Friday game notes: Wily at his Acme

Brewers 2, @Reds 0 — Wily Peralta’s “Little League All-Star” night: 8 scoreless innings on 3 hits, and a dose of Mike Leake’s medicine, breaking a scoreless tie in the 5th with a 2-out, 2-run double. Francisco Rodriguez closed 1-2-3 (yawn), with nothing past the infield — his 17th straight scoreless game. Milwaukee restored a 6-game lead over St. Louis, 7.5 on Cincy and 9.5 on Pittsburgh.

  • K-Rod’s yield so far: 7 singles, 4 walks. Twelve of his 14 saves preserved a lead of 2 or less.

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April’s heroes: what a difference a year makes!

April has come and gone and warmer weather lies just ahead. That will be a relief for those players whose game tends to heat up with the weather.

But, this post is about other players, those who start the year hot. Over a career, there are some players who consistently play their best in the opening month. But, as this post shows, knowing that may not help you predict the league leaders in any given April.

After the jump, more on April’s heroes.

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Thursday throw-aways

Here’s some stuff that I didn’t get time to fully organize & tidy up…

Rays 2, @Red Sox 1 (day) — Unscheduled rotation anchor Cesar Ramos hasn’t gotten fully stretched out yet, but he’s yielded just 2 runs in 14.2 IP over his last three. Today’s odd outing: 14 outs, one hit, 6 Ks, 6 walks. But Tampa scored the lead run in the 4th on a force-feed by Jake Peavy, who walked three straight. David DeJesus drew the payoff pass, after he hit a tying homer in the prior session.

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Jose Abreu and the Importance of a Balanced Approach

It’s hard to imagine a player having a better first month in the big leagues than Jose Abreu did in April. He managed to lead all Major Leaguers in home runs (10) and RBI (31) while totaling more bases than any other player as well. His presence in the lineup has been the lightning bolt that electrified the White Sox offense Frankenstein offense back to life and thanks to a brilliantly balanced approach at the plate the Cuban slugger shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Continue reading

Game notes from Tuesday’s chill

Seven starters went out with ERAs under 2.00, including three matchups (see pregame ERAs). Some corrections occurred.

@Marlins 9, Braves 0 / Jose Fernandez (1.99) vs. Alex Wood (1.54) — The reprise of last week’s bedazzler was a one-man show. Wood’s night headed south in the 2nd: He fanned trying to bunt up a runner from first, and that man never got home despite a 2-out double. Back on the hill, Wood got two quick outs and two strikes on Christian Yelich, then triple, single, Giancarlo. In the 5th, he caught Stanton looking to strand a pair, but three knocks after a leadoff walk sent him off in the 6th, and the hits kept coming.

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Game notes from Sunday, 1968

Fourteen of the 52 starters with sub-3 ERAs took the hill Sunday, with five pairs squaring off; another was rained out. Most lived up to their billing.

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@Braves 1, Reds 0 (10 inn.) — The mind boggles. Atlanta’s allowed 58 runs through 24 games, with 17 starts of one run or less — three more than any other team since at least 1914. Freddie Freeman was hitless in four trips against Johnny Cueto, but he came through in the end off a fresh-summoned lefty, after Heyward and B.J. kept the inning alive with 2-out hits. That’s his 7th game-ending RBI since 2011, tying teammate Justin Upton for the MLB lead in that time.

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