New season, but same story as last year for Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers as he struggled with his control and was unable to make it through five innings. Kershaw allowed 11 runners in 4 2/3 innings with four strikeouts, while throwing 50 balls and 59 strikes. In other fantasy baseball news from around the diamond on Wednesday…
Hitters:
Jim Edmonds got the start again in right field over Corey Hart and went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
John Bowker hit his first home run of the season and looks good-to-go against right-handed pitching.
Russell Martin, who was dropped down to the 8th spot with Matt Kemp moving up to second, hit his first home run of the season.
Colby Rasmus stole a base but more importantly drew two walks on Wednesday. It seems in the early going he has improved his plate discipline from last season and could be headed for a very good season.
Reid Brignac got the start at second base for Tampa Bay and went 2-for-3 with a run scored. It looks like he could be sharing time at second base with Sean Rodriguez.
Vernon Wells went 2-for-3 with two home runs and four runs scored, giving him three home runs on the season.
The two question marks in the Minnesota Twins line up have answered the bell so far as Justin Morneau and J.J. Hardy both belted their second home runs of the season.
It was a bad night at the plate for Troy Glaus and Kyle Blanks as both sluggers went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
Pitchers:
Ryan Dempster allowed one run in six innings with nine strikeouts in a no-decision against the Atlanta Braves. He was on top of his game Wednesday, getting seven ground ball outs and only two flyouts.
Matt Garza went eight string innings, allowing one run and racking up nine strikeouts to pick up his first win of the season. It looks like he is carrying over his jump in strikeout rate from 2009.
There was some good and some bad in Fausto Carmona’s start Wednesday as he only allowed one hit, but walked six batters against only one strikeout in six innings while picking up the win.
Max Scherzer’s first start in the American League went well with one hit allowed in six scoreless innings with three strikeouts in a no decision.
I got a chance to watch the start of Ian Kennedy against San Diego and I liked what I saw. His fastball was in the 88-90 range, but he showed a real nice change up recording a couple of strikeouts with the pitch. He also showed a good ability to locate his pitches on both sides of the plate to hitters. His only mistake was a 3-2 pitch that Scott Hairston hit for a three-run home run. It was the only runs Kennedy allowed in five innings while issuing no walks and eight strikeouts.
Closers:
Ryan Madson collected a four out save to nail down the Philadelphia Phillies 8-4 win over the Washington Nationals
Jason Frasor was much better in his second save opportunity, working a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts.
