In a fitting tribute to the QS, Brandon Webb continues the Quality start steak going six innings with 0 ER and picks up the win to make it 6-0 on the season. Lets not forget who he was facing in Jake Peavy who also pitched a good game, but takes the loss.
I told you about James Shields brilliant first year numbers from last year, he backs it up yesterday to complete the sweep against the Red Sox. Lets me say that again, The Rays have swept the Red Sox, and welcome to first place! Let I say, help is also on the way.
In case you missed it, Edwin Volquez who the Reds traded for one of my favorite player Josh Hamilton is fooling many NL batters so far this season. He is an emerging Ace. Talk about a trade that really helps both teams. Too bad John Daniels has made some mistakes along the way. The biggest probably being trading Chris Young for Adam Eaton.
The Pirates fan base seems like another club who thinks their GM is doing no favors for them in releasing Matt Morris. I personally would blame the last GM for acquiring that bad contract, more so than not getting value for Morris when he had some.
To me, the surprise team the first four weeks is the St. Louis Cardinals. This is a team that the experts were saying had a good chance of shutting down Pujols down by mid season. They are in the thick of it in the NL Central. They are doing it with solid role players like Skip Schumaker and Aaron Miles. Tony LaRussa is working some magic. They do have some concerns such as at closer where Isringhausen has blown some games. But, overall its Pujols in his MVP form, along with some surprising good pitching especially from the two Kyles - Lohse and McClellan. They have Mulder and Colby Rasmus who could help later on in the year. By September, maybe Chris Carpenter is there in the mix too.
Filed under: American League, Around the Web, Cardinals, Cy Young, Diamondbacks, Josh Hamilton, MLB, National League, Pirates, Pitching, Rays, Reds, Sabermetrics
