Thoreau went to the woods to suck the marrow out of life. Burnett went to the desert to get the snot kicked out of him. Arizona waited until two were away in the first before putting the lumber to the Yankee hurler, led by Upton who rocketed a 1-1 fastball to center to put the Diamondbacks in the lead.

Back to back singles by Miguel Montero and Chris Young prompted a visit to the mound. Whatever was discussed backfired, badly. LaRoche was sitting dead red on a 94 mile an hour four seamer that landed over the wall in right-center field. Reynolds would make it 5-0 and prompt the return of endless speculation about what is the problem with A.J. Burnett.

A pair of Yankee Blogs speculated on Dave Eiland's absence and how it is impacting Burnett. But most just looked at the bad, bad, bad results and wailed.

Burnett is an inconsistent pitcher. He possesses tremendous talent, coupled to an infuriating knack for rarely putting it all together, and frequently pitching below replacement level for a month during a season. Last year it was two months, April and August that bedeviled Burnett.

Despite the struggles, Burnett remained fundamentally sound. The failures could be attributed as much to bad luck as subpar performances on the part of Burnett. Baserunners were a minor problem, but the strikeouts were still solid.  He righted himself and pitched great in June and July and again in the autumn.

But this month has seen his strikeout numbers off, his baserunners skyrocket and most telling he has an unprecedented, astronomically high home run rate.  Without evidence of injury, the Yankees have no choice but to watch film, look for mechanical flaws, tipped pitches, anything that might be prompting him to be so hittable in the hopes of righting Burnett.  They can't at least not this week, skip his next turn.

By resting Phil Hughes to keep his innings count low, they will be shy of rotation flexibility.  Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves are both on the DL. Chad Gaudin and Chan Ho Park, who both relieved Burnett last night - Park surrendering Upton's second long ball - have started in the past and could be called on to get nine outs apiece as two thirds of a staff game. But with the Red Sox and Rays just a half game back, how enticing is that scenario?

	4	Win: Rodrigo Lopez 3-6 Loss: A.J. Burnett 6-6 Save: None Home Runs Justin Upton 2 (13) Mark Reynolds (17) Adam LaRoche (10)
	10

Yankees Recap from It's About the Money (Stupid)

Diamondbacks Recap from AZ Central

A trio of tenth innings blasts gave the Reds a 6-4 victory over the A's. The four run outburst bailed out Cordero who blew his fifth save in the ninth when Kouzmanoff too him long and deep and outta the McAfee Coliseum.

Oakland threw away a fantastic start by Gio Gonzalez who spun seven innings of four hit ball striking out nine Cincinnati hitters and surrendering a solitary unearned run.

Mike Leake nearly matched Gonzalez, giving up Conor Jackson's single to score Rajai Davis in the fifth, but pitching around trouble the rest of the night.

But bullpen blunders defined the game. Andrew Bailey took the ball in the ninth and quickly recorded a pair of outs. But Drew Stubbs walked on five pitches and swiped second. Jay Bruce picked him up with a line single to right. And the Reds took a short lived 2-1 lead.

Kouzmanoff's long ball sent the game to extras, where Wuertz took over. Hernandez took his pitch over the wall and the Reds were back on top.Brandon Phillips singled and was bunted along to second. Out goes Wuertz, in comes Cedrick Bowers who gave up back to back jacks to Votto and Rolen.

Cordero was determined to not be outdone, beginning the tenth with back to back walks to Daric Barton and Jackson before getting lifted in favor of Daniel Ray Herrera who gave up a single to Kurt Suzuki to load the bases before getting an out on Ryan Sweeney's run scoring grounder.  Smith finished off the A's getting a grounder from Kouzmanoff that allowed Jackson to score and striking out Jack Cust.

	6	Win: Francisco Cordero 3-3 Loss: Michael Wuertz 2-1 Save: Jordan Smith 1 Home Runs Joey Votto (15) Scott Rolen (15) Kevin Kouzmanoff (8) Ramon Hernandez (3)
	2

Reds Recap from Redleg Nation

Athletics Recap from Athletics Nation

After six games, the Nationals declared they had enough. A high percentage of home runs to hits (50%) gave them the runs they needed thanks to a series of inexplicable baserunning gaffes and minimal power by the Royals.

Power came off the bats of Morse and Guzman whose solo home runs were all that Washington could muster against Chen. Morse's blast was a titanic shot.

Ivan Rodriguez showed off his arm gunning down Mike Aviles and Scott Podsednik trying to steal and picking off a napping Alberto Callaspo. The outs on the bases erased three runners of Kansas City's twelve baserunners. They would strand another eight thanks to a 1-11 with runners in scoring position.

Their lone run came on a groundout in the third after Yuniesky Betancourt drew a walk, was bunted to second by Chen. Podsednik lined a double to Nyjer Morgan. One run in, right?

Wrong. Podsednik's liner kept Betancourt close to second and third base coach Eddie Rodriguez held him up. It took Kendal's grounder for Betancourt to score.

The worst display came in the ninth facing Capps. Jose Guillen led off with a single. One strikeout later, Aviles singled to put runners at the corners. But Capps got both Betancourt and Mitch Maier looking to end the game.

	1	Win: Livan Hernandez 6-4 Loss: Bruce Chen 3-2 Save: Matt Capps 21 Home Runs Mike Morse (3) Cristian Guzman (1)
	2

Royals Recap from Royals Review

Nationals Recap from Federal Baseball

Before Sunday's game, Detroit continued their pitcher reclamation efforts, banishing Rick Porcello to Toledo to figure out what's not work (hint: everything). Porcello had a very good rookie season, but sports an xFIP of 5.05, which is much better than his 6.14 ERA but far worse than his xFIP last year of 4.32.

Unlike the decision to send Max Scherzer down to Toledo last month which was primarily to rebuild confidence, Porcello's trip should focus on rediscovering what made him one of the most highly touted high school pitchers to come out of New Jersey in many years.

In the Baseball-Reference table below you can see just about every peripheral measure is worse for Porcello this season. The one exception is the HR/9 measure, which like the BB/9, is close enough to last year to be statistically insignificant. Interestingly, per Fangraphs, Porcello has lowered his home runs per flyball, but because he's allowing more flyballs, the improvement in his home run rate is illusory.

Porcello got by last year with underwhelming strikeout numbers by limiting hits and in effect taking full advantage of the spacious confines of Comerica Park. By definition that's highly dependent on one's fielders and its sustainability is dubious. For Porcello to improve, he'll need to keep throwing his heavy sinking fastball and limit the damage hitters can do.

Detroit aggressively promoted him to the majors after just one season in the minors, which was in the pitching friendly Florida Sate League, at advanced A Lakeland. Porcello's four seam fastball has been clocked in the upper 90s, and the sinker is a low to mid ninties offering that runs in on righties. With that kind of stuff, Porcello's career K/9 numbers should be north of 6.5-7, not under 5.

The Tigers may also have impeded his progress by limiting him to 75 pitches per start in Lakeland and keeping him on a tight leash in the majors last year. Rather than develop a consistent out pitch that generates swinging strikes, Porcello learned to keep hitters off balance and get them to make poor contact. An important skill to have, but one that won't work consistently against major league hitters.

Spending the balance of 2010 in Toledo or even AA Erie relearing how to strikeout hitters and getting better command of his 12 to 6 curveball would by far benefit his transition from adequate young pitcher to dominant stud pitcher. Porcello was drafted with that promise in 2007, but his accelerated path to the big leagues took him off course.

The Tigers won't need a fifth starter again until Saturday when it's likely either Brad Thomas or Alfredo Figaro will get the start against the Braves in Atlanta.

It wasn't the final out of the series, but for Jose Valverde, it was the sweetest.  After engaging in a war of words with former teammate and new nemesis, Miguel Montero, in the papers, Valverde was summoned to hold onto Detroit's 3-1 lead.

Montero strode to the plate with one out and the bases empty in the ninth.  Valverde induced a groundout to first and went on to complete a perfect ninth for the save.

Montero had earned the ire of his former teammate with comments in the press as recounted here.

	1	Win: Max Scherzer 4-6 Loss: Ian Kennedy 3-5 Save: Valverde 16 Home Runs Brennan Boesch 10 Carlos Guillen 5
	3

Diamondbacks Recap from the AZ Republic

Tigers Recap from The Daily Fungo

So says NBC Connecticut 30.

At first glance, people in Milford don't see how the city government saves money by paying the police chief, Keith Mello, his salary and pension at the same time.

[...]

Mello threatened to retire and leave Milford for another job, so officials realized they'd have to pay him his pension anyway. But they also realized his salary is less than what they'd have to pay a new chief. So when Mello agreed to stay for five years without an automatic raise, the police commission agreed to pay him his pension and his salary.

So, in order to fully grasp this, the police chief in effect blackmails the city to give him his pension, without fulfilling the pre-requisite for a pension, which is retiring, all so they can retain his superduper crime fighting abilities on the job in Milford.  I have a tip, there's a guy scamming the taxpayers out of a $100,000 annual pension.  Here's what really boggles my mind:

"officials realized they'd have to pay him his pension anyway"

Because if he retired, he gets his pension, even if he takes on a job elsewhere.  This is called shrewd financial retirement planning double dipping.  Most double dippers have the decency to get a gig elsewhere, while collecting their lavish pension.  What stops the community from declaring that continuing on in another position delays the payment of the pension.  Seems entirely reasonable to me.

First up, chief is fired.  Second, police commission dismissed.  Finally, Milford, CT, gets a new chief.  Let's see, what does a Police Chief do?

1. He hangs out with Rick
2. He rounds up the usual suspects.
3. He declares his shock, shock that gambling is occuring.
4. He collects his winnings.

I can do this.  And I'll do it for a third of the current Chief's exorbitant double-stuffed compensation package.

Finally, the good folks at reason, have plenty more on how wide spread this practice is.

Recaps will resume no later than this weekend. Life sometimes interrupts our grandest plans.

• Baltimore Orioles at San Francisco Giants
  

  Jeremy Guthrie vs. Tim Lincecum Baltimore seeks a San Francisco split sending their best starter against the Giants best starter. When the other guy's ace is Lincecum, it just ain't fair. Not a little. Not one bit.

• Toronto Blue Jays at San Diego Padres
  

  Ricky Romero vs. Kevin Correia Toronto looks to take the rubber match of their trio with the Padres with Romero on the hill. Opposing him is Correia who has seen his ERA balloon since the end of April. Correia is a far better pitcher in Petco, as are we all.

• Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Angels
  

  Chris Narveson vs. Joel Pineiro Milwaukee is brewing up a road sweep after limiting the Angels to three runs over two games while scoring nineteen of their own. Narveson is tasked with again taming the Angels, who are easily the major least explicable team.

• Chicago White Sox at Pittsburgh Pirates
  

  John Danks vs. Zach Duke Reinforcements are arriving with greater frequency in Pittsburgh. First came Neil Walker. Then Jose Tabata and Lincoln. Next up is Pedro Alvarez who joins the club today. Alvarez is the clubs top prospect and is expected to push Andy LaRoche into a utility role.

• Philadelphia Phillies at New York Yankees
  

  Jamie Moyer vs. A.J. Burnett Philadelphia tries again to staunch the flow in the Bronx. The Yankees are hardly slumpbusters as they showed in the opener of the three game set. Nor is Moyer an ideal candidate to slow down a forceful offense. To add to the cheeriness, the Phillies are closer to the last place Nationals than they are the first place Braves.

• Washington Nationals at Detroit Tigers
  

  Livan Hernandez vs. Justin Verlander Speaking of the Nats, they tangle with Verlander in Comerica. Detroit's substandard offense is beginning to hint at being alive. Just the faintest hints, which upon seeing The Old Man of DC will either vanish on the wind or be fanned into full blown rumors and allegations.

• New York Mets at Cleveland Indians
  

  Jonathon Niese vs. Mitch Talbot Just a half game back of Atlanta, New York can flip into first with a victory over Cleveland coupled to a Tampa Bay win. Nine of their last ten have landed in the win column. The positive rumblings from extended spring training regarding Carlos Beltran give the Mets plenty to look forward to this summer.

• Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati Reds
  

  Clayton Kershaw vs. Mike Leake Leake and Kershaw are the first of a trio of rather excellent matchups of good young pitchers in the 7:10 games. The Dodgers ace owns an eye-popping 10.4 K/9IP rate and an ERA just over 3, but is barely in the conversation among top NL pitchers. Verducci thinks we are cycling back to dominant pitching. File that under exhibit A.

• Tampa Bay Rays at Atlanta Braves
  

  Wade Davis vs. Tommy Hanson Hanson and Davis are act two in our trilogy of tempting mound matchups. Playing in baseball's toughest division and the superior league has definitely negatively impacted Davis.  But just two bad starts pumped up his ERA from the low three range to just under five.  Hanson is the superior pitcher, but the Rays are the better team.

• Texas Rangers at Florida Marlins
  

  Tommy Hunter vs. Anibal Sanchez Hunter and Sanchez seem a lagging third act.  Hunter may be young, and he is, but underwhelms because his k-rates are low and his stuff average.  A younger Joe Blanton, but his success (as presently defined a 11-6 record and 3.83 ERA in 21 starts the last two seasons) is valuable. Sanchez doesn't feel young after five seasons with the fish, including three dominated by injury.  He's just 26 and is getting back to the form he showed as a 22 year old rookie in 2006.

• Arizona Diamondbacks at Boston Red Sox
  

  Rodrigo Lopez vs. Jon Lester The Diamondbacks give up more runs a game than anyone else.  The Red Sox, despite almost zero production from Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron are first in MLB in OPS and second in runs per game. Your Red Sox runs scored over under is at eight and a half.  All action needs to be in before 7:10 eastern*

• Oakland Atletics at Chicago Cubs
  

  Gio Gonzalez vs. Ryan Dempster Nearly forty percent of the season has passed and the Cubs remain stuck in the pack of a poor division, trailing the leaders by seven and a half games. Baseball Reference runs a Simple Rating System in their daily standings.  It illustrates the number of runs per game relative to league average.  For the NL Central, the average ranking is -0.85.  Remarkable, they are as close as they are.

