Orioles 4, Red Sox 1

- "Good Feeling Gone" - It's been awhile since I've riffed off of Finding Nemo, but that's the vibe I get from the Red Sox after Zach Britton shut them down. Granted, they're not the first nor the last to get bested by Britton, but this stood out in this past weekend's tour-de-force against the Angels. About the only negative from Britton was that he had only two strikeouts in his six innings, but I think that he's one of those "strikeouts will catch up to the stuff" pitchers. If you're drafting today, how much do you bid on him in an AL-only league? Where does he slot for you among starting pitchers?
- The Red Sox had a chance to get to .500 had they won last night; that the Yankees aren't pulling away has to be encouraging for them at least. But at what point are they going to address their catching situation? Jarrod Saltalamacchia is a mess defensively and Jason Varitek's 1-for-3 moved him up to .100 for the season.
- Clay Buchholz isn't cured yet - he allowed 12 hits over his 6.2 innings of work. On the bright side, he struck out more (5) than he walked (2) for just the second time in five starts. I'm still bullish that there's a rebound coming with him, but maybe we were wrong to believe that the strikeouts would catch up to him (the same belief that we have with Britton, by the way). The poker equivalent to this would be "fancy play syndrome" - in an effort to deceive our hand, we lose track of the fundamentals. Strikeouts (and walks) are a good indicator - and we can't ignore when they're not there. We can have faith that they'll come - just as we'll have faith that we'll catch our open-ender on the turn. But sometimes it can be a faith-based investment rather than a fact-based one, especially if we're paying full price.
- Matt Wieters finally made an out with runners in scoring position. Clearly he's no longer a clutch hitter.
- After a promising weekend in Anaheim, Carl Crawford went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, while batting eighth.
- SB: Dustin Pedroia (3); SV: Kevin Gregg (3).

Indians 9, Royals 4

- Grady Sizemore had an incredibly encouraging performance, doubling twice and hitting his third homer since coming off the DL. He also got caught stealing - it was his first attempt since returning from knee surgery.
- Sizemore wasn't the only offensive story - the team had five homers overall, including two from Jack Hannahan. Lonnie Chisenhall has started slowly at Triple-A Columbus (.213/.319/.344 in 61 at-bats), but Hannahan's start to the season has nonetheless bought him a little time at third base.
- Shin-Soo Choo's third homer of the season broke open a close game, and he also stole his fifth bag of the year.
- Carlos Carrasco (elbow) will throw a bullpen session Wednesday to see if he can make his next start Saturday.
- The Royals got some mileage from their bullpen in the first two weeks of the season, but they're starting to show some wear in that department now. Louis Coleman and Tim Collins gave up homers in this one.
- If something should happen to Chris Perez, Vinnie Pestano might be worth a look. He escaped a bases loaded, no-out situation he inherited from Tony Sipp in the eighth inning, has a 1.00 ERA over nine innings and a 12:3 K:BB.
- HR: Melky Cabrera (2), Sizemore (3), Choo (3), Hannahan 2 (4), Matt LaPorta (3); SB: Mike Aviles (5), Melky Cabrera (2), Choo (5); CS: Sizemore (1).

Giants 3, Pirates 2, 10 innings

- Tuesday's game was a great illustration in how the official scorer and/or arcane scoring rules can shape our silly little game:

- First, Jose Veras was hung with a blown save despite retiring all five batters he faced, because he happened to come into the game with a runner on third base and allowed a sacrifice fly. Nevermind that he never had a chance to record the save itself - that would have gone to Joel Hanrahan had the Pirates carried the lead into the ninth.
- Second, Joel Hanrahan's run allowed in the 10th was unearned, because a throwing error advanced Darren Ford from first to third - except that it was Hanrahan's own error.
- Finally, Lyle Overbay's throw to home plate on the winning run was errant, but because the scorer ruled that the runner would have scored anyhow, there was no error charged. I don't get that - an error is an error, no? From a fantasy standpoint, the ruling didn't have an impact because Hanrahan's error already made the run unearned.

