Enjoying the April roller-coaster? Already, five streaks of 7+ wins by five different teams, while 10 teams have lost 5 in a row. The Brewers are dead! No, they’ve won 8 straight! (Is it 9?) The Braves can’t be stopped! Wait, they lost 4 in a row? But now they’re flying again! The Rox streaked for 8, they’re perfect at home! Whoops, is that 3 home losses in 2 days?
Braves 4, @Rockies 3 (game 1): You can’t contain him. El Oso Blanco expanded his range to the mountains. He’ll soon be in your back yard, turning over your trash cans….
- Oh, you thought I meant Justin Upton? Yeah, he’s doing OK, too. Hit his 10th in the sunshine and 11th in the gloom (Braves lead 10-1 at this writing), breaking Dale Murphy’s club record for the most HRs in the first 20 games. (But only 12 RBI on those 11 HRs.)
- And you know they moved B.J. down to #2 just for highlights like this. (Yep, consecutive pitches.)
- Is that Freddie Freeman back in the lineup? See, Freddie, 2 weeks on the DL went by like that.
@Astros 3, Mariners 2: Funny game, innit? Hisashi Iwakuma had made 4 sharp starts, allowing 5 runs on 12 hits and just 2 walks in 26.2 IP. But some folks noticed his modest 18 Ks and carped about his .119 BAbip. So tonight in Houston, Iwakuma whiffed 11 in 5 innings, including his last 6 outs — but he allowed 6 hits and 3 runs, with 3 walks and a bags-full HBP, and left trailing, 3-1. The ‘Stros are running away with the K crown, with about 20 more than any other team. Marwin Gonzalez hit his 3rd HR for the lead.
@Twins 4, Marlins 3 (1st game): Oswaldo Ar-cia later: his first, and the first off Jose Fernandez. Kevin Correia has gone 7+ on 3 runs or less in all 4 starts; first Twin since 2007 to start that way. (They’re hoping he’ll finish better than Ramon Ortiz.)
Dodgers 7, @Mets 2: No win for Kershaw, who needed 111 pitches for 5 innings … Even a polished pitcher goes on tilt sometimes. Clayton Kershaw was perfect for 8 batters, then he walked pitcher Robert Carson in his first MLB plate appearance. Ruben Tejada, Mr. Full Count, worked another walk, and Daniel Murphy goosed an 0-2 pitch through the middle for the tying run. Steam shot from Kershaw’s ears. He worked ahead of David Wright, 0-2, then left one up, and David lined it up the middle for the lead. Kershaw might have already been a little miffed at himself after his based-loaded GDP the previous inning. Mark Ellis made it all right, though with a couple of big HRs.
@Pirates 2, Phillies 0: Following games through play-by-play can lead to puzzlement. Help me picture this: 2 outs and Michael Young on 1st, Ryan Howard hits a double, Young doesn’t score. What kind of ball could that be, considering the way Howard runs now? Did Howard head for 2nd hoping to draw the throw and let Young score, but they let the throw go through?
- Pirates twice had a man on 3rd with 1 out and didn’t score him, also a leadoff double that didn’t score. Phils had a leadoff triple, didn’t score; FC at home, then DP, and now 11 straight batters retired.
- Jason Grilli is illi.
Marlins 8, @Twins 5 (2nd game): 3 in the 1st for Miami — their first crooked number in the first 3 innings this year. Bunch of hits off Mike Pelfrey, alas.
Athletics 13, @Red Sox 0: A rain-shortened CG shutout just makes the season feel official. There was one such last year, 2 in 2011.
Cubs 4, @Reds 2 (10): Must have been a relief for Chicago to come up in the 10th and not see Chapman. Is he not 100%? He worked yesterday, but only 13 pitches, and that after a day off. Anyway, Darwin Barney (who has never faced Steven Fife) homered off Manny Parra, who is extremely not Aroldis (to wit: he stinks), the Cubs tacked on, and 9th-inning hero Joey Votto couldn’t repeat in the 10th, whiffing with the tying runs aboard to end it.
- The best-laid plans of managers & bloggers gang aft agley … Carlos Villanueva got through 8 IP on 1 run. Had he stopped there, or gone cleanly forward, he would have begun the year with 4 starts allowing no runs except 4 solo HRs. He would have been the 5th guy since 1916 to begin with 4 straight starts where HR=R (within 20 team games), the first ever with 4+ HRs in those 4 games.
- But, as he’d thrown just 92 pitches and the Cubs lack a shut-down closer, Villanueva went out for the 9th. And walked Shin-Soo Choo on a full-count. (Choo reached 4 times in the game; his 2 soft hits were the only knocks on Villanueva besides the HR.) After a sac bunt, Carlos Marmol came in, and before I could even finish typing “come on, Marmol, one time!“, Votto had tied the game with a hit, the run being charged to Villanueva. (Don’t they even care how much time I spend on these pointless searches?) Marmol put on the rest of his act, walking the bases full before escaping.
@Orioles 4, Blue Jays 3: That’s 4 straight wins in one-run games for Balto. (Please, make it stop….) O’s drew about 11,000 Monday, 13,000 tonight, with seasonable weather. The gap in their attendance between Friday-Sunday and Monday-Thursday is amazing. Their 6 weekend games have averaged nearly 40,000, but the 5 weekday games all less than 15,000.
Cardinals 2, @Nationals 0: 10 runs in the last 8 losses for Washington, who’ve fallen back to .500. Adam Wainwright is tied for 7th in wins since 2007 — despite missing a full year.
