Baseball

After two starts for every other New York Yankee starting pitcher, 23-year-old Phil Hughes made his first start of the 2010 season last night against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Hughes got the win, pitching into the sixth inning. He was good, at times overpowering, and also inconsistent.

Hughes struck out six but also walked five. He gave up only three hits, one of them a home run, and finished the game having given up two earned runs in five innings.

Is Robinson Cano hot? SCALDIN'!

In last night's 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim Cano hit two home runs, had three RBI, and finished the night hitting .395.

In the first nine games Cano has four home runs and nine RBI and is a major reason the Yanks have won three straight series and sport a 6-3 record. 

From the time he was introduced at the major league level, Robinson Cano has drawn comparisons to great hitters. Former Yankee manager Joe Torre compared Cano to the great Rod Carew.

It’s official: There will not be a winless team in Major League Baseball this year.

The Houston Astros finally won a game yesterday, as they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 in St. Louis.

I, for one, am happy the Astros won because I will have something good to talk about when I am on Houston radio Saturday night.

That’s called a cheap plug, kids.

The ball jumped off the bat of Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun, a burning one-hopper a step to Aramis Ramirez's left. Aging outfielder Jim Edmonds began lumbering toward second base, but as Ramirez (whose reaction to the ball, hit nearly right at him, was characteristically slow) took a jab step toward the ball and reached out to collect it, an inning-ending double play seemed nearly certain.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ LHP Clayton Kershaw has a ton of talent. There is no doubt about that. It’s that talent that made him the seventh overall pick in the 2006 Draft.

Kershaw is entering his third year now in the major leagues and if he wants to get to the next level in his career, he is going to have to learn how to throw strikes. I don’t care how much talent you have as a pitcher, if you can’t throw strikes on a consistent basis, your career won’t last long.

Another Jackie Robinson  Day in the MLB has come and gone.

Wait a minute, it is still going.

That's right, it is such an awesome dealie that the Cincinnati Reds get to do it twice. Since the Pittsburgh Pirates were off yesterday, the Reds get to wear their stylish No. 42's again tonight.

I wrote an article for Bleacher Report last year throwing my two cents worth of opinion on the over-celebrated status of the event.

Francisco Liriano’s performance as a rookie in 2006 caused people to draw comparisons between him and teammate Johan Santana, but an August elbow injury sent him to the disabled list and ultimately led to offseason Tommy John surgery.

After missing all of the 2007 season, he returned to the major leagues in April 2008. He performed admirably in 2008 (6-4, 2.91), but last year was disastrous (5-13, 5.80).

He had lost his fastball and his ability to throw strikes. Most importantly, he lost his confidence.

Fantasy Baseball Insiders’ 162-game journey is being put on hold for one night. While time didn’t allow the Insiders to score an entire game on Thursday, we did watch parts of multiple games.

For this reason, we’ll skip straight to the relevant player information from Thursday’s games.

Previous Fantasy Baseball Insiders Tonight updates:

If you've caught a Los Angeles Dodgers game this season, you've undoubtedly noticed the struggles the team is going through trying to pitch their way to victory. The Dodgers are near the top of the Major Leagues in runs scored, and yet they are still playing sub-.500 ball.
The "Boys in Blue" sorely miss their mainstays in the bullpen. Hong-Chih Kuo is still out with shoulder problems but is due back in the next week.

Wednesday night was a good night for Phoenix sports. The Suns won their regular season finale and locked up the number three seed for the playoffs, the Coyotes won their playoff opener, and the Diamondbacks pulled off a come from behind/blown lead/extra inning victory over the evil Dodgers. And I missed most of it.

I should be used to it now, being "trapped" (and willingly so) by my other responsibilities of being a husband, dad, and worker. But still, the fan in me sometimes just wants to cry. Here is how my evening went: