What to do with a struggling hitter? This among the many tough decisions a manager must make. Dropping him in the order, or removing him from it completely, might put a band-aid on the issue, but it doesn’t get at the root. It also opens up confidence issues, which are completely subjective and run on a case-by-case basis. So why while we, the fans and interested observers, might call for a player’s demotion, it’s not always that easy. Yet in other cases it’s just what the player needs. Good managers have a feeling for what the appropriate course of action is in each case. While it is far from being universally accepted that Joe Girardi and Fredi Gonzalez are good managers, they both made smart moves, at least in terms of results, when they dropped top of the order guys down to the bottom.

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Honestly, this is the definitive moment of the game. Hat tip to Dustin Parkes at The Score.

Moving the Needle: Jacoby Ellsbury ties the game in the ninth, +.417 WPA. If you’re going to watch an archived game, or even a condensed game, may I suggest this one. It had a little bit of everything. On the downside, it had rain. But there was more than enough upside. The Red Sox didn’t pick up their first hit until the seventh inning, while neither team scored until the top half of that inning. The Angels took a 3-1 lead into the ninth and blew it, and a crazy play factored in heavily. And then there was some extra inning gold. I think I need another paragraph to describe it.

A walk and a hit by pitch were Ervin Santana’s only blemishes through four innings. Unfortunately for him, the rains came to Boston and they had a lengthy delay, far too long to even consider putting him back in. That left the job to Rich Thompson, who pitched two hitless innings of his own. But with one out in the seventh, then facing Scott Downs, Jed Lowrie picked up a single. Nothing came of it, but something did the next inning when Jason Varitek doubled off of Fernando Rodney. Oops. Adrian Gonzalez knocked him in, cutting the lead to one. The Angels added one in the ninth, which they really, really ended up needing.

Lowrie walks to open the ninth, and Mike Cameron singles him to second. Here’s where reading the play-by-play might not fully explain everything. Jordan Walden delivered a pitch in the dirt, and Hank Conger couldn’t keep it in front of him. The runners tried to advance, and Alberto Callapso couldn’t handle the throw. It kicked off him and towards Erik Aybar at short. Lowrie took off for home and would make it easily, but the same couldn’t be said for Cameron. The Angels cut him down at third, leading to the largest negative WPA swing of the game, -.221 (because even though a run scored they needed another one and now had no runners on with only two outs remaining).

Carl Crawford, who was at bat during this fiasco, ended up doubling and then scoring on Ellsbury’s single. In extras the Red Sox had the walk-off run in scoring position in both the 10th and the 12th, but failed to bring him home. That opened the door for the Angels in the 13th, as they loaded the bases for Bobby Abreu, who singled past a diving Dustin Pedroia and put his team ahead by two.

I don’t do this a lot, but this was seriously worth the effort.

Notables

Ervin Santana: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K. Of all the starts to get shut down by rain.

Hank Conger: 3 for 4, 1 2B, 1 BB. On base four times and he neither scored nor drove in a run.

Daniel Bard: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K. Some nice relief work to keep the game knotted at zero.

Also in this issue: Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 4 | Twins 3, White Sox 2 | Braves 8, Brewers 3 | Braves 8, Brewers 0 | Tigers 4, Yankees 0 | Orioles 3, Royals 2 | Reds 3, Astros 2 | A’s 3, Indians 1 | Cubs 5, Dodgers 1 | Rangers 5, Mariners 2 | Giants 2, Mets 0 | Blue Jays 3, Rays 2 | Phillies 7, Nationals 4 | Marlins 8, Cardinals 7 | Pirates 7, Padres 4

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In a way, this is all Ian Stewart’s doing. After spending the beginning of spring training on the shelf, he opened the season in abysmal fashion, hitting .074/.138/.074 through his first 29 PA. Of course, anything can happen in 29 PA, but Stewart was getting nothing done. He either struck out or hit the ball on the ground in 20 of his PA, and hit no line drives. He might have been out of whack, having missed the start of spring training, so the Rockies optioned him on April 19th. But by then he was hardly playing anyway. That’s at least in part because Jonathan Herrera was capturing Colorado’s attention.

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No legs were broken in this celebration.

Twins 1, White Sox 0

Moving the Needle: Jason Kubel homers, +.123 WPA. His fourth homer of the season was all the Twins needed in this one. Well, that and some nice work on defense.

Notables

Francisco Liriano: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 6 BB, 2 K, 9 GB. Yes, that’s 20 balls in play and only nine on the ground for Liriano. Another nine were hit in the air, though to be fair four of them were of the infield variety. And yet, no hits. Yes, it’s a rare achievement that he’ll remember for the rest of his life. But that he did this on a night when he didn’t do the two things that normally help him win ballgames — strike out guys and get ground balls — says as much about the current state of the White Sox offense as it does Liriano himself.

Edwin Jackson: 8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 12 GB. Just 4 K in 17 IP for Liriano and Jackson? Yikes. It must have been odd for Jackson, being on the other side of a walkathon no-hitter.

