Baseball

Here’s a look at the unheralded players who played well yesterday.

Jeremy Bonderman, Detroit Tigers
Bonderman rewarded those who gambled on him. He went five innings for the win, allowing just one run with five Ks.

Ryan Freel, who played nearly 600 MLB games, recently signed with the Somerset Patriots of the Independent Atlantic League.

Freel put together a career .268 average with over 500 hits and 140 stolen bases in eight MLB seasons.

Freel’s most productive years came in the mid ’90s with the Cincinnati Reds.

Here's a look at the two-start pitchers for Week 2.

Brett Gardner had another great game in the New York Yankees' 10-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday.

The only thing Gardner could not do was catch Kelly Shoppach's base hit to left field with two outs in the eighth inning that broke up C.C. Sabathia's bid for his first career no hitter.

It may have been academic anyway, since manager Joe Girardi has said since that Sabathia would not have gone back out for the ninth inning even with the no hitter still in place.

After scoring one game each of the first six days of the 2010 baseball season, Fantasy Baseball Insiders took on an even more impressive task on Saturday.

On a day full of exciting matchups, the Insiders scored three games from start to finish, making for the most in-depth update of the young season.

Previous Fantasy Baseball Insiders Tonight updates:

For the third consecutive game in the four game Phillies-Astros series, the Philadelphia Phillies once again were triumphant in the end with the help of a few key players.

Up through the first two innings the Phillies held a one point lead over the Astros when Jason Werth hit a sacrafice pop up to center field, bringing in Ryan Howard to take the lead.

Then a spark in the top of the third after Astros pitcher Brandon Lyon walked Ryan Howard, which moved[Jimmy Rollins to home plate, Placido Polanco to third and Chase Utley to second.

“Now this is what it’s like when worlds collide”

-Powerman 5000

That’s a fitting line from a mediocre band that I normally don’t like enough to be quoting.

I actually don’t like them at all, but I remembered hearing that line in a song growing up. I googled it, and here we are with that for the introduction to an article.

I spent last night drinking at a house where seemingly everyone was in a death metal band but me. And that’s not even the reference for which the lyric was included.

CC Sabathia (1-0) was four outs away from pitching the 12th no-hitter in Yankees history. But with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Kelly Shoppach, who was Sabathia’s teammate in Cleveland from 2006-08, singled to left to end the no-hit bid. While Sabathia was nearly flawless on the mound, New York pounded out 10 runs on 14 hits in a 10-0 shutout Saturday afternoon at Tropicana Field.

He just couldn't wait to get out there.

Manager Joe Girardi appeared to be out of the dugout before Kelly Shoppach's line drive single to left hit the turf in front of Brett Gardner with two outs in the eighth inning.

It was the Rays' first hit of the afternoon off CC Sabathia and with the big lefty at 111 pitches in his second start of the season, Girardi basically sprinted onto the field to pull his pitcher from the game with an 8-0 lead.

Madison Bumgarner had the worst outing of his professional career on Friday night as the Reno Aces beat the Fresno Grizzlies, 8-5, in Pacific Coast League Class AAA play on Friday.

Bumgarner, the 20-year-old who entered spring training with a tentative hold on the No. 5 spot in the San Francisco Giants starting rotation, gave up 11 hits and four runs in just three innings on Friday. He struck out two and walked two. He yielded a home run to Reno cleanup hitter Brandon Allen.