Random news, notes and otherwise:

- The day was peppered with players hitting their first homer of the season. While it still early, I'd guess this has to be the day outside of any game during the first week that saw the most players go yard for the first time.

- Ryan Braun (under contract through 2015) signed an extension through 2020 for $105 million. The deal looks sound. provided that Braun stays healthy over the next nine years. If he tears an ACL in the next week or suffers a fluke injury that makes him 70-80 percent of the player he is, the deal will be bad. If you thought the Ryan Howard deal was premature, this one was even worse. What are Prince Fielder and Scott Boras thinking tonight? I know we have a lot of Brewers fans here, I'd love for you guys to weigh in on this.

- I'd like to start a campaign that every day needs to have an early game. It provides some interest and spark while you're at work or when you're looking through box scores before dinner. Rotate the teams playing and figure it out (likely have it be the first game of the series for two teams having the previous day off).

Cincinnati Reds 7 – Arizona Diamondbacks 4

- W: Mike Leake (3-0) L: Daniel Hudson (0-4) HR: Kelly Johnson (3), Stephen Drew (1), Joey Votto (3), CS: Jay Bruce (1)

- Daniel Hudson did not look good, struggling with his control to the tune of only 57 strikes over 107 pitchers. He should be on your bench until he turns his numbers around – 5.92 ERA.

- Mike Leake (insert joke here) improved to 3-0 and was solid giving up three runs over seven innings. Leake went into the game as a career 18-for-55 hitter (.327) which I didn't realize. Watch out Carlos Zambrano.

- Of course in a non-save situation Francisco Cordero gave up a run. I'd love to see a study about closers in general that shows the stats from when they pitch in save situations vs. non-save situations. Maybe this needs to be closers who last in the position the whole season. Maybe I just seem to notice the non-save situations more when they give up a run (not that I believe in a "use the closer in a save-only situation" by any means). Just a thought.

St. Louis 5 – Washington 0

- W: Kyle Lohse (3-1) L: Tom Gorzelanny (0-2) HR: Albert Pujols (6), Matt Holiday (2)

- Kyle Lohse threw a gem, pitching a complete game shutout which lowered his ERA to 2.01. Is there a better pitching coach in the game than Dave Duncan?

- Albert Pujols now has five home runs in his last seven games and Matt Holliday went 2-for-3 with a home run and has now gone 14-for-26 (.538) over his last seven games.

- Here are the batting averages for hitters 2-8 today for the Nationals: Rick Ankiel (.221), Jayson Werth (.209), Adam LaRoche (.211), Ian Desmond (.211), Mike Morse (.196), Ivan Rodriguez (.156) and Alex Cora (.130). I can't make this up; is no one hitting at all in Syracuse?

- In season two, Stevie Janowski asked Kenny Powers, "Who is Eduardo Sanchez?" While the answer was Don Johnson, the more important real-life answer is the St. Louis Cardinal's reliever who should be on everyone's radar. Yes, Mitchell Boggs has the chance to take the closer's role and run but Sanchez's 10 strikeouts of the first 15 major league batters he's faced has been well, dirty.

Brooklyn 5 – Atlanta 3

- W: Matt Guerrier (1-0) L: Cristhian Martinez (0-1) HR: Freddie Freeman (3), Juan Uribe (1), Casey Blake (1), Matt Kemp (4) SB: Tony Gwynn Jr. (4) CS: Andre Ethier (1)

- Clayton Kershaw was in full command until he threw an 0-2 fastball that caught too much of the plate to Dan Ross. All three pitches to Ross were fastballs and he as he went: strike (swinging), strike (foul), single to left – two runs score. In the previous at-bat Dan Uggla fouled a pitch back that Rod Barajas barely missed against the netting.

- Matt Kemp hit a walk-off in the bottom of the 12th to get the win for the Dodgers. He's starting to have game-winning at-bats like Ethier has done. Speaking of which, Ethier now has a 18-game hitting streak going.

