Let’s be honest. With the conclusion of the Masters and two of the hottest pitching prospects making their first minor league starts, there was probably more hype outside the Major League’s on Sunday.
Nevertheless, we still saw the closest thing to a complete game shutout from Roy Halladay and a nice MLB debut from first-round pick Mike Leake. Without further delay, let’s delve into what took place Sunday afternoon.
Sunday’s best: Roy Halladay (PHI) – 9 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Sunday’s worst: David Ortiz (BOS)- 0-for-4, 4 K, 5 LOB
Tigers 9, Indians 8
- Travis Hafner has hit safely in five of the Indians six games and has knocked in a run in three straight games. If his shoulder holds up he should be a nice source of cheap power.
- Chris Perez blew his first save of the season but his job is safe for now. … Magglio Ordonez continued his hot hitting by collecting two more hits and knocking in two runs.
- Austin Jackson now has three multi-hit games on the season.
- Justin Verlander pitched poorly for the second consecutive start. Hopefully he’s not feeling the effects of the 240 innings he pitched last year.
Marlins 6, Dodgers 5
- Knuckleballer Charlie Haeger struck out 12 Marlins in six innings, but he did walk four batters. Control will always be a problem for Haeger so he’s still not a matchups play at this point. … Jorge Cantu, who has an RBI in every game this season, drove in five on Sunday and hit his second home run of the season.
- Cameron Maybin is hitting in a very favorable spot in the Marlins lineup. He’s protected by Hanley Ramirez and also has Cantu and Dan Uggla hitting behind him. If he can get on base, expect a lot of runs out of him this year.
Nationals 5, Mets 2
- Josh Willingham belted a homer and drove in five runs. He did have 24 home runs last year in only 427 at bats.
- Jeff Francoeur raised his average to .476 with two hits. Don’t overlook him, after all he did hit .311 with 10 home runs in 75 games for the Mets last year.
- Johan Santana failed to build off of his first start of the season, letting up five runs in five innings while only striking out three batters.
Reds 3, Cubs 1
- Mike Leake, Cincinnati’s first round pick a year ago, pitched pretty well in his major league debut. He pitched 6 2/3 innings, surrendering only one run and striking out five batters. The only blemishes were the seven walks, which is expected from a young pitcher. Don’t rush out to add him yet, but he makes a pretty nice matchups play.
- Geovany Soto’s struggles continue and while the signs have not been encouragins so far, I still like him for a bounce back this year.
Blue Jays 5, Orioles 2
- Shaun Marcum pitched well again for the Jays and if he’s on your waiver wire pick him up now.
- Brian Roberts was not in the lineup for the second straight game and his strained abdominal muscle could force him to the DL.
Yankees 7, Rays 3
- Curtis Granderson collected two more hits and stole his third base of the year. This looks like it could be a monster year for New York’s new center fielder.
- At least A.J. Burnett got the win because he only struck out one batter. You likely won’t see that again from him.
- Tough game for B.J. Upton as he went 0-for-3 and stranded six men on base.
- Jason Bartlett continues to prove he’s a good source of average, runs and stolen bases, however, I’d like to see him repeat last year’s power performance before I fully trust him.
Phillies 2, Astros 1
- Cy, I mean Roy Halladay pitched a complete game letting up no earned runs and striking out eight batters. He will have a better year than Tim Lincecum. Mark it down.
- Roy Oswalt looked good, striking out eight Phillies in six innings and only letting up two runs. He appears healthy at the moment but the injury bug could bite him at any time.
White Sox 5, Twins 4
- Denard Span continues to struggle at the plate but don’t do anything rash like drop him. If you don’t have him maybe send a low-ball offer for him just in case his owner is of the impatient type.
- The criminally underrated Paul Konerko slugged his third home run of the season.
- Gordon Beckham hit his first home run of the season and is poised to take the next step.
Red Sox 8, Royals 6
- Jacoby Ellsbury left the game holding his ribs after colliding with Adrian Beltre. X-rays came back negative but expect him to miss the next game or two.
- Speaking of Beltre, he raised his average to .400 with three hits.
- David Ortiz put on the Golden Sombrero Sunday afternoon going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. With Mike Lowell and Jeremy Hermida on the bench, Ortiz doesn’t have as long a leash as he had last year.
- Gil Meche came off the DL and pitched a stinker. Watch him in his next few starts to see if he shows improvement before picking him up.
Rangers 9, Mariners 2
- Franklin Gutierrez continues his hot hitting and should see plenty of RBI opportunities batting in the meat of the Mariners’ lineup.
- Vladimir Guerrero is now batting .500 on the season after another multi-hit game.
- Scott Feldman pitched seven innings again, surrendering only one run and striking out four batters. Last year was not a fluke.
Rockies 4, Padres 2
- Chase Headley had two more hits on Sunday to bring his average up to .440. A former top prospect, Headley looks primed for a breakout season now that he’s back at his familiar position at third base.
- Miguel Olivo hit his second home run of the season and is clearly outperforming Chris Iannetta at this point of the season.
Athletics 9, Angels 4
- Jake Fox got the start at catcher for Oakland. If/when he gets catcher eligibility he is definitely someone to add.
- Dallas Braden didn’t strike out 10 batters this time but he did have a quality start and got the win.
- Brandon Wood went hitless again so look for Maicer Izturis to start stealing some at bats in the immediate future.
Giants 6, Braves 3
- Jason Heyward hit his third home run in his big league career. Let’s face it. This kid is going to be great, but temper your expectations this year and don’t count on 30 home runs or a .300 average in 2010.
- Pablo Sandoval hit his first home run of the season and could approach 30 this year.
Diambacks 15, Pirates 6
- Lastings Milledge batted third for the Pirates and responded with three hits. Reports are that he has learned a lot in the maturity department from Andrew McCutchen and if he continues to show progress, he could become a classic post-hype sleeper.
- Chris Young and Kelly Johnson both hit their third home runs of the season. It looks like these guys are becoming fantasy relevant once again.
Brewers 8, Cardinals 7
- Ryan Ludwick batted second again for the Cardinals as if looks like Tony LaRussa will continue to do this against lefties.
- Albert Pujols hit two more home runs and drove in in four runs. I’m pretty sure he really is a machine. … Rickie Weeks hit his second home run of the season. He is now batting .368 with six runs and four RBI.
- Trevor Hoffman blew his second consecutive save. Although Texas and Baltimore have already made closing changes, Hoffman won’t lose his job considering he is seven saves away from 600. Todd Coffey is next in line for saves if something were to happen to Hoffman.
No comments yet.