The Dead Ball Era Is Alive And Well:
- Doc Halladay's 11 strikeout perfecto is going to dominate the Sunday morning headlines, but he wasn't the only member of the Goose Egg Gang firing blanks, so to speak. Josh Johnson allowed just one unearned run over seven innings in losing to Halladay. Clay Buchholz fired seven shutout frames to beat Zack Greinke 1-0. Brett Anderson was only able to toss 70 pitches in his return from the DL, but that was good enough for 5.2 scoreless innings, with three hits and four K's. Carlos Silva remained ridiculous, allowing just two hits over seven shutout innings with 11 K's to run his record to 7-0. Jered Weaver, like Johnson, allowed just one unearned run over seven innings against the Mariners, while Felix Hernandez one-upped him a bit by allowed one earned run over eight-plus.
Irony, Alanis Morissette-Style:
- Kendry Morales cranked a walk-off grand slam off Brandon League to ruin the Hernandez-Weaver pitcher's duel, only to fracture his leg jumping on home plate in the midst of his celebrating teammates. He could be gone for the rest of the season as a result.
From the Crazy Mixed-Up Files of Brian Sabean, Giants GM:
- Buster Posey went 3-for-4 in his big league debut, with three RBI, playing first base and hitting 6th. So let me get this straight. Posey didn't start the season in the majors so that he could work on his defense behind the plate (the publicly given reason) and to save a year at a pre-arb salary (the unstated reason). But when Sabean finally calls him up, he invalidates both reasons by sticking him at first base and bringing him to San Francisco about a week before he would have been a lock to avoid Super Two status. That basically leaves numerology as the justification for calling Posey up on this particular day, rather than the beginning of June or the beginning of April.
Notables:
- Mark Ellis missed his inside straight, needing only a triple for the cycle, but still went 3-for-4 with four RBI. Drew Stubbs also just missed a cycle, but had the triple and needed a double instead.
- Ellis probably didn't get his triple because Mark Fontenot had two of them.
- Lou Marson took the pot though, answering Fontenot's pair of triples with a three-of-a-kind in doubles.
- Robinson Cano went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI, boosting his batting average to .359.
- Chris Tillman didn't pitch well enough to make the first paragraph, but he did pitch 5.2 fairly effective innings, allowing only a couple of solo shots and striking out three while walking two.
- one of those solo shots was by Lyle Overbay, who had two HR on the day. Yes, thatLyle Overbay.
- Ramon Hernandez blasted two jacks as well, his first two of the season. Yes, thatRamon Hernandez.
- Jay Bruce also cranked two homers, but he's supposed to do that kind of thing every once in a while.
- Corey Hart also cranked two home runs, including his first career grand slam, with six RBI in total. He's been doing that kind of thing a lot lately.
Save Chances:
- Jonathan Papelbon, converted (12). One K in a perfect inning.
- Kevin Gregg, converted (13). One hit, one K, one scoreless inning.
- John Axford, converted (2). Struck out one in a perfect inning.
- Billy Wagner, converted (6). Two K's in a perfect inning.
- Rafael Soriano, converted (14). No K's in a perfect inning.
- Heath Bell, converted (14). One K in a perfect inning. Dang, that's a lot of perfect innings from closers. They must have gotten Halladay's memo.
- Kerry Wood, converted (2). It wasn't perfect though, as he gave up a run in an inning of work, but in a 13-11 win beggars can't be choosers.
Other Closer Outings:
- Leo Nunez pitched a scoreless ninth while his Marlins teammates waved futilely at Halladay's final offerings.
- Jose Valverde pitched a scoreless ninth, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out two.
- Brian Fuentes pitched a perfect 10th, striking out two, to pick up the win.
- Manuel Corpas was called upon to protect a nail-biting eight run lead, although to be fair it was only a five run lead when he started warming up. In very un-closer-like fashion, he threw a shutout inning anyway.
Non-Closer Outings:
- Carlos Zambrano needed two pitches to get two outs. He's going to be stretched out for the rotation any day now. Honest.
- Chris Perez pitched two scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.
- Carlos Villanueva pitched the eighth in front of Axford and got his seventh hold, striking out two in a perfect inning. Todd Coffey struck out three in 2.1 perfect innings in front of them. The Brewers bullpen pecking order seems to have been established.
Lineup-o-logy:
- Miguel Cairo got a start at first base for the Reds, hit second, and hit a home run. Dusty Baker, Sooper-Genius!
Tough Days:
- there's one in every blowout. Shin-Soo Choo broke his owners' hearts a little today, going 0-for-6 in a game that saw 24 runs cross the plate.
- not everyone pitched well on Saturday either, as the note above indicates. CC Sabathia coughed up five runs in six innings, while Joba Chamberlain got hammered for four runs on four hits in just a third of an inning.
- those guys, at least, belong on a major league staff. Brian Moehler, not so much. Eight runs, 10 hits (including three HR) and a walk in just 2.2 innings.
- Fernando Nieve lasted all of two innings in his start, giving up five runs on three hits and three walks. If there's a bright side, five of the six outs he managed to record came via strikeout.
- John Danks was terrible, giving up eight runs on eight hits and three walks in four innings and sending his ERA spiraling out of control to a horrific... oh, never mind, it's only 3.34.
Injuries:
- Torii Hunter left the game after being hit by a pitch on his left hand. X-rays were negative, but he'll probably be out for a few days.
- David Huff was taken to hospital after getting hit in the head by a line drive back up the middle off Alex Rodriguez's bat. He checked out OK following a CT scan, but it was still a scary moment.
- Jason Bartlett suffered a dreaded hamstring tweak, and is day-to-day.
Home Runs:
- Vernon Wells (13); Corey Hart 2 (12); Kendry Morales (11); Jason Heyward (10); Aaron Hill (8); Jay Bruce 2 (7); Carlos Gonzalez (7); Juan Uribe (7); Bobby Abreu (6); Russell Branyan (6); Lyle Overbay 2 (6); Drew Stubbs (6); Andrew McCutcheon (6); BJ upton (6); Ike Davis (5); Carlos Quentin (5); George Kottaras (4); Alexei Ramirez (4); Orlando Hudson (3); Nick Hundley (3); Eli Whiteside (3); Ramon Hernandez 2 (2); Miguel Cairo (2); Rusty Ryal (2); Mark Ellis (1)
Stolen Bases:
- Rajai Davis (19); Elvis Andrus (18); Ichiro Suzuki 2 (13); Jose Reyes (12); Ryan Braun (11); Chone Figgins (10); Angel Pagan (9); Bobby Abreu (8); Orlando Cabrera (8); Justin Upton (8); Julio Borbon (7); Franklin Gutierrez (6); Jeff Francouer (5); Trevor Crowe (4); Alfonso Soriano (3); Chipper Jones (3); Nate McLouth (3); Alcides Escobar (2)
Caught Stealing:
- Scott Podsednik (5); Kosuke Fukudome (3); Dioner Navarro (1)