Tough loss for the Habs on Tuesday night at home. Anyway, watched some of the Phillies-Cards game and Cole Hamels, who i just dealt in the UBA league, pitched his best game of the season in a no-decision, holding the Cards to one run in 8 innings, striking out 8.
Here are some thoughts after reviewing Tuesday's boxscores:
The Pirates called up first base prospect Steve Pearce on Tuesday. With Jeff Clement hitting .164-.225-.315 so far, could this be the last we see of Clement in Pittsburgh? He hasn't hit and moving Garret Jones to first base and calling up Jose Tabata could be the next move.
Pirates closer Octavio Dotel pitched a scoreless 9th inning, his first scoreless inning in his last 7 appearances. He has another lease on the closer job for now.
Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano hit his 7th HR of the season and is hitting .321-.376-.690 for the season. Is this a sign he is heatlhy and has turned it around, or just a hot streak?
Red Sox starter Jon Lester out-dueled Ervin Santana to win his 2nd game of the season. He held the Angels to one run in 8 innings, giving up 7 baserunners and striking out 5. After a few bad outings in a row, Lester has pitched very well in his last two starts, and appears to be back on track.
David Ortiz watch-he went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts and is hitting .149-.240-.358. His days are numbered in Boston, it appears.
Nationals starter Livan Hernandez won his 4th game of the season, holding the anemic Braves offense to one earned run in 5+ innings, but gave up 10 baserunners in the process. Is he due for an implosion soon?
Chipper Jones stated in spring training that he would retire if he doesn't hit or help his team in 2010. Well, he is hitting .222-.385-.375 for the season. I am sure he will hit for a better BA this season, but am not sure he can approach .300 again.
I watched some of the Dodgers-Brewers game with Clayton Kershaw pitching, and the guy has wonderful stuff, but he could be one of the most frustrating pitchers to watch. The first two batters in each of the first two innings reached base. In the first, Kershaw got out of the inning without giving up a run. But in the second he walked Corey Hart of all people. He then hit Gregg Zaun, and gave up a run scoring single to Alcides Escobar, the Brewers 8th place hitter. Later in the second inning, he proceeded to hit Carlos Gomez with the bases loaded, up 1-2 in the count, and Ryan Braun on deck. Kershaw left after giving up 7 runs in less than 2 innings. Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt may be getting a pink slip soon.
Another reason why Jose Reyes was moved to 3rd in the Mets batting order- he saw all of 8 pitches in his 4 at bats on Tuesday against the Reds.
Giants starter Tim Lincecum struck out 12 Marlins in 7 innings, but left with a no decision, after Sergio Romo gave up a 3 run HR to Dan Uggla.
When I was younger, I used to read about starting pitchers throwing a complete game, and "scattering" 11 or 12 hits. Well, Twins starter Nick Blackburn scattered 11 hits in his complete game win over the Tigers on Wednesday night.
Twins catcher Wilson Ramos is human. He went 0-3 dropping his BA to .583.