Rays 2, Angels 1



- ho hum, James Shields was dominant again, tossing eight shutout innings with a 12:1 K:BB ratio before allowing a leadoff double in the ninth that Kyle Farnsworth couldn't keep from coming around.

- Joel Pineiro made a strong 2011 debut, retiring the first 12 batters he faced and giving up just one run over seven innings. The 3:1 K:BB ratio is about what you should be expecting.

- Farnsworth's blown save was his first, but it's not like he got hit hard. For the record, Joel Peralta struck out two in a perfect 10th to get the win, and might be the guy to own as insurance if you're worried about Farnsworth's shelf life.

- Sam Fuld is now 1-for his last-23 without a steal, although he has walked five times during that stretch. His current overall line of .289/.358/.433 wouldn't be a outrageous expectation going forward if you knock off about 30 points of SLG, based on his minor league resume.

- Rodney brought home the winning run in the 10th with a wild pitch. Jordan Walden's closer gig is safe as houses.



W: Peralta (1-0) HR: Matt Joyce (2) CS: Peter Bourjos (4)





Phillies 2, Mets 1



- ho hum, another dominant complete game from Roy Halladay, the 60th CG of his career in fact. He threw his first 18 pitches for strikes, and ended up allowing one run on seven hits and a walk while striking out eight. The Mets should be thankful they managed to get the one run across.

- Jon Niese was the hard-luck loser, holding Philly scoreless through six before he got touched for two runs.

- John Mayberry Jr. got the first run off Niese with a solo home run, boosting his line on the season to .345/.424/.57, albeit in only 29 at-bats.



W: Halladay (4-1) HR: Mayberry (1) CS: Ben Francisco (2)





Cardinals 3, Braves 2



- ho hum, another low scoring affair. Jake Westbrook served up a Dave Duncan special, allowing two runs in six innings despite a 1:3 K:BB ratio, while Brandon Beachy gave up two runs through seven with a far more palatable 5:1 K:BB ratio.
- it was Johnny Venters' turn to blow the save, one night after Craig Kimbrel got the honors, although Kimbrel still took the loss. Kimbrel served up up a triple to Gerald Laird though, which is a whole 'nother level of embarassing.

- on Saturday the Cards' Wheel of Closers stopped on Fernando Salas, who struck out two and walked one in a shutout ninth. I do find it very interesting that Tony LaRussa, the guy who essentially turned the notion that relievers need clearly defined roles to thrive into Conventional Wisdom, has now gone to a full-bore closer committee.

- David Freese went 2-for-4 with two RBI and is now hitting .365/.396/.482 despite a 4:22 BB:K ratio in 85 at-bats. I think there might be some regression coming there. Obvious recapper is obvious.



W: Miguel Batista (2-1) SV: Salas (2) CS: Jason Heyward (1)





Giants 2, Nationals 1



- this is getting ridiculous. Am I recapping games from 2011 or 1967?

- both teams got bad news on their star third basemen Saturday: Pedro Sandoval broke his hamate bone and will miss 4-6 weeks, while Ryan Zimmerman will have to go under the knife to repair an abdominal muscle and will be out about the same amount of time.

- the Giants' post-Panda lineup saw Miguel Tejada at third and Mike Fontenot at shortstop. Fontenot went 2-for-4 and might end up being the big playing time winner while Sandoval recovers.

- you're not going to find a better example of offensive futility than the Nats' half of the first inning, when Jonathan Sanchez managed to walk four batters and none of them came around to score. Sanchez ended up walking six in total over five innings, and got charged with only an unearned run.

- John Lannan's smoke and mirrors act was firing on all cylinders, as he gave up two runs on six hits and three walks over 6.2 frames. He did strike out a career-high three batters though. OK, that's not his career high, but it feels like it should be.

- Henry Alberto Rodriguez made his season debut, striking out two in a perfect inning of relief. To be fair, the strikeout victims were Eli Whiteside and Madison Bumgerner, but Rodriguez was sitting comfortably in the 98-99 mph range with his fastball so it's not like he didn't earn those K's.

- Bumgarner wasn't pitching, by the way - he was used as a pinch-hitter. If some team finally cries "Enough!" about their bloated major league bullpen and scales the pitching staff back down to 11 max or even 10, it will be because of something like this.

- one more sign of how pathetic an offensive display this game was: Rick Ankiel had Washington's only two hits in the game. RICK ANKIEL.



W: Guillermo Mota (2-0) SV: Brian Wilson (8) HR: Whiteside (1) CS: Darren Ford (2), Ian Desmond (1)





Rangers 11 (finally!), A's 2



- credit for the day's first burst of offense lies squarely on the shoulders of Brett Anderson, who surrendered seven runs on nine hits (including three home runs) and four walks over five innings. His ERA on the season is still just 2.95 though, so don't fret too much over one bad start.

