Mike Leake debuted for the Cincinnati Reds as the 5th starter after spending zero time in the major leagues. Leake became the 21st player since 1965 to go from the draft to the major leagues. With a fastball touching 90, he was able to throw a variety of pitches to keep the Chicago Cubs hitters of balance, allowing one run in 6 2/3 innings with five strikeouts. The downside to his performance were seven walks and the fact manager Dusty Baker let him throw 106 pitches in his first start. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Sunday…
Hitters:
Josh Willingham went 2-for-3 and drove in five RBI, four coming on his first inning grand slam off losing pitcher Johan Santana.
Jorge Cantu went 2-for-4 with five RBI, giving him 10 RBI for the first week of the year. Cantu also doubled and hit his second home run of the year.
Alex Gonzalez hit two home runs for the Toronto Blue Jays, giving him four solo home runs for the first week of the season. He has moved up to second in the line up with Aaron Hill out of action.
Dustin Pedroia went 4-for-5 and launched his 3rd home run of the season for the Boston Red Sox.
Scott Podsednik went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two stolen bases giving him four steals for the first week and a .364 average.
Rajai Davis swiped two bases also giving him four steals for the Oakland A’s.
Kelly Johnson and Chris Young each hit their third home run of the season for the Arizona Diamondbacks. New starting catcher Chris Snyder, filling in for the injured Miguel Montero, went 2-for-4 with a home run and five RBI.
Albert Pujols went 3-for-5 with two home runs and four RBI to lead a St. Louis rally against the Milwaukee Brewers that ultimately came up short.
Pitchers:
Tom Gorzelanny looked good for the Chicago Cubs, allowing no earned runs in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts.
Charlie Haeger had his knuckle ball dancing Sunday afternoon en route to 12 strikeouts. Haeger allowed three hits, four walks and three earned runs through six innings.
Roy Halladay tossed a complete game shutout, allowing seven hits with no walks and eight strikeouts against the hapless Houston Astros.
Roy Oswalt pitched good, allowing two runs in six innings with eight strikeouts, but it was not enough to win with Halladay as the opposing pitcher.
Scott Feldman allowed one run in seven innings with four strikeouts to pick up his first win of the year for the Texas Rangers.
Ubaldo Jimenez picked up his second win of the year, allowing two runs in six innings with seven strikeouts.
Tim Lincecum also notched his second win, allowing two runs in seven innings with 10 strikeouts, while throwing 108 pitches.
Closers:
Chris Perez blew his first save of the season, done in by walking three hitters and allowing the game-winning run on a wild pitch.
Kevin Gregg picked up his second save of the season as Jason Frasor was given the night off. It was quite a week for the Toronto Blue Jays as they went 5-1 and recorded saves in each of the wins.
Trevor Hoffman allowed back-to-back home runs to Pujols and Matt Holliday in the ninth inning to blow the save, although he got the win after Casey McGehee hit a home run off Kyle McClellan in the bottom of the ninth inning.
