@Giants 1, Cardinals 0: Barry Zito kicked off the champs’ home schedule, and his possible walk year, with 7 shutout innings and a perfect night at the plate, including a sacrifice that set up the only run. In a sign of respect for Zito’s role in the title run, he was left in to try for the last out in the 7th with 2 aboard — and he got it.
- Even the great ones make rookie mistakes. At 0:52 in this clip, Yadier Molina has an easy play on Zito’s sac bunt, but he looks up too soon and bobbles the pickup. It was a huge play in a scoreless game — the difference between 2 out and 2 on, or 1 out and bags full. (That’s not to excuse the subsequent 4-pitch walk that Jake Westbrook gave Angel Pagan.)
- Westbrook’s a control pitcher, but his marks with the bases loaded aren’t what you’d think — 6.4% walks, about the same as his career unintentional rate of 7.1%.
- I’m still kind of shocked that Zito will make it through the 7-year base contract without being released. Let’s not kid ourselves: even with the 15-8 record last year and 2 good postseason starts, Zito’s had no good years with the Giants. His combined 91 ERA+ for 2007-12 ranked #102 out of 116 guys with 600+ IP in that span. But he never quite hit bottom; he always gave them about what you’d expect from a 5th starter, maybe a little more. He averaged 0.9 WAR; not 1 in 5 teams in that span boasted 5 starters at that level. We talk about “sunk costs” and the fact that a contract is no reason to keep playing a guy who’s near replacement level. But that logic cuts both ways: Once it was clear that Zito’s production wouldn’t come close to validating the contract, the challenge for management was to ignore his salary and simply decide if they were a better team with Zito or with some affordable guy taking his place. Given the cost of good starters, and the Giants’ place in the 2nd tier of payroll, it’s unlikely they could have upgraded at a price they could stomach. So, while the Zito deal will always seem a foolish gamble by Brian Sabean, sticking with Zito may be one of his more reasonable decisions. (Or maybe he was just being stubborn.)
@Orioles 9, Twins 5: No jinx from my “Roy Hobbs” quip, it seems, so let’s try a different Hobbesian tack: Chris Davis is The Leviathan, now with a HR and 3+ RBI each of the first 4 games, after swamping the Twins with a left/left, oppo granny. That’s a streak unseen at any point in the year since Bill Dickey did 5 straight in 1937. Lou Gehrig had 5 straight in 1931 and 4 straight in ’32, and Ken Williams had 4 straight in 1922. And that’s it, for searchable games.
- Lest we forget the almost-as-hot Adam Jones — 3 hits, 3 runs, and the tying knock ahead of Davis’s bang.
- Looking ahead, the last player with 3+ RBI (homer or no) in 5 straight games was Harmon Killebrew, 1962.
@Reds 15, Nationals zip: Well, DC fans, at least one of the runs was unearned. The left side of Cincinnati’s infield, 3B Todd Frazier and SS Zack Cozart, barked back-to-back in the 2nd, each on the first pitch he saw from Dan Haren. Cozart socked a 3-runner the next inning, and the rout was on — the biggest loss margin in Nationals history.
Frazier went deep again in the 7th. Four previous SS/3B tandems hit 2 HRs each in one game:
- 2004 Tigers, SS Carlos Guillen, 3B Eric Munson
- 1999 Blue Jays, SS Tony Batista, 3B Willis Otanez (7 career HRs)
- 1971 Pirates, SS Jackie Hernandez (12 career, 3 that year), 3B Richie Hebner
- 1955 Cubs, SS Ernie Banks, 3B Randy Jackson (1B Dee Fondy also hit 2; they were batting #5-6-7; alas, no play-by-play)
The Reds never did it before, but my search found these nuggets:
- 1991: in his 623rd game, Barry Larkin hit 2 HRs for the first time, driving in all the runs in a 3-0 win. The next night, he hit 3 bombs for the only time in his career, and (as far as we can tell) the only time by a Reds shortstop.
- 1966: SS Leo Cardenas hit 2 HRs in both ends of a doubleheader.
@Rays 4, Indians 0: Matt Moore‘s full-fledged arrival may be a year later than hoped, but the future’s still bright for the 24-year-old southpaw who fanned a batter per inning last year. His 100th pitch froze Nick Swisher, giving him 8 Ks and the rest of the night off.
- Zorilla doesn’t grab me. What say to Convertible BenZ ? The only man since 1908 with 50+ games at both 2B and RF (which he did in 2009-10-12), and the WAR leader over the past 4 years, drove in or scored all 4 runs.
- What’s up with bunting a burner to 2nd base in the opening stanza? Did I only dream that Asdrubal Cabrera had 20-HR power?
@Dodgers 3, Pirates 0: Elbow, shmelbow. Zack Greinke‘s $147-million contract began profitably, with just 2 singles and no threats in his 6.1 innings. April (2.32 ERA) and September (2.94) have been his best months, while those in between add up to a 4.26 ERA. And that one at the very end … well, the Dodgers will be glad to cross that bridge if the time comes.
- Paco Rodriguez, 2012 2nd-round pick and the only one from the top 2 rounds to reach the bigs yet, made his season debut, whiffing Pedro Alvarez on 3 pitches. Are they really grooming this kid as a LOOGY? The 22-year-old has averaged less than 2 outs in his 13 MLB games so far, and went less than an inning per game in the minors while fanning 32 of 77 batters.
Mariners 8, @White Sox 7: After the M’s went up 2 in the 10th, closer Tom Wilhelmsen almost gave it all back with an unlikely bout of wildness, walking 3 (new career high) on full counts before whiffing Tyler Flowers with the tying run a base away.
