I would love to see what Adrian Gonzalez could do in a hitters park like Philly or Colorado, as he really can hit. In spite of playing in Petco half the time, he's now notched 14 homeruns and is hitting .295/.398/.529 on the season. Against Lee specifically, Gonzalez is now 7 for 10 in his career, with 3 doubles and a homerun. Could Gonzalez get past 40 homeruns again this season, and could he end up as a top-5 first baseman going into 2011?
Carlos Pena is now officially red hot with his 6th homerun in as many games yesterday. He has hit .375 over the last week to go along with the homeruns, and has managed to raise his batting average on the season to its highest point, .196. We all knew that Pena was never going to be a great hitter for average, but he could still end up hitting as many homers as ever, as he now has 15 on the season.
Javier Vazquez is slowly starting to put it back together for the Yankees. In 3 June starts, he's now 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 21 innings. Also nice to see only 5 walks total, and none in yesterday's start. The opportunity to buy low on Vazquez may be passing very shortly, if it hasn't already done so.
Carlos Silva took his first loss of the season yesterday, but not really through a whole lot of fault of his own, as he only gave up 2 earned runs over 7 innings. For the year, his ERA is now at 2.89. I can't imagine at this point that he is unowned in any leagues, but the numbers and performance seem to be legitimate. If for some reason he is still available, grab him and do it quickly.
Chris Ray came on to get the save against the Brewers yesterday after watching closer Neftali Feliz give up 2 hits, 2 walks and 2 earned runs. I don't think you necessarily need to be worried yet about Feliz losing his job, but if he continues to only get 1 out at a time, it may not be long.
Carlos Santana hit his first major league homerun and drove in 3 runs to help lead the Indians to victory today 7-1. He looks like he may very well be able to provide a spark for a team that has been in dire need of one for a while. Tomorrow's going to be a bit more of a challenge, as Strasburg comes in for his second start of the season. Seems like Strasburg needs a nickname of some sort, especially if he continues to pitch well.
Pedro Alvarez Alert: Alvarez went 1-4 with a homerun yesterday down in AAA, while Andy LaRoche continues to hit .240 in the Majors. I can't see it being more than Friday before he's up and LaRoche is not.