Roy Halladay and C.C. Sabathia pitched three identical innings, allowing no hits and one walk while striking out five. Rolen leads off the fourth with the first hit of the game.

Kei Igawa is just getting pounded by the Tigers. He's putting pitches over the middle of the plate belt high, and the Tigers are connecting. He's lucky to have given up just one run due to Polano lining a hard shot off Kei's butt, which was turned into an out.

Giambi homers in the top of the second to tie the game at one.

John Lackey continues to make progress as he works to return to the Angels starting rotation.

The Padres sent Jim Edmonds packing today. The Tranaction Guy reflects on the release:

Releasing veterans and eating their salaries- it's what all the cool GM's are doing these days.

There are obvious signs of decline in Edmonds' game, but this does come off as somewhat hasty. Rather than eating $6M and replacing him with a Gerut/Scott Hairston platoon, the Padres probably should have given Edmonds a little more time to see if he had anything left to give. If not, at least you attempted to get maximum value out of the investment, and if Edmonds did happen to show some glimmer of his former self, perhaps San Diego could have gotten a warm body and some percentage of his salary paid off by another team.

I fault the Padres for signing him in the first place. Did they think a three-year decline in OBA and slugging for a player in his late 30s wasn't real? I know they were desperate for outfielders, but I can't believe they wouldn't be better off with whoever is at AAA.

Major League Baseball suspended Richie Sexson six games for charging the mound and throwing his helmet at Kason Gabbard. He'll appeal, but it's good to see MLB coming down hard on that behavior.

Of course, if they really wanted to hurt the Mariners, they'd force Richie to play every inning. :-)

Still down 2-1, Ojeda singles leading off the eighth for the Diamondbacks. With Byrnes at the plate with two strikes, Ojeda tries to steal. Eric swings and misses, but Ojeda steals second. The home plate umpire call Augie out, however, as Byrnes huge follow through hits Soto twice on the shoulder. That's interference, and Soto gets an caught stealing, unassisted.

Update: Derrek Lee makes the DBacks pay even more for the mistake as he homers in the bottom of the eighth to extend the lead to 3-1.

Ted Lilly helps himself with an RBI single in the fifth that ties the game. Soriano follows with a double to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead. Lilly is now batting .273 on the season.

Home Run Derby once again will donate $10 for every home run hit on Sunday to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Chris Young gets moved down to the third spot in the batting order, and he delivers by blasting the first pitch he sees down the left field line for a solo home run. The announcers note that the last game Young played in Wrigley during the playoffs, he hit the first pitch he saw for a home run. The Diamondbacks lead 1-0.

Update: Earlier today I linked to an article about how the DBacks study pitchers and catchers so they can steal at a high rate. Conor Jackson just stole on Ted Lilly. He ran on Ted's first movement, got it right, and Soto didn't even throw.

A few games today feature a good pitcher facing a good pitcher having a bad year. The first takes place this afternoon in Chicago where Dan Haren visits Ted Lilly. Haren is living up to his trade, positing an ERA just 0.05 higher than his mark for Oakland last season. Ted Lilly's ERA soared by 2.00 runs from his 2007 level, mostly due to a lack of control leading to more hits against him.

Toronto travels to Cleveland as Roy Halladay takes on C.C. Sabathia. With four complete games this season, Roy is on his way to setting a new career high (9). He's the king of complete games in the aughties with 33. After making two good starts in a row, Sabathia was roughed up a bit by Kansas City his last time out. He maintained his good control, however, walking just one.

There's a battle of first place teams in Minnesota as the Red Sox challenge the Twins. Both teams are hot, with the Red Sox winning eight of their last ten and the Twins seven in that span. Boston's offense is starting to kick into gear as they've scored 51 runs in their last seven games. The Twins scoring isn't quite as consistent, but they have hit double digits in runs in three of their last ten games.

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in San Diego as Aaron Cook takes on Jake Peavy. Both sport ERAs in the low 2.00s. Cook is doing a good job of keeping the bases empty, allowing a .281 OBA with none on. That has led to all three home runs against him resulting in one run. Peavy's given up the long ball a little more frequently this season, although four of the five came on the road.

Enjoy!

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Nick Piecoro takes an indepth look at how the Diamondbacks reach a decision on trying to steal a base:

With their cheap, controllable talent, teeming farm system and disciplined hitters, the Diamondbacks are a next-generation type team, and their approach to base stealing follows the same script.

