2016 MLB thread. THE CUBS HAVE BROKEN THE CURSE! Chicago Cubs are your 2016 World Series champions

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Man get the %#*@ outta here with that
laugh.gif
 
Originally Posted by Proshares

I prefer Hollywood Hamels
laugh.gif
.
Click to expand...
I called him that last year but i havent seen any of his corny commercials yet
nerd.gif


but hearing some of the stories how at bars, he expects everyone to bow down to him (ala like a king) so some of us phil fans call him King Cole
laugh.gif
atleast for this year.

anyway Howard looks way different.
 
Originally Posted by Proshares

I prefer Hollywood Hamels
laugh.gif
.
Click to expand...
I called him that last year but i havent seen any of his corny commercials yet
nerd.gif


but hearing some of the stories how at bars, he expects everyone to bow down to him (ala like a king) so some of us phil fans call him King Cole
laugh.gif
atleast for this year.

anyway Howard looks way different.
 
Spoiler [+]
We're a week into the season, and a handful of winless and lossless teams remain. The Rangers are perfect at 6-0 after sweeping the Mariners. The Reds are perfect, too, having stomped the Astros, even in the aftermath of Edinson Volquez's early command troubles.

[h4]Red Alert[/h4]
Worst starts in Red Sox history:
[table][tr][th=""]Year[/th][th=""]Start[/th][th=""]Final W-L[/th][/tr][tr][td]1945[/td][td]0-8[/td][td]71-83[/td][/tr][tr][td]1927[/td][td]0-6[/td][td]51-103[/td][/tr][tr][td]1905[/td][td]0-6[/td][td]78-74[/td][/tr][tr][td]2011[/td][td]0-5[/td][td]??[/td][/tr][tr][td]1996[/td][td]0-5[/td][td]85-77[/td][/tr][tr][td]1966[/td][td]0-5[/td][td]72-90[/td][/tr][/table]

And you might have heard this: The Red Sox still haven't won a game; they haven't started 0-6 since 1945. Jason Varitek made a mistake in the middle of a strange play. Watching Wednesday night's Red Sox-Indians game, you could just see the Red Sox deflate the moment that Asdrubal Cabrera drove the ball over the right-field wall for a three-run homer in the sixth inning.

• You probably haven't heard this: The Pirates are off to a good start, and Kevin Correia won again.

• A talent evaluator's observation about the Mariners' Michael Pineda: "It looks like the Mariners have another guy who has the potential to lead a staff."

If Pineda turns out to be as good as he appeared he could be in his first outing, it would change the context greatly for the Mariners in considering a Felix Hernandez deal. Pineda could be the anchor to a staff if Hernandez were dealt, or he and Felix could be a dynamic 1-2 punch if the Mariners decided to keep both.

Pineda showed a lot of confidence in his first start, writes Geoff Baker. There is an interesting stat in here about Felix Hernandez, who turns 25 this week: He is just one of nine pitchers since 1900 who have made at least 172 starts by their 25th birthdays.

• It appeared to at least one talent evaluator that Derek Jeter had gone back to a version of more familiar hitting stride in his most recent start on Tuesday. We'll see Thursday whether that was an aberration.
[h3]Dings and dents[/h3]
1. Now the Cubs will be without Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner for most of the next month. Casey Coleman will fill in one spot, and James Russell may fill in the other, Gordon Wittenmyer writes.
2. Ubaldo Jimenez could come back from the disabled list as soon as April 17.

3. A White Sox victory helped Adam Dunn feel better, writes Daryl Van Schouwen.

4. Jair Jurrjens is making progress, David O'Brien writes.

5. A Brewers prospect suffered a setback.

6. Yunel Escobar might have suffered a concussion.

7. Joe Thatcher could be out until May, but within this Don Norcross notebook, there is good news about Mat Latos.

8. Erick Aybar has a strain.

9. Michael Wuertz is out; Tyson Ross is in.

10. The decision on whether and when to rest Joe Mauer is a mystery, writes Jim Souhan. If you read between the lines of this story, it sounds as though the Twins are more concerned about Mauer's legs than they're letting on.

11. The timetable for Jason Kendall's return has been pushed back.
[h3]Moves, deals and decisions[/h3]
1. Rafael Soriano apologized to the media. A smart move in New York.
2. The Twins altered their pitching plans because of Wednesday's rainout.

3. Dustin Ackley is set to open the season in Triple-A. Two evaluators have major questions about whether he can be a serviceable second baseman.

4. The Mets should trade Mike Pelfrey ASAP, writes John Harper. He appears to be the Mets' weakest link, writes Bob Klapisch.

5. Baseball's biggest concern with the deal that Frank McCourt's representatives are proposing is that it really doesn't benefit the Dodgers franchise. The money that McCourt would receive wouldn't be thrown into the baseball operations; it would be used to deal with McCourt's debts.
[h3]Wednesday's games[/h3]
1. I watched a lot of the Padres-Giants game and came away with this: Tim Lincecum's velocity has bounced back somewhat, so you will see the 94 mph that didn't seem to be there last year. He looks great, as the Padres learned -- on the other end of a whole lot of strikeouts. Buster Posey mashed a home run, Henry Schulman writes. How Lincecum dominated the Padres:
A. He finished off hitters. Lincecum took 15 of the 24 hitters he faced to a two-strike count, retiring all 15, including 13 by strikeout. Since the 2009 season, Lincecum leads all starters with a .116 opponent batting average and a 53.1 strikeout percentage with two strikes. Next-closest are Jon Lester (49.5), Zack Greinke (49.4) and Jorge De La Rosa (48.3).
B. He reached for extra velocity: Lincecum's fastball averaged 93.5 mph with two strikes, compared to 91.7 in non-two-strike counts. The extra ticks on his fastball made the difference, as Padres hitters were 3-for-6 against his fastball in non-two-strike counts but 0-for-5 with five strikeouts with two strikes. The five strikeouts tied the second-most Lincecum has had on his fastball in the past three seasons.
C. He had a great changeup: Lincecum threw 17 changeups, 12 of which were out of the strike zone. The Padres swung at six of the 12 changes out of the zone, missing on all of them, including five strikeouts.

From the Elias Sports Bureau, the most 10-plus strikeout games by a Giants pitcher, since 1900:

Christy Mathewson: 28
Tim Lincecum: 27
Jason Schmidt: 27
Juan Marichal: 25
2. The Cardinals lost again, and Tony La Russa didn't like the postgame questions. St. Louis' attendance was down in that series.
3. Justin Verlander was The Man for the Tigers.

4. Jeremy Hellickson threw effectively, but the Rays' offense continues to struggle. From Elias: The Rays have totaled seven runs on 21 hits through five games, becoming the fourth team ever to lose each of its first five games with so few runs and hits. The other three teams all lost more than 110 games for the season: the 2003 Tigers (43
 
Spoiler [+]
We're a week into the season, and a handful of winless and lossless teams remain. The Rangers are perfect at 6-0 after sweeping the Mariners. The Reds are perfect, too, having stomped the Astros, even in the aftermath of Edinson Volquez's early command troubles.

[h4]Red Alert[/h4]
Worst starts in Red Sox history:
[table][tr][th=""]Year[/th][th=""]Start[/th][th=""]Final W-L[/th][/tr][tr][td]1945[/td][td]0-8[/td][td]71-83[/td][/tr][tr][td]1927[/td][td]0-6[/td][td]51-103[/td][/tr][tr][td]1905[/td][td]0-6[/td][td]78-74[/td][/tr][tr][td]2011[/td][td]0-5[/td][td]??[/td][/tr][tr][td]1996[/td][td]0-5[/td][td]85-77[/td][/tr][tr][td]1966[/td][td]0-5[/td][td]72-90[/td][/tr][/table]

And you might have heard this: The Red Sox still haven't won a game; they haven't started 0-6 since 1945. Jason Varitek made a mistake in the middle of a strange play. Watching Wednesday night's Red Sox-Indians game, you could just see the Red Sox deflate the moment that Asdrubal Cabrera drove the ball over the right-field wall for a three-run homer in the sixth inning.

• You probably haven't heard this: The Pirates are off to a good start, and Kevin Correia won again.

• A talent evaluator's observation about the Mariners' Michael Pineda: "It looks like the Mariners have another guy who has the potential to lead a staff."

If Pineda turns out to be as good as he appeared he could be in his first outing, it would change the context greatly for the Mariners in considering a Felix Hernandez deal. Pineda could be the anchor to a staff if Hernandez were dealt, or he and Felix could be a dynamic 1-2 punch if the Mariners decided to keep both.

Pineda showed a lot of confidence in his first start, writes Geoff Baker. There is an interesting stat in here about Felix Hernandez, who turns 25 this week: He is just one of nine pitchers since 1900 who have made at least 172 starts by their 25th birthdays.

• It appeared to at least one talent evaluator that Derek Jeter had gone back to a version of more familiar hitting stride in his most recent start on Tuesday. We'll see Thursday whether that was an aberration.
[h3]Dings and dents[/h3]
1. Now the Cubs will be without Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner for most of the next month. Casey Coleman will fill in one spot, and James Russell may fill in the other, Gordon Wittenmyer writes.
2. Ubaldo Jimenez could come back from the disabled list as soon as April 17.

3. A White Sox victory helped Adam Dunn feel better, writes Daryl Van Schouwen.

4. Jair Jurrjens is making progress, David O'Brien writes.

5. A Brewers prospect suffered a setback.

6. Yunel Escobar might have suffered a concussion.

7. Joe Thatcher could be out until May, but within this Don Norcross notebook, there is good news about Mat Latos.

8. Erick Aybar has a strain.

9. Michael Wuertz is out; Tyson Ross is in.

10. The decision on whether and when to rest Joe Mauer is a mystery, writes Jim Souhan. If you read between the lines of this story, it sounds as though the Twins are more concerned about Mauer's legs than they're letting on.

11. The timetable for Jason Kendall's return has been pushed back.
[h3]Moves, deals and decisions[/h3]
1. Rafael Soriano apologized to the media. A smart move in New York.
2. The Twins altered their pitching plans because of Wednesday's rainout.

3. Dustin Ackley is set to open the season in Triple-A. Two evaluators have major questions about whether he can be a serviceable second baseman.

4. The Mets should trade Mike Pelfrey ASAP, writes John Harper. He appears to be the Mets' weakest link, writes Bob Klapisch.

5. Baseball's biggest concern with the deal that Frank McCourt's representatives are proposing is that it really doesn't benefit the Dodgers franchise. The money that McCourt would receive wouldn't be thrown into the baseball operations; it would be used to deal with McCourt's debts.
[h3]Wednesday's games[/h3]
1. I watched a lot of the Padres-Giants game and came away with this: Tim Lincecum's velocity has bounced back somewhat, so you will see the 94 mph that didn't seem to be there last year. He looks great, as the Padres learned -- on the other end of a whole lot of strikeouts. Buster Posey mashed a home run, Henry Schulman writes. How Lincecum dominated the Padres:
A. He finished off hitters. Lincecum took 15 of the 24 hitters he faced to a two-strike count, retiring all 15, including 13 by strikeout. Since the 2009 season, Lincecum leads all starters with a .116 opponent batting average and a 53.1 strikeout percentage with two strikes. Next-closest are Jon Lester (49.5), Zack Greinke (49.4) and Jorge De La Rosa (48.3).
B. He reached for extra velocity: Lincecum's fastball averaged 93.5 mph with two strikes, compared to 91.7 in non-two-strike counts. The extra ticks on his fastball made the difference, as Padres hitters were 3-for-6 against his fastball in non-two-strike counts but 0-for-5 with five strikeouts with two strikes. The five strikeouts tied the second-most Lincecum has had on his fastball in the past three seasons.
C. He had a great changeup: Lincecum threw 17 changeups, 12 of which were out of the strike zone. The Padres swung at six of the 12 changes out of the zone, missing on all of them, including five strikeouts.