• Houston Astros at Kansas City Royals
  

  Roy Oswalt vs. Bruce Chen June's tradewinds caress Houston, carrying hope for both Oswalt and Lnace Berkman that their shot at contributing to a winning team will not pass.  The Astros will of course entertain offers and they may even succeed at moving them both. But neither will fetch a franchise-fixing bounty.

• Colorado Rockies at Minnesota Twins
  

  Jhoulys Chacin vs. Scott Baker The Rockies and Twins resume their three game set tonight with Chacin squaring off against Baker.  Chacin has had little luck in his last three decisions (all losses) where he pitch copetetnly, especially by the standards of 22 year old rookies.

• Seattle Mariners at St. Louis Cardinals
  

  Jason Vargas vs. Jaime Garcia The conclusion of Seattle's not so great St. Louis adventure pits Vargas against Garcia. Vargas has never been a strikeout pitcher, which makes his solid ERA aberrational.  A solid defensive team should be able to help him sustain better than league average numbers.  But his 3.05 ERA and 7.9 H/9IP is way out of line with his stuff.

*The reference to over unders and other betting terminology is for entertainment purposes only. No offer of odds is intended and no wagers will be accepted. Sorry, my attorneys insist I include this so that the Feds don't shut me down as an illegal online gaming enterprise.

A full plate of interleague delectables served up with all the fixins. Enjoy!

• Chicago White Sox at Pittsburgh Pirates

  Freddy Garcia vs. Brad Lincoln Beginning the year at 0-2 with a pair of no decisions, after four starts, Garcia looked pretty close to done. Two solid starts were offset by two atrocious appearances. He's had one hiccup since then. In seven starts since the end of April that has spanned 42.1 innings, he's 6-1 with a 4.25 ERA. The strikeout numbers are low, but he's limiting his walks and pitching well.

• Washington Nationals at Detroit Tigers

  John Lannan vs. Max Scherzer The downside of pitching in the presence of Stephen Strasburg is that smart aleck commentators really don't bother extolling your starts with the superlatives they reserve for Baseball Jesus. You're basically just chopped liver next to him. It would be impossible to deal with all the writers individually. Much easier... Don't listen to the voices, John.

• Philadelphia Phillies at New York Yankees

  Roy Halladay vs. CC Sabathia Halladay faces the Yankees. That drama played out often during the last ten years of Doc's career. Typically, these encounters have gone his way. His 2.84 ERA is more than a half run lower than his career number. A streak of dominance that would make a fine t-shirt. "The Yankees have spent $1.21 billion on hitters in my career and I pwnd them. I rule."

• New York Mets at Cleveland Indians

  Johan Santana vs. Justin Masterson The Mets have been up and down the NL East from the Penthouse to the cellar within the last month and a half. Theis three game set gives them a good chance to sneak back into first. Atlanta's facing a challenging opponent and New York isn't. But these are the Mets, who never miss the opportunity to miss an opportunity.

• Texas Rangers at Florida Marlins

  C.J. Wilson vs. Josh Johnson The Strangers come to South Florida to take on the Marlins. Lost among Ubaldomania, Johnson's sub-two ERA has been relevatory. A run of subpar efforts early in the season quickly reversed into a string of stellar starts. He's given up just one earned run in his last five starts a span covering 35 innings pitched. Famously he let in an unearned run as well that gave Halladay a winning margin in his perfect game.

• Tampa Bay Rays at Atlanta Braves

  David Price vs. Kenshin Kawakami A world's worst matchup at a world's worst time. The Braves dispatch Kawakami, winless in 2010, to battle the AL East leading Rays. On the hill for Tampa Bay is Price who like many a baseball loving lad exposed to TBS as a youth elected to root for the Braves. With a lead of a game and a half on the Mets Atlanta needs a series win to secure first.

• Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati Reds

  Hiroki Kuroda vs. Aaron Harang The night's NL only contest is a great American matchup in the Great American Ballpark. Kuroda pitched a short shutout last time out - a happy highlight prior to the Dodgers disaster against the Angels. Cincinnati is clinging to the division lead. Edinson Volquez is nearing a return from Tommy John surgery at a great time. With Homer Bailey shelved, they need rotation reinforcements.

• Arizona Diamondbacks at Boston Red Sox

  Ian Kennedy vs. Clay Buchholz Buchholz takes the ball to face the Diamondbacks. Arizona may have announced a fire sale with the trade that sent Conor Jackson to the Athletics. June does kick off the trading season and no matter the stated reason, shedding part of Jackon's contract is meant to save money, even is Demel ends up closing full time.

• Oakland Atletics at Chicago Cubs

  Trevor Cahill vs. Carlos Zambrano Last time he pitched I noted Cahill's soft peripherals. But I failed to include a proper analogy. The low strikeout numbers and outlying DP rate make Cahill a donut overly saturated with coffee. It looks delicious, but good luck getting what you expect out of it. I'll have a dozen glazed and a box of Joe. Thanks.

• Colorado Rockies at Minnesota Twins

  Aaron Cook vs. Carl Pavano Pavano hasn't broken since leaving New York. Good thing the Yankees won it all last year or that contract would gnaw at their fans interminably. He gets Cook who defies gravity everytime he takes the hill.

• Houston Astros at Kansas City Royals

  Felipe Paulino vs. Kyle Davies Davies will never, ever achieve the promise he displayed as a Braves farmhand. In Kansas City, that's a feature not a bug.

• Seattle Mariners at St. Louis Cardinals

  Ryan Rowland-Smith vs. Jeff Suppan Life for Suppan in 2010 has been a catlike existence. He fell out of a tree in spring training and landed on his feet on the DL. He fell out of a tree when given a chance to start and landed on his feet collecting a hefty check while mopping up ballgames. He fell out of tree when the Brewers released him and again landed on his feet in St. Louis where Dave Duncan will pat his head and promise everything's gonna be alright. Rockabye.

• Toronto Blue Jays at San Diego Padres

  Brett Cecil vs. Mat Latos Latos' development accelerated on the job this season. A few gems against the Giants and Astros. A stingy ERA. Pretty soon you look like the ace. The secret to Latos's success rests not in overpower acelike stuff, but in the simple art of allowing as few runners as possible.

• Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Angels

  Dave Bush vs. Ervin Santana The Angels need a bounce back win after last night's hangover at home. The Brewers haven't been able to hammer much of anything this year, but they took ot to LA hammer and tongs. The signs of life from Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee are better late than never.

• Baltimore Orioles at San Francisco Giants

  Jake Arrieta vs. Joe Martinez Martinez gets the call instead of Hiants top pitching prospect Madison Bumgarner, who drew a suspension after he flipped out (technical term) over a call he did not appreciate. Bumgarner's tantrum gave GM Brian Sabean enough cause to leave him in the minors. He'll be up eventually. But with reservations.

A short schedule that bubbled over with blow-outs. Didn't stay up late for the West Coast games? Details below.

• 3 Seattle Mariners Recap

  W: Adam Wainwright L: Luke French Sv: None Home Runs: Colby Rasmus, Ryan Ludwick, Ichiro Suzuki Seattle strolled into St. Louis seeking a second consecutive victory, but instead got their helmets handed to them. The Cardinals outhit, outfielded and outpitched the Mariners on their way to the 9-3 romp. Wainwright worked seven innings, striking out six and giving up all three runs the Mariners scored. French went four giving up four and was followed by Ian Snell who needed half the innings to give up the same number of runs. The ever over-managing Tony LaRussa switched up his lineup. With the success and the credit he'll get the such over-managing will continue without restraint. But this was the lowly Mariners giving their seventh starter his first start. Cardinal hitters were supposed to have a field day. From Seattle's perspectives French gets another shot because the alternative is Snell who may not be an option much longer.

  9 St. Louis Cardinals Recap

• 12 Milwaukee Brewers Recap

  W: Randy Wolf L: Joe Saunders Sv: None Home Runs: Casey McGehee, Ryan Braun Classic let down game. The Angels swept the Dodgers on the road exorcising some of the still-lingering sense of superiority the Dodgers project over their Anaheim inhabiting neighbors. Riding high and facing a hittable pitcher, the hitters elected not to hit. And against a team who apart from early season success against the weakest team in their division and probably the entire league has struggled mightily, Saunders gave up six failing to escape the sixth. Trevor Bell and Rafael Rodriguez matched his runs allowed total in two and a third fewer innings. Braun had the big night bashing a grand slam off Saunders to give Wolf more runs than he would need.

  2 Los Angeles Angels Recap

• 6 Toronto Blue Jays Recap

  W: Shaun Marcum L: Jon Garland Sv: Kevin Gregg Home Runs: John Buck 2, Adrian Gonzalez, Jerry Hairston Jr. The Blue Jays shook off their funk topping the Padres, paced by the pitching of Marcum who went seven and gave up the two solo shots to Hairston and Gonzalez but little else. Buck went deep twice for his second multi HR game of the year and his tenth and eleventh circuit clouts of the season.

  3 San Diego Padres Recap

• 2 Baltimore Orioles Recap

  W: Jonathan Sanchez L: Chris Tillman Sv: None Home Runs: Matt Wieters, Pat Burrell The Woe-Rioles took their show to San Francisco and got walloped by the Giants. Sanchez shut down the hitters. The Giants hitters bashed six hits and scored six runs off Tillman in two innings of work. The big damage came in the second. Burrell led off with a home run. Buster Posey singled and Pablo Sandoval doubled to drive Posey in followed by a walk to Eli Whiteside. Sanchez struck out trying to bunt. But Andres Torres doubled to drive in Sandoval, Freddy Sanchez singled in Whiteside and Aubrey Huff hit a sac fly to score Torres. Tillman escaped the inning, but his night was done.

  10 San Francisco Giants Recap

Standings

No Standings, since the Cards-Mariners game from the fourteenth is already in the books, back earlier tomorrow.

• 5 Houston Astros Recap

  W: Phil Hughes L: Brian Moehler Sv: None Home Runs: Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada, Kevin Cash Posada was grand again taking Casey Daigle out of the Stadium after Gustavo Chacin inherited one runner from Moehler and walked a pair of his own. The slam gave Hughes the run support he needed to be credited with a victory despite a poor pitching performance. Hughes allowed seven hits and walked a batter in five and two-thirds which turned into five runs allowed. Chacin was hardly alone in his wildness. Astros pitchers issued ten walks to the Yankees which made it much easier for them to score with just nine hits.

  9 New York Yankees Recap

• 3 Pittsbugh Pirates Recap

  W: Brad Thomas L: Javier Lopez Sv: Jose Valverde Home Runs: Miguel Cabrera, Garrett Jones, Alex Avila Jeff Karstens carried a lead into the eighth but gave up a base hit to Carlos Guillen leading off the inning. D.J. Carrasco was summoned from the pen and got the next two outs, though a wild pitch allowed Guillen to advance to second. Two outs and a runner on second. Carrasco had thrown just eleven pitches, but because left handed hitting Johnny Damon was due up John Russell went to Lopez who walked Damon on five pitches. The obvious observation: the switch was textbook over managing. Damon's "power" was primarily a function of Yankee Stadium, so a two-run blast, even against a righty was unlikely. Lopez got yanked in favor of Dotel who gave up a three run game-altering bomb to Cabrera. Sometimes teams deserve to lose.

  4 Detroit Tigers Recap

• 9 Washington Nationals Recap

  W: Stephen Strasburg L: David Huff Sv: None Home Runs: Adam Dunn, Travis Hafner, Roger Bernadina Two starts, two wins and two separate packed houses for Strasburg. Wildness pushed up his pitch count and limited him to just five and a third innings. He was followed by Drew Storen, which prompts the following:

  4 Cleveland Indians Recap

• 7 Kansas City Royals Recap

  W: Zack Greinke L: Sam LeCure Sv: None Home Runs: Joey Votto 2, Billy Butler, David DeJesus Hamels kept the Red Sox off balance, and Ibanez keyed a four run rally in the fourth with his fourth home run of the season. Boston rallied in the ninth, but Lidge closed them out getting Marco Scutaro to pop up for the final out.

  3 Cincinnati Reds Recap

• 5 Philadelphia Phillies Recap

  W: Cole Hamels L: Tim Wakefield Sv: Brad Lidge Home Runs: Adrian Beltre, Raul Ibanez The best adjustment any pitcher can make is to throw strikes. Greinke credited his improved performance to a small mechanical adjustment that returned him to form. It worked with a complete game that took only 105 pitches, while striking out twelve.

  3 Boston Red Sox Recap

• 11 New York Mets Recap

  W: Mike Pelfrey L: Kevin Millwood Sv: None Home Runs: David Wright 2, Jason Bay, Chris Carter Pelfrey and the Mets completed the Baltimore broom job dropping the O's 11-4. Pelfrey went six and never pitched In a tie game. New York jumped on Millwood sending nine men to the plate and scoring five of them. Wright was the big bat with a pair of home runs and Bay and Carter added long balls of their own. For Bay it was just his fourth of the year. More photos from Sunday thanks to Oriole Post.

  4 Baltimore Orioles Recap

• 6 Florida Marlins Recap

  W: Chris Volstad L: Jeff Niemann Sv: None Home Runs: Jorge Cantu, Wes Helms After 47 consecutive games in sole possession of first place, the Rays dropped into a tie with the Yankees following their loss to the Marlins. Carlos Pena's six game home run hitting streak was snapped as Volstad shut down the Rays. Over six innings he limited them to four hits and a solitary run. Rookie Mike Stanton had a pair of hits and walked twice to get on base each time he came up to the plate.