- Charlie Morton allowed only one run over six innings, striking out six. His ERA is down to 3.00 and he's allowed three or fewer runs in four of his five starts, despite an 18:18 K:BB.
- Brandon Wood went 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout while batting eighth. He was later swapped out as part of a double-switch.
- HR: Garrett Jones (4); SB: Aubrey Huff (2), Matt Diaz (1); CS: Ronny Cedeno (2); SV: Brian Wilson (6).

Mariners 7, Tigers 3

- Speaking of official scoring, Ryan Raburn had a ball go off his glove and over the fence - he was going back on the ball and was right where the warning track starts. The ball, hit by Miguel Olivo, was ruled a homer and not an error - how is that possibly correct?
- Don't cry for Phil Coke, though - he was awful despite that scoring misstep. He allowed a legitimate homer to Justin Smoak, who was returning from bereavement leave, and overall gave up seven runs on eight hits over 4.1 innings. That's twice now that the Mariners have gotten the best of him.
- Felix Hernandez only went six innings after throwing 126 pitches in his previous outing - the M's intended to keep his pitch-count down around 100 (he ended throwing 102 pitches) this time.
- Will Rhymes went 0-for-3 (albeit with a walk and a run scored) - he's down to hitting .185 with no extra-base hits. Meanwhile, Scott Sizemore is hitting .411/.500/.554 at Triple-A Toledo. Obvious solutions remain obvious.
- HR: Olivo (1), Smoak (3); SB: Milton Bradley (2).

White Sox 3, Yankees 2

- Chances that Chris Liss gives me grief on-air Wednesday morning about suggesting he not start Gavin Floyd against the Yankees this week? 99.88 percent. Chances that it comes up in the first segment? 95.42 percent. (All bets off if he reads this blog first.) Floyd held the Yankees to two runs over eight innings, striking out 10 in the process.
- Did Ivan Nova pitch well enough to keep his job in the rotation? He went 6.1 innings, allowing just one run on five hits and two walks, striking out three.
- Rafael Soriano was already the whipping boy in the New York baseball media - that's not going to change after he allowed Paul Konerko's go-ahead homer in the eighth.
- Brent Lillibridge completely bailed out Sergio Santos with back-to-back great catches to end the game, with two runners on-base. Santos got his second save in two days. Floyd started the ninth and gave up a leadoff single before Matt Thornton came in - Thornton got one out on a sacrifice bunt before walking Mark Teixeira and giving way to Santos.
- Gustavo Molina got a token start behind the plate for the Yankees.
- HR: Konerko (5), Robinson Cano (5), Brett Gardner (2); SB: Alexis Rios (3); CS: Juan Pierre (6!), Alexei Ramirez (2); S: Santos (2).

Mets 6, Nationals 4

- Five of the six last-place division teams won Tuesday night, including the Mets, who have won five in a row now.
- Chris Young went 4.2 innings in his first start coming off the DL, allowing three runs, all on solo homers.
- Daniel Murphy started at second base for the fourth game in a row and now has 10 games logged at second base, enough to qualify him there in many leagues. After going 2-for-4 he's now hitting .288/.362/.442.
- The Nats put Ian Desmond on paternity leave and called up Roger Bernadina. Alex Cora got the start at shortstop.
- Doug Slaten gave up the deciding hit in the game, a two-run double in the sixth by Josh Thole. Scoresheet leaguers note that his ERA could be higher - he has also allowed eight of 19 inherited runners to score.
- HR: Jayson Werth (4), Wilson Ramos 2 (2); SB: Rick Ankiel (4); S: Francisco Rodriguez (5).

Marlins 4, Dodgers 2

- Hanley Ramirez has made an adjustment to his batting stance to eliminate a high leg-kick. He had a pinch-hit single Monday and then had two more hits Tuesday - both singles. He still hasn't homered yet this season and has just four extra-base hits.
- Chris Volstad held the Dodgers to two runs over seven innings, allowing seven hits and a walk to go along with five strikeouts. Because they have Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier in the middle of the lineup, the Dodgers aren't quite the Padres in terms of streaming possibilities, but for the most part they're a good spot.
- I didn't get a chance to see the radar readings on Clayton Kershaw, but he didn't have a good outing Tuesday after throwing 122 pitches in his previouus start, clearly laboring in his final inning last week to try to finish the game. Kershaw went 5.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks, striking out five.
- Kenley Jansen pitched two scoreless innings with the Dodgers trailing, hours after the conflicting news on Jonathan Broxton's status as the closer. He won't be considered as an option to close right now, but this at least was an encouraging outing.
- HR: Gaby Sanchez (3); SB: James Loney (1); SV: Leo Nunez (7).

