The first few weeks of the season saw plenty of home runs hit, and now it appears the starting pitchers are catching up in the last week or so, as we saw several dominant pitching performances on Tuesday night, and no Roy Halladay was not involved.
Rays second baseman Ben Zobrist went 2-4 with 2 runs scored on Tuesday night, but he has been a disappointment so far this season. Zobrist is hitting just .200-.284-.450 with 3 HRs, 7 RBIs and 2 SBs. The power/speed stats are fine, but the BA/OBP stats are not, and it appears his 2009 breakout season may have been a career year for him.
Vlad Guerrero went 2-5 with a HR, 2 runs scored and 3 RBIs, and is now hitting .254-.254-.358 with 2 HRs and 7 RBIs. Its early, but I am wondering if this is the end of the line for Vlad. He has had a fantastic career and now has 438 career HRs with over 1,400 RBIs and a .319 career BA.
Vlad's teammate Matt Wieters went 2-3 with a double, 3 runs scored and 4 RBIs. He raised his BA to .239-.314-.435 and now has 9 RBIs for the season.
More Roto Roundup after the jump:
I was watching the Dodgers-Braves game last night, and the Braves elected to walk Matt Kemp after a two out double by Andre Ethier. Interesting. What a difference a year makes. And I have to say the Braves announcers are quite boring compared to Vin Scully.
Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun went 2-3 with a HR, 2 walks, 3 runs scored and an RBI on Tuesday night. His HR came off of NL Cy Young award winner Roy Halladay. Braun is quietly hitting .373-.493-.678 with 5 HRs and 12 RBIs so far this season. Braun is off to a great start to the 2011 season, and fantasy owners are counting on 30+ HRs from him this season after his mediocre, for him, 2010 season.
Phillies starter Roy Halladay got knocked around for 6 runs on 10 hits and 2 walks in 6+ innings on Tuesday. He only struck out 3 batters, but did induce 12 ground ball outs, threw first pitch strikes to 23 of 31 hitters, and had 13 swinging strikes. Halladay fell to 2-1 on the season.
Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard went 0-2 with a walk and a strikeout. I was trading emails with a Phillies fan friend of mine, and he was saying that he thinks Howard can get back to being a 40 HR hitter this season. I questioned that, as I am of the thought that Howard may not see many good pitches to hit this year with Raul Ibanez and Ben Francisco hitting behind him. What are your thoughts?
Diamondbacks starter Armondo Galarraga went to 3-0 on the season, after giving up 3 runs on 4 hits, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts in 6 innings of work. I bet I can count on one hand to guess how many fantasy owners started Galarraga last night.
Diamondbacks backup third baseman Ryan Roberts went 2-3 with 2 HRs, 2 runs scored, 3 RBIs, a walk and a SB. Roberts is a capable utiltiy guy and is hitting .382-.462-.765 with 4 HRs, 10 RBIs and 2 SBs in around 35 at bats this season. Why doesn't he play everyday?
Josh Johnson dominated the Pirates on Tuesday night, throwing 7 shutout innings, giving up just 2 hits, a walk and striking out 9. He won his third game of the season and lowered his ERA to 1.00.
Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez won his first game of the season, holding the Mets to just one run on 3 hits, 3 walks and 7 strikeouts. Wandy induced 14 swinging strikes and 5 ground ball outs to beat the Mets.
Astros outfielder Michael Bourn went 2-4 with 2 runs scored and his 8th SB of the season on Tuesday night. He is hitting .283-.368-.417 for the season and should approach 50 SBs this season.
Yankees closer Mariano Rivera blew his first save of the season on Tuesday, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk. Well, we now know he is human after all. I know one Red Sox fan who will start preaching that this is the beginning of the end of Mo.
Yankees starter A.J. Burnett put up a bunch of crooked numbers on Tuesday night, giving up 3 runs, 2 earned, on 6 hits, 5 walks and 6 strikeouts. This start has to be looked as bad on the surface, but Burnett did limit the damage even though he allowed 11 baserunners.
Is it me or does it seem that Mark Teixeira has hit a bunch of home runs now but is still just hitting ,226-.364-.585. Teixeira can be counted on for 30 HRs and 100+ RBIs, but his slow starts have to be agonizing for fantasy owners.
Royals outfielder Alex Gordon went 2-4 with a run scored, RBI and 2 SBs. Gordon has out together an excellent first 3 weeks of the season, and is hitting .361-.387-.528 with a HR and 13 RBIs.
Royals starter Bruce Chen won his 3rd game of the season in beating the Indians on Tuesday night. He gave up 2 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in 7 solid innings. He lowered his ERA to 2.38.
Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez got knocked around for 4 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts, and was hurt by a 3 run HR in the first inning off the bat of Pablo Sandoval. Fantasy owners hope the bad starts are behind them now, as Jimenez now has an ERA of 7.36 in his two starts.
Pablo Sandoval went 1-4 with a HR and 3 RBIs on Tuesday and now is hitting .328-.400-.603 with 5 HRs and 13 RBIs. Maybe he can repeat his 2009 season.
Angels rookie first baseman Mark Trumbo went 3-5 with a HR, 2 runs scored and 4 RBIs on Tuesday, as the Angels put up 15 runs on the Rangers. Trumbo is making a case for staying with the team once Kendrys Morales returns from the DL. He is hitting .286-.308-.508 with 3 HRs and 9 RBIs.
Trumbo's teammate Hank Conger is making the case for more playing time of late, as he went 2-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs and is hitting .333-.429-.625 with 2 HRs and 7 RBIs in 24 at bats. Conger should see more starts if he keeps hitting like this.
Rays starter James Shields held the White Sox to one run on 4 hits, a walk and 9 strikeouts in throwing his first complete game of the season. Shields was dominant, throwing first pitch strikes to 26 of the 31 batters he faced, getting 14 swinging strikes and 8 ground ball outs. Shields has a 20-6 K/BB rate, 3.07 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. THIS is the James Shields fantasy owners have been waiting for the last two years.
The Rockies demoted third baseman Ian Stewart to AAA Colorado Springs so he can work on his swing and play everyday. Stewart was hitting just .077-.143-.077 with zero HRs and RBIs and 11 strikeouts in 26 at bats. I had a feeling the Rockies were not happy with Stewart at third base when they added Ty Wigginton and Jose Lopez in the offseason.