Players recite the need to have at least a 75 percent success rate, and their extreme selectiveness of when to run seems to have an almost scientific feel.

"We want the reward to outweigh the risk," Gibson said.

The risk side of the equation is cluttered with factors, including the time it takes a pitcher to deliver a pitch, the catcher's arm strength, a pitcher's move to first, the count, the situation, a runner's technique and confidence factor, and everything in between.

They time pitchers to the plate and catchers to second base. They study pickoff moves and pitch selection tendencies. They stolen 86 bases with just 16 caught stealing since the 2007 All-Star break, a 84.6% success rate. Only the Phillies at 87 steals and 13 caught stealings are better.

Excellent news for Doug Davis.

Evan Grant does a good job of promoting the games next week between Seattle and Texas:

A friendly community service reminder: The Rangers host Seattle for three games starting Monday. For those who can't land Stars tickets and want to see a fight, plenty of good seats are available in Arlington.

They could be three action-packed days.

Gabbard's leg is bruised, but the Rangers don't think the injury is serious. Sexson apologized for throwing his helmet at Gabbard, but I still think he should get a decent suspension out of the incident.

The frustration that led to the fight is more than just the hit batters in the game. Look at how the Mariners are hitting in May. In eight games, they've been held to two runs or less seven times, scoring just fourteen runs in total. As a team, they are hitting below the Mendoza line. They're hitting .137 with men in scoring position. They've only had three plate appearances with a man on third and less than two out! Their team OPS is .525! Take away Ichrio, and the rest of the team approaches the level of a National League pitcher.

It's a huge slump for a team that should really hit decently. What makes it worse is that they've been shutdown by New York and Texas, two teams that certainly had some pitching problems this season. Just to rub salt on the wound, they release Brad Wilkerson, who right now owns the highest OBA on the team. I'm not sure if the blame should go to the GM for putting the team together or the manger for not getting them to play up to their ability, but one of them should be on the hot seat right now.

While Miguel Cabrera is happy in Detroit, he misses his Marlins teammates, and even the small crowds and rain delays. He didn't want to leave:

But, since he's asked, yes, he misses the Marlins. And, since he's asked, he never wanted to leave. And, since he's asked, he still doesn't believe they had to part with him.

"They called when they traded me and said, 'We don't have the money to pay you,' " he said. "...That's the excuse they give. They have money.

Yep. He's also happy the team is doing well:

"I said two or three years ago if they let us play together, we'll win," he said. "We grew up together. Now those guys have been around and know how to win. And look at them.

"They don't need me. They're better without me. Amezaga and Hanley talk to me and say, 'Roomie, come on back here.' I say, 'You don't need me.' Look at them. They're in first place."

They would be more likely to stay there with Miguel in the middle of the lineup.

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Daniel Cabrera pitched tonight like the Orioles thought he could. Not only did he complete the game, he allowed just three hits and walked only one. He managed to keep his strikeouts high at the same time, putting down seven Royals batters via the K. Of course he pitched under control two games ago, but walked seven in the start in between. Baltimore fans have to hope the two good games out of three is a trend.

Kason Gabbard just left the Rangers/Mariners game with two out in the fourth and a 4-0 lead. After a walk, an infield single and error, there's runners on second and third. He only threw 63 pitches, but he looked hurt walking off the field.

Update: There was a brawl, and Gabbard was in the middle of it.

Update: It started when Gabbard threw at Sexson, and Richie charged the mound.

Update: Comments from people who saw the pitch say Gabbard did not throw at Sexson. I'm watching the Seattle feed, and they seemed to indicate Gabbard threw at him, although they were a bit ambiguous about it.

Update: FSN Northwest finally showed the replay in the bottom of the sixth. The pitch from Gabbard was head high, but right over the middle of the plate. It was no where near hitting Sexson.

The Rays take a 4-3 over the Blue Jays in the top of the 13th inning, and with men at second and third after a busted run down play, the Jays load the bases intentionally for Longoria. He pops out, but Dioner Navarro puts the game further out of reach with a grand slam. It's the second of his career, and Toronto find its back against the wall in the bottom of the inning.

Litsch gave the Jays another quality start as he goes seven innings and allows three runs.