Astros 6, Cardinals 5

- Mitchell Boggs had his first blown save of the year, allowing four hits, committing an error and throwing a wild pitch in the process. He shouldn't lose the closer's role because of this, but he's probably on a very short leash, especially with Eduardo Sanchez throwing so well and Jason Motte still waiting in the wings. Like Hanrahan, one of Boggs' runs were unearned.
- Albert Pujols didn't start but was able to pinch-hit, though he drew an intentional walk.
- Ryan Theriot was scratched from the lineup because of soreness in his rib cage. The Cardinals are already down one middle infielder in Skip Schumaker. We might end up seeing a lot of Tyler Greene after all.
- Brian Bogusevic got the call Tuesday after Jason Michaels went on the DL. The problem here though is that there's not a clear path for playing time for him.
- HR: Hunter Pence (4); SB: Tyler Greene (5), Yadier Molina (1); CS: Lance Berkman (2), Bill Hall (1).

Blue Jays 10, Rangers 3

- Matt Harrison had his first really bad outing, giving up seven runs on eight hits and three walks. I'm really interested to see how well he bounces back from this. In the past, he's had a bad outing and then subsequently scuffled.
- No homers from Jose Bautista on Tuesday - just a double and two walks. Clearly he stinks.
- Adam Lind broke out in a big way, with two homers and five RBI. Oddly enough, he's doing much better against lefties this year, hitting .360/.385/.600 - super caveat, this is in just 25 at-bats.
- Frank Francisco still isn't pitching in high-leverage situations. This time he pitched a scoreless eighth inning, protecting a seven-run lead.
- Edwin Encarnacion missed his fourth game in a row with a wrist injury. Mike McCoy started in his place.
- HR: Adam Lind 2 (3); SB: John McDonald (1).

Rockies 4, Cubs 3

- Welcome back Todd Helton? Helton homered twice, raising his line to .317/.371/.540 on the season. He's not going to hit more than 10-15 homers on the season, but he had a .904 OPS as recently as 2009, and now he's unowned in the vast majority of mixed leagues out there. That's pretty eye-opening to have a starting first baseman in Coors Field, batting in the middle of the Rockies' lineup and still have him on the waiver wire.
- Jorge De La Rosa was superb against the Cubs, allowing two runs (one earned), striking out nine. The key number - zero walks. Granted, the Cubs are hardly patient up there, but given De La Rosa's previous walk issues, it's still noteworthy.
- Carlos Gonzalez was out of the starting lineup to "clear his head." He came into the game as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning.
- HR: Todd Helton 2 (3), Ty Wigginton (2), Alfonso Soriano (7); SB: Ty Wigginton (2), Chris Iannetta (1), Starlin Castro (4); CS: Jonathan Herrera (2); SV: Huston Street (9) - Street did allow Soriano's homer, however.

Brewers 3, Reds 2

- All five runs on the game were produced by homers - a two-run shot by Brandon Phillips and three solo homers for the Brewers.
- Logan Ondrusek has taken over, temporarily at least, for Nick Masset as the primary right-handed set-up guy. After giving up Rickie Weeks' game-winning homer, that might be short-lived.
- Master tactician Dusty Baker struck again in the eighth inning, letting Mike Leake stay in to bunt/hit - instead, Leake struck out. Then Leake was replaced by Ondrusek to start the bottom of the eighth anyhow. Facepalm.
- Jeremy Hermida got a token start in place of Jonny Gomes in left field, going 0-for-3 with a strikeout. He's 0-for-12 with six K's since getting the call. Chances are Fred Lewis will take his roster spot when Lewis is ready.
- John Axford pitched a perfect ninth to get the save and has had three straight clean appearances. That buy low window is closing.
- HR: Brandon Phillips (3), Rickie Weeks (6), Ryan Braun (9!), Prince Fielder (4); CS: Carlos Gomez - picked off; SV: Axford (5).