Also in this issue: Red Sox 7, Angels 3 | Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 3 | Astros 10, Reds 4 | Tigers 4, Yankees 2 | Cubs 4, Dodgers 1 | Royals 6, Orioles 5 | Giants 7, Mets 6 | Indians 4, A’s 1 | Phillies 4, Nationals 1 | Mariners 4, Rangers 3 | Cardinals 7, Marlins 5 | Rays 3, Blue Jays 2 | Padres 6, Pirates 5

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That the Cardinals lead the majors on wOBA is not that huge a surprise. They brought back an elite core of hitters in Colby Rasmus, Albert Pujols, and Matt Holliday, and then added a number of complementary pieces. The most prominent, of course, is Lance Berkman, who currently leads the NL in wOBA. But there is also David Freese, who, for April at least, was back on the field. And so the Cardinals offense, ripping through the league, currently sports a wOBA 16 points higher than the next closest NL team, and leads batter WAR by 3 wins.

What might surprise you is that they’re doing all this without a significant contribution from Pujols.

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A’s 5, Rangers 4

Moving the Needle: Hideki Matsui ends it with a homer, +.375 WPA. Same as last season, Matsui is off to a slow start in 2011. He had only one hit in this game, but he made it count. On the first pitch of the 10th inning he took Darren Oliver deep, ending the game just like that. It was the A’s third home run of the day, each of which led off an inning.

Notables

Brandon McCarthy : 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Notable, because those unearned runs aren’t exactly fair. McCarthy committed the two errors that rendered them unearned.

Kurt Suzuki: 2 for 4, 1 HR. That’s his third homer of the year, but second of the Texas series. In total he was 6 for 16.

Derek Holland: 7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 12 GB. The ground balls will lead to hits, but they’ll also keep runners moving station to station. This will bring down his ERA a bit, but it’s still considerably higher than his FIP and xFIP.

Also in this issue: Red Sox 9, Angels 5 | Braves 6, Brewers 2 | White Sox 6, Orioles 2 | Dodgers 5, Cubs 2 | Yankees 5, Tigers 3 | Nationals 2, Giants 2 | Marlins 6, Cardinals 5 | Pirates 4, Padres 3

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Cardinals over Braves, 2 games to 1

Moving the Needle: Nick Punto breaks the tie in extra innings, +.449 WPA. Each of these three games turned in the ninth inning or later, making it probably the best series of the weekend. It started on Friday night when Daniel Descalso hit a sac fly to tie the game in the ninth. The two sides then played an eventless 10th before the Cardinals jumped ahead in the 11th. A hit by pitch and walk put the go-ahead runners on base, and Punto brought them home with a triple into the right field corner. The Cardinals would win with another triple on Saturday before dropping the game in the ninth on Sunday.

Notable Pitching

Brandon Beachy: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 HR.

Cardinals 5, Braves 3
Cardinals 3, Braves 2
Braves 6, Cardinals 5

Also in this issue: Mariners over Red Sox | Cubs over Diamondbacks | Orioles over White Sox | Indians over Tigers | Marlins over Reds | Royals over Twins | Pirates over Rockies | Yankees over Blue Jays | Astros over Brewers | A’s over Rangers | Padres over Dodgers | Angels over Rays | Nationals over Giants | Phillies over Mets

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When you’re sitting on top of the world, it’s sometimes easy to overlook the flaws. The Cleveland Indians, at 14-8, currently own the AL’s best record and lead their division by 2.5 games. While we’re a long way from anointing them 2011’s surprise team, they certainly have impressed to this point. Their 5.18 runs per game actually ranks second in the AL (though only a hundredth of a point ahead of Texas). Yet amid all that, they haven’t yet clicked on all cylinders. That’s because Carlos Santana has gotten off to something of a slow start. But there are plenty of indications that his approach will pay off in the long run.

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Note: This is the last TMA of the week, as I’ll be out of town until Monday.

And the fans in New York already hate Soriano.

White Sox 3, Yankees 2

Moving the Needle: Paul Konerko turns a deficit into a lead, +.420 WPA. The whole plan of having a closer in the setup role hasn’t worked out too well for the Yankees so far. Rafael Soriano had another rough outing, this time blowing a 2-1 lead in the eighth on the Konerko homer, a no-doubter out to left. Soriano has made 11 appearances for the Yankees, but has only a single 1-2-3 inning. The Yankees did make some noise in the ninth, but Brent Lillibridge made a pair of stellar catches to save the game. If he misses either the Yankees at least tie it.

Notables

Brett Gardner: 1 for 3, 1 HR. In a game full of offensive utility, a homer from Gardner, his second in four days, is going to make the notables.

Gavin Floyd: 8 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 2 HR. Just domination, through and through. The Sox pitching has apparently spread the team’s offensive utility to the Yankees.

Also in this issue: Angels 8, A’s 3 | Diamondbacks 7, Phillies 5 | Orioles 4, Red Sox 1 | Rockies 4, Cubs 3 | Indians 9, Royals 4 | Marlins 4, Dodgers 2 | Mariners 7, Tigers 3 | Astros 6, Cardinals 5 | Brewers 3, Reds 2 | Blue Jays 10, Rangers 3 | Mets 6, Nationals 4 | Giants 3, Pirates 2 | Braves 8, Padres 2

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Here’s the full-league wOBA leader board, set to a minimum 50 PA. On this you will see few surprises. We know that Jose Bautista , Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, and company are off to hot starts. We also have heard plenty about unexpected contributors such as Jed Lowrie and Russell Martin . In fact, only one name really stands out in this top 10.

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Of course, if you read the headline you know which one I’m talking about. Kosuke Fukudome with a .483 wOBA? Well that was unexpected.

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