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What is wrong with Brewers starter Zack Greinke? The guy who dominated in the second half of the 2011 season, is struggling with the K/BB rate in the early going of the 2012 season. He out-dueled Jaime Garcia yesterday, tossing 6 innings of one run ball, giving up 7 hits, walking 4 and striking TWO batters. His WHIP is sitting at 1.38 so far, but he is 3-1 with a 3.94 ERA and a 30-9 strikeout to walk rate in 29.2 innings, which is very good, but I guess I just expected him to open the season in a more dominating fashion. I have to say the two strikeouts yesterday are what really surprised me. He should be fine going forward.
Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen earned his second save of the season yesterday, striking out the side in the 9th, but walking two as well. Jansen has now earned the last two saves for the Dodgers, taking over for the struggling Javy Guerra. Manager Don Mattingley has yet to officially announce that Jansen is his new closer, but did say he went to him yesterday as he had the freshest arm in the bullpen. If Jansen gets the next save opportunity, I think that will put to rest who the closer is in Los Angeles.
Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton finally hit his first home run of the season yesterday, a three run shot, and drove in all 4 of the Marlins runs. Stanton is hitting just .246-.288-.348 with a HR and 9 RBI. Stanton owners can't wait for April to end and May to begin so Stanton can start hitting more bombs. Either that or he has to change his name back to Mike.
More Roto Roundup after the jump:
Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton left Sunday night's game with back stiffness and is day to day. David Murphy replaced him last night and will start should Hamilton miss some time.
Indians starter Derek Lowe had another stellar outing yesterday, throwing 7.2 shutout innings while giving up just 5 base runners and inducing 14 ground ball outs. Lowe is now 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA and 1.42 WHIP so far in 2012.
Reds first baseman Joey Votto went 2-3 with a walk, a HR and 4 RBI yesterday to lead the Reds to a 6-5 win over the Astros. Votto has struggled with the power thus far in 2012, as the home run was just his second of the season. He is now hitting .289-.439-.500 with 2 HRs and 15 RBI.
Fantasy owners have to be worried with the performance of Angels first baseman Albert Pujols thus far, as he has yet to homer and is hitting just .216-.266-.295. He should turn things around soon, but the power numbers may be lower than expected before the season started. I answered plenty of questions about Pujols in my chat last night, so go check them out.
White Sox reliever Matt Thornton got the last 4 outs in yesterday's win over the Red Sox to earn his first save of the season. Thornton has pitched very well so far in 2012, and could be the new closer for the White Sox.
Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper went 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout yesterday, and like I said in my chat last night, he looks like he belongs in the major leagues with his approach at the plate in his first two big league games. He will be fun to watch for the rest of the season.
Tigers starter Max Scherzer was very wild yesterday as he gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and 7 walks in 4.2 innings. He is now 1-3 with a 7.77 ERA and 2.05 WHIP and a 27-13 strikeout to walk ratio in 24.1 innings of work. After the game, manager Jim Leyland had this to say about Scherzer:
"I'm not pointing my finger at Max Scherzer," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who nonetheless made clear that a team's patience might be thinning. "I'm just saying, he's got to get better. It's that simple.
"There are always choices," he said, in a clear reference to Scherzer perhaps making a tuneup trip to Triple A Toledo (Scherzer has one minor-league option remaining. "But you're always better off to think about things than say something after you just got beat.
This will be something to watch in his next few starts as he does have one option left. A trip to AAA may just be what he needs to get things turned around.