- Colby Lewis cruised through eight innings, giving up two runs (both on solo shots) with a 6:1 K:BB ratio.

- Brett Tomko made his third appearance for the Rangers, and the first in which he didn't give up a run. He did walk two batters in his one inning though. Seriously, Texas, you're burning a roster spot on Brett Tomko? For shame.

- Mitch Moreland was the guy making his owners clench their teeth, going 0-for-3 while the rest of the team racked up 14 hits.



W: Lewis (2-3) HR: Michael Young (1), Nelson Cruz (7), Mike Napoli (6), Kurt Suzuki (2), Josh Willingham (4) SB: Elvis Andrus (8), Conor Jackson (2) CS: Napoli (1)





Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4



- Kyle Drabek couldn't get out of the third inning, getting tagged for five runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out four. He's talented, but there will be growing pains.

- A.J. Burnett was just good enough to get the win, giving up four runs on nine hits in six innings, with a 4:0 K:BB ratio.

- Rajai Davis hit leadoff for the second straight day, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Given the way the Jays have been running wild this season, Davis should be at the top of your target list if you need steals.



W: Burnett (4-1) SV: Mariano Rivera (9) HR: Mike McCoy (1) SB: Edwin Encarnacion (1), Juan Rivera (1), Jose Bautista (4), Robinson Cano (2) CS: Rivera (2)





Indians 3, Tigers 2



- Alex White fought his control in his big league debut but was otherwise solid, giving up two runs on six hits and four walks over six innings while striking out four.

- Rick Porcello also turned in another good start as he continues to turn the corner, allowing two runs in seven innings with a 7:1 K:BB ratio. He's now got a 17:3 K:BB ratio over his last 19.2 innings to go along with a 1.83 ERA.

- Miguel Cabrera went 2-for-3 with his seventh home run and also walked three times, putting his slash line at .333/.454/.635. If you got him at any kind of discount due to his off-the-field issues rearing their ugly head again this spring, congratulations.

- Al Albuquerque not only has a fantastic name, he's got fantastic stuff. He took over for Porcello in the eighth and proceeded to throw three perfect innings while striking out six, giving him a 16:4 K:BB ratio in his first 8.1 innings. These are the guys for whom the LIMA approach was developed - forget about the fact that he doesn't have a fantasy-friendly role yet, you want this arm on your staff.

- big games on the Cleveland side came from Michael Brantley (3-for-6 with his first home run) and Orlando Cabrera (also 3-for-6). And for the third straight game, Carlos Santana's only hit left the yard.



W: Tony Sipp (1-0) HR: MCabrera (7), Ryan Raburn (4), Santana (5), Brantley (1) CS: Austin Jackson (2)





Astros 2, Brewers 1



- Wandy Rodriguez and Randy Wolf were both dealing Saturday. Wolf was good, allowing just one run on four hits and two walks over seven innings with four K's, but Rodriguez was downright nasty, ringing up eight shutout innings with a 6:0 K:BB ratio.

- needless to say, Rodriguez was denied the W when Brandon Lyon coughed up a Price Fielder solo home run in the ninth. To then add insult to injury, Lyon got the win instead.

- Jason Bourgeois was the hero for Houston, going 3-for-5 (accounting for half the team's hit total) with two steals, scoring the Astros' first run and driving home their second in the bottom of the ninth.

- the irrepressible Ryan Braun went 2-for-4 with two doubles.



W: Lyon (3-1) HR: Fielder (6), SB: Bourgeois 2 (7)





Orioles 6, White Sox 2



- until Matt Thornton came into the game, this one was a pitcher's duel too. Chris Tillman's pitch count got away from him and he was gone after three batters in the sixth inning, but he was only charged with one run (on six hits and two walks) over that stretch to get the W. Philip Humber also had another strong start, getting touched for two runs on just three hits and a walk over seven innings, striking out five.

- Thornton, though... yikes. Four runs (three earned) on three hits and a walk while only retiring one batter. His ERA is now 8.64, and there might be guys in Double-A that Ozzie Guillen would trust with a save chance before Thornton right now.

- Robert Andino went 2-for-4 with his first home run and first steal. He's hitting .348/.412/.435 and has shown in the minors he can be a double-digit power and speed guy with regular at-bats. It's not like J.J. Hardy is too good to get Pipped.

- Mike Gonzalez was suddenly effective again, striking out four over two shutout innings. Supposedly manager Buck Showalter told him "Hey, you've got nothing to lose" when he handed him the ball, which was both cruel and not entirely accurate. But hey, it worked.