  1 Tampa Bay Rays Recap

• 7 Texas Rangers Recap

  W: Colby Lewis L: Yovani Gallardo Sv: None Home Runs: Prince Fielder 2, Josh Hamilton Lewis pitched eight and struck out ten Brewers over eight innings, and while Gallardo matched him in two fewer innings, he ran his pitch count too high too soon and was gone after six having surrendered four runs on six hits and four walks. Hamilton's two run shot accounted for the most damage, but Lewis' two-out, two-run single off Gallardo in the sixth had to have been more embarrassing for the Milwaukee pitcher. One thing Lewis couldn't solve was Fielder who took him deep twice in a losing effort.

  3 Milwaukee Brewers Recap

• 7 Atlanta Braves Recap

  W: Kris Medlen L: Kevin Slowey Sv: None Home Runs: Troy Glaus 2, Delmon Young, Martin Prado Taking two of three in Minnesota quells some of the concerns I personally had harbored about the Braves. For the last two weeks, an equal portion of the credit for their standing went to the rapidly collapsing Phillies, who I have to wonder about, will they be in fourth place after three with New York followed by three with Minnesota this week? But beating the first place Twins in the series despite losing when the best pitcher of the three they started was on the hill goes a long way to suggest the Braves are for real.

  2 Minnesota Twins Recap

• 3 Toronto Blue Jays Recap

  W: Jeff Francis L: Jesse Litsch Sv: None Home Runs: Ryan Spilborghs 2, Carlos Gonzalez Hitters paradise proved to be anything but for the Blue Jays as they were swept away by the Rockies. The capper a 10-3 laugher with Francis on the hill. After Ubaldo Jimenez, the Rockies have had no stable or consistent starters. Jorge de la Rosa has been injured. Jason Hammel has been both injured and wildly ineffective, though he thrashed the Jays Saturday. Jhoulys Chacin took some time adjusting to the majors but is beginning to pitch to his potential. That left Francis, injured all last year and the start of this one, he's been effective with uneven peripherals. His continued success will stabilize the Rockies rotation, and help them challenge the division leaders.

  10 Colorado Rockies Recap

• 2 Oakland Atletics Recap

  W: Matt Cain L: Vin Mazzao Sv: Santiago Casilla Home Runs: Aubrey Huff 2, Juan Uribe Sweeps reigned by the bay as the hosts sent their fans home happy in both of the BART series. Cain neutralized the A's bats, which had been quieted all series by the Giant pitching. With Brian Wilson's five out save on Saturday night, Casilla got the call to get the last out of the eighth and take care of the ninth. After the game, Oakland designated Jake Fox for assignment to make room to activate Kurt Suzuki from the bereavement list.

  6 San Francisco Giants Recap

• 4 Seattle Mariners Recap

  W: Felix Hernandez L: Luke Gergerson Sv: David Aardsma Home Runs: Milton Bradley, Tony Gwynn Jr. Hernandez went eight and two third, before finally being pulled in favor of Aardsma who needed just six pitches to record his thirteenth save. Hernandez meanwhile racked up 128 pitches to strike out nine Padres as Seattle salvaged the finale of their trip to San Diego. Bradley reached base three times in four trips via the home run, an intentional walk and a hit by pitch.

  2 San Diego Padres Recap

• 6 Los Angeles Angels Recap

  W: Jered Weaver L: Carlos Monasterios Sv: Brian Fuentes Home Runs: Torii Hunter, Mike Napoli, Rafael Furcal Weaver vs. Weaver as Jered faced elder brother Jeff when the latter relieved Monasterios in the third. The game in Chavez Ravine afforded the brothers not only to pitch against each other, but to bat against each other as well. Jeff struck out, and Jered grounded out. The Angels pounded out twelve hits with Bobby Abreu and Hideki Matsui collecting three apiece.

  5 Los Angeles Dodgers Recap

• 5 St. Louis Cardinals Recap

  W: Esmerling Vasquez L: Kyle McClellan Sv: None Home Runs: Chris Young 2 Chad Qualls will soon be relieved of his closing responsibilities with Aaron Heilman likely to take over. The latest in a series of bullpen implosions to plague the Diamondbacks. Qualls entered a 5-2 ballgame in the ninth and gave up a double to Felipe Lopez. Colby Rasmus reached on an error, and then Albert Pujols singled in a run. Ryan Ludwick flew advancing Rasmus to third. Rasmus scored on Randy Winn's basehit and that was it for Qualls. He still hadn't blown the save. That fell to Vasquez whose wild pitch allowed Pujols to score, tying the game. Young's second home run untied it with two outs in the ninth.

  7 Arizona Diamondbacks Recap

• 0 Chicago White Sox Recap

  W: Ted Lilly L: Gavin Floyd Sv: Carlos Marmol Home Runs: None Dueling no-nos through six, but the Cubs pushed a run home in the seventh on Alfonso Soriano's two-out double that broke up Floyd's no-hit bid and Chad Tracy's single, that ended the shutout. Lilly carried his no-hit bid into the ninth. But former Cub Juan Pierre singled cleanly to lead off the inning and end Lilly's try. Marmol made it particularly interesting as walked Andrw Jones and then balked to advance both Jones and Pierre. A strike out to Alexei Ramirez gave some cushion, but then Lou Pinella ordered a free pass to Alexis Rios. It worked out, theven though it certainly reduced Marmol's margin of error to nil. Marmol got Paul Konerko to bounce into a force out that erased Pierre at the plate and then Carlos Quentin flew out to end the game.

  1 Chicago Cubs Recap

A quiet night for baseball, especially on the east coast

• Seattle Mariners at St. Louis Cardinals
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Luke French vs. Adam Wainwright Wainwright will be the cordial host for the Mariners who get their first game in the current Busch Stadium. In another first, French makes his initial start for Seattle. Both clubs struggled to score runs this weekend. For Seattle playing in Petco averaging close to three runs a game is a moral victory of sorts. The Cardinals averaged four a game in the desert. I like The Mariners' chances.

  
  


• Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Angels
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Randy Wolf vs. Joe Saunders A weekend of promise quickly decayed for Milwaukee as the bats that warmed up against Rich Harden cooled considerably against Scott Feldman and Colby Lewis. For the Angels a broom job over the Dodgers is ever serrendipitous. As has been the case all May, this pair is moving in opposite directions.

  
  


• San Diego Padres at Toronto Blue Jays
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Shaun Marcum vs. Jon Garland Speaking of troubled offenses and Petco, the Blue Jays bring their banjo strumming act to San Diego where the hitting will get no easier. A weekend retreat to Colorado for the best big fly ballclub would logically suggest a homer happy series. But the Jays are scuffling. And they may well be poised for their much anticipated descent into mediocrity. Say hello to the Orioles when you get there.

  
  


• Baltimore Orioles at San Francisco Giants
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Chris Tillman vs. Jonathan Sanchez Orioles MLBlogger Brittany Ghiroli noted this morning that the Giants "will wear orange uniforms and have a Halloween-type promotion." Halloween in June? What's next? Christmas in July?

  
  

We wrap up the second interleague weekend and launch into a full week of NL vs. AL. Today's red-letter game is the Indians and Nationals on TBS, Strasburg makes his second start and will get to face Cleveland's rookie catcher Carlos Santana.

• Houston Astros at New York Yankees
  

  Brian Moehler vs. Phil Hughes The brooms have been busted out in the Bronx. Friday night was close, but Saturday was with authority and this afternoon's contest is the biggest pitching mismatch of the lot. Hughes, who I idly speculated about yesterday, goes for his ninth victory.

• Pittsbugh Pirates at Detroit Tigers
  

  Jeff Karstens vs. Armando Galarraga The Tigers tamed the Bucs twice in two totally different ways to start the three game set.  Justin Verlander's dominant performace took the Pirates out of the game one, but it took Carlo Guillen's walk off shot to take the second. How will they do it today? Blowout, baby.

• Washington Nationals at Cleveland Indians
  

  Stephen Strasburg vs. David Huff Winners of four straight, Cleveland readies itself for Strasburg. William Ladson reports that the club is expecting 50 extra media members and a crowd between 30,000 to 35,000. Good news for Cleveland's attendance worries.

• Kansas City Royals at Cincinnati Reds
  

  Zack Greinke vs. Sam LeCure The Royals send their ace to the hill to get the series win against the Reds. Greinke is a shell of the dominant world beater from a year ago, and with just one win it's easy to overlook his ability. The Reds surely won't.

• Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox
  

  Cole Hamels vs. Tim Wakefield The Red Sox have outscored the Phillies 22-4 in the first two games of this weekend set feasting on the off-speed dreck that both Joe Blanton and Jamie Moyer.  But Hamels is hardly a junkballer and lefties with good stuff have tended to confound Boston's bats.

• New York Mets at Baltimore Orioles
  

  Mike Pelfrey vs. Kevin Millwood Pelfrey has assembled his talent into a season that warrants discussion for the All-Star game. Though his Ubaldoness is the clear leader to start the midsummer classic for the Nationals, Pelfrey's season makes him a shoo-in for the midsummer's classic.

• Florida Marlins at Tampa Bay Rays
  

  Chris Volstad vs. Jeff Niemann The Rays clung to first place with their win over the Marlins in the second of the three game set drawing even in the Citrus series. New York continues to keep the pressure on Tampa Bay, as does Boston.  They need Niemann to shut down Florida to stay ahead.

• Texas Rangers at Milwaukee Brewers
  

  Colby Lewis vs. Yovani Gallardo The Texas Pitching Staff Massacre went from Rich "I broke my butt" Harden to Neftali Feliz on successive nights in Milwaukee. Feliz was lifted before letting the game get away. And though, Scott Feldman showed signs of righting himself, the worries continue to creep into the Rangers front office.

• Atlanta Braves at Minnesota Twins
  

  Kris Medlen vs. Kevin Slowey The two clubs have combined for ten runs in two games. The Red Sox have scored that many in both their contests against the Phillies, but such tense, tight contests put fans on the edge of their- Zzzzzzz

• Toronto Blue Jays at Colorado Rockies
  

  Jesse Litsch vs. Jeff Francis The Jays went to Colorado to find their swings, but either the thin air sapped their power, or their bats got held up in customers. Four runs in 15 innings in Colorado is a power outage of epic proportions. Is this the beginning of the inevitable Jays swoon?

• Oakland Atletics at San Francisco Giants
  

  Vin Mazzaro vs. Matt Cain In May, the A's swept the Giants. Today, the Giants look to return the favor. A Giants win would split the BART Battle right down the middle. Under those circumstances, Bochy and Geren play rock, paper, scissors until the tie is resolved.

• Seattle Mariners at San Diego Padres
  

  Felix Hernandez vs. Clayton Richard More brooms brought to the ballpark as San Diego looks to sweep Seattle back to Puget Sound. Richard has enjoyed a better 2010 than King Felix, but whenever he takes the hill, Hernandez gives the Mariners a chance to win.

• Los Angeles Angels at Los Angeles Dodgers
  

  Jered Weaver vs. Carlos Monasterios The Angels look to sweep the Freeway Series against the neighbors. Their convincing Friday night victory followed by multiple late squanders by the Dodgers Saturday clinched the series. Rule V pick Monasterios has been a find for the Dodgers, but he's going against one of the Angels' co-aces.  Tall order for the kid.

• St. Louis Cardinals at Arizona Diamondbacks
  

  Chris Carpenter vs. Edwin Jackson Even through a pair, but St. Louis is drawing an ace with their hole card. Carpenter remains the rock of the Cardinals staff. After beginning the year with an 8.07 ERA in six starts, Jackson has settled down and pitched fifty and two-thirds innings of 2.37 ERA ball, with solid peripherals to boot.  This is the sleeper game of the day.

• Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
  

  Gavin Floyd vs. Ted Lilly The ChiSox are gunning for the sweep of their crosstown rivals in primetime.  But the Cubs have the mound matchup working in their favor, and pride is on the line.  Though based on the play of the Cubs to date, they are as eager for a full-blown Pinella meltdown as I am!

A grand June Saturday at the park. Let's waste no more time on preamble, we have games to cover.

• 3 Houston Astros Recap

  W: Javier Vazquez L: Wandy Rodriguez Sv: None Home Runs: Derek Jeter 2, Carlos Lee, Hunter Pence, Jorge Posada Jeter led off with a long ball and added another in the sixth to spark the Yankees as they trounced the Astros in the second of their series in the Stadium. Vazquez looked sharp on the mound allowing six hits and no walks in seven innings while striking out six. Posada's grand slam unlocked a 2-2 game in the third.

  9 New York Yankees Recap

• 2 Chicago White Sox Recap

  W: Mark Buehrle L: Carlos Silva Sv: Bobby Jenks Home Runs: None Silva pitched well, but was upstaged by the Cubs' guests. Buehrle scattered eight hits over six and two-thirds scoreless innings. Jenks made things plenty interesting in the ninth, walking Geovanny Soto to lead off the inning. Two outs later, he was on second and Ryan Theriot singled to drive him in. Paul Konerko's two RBI singles had built enough of a cushion to sustain the faltering Jenks.

  1 Chicago Cubs Recap

• 2 Philadelphia Phillies Recap

  W: Manny Delcarmen L: Joe Blanton Sv: None Home Runs: J.D. Drew, Daniel Nava Scott Atchison's emergency start was prompted by a last minute trip to the DL for Daisuke Matsuzaka and the staff game was one. But the Phillies couldn't scratch out more than the pair of runs they got on Brian Schneider's double in the second. The Red Sox came back swiftly, taking it to the Phillies early and removing any doubt ont he outcome. Nava's grand slam came on the first pitch he saw. Every Red Sox starter had a hit, but Drew led the way with a three for four afternoon that was a triple shy of the cycle.

