The Baseball Slate's Heroes & Zeroes from April 6th
April 7th 2010 10:37
Casey McGehee has some pop
One of the truly odd scheduling quirks in Major League Baseball is the fact that the day after opening day, most of the league takes the day off. Seven games were played (three in the National League, four in the American) but there were still plenty of heroes and zeroes.
Heroes
Casey McGehee
This 29 year old third baseman burst onto the major league scene last year after languishing in the minor leagues for several seasons. In just 116 games, McGehee hit .301 with 16 home runs in 2009. He seems to have picked up where he left off. After going 2 for 4 in the team's opener, his 2 for 3 performance including a three run homer in the bottom of the first carried the Brewers to their first win of the season. His three run blast gave them a 3-1 lead, and they never trailed after that.
Barry Zito
If last night was any indication of what Barry Zito is going to do this season, the San Francisco Giants are going to run away with the National League West. Zito pitched six shutout innings, allowing just three hits and striking out five against the Astros. It's possible Houston is just terrible offensively, but Zito tonight, and Tim Lincecum last night have now combined for a 13 inning shutout streak for Giants starting pitchers.
Carl Crawford
Crawford had just one hit last night, but it was a game winning, two run single in the bottom of the ninth, so he gets a pass for having a cold start to the game.
Zeroes
Mike Gonzalez
The Orioles new "closer" couldn't close out what would have been a nice season opening win for his team. The Orioles blasted three solo home runs in order to take a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Gonzalez managed to record one out, gave up three hits, and two earned runs while walking a batter. Not exactly a great way to ingratiate yourself to your new teammates.
Rajai Davis
The Oakland Athletics are not going to be very good this season. They just don't have much in the way of offensive fire power. So when the team is tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth, has just put together two straight hits to have runners on 2nd and 3rd with just one out, you're up to bat, and you're Rajai Davis, you need to at least put the bat on the ball. Instead, Davis struck out, capping a hitless night, and the game went into extra innings. Oakland did win in the 10th, but the fact remains that the game was extended because Davis couldn't get the job done.
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