Baseball Notes - May 31st, 2006

Overall, it was a very interesting night. The big pitching duel I hyped turned out to be a dud, as both Buehrle and Sabathia were done in by poor defensive efforts and some bloops and squib hits. Oh, and the long ball, which was the theme of the night.

2-fer Tuesday

Troy Glaus, Corey Patterson, Lance Neikro and Jose Castillo all went deep twice. Glaus, you sort of expect, as his double dose of HRs give him 17 for the season. The other 3 entered the night with 12 HRs combined in the season's first 6 weeks. They increased their combined total by 50% last night.

Move Over, John Henry

Vernon Wells is laying an ownership claim on the Boston Red Sox. Or maybe Wells just owns Josh Beckett (lifetime, he's 6-12 with 4 HRs against Beckett). Titles aside, Wells has thoroughly demolished Boston pitching this season, hitting 8 HRs off them already this season. EIGHT! Where's Teddy Sarandis when you need him?

Chris Young Flirts With a No-Hitter

Chris Young of the Padres took a no-hitter into the 8th inning against the Colorado Rockies, which I believe is the first time this season a pitcher has officially "flirted" with a no-no. It's a good sign for the Padres, as Young has been shaky in his last two outings and the Rockies have a pretty good offense.

Let's Hear It For the Boy

Congrats to Lastings Milledge, the Mets top prospect who went 1-4 in his MLB debut. Milledge played RF last night in the 7-2 loss to the Diamondbacks, but Milledge's double undoubtedly has Mets fans feeling pretty good this morning.

Tonight's Marquee Matchup

You'll need the Extra Innings package to see it, but Arizona has its ace Brandon Webb (8-0) on the hill tonight against the New York Mets ace Pedro Martinez (5-2).

Webb has been phenomenal all season long, aided by a vastly improved infield defense, which gobbles up all the groundballs Webb induces.

How good will the Diamondbacks be if they can tap into their deep farm system to acquire Dontrelle Willis? The more Willis' name appears on the rumor mill, the more it appears Arizona is the place he's going to land.