The Phillies got some bad news on Wednesday as Brad Lidge was sent back to Philadelphia to get his right elbow examined by team doctors. Jose Contreras will be their closer till Lidge can come back healthy. It appears Lidge is headed for the DL.
Here are more thoughts after reviewing Wednesday's boxscores:
Nationals pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg threw 6 hitless innings in AAA Wednesday night. He now has given up just one hit in 12+ innings in AAA. MLB needs to get rid of their arbitration rules. Strasburg is ready for the big leagues now.
i know I have been harping on the Pirates lately, but when Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey shut you out two days in a row, things are really bad. Bailey needed only 90 pitches to throw a complete game shutout. Bailey struck out 6 and walked none.
The Diamondbacks bullpen got knocked around last night by the Dodgers, giving up 9 runs in two innings. The Brewers bullpen is having similar problems. Last night, the Brewers pen gave up 8 runs in the last 3 innings. Today, their bullpen gave up 7 runs in the last 3 innings, including 3 runs given up by Trevor Hoffman. With LaTroy Hawkins on the DL, and Carlos Villaneuva giving up 6 runs over the last two days, I wonder if Manny Parra could be the backup closer.
Yankees starter Javier Vazquez bounced back from several terrible outings by throwing 7 quality innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 7. In the nightcap of the doubleheader with Detroit, Phil Hughes pitched another gem. He threw 7 shutout innings, giving up 5 hits, a walk and striking out 8. Hughes is now 5-0 and is rewarding the Yankees patience with him.
More thoughts on Buster Posey, a crazy decision by DBack's manager AJ Hinch and Victor Martinez after the jump:
Buster Posey Watch-Posey went 3-5 with 3 doubles and 3 RBIs on Wednesday. He is hitting .355 for the season. Is June too early to call him up despite what we hear from Giants GM Brian Sabean?
It was just a matter of time that White Sox outfielder Juan Pierre started hitting. Pierre went 2-4 with a run scored and 2 SBs on Wednesday. He now has 17 SBs for the season, and has his BA up to .252.
Twins starter Carl Pavano held the White Sox to 2 runs in 7 innings. giving up 6 hits and a walk, and striking out 4. His ERA sits at 3.30 and I am wondering why more teams weren't looking to sign Pavano in the offseason. Hear me Ned?
Twins outfielder Delmon Young had 3 hits in 4 at bats on Wednesday, and is now hitting .287-.337-.479 with 3 HRs, 14 RBIs and 2 SBs. Could he be breaking out this season?
Blue Jays starter Shawn Marcum threw 7 shutout innings, giving up just 2 hits and a walk, while striking out 6. He lowered his ERA to 2.78 on the season. The Blue Jays are now 20-16 and are making some noise in the AL East.
Blue Jays closer made things interesting like he usually does every year, as he gave up 2 runs in the 9th, yet still earned his 10th save of the season. Will he be the Jays closer at the end of the season? Based on his history, I say no.
Is Victor Martinez hurt? He went 0-4 on Wednesday and is hitting .242-.299-.363 with 3 HRs and 17 RBIs. David Ortiz is the Red Sox punching bag, but VMart is certainly underperforming expectations this season.
In his first major league start, Rangers starter Derek Holland shutout the A's for six innings, giving up 5 hits and a walk, while striking out 7. Impressive. He is safe to pick up in mixed leagues, and a must own in AL-only leagues.
Wow. I am watching the Dodger-Diamondbacks game, in a 3-2 game and with runners on second and third, two outs in the 7th inning, Edwin Jackson intentionally walks Andre Ethier to pitch to Manny Ramirez!! Ethier homered off Jackson earlier in the game. GM Josh Byrnes decided he didn't need a lefty in his bullpen this year, otherwise he would have pulled Jackson in that situation.
Diamondbacks manager AJ Hinch should be fired for that decision, as Manny drilled an 0-2 fastball to the base of the centerfield fence to clear the bases. Ramirez is batting over .400 in his career vs the Diamondbacks.
Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton went 3-5 with 2 runs scored, and 2 RBIs. He hit his 7th HR of the season and is now hitting ,285-.354-.531 for the season.
Jered Weaver dominated the Rays on Wednesday night, but the defense behind him lead to 3 unearned runs, preventing him from winning his 5th game of the season,. Weaver gave up 4 runs in total, one earned, on 6 hits, 2 walks and struck out 12. His ERA sits at 2.47 now.