Mariners 8, Blue Jays 7

Moving the Needle: Luis Rodriguez walks off with a single, +.782 WPA. For the first seven and a half innings this looked like another game where the Mariners’ offense would fall flat. It’s all too common a story these days, and apparently the Mariners were sick of hearing it. Rodriguez started things in the eighth by drawing a bases-loaded walk. Two of his teammates apparently thought that was a great idea and did the same. Heading into the ninth they still trailed 7-6, but a Michael Saunders leadoff double got things started. Shawn Camp didn’t deliver a bad pitch, but Rodriguez went down and crushed it into the gap in right-center. It would have been an easy double, maybe a triple, if Ichiro didn’t score so easily on it.

Notables

Justin Smoak: 2 for 3, 1 2B, 2 BB. He’s off to a nice, albeit homer-less, start, with more doubles than singles to this point. He also has more walks than singles.

Corey Patterson: 2 for 5, 1 HR. Notable because not only does it mean Corey Patterson is still playing baseball, but that he’s hitting second.

Also in this issue: Indians 4, Angels 0 | Cardinals 8, Diamondbacks 2 | Rays 16, Red Sox 5 | Cubs 5, Astros 4 | A’s 2, White Sox 1 | Rockies 7, Mets 6 | Rangers 2, Tigers 0 | Reds 3, Padres 2 | Dodgers 6, Giants 1 |

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After a middling first start, the media was ready to jump on Josh Beckett. The results weren’t bad, exactly, but he didn’t quite look like the pre-2010 Beckett. In their podcast the following day, ESPN’s David Schoenfield, Keith Law, and Eric Karabell talked about Beckett’s lack of conditioning. Red Sox blog Fire Brand of the AL mentioned it, too. Yet there were many pitchers who performed poorly in their first outings who didn’t get called out for conditioning issues. Perhaps this was an ex-post explanation for the bad outing following a poor 2010 season. But, poor conditioning or not, he came back to completely shut down the Yankees last night. I doing so, he looked a lot like the Beckett of old.

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Make sure to click on the scores to see our all new box scores. They’re really something else.

Angels over Blue Jays, 3 games to 2

Moving the Needle: Maicer Izturis wins it with a single in the 14th, +.399 WPA. A less speedy player on second and he might have had him. A better throw, too, and they might have gotten him. But Peter Bourjos raced around third base and didn’t stop until he had scored the winning run in the 14th inning of Saturday’s game. The hit ended a scoring drought that started in the fifth inning. Yes, that’s the equivalent of a complete game with no score in this one.

Blue Jays 3, Angels 2
Angels 6, Blue Jays 5
Angels 3, Blue Jays 1

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

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That ball is headed for sweet, sweet victory.

Moving the Needle: Matt Downs doubles home the go-ahead run in the ninth, +.363 WPA. The Astros just aren’t going to score a lot of runs this year, which puts the onus on the pitching staff, and Brett Myers stepped up. He held the Reds, who led the league in scoring heading into the game, to just one run through six, and two runs through 6.1. Three runs the Astros can do. They got it done with a pair of singles and a double off Nick Masset in the ninth. Brandon Lyon held on for the save, giving Houston its first victory of the season.

Notables

Sam LeCure: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 HR, 7 GB. The emergency starter did his part. He was at just 84 pitches, but Dusty Baker — and indeed it was Baker this time — pinch hit for him to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Which might make a lick of sense if Miguel Cairo hadn’t been the pinch hitter. Of course, it worked. Cairo singled.

Edgar Renteria: 3 for 3, 1 2B, 1 BB. Paul Janish might be freed, but Renteria wants his playing time, too. His first double tied the game at one.

Also in this issue: Indians 1, Red Sox 0 | Astros 3, Reds 2 | A’s 2, Blue Jays 1 | Yankees 4, Twins 3 | Rockies 7, Pirates 1 | Brewers 4, Braves 2 | White Sox 5, Rays 1 | Phillies 11, Mets 0 | Orioles 9, Tigers 5 | | Nationals 5, Marlins 3

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The Angels and Padres hitters did not have a good time yesterday. While they both did manage to eke out some runs, they spent most of the day walking back to the dugout. The pitchers opposing them, Jeremy Hellickson and Tim Lincecum, had their best strikeout stuff, combining for 23 Ks. Yet their starts couldn’t have been much more different. In fact, it might have been Hellickson who provided the more dominant performance.

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Safe to say that they hold Konerko at third here.

White Sox 10, Royals 7

Moving the Needle: Carlos Quentin doubles in the go-ahead runs, +.660 WPA. Top of the ninth. Down one. Runners at the corners, and two outs. Joakim Soria dealt a fastball belt high and in to Quentin, but he jumped out ahead of it and drove it into the gap. The decision to pinch run Brent Lillibridge for Paul Konerko paid off handsomely, as the little guy chugged around third and beat the throw home. The lead wouldn’t last long, though, as Kila Ka’aihue hit an RBI double of his own in the bottom half. It wasn’t until the 12th that Brent Morel hit a bases loaded single to break the tie. In any case, Quentin also had another double and a homer on the day.