Kyle Lohse came into today's game against the Rockies with a 3.79 ERA, one run below his career average. I expected him to return to his norm at some point, but I didn't think it would be this fast. He allowed seven earned runs in four innings (five walks didn't help) to raise his ERA to 4.87, 0.08 above his career average. The Rockies win 9-3, gaining a game to move into a tie for third place in the division with the Giants.

Brandon Webb defeats the Phillies easily 7-3. He pitches all nine innings, although he tired in the ninth and allowed two runs, the only earned runs of the game for him. He did not issue a walk while striking out four. He's now allowed 56 runners (hits+bb+hpb) in 56 innings, and with all the hits going for singles today, only eight of the 40 hits resulted in extra bases.

Even if he doesn't win another game in May, he'll only have to average three wins over the last four months of the season to win 20.

The Twins and White Sox each collected eight hits as a team this afternoon, but the White Sox managed to out score the Twins 6-2. A big difference was that half the Chicago went for extra bases, two double and two homers. Carlos Quentin picked up two hits and a double to raise his OBA to .405 and his slugging percentage to .565. He's in the top ten in both those categories, making him a very nice pickup for the Chicago White Sox.

Matt Diaz singles with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, and the Braves defeat the San Diego Padres 5-4 for their first one-run victory of the season. They've lost nine by that margin, a big reason they aren't in first place in the NL East. They've now won six in a row and trail Philadelphia and Florida by one game pending the rest of the games today.

The Padres could easily have won the game with four of the five runs allowed unearned. Mr. Crabbe made two of the three errors committed by the team and may be demoted to ironing Sponge Bob's square pants.

The Pirates take three out of three from the Giants, winning today's contest 5-4. The Pirates scored at about their average, 5.03 runs. That's sixth in the majors and fifth in the National League. Pittsburgh is getting the most out of four hitters have great seasons, McLouth, Bay, Doumit and Nady. All but Doumit have OBAs over .400; all but Bay have slugging percentages over .500. John Russell bunched them together in the lineup, letting nothing break up the streak of batters getting on base. Sanchez added three hits today, and if he starts hitting in front of these four, I can see the Pirates scoring going up. The rest of the lineup is terrible, but Russell is doing a good job of getting the most out of his best hitters.

Update: Fixed manager's name.

The Yankees blasted four home runs this afternoon to defeat the Indians 6-3. Giambi hit his sixth, and now ten of his fourteen hits are for extra bases. Betemit hit his first of the year, and Cano and Damon also went yard. It's the seventh multiple home run game for New York this season, and ties their game high this year. Last season, the Yankees played 59 multiple home run games, more than 1/3 of the season, so their power is definitely down.

I turned on the Padres-Braves and saw Shawn Estes on the mound. He last pitched one game in the majors in 2006. He's been out due to back surgery. His outing wasn't perfect; he gave up two hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings, but neither of the two runs were earned. Those runs pull Atlanta within one of the Padres, 4-3 in the seventh. Atlanta has yet to win a one-run game.

Chipper is 0-3 so far today, and is now batting .418.

I have to agree with Childs Walker:

I hope some club signs Barry Bonds this summer. And I hope he leads that team to the playoffs with a fusillade of walks and 450-foot homers.

I don't wish for this because I have any rooting interest in Bonds. Whether he never homers again or hits 50 more, my opinion of him won't change.

No, what I'm rooting for is the unconventional, a general manager who doesn't give a hoot about disapproving scrutiny as long as Bonds can help his team win. If we're going to create entertainment markets in which we reward those who win at all costs, then by Job, I want some executive to stick his neck out and make this move.

Bud Selig stated publicly that he's not stopping any team from signing Bonds. Someone should take him up on the offer.

It's a good day to take a long lunch as there are plenty of afternoon baseball games happening. The Braves go for a sweep of the Padres as Wilfredo Ledezma takes on Jo-Jo Reyes. With the injuries to the rotation, Reyes is getting a second look in Atlanta after control problems in 2007. Ledezma gets a rare start. He sports a low ERA this season despite a high number of walks and hits allowed. The may turn out to be a high scoring game, which would be good for Chipper Jones keeping his batting average above .400.

