.

Late Injuries:

- Casey Kotchman (ankle) sat out again, with Ryan Langerhans starting in his place. Jack Wilson (hamstring) also remained out. Keep in mind that the game was played despite intermittent rain falling, which discouraged the M's from hurrying either player back.
- Josh Beckett will miss Friday's start due to back spasms - this was previously scheduled for earlier in the week.
- Ryan Braun (elbow) sat out Tuesday night and probably won't play on Wednesday either.
- Chipper Jones (groin) sat out after aggravating his injury on Monday.

Stolen Bases

- Jay Bruce (3); Jason Bay (3); Jeff Francoeur (3); J.D. Drew (1); Landon Powell (!) (1); Elvis Andrus (14); Alexis Rios (10); Grady Sizemore 2 (4); Shin-Soo Choo (6) - all three of the Indians' stolen bases were against Jason Kendall, who has allowed 31 steals against while throwing out 10 putative thieves; Jason Heyward (1) - groin injury appears healed; Corey Hart (3); Matt Kemp (5); Chris Young (4); Carl Crawford 2 (9); Erick Aybar (4); David Eckstein (3); Kyle Blanks (1); Tony Gwynn Jr. (8); Eli Whiteside (1).

Caught Stealing

- Michael Saunders (1); Chris Heisey (1); Ronny Cedeno (1); Julio Borbon (1); Tommy Manzella (1); B.J. Upton (3); Oscar Salazar (1).