Indians 7 - Royals 2

- Josh Tomlin stayed undefeated after his 6 inning, 2 earned run performance.  He gave up two homers, but luckily they were both solo shots.  Four of the five homers he's given up this season have been with no runners on base.  I wonder how long that'll last?  As long as he keeps his walks to a minimum, which he has with 2 in his last three starts combined, he should be ok.
- Jeff Francis had another poor effort as he tries to prove that his hot start was start was nothing to get excited about.  He threw three innings and allowed 6 runs (5 earned) on 10 hits.  That's 8 earned runs in his last 7 innings.  Hey, at least he didn't walk anybody, right? 
- Jeff Francoeur stayed hot with a double and home run in a 2-4 game.  He's up to a .330/.370/.593 batting line.
- Speaking of hot, all of the Indians starters got a hit tonight.  Shin-Soo Choo got two hits and a walk to raise his batting line to .239/.303/.375.  He now has a hit in 7 of his last 8 games.
- W: Josh Tomlin (4-0), L: Jeff Francis (0-3)
- HR: Jeff Francoeur (5), Mike Aviles (4)
- SB: Shin-Soo Choo (6), Jack Hannahan (1)

Yankees 3 - White Sox 1

- Bartolo Colon pitched like a man possessed.  He went 8 innings with 1 earned run, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts.  Where did this come from?  He sat 91-93 mph with his fastball and touched 96 at one point.  Again, where did this come from?  I'm convinced Buffalo Bill has made a fat suit out of Colon's skin and is now pitching for the Yankees.  Little known fact: Buffalo Bill is quite the pitcher.
- Mark Buehrle pitched than he has recently, going 7 innings and giving up 3 earned runs.  His strikeout to walk ratio has picked up in his last three starts (15/6), but he's been far too hittable.  His ERA now stands at 5.12
- Robinson Cano did what Robinson Cano does by hitting a 3-run homer that provided all the runs the Yankees would need. 
- Carlos Quentin went 3-3 with a run and double.  No one got on base in front of him, so thus the no RBI.
- Adam Dunn registered his first two hit game since opening day.  Still has only three extra base hits on the season.  A .297 slugging percentage is not what you expect from the big Texan.
- W: Bartolo Colon (2-1), L: Mark Buehrle (1-3), SV: Mariano Rivera (8)
- HR: Robinson Cano (6)

Orioles 5 - Red Sox 4

- Josh Beckett had a ho-hum start with 4 earned runs in 6 innings.  He gave up back-to-back home runs to Luke Scott and Adam Jones with two outs in the 4th inning, but he didn't walk anyone for the first time since August of last season. 
- Jeremy Guthrie pitched 6 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts and 1 walk.  That's now four starts where he has allowed 2 earned runs or less and walked 1 batter or less.  That's impressive, no matter who the pitcher is.  He's stuck at 1 win on the season because of poor run support and the bullpen.
- Derrek Lee might finally be pulling out of his early season funk as he collected three hits, to give him five in his last two games.  He's still stuck on 2 RBI on the season, which is surely frustrating his owners (me).
- Carl Crawford went hitless for the 13th time this season.  If you guessed he was hitting .156/.200/.222, you'd be right.
- W: Koji Uehara (1-0), L: Daniel Bard (0-3), SV: Kevin Gregg (4)
- HR: Kevin Youkilis (5), Luke Scott (3), Adam Jones (5)

A's 2 - Angels 1

- Tyson Ross and Dan Haren engaged in a pitcher's duel as both pitched 7 innings with no earned runs.  Ross left still in line for the run, thanks to an unearned Landon Powell run, but took the no decision on an unearned run scored on Brian Fuentes.
- Not much hitting to speak of in this game, but Vernon Wells did get a hit, which considering his struggles is something to talk about.  Maybe more important was his strikeout in the bottom of the 9th with two men on and one out. 
- Jordan Walden gave up his first earned run this season in the 10th.  He's sitting pretty with a 0.79 ERA on the season.
- W: Brian Fuentes (1-2), L: Jordan Walden (0-1), SV: Brad Ziegler (1)
- SB: Mark Ellis (3)

Mariners 10 - Tigers 1

- Erik Bedard got his first win of the season with his first non-disaster start of the season.  He allowed one earned run in 7 innings with 5 hits, no walks, and three strikeouts.  It was the first start he had pitched 7 innings in since Cinco de Mayo of '09.  For his sake, I hope we see more of this. 
- Justin Verlander took the loss with 6 innings and 3 earned runs.  He had a play where he turned and threw to second base and basically fired the ball right at the umpire, which was odd.  Aside from that, he struck out 8, which is the norm for him.  Really it was the 3-run home run he gave up in the first inning that did all of the damage.
- If you want to see a clear case for instant replay, check out the play at the plate between Chone Figgins and Alex Avila in the first inning.  Figgins was clearly safe and wasn't even tagged, yet the home plate umpire took a bad angle to judge the play and called Figgins out.  It wasn't even close.
- Justin Smoak hit a 3-run homer the next play and ended up with 5 RBI on two hits.  Considering the punchless nature of the M's offense, it might be a good idea to bat him higher in the lineup.  What do they have to lose?  My condolences go out to him and his family, after the death of his father.
- W: Erik Bedard (1-4), L: Justin Verlander (2-3)
- HR: Justin Smoak (4)
- SB: Chone Figgins (3), Adam Kennedy (1); CS: Chone Figgins (2)

Rangers 7 - Blue Jay 6

- Whatever the opposite of a pitcher's duel is, this was it.  Derek Holland had no command from the first inning and ended up with 3 walks and 11 hits given up for 5 earned runs.  I was a little surprised they send him back out for the 5th inning, but he was in line for the win and the bullpen is soft.  So it's understandable.  With a 5.12 ERA, he's not the best mixed play right now.
- Jo-Jo Reyes gave up 6 unearned runs in the 3rd inning, before being removed in favor of Carlos Villanueva.
- Juan Rivera went 3-4 with a home run.  After his slow start he has a hit in six straight games with 2 homers.
- Mitch Moreland went 1-3 with a homer that put Texas ahead for good. 
- Jose Bautista, Michael Young, and Mike Napoli all hit a double with 2 RBI. 
- Darren Oliver closed out the game for his second save of the season.  It got a little dicey with runners on the corners, but he struck out E5 to end things.
- W: Cody Eppley (1-0), L: Octavio Dotel (1-1), SV: Darren Oliver (2)
- HR: Juan Rivera (2), Mitch Moreland (3)
- SB: Ian Kinsler (3); CS: Corey Patterson (3)

Rays 8 - Twins 2

- What the hell is wrong with Francisco Liriano?  He got DESTROYED by the Rays to the tune of 7 earned runs in 3 innings.  He constantly fell behind batters with only 5 first pitch strikes to 19 of the batters he faced.  I watched him for a bit and didn't think he was even going to make it out of the first inning, after he gave up 4 runs to the first five batters.  The velocity on his fastball was down from the 93.7 it was last season to 90-91 tonight.  I don't think this is just early season bumps along the way, he's either concealing an injury or there's something else affecting him outside of the game.  At a 9.13 ERA, owners in my leagues are peddling him around.  If you're a Liriano owner, what's your course of action here?  I'm betting the Twins put him on the DL soon with a mystery injury.
- Wade Davis allowed 2 earned runs over 6.2 innings with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts.  He has now given up 2 earned runs or less in four straight starts.  The strikeouts were a season high, but don't run out worrying what's wrong with him as he's pitching more to contact to pitch deeper into games, which has worked so far.  He has pitched over 6 innings in all of his starts.  Last season he had a tough time stringing outings like this together.
- Eric Hacker, who was supposed to be tomorrow's starter for the Twins, pitched 3.1 innings with no earned runs.
- Sam Fuld, the legend, went 1-2 with 3 walks and 2 runs.  Last season at triple-A he carried a .383 OBP in 368 at-bats.  If he can continue to get on base like this, we could be looking at 40 stolen bases.  If that seems optimistic to you, consider he already has 10.
- Ben Zobrist went 1-4 with a 3-run triple.  With homers in back-to-back games coming into this one, it looks like he's starting to figure things out.
- W: Wade Davis (3-2), L: Francisco Liriano (1-4)
- SB: Sean Rodriguez (1)