From the Elias Sports Bureau, the most 10-plus strikeout games by a Giants pitcher, since 1900:

Christy Mathewson: 28
Tim Lincecum: 27
Jason Schmidt: 27
Juan Marichal: 25
2. The Cardinals lost again, and Tony La Russa didn't like the postgame questions. St. Louis' attendance was down in that series.
3. Justin Verlander was The Man for the Tigers.

4. Jeremy Hellickson threw effectively, but the Rays' offense continues to struggle. From Elias: The Rays have totaled seven runs on 21 hits through five games, becoming the fourth team ever to lose each of its first five games with so few runs and hits. The other three teams all lost more than 110 games for the season: the 2003 Tigers (43
 
Spoiler [+]
BOSTON -- In the broad universe of the Tampa Bay Rays, this will be a very good season. The upcoming draft is regarded by talent evaluators as the best in recent memory and the Rays will have nine of the first 59 picks, a staggering haul of players to be added to the likes of David Price and Jeremy Hellickson and what is already regarded as a strong core of prospects.

mlb_i_priced_200.jpg

Getty ImagesDavid Price's biggest problem may be that he doesn't swing a bat.

But the Rays' enormous challenges at the big league level seem to be overtaking them quickly. Evan Longoria is hurt and will miss most of April; the hitter who was expected to protect him, Manny Ramirez, is gone and won't be back; and their absence is the reason Joe Maddon's lineup had B.J. Upton in the third spot and Dan Johnson in the cleanup spot the other day.

The Rays have been one of baseball's best offensive teams in recent years, but their struggle for runs, so far, is historic.

From Elias: Tampa Bay batters whiffed eight times on Sunday, and they've registered at least seven strikeouts at the plate in each of their nine games this year, the longest such streak to begin a season for any team in baseball's modern era (1900-2011). The Rays' numbers through their first nine games:

Runs: 20
Run differential: -24 (the worst in the majors)
OPS: .515 (the worst in the majors
Strikeouts: 74

The frustration from all this probably fueled Maddon's anger Sunday, as he went toe-to-toe with all four umpires before he was ejected himself.
[h3]Notables[/h3]
• This is not good: Joel Zumaya felt pain during his workout in Florida on Sunday, and the Tigers will hold a conference call that will include Dr. James Andrews, writes Lynn Henning.

• The rain was soft but steady in the seventh and eighth innings Sunday night, and the wind in Fenway Park was brisk -- but the stands remained packed. After the game, I chatted with Red Sox fans who explained that with Boston holding a 1-7 record, they stuck around because the game seemed especially important. Everyone wearing red was feeling the pressure, from those watching to the players.

Which is why Josh Beckett's outing felt so important to them, and was so spectacular. It's been so long since Beckett put together a complete and dominant performance, with a mid-90s fastball and a great curveball and changeup, that there have been serious questions about whether he could be that kind of pitcher again. But he hit the mid-90s consistently, spun the best curveball he's had in years and totally shut down the Yankees, giving Boston a badly needed series win. When Marco Scutaro pulled a ball into the left-field corner in the seventh inning, there was an explosion of sound from the stands -- relief, really. You could see it in the faces of the Boston players afterward. For at least one night, Beckett gave them a moment to exhale, as they work to restart their season.

From Andrew Davis of ESPN Stats & Information, how Red Sox starter Josh Beckett blanked the Yankees:

A. He had great off-speed stuff: Beckett threw 42 off-speed pitches (25 curveballs, 17 changeups) and the Yankees went 0-for-11 with six strikeouts in at-bats ending with an off-speed pitch. For the season, opponents are 0-for-19 with nine strikeouts in at-bats ending with an off-speed pitch and have seen 63 percent strikes (57 percent in 2010).
B. He kept the ball down: Beckett threw 65 pitches down (45 for strikes) and the Yankees went 1-for-17 with seven strikeouts in at-bats ending with a pitch down. The 45 strikes are the most since July 28, 2010.
C. He kept runners out of scoring position: Only two runners reached scoring position, and Beckett stranded them on base (0-for-3). There were only two starts last season in which Beckett didn't allow a runner in scoring position to score.

Only two other Red Sox pitchers have allowed two or fewer hits and struck out at least 10 batters against the Yankees in the live-ball era (since 1920): Pedro Martinez (Sept. 10, 1999) and Ray Culp (Sept. 21, 1968).

Doubts had surrounded Beckett. He was the total package, writes Dan Shaughnessy. Beckett was locked in, writes John Tomase.

Marco Scutaro got a critical hit.

• Phil Hughes is looking for answers about his diminished velocity, so what he worked on in his bullpen session Sunday evening was using the lower half of his body more -- driving more aggressively with his legs toward home plate. There has also been an adjustment in Hughes' regimen between starts: He is throwing less, as the Yankees work to save his bullets and give him a chance to regain arm strength.

• Matt Holliday returned to the lineup and the Cardinals picked up a badly needed victory, scoring three runs in an inning for the first time.

• Asdrubal Cabrera continues to show he is an excellent player, and the Indians have a seven-game winning streak. Manny Acta says the Indians' defense and pitching are for real, as Paul Hoynes writes.

Here are the numbers for the 25-year-old Cabrera, whom the Indians got in a trade for Eduardo Perez:

Games: 9
Extra-base hits: 5
RBIs: 9
OPS: .947

• If I were to do a power ranking right now, I'd have the Rangers first among the 30 teams. And if Derek Holland continues to throw the way he did Sunday, they may stay near the top all year.

From Elias: The Rangers are the first defending league champion to begin a season with eight or more wins in their first nine games since the 2004 Marlins (8-1), and they're the first defending American League champ to do so since the 1998 Indians (8-1).
[h3]Dings and dents[/h3]
1. Ryan Zimmerman doesn't know when he'll be back.
2. Todd Helton's back is feeling better.

3. Ubaldo Jimenez will throw a game in extended spring training April 13, and then he'll be evaluated -- which means he could be back next week.

4. Mike Stanton is having a hard time running, and Hanley Ramirez hopes to return Tuesday.

5. Alex Rodriguez, a late scratch from Sunday's lineup, hopes he can be back in the lineup Tuesday.

6. Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey are getting closer to coming back.
[h3]Moves, deals and decisions[/h3]
1. The Angels made some surprising roster changes, as Mike DiGiovanna writes.
2. Ryan Franklin will remain as the Cardinals' closer, partly because St. Louis doesn't have a lot of options.

3. Jason Jaramillo will be out of a job when Chris Snyder comes back.

4. Jason Isringhausen has been summoned to the big leagues.

5. Clay Buchholz got paid.

6. Trevor Cahill's new contract is expected to fall along the lines of the Jon Lester or Ricky Romero contracts, at about five years and $30 million, with some option years and a $1.5 million buyout.
[h3]Sunday's games[/h3]
1. The Rockies are backing up a strong spring training with a strong start, as Jim Armstrong writes.
2. Jered Weaver was The Man for the Angels, dominating the Jays. How Weaver beat the Jays:

A. Location of strikeouts: 12 of Weaver's career-high 15 strikeouts were on pitches away. Nine of the 15 strikeouts were down and away. He averaged 3.1 strikeouts per game on pitches away and 1.7 down and away respectively in 2010 starts.
B. Pitches to get strikeouts: Weaver had six strikeouts with his fastball. In 2010, he had eight starts in which he recorded at least six strikeouts with his fastball. He also struck out six with his slider. In 2010, Weaver's highest strikeout total with the slider was four (done three times).
C. Type of strikeouts: Nine of the strikeouts were swinging, with seven coming on pitches out of the zone. The six strikeouts looking all came on 0-2 or 1-2 counts.
D. He generated lots of swings and misses: Weaver recorded 25 swinging strikes (46 percent of total strikes), his highest total since 2007. Fifteen of the 25 swinging strikes were on pitches out of the zone.

Weaver's 15 strikeouts are the most by an Angels pitcher since Chuck Finley had 15 against the Yankees on May 23, 1995. Weaver is the first Angels pitcher to finish with 15 strikeouts in a game in which he pitched fewer than eight innings.

3. Watched a lot of the Phillies-Braves game and Cole Hamels was outstanding; he was definitely ready to pitch, said Charlie Manuel. How Hamels beat the Braves:

A. He had an effective fastball: Hamels threw 52 fastballs (two- and four-seam), and Braves hitters went 1-for-9 in at-bats ending with the fastball. Hamels had the most success throwing over the middle and away with the fastball as the Braves went 0-for-7 in at-bats that ended with a fastball in those quadrants.
B. He had an even more effective changeup: Hamels threw 26 changeups down, which is more than any start in 2010 or 2011. While he threw more pitches in that zone, it was the success that showed. Braves hitters went 0-for-7 with six strikeouts in at-bats ending on changeups down.
C. He controlled righties: After giving up six hits to Mets right-handed hitters in his previous start, Hamels allowed only one hit (Alex Gonzalez seventh-inning single) in 13 at-bats (.077). In at-bats ending with a pitch down, the Braves' right-handed hitters went 0-for-8 with five strikeouts.

4. Aaron Harang is 2-0, while pitching for his hometown team, as Don Norcross writes.

5. The Diamondbacks won a confidence-booster.

6. The White Sox continue to roll.

7. The Astros produced some season highs in runs, hits and ejections.

8. This time, it was Brandon McCarthy who pitched shut-down baseball, as Susan Slusser writes.

9. Pudge Rodriguez was The Man for the Nationals.

10. A Pirates pitcher is frustrated with himself, writes Colin Dunlap.

11. The Orioles couldn't muster any offense. Jeremy Guthrie gutted it out, as Peter Schmuck writes.

12. The Marlins got a sweep, but no revenge.

13. The Royals keep on winning: They held off the Tigers, and felt like they passed a minor test, writes Bob Dutton.

14. Rick Porcello, a linchpin guy for the Tigers, had a bad game and acknowledged that he's got to get better. I don't know long the Tigers will wait before shuffling the deck chairs with their rotation, because Andy Oliver is ready to go in the minors. Jim Leyland says he didn't think Porcello's teammates gave him a lot of help.

15. The Mets blew a lead, after Chris Young threw well.

16. Rajai Davis lost his focus, and it cost the Jays, writes Mike Rutsey. Read this story and you can tell there's something percolating right below the surface for the outfielder. The Jays punched out 15 times.

