Brief Notes from 4-8-08

-Aubrey Huff went 4-4 with 4 RBI bringing his total to 11.

-In his first start of the year Brian Burres pitched 6 innings while giving up just 1 run.

-Tom Gordon picked up the save in the Phillies’ 9^th consecutive win over the Mets. Brad Lidge had pitched in back to back games.

-Dice-K struck out seven Tigers in 6.2 IP. He allowed 4 hits and 4 walks.

-2B Placido Polanco’s 186 game errorless streak ended when he threw a ball into the Tiger’s dugout. He had gone 911 chances without an error.

-Phil Hughes couldn’t keep people off base allowing 6 hits, 4 walks, and a hit batter in 3 IP.

-Joey Gathright stole 3 bases off Jorge Posada and his “dead arm”. He has 5 on the year now.

-Alex Rodriguez struck out four times in four plate appearances.

-Travis Buck finally got his first 2 hits of the year and his now hitting .074.

-Vernon Wells and Frank Thomas both went deep with their third homers.

-Ryan Rowland-Smith got his first big league save retiring all five batters he faced for the Mariners.

-Matt Garza may be out 4-6 weeks with radial nerve irritation.

-Johnny Cueto was fantastic in his second start (6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 8 K’s). 66 of his 96 pitches were strikes.

-Corey Patterson and Bill Hall both hit their third homerun in the Reds-Brewers game.

-Eric Gagne blew his second save allowing Patterson’s HR.

-If you need a MI, Geoff Blum is hitting .353 for the Astros.

-Matt Holliday is heating up. In his last four games he is 7-16 with 2 HR and 5 RBI. He also has struck out just once after striking out 6 times in the first four games.

-Chad Billingsley was brutal throwing 32 of 70 pitches for strikes in 2.1 innings. He gave up 5 hits, 4 ER, and 3 BB.

-Hong-Chih Kuo of the Dodgers may make a nice middle reliever WHIP and K option. He has given up 4 hits and struck out 8 in 6.2 IP.

-Jake Westbrook threw a 95 pitch complete game. (3 ER, 4 K, 7 H, 0 BB)

-Vlad Guerrero hit his first HR.

-Brian Wilson blew the save and Brad Hennessey struck out 3 in 2 innings to get the W. Hennessey has been the closer before so this situation bears watching.

-C Bengie Molina is the Giants’ cleanup hitter. He did hit his second and third homer against the Padres.