4-16 Recap

10 games today and it was statistically the best day I had this year.  After an 8-2 day I am now a season high 10 games over .500.  Below is how I got there.

Away	Home	Result	Winning Pitcher	Losing Pitcher
Rays	Red Sox	TB 1, BOS 0	Shields (2-0)	Bard (0-2)
Astros	Nationals	WSH 6, HOU 3	Strasburg (2-0)	Weiland (0-2)
Twins	Yankees	NYY 3, MIN 7	Pavano (1-1)	Garcia (0-1)
Mets	Braves	NYM 6, ATL 1	Gee (1-1)	Hanson (1-2)
Orioles	White Sox	CWS 4, BAL 10	Strop (1-1)	Stewart (0-1)
Tigers	Royals	KC 2, DET 3	Verlander (1-1)	Duffy (1-1)
Padres	Rockies	SD 7, COL 1	Luebke (1-1)	Guthrie (1-1)
Pirates	D-backs	PIT 1, ARI 5	Saunders (1-0)	Bedard (0-3)
Athletics	Angels	OAK 0, LAA 6	Weaver (2-0)	McCarthy (0-2)
Phillies	Giants	SF 2, PHI 5	Halladay (3-0)	Lincecum (0-2)

Rays 1 Red Sox 0 (Win)

The Rays avoided the sweep today with a dominant performance from James Shields and a little help from the Red Sox.  Tampa Bay scored the only run of the game on an Evan Longoria walk with the bases loaded in the seventh inning and that was all Shields needed.  Daniel Bard pitched well for the Red Sox but he did walk 7 batters, including Longoria which was the difference.

Nationals 6 Astros 3 (Win)

The winning streak for the lock of the day reaches 4 games in a row as Stephen Strasburg again pitched brilliantly against the light hitting Astros.  Strasburg struck out 5 and walked only 1 in six innings and he got some help offensively from Stephen Lombardozzi and Wilson Ramos.  Lombardozzi got 4 hits to raise his batting average to .500 and Wilson Ramos hit a home run in the fourth inning for Strasburg, who is now 2-0.

Twins 7 Yankees 3 (Win)

It is correctly picking games like this one this makes this blog so fun.  How many people would pick the lowly Twins to beat the mighty Yankees, and with Carl Pavano on the hill no less.  After the back to back home runs that Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson hit I thought all those people would be right.  Pavano settled down and didn't allow a run after the first inning, and the 2-8 hitters for the Twins all had 1 RBI in a very balanced attack.

Mets 6 Braves 1 (Loss)

Of course I lose this game.  I keep sticking to my guns when these two teams play and I keep getting bitten in the ass for it.  The game was tied at 1 in the sixth inning when Ike Davis hit a 3-run home run and with the way the Braves are hitting against the Mets the game should have been called right there.  The Braves have done nothing offensively against the Mets and are now 0-4 against New York this season.

Orioles 10 White Sox 4 (Loss)

The Orioles trailed 4-1 in the eighth inning but got 1 in the eighth, 2 in the ninth, and six in the tenth to win it 10-4.  Matt Weiters hit 2 home runs for Baltimore including a grand slam in the tenth inning that blew the game open.  The Orioles hit 4 home runs in the last 3 innings, two from Weiters and one apiece from Adam Jones and Nolan Reimold.  

Tigers 3 Royals 2 (Win)

Justin Verlander is an absolute machine.  He threw 131 pitches today.  His 131st pitch was a 100 mph fastball.  That isn't human.  Verlander gave up a run in the first inning and a run in the ninth inning but was spectacular in the middle.  Verlander improved his record against the Royals to 14-2 and is now 9-2 at Kauffman Stadium and has allowed only 18 runs in almost 90 innings.  The man is a stud.

Padres 7 Rockies 1 (Win)

The Padres hit 7 doubles, 3 from Chase Headley, and got another solid start from Cory Leubke in their 7-1 win.  Leubke allowed only 1 run in 7 innings and the big thing for him today was he only walked one batter.  The Rockies only mustered 6 hits off of Leubke, and in this park that is a gem of a pitching performance.  

Diamondbacks 5 Pirates 1 (Win)

Erik Bedard must be sick of this.  He pitches the last few years for the Mariners who had some of the worst offenses in baseball history, and now with the Pirates he is 0-3 despite having a 2.65 ERA.  Bedard has now allowed 5 runs in 17 innings and is 0-3.  Even the offense in Seattle wasn't this bad Erik, come on back and we will score some for you.

Angels 6 Athletics 0 (Win)

This is exactly what the Angels needed.  To play Oakland.  Jerad Weaver got his 1000th career strike out and pitched brilliantly to improve to 2-0.  Kendrys Morales hit a 3-run home run in the first inning, his first home run since his walk-off grand slam against the Mariners in 2010 where he broke his ankle jumping on home plate.  It is good to see him back and hitting the ball like he can again.

Phillies 5 Giants 2 (Win)

Lincecum once again got off to a horrific start, allowing 4 runs in the first inning to a Phillies offense that has done very little in the beginning of 2012.  I don't know what Roy Halladay's record is when he gets a 4 run lead but it has to be almost perfect.  Halladay improved to 3-0 with the win today and Giants fans are still wondering what is going with Lincecum.  

Days Record: 8-2                  Overall Record: 80-70                Lock of the Day Record: 7-4