17. Erik Bedard wasn't good, and the Mariners' losing streak has reached seven.

18. The Dodgers were shut down.

19. The Minnesota pitchers are walking too many guys. And their offensive problems so far have been stunning: As with Boston, the talent and pedigrees don't seem to match the numbers, and because of this, scapegoats of years gone by are having their say, through Jim Souhan. Jim Thome did manage to hit career homer No. 590 with a monster shot.

20. Casey McGehee got a big hit for the Brewers, as Todd Rosiak writes.
[h3]Patience Index[/h3]
[h4]Waiting to Scratch That Pitch[/h4]
These hitters saw the most pitches per plate appearance Sunday:
[table][tr][th=""]Hitter[/th][th=""]PA[/th][th=""]Pitches[/th][th=""]P/PA[/th][/tr][tr][td]Mark Teixeira[/td][td]4[/td][td]25[/td][td]6.3[/td][/tr][tr][td]Daric Barton[/td][td]5[/td][td]30[/td][td]6.0[/td][/tr][tr][td]Ryan Raburn[/td][td]4[/td][td]24[/td][td]6.0[/td][/tr][tr][td]Allen Craig[/td][td]5[/td][td]29[/td][td]5.8[/td][/tr][tr][td]Jack Cust[/td][td]4[/td][td]23[/td][td]5.8[/td][/tr][tr][td]Rod Barajas[/td][td]3[/td][td]17[/td][td]5.7[/td][/tr][tr][td]Brad Emaus[/td][td]3[/td][td]17[/td][td]5.7[/td][/tr][tr][td]Wes Helms[/td][td]3[/td][td]17[/td][td]5.7[/td][/tr][tr][td]Adam LaRoche[/td][td]5[/td][td]28[/td][td]5.6[/td][/tr][/table]


Spoiler [+]
BOSTON -- If you can't be in the house for a Zach Britton start, maybe the best angle from which to watch him pitch would be a straight-on camera in center field -- right behind him, rather than the camera that is positioned just a bit to left-center.

Because that camera angle from straightaway center field gives you a better understanding of how much movement Britton has on his fastball, how different his fastball is and how it swerves away from right-handed hitters, at about 95 mph.

Britton is left-handed and it's difficult to come up with names of many left-handers who can throw that hard, with that much movement -- Jonny Venters of the Braves is one -- which is part of the reason why opposing hitters can look so futile against him. They just don't see many pitchers like Britton in a given month.

In the first week of the season, the Texas Rangers hammered or merely beat every pitcher they had faced, from Jon Lester to Clay Buchholz to Felix Hernandez, but on Saturday, Britton -- throwing that vicious fastball -- completely shut down Texas in the first game of a doubleheader.

Major league baseball was blessed with an incredible class of rookies last year, from Buster Posey to Jason Heyward to Stephen Strasburg to Jaime Garcia. So far this year, the best young player has been Britton.

From Jeff Zrebiec's story this morning:

Spoiler [+]
BOSTON -- Manny Ramirez looks like a different guy this spring, we heard over and over. Wow, his bat speed looks so much better, scouts raved. The guy is in phenomenal condition, they said. He looks a lot stronger, they said.

The Red Sox players saw the same thing. After word broke Friday that Ramirez had retired instead of facing suspension, David Ortiz said that the Boston players talked in their dugout this spring about how good Manny looked, how quick his bat was. This was especially striking, because late last season, in his brief time with the White Sox, Ramirez's bat speed had all but disappeared, and evaluators from some teams were convinced he was finished.

But now he's gone, retiring abruptly after he was informed that he had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and faced a possible 100-game suspension.

Former teammates like Jonathan Papelbon and Ortiz and B.J. Upton and Andre Ethier spoke respectfully about what a good teammate he was, what an incredible talent he was. And Hall of Fame voters, like colleague Jayson Stark and I, will mention, fairly, the incredible numbers Ramirez compiled, the 555 home runs and the .312 career average, and we will weigh how the circumstances of his retirement will weigh in the rendering of his legacy.

And where is Manny in all of this? Well, he's probably laughing at everybody.

Legacy? Hall of Fame? Teammates? Does anyone really think, after all we've seen in the past decade, that Ramirez cares about any of that?

He won. He's like the guy who robbed a bank of millions and was sentenced to 10 hours of community service.

According to his page on Baseballreference.com, Manny Ramirez made over $200 million for his career. How many of those dollars, those 555 home runs, were hit with the help of performance-enhancing drugs? Who knows? You could say a handful or you could say all of them and this would be fair speculation, given the evidence of his stunningly shameless use of performance-enhancing drugs in recent years.

For the first half of Ramirez's career, Major League Baseball was a wild, wild West of steroid use, with widespread use and virtually no oversight. Oh, sure, there was a loose structure in place whereby a crackdown was possible, but no one ever really did anything.

But in 2002, the players' union that Ramirez is a part of took its first steps toward drug testing, largely because a number of players within it lobbied quietly for change. Veterans like Todd Zeile had come to understand that the increase in drug use had forced many players to make a very difficult decision: Either stay clean, without benefit of performance-enhancing drugs, and risk being surpassed professionally by players who were juicing; or join the crowd and take the drugs too.

The union agreed to survey testing, in an effort to keep all of the union brethren on a level playing field. And despite the fact that everybody knew when the tests were being administered, and despite all that was at stake for the reputation of the union, Ramirez reportedly tested positive in 2003. He apparently didn't care about the whole level playing-field thing, or the fact that a positive test might lead to more testing for others; he used anyway. He was perfectly willing to cheat teammates, cheat other players.

[h4]Manny Ramirez Since Suspension[/h4][table][tr][td]Games[/td][td]172[/td][/tr][tr][td]BA[/td][td].277[/td][/tr][tr][td]HR[/td][td]22<<[/td][/tr][tr][td]RBI[/td][td]86[/td][/tr][tr][td]K[/td][td]129[/td][/tr][tr][td]<< only 1 HR in last 45 games
* played for 3 teams (LAD, CHW, TB)[/td][/tr][/table]

In the summer of 2008, as his contract with the Red Sox was set to expire, he forced his way out of Boston -- convincing club executives that he was intent on sabotaging the team -- and in two months with the Dodgers, he put on a stunning display of production, hitting about .400. He looked liked a different guy with the Dodgers. His bat speed looks so much better, scouts raved. The guy is in phenomenal condition, they said. He looks a lot stronger, they said.

And after getting an extension of two years and $45 million, he was suspended under the terms of baseball's drug policy. In other words, knowing all the risks -- to his own legacy, his Hall of Fame chances, his reputation -- he apparently opted to drug up, to cheat his employers, teammates, union brethren.

His last months with the Dodgers were an embarrassment. He was often hurt, and only intermittently productive. The Dodgers, finally fed up with him, dumped him in a late-season deal with the White Sox, and Ramirez mustered exactly one RBI.

[h4]Manny Ramirez[/h4]
Since trade to Dodgers in 2008
[table][tr][th=""][/th][th=""]Before susp.[/th][th=""]After susp.[/th][/tr][tr][td]BA[/td][td].380[/td][td].277[/td][/tr][tr][td]OBP[/td][td].490[/td][td].390[/td][/tr][tr][td]Slug pct[/td][td].710[/td][td].463[/td][/tr][tr][td]AB per HR[/td][td]12.1[/td][td]24.6<<[/td][/tr][tr][td]>>9 home runs in final 282 at-bats
NOTE: Traded from Red Sox to Dodgers on July 31, 2008.[/td][/tr][/table]

Manny was very motivated as he joined the Rays, we heard. He was in tremendous condition, we heard. This was another contract year.

And for at least the third time in his career, he weighed the risks versus the rewards and signs seem to indicate he opted to juice up, again. He was willing to break the rules and cheat his employers, teammates, union brethren, and fans. He got caught, and his career is over.

Let's be real about this: Manny Ramirez wasn't the only one who cashed in on Manny being Manny. The Indians and the Red Sox and the Dodgers made money from his production and from that what-a-wild-crazy-guy image -- Mannywood? -- and the media feasted, as well; there were probably more words written and spoken about Manny in the past decade than any player not named Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens.

But now Manny is headed to Spain, where he can have a big laugh at the expense of all those folks he left behind.

He won.

• Sean Marshall feels like Ramirez took something away from him, as Gordon Wittenmyer writes. I've had similar conversations with other players, and some executives have noted that Ramirez's drug use may have altered the future of former Arizona GM Josh Byrnes and ex-manager Bob Melvin. The Diamondbacks appeared destined for the playoffs in 2008, but a late rush by the Manny-fueled Dodgers ended with Arizona sitting on the sidelines, and in less than two years, both Melvin and Byrnes had been fired.

• And the hits just keep on coming for the Rays, who, in the past six months, have:

1. Lost every major piece of what was the best bullpen in the American League.
2. Lost free agents Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena from their everyday lineup -- as well as their clubhouse, where those two were important parts of the structure.
3. Lost their best player, Evan Longoria, to a significant oblique injury in the first hours of this season.
4. Lost Ramirez, whose presence was theoretically going to force opposing pitchers to pitch to Longoria, because of the threat he posed at the plate. Now the Rays are going to have to pick from an imperfect set of candidates for the cleanup role, and Longoria probably is going to have to work very hard against expanding his strike zone, as opposing pitchers navigate around him.

The Rays are surprised and hurt, writes Marc Topkin. The Rays paid Ramirez about $87,912 for his 17 at-bats.

The Rays rallied to beat the White Sox in their first game without Ramirez. From Kenton Wong of ESPN Stats & Information: Their five-run ninth gave them their first lead in any game this season. According to Elias: The Rays set an all-time record by not having a lead in their first 62 innings of the season. That passes the 1992 Detroit Tigers, who did not lead in their first 60 innings.

Tampa Bay scored nine runs Friday. That is more than they had in their first six games combined (eight).

• Phil Hughes threw 47 pitches against the Red Sox on Friday and generated one missed swing -- by Kevin Youkilis in the second inning, and the expression on Youkilis' face afterward was along the lines of You gotta be kidding me … He was not fooled; he just couldn't believe he missed the ball. Hitters have a phrase about pitchers with benign stuff -- "Good eatin'" -- and this is certainly how the Red Sox saw Hughes.

And it was how Joe Girardi saw him, as well, because he removed him before the third inning started.

Hughes threw well enough in the first half of last season that he was named to the American League All-Star team, and now he is a complete mystery to the Yankees; they have no idea if he'll contribute anything this season, because right now, he has no weapons. His velocity is down significantly -- he was throwing in the 89-90 mph range in his start against Boston on Friday -- and the movement on each of his pitches has all but disappeared. His fastball is flat, his cutter drifts, his curveball rolls instead of biting.

Why? Well, the Yankees don't think he's hurt. They think that most seasons of his career, Hughes has tended to build velocity from the outset of a season, rather than starting the year with good velocity, as he did in 2010.

But there may also be concern that as Hughes used the cut fastball effectively in the first half of last year, it took a toll: His arm angle -- which isn't the same as release point -- gradually got lower, and the quality of his fastballs diminished. His struggles really began last year.