  10 Boston Red Sox Recap

• 3 New York Mets Recap

  W: Hisanori Takahashi L: Brian Matusz Sv: Francisco Rodriguez Home Runs: Jeff Francoeur, Jose Reyes The other half of the Mets under-priced and overachieving duo, Takahashi, followed with a seven inning gem. He scattered six hits, giving up just one run, while striking out two. A little too defense dependent, but against Baltimore, well, sometimes the right opportunity presents itself. Orioles Post has another photo essay up from a Friday Night at the Park.

  1 Baltimore Orioles Recap

• 3 Pittsbugh Pirates Recap

  W: Phil Coke L: Brendan Donnelly Sv: None Home Runs: Garrett Jones, Carlos Guillen Their seven game stretch of futility has mired the Pirates in the basement and prompted GM Neal Huntington to hang another "Going out of Contention Sale" sign outside of PNC Park. The game featured a pair of blown saves. In the seventh, Detroit rallied for two unearned runs off Evan Meek to blow a 2-1 Pittsburgh lead, but the Pirates came back to tie in the eight off Joel Zumaya. Guillen's blast in the tenth sealed it in walk off fashion, the surest way to take a lead that the bullpen can't cough up.

  4 Detroit Tigers Recap

• 1 Washington Nationals Recap

  W: Fausto Carmona L: J.D. Martin Sv: None Home Runs: Ryan Zimmerman, Russell Branyan, Carlos Santana Carmona was lights out striking out seven and giving up just three hits one of which was Zimmerman's blast. Martin did not walk a batter, and that basically sums up the good part of his pitching line. The home runs allowed to Branyan and Santana were solo shots. Cleveland's big inning came in the second. Branyan singled and was followed by Jhonny Peralta's ground-rule double. Luis Valbuena hit a sac fly that scored Branyan. Jason Donald singled to put runners on the corners. One out later, Shin-Soo Choo singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Peralta. Santana's double to drive in Donald and Choo capped the outburst.

  7 Cleveland Indians Recap

• 5 Kansas City Royals Recap

  W: Johnny Cueto L: Brian Bannister Sv: None Home Runs: Jonny Gomes 2, Brandon Phillips A pair of three run bombs off Gomes' bat was all the offense the Reds needed, even though Cueto struggled with control and give up five runs in six innings. The five spot came in the second, highlighted by Bannister's double to drive in Mike Aviles and David DeJesus' three run triple two walks later. Bannister's trip around the bases clearly took something out of him as he stumbled in the subsequent innings, running his total runs allowed in three plus frames to eleven, even though two were unearned.

  11 Cincinnati Reds Recap

• 4 Texas Rangers Recap

  W: Scott Feldman L: Manny Parra Sv: Chris Ray Home Runs: Josh Hamilton Feldman looked like last year's edition, working six scoreless with six strikeouts. And Parra looked good, settling down after giving up a two run double in the top of the first to Justin Smoak. But Texas still held a 4-1 advantage going to the bottom of the ninth. Out comes Neftali Feliz to close it down. After Jim Edmonds' ground out, Jonathan Lucroy singled. Feliz walked Alcides Escobar and Joe Inglett to load the bases. Rickie Weeks' singled on a sharply lined ball to right that only got home one run. Feliz was pulled in favor of Ray who gave up an RBI ground out to Corey Hart and then got Prince Fielder to fly out to end the game.

  3 Milwaukee Brewers Recap

• 5 Florida Marlins Recap

  W: Matt Garza L: Ricky Nolasco Sv: Rafael Soriano Home Runs: Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford, Sean Rodriguez, Wes Helms Pena has gone yard in six straight games, ending the concerns of his early season struggles and establishing a club record for home runs in consecutive games. Tampa Bay also got long balls from Rodriguez and Crawford off Nolasco who was chased in the third having yielded five runs. Garza was barely adequate to the task, giving up Helm's two-run home run in the fourth and four runs in five and two thirds, but that was good enough to keep the Rays in first.

  6 Tampa Bay Rays Recap

• 3 Atlanta Braves Recap

  W: Jonny Venters L: Matt Guerrier Sv: Billy Wagner Home Runs: Melky Cabrera Another tense nail biter was the surprise that greeted Twins fans at Target Field. Francisco Liriano versus Tim Hudson yields a pitcher's duel, that's expected. But Nick Blackburn and Derek Lowe evoke radically different expectations. The winner came in the top of the ninth. Gregor Blanco's and Martin Prado's single put runners on the corners with just one away. Brooks Conrad, who had played hero before with a pinch-hit walkoff grand slam against the Reds, laid down a bunt single on a suicide squeeze play that got Blanco home from third with the game winner.

  2 Minnesota Twins Recap

• 2 St. Louis Cardinals Recap

  W: Dan Haren L: Adam Ottavino Sv: None Home Runs: Adam LaRoche 2, Mark Reynolds, Chris Snyder, Colby Rasmus The Diamondbacks toured the bases alone last night with four solo home runs to back Haren, who couldn't be bothered to give up a hit until the fifth inning against the Cardinals. Ottavino was hittable, allowing nine hits including three of the four home runs. Haren finished with nine strikeouts in eight innings and only two runs allowed.

  7 Arizona Diamondbacks Recap

• 0 Toronto Blue Jays Recap

  W: Jason Hammel L: Brandon Morrow Sv: Manny Corpas Home Runs: None Hammel and Morrow locked up in a nail biter par excellence in Colorado. 1-0 shutouts in Coors are rarities, and this one spectacularly so. Hammel led off the bottom of the sixth and drew a walk against Morrow. Todd Helton followed one out later with a single to left that moved Hammel to third. Carlos Gonzalez' sac fly to Jose Bautista was deep enough to get Hammel home. Morrow walked Brad Hawpe to put runners on first and second. Ryan Spilborghs grounded a hit through the right side and Helton dared try Bautista's arm. He paid for that mistake at the plate, gunned down trying to score.

  1 Colorado Rockies Recap

• 1 Seattle Mariners Recap

  W: Wade LeBlanc L: Cliff Lee Sv: None Home Runs: Adrian Gonzalez, Oscar Salazar Unlike most big league hitters, Gonzalez actually enjoys hitting against Lee. And he greeted Lee with a two-run home run in the first to put the Padres on top early. The Mariners were unable to get to LeBlanc who pitched fantastically against the team that had roughed him up in each of his last two starts against them.

  7 San Diego Padres Recap

• 4 Oakland Atletics Recap

  W: Barry Zito L: Ben Sheets Sv: Brian Wilson Home Runs: Pablo Sandoval, Adam Rosales, Matt Carson Zito logged his first ever win against the Athletics which gave him one against all thirty active teams. But it was dicey towards the end as the Giants bullpen fell apart in the eighth. Guillermo Mota walked Mark Ellis to lead off the inning. The hot hitting Kevin Kouzmanoff followed with a run scoring double. Mota then walked Jack Cust and found himself relieved of pitching duties. In comes Santiago Casilla, who faced a pair of pinch hitters with mixed results. A strike out of Landon Powell was followed by a walk to Ryan Sweeney and his work here was done. In comes Jeremy Affeldt who walks Oakland's third straight pinch hitter Gabe Gross to force in a run and turn a 5-2 game into a 5-4 game and necessitate the call to closer Brian Wilson with just one out in the inning. Wilson got out of the jam by striking out Rosales and getting Rajai Davis to ground into a fielder's choice. A pair of hits by Ellis and Cust made things interesting in the ninth, but Wilson worked out of it to nail down the victory.

  5 San Francisco Giants Recap

• 4 Los Angeles Angels Recap

  W: Scott Kazmir L: John Ely Sv: Brian Fuentes Home Runs: Juan Rivera The LA Dodgers a a bad, good team. The seventh inning illustrates. Kevin Jepsen started the inning to relieve Francisco (Murillo) Rodriguez who set down the Dodgers in order with two strikeouts in the sixth. First, memo to Mike Scioscia, relievers who use just ten pitches should not be pinch hit for. Let them go out again in the following inning. Maybe use one of them double-switch things. Anyway, Jepsen comes on and walks Jamey Carroll to lead of the inning. Garret Anderson singled to put runners on first and second. Note to Joe Torre, just because you are in the National League doesn't mean you need to play NL style baseball. He ordered Rafael Furcal to bunt, but Furcal popped it up. Let's note for the record, at this point, Jepsen had walked Carroll on five pitches, one of which was a 3-0 strike one, and then given up a 2-0 single to Anderson. Eight pitches and six balls. And twice Furcal bunts, once foul and the other the out. Why didn't, oh, taking a strike come to mind. Make the pitcher do what he hasn't been able to do throw strikes. Proving my point, Jepsen then walks Russell Martin on five pitches. Bases Loaded, one out. Jepsen escaped by striking out Andre Ethier and getting Matt Kemp to ground into a force out at third.

  2 Los Angeles Dodgers Recap

Standings

Tonight's previews appear in true color thanks to the miracle of Technicolor and are brought to you by Daniel Nava, who came to Fenway to chew bubblegum and kick butt, and he forgot all his bubblegum. Welcome to the majors, kid.

• New York Mets at Baltimore Orioles
  

  Hisanori Takahashi vs. Brian Matusz The Mets look for their second interleague series win in as many tries against Baltimore. Takahashi and R.A. Dickey have stabilized a Mets rotation decimated by injury (John Maine $3.3M) and ineffectiveness plus "injury" (Oliver Perez $12M). Takahashi and Dickey combine to earn less than half of what Maine got to avoid arbitration.

• Pittsbugh Pirates at Detroit Tigers
  

  Paul Maholm vs. Jeremy Bonderman After a pair of rough outings to begin 2010, Maholm has settled down to post a 3.47 ERA, but his 36:22 K:BB ratio in that span of 62.1 innings pitched is laden with worry. The Pirates have begun rotating in young players with Neil Walker, Jose Tabata and Brad Lincoln already up. Pedro Alvarez is next.

• Washington Nationals at Cleveland Indians
  

  J.D. Martin vs. Fausto Carmona Martin is a late-blooming control artist who debuted with the Nationals last year after eight and a half years in the minors. Last year's walk rate of 2.8 per nine was fine, but in (an extremely small sample of) eleven and two-thirds innings pitched, he's only yielded one this year. Without overpowering stuff, he'll need to maintain that control.

• Kansas City Royals at Cincinnati Reds
  

  Brian Bannister vs. Johnny Cueto Both Bannister and Cueto have been effective of late, though Cueto has had more ups and a few more downs than Bannister who generally holds steady at a league average level of performance. Cueto has the better stuff and that should tip the balance towards the Reds.

• Texas Rangers at Milwaukee Brewers
  

  Scott Feldman vs. Manny Parra Lefties can get big leagues gigs fairly easily. If you're breathing you can get a tryout. Which is why Parra will perpetually get chances to start or relieve despite dispiriting control problems. Prior to his ten K night against the Cardinals last Sunday, Parra had a 27:15 BB:K ratio, which is actually better than last years 1.5 K/BB rate from last year.

• Florida Marlins at Tampa Bay Rays
  

  Ricky Nolasco vs. Matt Garza New York's victory over Houston puts the heat on Tampa Bay. Garza takes the hill in the aftermath of James Shields' implosion needing to pitch the club to victory to hold onto sole possession of first place. The Marlins have the Phillies in their sights at the two-time defending NL Champs are getting blasted by the Red Sox again.

• Atlanta Braves at Minnesota Twins
  

  Derek Lowe vs. Nick Blackburn Memories of last night's duel will fade almost as soon as the first crack off of Martin Prado's bat. Blackburn and Lowe have both struggled to to keep runners off base and runs off the board. As tight and tense as the 2-1 Twins win was, this has the feel of a lazy Saturday night slug fest.

• St. Louis Cardinals at Arizona Diamondbacks
  

  Adam Ottavino vs. Dan Haren Here's a tale of Haren's last trio of appearances. Eight fantastic shutout innings against the Dodgers led to a no decision. A less than stellar outing against the Braves turns into a win. At least the clunker versus Colorado was a loss. Pitcher's decisions make so little sense.

• Toronto Blue Jays at Colorado Rockies
  

  Brandon Morrow vs. Jason Hammel Morrow is a right handed version of Parra (see above). His control is spotty, but he gets great, great movement on pitches and has a live fastball that gets swinging strikes, but he has yet to harness it. In his big league career, he has logged 278 strikeouts in 261.2 innings pitched, but a league average ERA. At 25 he'll keep getting chances to turn the talent into results.

• Seattle Mariners at San Diego Padres
  

  Cliff Lee vs. Wade LeBlanc Last time LeBlanc played the Mariners all hell broke loose. The eight runs in three innings actually lowered his ERA against the Mariners to 24.92. Both his starts against them have been in Safeco. Will the warm home embrace of Petco chase away the demon Mariners, or will LeBlanc succumb yet again.

• Oakland Atletics at San Francisco Giants
  

  Ben Sheets vs. Barry Zito Oakland swept the East Bay games, but failed in their first crack at clinching the BART series title for 2010. Last year the Giants took five of six. With Zito, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain pitching better than they did last year it says a lot about how poor the Giants are hitting the ball, as well as how much the Athletics have improved.

• Los Angeles Angels at Los Angeles Dodgers
  

  Scott Kazmir vs. John Ely Ely mania has swept Chavez Ravine as the 24 year old righty has come in and taken over the fourth slot in the rotation after both Charlie Haeger and Vincente Padilla have both been hurting and ineffective. Ely's relied on good control and his fielders to make plays behind him. Facing an Angels squad that is lacking their best hitter will still be a stern test of his ability to keep this up long term.