Brandon Webb goes for his eighth win in eight starts as he faces Brett Myers and the Phillies. Webb's ERA is three times higher at Chase Field than on the road, but he gets more offensive support as well. Myers tendency to give up home runs in his career became even more exaggerated this season as he's allowed eleven in 44 innings. That would be 50 over a 200 inning season. Look for some long balls today from the Diamondbacks hitters.

A pair of struggling aces take the mound in the Detroit as Josh Beckett visits Justin Verlander. Beckett, in terms of hits, walks, home runs and strikeouts isn't doing a lot that's different from 2007. One tiny difference is that last season, only four of his 17 home runs allowed came with men on base. This season two of his four came with men on. Verlander's walk rate jumped this year, leading to the hits he allows doing more damage.

Finally, Kason Gabbard comes off the disabled list to take on Seattle's Felix Hernandez. The Rangers moved past the Mariners last night with a 2-0 win. Gabbard pitched well before the injury, although he's walked nine and struck out just eight. Felix is coming off a ten K game, and struck out at least seven in each of this last four starts.

Enjoy!

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Bob Watson doesn't want Roger Clemens on the US Olympic team. What about Barry Bonds?

John McLaren gets the dreaded vote of confidence.

A nice PITCHf/x article shows the reasons for Greg Smith's early success. I really like the way this data shows how his changeup looks just like his fastball, and how he doesn't give away the pitch with his release point.

Carlos Gomez hit for the cycle in the Twins 13-1 crushing of the White Sox Wednesday night. He started big and worked his way smaller:

One night after Chicago's Gavin Floyd lost a no-hitter in the ninth, Gomez homered off Mark Buehrle (1-4) on the game's third pitch. He added an RBI triple in the fifth, doubled in a run in the sixth and completed the cycle with an infield single to lead off a six-run ninth. The ball deflected off reliever Ehren Wasserman, forcing a rushed throw by shortstop Alexei Ramirez that sailed wide.

He thought about bunting, but changed his mind.

That single made Gomez -- acquired from the New York Mets in the Johan Santana trade -- the eighth Twins player to hit for the cycle and the first since Puckett on Aug. 1, 1986, against Oakland. He was also the first player to hit for the cycle against the White Sox since Oakland's Mike Blowers on May 18, 1998. Gomez was 4-for-6 while driving in three runs and scoring two.

"When I got the cycle, I thought of my family," Gomez

You can watch the highlight here. He was helped by some bad defense. The homer and the triple were legitimate. The double came because Quentin dives for the ball and it gets by him. If he plays it on a hop, that's a single. Still congratulations to Carlos Gomez on a big night, and making the Twins fans feel a bit better about the Santana trade. The Twins continue to win in the division with a 13-7 record, the reason they're in first place by 1 1/2 games.

On a related note, the White Sox put some clothes on the girls. :-)

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The Colorado Rockies score four times in the bottom of the eighth to take a 4-3 lead over the Cardinals, and Fuentes makes the score hold up in the top of the ninth. Chris Iannetta triples home the tying and go ahead run, while Holliday tripled home the first run earlier in the inning. I'll just link to my post from last night for my opinion on Iannetta.

What a wild game in Detroit. The Tigers go up 4-0, 5-2 and then 8-4, but the Red Sox fight back to tie the game at eight in the seventh. Dustin Pedroia pinch hits in the eighth and knocks home the go-ahead run with a single. That score holds up as Papelbon enters for the bottom of the ninth.

The Tigers pecked him to death. Joyce led off with a check swing, resulting in a slow roller to short. Lugo can't throw him out, base hit. Renteria appropriately grounds to short, and Lugo finds out what it was like to be Edgar as he commits an error, putting runners at first and second. I-Rod sacrifices for Granderson, who hits a grounder to second with the infield back. Tie game, blown save and the ball never got out of the infield.

That brings up Placido Polanco. He's four for five on the night. Jon falls behind him. Polanco swings, makes contact, but the bat shatters. It's a hump back liner over shortstop. Lugo goes back, but the ball is out of reach and the Tigers pull one out 10-9. This is the kind of offense we expected from both these squads when the season started.

The Florida Marlins keep winning. Dan Uggla hit his seventh home run of the season and the sixty sixth of his career. He started playing in 2006, and since that time, here's the list of players with more or as many homers as Uggla. It's not very long.

Renyel Pinto pitched two scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 0.76. He's cementing his status as the greatest baseball player named Pinto.