W: Tillman (1-2) HR: Andino (1), Alexis Rios (1) SB: Andino (1), Nick Markakis (1)





Reds 4, Marlins 3



- Joey Votto became the first guy to get a hit off Josh Johnson in Johnson's first pass through the opposing order, but that's about all the Reds managed to do right against him. Johnson tossed up another seven shutout innings, giving up five hits and two walks while striking out six to drop his ERA to 0.88.

- Edinson Volquez walked five in five innings but otherwise wasn't bad, allowing just one run to score on two hits.

- the bullpens were a different story though. Aroldis Chapman gave up two runs in an inning of work, walking three and striking out three, but the real arsonist was Edward Mujica, who faced four batters and gave up four hits in the eighth inning, with three of them scoring.

- Chris Coghlan was back in center field after ongoing shoulder woes kept him out of action Friday. He went 0-for-3 but walked twice and stole a base (and was also caught stealing). Regardless of what impact the shoulder has on his numbers, it's encouraging to see him get more aggressive on the base paths.



W: Francisco Cordero (1-0) SB: Coghlan (2), Votto (4), Jay Bruce (4) CS: Coghlan (2)





Royals 11, Twins 2



- some weird pitching lines in this one. Sean O'Sullivan walked SEVEN batters in six innings but still escaped with only two runs (one earned) on his ledger, as the Twins only managed two hits off him.

- Brian Duensing pitched better than O'Sullivan but took the loss, giving up three runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks over seven innings while K'ing six.

- the Royals Dynamic Duo, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon, each collected two hits and went yard. Alcides Escobar wore the dunce cap as the only Royal to go ohfer during a 13-hit blitz.

- Joe Nathan had another one of those weird lines, getting tagged with three runs (two earned) in just two-thirds of an inning despite only giving up one hit and one walk. His third baserunner came on a HBP, and all three scored thanks to Jim Hoey and some awful defense by Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau. In fact between them Nathan, Hoey and Jose Mijares got saddled with six unearned runs during an eight run Kansas City eighth.



W: Nate Adcock (1-0) HR: Butler (3), Gordon (2) SB: Jarrod Dyson (7)





Mariners 2, Red Sox 0



- Doug Fister walked into Fenway and gave up five hits and five walks in 5.2 innings... and the Sawx couldn't get anybody across the plate.

- John Lackey wasn't much better, giving up seven hits and four walks over six innings, but the M's manage to plate two of their baserunners.

- it was a normal day at work for Milton Bradley, who had an RBI double and an ejection.

- Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-3, walked twice, scored a run and stole two bases.

- Mariners cleanup watch: Miguel Olivo hit fourth for Seattle in this one, going 0-for-4 and leaving four runners on base. Presumably this was done to break up the switch-hitters in the heart of the order.



W: Fister (2-3) SV: Brandon League (7) SB: Suzuki 2 (10)





Cubs 5, Diamondbacks 3



- Matt Garza finally got a win for his troubles, striking out 10 (against two walks) over eight innings while giving up three runs.

- Ian Kennedy was only a little worse in a no-decision, posting a 6:1 K:BB ratio over 7.2 innings while also allowing three runs.

- Alfonso Soriano homered for the third straight day, giving him 10 blasts in April. reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.

- the Cubs' double play duo continued doing damage at the plate as well, with both Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney collecting two hits, a run scored and an RBI.



W: Garza (1-3) SV: Carlos Marmol (7) HR: Soriano (10)





Rockies 4, Pirates 1



- Jason Hammel gave up a leadoff home run to Andrew McCutchen and then settled down nicely, allowing six hits and two walks over seven innings with McCutchen's solo shot being the only run against him.

- Paul Maholm wasn't particularly sharp, getting tagged for four runs on seven hits and three walks in seven innings.

- Carlos Gonzalez's bat might be waking up, as he went 2-for-4 with a run scored.



W: Hammel (3-1) SV: Huston Street (10) HR: McCutchen (5), Chris Iannetta (3) SB: Garrett Jones (2)





Padres 5, Dodgers 2



- Andre Ethier went 2-for-4 with a run scored, extending his hitting streak to 26 games (second-longest in Dodger history) and tying the club record for most hits in April with 40.

- Tim Stauffer and Hiroki Kuroda were both solid, each giving up two runs with Stauffer posting an excellent 7:1 K:BB ratio in 6.2 innings and Kuroda with an also excellent 7:2 ratio in seven innings.

- Jerry Sands took another ohfer, and his slash line is now .190/.255/.310, with 13 K's in 42 at-bats. Looks like the Dodgers are stuck with James Loney (who actually got a hit and an RBI Saturday, and has inched his BA up to .21) for a while yet.



W: Luke Gregerson (1-1) SV: Heath Bell (6)