Boston continues to shop veteran third baseman Mike Lowell to interested contenders.  Ken Rosenthal lists the three primary suitors as the Twins, Rangers and the Angels.  Rosenthal describes the Angels as "hovering."  He also notes that the Twins coaching staff is pushing hard for Lowell, who was the most valuable player of the 2007 World Series.

Boston has long term needs at catcher and third base.  Though this season has also seen them deplete their outfield relying on Darnell McDonald, Jonathan Van Every, Josh Reddick and now Daniel Nava to fill in for their trio of banged up outfielders - Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron and Jeremy Hermida.  Ironically, J.D Drew has been the most durable outfielder on the club, and has been for the last three seasons. However, the outfield situation stabilizes with health for their disabled players.

Their logical targets would be young backstops, as Texas continues to have an abundance of them, and any young catcher called up by Minnesota will be temporarily filling in for Joe Mauer.  The Angels have a top catching prospect in Hank Conger, but it is unlikely they would part with him, though Mike Napoli could be had if Jeff Mathis comes back healthy.

Boston's deal with Texas in the offseason fell through when injury concerns prompted Texas to run away screaming.  The deal had been for Lowell and cash for Max Ramirez.  Ramirez is up with the big club, backing up Matt Treanor as both Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden have struggled and or been injured and found themselves banished to Oklahoma City.  Ramirez remains the best target, but would Boston consider Saltalamacchia in order to not pay as much of Lowell's contract?  Salty has developed an issue throwing the ball back to the pitcher and may be in AAA until that gets sorted.

The Twins appear to be the front runners, and have a player of some skill behind the plate in Wilson Ramos.  Ramos filled in for Mauer earlier this year for seven games and got off to a fast start with a 7-9 in his first two games.  he tailed off with but one hit in his final five games before being optioned back to Rochester.  With injuries to Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy they have need of a hitter who can play third and allow Nick Punto to fill in up the middle.  Danny Valencia has yet to nail down that job, and without a home run at either Rochester or Minnesota, concerns about his hitting acumen as growing.  Valencia could also be a reasonable target for Boston.

As could be the Angels Brandon Wood.  Boston had coveted the Angels one-time shortstop prospect and now disabled thirdbaseman since he sat atop Baseball America's top ten Angels Prospect list.  His big league struggles have taken much bloom off his rose, but his talent remains tantalizing.

Just a few weeks ago, Lowell opined that perhaps the club should just release him and be done with him.  Options appear to be unfolding as contenders separate from the pack.  Deals rarely get done in May, which makes the fast progress on Lowell talks a sign that Boston regards moving him a high priority.  Something may break over the coming week.

A trio of games on the sunshine circuit, the dozen under the lights will be up before sundown. Enjoy your Saturday afternoon.

UPDATE: Matsuzaka scratched from start.

• Houston Astros at New York Yankees
  

  Wandy Rodriguez vs. Javier Vazquez The Yankees look to take their second game over the Astros in this traditional interleague rivalry (ha ha) sending the suddenly settled down Vazquez to face Houston. The early going was cruel, so cruel to Javy as he built a 9.78 ERA through his first five starts. In his five starts (and one relief appearance) since, he's pitched 33 innings of 2.73 ERA ball. If Vazquez back? This sample size is just as small as the first, but it establishes a true talent level closer to league average than woefully pathetic.

• Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
  

  Mark Buehrle vs. Carlos Silva More Chicago shennanigans with the lousiest pair of teams to share a city in the majors this year. The White Sox and Cubs have a combined 54-67 record good for third behind New York's 71-51 and Los Angeles' 70-55. The the bifurcated Bay Area baseball clubs better the Windy City with 65-58 record.

• Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox
  

  Joe Blanton vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka Scott Atchison Today marks Boston's fifth game against the Phillies. Which makes the Phillies Boston's fifth most frequent opponent in a tie with Minnesota. The Red Sox have yet to face Seattle or the White Sox who unlike Philadelphia are in the American League with the Red Sox. And no, I have not turned my sour grapes into a fine whine because Boston has faced the two time defending NL Pennant winning Phillies while both New York and Tampa Bay have had early interleague series' with the until just recently Central Division cellar dwelling Astros. No sour grapes at all. Matsuzaka was shelved with a forearm injury per Rob Bradford.

We've been remiss with the posting of recaps, blame it on a busy stretch and the pressing deadline of afternoon baseball, or just call me lazy, I care not.

• 10 Chicago White Sox Recap

  W: Jake Peavy L: Randy Wells Sv: None Home Runs: Alexis Rios, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Quentin, A.J. Pierzynski The BP Cup (yes, sponsored by that BP) has lost much of its luster. The Blackhawks own the Windy City right now. Da Bulls are courting that Lebron fella. Da Bears will be kicking off training camp soon, and by the by, both the Cubs and White Sox stink. Cubs fans one upped their south side rivals by cheering during the National Anthem, a la Blackhawks fans, and booing BP when they were announced as sponsors of the crosstown rivalry. As for the game, Peavy got his 100th win, Soriano's blast was his 300th of his career, and the White Sox stomped the Cubs royally. And that Toyota sign above the Wrigley stands? God Awful.

  5 Chicago Cubs Recap

• 3 Houston Astros Recap

  W: Andy Pettitte L: Brett Myers Sv: Mariano Rivera Home Runs: None Another pitching milestone was claimed in the Yankee game. Pettitte's victory gave him his 200th in a Yankee uniform. Only two other pitchers have achieved that honor, Whitey Ford and Red Ruffing. Which given the Yankees history of success says a lot about how difficult it is to achieve 200 wins with any single team. A quick thought exercise. For his career Phil Hughes has 21 wins as a Yankee. Eight of which have come this season. He will be 24 in less than two weeks. Assuming a relatively injury free career, a few stints on the DL, no major surgery, consistently above average Yankee teams, and a stable pitching performance (16-9 average annual record with stable peripherals) he would join that trio right after the All-Star Break of the 2021 season.

  4 New York Yankees Recap

• 5 New York Mets Recap

  W: R.A. Dickey L: Jeremy Guthrie Sv: None Home Runs: Chris Carter Dickey's knuckler baffled Baltimore, as he chalked up eight strikeouts in seven innings. The lone run allowed scored after Matt Wieters singled, advanced to second on Scott Moore's ground out, moved to third one out later when Corey Patterson singled sharply to center and then came around on Dickey's wild pitch. New York scored in a more conventional fashion as Carter took Guthrie deep with Jason Bay and Ike Davis on in the fourth. David Wright's first inning single drove in Jose Reyes and his eight inning double capped the Mets night by driving in Angel Pagan.

  1 Baltimore Orioles Recap

• 2 Pittsbugh Pirates Recap

  W: Justin Verlander L: Ross Ohlendorf Sv: None Home Runs: Brennan Boesch, Ramon Santiago Verlander worked seven strong innings before tiring in the eighth and the Tiger hitters added to the drama by waiting until two outs were recorded before scoring any of their runs. The big drives from Boesch and Santiago came off Ohlendorf who let in six over his six innings of work. Mike Avila and Brandon Inge both went three for four and scored runs for Detroit, who got almost all their production from the bottom five hitters of the order, who combined for a 10-19 night with all six runs and all six runs batted in. The Tigers announced Rick Porcello will have his next start skipped.

  6 Detroit Tigers Recap

• 2 Washington Nationals Recap

  W: Jake Westbrook L: Luis Atilano Sv: Chris Perez Home Runs: Austin Kearns 2, Travis Hafner Tribe uber prospect Carlos Santana made his big league debut for the club and started behind the plate. To make room, Lou Marson was sent to Columbus. Marson never got the hitting mojo working, but by all accounts did a fine job handling pitchers and throwing out runners. The Nationals wasted no time testing Santana's arm. Nyjer Morgan singled to lead off the ball game, and took off for second as Westbrook pitched to Ivan Rodriguez. Santana made a strong and accurate throw to nail Morgan. The caught stealing proved costly when Rodriguez doubled to right and Adam Dunn followed with another double. Instead of two runs in and no one out, Dunn stood on second with just a run home and one out. Ryan Zimmerman grounded out and Josh Willingham struck out to end the threat. Cleveland did not hesitate to point out the folly of Morgan's move when Kearns poked his first home run of the night, a three run blast with two out in the bottom of the inning, giving Westbrook all the cushion he would need. Outs are precious and for Morgan, who has been caught 10 times against only 12 successful attempts, the lesson will likely never take.

  7 Cleveland Indians Recap

• 6 Kansas City Royals Recap

  W: Victor Marte L: Micah Owings Sv: Joakim Soria Home Runs: Jay Bruce, Yuniesky Betancourt The Royals sent eight pitchers to the mound to get through the 11 innings, but they pulled out the victory on Betancourt's go ahead single in the top of the 11th. He was giving Kansas City leads all night, with his two-run home run off Bronson Arroyo putting the Royals up 5-4. For the game he was three for five with four runs driven in and another pair scored. Luke Hochevar was ineffective in four innings of work, before being lifted when Wilson Betemit walked for him in the fifth.

  5 Cincinnati Reds Recap

• 14 Florida Marlins Recap

  W: Anibal Sanchez L: James Shields Sv: None Home Runs: Gaby Sanchez 2, Carlos Pena The Marlins juiced the Rays to open the Citrus series in Tampa Bay. Sanchez drove in six with a four for five night that included two home runs and three runs scored. His myriad opportunities came thanks to Chris Coghlans' four for four with two walks night giving Sanchez somebody on every time he came to the plate. Sanchez was the beneficiary of the outburst, with a 1-0 lead before he threw a pitch and a 10-0 lead before he came out for his fourth inning of work. Shields never escaped the fourth giving up nine hits while only recording ten outs.

  9 Tampa Bay Rays Recap

• 2 Philadelphia Phillies Recap

  W: John Lackey L: Jamie Moyer Sv: None Home Runs: Mike Lowell The Sox greeted Moyer their old friend with a barrage of nine hits in just one plus innings of work for the veteran righty. The outburst continued against rookie reliever David Herndon and by the end of three, Boston had built an insurmountable 12-0 lead. The Phillies scratched for two against Lackey, solo runs in the fourth and seventh, but mustered little else. Hope came int he form of Boof Bonser, who gave up hits to the first three batters he faced before getting a fly out and a double play grounder squashing the opportunity. Bonser had allowed all four men he faced in his Red Sox debut to reach, giving seven men allowed before getting an out.

  12 Boston Red Sox Recap

• 2 Texas Rangers Recap

  W: Chris Narveson L: Rich Harden Sv: None Home Runs: Corey Hart, Vladimir Guerrero, Prince Fielder, Casey McGehee, Ryan Braun The Brewers took Texas to the school of Harden knocks (groan inducing puns are half off, today only!) ripping not one, not two, not three, but four home runs off the Rangers starter to account for all six runs he allowed. Braun's blast in the first got them started, but McGehee's put the Brewers on top for good. Fielder and Hart went back to back to seal it in the fifth. Supported by the super power Brewers, Narveson overcame the home run to Guerrero in the second to pitch seven solid innings.

  6 Milwaukee Brewers Recap

• 1 Atlanta Braves Recap

  W: Francisco Liriano L: Tim Hudson Sv: Jon Rauch Home Runs: None Liriano's renaissance has been music to Twins fans' ears. His latest was a thrilling eight inning, eleven strikeout virtuoso performance against Hudson, who matched him in innings, but couldn't touch his strikeout totals. Rauch continued the exercise in missing bats, by blowing away Braves sluggers Jason Heyward, Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus for a perfect ninth inning and his sixteenth save of the season.

  2 Minnesota Twins Recap

• 3 Toronto Blue Jays Recap

  W: Ubaldo Jimenez L: Ricky Romero Sv: None Home Runs: Carlos Gonzalez, Aaron Hill, Ryan Spilborghs Rain fell on Ubaldo and the Rockies shortening their series opener with the BLue Jays to six short innings. Jimenez pitched them all, but in allowing three runs saw his ERA jump to 1.16, still a microscopic ERA for the NL leader in WAR. The big damage against Jimenez came from Hill who rocketed a two run shot that put the Blue Jays on top 3-2 in the top of the third. Miguel Olivo singled home Spilborghs in the forth to tie it up and Gonzalez' ninth home run gave the Rockies the lead in the fifth.

  5 Colorado Rockies Recap

• 5 St. Louis Cardinals Recap

  W: Jaime Garcia L: Rodrigo Lopez Sv: Ryan Franklin Home Runs: Brendan Ryan While not in the same class as Jimenez, Garcia's 1.49 ERA is a very special number through twelve starts. His peripherals suggest a higher number, but thus far he's been able to keep runners from scoring and give the Cardinals every opportunity to win ballgames. They got more of the same with five innings with plenty of men on base (four hits, three errors and five walks) but two double plays and a pickoff mitigated the baserunner threat, and the cardinals took advantage of Ryan's three run home run off Lopez in the seventh to pull back to within a half game of the Reds in the NL Central.

  2 Arizona Diamondbacks Recap

• 3 Seattle Mariners Recap

  W: Joe Thatcher L: David Aardsma Sv: None Home Runs: Milton Bradley The combination of Jason Vargas, Shawn Kelley and Brandon League would not strike fear into the hearts of many big league teams, but they combined to hold San Diego to eight hits and two runs through eight innings. Franklin Gutierrez's run scoring triple, Ichiro Suzuki's RBI ground out and Bradley's home run were just enough offense to give the Mariners a 3-2 lead in the ninth. But Aardsma melted down and could not hold it. Will Venable singled to lead off the ninth, followed by David Eckstein's sacrifice bunt. Chase Headley was hit by Aardsma's 2-2 pitch putting two on with one out for Adrian Gonzalez who doubled to drive in venable. An intentional walk to Scott Hairston loaded them up for Nick Hundley whose sacrifice fly gave San Diego a walkoff win.