Dodgers 5 - Marlins 4

- Vicente Padilla nailed down his first save of the season with a perfect 10th inning.  No Jonathan Broxton, despite words from Don Mattingly that he is still his closer.  In related news, Matt Guerrier pitched a scoreless 9th.  The Dodgers have the worst bullpen in the NL with a 5.50 ERA coming into to today.  I expect more out of MLB.
- Coming off his 123 pitch count, complete game 1-hitter, Anibal Sanchez lasted 74 pitches before being pulled.  He gave up 3 earned runs on 4 hits and 1 walk with 4 strikeouts.  He was in line for the win when he left, but that never came to pass.
- Chad Billingsley gave up 4 earned in 6 innings with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.  After starting off slow, he had two great starts, before today. 
- Mike Dunn, who I honestly had never heard of before, struck out the side in the 6th inning.  In 7 innings he has 13 strikeouts.  He part of why the Marlins have the best bullpen in the NL with a 1.80 ERA.
- Hot Rod Barajas hit his 5th homer of the season, a 3-run blast.  He hit 19 homers in '09 and 21 in '05, so we've seen him hit for power before.
- Andre Ethier went 2-5, thus extending his hitting streak to 24 games. 
- Casey Blake went on the DL with an infected elbow.  Aaron Miles, come on down, you're the new third baseman for the LA Dodgers!
- Chris Coghlan went 1-4 with 3 RBI and left with an irritated right shoulder.  Hopefully it doesn't keep him out long.  The former ROY is hitting .297/.350/.538.
- W: Matt Guerrier (2-1), L: Brian Sanches (3-1), SV: Vicente Padilla (1)
- HR: Andre Ethier (3), Rod Barajas (5)

Reds 7 - Brewers 6

- Yovani Gallardo got tattooed for 6 runs in 5 innings with 10 hits and 3 walks.  That's four straight starts now where he has yet to register a quality start.  Maybe most alarming is his 3 strikeouts, considering he's a guy who has posted 9.0 plus strikeout rates in back-to-back seasons.  He has increased his ground ball rate and his velocity appears to be fine, so it's probably nothing to worry about.
- Sam LeCure lasted 4.1 innings and gave up 4 runs (3 earned) in the process.  With back-to-back poor starts now, he's probably first on the chopping block when Johnny Cueto/Homer Bailey are ready to come back.
- John Axford pitched a clean 9th.  After putting a runner on in his first 7 appearances, the mustachioed man has allowed just 1 runner in his last four outings. 
- Drew Stubbs, Jay Bruce, and Joey Votto all had nice days at the plate.  Stubbs and Votto got two hits with a homer, while Bruce wrapped out three hits.
- The defensive-minded Paul Janish notched 3 hits.  He's hitting .284 and has me wondering if Edgar Renteria even plays anymore.
- Corey Hart (oblique) made his first start, after coming off the DL.  He went 2-5 with a strikeout.
- W: Aroldis Chapman (2-0), L: Sergio Mitre (0-1), SV: Francisco Cordero (4)
- HR: Drew Stubbs (5), Joey Votto (5)
- SB: Jonny Gomes (5); CS: Corey Hart (1)

Rockies - Cubs was postponed due to rain.

Braves 7 - Padres 0

- Tommy Hanson dominated the Friars for 7 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and only 1 walk.  He shown great control this season, walking 2 batters or less in all of his starts.  The 10 strikeouts are his most since June of last season.  He has also improved his ground ball rate this season.  Basically, it's a great time to be a Hanson owner.
- Mat Latos allowed 1 earned run over 5 innings with 5 strikeouts and 1 walk, but took the loss as the Padres shoddy defense and lack of offense ruled the day.  After his last outing (3 earned runs in 4.1 innings), Latos had owners starting to worry, so hopefully this will ease those fears.  Last April he started off with a 6.20 ERA and then settled into a grove, hopefully today's start is a sign that we're due for a repeat.
- Cory Luebke again pitched 2 scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts.  He had a similar outing two days ago against this Atlanta club.  After his 6 run implosion against Cincinnati earlier this season, he has now reeled off 7.2 scoreless innings.  Luebke was someone I was high on coming into this season and I still have hope that he can move into their rotation once the Dustin Moseley experiment runs its course.
- Larry Wayne Chipper Jones hit a 3-run triple.  Not everyday you see that.
- Jason Heyward went 2-5 with a run and RBI.  I'm happy we're over that whole batting order mess Fredi Gonzalez created.
- Will Venable stole two bases to put him at 8 on the season.  This has to be the quietest 8 stolen bases this season.
- W: Tommy Hanson (3-3), L: Mat Latos (0-4)
- SB: Will Venable (7, 8)