- I watched this game and let me tell you, Jonathan Broxton has no command over his fastball. If he wants to hit 95/96 on the gun he lets it go and hopes for the best. 16 of the 28 pitches he threw were strikes, which isn't a good ratio if you're a closer. The loose throwback jerseys made Broxton look north of 350 lbs. as opposed to his usual 300.

- A bad play that went unmentioned was Dan Uggla going for second on a single that the Dodgers attempted to throw out Jason Heyward going from first to third. Uggla was called safe at second in a bang-bang play after Heyward made it to third. The problem was this was being dumb with his team down a run in the top of the ninth inning. He was called safe so it will probably be overlooked even though it was a horrible base-running decision.

Chicago White Sox 9 – Tampa 2

- W: Gavin Floyd (2-1) L: Jeff Niemann (0-3) SB: Juan Pierre (5), Omar Vizquel (1), Felipe Lopez (1), B.J. Upton (3) CS: Carlos Quentin (1)

- Floyd was dominant, allowing two runs over six innings and allowing no extra base hits.

- Johnny Damon returned to the lineup and went 1-for-4. He has missed the previous three games after being hit with a pitch on his finger.

- Jeff Niemann has not looked right this season and hasn't looked good since a DL stint last season. He's not worth starting in most formats unless you get points for having the highest ERA. Niemann wasn't locating his pitch and any breaking pitches were hanging too much. Purely my speculation – is he compensating or has he changed his mechanics since last year's injury?

- Jacob McGee gave up another run in an inning of work and isn't close to sniffing the closer role at this point.

Minnesota 3 – Baltimore 1

- W: Scott Baker L: Jeremy Guthrie (1-3) S: Matt Capps (3) HR: Michael Cuddyer (2), Jim Thome (2) SB: Danny Valencia (1)

- Jeremy Guthrie was unable to take advantage of a lineup that was missing Joe Mauer, Delmon Young and Justin Morneau. The latter two haven't done much this year and it sounds like this won't be the only game they miss.

- Scott Baker, the Ricky Nolasco of the American League, came through with seven shutout innings striking out nine and walking only one.

- Michael Cuddyer hit his second homer in as many days and appears to like the confines of Camden Yards over his home park.

Kansas City 3 – Cleveland 2

- W: Aaron Crow (2-0) L: Chris Perez (0-1) SB: Chris Getz 2 (4)

- Perez showed he was human blowing his first save and getting tagged with the loss in the process. Even though he allowed two runs in only .1 innings, his ERA is at a tidy 2.25.

- Conversely from the aforementioned Nationals, the Royals 3-6 hitters are hitting: Alex Gordon (.354), Billy Butler (.353), Jeff Francoeur (.329) and Wilson Betemit (.386).

- Josh Tomlin was the unlucky loser, allowing one run over seven innings. As I showed KC isn't hitting badly and while Tomlin has gotten Seattle, he's also gotten Boston and Baltimore (albeit during their "bad" streaks). He won't strike out a ton but the AL-only/deep league caveat applies here for a pickup.

Florida 9 – Pittsburgh 5

- W: Chris Volstad (1-1) L: James McDonald (0-2) HR: Pedro Alvarez (1), Mike Stanton (1), Scott Cousins (1), Brett Hayes (1) SB: Hanley Ramirez 2 (3) CS: Hanley Ramirez (3)

- I'm starting to get why the Dodgers let James McDonald go last year.

- Logan Morrison was placed on the DL and is expected to miss 2-to-4 weeks. Look for Scott Cousins to grab his playing time.

- Andrew McCutchen returned to the lineup after taking a personal leave due to his sick father. Often times what's going on in a player's personal life is ignored and shouldn't be. Unfortunately, this usually comes out after the fact (think Pablo Sandoval's divorce last year, Magglio Ordonez's wife with the cancer scare).

- Pedro Alvarez missed the cycle by a triple but also committed his fifth error. Call him the Kevin Kouzmanoff of the National League.