  4 San Diego Padres Recap

• 10 Los Angeles Angels Recap

  W: Joel Pineiro L: Chad Billingsley Sv: None Home Runs: Howie Kendrick, James Loney Billingsley ran into an Angel buzzsaw giving up seven runs in five and two-thirds innings for his third straight subpar outing against the Angels. Pineiro went the distance for the Angels, setting down fifteen straight Dodgers to end the game. Pineiro also got in on the offensive explosion, scoring three runs after reaching on two walks and a strikeout where the ball got away from Russell Martin. Kendrick and Erick Aybar went three for five each and Torii Hunter drove in three runs with a double and a single.

  1 Los Angeles Dodgers Recap

• 2 Oakland Atletics Recap

  W: Tim Lincecum L: Gio Gonzalez Sv: Brian Wilson Home Runs: Pat Burrell, Bengie Molina This looked like Lincecum. After a rough patch, the Giants young ace returned to form with an eight inning domination of the Athletics. His seven strikeouts were nice, but better still was the solitary walk. After 22 in his last five starts, his improved control shut down Oakland. Leading the way for the Giants hitters were Burrell and Molina who hit two run home runs.

  6 San Francisco Giants Recap

Standings

It's the return of the son of Interleague play, part two.

• Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
  

  Jake Peavy vs. Randy Wells In an "every-other" world it is now time for Wells to pitch, well, well. We don't live in an "every-other" world, which means he'll pitch like Wells, erratic, inconsistent and subject to implosion at any moment. Cubbies baseball, Catch the fever, at your own risk.

• Houston Astros at New York Yankees
  

  Brett Myers vs. Andy Pettitte The rehabilitation of Myers continues in Houston, with seven straight stellar starts. Tonight he ventures into the deepest pit of baseball hell for a pitcher who's past was filled with flyballs and whose HR/FB rate is a touch above half his established career level. The Yankees will take your meatballs and send them soaring to the stars, sir.

• New York Mets at Baltimore Orioles
  

  R.A. Dickey vs. Jeremy Guthrie Twice the Orioles have watched the dancing flutterball in 2010. Tim Wakefield's pitch proved hittable and then some over nine combined innings, twelve hits, seven runs and three round trippers. Consider that the warning shot across your bough, Mr. Dickey.

• Pittsbugh Pirates at Detroit Tigers
  

  Ross Ohlendorf vs. Justin Verlander Verlander gets his first ever start against the Pirates. Starting on April 27, when Francisco Liriano out-dueled him in Detroit, Verlander has held opposing batters to a .180/.249/.263 batting line. Getting Lincecum on Sunday, Strasburg on Tuesday and Verlander on Friday is a tough run. Who'd the Pirates upset to warrant this?

• Washington Nationals at Cleveland Indians
  

  Luis Atilano vs. Jake Westbrook Continuing the unsustainability chronicles, Atilano has pitched 51 innings on the season with 22 strikeouts and 22 walks. He's 5-2 with an ERA of 4.24, which is just a whisker under league average. In comparison his xFIP is 5.36. For a Cleveland club who just piled up 19 runs in their last two games against the Red Sox, Atilano is a lamb being led to the slaughter.

• Kansas City Royals at Cincinnati Reds
  

  Luke Hochevar vs. Bronson Arroyo Past history favors the Royals who last year beat Arroyo in Interleague play and who enjoyed one of Hochevar's finest starts against the Reds in the same series. Arroyo was a better pitcher last year and Hochevar was worse. That means of course the Reds will win without a probably.

• Florida Marlins at Tampa Bay Rays
  

  Anibal Sanchez vs. James Shields The Battle of Florida between the first place Rays and last place Marlins is a seeming mismatch. Tampa Bay has righted their stumbles with three wins in their last four, while the fish have been dipped and deep fried to golden brown deliciousness with five losses in their last seven games. Marlin steaks, anyone?

• Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox
  

  Jamie Moyer vs. John Lackey It's time to play "How old is Jamie Moyer?" Jamie Moyer once played for the Red Sox. His only season was a partial year, but it is notable as the final Red Sox season of a legendary Red Sox pitcher. Name that Pitcher. Is it A) Pedro Martinez, B) Roger Clemens C) Babe Ruth or D) Cy Young?

• Texas Rangers at Milwaukee Brewers
  

  Rich Harden vs. Chris Narveson We're gonna need a bigger scoreboard. The Rangers travel to Milwaukee to play the Brewers. Natural rivalry, eh? I mean, Texas and Wisconsin, ummm, both have football training camps in August in their state? Citizens like beer in both geographic regions? Grasping at straws. Regardless, the folly of throwing money at Harden to pitch in Texas has been revealed. At least Narveson is an inexpensive bad pitcher.

• Atlanta Braves at Minnesota Twins
  

  Tim Hudson vs. Francisco Liriano Cursory observation of the probables would suggest that Hudson, owner of a sparkling 6-1 record and a nifty 2.44 ERA holds the advantage over Liriano, who 5-3 mark and 3.10. But peering below the surface, into the murky esoteric lair of statistical observers of the game, one finds that Husdon's expected statistics are far more ordinary. An xFIP of 4.44 is okay, but a far cry from Liriano's 3.13

• Toronto Blue Jays at Colorado Rockies
  

  Ricky Romero vs. Ubaldo Jimenez Today we're examining the progression of a hype arc. The hype arc begins in obscurity as some player begins performing at a new level of production. The new level is noted by some observers who conclude that more study is needed. As the player maintains that level of performance new observers begin to tout this as new better level of production. The players performs a feat of remarkable strength, which spikes the hype arc sending it towards its eventual zenith. As the player continues putting up good numbers, detractors appear claiming this is unsustainable. A rough start begins the backlash phase and the hype arc fizzles.

• St. Louis Cardinals at Arizona Diamondbacks
  

  Jaime Garcia vs. Rodrigo Lopez Non Interleague game. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. On your way now. Non Interleague game.

• Seattle Mariners at San Diego Padres
  

  Jason Vargas vs. Kevin Correia New Mariner anthem. "White Flag Warriors" by the Flobots. The writers have begun to discuss how the carcass will be divvied up and apportioned to the contending clubs in the game. Cliff Lee will be a Yankee one declares. Another suggests Felix Hernandez should be the one to go. Even Dave Cameron of USS Mariner has declared wait 'til next year by beginning to tinker with the club's probable 2011 roster. Only 101 games left after tonight!

• Los Angeles Angels at Los Angeles Dodgers
  

  Joel Pineiro vs. Chad Billingsley Billingsley's solid start to the 2009 campaign fizzled around this point last season. After his June 14th start he put up an ERA of 5.21 in 103.2 innings pitched. Thus far in 2010 he has been better, but the totals are a far cry from the 9-3 record and 2.72 ERA he had on June 15th, which ensured his place on the NL All-Star team. Glimpses of those first 14 starts from last year are all we've seen since.

• Oakland Atletics at San Francisco Giants
  

  Gio Gonzalez vs. Tim Lincecum Gonzalez topped the Giants back in May with eight innings of two hit ball. His mix of peripherals suggests that this level of performance may be sustainable. Baserunners are acceptable, and the strikeouts are good. The one outlier is the home run rate which is depressed by an extremely low 5.1% HR/FB rate. Part of that is the expanse of Oakland. That regression should not be terribly severe, if he can continue to trim baserunners.

An automated voice advised me that it had an important call for me. But, if it was important, wouldn't its worth necessitate the use of a living, breathing, thinking human being on the other end of the line to tell me precisely why the call for me was important?  I think it would.  The premise of the first sentence having been rejected prima facie, I hung up.

Note to my fellow marketers, continue to insult us and we will hang up every time.

Tonight's games

• Florida Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies
  

  Josh Johnson vs. Roy Halladay When last we saw Johnson and Hallady matchup, Doc inoculated the Marlins hitters from the dreaded hit and walk disease. Nobody expects another bout of perfection, but oh yes, they sure do want it.

• Pittsbugh Pirates at Washington Nationals
  

  Zach Duke vs. Livan Hernandez Originally Duke was slated to face Strasburg on Tuesday, which I am sure he is glad to have missed thanks to the Pirates and Cub rainout last week. Instead he gets the old man of DC.  And a far more favorable matchup for the Pirates.

• New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles
  

  A.J. Burnett vs. Jake Arrieta I found Dave Mc's comments on Arrieta's debut to be on target about the state of the ball club. "The big man is 24 years old and its time to throw him into the deep end. He doesn't bring the national buzz that Matt Weiters delivered last year in his debut, but with the 2010 Orioles you take what you can get.... Arrieta has stayed in the minors this long because of his penchant for walking batters, so naturally the O's decided to let him debut against one of the most patient teams in baseball."

• Boston Red Sox at Cleveland Indians
  

  Jon Lester vs. Mitch Talbot Boof Bonser has set the record for fastest time in transit from mildly anonymous Red Sox player and utterly despised inspiration for remarkably popular voodoo dolls. Yeah, Boofstah, let's see ya pitch with a soahh ahhm.

• San Diego Padres at New York Mets
  

  Jon Garland vs. Jonathon Niese First game goes to the Padres, which makes Niese the stopper for the Mets. Citi field should help Garland the same way Petco tends to help him out.  The Mets lineup is superior, but it all depends on which of them actually steps up and which of them steps in it.

• Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays
  

  Brett Cecil vs. Wade Davis Interesting pair taking the hill, though after the dismantling of Toronto Cecil may be spooked.  The Rays 19 runs for an 1 against is a good sign that their slump is over.  If Carlos Pena's hot hitting is him emerging from his slump, then the Rays just picked up a power bat for nada.

• Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
  

  Ryan Rowland-Smith vs. Tommy Hunter Hunter emerged from the minors brashly bashing the Rays with a complete game five hitter against the Rays.  Take that minor league rehab and consign it to the lowest pit of hell.  The advantage is clearly with the Rangers, but not long ago, the Mariners picked Rowland-Smith for the rotation on merit.  He may regain what has been lacking this year.  Or, he could explode in an Ian Snell like technicolor explosion.

• Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins
  

  Bruce Chen vs. Scott Baker Baker, Baker, bake me a shutout.  The much-maligned front man of Twindom gets the perfect opportunity to highlight that he is in fact a cool guy. He gets no respect because he isn't a big K guy and can be hittable...and wait, I was going to say something positive here.  Wish I could remember what it was.

They are about to get underway in Cincinnati, so our evening previews and last night's recaps will be up a little later.

• San Francisco Giants at Cincinnati Reds
  

  Todd Wellemeyer vs. Mike Leake Dropping games one and two of a four game set seems an ill-advised course if one's goal is to stay in first place. But thanks to the Cardinals travelling travails that's precisely the plan that worked for the Reds. It helped that Aaron Harang beat the Giants last night, and a victory today would give them a split and a game and a half lead over idle St. Louis.

• San Diego Padres at New York Mets
  

  Mat Latos vs. Johan Santana The first of two in Flushing sees the rescheduling of last night's rained out game. And it features the fine matchup of Santana and Latos. Latos has been excellent this season and even in the earliest stage of decline, Santana is still a remarkable pitcher.

• Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox
  

  Max Scherzer vs. John Danks The White Sox and Tigers play a getaway day rubber game to determine their trio in the South Side. Danks and Scherzer make for an interesting matchup, but only if the good Scherzer shows up. He's found life in the AL a little more imposing than his rookie campaign in the desert and his strikeout strength will be needed if the wind is blowing out of the Cell.

• Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers
  

  Ryan Dempster vs. Dave Bush Another confluence of rubber game and getaway day in Miller Park, where it's Miller Time all the time. And today's game features plenty of reasons to imbibe, though please ponder the pleasures of a more potent potable than the sedate suds of America's mega-breweries. A porter perhaps would best accompany this one.

• Houston Astros at Colorado Rockies
  

  Roy Oswalt vs. Jhoulys Chacin A young talent challenges a master craftsman. Common boilerplate for a basic Hollywood schlockfest about triumphing over the establishment. But as a follower of the game's prospects, I'll readily admit the storyline works for me. Though in baseball, as Chris Tillman demonstrated against CC Sabathia yesterday, despite best efforts, schlockfest endings are the rare exception.

• Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics
  

  Ervin Santana vs. Trevor Cahill Cahill fascinates me. His 4-2 records and 3.21 ERA look good in eight starts. Except he strikes out less than five batters per nine innings. Not terrible if one is an extreme groundball pitcher. But he's not, certainly not like Brandon Webb was. In fact most of his peripherals look rather ordinary. A quick look at his xFIP shows a 4.50 and those footsteps are regression rounding third and heading for home. Deep league players can consider Cahill a sell high candidate.

• Atlanta Braves at Arizona Diamondbacks
  

  Tommy Hanson vs. Dontrelle Willis Dontrelle found the NL to his liking once again as he spun six shutout innings in his Diamondback debut. But to call it illusory is an insult to the smoke and mirror crowd. Willis allowed 10 of the 27 batters he faced to reach base. While facing pitchers again helps, one cannot fight gravity. One must return to earth eventually.

Well, we survived the hype. We now resume your regularly scheduled fantastic slate of summer baseball. Weather permitting.

• Florida Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies
  
  
  
  
  

  Josh Johnson vs. Roy Halladay Rain's already washed this one away When last we saw Johnson and Hallady matchup, Doc innoculated the Marlins hitters from the dreaded hit and walk disease. Nobody expects another bout of perfection, but oh yes, they sure do want it.

• Pittsbugh Pirates at Washington Nationals
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Brad Lincoln vs. John Lannan The debut of a highly touted pitching prospect in our Nation's capitol. Wait that was yesterday. Oh. For real? I didn't think the Pirates were allowed to have highly totued prospects. One thing some folks ran down the Pirates, here's what I say to that: You can disqualify the accomplishment dismissively by sneering at the caliber of the opponent. But in the same breath you need to say Ubaldo Jimenez' season is not that remarkable and that Tim Lincecum will have arrived when he starts beating more big league clubs.

