MLB reports:  To the readers of MLB reports, I wanted to start off by thanking you for your support.  Once I moved to the daily format, the response has been overwhelmingly positive.  I thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to read the site and I will continue to work to bring you all the latest reports, news, highlights and analysis from around the MLB world.  A new section of our site is coming soon, titled:  “MLB Guest Blogs”.  This section will be a forum for the players themselves to provide articles for your reading pleasure on MLB reports.  There are two guest bloggers currently working on their material and I look forward to posting their entries very soon.  It is a pleasure to bring the players’ stories to you and I know you will enjoy reading what they have to say.   On another update, Part II of III in the Oney Guillen interview will be posted likely sometime in the coming week.  A riveting story of one of the most interesting characters in baseball, I commend Oney on being a first class interview.  Oney has gratuitously taken a great deal of time out of schedule to converse with me and the private family pictures he provided for the article series was truly the icing on the cake.  Last update: please be sure to e-mail your baseball questions to mlbreports@gmail.com.  Please include your name and city as part of your questions.   The E-mailbag questions and answers are posted every Wednesday on MLB reports.

 In addition to the regular daily posts on the site, you will notice that I have been including daily scores and highlights from around the majors for your reads.  These updates tend to serve two purposes: to keep the MLB fan up-to-date on how teams have performed from the previous days worth of games and to update the MLB fantasy players on the highs and lows of selected players from these games.  In addition to being a devoted baseball fan and writer, I played in the trenches of fantasy baseball for many years.  I have a strong idea of what fantasy players look for in analyzing games and I trust that my highlights will assist some of you.  Please do not hesitate to e-mail or tweet me any time with any suggestions or comments that you have on the site.  At the end of the day, MLB reports is truly here for you, the readers.  My goal is to provide you with the baseball website that best serves your needs.  All feedback is always appreciated to helping me in this process. 

With the website updates out of the way, it is time for a look at the games that were played this past Saturday:

1)  The Yankees have started off the year 2-0, pounding on the Tigers to the tune of a 10-6 final.   AJ Burnett in his season debut was good but not great, giving up 3 ER in his 5 innings of work, 5 hits, 1 BB and 6 SO.  Brad Penny in his Tigers debut lasted only 4.1 innings, charged with a total of 8 ER.  Ouch.  Mo Rivera pitched 1/3 of an inning to collect his 2nd save already in the season.  Martin, Teixeira and A-Rod all homered for the Yanks.  Austin Jackson and V-Mart replied with home runs for the Tigers.

2)  The Nationals beat the Braves at home 6-3 behind solid pitching from John Lannan, who gave up only 1 ER.  Storen gave up a home run to Alex Gonzalez and Sean Burnett pitched 1.1 scoreless innings for the save.  The Nationals closer watch will be an interesting one as Storen in my opinion will be the closer by year’s end, but word has Burnett taking the job for the time being.  Tommy Hanson did not last 4 innings in this outing, charged with 3 ER.  Gonzalez finished with 3 hits on the day and Dan Uggla also connected for the Braves.  Werth and Ramos had 3 hits apiece for the Nationals and Ankiel had the biggest blast, a 3-run blast.

3)  The White Sox continued their mastery of the Indians, moving to 2-0 on the year with an 8-3 victory.  Edwin Jackson had his typical high WHIP outing (5 hits and 4 BB in 6 IP), but gave up only 2 ER for the win.  Sale and Santos had 2 SO apiece for the dominant Sox pen.  Carrasco responded by being light up for 7 ER in 6.2 IP for the Indians, mirroring the beating taken by teammate Carmona yesterday.  Quentin, Pierre and Beckham paced the Sox with 2 hits each.  Travis Hafner’s 2 hits and first home run of the season were the only bright spots for the Indians on Saturday.

4)  The Cubs and Pirates evened their series at 1-1 with a Cubs 5-3 victory in Wrigley.  Zambrano had a quality start with 6 IP and 3 ER, Wood was solid in relief and Marmol struck out the side in the 9th for his first save.  On the flip side, Maholm dominated for the Bucs, pitching 6.2 shutout innings, 5 hits, 2 BB and 3 SO.  Meek was truly meek on this day, giving up 5 runs, 2 earned in 0.2 IP.  Castro and Soto each had 2 hits for the Cubs.  Neil Walker, followed his strong season debut with a 1-4 performance and 3 SO.  Soriano batted 7th for the Cubs, Overbay cleanup for the Pirates.

5)  The Blue Jays went to 2-0 in 2011 with a 6-1 thumping of the Twins.  Kyle Drabek pitched one-hit ball in 7 innings, 3 BB and 7 SO.  The Twins for a 2nd straight day could muster little offense against Toronto.  Liriano gave up 4 ER in his 4.1 IP, with 4 hits and an alarming 5 BB.  The Twins pitchers seemed off and should be monitored for health concerns.  Molina and Nix out of all people provided the home run power for Toronto on Saturday.  Rajai Davis was given the day off due to an injured ankle and is currently day-to-day.