- I doubt you can get him in keeper leagues but in redraft leagues the opportunity to buy Mike Stanton low is running out. He's 4-for-12 over his last four games with two doubles and a home run. By now you should know he's going to strike out a lot (killing the BA) but the power is very legit – thanks Captain Obvious for checking in.

- Hanley Ramirez was running wild (or attempting to do so) which is a positive sign for his owners. Note though he's only 3-for-6 in SB attempts but it's a small sample size.

New York 9 – Houston 1

-W: Chris Capuano (2-1) L: J.A. Happ (1-3) HR: David Wright (3), Ike Davis (2), Mike Nickeas (1) CS: Justin Turner (1)

- Despite yielding one run over seven innings, Capuano likely shouldn't be owned in your league. In his other two starts, he's allowed 11 runs over 11.2 innings. That says it all.

- I specifically remember my brother last year asking me if he should hold J.A. Happ for $10 in his 18-team keeper league. Without hesitation I said no based on the "lucky" stats he had for the Phillies. He's walked 3.80 batters per nine innings in the big-league career and held a lucky 85.2 percent strand rate and .266 BABIP in 2009. He was the perfect sell-high which is what Philly did.

- Jason Bay returned from his DL stint to go 1-for-4 with two Ks. I'd take a wait-and-see approach before putting him back in your lineup. It wasn't like he was tearing the cover off the ball before his concussion last year.

Seattle 1 – Oakland 0

- W: Felix Hernandez (2-2) L: Brandon McCarthy (1-1) S: Brandon League (4) HR: Adam Kennedy (1) SB: Cliff Pennington (3)

- Slugger Adam Kennedy provided all the offense King Felix needed, who scattered four hits (all singles) and three walks over 7.2 innings.

- Brandon McCarthy pitched eight innings of one-run ball and proved to be the perfect example of a mediocre pitcher you can stream into your lineup against the Mariners.

- Speaking of bad lineups, Oakland started no one in this game who was hitting above .258. No one.

Philadelphia 3 – San Diego 0

- W: Roy Oswalt 3-0) L: Mat Latos (0-3) S: Jose Contreras (5) HR: Ben Francisco (3), Brian Schneider (2) SB: Shane Victorino (4), Placido Polanco 2 (3), Jason Bartlett (4)

- I wrote somewhere I thought Mat Latos was in for a down season being a perfect candidate to break down via the Verducci Effect. Of course, I contradicted myself and drafted him in a couple of places. While it's early, the five home runs and nine walks in only 16.2 innings are reasons for concern.

- Roy Oswalt had Thursday circled in red on his calendar, knowing he was going to look good with the Padres in town. He threw six scoreless innings, allowing only one single.

- I upgraded Jose Contreras a couple of weeks ago in the Barometer and he hasn't disappointed. He's a perfect five-for-five in save opportunities and his velocity continues to be up since converting to a reliever. He worked himself out of a jam when Brad "I'm no longer in Coors" Hawpe struck out looking.

Boston 4 – Los Angeles 2

- W: Bobby Jenks (1-1) L: Rich Thompson (0-1) S: Jonathan Papelbon (4) HR: Torii Hunter (4) SB: Dustin Pedroia (1), Darnell McDonald (1) Carl Crawford (3) CS: Jacoby Ellsbury (2)

- Josh Beckett was dealing until the seventh inning when he gave up a two-run homer to Hunter. The outing raised his ERA to a despicable 1.93.

- Jordan Walden threw another scoreless frame and has yet to see his ERA rise above zero…point…zero.

- Would you have believed me if I told you before the season started that Carl Crawford would be batting seventh and Jacoby Ellsbury would be batting ninth? Ellsbury batting ninth isn't a surprise it's a combo of both of those spots that's surprising. Crawford was 0-for-3 but did walk twice. You likely won't get him at a discount in most leagues but I'd throw an offer out for him trying to buy for 70-80 cents on the dollar.