• New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles
  
  
  
  
  

  CC Sabathia vs. Chris Tillman Yesterday, MLBlogger, Brittany Ghiroli tweeted a story about how Matt Wieters was trying to alter his swing and shorten it up to make better contact. Wieters is part of the young core of Oriole talent that will return them to competitiveness. Until then, the Yankees are still going to crush them.

• Boston Red Sox at Cleveland Indians
  
  
  
  
  

  Clay Buchholz vs. Justin Masterson Masterson gets a start against his former club looking to get off the schneid against the Red Sox. Cleveland drew Boston while Josh Beckett is disabled. The first two games are against the less reliable duo of Red Sox pitchers, Tim Wakefield and Daisuke Matsuzaka. And the best the Indians can do is three runs. It gets no easier.

• San Francisco Giants at Cincinnati Reds
  
  
  
  
  

  Jonathan Sanchez vs. Aaron Harang On the other end of Ohio, the Reds are running into the NL's pitching machine, the Giants. Matt Cain yesterday and Sanchez today. Some how Sam LeCure and Harang can't compare. But, thanks to the Harrison Bergeron effect, the stellar Giant staff is handicapped with a woeful offense. Even, Harang may look like a world beater against them.

• San Diego Padres at New York Mets
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Mat Latos vs. Johan Santana Rain's already washed this one away A good matchup under the treat of rain. Latos has been excellent this season and even in the earliest stage of decline, Santana is still a remarkable pitcher.

• Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays
  
  
  
  
  

  Shaun Marcum vs. David Price Best pitching matchup of the night. Price and Marcum have been flat out fantastic for their respective clubs. Which of course means this is destined to be a 10-8 slugfest. Price struggled with the longball two weeks ago against the White Sox and hitting home runs is what the Jays do. Your key to the game has been brought you by John Brothers Locksmiths.

• Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
  
  
  
  
  

  Ian Snell vs. C.J. Wilson Snell seeks simply to pitch tonight's game at a medium pace. After last week's non-event event involving Snell and Don Wakamatsu over his pace, the cracks are beginning to become manifest in Seattle. A 6-14 over the next three weeks will get the signs printed for the FIRE. No, Tobias, it's a fire SALE.

• Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers
  
  
  
  
  

  Carlos Zambrano vs. Randy Wolf I can't explain too well why I don't like this pitching matchup. Wolf is by all measure a capable if unremarkable innings eater. Zambrano used to be among the more durable pitchers in the NL. But looking at this game all I think is this is a game that reinforces my decision not to sign up for mlb.tv.

• Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox
  
  
  
  
  

  Rick Porcello vs. Freddy Garcia Another go round at the Cell for Motown and the Windy City. The Tigers didn't need perfection last night, just time to get into the White Sox bullpen. Relievers in a ballpark favorable to home runs should learn how to impart a little sink on their fastballs. One note of recognition. The White Sox dans deserve a standing ovation. They gave one to Armando Galarraga, which was a very nice touch.

• Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins
  
  
  
  
  

  Kyle Davies vs. Carl Pavano Pavano and Davies were once top up and coming young pitchers in the NL East. One put it all together and reaped a rewarding long term deal that will forever be the punchline of Boston-based mockery of New York. The other was dealt straight up for Octavio Dotel. Tough to say who's made out worse.

• Houston Astros at Colorado Rockies
  
  
  
  
  

  Felipe Paulino vs. Aaron Cook When we last left Paulino he had just enjoyed an out of body experience. He was so good he lasted eight (EIGHT!) innings and won. Astros manager Brad Mills told reporters he always knew Paulino could do it, after he was revived.

  
  
• Atlanta Braves at Arizona Diamondbacks
  
  
  
  
  

  Kenshin Kawakami vs. Ian Kennedy Kawakami is still winless as June arrives. Last night's injury to Kris Medlen is by all accounts not serious, though last I saw he was day-to-day. That means that Kawakami remains the likely pick to be sent to the pen when Jair Jurrjens returns by month's end. Three weeks to turn it around.

• Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Joe Saunders vs. Dallas Braden Tonight features both of this year's perfect game pitchers on the schedule. Braden has reverted to his past form since the perfect game. So has Halladay. Braden may want to annex new territory into Bradenia. It can't hurt.

• St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Adam Wainwright vs. Clayton Kershaw The dueling zeros last night in Dodger Stadium show signs of a repeat with a pair of prodigious pitchers on the mound. An ideal television doubleheader would put this game on after the Jays and Rays. The NERDS would be in heaven.

  
  

I heard three strikes go sailing by, on Strasmas Night, on Strasmas Night, I heard three strikes go sailing by on Strasmas Night in the District.

• 8 Florida Marlins Recap

  W: Jose Contreras L: Clay Hensley Sv: Brad Lidge Home Runs: Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino, Hanley Ramirez, Gaby Sanchez Mike Stanton debuted for the Marlins, but more compelling, particularly for Phillies fans, were the signs of life shown by Philadelphia's offense. They battered Chris Volstad who couldn't get out of the fifth. The Marlins pen fared as poorly, as Hensley coughed up an 8-7 eighth inning lead. After striking out Victorino, Hensley walked Placido Polanco and plunked Chase Utley. Howard bounced out to first moving the runners up. Consecutive singles by Ben Francisco, Raul Ibanez and Wilson Lopez got all three runs home for the Phillies.

  10 Philadelphia Phillies Recap

• 2 Pittsbugh Pirates Recap

  W: Stephen Strasburg L: Jeff Karstens Sv: Matt Capps Home Runs: Ryan Zimmerman, Delwyn Young, Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham I've already said a lot about Strasburg, and so has everyone else. I'll spare you anymore, except, he's really good. And encourage you to take a peak at last night's live blog, which is also really good.

  5 Washington Nationals Recap

• 12 New York Yankees Recap

  W: Phil Hughes L: Kevin Millwood Sv: None Home Runs: Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira, Adam Jones, Curtis Granderson The Yankees understand that sometimes pitchers are a mound bound unstoppable force. That they can with ease unbalance the steadiest hitter and reduce strong men to popup producing primadonas. For all other night there's crush ball hard. Swisher's two-run jack got things started. Granderson's slam piled on and Teixeira's penultimate at bat was a two-run shot in front of his hometown fans to key a six run rally in the seventh. Bigger for Tex he went three for four on the night - signs of cessation of his season spanning slump?

  7 Baltimore Orioles Recap

• 3 Boston Red Sox Recap

  W: Tim Wakefield L: David Huff Sv: Daniel Bard Home Runs: Shelley Duncan Adrian Beltre's first inning error allowed Shin-Soo Choo to score. Cleveland returned the favor in the fourth, when Trevor Crowe turned Victor Martinez' two-out fly ball into a two base error. Kevin Youkilis followed with a double to drive in Martinez. David Ortiz singled in Youkilis. Beltre singled and Bill Hall capped the two-out unearned rally with a double that scored Ortiz. Wakefield worked his knuckleball magic retiring fifteen straight after the error and setting the Red Sox record for career innings pitched.

  2 Cleveland Indians Recap

• 3 San Francisco Giants Recap

  W: Matt Cain L: Sam LeCure Sv: None Home Runs: Juan Uribe Mike Pelfrey went nine and only gave up one run, but it took the Mets eleven innings to score their second run. The man called Ike added to his legend in scoring that run crushing his seventh home run of the season to give New York a thrilling walkoff win.

  0 Cincinnati Reds Recap

• 1 San Diego Padres Recap

  W: Elmer Dessens L: Edward Mujica Sv: None Home Runs: Jose Reyes, Ike Davis Last season much of his success was attributed to good fortune. His ERA was lower than his FIP, as it is this year. But Cain's ability to repeat the results from 2009 suggests he may be able consistently produce at this level despite what his underlying peripherals suggest. Regardless of that theory the Reds could get nothing done against him as he scattered seven hits and a pair of walks to go the distance for his second shutout and third complete game of the season.

  2 New York Mets Recap

• 0 Toronto Blue Jays Recap

  W: Jeff Niemann L: Brian Tallet Sv: None Home Runs: Carlos Pena On a night when eyes were watching Washington, random acts of pitching brilliance broke out across the land. Niemann's may have been the best. Another complete game shutout, his was a two-hitter with one walk allowed and six strikeouts. Pena's two longballs provided more than enough offense for the Rays.

  9 Tampa Bay Rays Recap

• 1 Seattle Mariners Recap

  W: Colby Lewis L: Felix Hernandez Sv: None Home Runs: Vladimir Guerrero Baserunners per inning pitched directly correlates to runs allowed. Give up more hits and walks and hit batsmen and more runs will also be surrendered. That fundamental baseball dynamic was on display deep in the heart of Texas last night. King Felix allowed thirteen Rangers to reach in six innings. Seven of them came around to score. Just seven Mariners reached in Lewis' seven innings and only one run resulted. The lesson learned - getting on base matters. Walk on students of the game, walk on.

  7 Texas Rangers Recap

• 2 Chicago Cubs Recap

  W: John Axford L: Carlos Marmol Sv: None Home Runs: Corey Hart Yovani Gallardo and Ted Lilly both pitched seven shut out innings. The Cubs scratched out a run off Carlos Villanueva and Lou Pinella sent Lilly out for the eighth. Lilly gave back the run and the game was even at one. In comes Axford for Milwaukee and he yielded a run putting the Cubs back on top. Onto the ninth and Marmol. He hit Rickie Weeks with a pitch. Then after a botched bunt by Carlis Gomez, Weeks stole second. Marmol walked Prince Fielder intentionally. Ryan Braun's grounder to the right side moved The runners up for Casey McGehee. His grounder deflects off Ryan Theriot's glove and both Weeks and Fielder score for the Brewers walk off win.

  3 Milwaukee Brewers Recap

• 7 Detroit Tigers Recap

  W: Brad Thomas L: Matt Thonrton Sv: None Home Runs: Brennan Boesch, Mark Kotsay, Carlos Guillen No feats of strength unrivaled last night for Armando Galarraga, who gave up a single to Juan Pierre leading off the bottom of the first and two runs over five innings. The Tigers bullpen came through with four scoreless innings and their six run seventh came thanks in part to Boesch and Guillen going back to back. The duo combined to go five for ten and drove in five runs.

  2 Chicago White Sox Recap

• 3 Kansas City Royals Recap

  W: Kevin Slowey L: Zack Greinke Sv: Matt Guerrier Home Runs: Jason Kubel Slowey pitched seven shutout innings holding the Royals to three hits while striking out three. Greinke was hittable but threw 70 of his 102 pitches for strikes. The loss dropped him to 1-8 on the season. His nemesis last night was Kubel who doubled to drive in two in the first, in addition to his solo home run in the fifth. Greinke makes for a fantastic buy-low candidate.

  7 Minnesota Twins Recap

• 4 Houston Astros Recap

  W: Wilton Lopez L: Matt Belisle Sv: Matt Lindstrom Home Runs: None Four straight hits by Carlos Gonzalez, Seth Smith, Troy Tulowitzki (two run double) and Brad Hawpe greeted Brian Moehler in the bottom of the first. He settled down blanking the Rockies the rest of the way as the Astros chipped away finally taking the lead in the eighth on Lance Berkman's run scoring fielder's choice grounder and Carlos Lee's RBI single.

  3 Colorado Rockies Recap

• 7 Atlanta Braves Recap

  W: Jonny Venters L: Esmerling Vasquez Sv: Billy Wagner Home Runs: Mark Reynolds, Kelly Johnson, Justin Upton Kris Medlen left after injuring himself sliding home (he was safe) and thanks to his run, a tied ball game. He had only gone five innings and only thrown 66 pitches. Of them three had been blasted out of the ballpark by the home run firm of Johnson, Upton and Reynolds. The Braves featured a balanced attack, with eight of their nine starters collecting hits and six driving in one run. Melky Cabrera and Omar Infante both went three for five.

  5 Arizona Diamondbacks Recap

• 1 Los Angeles Angels Recap

  W: Vin Mazzaro L: Jered Weaver Sv: None Home Runs: Jurt Suzuki, Jack Cust Suzuki's home run was one of four hits for Oakland's young catcher as he and Cust powered the A's to a big win over the Angels. Suzuki's home run in the seventh chased Weaver and Cust's in the eighth off Trevor Bell capped the night's festivities. Mazzaro went five and handed it over to the pen and Craig Breslow, Brad Ziegler, Jerry Blevins and Tyson Ross closed it out with four combined shutout innings.

  10 Oakland Athletics Recap

• 0 St. Louis Cardinals Recap

  W: Hong-Chih Kuo L: Trever Miller Sv: Jonathan Broxton Home Runs: None The night's final contest was a classic pitcher's duel between Hiroki Kuroda and Chris Carpenter where neither claimed victory. Manny Ramirez broke the scoreless deadlock in the eighth with a double that brought home Rafael Furcal. Carpenter's seven innings of six hit ball with five strikeouts would just be remembered as a quality start. As would Kuroda's seven shutout frames, in which he gave up four hits and struck out six Cardinals.

  1 Los Angeles Dodgers Recap

Standings

in nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti...

Photo created by the great Metstradamus

Amen.

We're live blogging the debut of Stephen Strasburg, so step right up, set a spell and enjoy the game.

Update Middle of two, Strasburg threw a nasty changeup to get Ronny Cedeno swinging.  He has four strikeouts through two. Including the side in the second.

Update Bottom of two, the Nats broadcasters are musing that Strasburg hasn't hit for awhile.  Don't they pay attention? Of course not. 12 minor league PAs and a .900 OPS.