His numbers month-to-month, last season:

April: 2-0, 2.00
May: 4-0, 3.13
June: 4-1, 5.17
July: 2-2, 5.22
August: 4-2, 4.22
September: 2-2, 4.67

But there are numbers that are more telling, such as his strikeout ratio:

April 9.0 (per nine innings)
May 9.1
June 6.9
July 6.4
August 5.9
September 7.7

Hughes' velocity was down all spring, and in his first start of this season, it looked like some of the Tigers' hitters -- most notably Miguel Cabrera -- were all but running up to the ball, like Happy Gilmore teeing off. In two starts this year, Hughes has allowed three homers and generated one strikeout, and allowed 11 runs in six innings.

What now?

Well, his next scheduled start is against the Orioles on Tuesday, and then the hot-swinging Rangers five days after that. But the Yankees could temporarily remove Hughes from the rotation and replace him with Bartolo Colon until they see better stuff from the right-hander. Hughes has an excellent reputation for listening, for working on adjustments, and right now that is needed in a big way.

The Yankees are going to be patient with Hughes, writes Joel Sherman.

The Yankees couldn't recover from his ugly outing, as Mark Feinsand writes.

• The Red Sox players credited Theo Epstein for his pregame speech, after feasting on Hughes and ending their losing streak. The Boston bullpen worked well, as Peter Abraham writes. Yaz threw out the first pitch.

• The Giants' players will get their rings today.
[h3]Dings and dents[/h3]
1. Hanley Ramirez exited with a bruised leg, in the midst of a Florida win, as Juan Rodriguez writes.

2. Ross Ohlendorf has a hurt shoulder.

3. Domonic Brown has started swinging a bat.

4. Brandon Webb had a good bullpen session, as mentioned within this notebook.

5. Tsuyoshi Nishioka is not well-versed in hard slides, writes La Velle Neal.

6. Mat Latos is ready to go.

7. The Orioles are all banged up, which can't be a surprise; it's a team with a lot of players bearing injury histories.
[h3]Moves, deals and decisions[/h3]
1. Mike Aviles was benched, as Bob Dutton writes.

2. Eric Wedge made a statement with the way he handled Jack Wilson's refusal to play the other day, writes Larry Stone.

3. The Rangers added a couple of relievers.

4. The D-backs signed Ron Mahay.

5. Mark Teahen was in the starting lineup for the White Sox.
[h3]Friday's games[/h3]
1. Chipper Jones was The Man, as the Braves came back to beat Cliff Lee and the Phillies. Bobby Cox got a warm welcome in throwing out a ceremonial first pitch.

2. Max Scherzer pitched well in the Tigers' home opener, focusing through the hoopla, as Drew Sharp writes.

3. Albert Pujols made a pivotal error.

4. The Diamondbacks had a smashing home opener, writes Nick Piecoro.

5. The Astros were booed in their home opener.

6. The Rockies lost in extra innings, and Troy Tulowitzki would really, really like a winning April, as Jim Armstrong writes.

7. The Mariners got pounded by Cleveland.

8. Brian Wilson had a rough outing in the Giants' win, but he's not worried.

9. Travis Wood made mistakes and he paid for it, as John Fay writes.

10. The Indians are in first place after crushing the Mariners, as Paul Hoynes writes.

11. Cliff Lee got blistered, and as David Murphy writes, the Phillies' starters have a 6.19 ERA through the first seven games.

12. You can't stop the Pirates, you can only hope to contain them: They beat the Rockies in extra innings.

13. The Cubs won their first game in Milwaukee, and hope this gets the ball rolling.

14. Matt Thornton had an ugly ninth inning, as Toni Ginnetti writes.

15. The Twins rallied late, as Joe Christensen writes. Joe Nathan got his first save at Target Field, writes Kelsie Smith.

16. Randy Wolf had another ugly outing.

17. Brett Anderson was brilliant, until the eighth inning, as Susan Slusser writes. Oakland's bullpen situation is hurting them.

18. The Dodgers and Padres played in the rain, until their game was suspended well after midnight, as Dylan Hernandez writes.

19. The Angels dropped their home opener.

20. Jayson Nix mashed another homer for the Blue Jays, and this one was pivotal, as Richard Griffin writes.

21. Jordan Zimmermann shut down the Mets.

22. Jose Reyes showed the good and bad of his skill set, as John Harper writes.

Rumors.

Spoiler [+]
http://[h3]What if the vets fail in the Bronx?[/h3]
12:31PM ET

[h5]New York Yankees [/h5]


The New York Yankees have added Carlos Silva to their crop of starting pitching candidates. That group at the back end includes Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Kevin Millwood, but Phil Hughes is struggling badly and the club could be close to moving Colon from the bullpen into the rotation. What if more than two of the aforementioned fails?

The Yankees, by the time they decide their veteran experiments have not worked out well enough, could deem prospect Manny Banuelos ready to help, or may have to check in on free agent Jeremy Bonderman. We mentioned last week that left-hander Doug Davis worked out again for clubs but the Yankees did not send a scout to see him.

If the Yankees look at the trade route -- and if Hughes continues to struggle GM Brian Cashman is very likely to consider making a deal whether the veterans handle the No. 5 spot or not -- that may not occur until at least June, but the market may be fairly dry. Cashman is also likely to look for legitimate No. 1 or No. 2 starters rather than more of the back-end types. Tampa Bay could field calls on James Shields, however, and one has to wonder what Milwaukee Brewers GM Doug Melvin might do with right-hander Zack Greinke if his club falls out of contention over the next few months.

Top Yankees prospect Jesus Montero, who may have to move from catcher to first base, might fit in very well as the eventual replacement for free-agent-to-be Prince Fielder, and Greinke would not be a half-season rental as he's under contract through the 2012 season.

- Jason A. Churchill

http://[h3]Six starters on the South Side?[/h3]
11:10AM ET

[h5]Chicago White Sox [/h5]


Philip Humber pitched so well in his start Saturday that he had White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper talking about the Joy of Six.

Humber, the third overall pick in the 2004 draft, allowed one run over six innings against the Rays, earning the right to stay in the rotation until the return of Jake Peavy, hopefully by the end of April.

Cooper, never afraid to take a less conventional approach, told reporters Sunday he would not be opposed to occasionally using a six-man rotation. "Long term (with six starters), no. Short term, one here and one there, certainly something that's popped in my mind," Cooper said to the Chicago Tribune.

The White Sox have games scheduled on 20 straight days beginning Friday, giving Cooper an opportunity to test his idea.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]What happens when Snyder returns[/h3]
10:41AM ET

[h5]Pittsburgh Pirates [/h5]


Three's a crowd, especially when it comes to the catching situation in Pittsburgh.

The Pirates are waiting for Chris Snyder, who is sidelined with back problems, to come off the disabled list. Once he does, the Pirates will keep Ryan Doumit around and Jason Jaramillo will likely be the odd man out, reports Colin Dunlap of the Post-Gazette.

Snyder has been eligible to come off the DL since Saturday. While there is no timetable for his return, manager Clint Hurdle says Snyder is making progress on a rehab assignment at Class-A Bradenton.

There has been speculation that Doumit, the subject of trade rumors, could move into a utility role when Snyder returns, keeping Jaramillo as the backup catcher. Hurdle dismissed that idea because Doumit has yet to take any reps at right field or first base.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Velocity issues for Hughes[/h3]
10:21AM ET

[h5]Phil Hughes | Yankees [/h5]


It's far too early for the http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/nyy/new-york-yankeesNew York Yankees to pull the plug on http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=28638Phil Hughes in the starting rotation -- unless he's hurt, of course -- but the right-hander struggled again Friday against the http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/bos/boston-red-soxBoston Red Sox. Hughes gave up six earned runs on seven his and two walks and threw just 29 of 47 pitches for strikes.

Furthermore, Hughes' fastball is missing three or four miles per hours; he typicall sat 91-94 last season with many above 91, and now 91 seems to be his peak velocity, often sitting 88-90. An NL scout in attendance at Friday's game texted Rumor Central to confirm that Hughes was again at 88-90 mph, and added that "there's some life to it, but he doesn't have everything working together," suggesting that perhaps Hughes' delivery is out of sync.

Dave Cameron an Fangraphs.com wrote Friday that Hughes should be fine considering the recent track record of pitchers that found their velocity after the first month of the season, but we have to wonder whether the workload jump between 2009 and 2010 is a factor here.

ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney gives his take on Hughes in Monday's blog:

- Jason A. Churchill

olney_buster_30.jpg
[h5]Buster Olney[/h5]
Positive workout for Hughes
"Phil Hughes is looking for answers about his diminished velocity, and so what he worked on in his bullpen session on Sunday evening was on using the lower half of his body more ? driving more aggressively with his legs toward home plate. There has also been an adjustment in the regimen of Hughes between starts: He is throwing less, as the Yankees work to save his bullets and give him a chance to regain arm strength."
Click to expand...
http://[h3]Pedro drops another hint[/h3]
10:03AM ET

[h5]Pedro Martinez | Phillies [/h5]


The last time we saw Pedro Martinez on the mound was in the 2009 World Series, when he started for the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Six of the New York Yankees.

Martinez never officially retired and occasionally drops hint that he is waiting for a team to call. The latest instance came over the weekend, when he told Joe Brescia of the New York Times he could probably be in shape to pitch in a little more than a month.

"I'm in shape right now and I'm training and I'm playing catch," said Martinez, who added that a return to the Boston Red Sox would intrigue him the most.

Pedro's comments sounds like he was testing the waters about possible interest. If the three-time Cy Young Award winner were to return, it would likely be as a late-season stop-gap, similar to what he did with the Phillies two seasons ago.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Defined role for Benoit[/h3]
9:42AM ET

[h5]Joaquin Benoit | Tigers [/h5]


Jim Leyland plans to carefully protect the Tigers' three-year, $16.5 million investment in Joaquin Benoit. That means a relatively rigid role for the Detroit reliever, reports MLB.com's Jason Beck.

Benoit is the eighth-inning set-up and it will take a "very rare occasion" for Leyland to use him in the seventh inning or for more than one frame. "I'm really trying to stay away from that," Leyland said Sunday.

Using an elite reliever for an extended period is not unprecedented. Even Mariano Rivera pitched more than one inning on five occasions for the New York Yankees last season.

Sticking to the one-inning plan will be easier for Leyland once Ryan Perry returns from the disabled list later this month.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Setback for Zumaya[/h3]
9:24AM ET

[h5]Joel Zumaya | Tigers [/h5]


Right-hander Joel Zumaya would be a nice addition to the Detroit Tigers bullpen, especially with Ryan Perry out a few weeks with an eye problem. But he played catch Thursday and experienced some discomfort in his elbow was shut down as a result.

Zumaya will rest and perhaps try throwing again after a few days, but the club continues to consult with Dr. James Andrews to determine what's next. Andrews has a conference call with team doctors on Monday to discuss Zumaya's progress.

If healthy, Zumaya could help the Tigers in the late innings and might be a value to your fantasy team, at last in terms of ERA, holds and strikeouts, but he certainly isn't close enough to returning to pick up and stash at this stage.

- Jason A. Churchill

http://[h3]Stanton back too soon?[/h3]
9:16AM ET

[h5]Mike Stanton | Marlins [/h5]


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=30583Mike Stanton was back in the http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/fla/florida-marlinsFlorida Marlins lineup on Saturday and Sunday in Houston, but could he have rushed back from a hamstring injury too quickly?

