Jesse Spector's look at baseball after one month shares plenty of data:
Seven teams - the Angels, Astros, Cubs, Mets, Nationals, Phillies and White Sox - did not have a starting pitcher record an out in the eighth inning of a game this April, as the longest outings by the starters of each of those clubs had been seven innings. Not surprisingly, the combined record of those teams were 64-83.
from Paul Hagen's round up in the Philly Daily News:
Brewers righthander Yovani Gallardo. He took a perfect game into the fifth against the Pirates on Wednesday. He struck out a career-high 11. He pitched eight shutout innings. And, by the way, he homered in the seventh to give himself a 1-0 win.
Milwaukee manager Ken Macha generally begins his postgame interview session with a brief recap of the game. It was especially to the point this time: "Hitting: Gallardo. Pitching: Gallardo. Any questions?"
Not quite as good, but yesterday, Ted Lilly struck out 10 and knocked in a pair of his own. He became the first Cubs pitcher with 10-plus strikeouts and 2-plus RBIs in a single game since Mark Prior on Sept. 21, 2005.
But the best hit by a pitcher was probably the one laid out on the ump by a high school pitcher:
Whether criminal charges will be pressed against the pitcher remains to be seen, but there is no doubt, according to multiple witnesses, that he landed a powerful punch on the base umpire's jaw, dropping him to the infield dirt.
After he allowed all 23 of Southern's runs, the pitcher was picked off second base in the bottom half of the fifth.
Penn coach Dennis Sheedy and the parent of a Southern player contended time was out at that juncture, and that the pickoff should not have counted.
According to several adults, the player cursed out the umpire, Mark Lumpkin, and delivered a powerful punch to his jaw.
The parent of a Southern player, who wished to remain anonymous, said Lumpkin "definitely got clocked. The first time he tried to get up, he couldn't do it. He did the second time, but was still shaky."
Jayson Stark, as usual, full o' facts:
in the wild-card era (1995-2008), just 20 of the 112 playoff teams (18 percent) were under .500 -- yes, even one game under -- at the end of April.
Zack Greinke wins this prestigious non-trophy. All Greinke did was go four consecutive starts and 43 straight innings before allowing an earned run -- making him the first American League pitcher in the past 97 seasons to allow zero earned runs in his first four starts of a season. And Greinke ended the month at 5-0 with an insane ERA of 0.50. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that since the invention of earned runs in 1912, Greinke is only the third pitcher to win at least five games in April and have an ERA that small. The others: Walter Johnson (5-0, 0.24) in 1913 and Fernando Valenzuela (5-0, 0.20) in 1981.
Lastly, watch out for this guy coming to KC Royals pretty soon - maybe another reason they might be favoured to maintain their current pace and win their division:
Right-hander Luke Hochevar improved to 5-0 and lowered his earned-run average to 1.13 by pitching a seven-inning shutout Saturday night for Class AAA Omaha in an 8-0 victory at Nashville in the first game of a double-header.
Hochevar threw just 79 pitches and allowed only two hits, both singles, in striking out five and walking three.
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