Update Top of the third, and Strasburg is back on the hill.  Another K, gets Jason Jaramillo looking. And then, Jeff Karstens swinging.  And he gets Andrew McCutchen on a grounder to Ryan Zimmerman. Nifty play by Zimmerman. Six Ks through three.  Umm, Damn he's good.

Update Strasburg at the dish.  A slow roller into the hole at shortstop. He took his time on his way up the line, would have beaten it had he ran all out.  But his job is to pitch, not hit. Save the energy for the hill, kid.

Update So the Nationals get Nyjer Morgan on base with two outs, but fail to score, on to the top of the fourth. Neil Walker gets the second hit off Strasburg on a soft liner to right. Lastings Milledge follows with another basehit and the Pirates have a rally with two on and nobody out. He gets Garrett Jones to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. Walker to third. But Delwyn Young gets a hold of the 90 mph changeup for a two-run home run. That double play was huge. Andy LaRoche pops up to end the inning.  2-1 Pirates. To the bottom of four.

In the Tweet of the Moment mlb.com's Brittany Ghiroli "#Strasburg gives up a homer! Gasp! #nationalsfansoverreactions"

Tater Trot Update The fantastic Larry Granillo has the Tater Trot Tracker souped up for on the spot updates, Delwyn Young's trot time:  22.36 secs

Update Bottom of the fourth, Adam Dunn led off with a single, but was forced on a Fielder's choice, when Walker through away the relay to first. Josh Willingham is safe at first. Ivan Rodriguez' nubber goes for a basehit, but Roger Bernadina lined into a double play with Willingham gunned down at the plate.

Update At-Bat on iPhone crashes. This was followed by Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

Update We're back, Cedeno strikes out, again. Jaramillo grounds out and Karstens strikes out again.  Through five, eight K's for Strasburg.

Update The app sleeps with the fishes, welcome to my living room, Bob Costas, please tell Buzz Bissinger to not throw any chairs, mmm-kay.

Update After back to back groundouts to Cedeno, Christian Guzman doubles to put a runner in scoring position. Morgan lines out to end the brief threat. To the sixth.

Update A four pitch strike out gets McCutchen. 74 pitches. Walker makes it ten K's. Milledge stikes out and that's eleven strikeouts in six innings on 81 pitches. Send him out for the seventh, says I.

Update Costas informs us that Karstens has no strikeouts on the night. A study in contrasts, not so much. A K/9 of 16.5 is dominant and a K/9 of 0 is unsustainable at the big league level.  Facts are stubbong things.

Update Zimmerman lines a single and the tying run is on board with no one out.  Nats on top now thanks to Dunn's home run.  He crushed that ball and then some. Back to Back for Dunn and Willingham and it's 4-2.

AT&T sponsors this collect call from gravity to Karstens, Jeff, you're coming back to earth. Evan Meek is on for the Pirates in the bottom of the sixth.

Tater Trot Update Dunn circled the bases in a crisp 23.80 seconds.

Old Hoss Radbourn weighs in "Come on, J. Riggleman. Let the kid pitch a CG. You know you want to."

Update Meek gets Pudge to ground out. Then a Bernadina fly out followed by Desmond's ground out. To the seventh. Will it be Strasburg (Baseball Jesus) or his prophet Drew Storen (Baseball John the Baptist)?

Tater Trot Update Willingham's tour around the bases was 21.17 seconds.

Update Strasburg is out for the seventh to face Jones and he gets him on the breaking ball for his 12th strikeout of the night. Up comes Young again.  Strasburg gets his 13th K on his 91st pitch of the night. And he hit 99 on the gun.  LaRoche up and strikes out for 14 strikeouts, he got the side on strikeouts again and used just 13 pitches, six on the last two.

Update Strasburg's night is done with Willie Harris on to hit for him.

Administrivia Strasburg's line. 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 14 K, Game Score of 75.

Update Harris strikes out for the first recorded by Pirates pitching this evening. Guzman and Morgan ground out and it's on to the pen for the next six outs.

Histroical Context In 1960, Hall of Famer Juan Marichal debuted for the Giants, he faced the Phillies and through a complete game, one hit shutout with one walk and 12 strikeouts.  His game score was an otherworldly 96.

Update Tyler Clippard is on and gives up a single to Cedeno. Jaramillo is up and the tying run. Jaramillo strikes out and Ryan Church pinch hits for Meek.  He strikes out swinging 16 K's for Washington pitchers. Clippard gets McCutchen to fly out and the game goes to the bottom of the eighth.

There's a big debut in DC tonight. You've only heard about it the last two months. Welcome to the bigs, Mr. Strasburg.

• Florida Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Chris Volstad vs. Kyle Kendrick The debut of a highly touted prospect not named Strasburg. Mike Stanton gets the call for the Marlins, who look to the youngster to add a potent bat to their struggling lineup.

  
  


• Pittsbugh Pirates at Washington Nationals
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Jeff Karstens vs. Stephen Strasburg A year after being drafted number one, Strasburg makes his debut. Navin Vaswani tweeted this: "Strasburg will throw a no-hitter tonight, and people will complain it wasn't a perfect game. No pressure, kid." Yep.

  
  


• New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Phil Hughes vs. Kevin Millwood The hype that surrounded Hughes was dwarfed by Strasburg-mania. But Hughes road to effectively big league pitcher may point toward the journey ahead for Strasburg. Only in his fourth season has he blossomed into a front-line starter.

  
  


• Boston Red Sox at Cleveland Indians
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Tim Wakefield vs. David Huff Wakefield endures as new knuckleballers begin to emerge. Charlie Haeger has had trouble staying healthy in LA. The Mets' R.A. Dickey has found success in Queens. And Eri Yoshida recently made her debut last month with the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League.

  
  


• San Francisco Giants at Cincinnati Reds
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Matt Cain vs. Sam LeCure Cain looks to keep up the Giants winning ways. On their trip East, they have won three of four. He'll face LeCure, who has had a good start against Houston and a bad start against St. Louis. This may mean he's league average.

  
  


• San Diego Padres at New York Mets
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Clayton Richard vs. Mike Pelfrey Pelfrey like Hughes took longer than expected to exhibit the talent scouts saw in him at Wichita State. His 2010 has silenced many critics in New York, but until he reaches the finish line, doubters will expect a sudden and harsh regression.

  
  


• Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Brian Tallet vs. Jeff Niemann Tallet makes his second start since coming of the DL a week ago. He blanked the Rays for five and two-thirds innings in a game that the Blue Jays lost when closer Kevin Gregg couldn't find the plate with a map and compass in the ninth.

  
  


• Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Felix Hernandez vs. Colby Lewis King Fleix following Cliff Lee is truly a dynamic one-two punch for Seattle. If only they could win any of their other games consistently. Lewis has been mortal after a fantastic start to the season. A resurgence of his April success would help Texas climb back into first.

  
  


• Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Ted Lilly vs. Yovani Gallardo Gallardo, the lone bright spot for the Brewers this year, goes for his seventh victory of the season. Lilly has been plagued by the Cubs' offensive offense. Somebody's gotta win, right?

  
  


• Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Armando Galarraga vs. Gavin Floyd Not quite a week after throwing the only 28-out perfect game, Galarraga gets the White Sox. Floyd was counted on by Chicago to provide quality innings. One over-promised and under-delivered, the other under-promised and has over-delivered so far. More power to Armando.

  
  


• Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Zack Greinke vs. Kevin Slowey Greinke has yet to pitch to the fantastic level he acheived last season on his way to the Cy Young award, prompting plenty of theorizing about what's wrong with Greinke. The "failure" of a better than league average ERA and solid peripherals is lost on me. If it's the lack of wins, this is the Royals. You only get to defy gravity so long before it reasserts its dominance.

  
  


• Houston Astros at Colorado Rockies
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Brian Moehler vs. Jeff Francis Few forecasted success for Francis following all of '09 on the shelf. But he's comeback strong to put up solid numbers and put his team in position to succeed. The Rockies are underachieving. But the blame cannot be placed on their starting pitchers, not even the emergency ones.

  
  


• Atlanta Braves at Arizona Diamondbacks
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Kris Medlen vs. Edwin Jackson Medlen stepped out of the pen when Jair Jurrjens went on the shelf and has ensured he's staying in the rotation. Likely to find out if the pen is to his liking are Derek Lowe or Kenshin Kawakami when Jurrjens returns at the end of the month.

  
  


• Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Jered Weaver vs. Vin Mazzaro The combination of Ervin Santana and Weaver has more than replaced the contributions the Angels used to get from John Lackey, who still hasn't found his groove in Boston. Both had posted solid years individually but are succeeding in tandem for the club this year. Their production has kept LA in the hunt despite the departures of Chone Figgins and Vladimir Guerrero, the struggles of much of the lineup and now the injury to Kendry Morales.

  
  


• St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Chris Carpenter vs. Hiroki Kuroda There's little doubt that despite the gulf in talent between Kuroda and his young counterparts in the rotation, his steady performances on the mound are the glue in the Dodgers staff. Kuroda takes the ball every fifth day and gives his teammates a chance to win. He's rarely dominating, and he's rarely dominated. Such pitchers have value.

  
  

Baseball's draft began last night, with fifty selections made. Bryce Harper was the consensus best talent,a nd the Nationals took him first with the intention of putting him in the outfield, leaving clear Derek Norris' path to the permanent backstop position in DC. But beyond the draft game, they played nine games, and here is what happened:

• 6 Chicago Cubs Recap

  W: Carlos Silva L: Dana Eveland Sv: Sean Marshall Home Runs: None In the offseason, baseball bloggers built the legend of Jack Z. Aggressive in his pursuit of pitching and fielding, Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik developed quite a following. The move that sealed their adoration was a deal that was widely regarded as a fleecing of the Cubs as Seattle picked up perpetual headache Milton Bradley for Silva. Silva's 8-0 after shutting down the Bucs. Advantage Cubs.

  1 Pittsburgh Pirates Recap

• 3 San Diego Padres Recap

  W: Wade LeBlanc L: Cole Hamels Sv: Heath Bell Home Runs: Adrian Gonzalez 2, Jerry Hairston Jr. Hamels was working on a no hitter into the seventh but had his string interrupted by the first of Gonzalez' solo blasts. Hairston added one of his own and the Padres made use of the one run home run to top the Phillies splitting the four game set in Philadelphia. LeBlanc matched Hamels through six shutout frames added a seventh and the Padres pen kept the whitewash going until the ninth. Ryan Howard's double drove in Placido Polanco to prevent another scoreless game.

  1 Philadelphia Phillies Recap

• 4 Boston Red Sox Recap

  W: Daisuke Matsuzaka L: Fausto Carmona Sv: None Home Runs: Austin Kearns Victor Martinez returned to Cleveland and collected two hits and a sac fly RBI to help the Red Sox past Carmona and the Indians. Marco Scutaro had three hits and scored twice. Matsuzaka was in control through eight scoreless innings in which he struck out five.

  1 Cleveland Indians Recap

• 6 San Francisco Giants Recap

  W: Sergio Romo L: Daniel Ray Herrera Sv: Brian Wilson Home Runs: Jay Bruce Neither Barry Zito nor Johnny Cueto could keep runners off the bases. Invariably base runners lead to runs and the two starters combined to give up nine of the eleven in the game. San Francisco's pen came through allowing only Joey Votto to reach when Romo plunked him in the seventh. Juan Uribe had a pair of two run singles for the Giants.

  5 Cincinnati Reds Recap

• 4 Seattle Mariners Recap

  W: Cliff Lee L: Scott Feldman Sv: None Home Runs: Michael Saunders Lee went the distance to end the Mariners skid. He pitched eight shutout innings keeping the Rangers bats silent until the ninth when Michael Young scored on Josh Hamilton's single and Ian Kinsler came around on Justin Smoak's fielder's choice grounder. Saunders provided the power Seattle needed with a three run blast in the second and from there it was all Lee.

  2 Texas Rangers Recap

• 1 Houston Astros Recap

  W: Jason Hammel L: Wandy Rodriguez Sv: Manny Corpas Home Runs: None Colorado's weekend in the desert led to a path of self-discovery. To win, runs must be scarce for your opponent. Hammel practiced that mantra for seven and a third shutout innings. Miguel Olivo's rocky mountain high continued with a single and triple and a pair or runs scored to lead the Rockies offense. Corpas came in with two on and two out in the ninth to strikeout Jason Michaels to end the game.

  5 Colorado Rockies Recap

• 4 Atlanta Braves Recap

  W: Dan Haren L: Derek Lowe Sv: Chad Qualls Home Runs: Mark Reynolds Haren was spotty through five and two-thirds, but Arizona's offense roughed up Lowe for seven runs in four innings. Stephen Drew did much of the damage with a single and triple to drive in four runs.

  7 Arizona Diamondbacks Recap

• 4 Los Angeles Angels Recap

  W: Scott Kazmir L: Ben Sheets Sv: Brian Fuentes Home Runs: Bobby Abreu, Jake Fox The Angels bats cooled off a little in Oakland, but Kazmir kept the team rolling shutting out the A's through six and only allowing the one run on Fox' home run in the seventh. Abreu's two run home run in the first got the Amgels going, but it was Bobby Wilson's double followed by Erick Aybar's RBI triple, followed by Howie Kendrick's RBI single with two outs in the fifth that sealed the victory.

  2 Oakland Athletics Recap

• 4 St. Louis Cardinals Recap

  W: Carlos Monasterios L: Blake Hawksworth Sv: None Home Runs: Ryan Ludwick 2, Blake DeWitt Monasterios worked six plus solid innings, with Ludwick's pair of solo home runs the bulk of the damage against him. Every Dodger hitter reached base at least once with DeWitt's home run and five runs batted in doing most of the damage against Hawksworth and P.J. Walters who both went four innings allowing six runs on seven hits with three walks.

  12 Los Angeles Dodgers Recap