Baseball Today
Los Angeles at San Diego (3:55 p.m. EDT). Dodgers ace Brad Penny matches up against Padres ace Jake Peavy in an early season NL West showdown.
STARS
- Bill Hall, Brewers, homered twice and had a career-high six RBIs to help Milwaukee beat San Francisco 13-4 in its home opener.
- Chase Utley, Phillies, hit two homers and drove in three runs in an 8-4 victory over Cincinnati. He's 13-of-22 in his last six games against the Reds, with seven homers and 13 RBIs.
- Micah Owings, Diamondbacks, struck out a career-high nine batters and allowed just one run and two hits over 6 2-3 innings in Arizona's 8-1 win over Colorado.
- Hiroki Kuroda, Dodgers, held San Diego to three hits in seven innings, leading Los Angeles to a 7-1 win in his major league debut.
- Mark Reynolds, Diamondbacks, went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and three RBIs as Arizona beat Colorado 8-1.
- A.J. Pierzynski, White Sox, drove in five runs with three hits, including a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the seventh inning to help Chicago beat Detroit 8-5.
- Ramon Hernandez, Orioles, broke out of a hitless funk by going 3-for-4 with a home run in Baltimore's 7-4 win over Seattle.
- Mike Jacobs, Marlins, homered off reliever Franquelis Osoria leading off the bottom of the ninth to give Florida a 5-4 win over Pittsburgh. Jacobs went 3-for-5 and scored three runs.
- Cliff Floyd, Rays, went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs in Tampa Bay's 13-4 rout of the Yankees.
- Kevin Millar, Orioles, went 3-for-4 with an RBI in a 7-4 victory over Seattle.
OUCH!
Tampa Bay catcher Dioner Navarro sliced open his right ring and middle fingers on his throwing hand when he took a gruesome fall down the dugout steps. He left the game against the New York Yankees in the third inning and was taken to a hospital, where he was given 12 stitches. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list.
AILING
Twins right fielder Michael Cuddyer dislocated a finger on his right hand and was taken to the hospital for X-rays. He injured himself against the Royals when he slid headfirst into third base on a single by Justin Morneau. He was safe on the play, but his hand collided awkwardly with Alex Gordon's leg, and Cuddyer motioned to the dugout for medical attention. He left the game and was replaced by Jason Kubel. ... Nationals closer Chad Cordero, who has not pitched this season due to right shoulder tendinitis, went on the 15-day disabled list. The move was made retroactive to March 27. The 26-year-old Cordero is scheduled to throw a side session on Saturday. Jon Rauch has been the fill-in closer and has one save.
FEELING ILL
Joe Girardi missed his first game as Yankees manager because of an upper respiratory infection. If that didn't make him sick enough, the performance by New York pitchers may have done the trick. Tampa Bay roughed up Ian Kennedy for six runs in 2 1-3 innings, then scored seven times in the eighth off relievers LaTroy Hawkins and Kyle Farnsworth in a 13-4 victory.
STREAKING
Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks set a franchise record and tied a modern-day National League record by scoring a run in his 17th straight game dating to last season. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Weeks is one shy of the modern (since 1900) mark of 18, by the New York Yankees' Red Rolfe in 1939 and Cleveland's Kenny Lofton in 2000.
DOUBLE DOSE OF HERNANDEZ
Ramon Hernandez broke out of a hitless funk by going 3-for-4 with a home run, helping the Orioles win for the second time in three games and climb over .500 for the first time since last April 25 with a victory over Seattle. Luis Hernandez added to the Mariners' misery with two more RBIs in the 7-4 victory.
DIVINE DEBUT
Hiroki Kuroda of the Dodgers was brilliant in his big league debut, holding San Diego to three hits in seven innings and leading Los Angeles to a 7-1 win. Kuroda allowed Brian Giles' first homer of the season, but otherwise limited the Padres to two singles while striking out four and walking none.
PERFECT NO MORE
The Royals' flirtation with perfection didn't last long. After sweeping the Tigers in Detroit and moving three games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2003 season, Minnesota beat Kansas City 4-3 to knock it back to reality. The perennially rebuilding Royals were the last unbeaten team in the majors.