Shaun Marcum continues to make a bid for ace of the Toronto staff. He picks up the tenth quality start for Toronto in the last eleven games, lasting into the ninth before allowing two runs. He lowers his ERA to 2.59 which remains the best among Toronto starters.

Scott Rolen homered and is now slugging .564 in his short time with the Blue Jays.

Cliff Lee's impossible season continues. He shuts out the Yankees for seven innings as the Indians take the second game of the series 3-0. Cliff lowers his ERA to 0.81. With seven strikeouts and no walks in the game, Lee's K/BB is now 19.5! The Yankees managed just six hits against Lee, and two didn't get very far. One was a roller to first base that Blake tossed too high in the air when Lee was covering. Another was a nubber down the third base line that just stopped halfway between the plate and third without rolling foul.

Wang takes the loss, his first of the season. In most games, three runs allowed in seven innings works just fine, but Wang was no match for Mr. Lee. (Maybe they should do a Kung Fu movie together! Enter The Bronx. :-))

Jered Weaver's rough year continues. The Royals light him up, scoring eight runs off him in less than four innings. He allows two home runs and ten hits. Coming into the game, his ERA was 4.36, but his strikeouts, walks and home runs weren't really out of line with his career. Tonight, however, makes his 2008 line look very poor. His ERA is up to 5.59 and the Angels trail 9-1.

Chipper Jones picked up two more hits tonight, raising his BA to .429. Just to show how precarious .400 is, an 0 for 8 brings him into the .300s. Still he's going in the right direction, and he helped the Braves defeat the Padres 5-2.

Barry Zito may walk away from tonight's start with a loss, but also with some positives. He lasted five innings, throwing 99 pitches. That high pitch count is a negative. He allowed five hits, including a home run to Nady. He walked two, but struck out five and only allowed two runs. I like the strikeout number. Zito had only struck out 11 in 28 2/3 innings coming into the game, which is way to low. The five K in five innings indicates Barry is doing something right. He's not all the way back, but there is some hope he's moving in the right direction. The Giants trail 2-0 in the eighth.

If you missed tonight's show, you can hear the recorded version here. It's also available on demand at TPSRadio.

The Orioles and Athletics end nine innings tied at five. Kurt Suzuki and Nick Markakis are the hitting stars so far. Suzuki hit a two-run homer and scored twice. Markakis knocked out three hits and scored a run.

Update: Mark Ellis hits a walk off solo shot in the bottom of the tenth and the Athletics sweep the Orioles.

With the Mets up 12-0 in the ninth, John Maine goes for the shutout. He's been very efficient so far today, using just 92 pitches through eight innings. He's only allowed two hits and a walk. He's also driven in two with a single.

Update: Andruw Jones doubles, and Kemp singles him in to break up the shutout. Maine leaves the game with one out in the ninth, two on and a 12-1 lead.

Mark Mulder has a strained rotator cuff.

The bottom of the Mets order reels off four straight hits in the second inning to plate three runs. He just issued his first walk of the game after a sacrifice by the pitcher. Castillo picks up the fifth hit of the inning and the Mets lead 4-0.

Joey Votto goes deep three times off three different pitchers as the Reds are now out to a 9-0 lead. He drives in four with the three shots.

For those of you who believe Dusty Baker wears out young pitchers, Edinson Volquez starts the seventh. He's close to 100 pitches, the field is wet due to rain, and the lead is not in jeopardy. The Cubs announcers questioned the wisdom of letting him start the inning.

Update: I believe that Dusty didn't have anyone up in the bullpen, either. Volquez has allowed two base runners this inning and Brenly noticed Edinson's body language says he's tired. He's already past his career high in pitches (112), and the Reds are leaving him in the game.

Update: He gets a strikeout to end the inning, setting a career high with 118 pitches thrown.

Update: Votto leads off the eighth with a chance for a four home run game.

Update: He grounds out to short.

FanGraphs researches which NL pitchers come through in Shutdown Innings Pitched (SHIP), pitching in the half inning after your team scores a momentum shifting number of runs.

Correction: Fixed link.

Jon Lieber should have stayed in the pen. He gives up four home runs in the second inning, accounting for five Reds runs. Lieber doesn't come out for the third and the Reds and Volquez hold a 5-0 lead in the third.

Update: John Fay has more on the four home run inning.