Easter Baseball



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Before Wang held the Twins to one earned run in seven innings and struck out a career-high eight with no walks in the Yankees' 9-3 victory, Mike Mussina. Wang, Shawn Chacon and Jaret Wright had combined to go 1-1 with a 7.40 ERA while averaging less than five innings per start. That, plus Mariano's rare blown save the day before was giving Yankee haters hope everywhere.

Of course, hitting like Murderer's Row doesn't hurt. Giambi, A-Rod, Johnny Damon and Gary Sheffield each had three hits; Cano and Derek Jeter each had two. Giambi hit two home runs. A-Rod hit one and almost hit another.

Still, all this and the Yankees have only just reached the .500 mark.

All this and the Mets have the best start in their history at 8-2. Archie Bunker's Army let's you ride the rollercoaster that was yesterday's victory.

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Two Aces

The cat's out of the bag, the Blood Sox have two aces.



After yesterday's victory, Beckett is now 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA and Schilling is 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA. Beckett 12 Ks in 21 innings, Schilling 16 Ks in 22 innings. Beckett has beaten Toronto and Seattle at home and Texas in Arlington. Schilling has won at Texas and at Baltimore and beat Seattle at home.

Meanwhile their closer, the little-known Jonathan Papelbon has appeared in seven games, saved six and has yet to give up a run this season, all of which goes a long way towards offsetting Manny Ramirez's horrific start which is a .214 batting average and a mere 9 hits in 12 games, all of which have been singles.

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Coors Air Is Getting Heavier

Phillies righthander Brett Myers, is now a remarkable 4-0 with a 2.63 ERA in four career starts at Coors after yesterday's 7 2/3 shutout innings in a rare 1-0 game at Coors. The Phillies, who started the season 1-6 are now up to 5-7, coming home and facing the Nats in the battle for the middle of the NL East pack.

How rare is a 1-0 game at Coors? It was just the second 1-0 finish in Coors history. The first happened July 9 last season, when the Rockies beat the San Diego Padres, 1-0. It took 847 games at Coors for the first 1-0 game. It took just 41 more for the second.

Best news for the Phillies was probably that their lone run came from Ryan Howard's homer in the 7th.



It had been 11 games, 13 days, 38 at-bats and 44 plate appearances since his last home run and his last RBI. Howard hit one homer every 14.2 at-bats last season, when he won the National League rookie of the year award. He hit one homer every 7.7 at-bats this spring, when he hit a franchise-record 11 home runs in spring training.

Still, Howard is hitting .317 (13 for 41) with two homers, two RBIs, six walks and a .404 on-base percentage.

What about Jim Thome, the man he replaced?



Thome already has as many home runs as he did last season. Yesterday he blasted a two-run homer, his 7th of the young season, leading the White Sox to a 6-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. It was the 12th straight game that Thome has scored a run.

The win came amid rain delays.


Here, Sox starter Mark Buehrle enjoys the rain delay.


Who says Rain and Baseball can't be fun?

The White Sox Management, that's who. Buehrle was fined for his stunt.

"As I've told him twice before, he needs to find another hobby," KillJoy GM Ken Williams said. "This one puts his career and his team's chances in jeopardy."

Buehrle left in a huff after the game, saying, "I don't know if I should be talking about this. I got in trouble. … I can't be out there anymore and I can't have any fun."

Buehrle wasn't the only angry White Sox pitcher yesterday.


The Angry Man in action...

After White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi fumbled an easy grounder that would have ended the inning, Sox starter Freddy Garcia raised his hands to reveal his displeasure, thus showing up a teammate. Garcia struck out the next batter to nail down a rain-shortened 6-4 victory over Toronto, but his gesture was a topic of conversation in the clubhouse afterward.

"I was upset at Freddy," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I don't want my players to embarrass [teammates]. The way the game was and the field was, his reaction was a little bit out of control. I understand his frustration. I understand he wanted to get the inning over. But I don't like my pitcher to show anybody up."

Ahhh, don't worry so much. After all, the KC Royals are up next...

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But if you want to talk homers, Thome is small potatoes compared to Albert Pujols.


Game Over...

The reigning National League Most Valuable Player added one of his more amazing chapters to date on Easter Sunday 2006 when he hit three home runs, including a two-run walk-off blast in the ninth inning, and gave the Cards an 8-7 victory over Cincinnati and left the St. Louis players grasping for superlatives to describe their dynamic first baseman. The three-homer day for Pujols was the second of his career. He also hit three on July 20, 2004, at Chicago. Pujols, who now has eight homers through the Cards' 7-5 start, has six career walk-off homers.

Meanwhile, in Detroit...



Mike Moroth, whose start was set back by three days due to elbow soreness, pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings to improve to 2-0 with a 0.73 ERA (does he belong in the Blood Sox starting rotation?) as the Tigers nipped the Indians in a 1-0 game.

The outing outshone a respectable performance by the Indians' Cliff Lee, who allowed only five hits in seven plus innings of work and the one hit? A home run by WHO? Chris Shelton. Shelton's Major League-leading 8th homer of the season.

Meanwhile, you better believe ump Paul Emmel was hoping Indian's manager Eric Wedge had flossed and brushed before getting in his face and getting ejected in the 5th inning arguing the auld balls and strikes.



Baseball History

Today in baseball history,

1892 - In the first Sunday game in National League history, Cincinnati defeated St. Louis 5-1.

1951 - In his first major league game, Mickey Mantle went 1-for-4 as the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-0.

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Down and Out in Pittsburgh

The Pirates continued their mad dash towards mediocrity with their 10th loss in 14 games, this time a 7-3 loss to the Cubs at home.



Pirate starter Ian Snell was tagged for six runs on six hits and a walk in five-plus innings, marking the 12th time in 14 games in which a Pirates starter has been unable to register a quality start. Wonder why they suck?

Snell, making his third start of the season and 10th start of his big-league career, had the Pirates digging their way out of another early hole when he surrendered three runs in the first inning, the final two coming on a two-out home run by Todd Walker.

Through Sunday, Pirates starting pitchers have combined to go 2-7 with a 7.13 ERA through 14 games. And things ain't getting better any time soon. Next up, Pujols and the Cardinals.

Two Weeks in Baseball

If the baseball playoffs started today, this is what they'd look like:

AL:
Red Sox v Indians
Angels v White Sox

NL:

Mets v Cubs
Astros v Giants

The Rockies, who were last week's surprise "what if" playoff entry, are still only a half game behind the Giants. Oh yeah, and for the fools who believed the Blue Jays' millions would elevate them above obscurity this season, look who is in last place in the AL East...