6)  The Royals beat the Angels 5-4 to move to 2-1 on the year.  Soria finished for his first save and Jepsen took the loss with 2 ER in his 1.0 IP, plus 4 hits allowed.  Crowe continued to impress in the Royals pen, with 1.2 scoreless innings and 2 SO.  A possible future move to the rotation I believe could be in line.  Alex Gordon out of the 3rd spot had another 0-4 day, with an average sitting at .154 for the year.  The Angels received a home run from Torii Hunter but could not win despite 11 hits.  Vernon Wells in the 5th spot finished at 1-4 and 3 LOB, with a season average of .167.

7)  The Padres pounded the Cardinals 11-3 to move to 2-0 on the year. Clayton Richard had a quality start for the Padres, going 6.0 innings and giving up 3 ER.  Jake Westbrook was pounded for 8 ER in his 4.1 IP.  Dave Duncan is a miracle worker, but I see Westbrook as being beyond miracles.  His leash will be short.  Pujols homered for the Cardinals and Chase Headley led the Padres with 2 hits, a home run and 4 rbis.  Hudson and Hawpe went hitless in the 3rd and 4th spots again for the Padres.  Expect a lineup switch in the near future. 

8)  The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered their first defeat of the year, a 10-0 loss to the World Series Giants.  Ted Lilly gave up 4 ER in 4.1 IP.  Matt Cain was spectacular, 6 shutout innings, 5 hits, 0 BB and 3 SO.  Ethier had 3 hits for the Dodgers.  The Giants in a revamped lineup, received 3 hits from Sanchez and solid games from Tejada in the leadoff spot, Huff and DeRosa. 

9)  Houston is 0-2 to start the year as Cy-Lee and the Phillies beat them 9-4.  Lee in his return to Philadelphia pitched 7.0 innings, giving up 3 ER and 4 hits.  The most telling was his 11 SO and 0 BB. Cy-Lee is back baby.  Wandy Rodriguez pitched like he was in Cleveland, giving up 7 ER in 4.0 innings.  Carlos Lee went 3-4 with a home run and 4 rbis.  Great games by Polanco, Francisco and Ibanez.

10)  The Rays, my pre-season pick to win the AL East started off the year 0-2 with a 3-1 loss to the Orioles.  James Shields pitched well, going 7.1 IP with 2 ER, 4 hits, 2 BB and 7 SO.  Chris Tillman was pulled after 6.0 no-hit innings (bet Orioles fans loved that), with Kevin Gregg getting a Fernando Rodney save (1 hit and 1 BB allowed in 1.0 IP).  Brian Roberts starred for the Orioles with a home run and 2 hits in total and all 3 rbis.

11)  The Brewers fell again to the Reds, this time by a score of 4-2.  Shawn Marcum in his Brewers debut was ineffective, giving up 4 ER in 4.2 IP.  Wood was crazy good for the Reds, 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, 0 BB and 7 SO.  Cordero pitched a shaky 9th, giving up 1 ER for the save.  The Chapman watch will officially begin today.  Scott Rolen had a 2-run home run and Drew Stubbs had 2 hits at the leadoff spot.

12)  The Marlins fell to the Mets by a score off 6-4 (huh? the Mets won a game before May?) Jon Niese had an effective outing, 7 IP and 2 ER.  K-Rod had a nightmarish outing, with 3 hits, 1 BB and 1 ER in 1.0 IP.  Nolasco was great for the Marlins, 7.0 IP with 2 ER and 0 BB.  Wright had a great game with a home run and 3 hits, while Ike Davis chipped in also with 2 hits.

13)  Texas kept pounding out the runs with a 12-5 butchering of the Red Sox in Arlington.  Colby Lewis had a quality start with 6.0 IP and 3 ER.  Lackey was destroyed to the tune of 9 ER and 3.2 IP (ewww).  Papi and Ellsbury went deep for the Bosox, who continued to play Crawford in the 3rd hole (not for long).  Texas had long balls from Kinsler, Torrealba, Cruz and Beltre. 

14)  The Diamondbacks lost the Rockies 3-1 despite a quality start from Hudson, with 6.0 IP and 3 ER.  De La Rosa pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings and left with a blister.  Street got the save despite giving up a run in his 1.0 IP (monitor this closer situation depending on Street’s health).  Iannetta, a strong catcher projected for the year, had 2 hits and 2 runs scored.

15)  The Mariners wrapped up the MLB action with a 5-2 victory over the A’s.  Vargas and Anderson were both solid, until Fuentes gave up 2 ER in the 9th on 3 hits for the loss and blown save.  Expect the Fuentes watch to continue for the next couple of weeks and 2-3 more outings like this could cost his job.  A healthy and effective Andrew Bailey will be great Fuentes insurance.  Chris Ray gave up 3 hits and 1 ER for the Mariners while League as closer pitched a scoreless and hitless 9th for the save.  Expect League to continue to save games until Aardsma is back, but could keep the job long-term.  Barton had 3 hits for the A’s while Ichiro had 2 hits to become the Mariners all-time hit leader, to break Edgar’s record.

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