4-9 Recap

Kind of a strange day in baseball today.  We had the first complete game of the season thrown by none other than Barry Zito, a heralded pitcher making his major league debut and almost not making it out of the first inning, and the first win for both the Yankees and the Red Sox.  Lets go to the recaps.

Away	Home	Result	Winning Pitcher	Losing Pitcher
Marlins	Phillies	PHI 2, MIA 6	Sanchez (1-0)	Hamels (0-1)
Angels	Twins	MIN 1, LAA 5	Wilson (1-0)	Blackburn (0-1)
Giants	Rockies	SF 7, COL 0	Zito (1-0)	Chacin (0-1)
White Sox	Indians	CWS 4, CLE 2	Sale (1-0)	Tomlin (0-1)
Brewers	Cubs	MIL 7, CHC 5	Marcum (1-0)	Camp (0-1)
Yankees	Orioles	NYY 6, BAL 2	Nova (1-0)	Matusz (0-1)
Red Sox	Blue Jays	TOR 2, BOS 4	Atchison (1-0)	Santos (0-1)
Cardinals	Reds	STL 7, CIN 1	Westbrook (1-0)	Bailey (0-1)
Nationals	Mets	WSH 3, NYM 4	Rauch (1-0)	Rodriguez (0-1)
Braves	Astros	HOU 8, ATL 3	Happ (1-0)	Beachy (0-1)
Mariners	Rangers	TEX 11, SEA 5	Darvish (1-0)	Noesi (0-1)
Royals	Athletics	OAK 1, KC 0	Milone (1-0)	Mendoza (0-1)

Marlins 6 Phillies 2 (Loss)

The lock of the day goes down in smoke again.  Cole Hamels and the Phillies couldn't get anything going against Anibal Sanchez and the Marlins, while Omar Infante hit 2 home runs for the fish.  Jonathan Papelbon came in even though it wasn't a save situation and gave a home run to Gaby Sanchez.  Looks like those 50 million dollars are being spent well.

Angels 5 Twins 1 (Win)

C.J Wilson made his Angels debut and delivered exactly what the team needed after losing the opening series to Kansas City.  He stopped the bleeding to the tune of 7 innings, 3 hits, and only 1 run.  Even the Angels offense started coming around today scoring 5 runs.  The Twins are really bad this year, and even Morneau and Mauer being healthy obviously aren't going to help that fact.  

Giants 7 Rockies 0 (Win)

The much maligned Barry Zito threw the first complete game of the season and it was a shutout to boot.  The biggest surprise of all was that he threw it at Coors Field, which is something you rarely see.  Pablo Sandoval hit a 2-run home run in the 1st inning and that was all Zito needed as he cruised.  If San Francisco gets more starts like that from Zito they will be a team to be reckoned with.

White Sox 4 Indians 2 (Loss)

The Chicago White Sox scored 3 runs before Chris Sale even had to take the mound in his first career start. I'm sure that calmed him down and he pitched well enough to preserve that lead as the White Sox took the opener from the Indians.  The Indians came into this game hitting .153 as a team after that opening series and didn't look any better today in losing to Chicago.

Brewers 7 Cubs 5 (Win)

The Brewers bullpen made this game way more interesting than it should have been.  The game was 7-3 going to the bottom of the 9th inning but the Cubs scored 2 runs and loaded the bases with the winning runs before John Axford struck out Starlin Castro to end the game.  Aramis Ramirez drove in 2 runs for the Brewers in his triumphant return to Wrigley Field. 

Yankees 6 Orioles 2 (Win)

This just in.  The Yankees are not going to go 0-162 and the Orioles are not going to go 162-0.  Now that the Yankees aren't playing one of the best teams in baseball and the Orioles aren't playing one of the worst it is business as usual.  Derek Jeter got 4 hits for the Yankees and Ivan Nova got the win by giving up only 2 runs in 7 innings.  He did give up a home run to Matt Weiters but no one was on base and was relatively unscathed besides that.  

Red Sox 4 Blue Jays 2 (Win)

The Red Sox also got the first win of 2012 and they did it in much more dramatic fashion.  Trailing 2-1 in the top of the 9th inning the Sox actually strung some hits together and scored 3 runs.  The catalyst for this was none other than Dustin Pedroia, who hit a leadoff double to get things going.  Even more surprising was the fact that the bullpen didn't blow the lead in the bottom half of the 9th inning, holding the 2 run lead until the final out was recorded.

Cardinals 7 Reds 1 (Win)

Another team that got off to a hot start was the Cardinals, who scored 4 runs in the first inning off of Homer Bailey and the Reds to take game 1 of the series between these two rivals.  Matt Holliday, David Freese, and Yadier Molina all went deep in the first inning for the Cardinals giving Jake Westbrook lots of room to relax and just throw strikes.  Westbrook certainly did that, giving up only an unearned run in 7 innings.

Mets 4 Nationals 3 (Loss)

Oh you New York Mets.  I have picked against you in all 4 games this year and all you have done is start 4-0.  Are you just mocking me now?  I know that the moment I pick them to win they will lose but they are winning an every conceivable fashion.  Tonight they won with a great defensive play by David Murphy in the top of the 9th inning and a game winning single by.... David Murphy in the bottom of the 9th inning.  Well done David now New York will please stop doing this to me!!

Astros 8 Braves 3 (Loss)

Another team I haven't correctly predicted is the Atlanta Braves.  They are the anti-Mets as I have picked them to win all 4 times and they have started 0-4.  Not much has gone right for this team as they haven't been able to hit the ball at all and they haven't had very good pitching either.  The surprising Astros are now 3-1 and with the way these two teams are playing it wouldn't surprise me if they keep going.  The Rockies and Braves were 2 perfect teams for the Astros to open with and get a little confidence.

Rangers 11 Mariners 5 (Win)

Yu Darvish made his American debut today and for awhile there it looked like he wouldn't make it out of the first inning.  He allowed 4 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks in the first and the bullpen was up ready to get him out. He settled down and ended up pitching into the 6th and by then Mitch Moreland, Nelson Cruz, and Josh Hamilton had all homered for the Rangers and he had an 8-5 lead.  Ian Kinsler hit a 3-run home run in the 8th inning and after the games signed a 5-year extension worth $75 million dollars so it was a good day for him.  

Athletics 1 Royals 0 (Loss)

So much for my comment about the Royals bats coming to life eh?  Tommy Milone shut down this young yet impressive lineup and he did it for 8 strong innings.  The Nationals won all 5 games that Milone started for them last year and now has won his first with the Athletics.  Yoenis Cespedes struck out 2 more times tonight, giving him 9 already in his first 5 games of the season.  The only way he won't lead the majors in strikeouts is if he gets injured or sent down to the minors.  That man takes a mighty hack and doesn't make contact quite often.

Days Record: 7-5                  Overall Record: 31-29                Lock of the Day Record: 1-3