While Stanton says he feels fine at the plate, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald points to two situations where the right fielder was a bit slow in the field. Stanton was unable to come up with a deep fly ball by Hunter Pence that went for a double off the wall on Saturday. In Sunday's game, a fly ball fell in front of him for a single.

Manager Edwin Rodriguez has tried http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=29770Scott Cousins and http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=28877Emilio Bonifacio in right field in Stanton's absence.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Franklin still the closer in St. Louis[/h3]
8:58AM ET

[h5]Ryan Franklin | Cardinals [/h5]


Three blown saves in four chances has not cost Ryan Franklin his job as the St. Louis Cardinals' closer.

Joe Strauss of the Post Dispatch says the decision to stay with Franklin is predicated on the belief that Franklin has been a victim of some bad luck and because the Cards' options, at least for now, are limited.

Strauss notes that a blown save Friday came after the Giants' Pablo Sandoval delivered a two-out single that went right at the spot vacated by Albert Pujols, who had left his position for a pick-off attempt.

Jason Motte and Mitchell Boggs have been mentioned as closers in waiting should Franklin leave via free agency after the season. Manager Tony La Russa, however, prefers that both relievers stay in the set-up role this season.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Saito back by Tuesday?[/h3]
8:28AM ET

[h5]Takashi Saito | Brewers [/h5]


The Milwaukee Brewers decided against placing Takashi Saito on the disabled list early last week when the reliever battled hamstring issues, and the move may pay off.

Todd Rosiak of the Journal Sentinel reports that Saito could be available to pitch as soon as Tuesday. While Saito is still not 100%, he apparently has made enough progress that he could have pitched Sunday if needed.

The Brewers have every reason to be cautiois with the 41-year-old Saito. Kameron Loe worked in Saito's eighth-inning role Sunday against the Cubs.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Overworked in Anaheim?[/h3]
8:07AM ET

[h5]Los Angeles Angels [/h5]


We haven't even reached Tax Day, a time when managers traditionally play it safe with the workload of their starting pitchers, particularly those at the top of the rotation.

Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia is taking a more unconventional approach and Mike Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com asks if the skipper might be overworking aces Dan Haren and Jered Weaver.

Haren pitched an inning of relief during Saturday's 14-inning marathon against Toronto, three days after going 7 2/3 innings in Tampa Bay. Weaver struck out 15 Blue Jays on Sunday, but it took 125 pitches to do it. "The Angels aren't going anywhere this year if Weaver and Haren aren't healthy and effective in the final months. Is it worth sapping their strength before Tax Day?" Saxon writes.

The Angels will turn to a fresh arm Monday when Tyler Chatwood, a 21-year-old right-hander who has all of 6 2/3 innings of Triple-A experience, starts against the Indians.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Isringhausen gets his chance[/h3]
7:44AM ET

[h5]Jason Isringhausen | Mets [/h5]


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=3289Jason Isringhausen patiently waited for his chance with the New York Mets, and it finally came when the reliever was called up after Sunday?s 11-inning loss Washington.

Isringhausen lost out to Blaine Boyer for the final spot on the Opening Day roster, and agreed to stay behind in Florida. He planned to ask for his release or retire if he was not called up in a two-week span. With the Mets bullpen in shambles, Isringhausen should not only get a chance to contribute, but to play a prominent role as well.

After allowing six runs on six hits in four innings on Sunday afternoon, the Mets bullpen has now surrendered a total of 21 runs on 45 hits in just 34 1/3 innings this season.

Boyer was designated for assignment while the Mets also called up Ryota Igarashi from Triple-A Buffalo.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]A-Gon says he's fine[/h3]
7:26AM ET

[h5]Adrian Gonzalez | Red Sox [/h5]


UPDATE: Gonzalez calmed Red Sox Nation after Sunday's game. "I was able to swing the bat. I'm going to be fine," Gonzalez told ESPNBoston.com, adding that he will not need X-rays.

--

Boston Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was hit in the hand with a 93-mph fastball Sunday, courtesy of CC Sabathia, an incident that far too often sends hitters to the disabled list with broken bones. Gonzalez did not leave the game after being hit but did get a visit from the trainer.

The Red Sox obviously cannot afford to lose Gonzalez, but if there is even a bone bruise that keeps him out for a game or two, the club likely goes with a lineup that includes Kevin Youkilis moving back to first base and Jed Lowrie filling in at third.

That alignment could become a long-term solution if Gonzalez ultimately has a broken bone of any kind, with prospect Jose Iglesias a leading candidate to come up to fill the roster spot.

Gonzalez not only stayed in the game to run after the drilling but played the field the next half inning and took his next plate appearance, drawing a walk off the Yankees ace. For now, all seems find and dandy with the slugger's hand.

- Jason A. Churchill

http://[h3]Zimmerman's injury[/h3]
7:17AM ET

[h5]Ryan Zimmerman | Nationals [/h5]


Ryan Zimmerman has played at least 142 games in four of the last five seasons, so it takes more than a minor bump or bruise to keep the Washington Nationals third baseman out of the lineup.

There could be a cause for concern in D.C., however, after Zimmerman aggravated a strained abdominal muscle Saturday and sat out Sunday's game against the Mets. The Nats will evaluate the injury after Monday's off day. "It's worse than it was. It's not terrible. So we'll see," Zimmerman said.

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post says the Nats are not yet considering sending Zimmerman to the disabled list, but the third baseman's uncertainty as to to severity seems like a bad sign.

Alex Cora and Jerry Hairston Jr. could share the duties at third base if Zimmerman needs more time off.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Impact of Torres' injury[/h3]
6:52AM ET

[h5]Andres Torres | Giants [/h5]


Andres Torres will likely miss the San Francisco Giants' upcoming series versus the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers with an Achilles tendon injury, but according to manager Bruce Bochy the club will not know how long Torres will be out until Wednesday.

Torres was on crutches Sunday, a sure sign that he won't play Monday, which likely means Aaron Rowand will step in and handle center field. As for who will lead off, reserve infielder Mike Fontenot led off Sunday but second baseman Freddy Sanchez may be the top candidate.

If Torres hits the disabled list, Thomas Neal may get the call from Triple-A, though veteran Cody Ross is nearing a return from the DL himself.
 
Spoiler [+]
BOSTON -- In the broad universe of the Tampa Bay Rays, this will be a very good season. The upcoming draft is regarded by talent evaluators as the best in recent memory and the Rays will have nine of the first 59 picks, a staggering haul of players to be added to the likes of David Price and Jeremy Hellickson and what is already regarded as a strong core of prospects.

mlb_i_priced_200.jpg

Getty ImagesDavid Price's biggest problem may be that he doesn't swing a bat.

But the Rays' enormous challenges at the big league level seem to be overtaking them quickly. Evan Longoria is hurt and will miss most of April; the hitter who was expected to protect him, Manny Ramirez, is gone and won't be back; and their absence is the reason Joe Maddon's lineup had B.J. Upton in the third spot and Dan Johnson in the cleanup spot the other day.

The Rays have been one of baseball's best offensive teams in recent years, but their struggle for runs, so far, is historic.

From Elias: Tampa Bay batters whiffed eight times on Sunday, and they've registered at least seven strikeouts at the plate in each of their nine games this year, the longest such streak to begin a season for any team in baseball's modern era (1900-2011). The Rays' numbers through their first nine games:

Runs: 20
Run differential: -24 (the worst in the majors)
OPS: .515 (the worst in the majors
Strikeouts: 74

The frustration from all this probably fueled Maddon's anger Sunday, as he went toe-to-toe with all four umpires before he was ejected himself.
[h3]Notables[/h3]
• This is not good: Joel Zumaya felt pain during his workout in Florida on Sunday, and the Tigers will hold a conference call that will include Dr. James Andrews, writes Lynn Henning.

• The rain was soft but steady in the seventh and eighth innings Sunday night, and the wind in Fenway Park was brisk -- but the stands remained packed. After the game, I chatted with Red Sox fans who explained that with Boston holding a 1-7 record, they stuck around because the game seemed especially important. Everyone wearing red was feeling the pressure, from those watching to the players.

Which is why Josh Beckett's outing felt so important to them, and was so spectacular. It's been so long since Beckett put together a complete and dominant performance, with a mid-90s fastball and a great curveball and changeup, that there have been serious questions about whether he could be that kind of pitcher again. But he hit the mid-90s consistently, spun the best curveball he's had in years and totally shut down the Yankees, giving Boston a badly needed series win. When Marco Scutaro pulled a ball into the left-field corner in the seventh inning, there was an explosion of sound from the stands -- relief, really. You could see it in the faces of the Boston players afterward. For at least one night, Beckett gave them a moment to exhale, as they work to restart their season.

From Andrew Davis of ESPN Stats & Information, how Red Sox starter Josh Beckett blanked the Yankees:

A. He had great off-speed stuff: Beckett threw 42 off-speed pitches (25 curveballs, 17 changeups) and the Yankees went 0-for-11 with six strikeouts in at-bats ending with an off-speed pitch. For the season, opponents are 0-for-19 with nine strikeouts in at-bats ending with an off-speed pitch and have seen 63 percent strikes (57 percent in 2010).
B. He kept the ball down: Beckett threw 65 pitches down (45 for strikes) and the Yankees went 1-for-17 with seven strikeouts in at-bats ending with a pitch down. The 45 strikes are the most since July 28, 2010.
C. He kept runners out of scoring position: Only two runners reached scoring position, and Beckett stranded them on base (0-for-3). There were only two starts last season in which Beckett didn't allow a runner in scoring position to score.

Only two other Red Sox pitchers have allowed two or fewer hits and struck out at least 10 batters against the Yankees in the live-ball era (since 1920): Pedro Martinez (Sept. 10, 1999) and Ray Culp (Sept. 21, 1968).

Doubts had surrounded Beckett. He was the total package, writes Dan Shaughnessy. Beckett was locked in, writes John Tomase.

Marco Scutaro got a critical hit.

• Phil Hughes is looking for answers about his diminished velocity, so what he worked on in his bullpen session Sunday evening was using the lower half of his body more -- driving more aggressively with his legs toward home plate. There has also been an adjustment in Hughes' regimen between starts: He is throwing less, as the Yankees work to save his bullets and give him a chance to regain arm strength.

• Matt Holliday returned to the lineup and the Cardinals picked up a badly needed victory, scoring three runs in an inning for the first time.

• Asdrubal Cabrera continues to show he is an excellent player, and the Indians have a seven-game winning streak. Manny Acta says the Indians' defense and pitching are for real, as Paul Hoynes writes.

Here are the numbers for the 25-year-old Cabrera, whom the Indians got in a trade for Eduardo Perez:

Games: 9
Extra-base hits: 5
RBIs: 9
OPS: .947

• If I were to do a power ranking right now, I'd have the Rangers first among the 30 teams. And if Derek Holland continues to throw the way he did Sunday, they may stay near the top all year.

