Phillies starter Cliff Lee struck out 16 Braves last night but took the loss as he gave up 3 runs on 9 hits in 7 innings of work. He threw first pitch strike to 21 of the 31 batters he faced. He is now 2-3 with a 3.69 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP, and a crazy 60-7 K/BB rate. He has struck out 10+ batters in 4 of his 7 starts this season.
Lee was out-dueled by Braves starter Derek Lowe who threw 6 no-hit innings before giving up 2 hits to start the 7th inning, and was then pulled. He was pitching with an injured foot as well. Lowe walked one and struck out 4 in winning his 3rd game of the season. He now owns a 3.22 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and an excellent 41-14 K/BB rate. Lowe is not known as a strikeout pitcher, but he has struck out 41 in 44+ innings so far this season.
Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia had a perfect game for 7 innings, but preserved the shutout against the Brewers and was the Fake Teams Fantasy Player of the Day.
More Roto Roundup after the jump:
Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez held the Pirates to 2 runs in 7 innings last night, giving up 5 hits, 2 walks and striking out 4. He is now 2-3 with a 4.00 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP and a 37-11 K/BB rate. He has given up 2 runs or less in 4 of his 7 starts and has seen his ERA drop from 7.31 to 4.00 in his last 4 starts.
Royals first base prospect Eric Hosmer made his big league debut last night and went 0-2 with 2 walks and a SB. He saw 21 pitches in his 4 at bats. You have to like the plate discipline and SB in his first major league game. In his blog yesterday, Buster Olney got some quotes from some talent evaluators on Hosmer, and here is one of them:
"He's a special player and should have an immediate impact. It's high praise but not false praise -- he reminds me of Joey Votto. I think he can hit 30-35 homers with plate discipline and also be one of the better baserunners among first basemen.
Another one said he could have a Jason Heyward-like impact this year. Certainly some very high praise, but not un-deserving.
Hosmer's teammate Mike Aviles is on some hot streak. He is now batting leadoff for the Royals, and went 1-3 with a walk, RBI and a SB. He is hitting .278-.316-.567 with 5 HRs, 24 RBIs and 8 SBs on the season. He is 14-37 with 4 HRs, 13 RBIs and 4 SBs in his last 9 games.
Athletics starter Gio Gonzalez held the Royals and Eric Hosmer to 2 runs in 7 innings last night, giving up 4 hits, 4 walks and striking out 6. He is now 4-2 with a 2.68 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and a 41-20 K/BB rate.
You can probably start writing James Shields name in as AL Comeback Player of the Year as he had another solid, but not dominating, start last night. He held the Orioles to one run on 3 hits, 3 walks and 5 strikeouts in 7+ IP. He lowered his ERA to 2.01 and is now 3-1 with a 0.93 WHIP and 44-12 K/BB rate.
Is there anyone hotter at the plate than Toronto's Adam Lind? He went 2-5 with a HR, 2 RBIs, and 2 runs scored. He is on an 11 game hitting streak, where he is 21-44 with 6 HRs and 15 RBIs. He is now hitting .317-.348-.524 with 7 HRs and 24 RBIs.
Twins SS prospect Trevor Plouffe went 2-4 with a HR, 3 runs scored, and a RBI in his major league debut vs the Red Sox on Friday night.
Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco is putting things together this year, as he went 7 innings last night vs the Nationals. He held them to 2 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks and 11 strikeouts. After two seasons where his ERA and WHIP lagged behind his peripherals, his stats are now catching up. He is 3-0 with a 3.23 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP and a solid 38-7 K/BB rate. He is benefitting from an extreme 82% strand rate, but has an excellent xFIP of 3.19.
Yankees stater Ivan Nova pitched a gem in Texas on Friday night, holding the Ranger to one unearned run on 2 hits, a walk and just one strikeout. He is now 3-2 with a 4.08 ERA and 1.36 WHIP. He threw first pitch strikes to 17 of the 25 batters he faced, and induced 16 ground ball outs.
Mets shortstop is certainly driving up his market value for potential trade partners as he went 3-4 with a walk, 2 triples, a double, 2 runs scored and a SB. He is now hitting .326-.377-.500 with a HR, 10 RBIs, 21 runs scored, 12 SBs and an excellent 15-12 K/BB rate. It is assumed that the Mets will deal Reyes by the trade deadline with teams like the Red and Giants amongst the teams interested.
Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez had his best start of the season, hoding the Giants to one run in 6 innings, where he gave up 2 hits, walked 5 and struck out 7. I watched alot of this game, and he looked dominant. He was getting plenty of swinging strikes so he appears to be putting things together after a rough start to the season.
Justin Masterson and Tyler Chatwood locked into a pitchers duel on Friday night. Masterson held the Angels to one run on 9 hits and 5 Ks in 7 innings of work. He left with a no-decision, but is 5-0 with a 2.11 ERA and 1.17 WHIP.
Chatwood went 8 innings giving up just one run on 2 hits, 5 walks and 5 Ks. He is 2-1 on the season with a 4.08 ERA and 1.50 WHIP.