Friday, April 13, 2012
And That Happened
Posted by Craig CalcaterraGiants 4, Rockies 2: Madison Bumgarner took a no-hitter into the sixth, silencing the Rockies bats that rocked Tim Lincecum's world the night before. That, and some bad defense by Dexter Fowler, prevented Jamie Moyer from becoming the oldest pitcher to ever win a game. Can't have errors behind the old guy or he's toast. Why? Because as Jason Giambi said after the game: "He's not a strikeout pitcher." To which the interviewer responded thusly.
Cubs 8, Brewers 0: Attention Zack Greinke: you're doing this whole free agency push thing wrong (3.2 IP, 9 H, 8 ER). Matt Garza, in contrast, was masterful (8.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER). Well, almost masterful.
Nationals 3, Reds 2: The first place Nationals won their home opener in front of a sellout crowd. There are, like, three things unusual about that sentence. But over the next several years it will seem pretty normal, I reckon. Ryan Zimmerman scored the winning run on an Alfredo Simon wild pitch in the 10th.
Rangers 5, Mariners 3: Michael Young went 3 for 4 and drove in four. Derek Holland struck out eight in seven and a third. The Rangers have gotten a lot of really good starting pitching over the past three games.
Twins 10, Angels 9: The Twins rapped out 20 hits, including homers from Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau (who were booed earlier in the game, BTW. What the hell is wrong with you people?). Not that it was an offensive tour de force, as Minnesota stranded a bunch of runners. But that paled compared to the Angels' bullpen, which gave up 11 hits and seven runs over the last four innings.
Tigers 7, Rays 2: Drew Smyly made his major league debut for the Tigers. It was rough at first -- he loaded the bases with no one out to start the game -- but wiggled out of it. Still didn't get the win, though, as he threw 90 pitches over four innings. It was Brennan Boesch's birthday, so he partied like it was his birthday, driving in four.
Phillies 3, Marlins 1: Joe Blanton had no trouble handling the Marlins, giving up one run on three hits in seven innings.
Dodgers 3, Pirates 2: The Dodgers sweep. Third game in a row without Vin Scully, by the way, as he recovers from a bad cold. Which just means that when he comes back and the Dodgers don't win the division, I'm going to start claiming that it was because of the curse of Vin Scully. That ought to be popular.
Diamondbacks 3, Padres 1: Ian Kennedy strikes out nine in six innings. A lot of people, myself included, thought that Kennedy would regress some this season. I think what we were forgetting is just how many games he gets to pitch against the Padres each year.
Craig writes the HardballTalk blog for NBC Sports.com