Another day of games, another no hitter, with Matt Garza throwing the 5th no hitter of the season last night. Only a second inning walk kept him from a perfect game, but still only faced the minimum last night. 6 strikeouts are definitely also something that his owners wanted to see from him.
Joe Mauer appeared last night to be trying to make it up to his owners in a single night: 5 for 5, homerun, double, and 7 runs batted in as a part of the Twins' 19-1 drubbing of the Royals. I'm still not sold he will get over double digits in homeruns this year at this point, as he is still only at 6 after last night's blast.
Scary moment in Anaheim last night, as new acquisition Dan Haren was hit on his throwing arm by a liner off the bat of Kevin Youkilis in the 5th inning. He had to be pulled from the game, and it looked to me like it hit him just above his elbow. Sounds so far like he's going to be reevaluated today and we'll find out a little more then.
Could John Danks insert himself into the AL Cy Young race? If he continues to pitch like he did last night, it could definitely happen. He went 8 innings of 1 run ball and struck out 2. He now has a 3.23 ERA, 11 wins, and 1.13 WHIP on the season.
You can't stop Jose Bautista, you can only hope to contain him at this point. Another homerun (28), and another 3 runs batted in (70) to go with pair of runs scored as well. I say it again: I think he's going to get to 40 homers for the season.
Ricky Nolasco had a great start last night, striking out 7 over 6 1/3 innings pitched. He allowed only one earned run, and was his 4th start in 5 where he allowed 2 earned runs or less. The opportunity to buy low on Nolasco is rapidly closing.
Curtis Granderson went 2 for 3 with his 10th homerun of the season and 2 runs batted in last night against the Indians. Granderson has been a bit of an afterthought so far this season, and hopefully this is a sign of things to come for him.
Matt Wieters went 2 for 2 with 2 homeruns and 3 runs batted in last night in the loss to the Blue Jays. We may have written him off a little too soon, but I'd like to see him continue this before buying in completely.
Victor Martinez returned to the Red Sox lineup yesterday, going 1 for 4 with an RBI. If you haven't done so yet, plug him back into the lineup immediately. He should be just fine now that he's back.
David Ortiz still looks like he can hit for power for a contender, as he clubbed 2 more homeruns yesterday against the Angels. He now has 21 homeruns on the season, and seems likely to be able to find a job after the season even if it isn't with the Red Sox.
John Axford recorded his 15th save last night, striking out 2 in an inning of work. If for some reason you're still holding Trevor Hoffman, drop him and pick up somebody else. Axford has a vise grip lock on this job at this point, and the only way I can see him losing it is if the Brewers try to get Hoffman to 600 saves once they have conceded the season. Until that time, he's simply not ownable.