Banny The Tiger Tamer

Brian Bannister pitchers 7 innings, giving up 2 hits and no walks with 4 K's as the Royals shut out the "vaunted" Tigers line-up and win 4-0. The Royals are 2-0 now. Great job by Bannister - I hope he can keep it up. Sweet-swinging Billy Butler contributed a couple of RBI.

The Brew Crew but another victory on the board over the Cubs, 8-2. Rickie Weeks led off the game with a HR and they rolled from their behind Jeff Suppan. Jason Kendall goes 3-4 with a pair of RBi out of the nine-hole for Milwaukee. Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto each hit solo home runs for the Cubbies. Apparently, because Alfonso Soriano doesn't have a hit yet (in two games) Sweet Lou is moving him back to the lead-off spot. Maybe Milwaukee can pull out a division title.

John Lester pitches 6 2/3 shutout innings for the Red Sox against the A's as Boston wins 5-0. Rich Harden's 5 inning zero run 6 K performance (though with 4 hits and 4 BB) is wasted as the A's bullpen gives up two home runs. Oakland is 1-3 now. Come on guys - the AL West is there for the taking.

Somebody break up the Nats. Washington is 3-0 with their 1-0 victory over the Phillies. Ryan Zimmerman hits his second game-winning home run of the season, though this one wasn't of the walk-off variety. Tim Redding (really?) holds the powerful Phillies line-up to one hit through seven innings.

Toronto evens their record at 1-1 with a 5-2 win in New York. The Jays got off to a 5-0 and an extremely unclutch HR by A-Rod (what a choker - Scott Brosius would have hit a 6-run homer in that situation) was all the offense the Yankees got. Mike Mussina gave up 4 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits in 5 2/3 innings. It looks like this may be his last year.

Cleveland goes to 2-0 behind a quality pitching performance by Fausto Carmona. He walked 4 but only gave up one run. Grady Sizemore went 3-4 with 3 RBI to lead the Indians to a 7-2 victory.

The Mets destroyed the Marlins in a battle between control-challenged lefties, 13-0. Oliver Perez won this round as he walked only one in 6 IP while striking out 8. Andrew Miller on the other hand, gave up 5 runs (though he walked only 2 with 6 K's). Lee Garnder gave up 5 more in an inning of relief. David Wright (future MVP?) hit a three-run homer.

No back and forth this time as Atlanta beat the Pirates 10-2. The Braves pen pitched 3 2/3 no-hit innings to back up Jair Jurrjens' nice start. Shortstop Yunel Escobar is hitting well on the young season as he went 2-3 with a three-run home run as part of a 7 run eighth inning. Tex (Mark Teixeira) had a two-run shot of his own. Man, hope the O's can sign him next year. He won't be worth the money, but there's room on the payroll even with a big deal for Markakis. Plus, it's not my money and they raised ticket prices anyway.

Cincinnati scores three in the bottom of the ninth on a home run by Edwin Encarnacion to beat the D'Backs 6-5. Former Orioles Corey Patterson had a solo homer earlier, and walked three times (haha...just kidding on that last part - he didn't strike out though).

Joe Saunders pitched 8 shut-out innings (boy, a lot of starters pitched really well today) and K-Rod (Fransisco Rodriguez) picked up the save as the Angels beat the Twins 1-0. The lone run scored on a wild pitch as Minnesota rookie Nick Blackburn also pitched very well.

The Cardinals show that they have non-Pujols hitters as they beat the Rockies 8-3. Ryan Ludwick went 3-5 with 3 RBI and Rick Ankiel hit a home run. Free agent pick-up and former Yankee Luis Vizciano gave up 4 runs in relief for Colorado.

Carlos Silva is pitching well as the Mariners are up 4-1 over the Rangers in the top of the eighth. Who will try to hold the lead in the ninth? It won't be JJ Putz, as he's gone on the DL with an injury. That can't be good for a less than strong M's bullpen. The low-power duo of Jose Vidro and Jose Lopez homered for Seattle.

If anything important changes, it'll be updated tomorrow. Go O's!