Notables

Juan Pierre: 3 for 6, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB. Notable, because 1) that’s a solid line, 2) he was the dee-freaking-h, and 3) despite the solid line, he still finished the game with -.055 WPA.

Also in this issue: Angels 5, Rays 1 | Pirates 3, Cardinals 1 | Rangers 7, Mariners 3 | Diamondbacks 6, Cubs 4 | Rockies 7, Dodgers 5 | Giants 8, Padres 4 | Indians 8, Red Sox 4 | Tigers 7, Orioles 3 | Phillies 10, Mets 7 | Blue Jays 5, A’s 3 | Reds 12, Astros 4 | Marlins 7, Nationals 4 | Brewers 5, Braves 4

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Blue Jays 7, A’s 6

Moving the Needle: Yunel Escobar turns a one-run deficit into a win with one swing, +.655 WPA. The A’s owned this one early, going up 5-1 after four. But then the Blue Jays took advantage of three A’s errors — two by Kevin Kouzmanoff — en route to a four-run sixth. Two of those runs they scored on outs. The A’s went ahead in the 10th when Josh Willingham led off with a homer, but the Jays answered when Rajai Davis singled and Escobar hit an opposite field liner that cleared the wall. That, my friends, is easily our biggest WPA swing of the evening.

Notables

Brandon McCarthy: 8 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 0 HR, 14 GB. Those Kouzmanoff errors really killed his otherwise solid performance. The last time McCarthy went eight was on May 24, 2009, when he pitched a complete game shutout against Houston.

Andy LaRoche: 2 for 3, 1 2B. That’s a quality batting line, sure. But it’s notable because he started at…shortstop. It would have been his first professional innings, majors or minors, at shortstop had the A’s not already played him there for three innings this year.

Also in this issue: Indians 3, Red Sox 1, Twins 5, Yankees 4, Angels 5, Rays 3, Cubs 6, Diamondbacks 5, Reds 8, Astros 2, Marlins 3, Nationals 2, Mets 7, Phillies 1, Padres 3, Giants 1, Rockies 3, Dodgers 0, Royals 7, White SOx 6, Brewers 1, Braves 0, Rangers 3, Mariners 2, Cardinals 3, Pirates 2

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If the Pirates are going to make any noise, whether it’s this year or in the near future, they’ll need top-notch production from the young players currently on their roster. With Andrew McCutchen, that isn’t a problem, since he’s produced at an elite level for the past year and a half. The emphasis this year will be on Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, and Neil Walker. Walker, in particular,  has gotten off to a hot start. While it doesn’t necessarily portend a quality season to come, it certainly is a sign of encouragement. While we have only four games to work with, two things have stood out about Walker’s performance.

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Pirates 4, Cardinals 3

Gone. (Click for larger)

For five innings it didn’t appear that the Pirates had any life. They had just two base runners in that span, and one of them was erased via the double play. All in all, through five the Pirates had hit just three balls in the air. Everything else was a grounder or a strikeout. But then came a sixth inning rally that put them ahead for good. Unsurprisingly, we can attribute it to the Pirates’ crop of young talent.

Moving the Needle: Neil Walker goes opposite field with a go-ahead double, +.301 WPA. Even into the sixth, the Pirates had trouble hitting the ball in the air. The inning started with a Ronny Cedeno single, but it was on a grounder. Pitcher Charlie Morton, who had already walked four to that point, stayed into sacrifice. Such is the plight of the road team in the NL. Jose Tabata followed by drawing the first walk of the game. Then Lohse made his biggest mistake, leaving one up and out over the plate to Walker. He drilled it into the left field corner, scoring both Morton and Tabata and giving the Pirates the lead. They’d need the tack-on runs that followed, as the Cardinals mounted a comeback. But it wasn’t enough.

Notables

Andrew McCutchen: 1 for 4, 1 HR. His two-run blast, which immediately followed Walker’s double, provided the insurance that the Pirates needed. Two of his three hits this season have been long flies.

Kyle Lohse: 7 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR. Outside of the sixth he faced just one over the minimum, thanks to two double play balls. But that sixth inning was enough to hang the L on him.

Joel Hanrahan: 1.1 perfect innings, 2 K. The Pirates — really, Evan Meek — ran into some problems in the eighth, with the Cardinals mounting a rally. Hanrahan came into the game with two outs and a runner on third and struck out Yadier Molina to end the threat. He then got three easy outs in the ninth to end it. He’s off to a fine start, with 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K.

Also in this issue: Braves 2, Brewers 1, Cubs 4, Diamondbacks 1, Orioles 5, Tigers 1, Yankees 4, Twins 3, Rangers 5, Mariners 4

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Might baseball be cycling back to a pitching-dominant period? Last year we saw indications that pitchers were starting to get a leg up on hitters. There are many different ways to explain the change, but the facts are in front of us. The league hit 4,878 home runs in 2008, followed by 5,042 in 2009. In 2010 that dropped to 4,613. Determined to reverse course, this weekend teams set the bar high for the 2010 season. With the season just 1.9 percent complete, batters have already hit 2.3 percent of last year’s home run totals.

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