Curveballs for Jobu 4/28/11

Curveballs for Jobu is Offbasepercentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Steve Lake.


[Lake autographed 1987 Topps. Estimated value: 6 thumb tacks]


[Lake 1991 Studio posing with parrot]


CFJ Note: Jobu took a few days off while MTD discovered the true meaning of April 27.


Yankees 3, Whitesox 1. I feel like an alcoholic uncle sometimes at Jobu: apologizing/asking for forgiveness, showing up to Thanksgiving with my belt out of three of the belt loops. I've done it with players I thought had passed away, or were working at Chevron stations. Even said sorry to Troy Glaus one time. My latest apology goes out to Bartolo Colon. In the AL East preview story, I said if Colon made more than 10 appearances I would eat one of my socks. Colon is halfway there. Wednesday, the righty tossed eight innings of one-run ball and won his second game in as many starts. In 26 innings, Colon has struck out 26 and walked just six and has looked unhittable at times, which begs the question: is he the Yankees best pitcher through the first month of the season? Let me repeat that question in bigger letters, while adding a few words and an exclamation point:

IS BARTOLO COLON THE YANKEES BEST PITCHER IN 2011?!

Braves 7, Padres 0. Tommy Hanson confirmed some information for all of us: the Padres smell like old cheese. Hanson struck out 10 and allowed four singles in seven shut out innings, dropping the Bevacquas to 9-16. San Diego has been shut out seven times and scored 10 runs during its seven-game home stand. Seven!

Dodgers 5, Marlins 4 (10). In LA's second game of the season against the Giants, Andre Ethier went 0-for-4. Since, Ethier has hit in 24 consecutive games after his tenth-inning home run broke the hearts of 17 people in Miami.

Indians 7, Royals 2. And that sound you heard was the Kansas City Royals coming back to the .500 mark, and that sound you will soon hear will be the Kansas City Royals going under .500. Meanwhile, the Tribe are channeling the ghosts of Rachel Phelps, moving to 15-8, three games up on KC and the Tigers in the AL Central, which is beginning to look a lot like the Roswell, GA 25+ Adult Softball D League when Ruso's Renegades won it with a 5-6 record. One other item of note: formerly awful hitter Jeff Francoeur hit his fifth home run and is hitting .330 with a .370 on-base percentage.

Mets 6, Nationals 3. Brian Bixler: run scored.

Cardinals 6, Astros 5. Just what in the name of RBI Baseball-John Tudor is going on in St. Louis? Kyle Lohse threw another seven shut out innings and is 4-1. Lohse led 6-0 when he exited, but Ryan Franklin (10.13 ERA) was Simply Irabuian, allowing two runs without getting an out and three more relievers surrendered three runs in the eighth and ninth. Let's get an Astros fan's opinion of the loss:

Rockies at Cubs ppd Tom Goodwin



Other games, but down here....

Athletics 2, Angels 1 (10)
Pirates 2, Giants 0
Rangers 7, Bluejays 6
Mariners 10, Tigers 1
Orioles 5, Redsox 4
Reds 7, Brewers 6 (10)
Phillies 8, Diamondbacks 4
Devilrays 8, Twins 2

Curveballs for Jobu

Curveballs for Jobu is Off Base Percentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy: Candy Maldanado



Dodgers 3, Diamondbacks 1. Reason No. 463 why the All Star Game is silly: Hong-Chih Kuo isn't on this year's NL team. Kuo struck out six of the seven batters he faced in two scoreless innings Sunday, moving his season totals to a 1.03 ERA and a 0.72 WHIP in 26 1/3 IP. After smelling like old cheese for nearly a month, Matt Kemp seems to be coming alive of late. The CF, 9-for-22 (.409) with 3 HR and 7 RBIs in his last five games, hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth off Aaron Heilman, and the AZ bullpen finally had a bad night.

Orioles 6, Redsox 1. Brian Matusz somehow held Boston to a pair of hits in seven shutout innings. Rhyne Hughes: DNP.

Rockies 4, Giants 3 (15). San Francisco used nine pitchers Sunday and only one of them stunk. Unfortunately, it was the last pitcher. Guillermo Mota pitched 1 1/3 innings and walked five, two intentional, which led to Todd Helton's walk-off sac fly and Colorado winning the four-game series. Helton was due: he entered the game in the ninth and grounded into a double play to end the 10th and struck out with the bases loaded to end the 13th. That was like the time I entered an adult league baseball game in the 6th, struck out on three pitches, the last of which bounced, then was pinch-hit for in the 8th.

Mariners 8, Tigers 1. Cliff Lee finally had an off night. He struck out 11 and allowed one earned run in eight innings, snapping his complete game streak at three starts. That sound you heard was Jaret Wright's nostrils exploding.