Game Recap

So who is the hottest team in the NL East?

Before tonight many writers, personalities, and fans would have said the Mets.

And I might have agreed. With seven straight wins and Johan Santana going tonight, I can think of no one that would disagree with that sentiment.

That is, until those upstart Braves came into town.

The Braves have easily been the East's second hottest team, since leaving Atlanta for the road last week.

On Monday night, they became the hottest with a 8-3 win in Queens.

Drafted in the same round in the same draft, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson's paths through San Francisco's minor league system were bound to be compared.

I was one of the cynics when the Toronto Blue Jays called up Brett Cecil from Triple-A Las Vegas.

But two starts in, Cecil has looked really good.

On Sunday afternoon, the rookie left-hander shut down the Oakland A's to pick up his first big-league win, and the Blue Jays won, 5-0.

Cecil gave up just five hits in his eight scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out six.

Coming from behind on Sunday afternoon, the New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 5-3, and took the weekend series two games to one.

Down 2-3 in the top of the seventh inning, Johnny Damon clobbered his ninth homer of the year, a three-run blast to propel the Yankees ahead of the O’s.

You're probably thinking, "Roy Oswalt, I get, but PINK?!"

No, I'm not talking about the sometimes-blond, sometimes-pink-haired pop star, but rather the pink bats for Mother's Day.

Roy O got his first win of the season while the Astros' offense exploded, as Houston completed a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres 12-5.

Twelve runs! Maybe Houston should use the pink bats full-time. Maybe they should change their team colors from black, brick-reddish-orange, and sand to pink.

Futility against the Phils appears to be in the rear-view mirror.

In only about five weeks, the Atlanta Braves have matched their 2008 win total against the Phillies with their 4-2 win on Sunday.

Despite two debacles, one from Jo-Joke Reyes and another from the (at the time) "suckpen", the Braves have performed admirably against the World Champions.

Perhaps the key to these performances has been the presence of the true four and five hitters on the Braves, McCann and Anderson.

The Mets defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates by the score of 8-4 at Citifield today, and they completed their three game obliteration of the Pirates, outscoring the feeble opponents by a 25-8 margin.

The win was the Mets’ seventh straight, and they are just red hot right now.

Eight men in the starting lineup had at least one hit, and leading the way with two hits a piece was Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, and Omir Santos. Castillo, Beltran, and Santos also led the way with two RBIs each.

As rookie Randy Wells made his first career start against the Brewers tonight, Aramis Ramirez left the game in excruciating pain in the third inning. Ramirez dove to his right and landed on the third base foul line.

Ryan Braun pulled a rocket ground ball to the hot corner, and Ramirez quickly dove and appeared to have made the play. But before he could get up and throw to first, he was doubled over in pain laying belly down on the ground.

My dad said it best, “I went to a drug bust and a baseball game broke out.”

Actually, I think that’s a twist on an old Rodney Dangerfield line, but you get my point.