From Elias: The Rangers are the first defending league champion to begin a season with eight or more wins in their first nine games since the 2004 Marlins (8-1), and they're the first defending American League champ to do so since the 1998 Indians (8-1).
[h3]Dings and dents[/h3]
1. Ryan Zimmerman doesn't know when he'll be back.
2. Todd Helton's back is feeling better.

3. Ubaldo Jimenez will throw a game in extended spring training April 13, and then he'll be evaluated -- which means he could be back next week.

4. Mike Stanton is having a hard time running, and Hanley Ramirez hopes to return Tuesday.

5. Alex Rodriguez, a late scratch from Sunday's lineup, hopes he can be back in the lineup Tuesday.

6. Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey are getting closer to coming back.
[h3]Moves, deals and decisions[/h3]
1. The Angels made some surprising roster changes, as Mike DiGiovanna writes.
2. Ryan Franklin will remain as the Cardinals' closer, partly because St. Louis doesn't have a lot of options.

3. Jason Jaramillo will be out of a job when Chris Snyder comes back.

4. Jason Isringhausen has been summoned to the big leagues.

5. Clay Buchholz got paid.

6. Trevor Cahill's new contract is expected to fall along the lines of the Jon Lester or Ricky Romero contracts, at about five years and $30 million, with some option years and a $1.5 million buyout.
[h3]Sunday's games[/h3]
1. The Rockies are backing up a strong spring training with a strong start, as Jim Armstrong writes.
2. Jered Weaver was The Man for the Angels, dominating the Jays. How Weaver beat the Jays:

A. Location of strikeouts: 12 of Weaver's career-high 15 strikeouts were on pitches away. Nine of the 15 strikeouts were down and away. He averaged 3.1 strikeouts per game on pitches away and 1.7 down and away respectively in 2010 starts.
B. Pitches to get strikeouts: Weaver had six strikeouts with his fastball. In 2010, he had eight starts in which he recorded at least six strikeouts with his fastball. He also struck out six with his slider. In 2010, Weaver's highest strikeout total with the slider was four (done three times).
C. Type of strikeouts: Nine of the strikeouts were swinging, with seven coming on pitches out of the zone. The six strikeouts looking all came on 0-2 or 1-2 counts.
D. He generated lots of swings and misses: Weaver recorded 25 swinging strikes (46 percent of total strikes), his highest total since 2007. Fifteen of the 25 swinging strikes were on pitches out of the zone.

Weaver's 15 strikeouts are the most by an Angels pitcher since Chuck Finley had 15 against the Yankees on May 23, 1995. Weaver is the first Angels pitcher to finish with 15 strikeouts in a game in which he pitched fewer than eight innings.

3. Watched a lot of the Phillies-Braves game and Cole Hamels was outstanding; he was definitely ready to pitch, said Charlie Manuel. How Hamels beat the Braves:

A. He had an effective fastball: Hamels threw 52 fastballs (two- and four-seam), and Braves hitters went 1-for-9 in at-bats ending with the fastball. Hamels had the most success throwing over the middle and away with the fastball as the Braves went 0-for-7 in at-bats that ended with a fastball in those quadrants.
B. He had an even more effective changeup: Hamels threw 26 changeups down, which is more than any start in 2010 or 2011. While he threw more pitches in that zone, it was the success that showed. Braves hitters went 0-for-7 with six strikeouts in at-bats ending on changeups down.
C. He controlled righties: After giving up six hits to Mets right-handed hitters in his previous start, Hamels allowed only one hit (Alex Gonzalez seventh-inning single) in 13 at-bats (.077). In at-bats ending with a pitch down, the Braves' right-handed hitters went 0-for-8 with five strikeouts.

4. Aaron Harang is 2-0, while pitching for his hometown team, as Don Norcross writes.

5. The Diamondbacks won a confidence-booster.

6. The White Sox continue to roll.

7. The Astros produced some season highs in runs, hits and ejections.

8. This time, it was Brandon McCarthy who pitched shut-down baseball, as Susan Slusser writes.

9. Pudge Rodriguez was The Man for the Nationals.

10. A Pirates pitcher is frustrated with himself, writes Colin Dunlap.

11. The Orioles couldn't muster any offense. Jeremy Guthrie gutted it out, as Peter Schmuck writes.

12. The Marlins got a sweep, but no revenge.

13. The Royals keep on winning: They held off the Tigers, and felt like they passed a minor test, writes Bob Dutton.

14. Rick Porcello, a linchpin guy for the Tigers, had a bad game and acknowledged that he's got to get better. I don't know long the Tigers will wait before shuffling the deck chairs with their rotation, because Andy Oliver is ready to go in the minors. Jim Leyland says he didn't think Porcello's teammates gave him a lot of help.

15. The Mets blew a lead, after Chris Young threw well.

16. Rajai Davis lost his focus, and it cost the Jays, writes Mike Rutsey. Read this story and you can tell there's something percolating right below the surface for the outfielder. The Jays punched out 15 times.

17. Erik Bedard wasn't good, and the Mariners' losing streak has reached seven.

18. The Dodgers were shut down.

19. The Minnesota pitchers are walking too many guys. And their offensive problems so far have been stunning: As with Boston, the talent and pedigrees don't seem to match the numbers, and because of this, scapegoats of years gone by are having their say, through Jim Souhan. Jim Thome did manage to hit career homer No. 590 with a monster shot.

20. Casey McGehee got a big hit for the Brewers, as Todd Rosiak writes.
[h3]Patience Index[/h3]
[h4]Waiting to Scratch That Pitch[/h4]
These hitters saw the most pitches per plate appearance Sunday:
[table][tr][th=""]Hitter[/th][th=""]PA[/th][th=""]Pitches[/th][th=""]P/PA[/th][/tr][tr][td]Mark Teixeira[/td][td]4[/td][td]25[/td][td]6.3[/td][/tr][tr][td]Daric Barton[/td][td]5[/td][td]30[/td][td]6.0[/td][/tr][tr][td]Ryan Raburn[/td][td]4[/td][td]24[/td][td]6.0[/td][/tr][tr][td]Allen Craig[/td][td]5[/td][td]29[/td][td]5.8[/td][/tr][tr][td]Jack Cust[/td][td]4[/td][td]23[/td][td]5.8[/td][/tr][tr][td]Rod Barajas[/td][td]3[/td][td]17[/td][td]5.7[/td][/tr][tr][td]Brad Emaus[/td][td]3[/td][td]17[/td][td]5.7[/td][/tr][tr][td]Wes Helms[/td][td]3[/td][td]17[/td][td]5.7[/td][/tr][tr][td]Adam LaRoche[/td][td]5[/td][td]28[/td][td]5.6[/td][/tr][/table]


Spoiler [+]
BOSTON -- If you can't be in the house for a Zach Britton start, maybe the best angle from which to watch him pitch would be a straight-on camera in center field -- right behind him, rather than the camera that is positioned just a bit to left-center.

Because that camera angle from straightaway center field gives you a better understanding of how much movement Britton has on his fastball, how different his fastball is and how it swerves away from right-handed hitters, at about 95 mph.

Britton is left-handed and it's difficult to come up with names of many left-handers who can throw that hard, with that much movement -- Jonny Venters of the Braves is one -- which is part of the reason why opposing hitters can look so futile against him. They just don't see many pitchers like Britton in a given month.

In the first week of the season, the Texas Rangers hammered or merely beat every pitcher they had faced, from Jon Lester to Clay Buchholz to Felix Hernandez, but on Saturday, Britton -- throwing that vicious fastball -- completely shut down Texas in the first game of a doubleheader.

Major league baseball was blessed with an incredible class of rookies last year, from Buster Posey to Jason Heyward to Stephen Strasburg to Jaime Garcia. So far this year, the best young player has been Britton.

From Jeff Zrebiec's story this morning:

Spoiler [+]
BOSTON -- Manny Ramirez looks like a different guy this spring, we heard over and over. Wow, his bat speed looks so much better, scouts raved. The guy is in phenomenal condition, they said. He looks a lot stronger, they said.

The Red Sox players saw the same thing. After word broke Friday that Ramirez had retired instead of facing suspension, David Ortiz said that the Boston players talked in their dugout this spring about how good Manny looked, how quick his bat was. This was especially striking, because late last season, in his brief time with the White Sox, Ramirez's bat speed had all but disappeared, and evaluators from some teams were convinced he was finished.

But now he's gone, retiring abruptly after he was informed that he had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and faced a possible 100-game suspension.

Former teammates like Jonathan Papelbon and Ortiz and B.J. Upton and Andre Ethier spoke respectfully about what a good teammate he was, what an incredible talent he was. And Hall of Fame voters, like colleague Jayson Stark and I, will mention, fairly, the incredible numbers Ramirez compiled, the 555 home runs and the .312 career average, and we will weigh how the circumstances of his retirement will weigh in the rendering of his legacy.

And where is Manny in all of this? Well, he's probably laughing at everybody.

Legacy? Hall of Fame? Teammates? Does anyone really think, after all we've seen in the past decade, that Ramirez cares about any of that?

He won. He's like the guy who robbed a bank of millions and was sentenced to 10 hours of community service.

According to his page on Baseballreference.com, Manny Ramirez made over $200 million for his career. How many of those dollars, those 555 home runs, were hit with the help of performance-enhancing drugs? Who knows? You could say a handful or you could say all of them and this would be fair speculation, given the evidence of his stunningly shameless use of performance-enhancing drugs in recent years.

For the first half of Ramirez's career, Major League Baseball was a wild, wild West of steroid use, with widespread use and virtually no oversight. Oh, sure, there was a loose structure in place whereby a crackdown was possible, but no one ever really did anything.

But in 2002, the players' union that Ramirez is a part of took its first steps toward drug testing, largely because a number of players within it lobbied quietly for change. Veterans like Todd Zeile had come to understand that the increase in drug use had forced many players to make a very difficult decision: Either stay clean, without benefit of performance-enhancing drugs, and risk being surpassed professionally by players who were juicing; or join the crowd and take the drugs too.

The union agreed to survey testing, in an effort to keep all of the union brethren on a level playing field. And despite the fact that everybody knew when the tests were being administered, and despite all that was at stake for the reputation of the union, Ramirez reportedly tested positive in 2003. He apparently didn't care about the whole level playing-field thing, or the fact that a positive test might lead to more testing for others; he used anyway. He was perfectly willing to cheat teammates, cheat other players.

[h4]Manny Ramirez Since Suspension[/h4][table][tr][td]Games[/td][td]172[/td][/tr][tr][td]BA[/td][td].277[/td][/tr][tr][td]HR[/td][td]22<<[/td][/tr][tr][td]RBI[/td][td]86[/td][/tr][tr][td]K[/td][td]129[/td][/tr][tr][td]<< only 1 HR in last 45 games
* played for 3 teams (LAD, CHW, TB)[/td][/tr][/table]

In the summer of 2008, as his contract with the Red Sox was set to expire, he forced his way out of Boston -- convincing club executives that he was intent on sabotaging the team -- and in two months with the Dodgers, he put on a stunning display of production, hitting about .400. He looked liked a different guy with the Dodgers. His bat speed looks so much better, scouts raved. The guy is in phenomenal condition, they said. He looks a lot stronger, they said.

And after getting an extension of two years and $45 million, he was suspended under the terms of baseball's drug policy. In other words, knowing all the risks -- to his own legacy, his Hall of Fame chances, his reputation -- he apparently opted to drug up, to cheat his employers, teammates, union brethren.

His last months with the Dodgers were an embarrassment. He was often hurt, and only intermittently productive. The Dodgers, finally fed up with him, dumped him in a late-season deal with the White Sox, and Ramirez mustered exactly one RBI.

[h4]Manny Ramirez[/h4]
Since trade to Dodgers in 2008
[table][tr][th=""][/th][th=""]Before susp.[/th][th=""]After susp.[/th][/tr][tr][td]BA[/td][td].380[/td][td].277[/td][/tr][tr][td]OBP[/td][td].490[/td][td].390[/td][/tr][tr][td]Slug pct[/td][td].710[/td][td].463[/td][/tr][tr][td]AB per HR[/td][td]12.1[/td][td]24.6<<[/td][/tr][tr][td]>>9 home runs in final 282 at-bats
NOTE: Traded from Red Sox to Dodgers on July 31, 2008.[/td][/tr][/table]

Manny was very motivated as he joined the Rays, we heard. He was in tremendous condition, we heard. This was another contract year.

And for at least the third time in his career, he weighed the risks versus the rewards and signs seem to indicate he opted to juice up, again. He was willing to break the rules and cheat his employers, teammates, union brethren, and fans. He got caught, and his career is over.

Let's be real about this: Manny Ramirez wasn't the only one who cashed in on Manny being Manny. The Indians and the Red Sox and the Dodgers made money from his production and from that what-a-wild-crazy-guy image -- Mannywood? -- and the media feasted, as well; there were probably more words written and spoken about Manny in the past decade than any player not named Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens.

But now Manny is headed to Spain, where he can have a big laugh at the expense of all those folks he left behind.

He won.

• Sean Marshall feels like Ramirez took something away from him, as Gordon Wittenmyer writes. I've had similar conversations with other players, and some executives have noted that Ramirez's drug use may have altered the future of former Arizona GM Josh Byrnes and ex-manager Bob Melvin. The Diamondbacks appeared destined for the playoffs in 2008, but a late rush by the Manny-fueled Dodgers ended with Arizona sitting on the sidelines, and in less than two years, both Melvin and Byrnes had been fired.

• And the hits just keep on coming for the Rays, who, in the past six months, have:

1. Lost every major piece of what was the best bullpen in the American League.
2. Lost free agents Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena from their everyday lineup -- as well as their clubhouse, where those two were important parts of the structure.
3. Lost their best player, Evan Longoria, to a significant oblique injury in the first hours of this season.
4. Lost Ramirez, whose presence was theoretically going to force opposing pitchers to pitch to Longoria, because of the threat he posed at the plate. Now the Rays are going to have to pick from an imperfect set of candidates for the cleanup role, and Longoria probably is going to have to work very hard against expanding his strike zone, as opposing pitchers navigate around him.

The Rays are surprised and hurt, writes Marc Topkin. The Rays paid Ramirez about $87,912 for his 17 at-bats.

The Rays rallied to beat the White Sox in their first game without Ramirez. From Kenton Wong of ESPN Stats & Information: Their five-run ninth gave them their first lead in any game this season. According to Elias: The Rays set an all-time record by not having a lead in their first 62 innings of the season. That passes the 1992 Detroit Tigers, who did not lead in their first 60 innings.

Tampa Bay scored nine runs Friday. That is more than they had in their first six games combined (eight).

• Phil Hughes threw 47 pitches against the Red Sox on Friday and generated one missed swing -- by Kevin Youkilis in the second inning, and the expression on Youkilis' face afterward was along the lines of You gotta be kidding me … He was not fooled; he just couldn't believe he missed the ball. Hitters have a phrase about pitchers with benign stuff -- "Good eatin'" -- and this is certainly how the Red Sox saw Hughes.

And it was how Joe Girardi saw him, as well, because he removed him before the third inning started.

Hughes threw well enough in the first half of last season that he was named to the American League All-Star team, and now he is a complete mystery to the Yankees; they have no idea if he'll contribute anything this season, because right now, he has no weapons. His velocity is down significantly -- he was throwing in the 89-90 mph range in his start against Boston on Friday -- and the movement on each of his pitches has all but disappeared. His fastball is flat, his cutter drifts, his curveball rolls instead of biting.

Why? Well, the Yankees don't think he's hurt. They think that most seasons of his career, Hughes has tended to build velocity from the outset of a season, rather than starting the year with good velocity, as he did in 2010.

But there may also be concern that as Hughes used the cut fastball effectively in the first half of last year, it took a toll: His arm angle -- which isn't the same as release point -- gradually got lower, and the quality of his fastballs diminished. His struggles really began last year.

His numbers month-to-month, last season:

April: 2-0, 2.00
May: 4-0, 3.13
June: 4-1, 5.17
July: 2-2, 5.22
August: 4-2, 4.22
September: 2-2, 4.67

But there are numbers that are more telling, such as his strikeout ratio:

April 9.0 (per nine innings)
May 9.1
June 6.9
July 6.4
August 5.9
September 7.7

Hughes' velocity was down all spring, and in his first start of this season, it looked like some of the Tigers' hitters -- most notably Miguel Cabrera -- were all but running up to the ball, like Happy Gilmore teeing off. In two starts this year, Hughes has allowed three homers and generated one strikeout, and allowed 11 runs in six innings.

What now?

Well, his next scheduled start is against the Orioles on Tuesday, and then the hot-swinging Rangers five days after that. But the Yankees could temporarily remove Hughes from the rotation and replace him with Bartolo Colon until they see better stuff from the right-hander. Hughes has an excellent reputation for listening, for working on adjustments, and right now that is needed in a big way.

The Yankees are going to be patient with Hughes, writes Joel Sherman.

The Yankees couldn't recover from his ugly outing, as Mark Feinsand writes.

• The Red Sox players credited Theo Epstein for his pregame speech, after feasting on Hughes and ending their losing streak. The Boston bullpen worked well, as Peter Abraham writes. Yaz threw out the first pitch.

• The Giants' players will get their rings today.
[h3]Dings and dents[/h3]
1. Hanley Ramirez exited with a bruised leg, in the midst of a Florida win, as Juan Rodriguez writes.

2. Ross Ohlendorf has a hurt shoulder.

3. Domonic Brown has started swinging a bat.

4. Brandon Webb had a good bullpen session, as mentioned within this notebook.

5. Tsuyoshi Nishioka is not well-versed in hard slides, writes La Velle Neal.

6. Mat Latos is ready to go.

7. The Orioles are all banged up, which can't be a surprise; it's a team with a lot of players bearing injury histories.
[h3]Moves, deals and decisions[/h3]
1. Mike Aviles was benched, as Bob Dutton writes.

2. Eric Wedge made a statement with the way he handled Jack Wilson's refusal to play the other day, writes Larry Stone.

3. The Rangers added a couple of relievers.

4. The D-backs signed Ron Mahay.

5. Mark Teahen was in the starting lineup for the White Sox.
[h3]Friday's games[/h3]
1. Chipper Jones was The Man, as the Braves came back to beat Cliff Lee and the Phillies. Bobby Cox got a warm welcome in throwing out a ceremonial first pitch.

2. Max Scherzer pitched well in the Tigers' home opener, focusing through the hoopla, as Drew Sharp writes.

3. Albert Pujols made a pivotal error.

4. The Diamondbacks had a smashing home opener, writes Nick Piecoro.

5. The Astros were booed in their home opener.

6. The Rockies lost in extra innings, and Troy Tulowitzki would really, really like a winning April, as Jim Armstrong writes.

7. The Mariners got pounded by Cleveland.

8. Brian Wilson had a rough outing in the Giants' win, but he's not worried.

9. Travis Wood made mistakes and he paid for it, as John Fay writes.

10. The Indians are in first place after crushing the Mariners, as Paul Hoynes writes.

11. Cliff Lee got blistered, and as David Murphy writes, the Phillies' starters have a 6.19 ERA through the first seven games.

12. You can't stop the Pirates, you can only hope to contain them: They beat the Rockies in extra innings.

13. The Cubs won their first game in Milwaukee, and hope this gets the ball rolling.

14. Matt Thornton had an ugly ninth inning, as Toni Ginnetti writes.

15. The Twins rallied late, as Joe Christensen writes. Joe Nathan got his first save at Target Field, writes Kelsie Smith.

16. Randy Wolf had another ugly outing.

17. Brett Anderson was brilliant, until the eighth inning, as Susan Slusser writes. Oakland's bullpen situation is hurting them.

18. The Dodgers and Padres played in the rain, until their game was suspended well after midnight, as Dylan Hernandez writes.

19. The Angels dropped their home opener.

20. Jayson Nix mashed another homer for the Blue Jays, and this one was pivotal, as Richard Griffin writes.

21. Jordan Zimmermann shut down the Mets.

22. Jose Reyes showed the good and bad of his skill set, as John Harper writes.

Rumors.

Spoiler [+]
http://[h3]What if the vets fail in the Bronx?[/h3]
12:31PM ET

[h5]New York Yankees [/h5]


The New York Yankees have added Carlos Silva to their crop of starting pitching candidates. That group at the back end includes Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Kevin Millwood, but Phil Hughes is struggling badly and the club could be close to moving Colon from the bullpen into the rotation. What if more than two of the aforementioned fails?

The Yankees, by the time they decide their veteran experiments have not worked out well enough, could deem prospect Manny Banuelos ready to help, or may have to check in on free agent Jeremy Bonderman. We mentioned last week that left-hander Doug Davis worked out again for clubs but the Yankees did not send a scout to see him.

If the Yankees look at the trade route -- and if Hughes continues to struggle GM Brian Cashman is very likely to consider making a deal whether the veterans handle the No. 5 spot or not -- that may not occur until at least June, but the market may be fairly dry. Cashman is also likely to look for legitimate No. 1 or No. 2 starters rather than more of the back-end types. Tampa Bay could field calls on James Shields, however, and one has to wonder what Milwaukee Brewers GM Doug Melvin might do with right-hander Zack Greinke if his club falls out of contention over the next few months.

Top Yankees prospect Jesus Montero, who may have to move from catcher to first base, might fit in very well as the eventual replacement for free-agent-to-be Prince Fielder, and Greinke would not be a half-season rental as he's under contract through the 2012 season.

- Jason A. Churchill

http://[h3]Six starters on the South Side?[/h3]
11:10AM ET

[h5]Chicago White Sox [/h5]


Philip Humber pitched so well in his start Saturday that he had White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper talking about the Joy of Six.

Humber, the third overall pick in the 2004 draft, allowed one run over six innings against the Rays, earning the right to stay in the rotation until the return of Jake Peavy, hopefully by the end of April.

Cooper, never afraid to take a less conventional approach, told reporters Sunday he would not be opposed to occasionally using a six-man rotation. "Long term (with six starters), no. Short term, one here and one there, certainly something that's popped in my mind," Cooper said to the Chicago Tribune.

The White Sox have games scheduled on 20 straight days beginning Friday, giving Cooper an opportunity to test his idea.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]What happens when Snyder returns[/h3]
10:41AM ET

[h5]Pittsburgh Pirates [/h5]


Three's a crowd, especially when it comes to the catching situation in Pittsburgh.

