There are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon than watching Yu Darvish and Justin Verlander pitch. Especially if you're not at the ballpark and you can set up a laptop outside, put up your feet, soak in those first warm rays of early May and imagine what it's like to throw a baseball like these two guys.
Some quick reactions to Monday's fine major league baseball action ... The good news for the Giants: A 6-4 win over the Diamondbacks to snap a five-game losing streak and a win for the first time when Matt Cain started.
With apologies to the nice starts of the Pirates and Rockies, the most important story line of April has been the Braves' opening up a 3.5-game lead over the Nationals in the NL East. Considering the importance of winning the division and avoiding the ridiculous wild-card play-in game, the last thing the Braves wanted to do was dig a hole and try to catch the Nats from behind.
The final weekend of April is upon us and while it's still too early for most teams struggling in the standings to panic, that doesn't mean there won't be some panicking anyway. For example, big things were expected from the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels, but barring a big winning streak to close April those teams will start May with more losses than wins.
Thoughts on Tuesday's fun night of baseball ... Matt Harvey has deservedly been stealing all the headlines, but Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright is quietly off to an amazing start. He pitched 8.1 scoreless innings in a 2-0 win against the Nationals, improving to 4-1 with a 1.
As you probably know, strikeouts continue to climb higher and higher. In the chart at the right, are strikeouts per game: As Dave Cameron wrote last week on FanGraphs, Over the past 30 years, the strikeout rate in MLB has gone from 14.
Quick thoughts on Monday's games ... The Blue Jays' lineup on Monday included just three players who finished the game with an OBP over .300, and one of those was ex-Mariners backup infielder Munenori Kawasaki, playing shortstop for the injured Jose Reyes.
The Atlanta Braves sent a message this weekend: Don't forget about us. We all know the Washington Nationals were prohibitive favorites to win the NL East -- 38 of 43 ESPN.com experts picked them -- and only five picked the Braves.
NEW YORK -- In April of 2012, I traveled to South Jersey to catch a low Class A game between the Lakewood BlueClaws and the Greensboro Grasshoppers. On the bump for Greensboro was 19-year-old Cuban flamethrower Jose Fernandez.
Mark Simon wraps up the struggles of the aces on Sunday. Here are some more quick thoughts on Sunday's action. OK, Matt Cain. He matched a career-worst with nine runs allowed. Even stranger, they all came in one inning and at home -- where he allowed just 26 runs in 15 starts last year.
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