Phillies 8 - Diamondbacks 4

- Cole Hamels pitched 7 innings with 3 earned runs to earn his third win.  After his opening day blow up (6 earned runs in 2.2 innings), he has a 1.55 ERA with a 31/7 strikeout to walk ratio in 29 innings.  Yeah, he's pretty good.
- Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless 9th inning with 2 strikeouts, a walk, and a hit allowed. 
- Chris Young hit homers 6 and 7 and yet has a batting line of .216/.235/.515.  Why do pitchers throw him fastballs?  The guy crushes them and has trouble with anything off-speed. 
- Melvin Mora went 2-4 and played third base.  Ryan Roberts went 0-4 playing left field.
- How good has Placido Polanco been this season?  He wrapped out 4 hits today to push his batting line to .389/.448/.516.
- Jimmy Rollins hit his first homer of the season in a 2-5 effort with 3 RBI.
- W: Cole Hamels (3-1), L: Joe Saunders (0-3)
- HR: Shane Victorino (4), Jimmy Rollins (1), Ryan Howard (4), Chris Young (6, 7)
- CS: John Mayberry (1)

Mets 6 - Nationals 3

- R.A. Dickey and Tom Gorzelanny both took no decisions in this one.  Dickey allowed 2 earned runs in 6.2 innings, while Gorzelanny went 6.1 with 1 earned run.  They both lowered their ERAs to below 4.00.
- If Sean Burnett wasn't out of the closer role before, he is now.  He gave up 4 earned runs and got only 2 outs in this game.  He has now given up 7 earned runs in his last 6 appearances to run his ERA up to 5.73.
- Daniel Murphy hit a 2-run double and solo homer in just two at-bats.  He's quickly making that second base job his to keep. 
- Jason Bay, Ike Davis, and Jayson Werth all went 2-4 with a run.  Since coming off the DL, Bay has a hit in all of his games (6).  I know, I know, sample size, but considering how much time this guy has spent injured, it's encouraging to see him get off to a fast start. 
- Francisco Rodriguez quietly nailed down his 6th save with a scoreless 9th.
- W: Pedro Beato (1-0), L: Sean Burnett (0-1), SV: Francisco Rodriguez (6)
- HR: Daniel Murphy (2)

Pirates 2 - Giants 0

- Two encouraging starts here by Madison Bumgarner and James McDonald.  First Bumgarner, who went 6 innings with 7 strikeouts, 1 earned run, and 6 base runners allowed.  Who cares if it was against the Pirates, he needed this.  He got ahead of batters and missed bats with 13 swinging strikes.  For McDonald, he kept the Giants off the board, which is what matters most, but he also walked more batters than he struck out.  In his first four starts his K/BB was 1/1 with 12 strikeouts and 12 walks.  He'll have to show better command before owners are willing to take a chance on him again any time soon.
- Andrew McCutchen went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts and is now batting .212/.330/.365.  His strikeout rate is up, but his walk rate is also up, his swinging strike rate is down, and his isolated power is similar to what it was last season, so I'm not too concerned. 
- Guillermo Mota continues to fan fools.  After 1.2 innings and 3 strikeouts on Wednesday, he has 18 strikeouts in 16.2 innings with only 2 walks.  An 18/2 K/BB will play nicely in any bullpen.
- W: James McDonald (1-2), L: Madison Bumgarner (0-4), SV: Joel Hanrahan (7)
- CS: Cody Ross (1)

Cardinals 6 - Astros 5

- Kyle Lohse is the latest reason why you put faith in Dave Duncan, when you draft Cardinals pitchers.  He pitched 7 shutout innings with 4 hits and 1 walk against the Astros.  If he has rediscovered his control, why can't he duplicate his '08 season, his first with the Cardinals?  That season his walk rate was 2.21 BB/9 and he ended up with a 3.78 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, and 15 wins.
- With Mitchell Boggs having pitched twice in the last three days, Tony LaRussa turned to rookie Eduardo Sanchez to close the game out.  He gave up two runs, but struck out 2 batters.  That puts him at 14 strikeouts to 1 walk, which leads me to believe that he's going to start closing games sooner or later.  - Three more hits for Brett Wallace, which brings him to a .367/.432/.494 batting line.  Hopefully the power is on the way.
- Nick Punto, David Freese, Matt Holliday, Tyler Greene, and Jon Jay all got at least two hits.  Holliday and Greene put J.A. Happ offerings over the wall. 
- J.A. Happ allowed 2 earned runs over 5 innings, both of which came via home runs.  After out performing his FIP in back-to-back years, I don't have a feeling he'll be doing that this season.  He has no command and his fastball isn't getting past hitters.  I'd say more, but as an Astros fan, he makes my stomach churn. 
- W: Kyle Lohse (4-1), L: J.A. Happ (1-4), SV: Eduardo Sanchez (1)
- HR: Matt Holliday (3), Tyler Greene (1)
- SB: Nick Punto (1)