THE REPLACEMENTS
Braden Looper allowed a run and five hits in six innings, giving the St. Louis rotation its fourth straight stingy outing. Despite beginning the year with Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Joel Pineiro and Matt Clement on the 15-day disabled list, Cardinals starters have allowed only two earned runs in 22 2-3 innings.
MADE LIKE MARY LOU
Astros catcher J.R. Towles played the part of a gymnast, pulling a handstand at home plate after he was hit above the knee by a pitch from Chicago's Rich Hill. His momentum carried him over. ``I was actually up there so long - or it seemed a long time - I was like 'Man, I'm actually on my hands, I better get down,''' he said.
STILL STREAKING
Chase Utley picked up where he left off last season, driving in three runs with a pair of homers in Philadelphia's 8-4 victory over the Reds. The power-hitting second baseman is 13-for-22 in his last six games against Cincinnati, with seven homers and 13 RBIs. He hit a two-run homer off Josh Fogg and a solo shot off Jeremy Affeldt for his 100th career homer.
SLIPPING
Detroit dropped to 0-4 with an 8-5 loss to Chicago. The Tigers are the only winless team in the major leagues, and are 0-4 for the first time since dropping their first nine games in 2003 en route to an AL-record 119 losses.
SLUMPING
Colorado's Matt Holliday went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in the Rockies' 8-1 loss to Arizona. After winning the NL batting title last year, Holliday is mired in a 1-for-14 slump in 2008. Teammate Troy Tulowitzki went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and is 0-for-12 since going 3-for-4 in the season opener against St. Louis.
SPEAKING
``We didn't give the fans too much to cheer about.'' - Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, after Colorado managed two hits in an 8-1 loss to Arizona in the team's home opener.
``When I got hit, I was just trying to get out of the way and I started to fall over. So I put my hands down, and when I put my hands down, my momentum just carried me over. I don't know how I stayed on my hands that long. Hopefully that will make ESPN. That was a highlight.'' - Astros catcher J.R. Towles, after doing a handstand when he was hit by a pitch from Chicago's Rich Hill.
Dmitri Young returns to D.C. to have back checked
Fri, 04 April 2008
ST. LOUIS(AP) The Nationals were prepared to play a man short this weekend after Dmitri Young, hampered by a lower back injury since the end of spring training, flew back to Washington on Friday for treatment and further examination.
Manager Manny Acta said an MRI exam revealed inflammation, but it was too soon to consider placing Young on the 15-day disabled list. He expects the situation to be resolved by Monday when the team returns home, and didn't expect Young to rejoin the team before then.
The 34-year-old Young accompanied the team to St. Louis prior to a three-game series against the Cardinals, and then left on another flight.
``It's only going to be a couple of days and hopefully by then we'll be able to make a decision,'' Acta said. ``He's been having treatment, it just hasn't gotten that much better.''
Young, the 2007 NL comeback player of the year, is 1-for-2 in a pair of pinch-hit appearances. Nick Johnson was in the lineup at first base for the fourth time in five games.
Young batted .320 last year with 13 homers and 74 RBIs after signing a minor league deal with the Nationals.
Acta gave Felipe Lopez, a career infielder before Thursday, his second straight start in left field. Lopez's first-ever appearance in the outfield gave Acta no reason to believe the conversion would not work.
``He went after the balls real good, I thought,'' Acta said. ``But it's only one game. We'll see.''
Closer Chad Cordero, who has been sidelined with shoulder tendinitis, is scheduled to throw a side session on Saturday and could be ready by Sunday.
Nationals place closer Chad Cordero on disabled list
Sat, 05 April 2008
ST. LOUIS(AP) The Washington Nationals placed closer Chad Cordero, who has not pitched this season due to right shoulder tendinitis, on the 15-day disabled list Friday night.
The move was made retroactive to March 27 for Cordero, who had 37 saves last season.
``We just felt this was the best for him,'' Nationals manager Manny Acta said. ``We didn't want to rush him back.''
The 26-year-old Cordero is scheduled to throw a side session on Saturday. Jon Rauch has been the fill-in closer and has one save.
``I'm fine with it,'' Cordero said. ``It's the best for the team. I totally understand. The arm is fine.''