The Pirates are waiting for Chris Snyder, who is sidelined with back problems, to come off the disabled list. Once he does, the Pirates will keep Ryan Doumit around and Jason Jaramillo will likely be the odd man out, reports Colin Dunlap of the Post-Gazette.

Snyder has been eligible to come off the DL since Saturday. While there is no timetable for his return, manager Clint Hurdle says Snyder is making progress on a rehab assignment at Class-A Bradenton.

There has been speculation that Doumit, the subject of trade rumors, could move into a utility role when Snyder returns, keeping Jaramillo as the backup catcher. Hurdle dismissed that idea because Doumit has yet to take any reps at right field or first base.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Velocity issues for Hughes[/h3]
10:21AM ET

[h5]Phil Hughes | Yankees [/h5]


It's far too early for the http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/nyy/new-york-yankeesNew York Yankees to pull the plug on http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=28638Phil Hughes in the starting rotation -- unless he's hurt, of course -- but the right-hander struggled again Friday against the http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/bos/boston-red-soxBoston Red Sox. Hughes gave up six earned runs on seven his and two walks and threw just 29 of 47 pitches for strikes.

Furthermore, Hughes' fastball is missing three or four miles per hours; he typicall sat 91-94 last season with many above 91, and now 91 seems to be his peak velocity, often sitting 88-90. An NL scout in attendance at Friday's game texted Rumor Central to confirm that Hughes was again at 88-90 mph, and added that "there's some life to it, but he doesn't have everything working together," suggesting that perhaps Hughes' delivery is out of sync.

Dave Cameron an Fangraphs.com wrote Friday that Hughes should be fine considering the recent track record of pitchers that found their velocity after the first month of the season, but we have to wonder whether the workload jump between 2009 and 2010 is a factor here.

ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney gives his take on Hughes in Monday's blog:

- Jason A. Churchill

olney_buster_30.jpg
[h5]Buster Olney[/h5]
Positive workout for Hughes
"Phil Hughes is looking for answers about his diminished velocity, and so what he worked on in his bullpen session on Sunday evening was on using the lower half of his body more ? driving more aggressively with his legs toward home plate. There has also been an adjustment in the regimen of Hughes between starts: He is throwing less, as the Yankees work to save his bullets and give him a chance to regain arm strength."
Click to expand...
http://[h3]Pedro drops another hint[/h3]
10:03AM ET

[h5]Pedro Martinez | Phillies [/h5]


The last time we saw Pedro Martinez on the mound was in the 2009 World Series, when he started for the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Six of the New York Yankees.

Martinez never officially retired and occasionally drops hint that he is waiting for a team to call. The latest instance came over the weekend, when he told Joe Brescia of the New York Times he could probably be in shape to pitch in a little more than a month.

"I'm in shape right now and I'm training and I'm playing catch," said Martinez, who added that a return to the Boston Red Sox would intrigue him the most.

Pedro's comments sounds like he was testing the waters about possible interest. If the three-time Cy Young Award winner were to return, it would likely be as a late-season stop-gap, similar to what he did with the Phillies two seasons ago.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Defined role for Benoit[/h3]
9:42AM ET

[h5]Joaquin Benoit | Tigers [/h5]


Jim Leyland plans to carefully protect the Tigers' three-year, $16.5 million investment in Joaquin Benoit. That means a relatively rigid role for the Detroit reliever, reports MLB.com's Jason Beck.

Benoit is the eighth-inning set-up and it will take a "very rare occasion" for Leyland to use him in the seventh inning or for more than one frame. "I'm really trying to stay away from that," Leyland said Sunday.

Using an elite reliever for an extended period is not unprecedented. Even Mariano Rivera pitched more than one inning on five occasions for the New York Yankees last season.

Sticking to the one-inning plan will be easier for Leyland once Ryan Perry returns from the disabled list later this month.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Setback for Zumaya[/h3]
9:24AM ET

[h5]Joel Zumaya | Tigers [/h5]


Right-hander Joel Zumaya would be a nice addition to the Detroit Tigers bullpen, especially with Ryan Perry out a few weeks with an eye problem. But he played catch Thursday and experienced some discomfort in his elbow was shut down as a result.

Zumaya will rest and perhaps try throwing again after a few days, but the club continues to consult with Dr. James Andrews to determine what's next. Andrews has a conference call with team doctors on Monday to discuss Zumaya's progress.

If healthy, Zumaya could help the Tigers in the late innings and might be a value to your fantasy team, at last in terms of ERA, holds and strikeouts, but he certainly isn't close enough to returning to pick up and stash at this stage.

- Jason A. Churchill

http://[h3]Stanton back too soon?[/h3]
9:16AM ET

[h5]Mike Stanton | Marlins [/h5]


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=30583Mike Stanton was back in the http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/fla/florida-marlinsFlorida Marlins lineup on Saturday and Sunday in Houston, but could he have rushed back from a hamstring injury too quickly?

While Stanton says he feels fine at the plate, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald points to two situations where the right fielder was a bit slow in the field. Stanton was unable to come up with a deep fly ball by Hunter Pence that went for a double off the wall on Saturday. In Sunday's game, a fly ball fell in front of him for a single.

Manager Edwin Rodriguez has tried http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=29770Scott Cousins and http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=28877Emilio Bonifacio in right field in Stanton's absence.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Franklin still the closer in St. Louis[/h3]
8:58AM ET

[h5]Ryan Franklin | Cardinals [/h5]


Three blown saves in four chances has not cost Ryan Franklin his job as the St. Louis Cardinals' closer.

Joe Strauss of the Post Dispatch says the decision to stay with Franklin is predicated on the belief that Franklin has been a victim of some bad luck and because the Cards' options, at least for now, are limited.

Strauss notes that a blown save Friday came after the Giants' Pablo Sandoval delivered a two-out single that went right at the spot vacated by Albert Pujols, who had left his position for a pick-off attempt.

Jason Motte and Mitchell Boggs have been mentioned as closers in waiting should Franklin leave via free agency after the season. Manager Tony La Russa, however, prefers that both relievers stay in the set-up role this season.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Saito back by Tuesday?[/h3]
8:28AM ET

[h5]Takashi Saito | Brewers [/h5]


The Milwaukee Brewers decided against placing Takashi Saito on the disabled list early last week when the reliever battled hamstring issues, and the move may pay off.

Todd Rosiak of the Journal Sentinel reports that Saito could be available to pitch as soon as Tuesday. While Saito is still not 100%, he apparently has made enough progress that he could have pitched Sunday if needed.

The Brewers have every reason to be cautiois with the 41-year-old Saito. Kameron Loe worked in Saito's eighth-inning role Sunday against the Cubs.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Overworked in Anaheim?[/h3]
8:07AM ET

[h5]Los Angeles Angels [/h5]


We haven't even reached Tax Day, a time when managers traditionally play it safe with the workload of their starting pitchers, particularly those at the top of the rotation.

Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia is taking a more unconventional approach and Mike Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com asks if the skipper might be overworking aces Dan Haren and Jered Weaver.

Haren pitched an inning of relief during Saturday's 14-inning marathon against Toronto, three days after going 7 2/3 innings in Tampa Bay. Weaver struck out 15 Blue Jays on Sunday, but it took 125 pitches to do it. "The Angels aren't going anywhere this year if Weaver and Haren aren't healthy and effective in the final months. Is it worth sapping their strength before Tax Day?" Saxon writes.

The Angels will turn to a fresh arm Monday when Tyler Chatwood, a 21-year-old right-hander who has all of 6 2/3 innings of Triple-A experience, starts against the Indians.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Isringhausen gets his chance[/h3]
7:44AM ET

[h5]Jason Isringhausen | Mets [/h5]


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=3289Jason Isringhausen patiently waited for his chance with the New York Mets, and it finally came when the reliever was called up after Sunday?s 11-inning loss Washington.

Isringhausen lost out to Blaine Boyer for the final spot on the Opening Day roster, and agreed to stay behind in Florida. He planned to ask for his release or retire if he was not called up in a two-week span. With the Mets bullpen in shambles, Isringhausen should not only get a chance to contribute, but to play a prominent role as well.

After allowing six runs on six hits in four innings on Sunday afternoon, the Mets bullpen has now surrendered a total of 21 runs on 45 hits in just 34 1/3 innings this season.

Boyer was designated for assignment while the Mets also called up Ryota Igarashi from Triple-A Buffalo.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]A-Gon says he's fine[/h3]
7:26AM ET

[h5]Adrian Gonzalez | Red Sox [/h5]


UPDATE: Gonzalez calmed Red Sox Nation after Sunday's game. "I was able to swing the bat. I'm going to be fine," Gonzalez told ESPNBoston.com, adding that he will not need X-rays.

--

Boston Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was hit in the hand with a 93-mph fastball Sunday, courtesy of CC Sabathia, an incident that far too often sends hitters to the disabled list with broken bones. Gonzalez did not leave the game after being hit but did get a visit from the trainer.

The Red Sox obviously cannot afford to lose Gonzalez, but if there is even a bone bruise that keeps him out for a game or two, the club likely goes with a lineup that includes Kevin Youkilis moving back to first base and Jed Lowrie filling in at third.

That alignment could become a long-term solution if Gonzalez ultimately has a broken bone of any kind, with prospect Jose Iglesias a leading candidate to come up to fill the roster spot.

Gonzalez not only stayed in the game to run after the drilling but played the field the next half inning and took his next plate appearance, drawing a walk off the Yankees ace. For now, all seems find and dandy with the slugger's hand.

- Jason A. Churchill

http://[h3]Zimmerman's injury[/h3]
7:17AM ET

[h5]Ryan Zimmerman | Nationals [/h5]


Ryan Zimmerman has played at least 142 games in four of the last five seasons, so it takes more than a minor bump or bruise to keep the Washington Nationals third baseman out of the lineup.

There could be a cause for concern in D.C., however, after Zimmerman aggravated a strained abdominal muscle Saturday and sat out Sunday's game against the Mets. The Nats will evaluate the injury after Monday's off day. "It's worse than it was. It's not terrible. So we'll see," Zimmerman said.

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post says the Nats are not yet considering sending Zimmerman to the disabled list, but the third baseman's uncertainty as to to severity seems like a bad sign.

Alex Cora and Jerry Hairston Jr. could share the duties at third base if Zimmerman needs more time off.

- Doug Mittler

http://[h3]Impact of Torres' injury[/h3]
6:52AM ET

[h5]Andres Torres | Giants [/h5]


Andres Torres will likely miss the San Francisco Giants' upcoming series versus the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers with an Achilles tendon injury, but according to manager Bruce Bochy the club will not know how long Torres will be out until Wednesday.

Torres was on crutches Sunday, a sure sign that he won't play Monday, which likely means Aaron Rowand will step in and handle center field. As for who will lead off, reserve infielder Mike Fontenot led off Sunday but second baseman Freddy Sanchez may be the top candidate.

If Torres hits the disabled list, Thomas Neal may get the call from Triple-A, though veteran Cody Ross is nearing a return from the DL himself.
 
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