The first-place Cleveland Indians strode into Fenway Park on Thursday night to face the Boston Red Sox, which normally wouldn't be significant but the return of Tribe skipper Francona to the place he managed to two World Series titles in his eight-year stint made it so.
The hottest team in baseball is those Cleveland Indians, and we don't need instant replay to prove it. The Tribe has won 10 of 11 with terrific pitching and more than a few home runs. Mark Reynolds leaves nothing to chance with 500-foot blasts.
Crazy night in baseball -- Matt Harvey's near-perfect game, the Yankees getting shut out at Coors Field, ninth-inning wins for the Blue Jays (a victory made less joyous after J.A. Happ was hit in the head by a line drive) and Diamondbacks, Yuniesky Betancourt homering again -- but the most stunning result happened in Cincinnati, where the Reds hit back-to-back home runs with two outs off Craig Kimbrel to defeat the Braves 5-4.
"I don't think I ever got proper credit about being smart about the game." -- Rickey Henderson When was the golden age for leadoff hitters? Well, 1965 was pretty good. Joe Morgan was a rookie that year and hit his way into the leadoff spot, where he posted a .
Say you have a guy who clouted more than 50 extra-base hits as a rookie and stole 30 bases. Among batters with 450 or more at-bats leading off, this guy finished fifth in the majors in OBP, getting aboard at a .
We've brought back the Defensive Player of the Month Award for the 2013 season, and our choice for April, Orioles third baseman Manny Machado, was in the ESPN spotlight with a pair of stories on Tuesday.
Brewers fans aren't accustomed to seeing the Pirates actually win a game at Miller Park -- the Brewers are a remarkable 46-8 at home against the Pirates since 2007. They are, however, too accustomed to seeing John Axford struggle.
Quick thoughts on a Tuesday night that featured a lot of home runs across this great land ... Look, Pablo Sandoval is fat. I'm about 99.7 percent sure if that if he lost 10 or 50 pounds that he'd be a better player.
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.
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