The platoon police were out in full effect on Tuesday as several players got starts based on the pitcher on the mound.
Andres Torres got the start in right field over John Bowker for the San Francisco Giants against the southpaw Wandy Rodriguez.
Chris Johnson got the start at third base for the Houston Astros against lefty Barry Zito with Pedro Feliz sliding over to first base.
Corey Hart started in right field for the Milwaukee Brewers with the lefty Greg Smith on the mound for Colorado.
Eric Byrnes got the start in left field for the Seattle Mariners with Milton Bradley moving to designated hitter which put Ken Griffey Jr. on the bench. Byrnes has some value in AL only leagues and could steal 10+ bases in 200+ at bats
Ian Stewart owners had to be happy to see him in the line up against left-handed starter Randy Wolf. There was some thought that Melvin Mora would get to see time against left-handed pitching but manager Jim Tracy went with Stewart Tuesday night. Stewart responded by crushing a home run to left-center field, his second in two days so it should buy him some more at bats against southpaws.
Hitters:
Victor Martinez went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a home run off A.J. Burnett. I think him in the third hole all year for the Boston Red Sox gives him numbers equal or better to Joe Mauer this season.
Brian Roberts is 0-for-the season so far. I think it takes him a couple of weeks to get his timing down since he missed the majority of spring training so I would not be concerned where is average is at after two to three weeks as long as there is no bad news about his back.
Pitchers:
Barry Zito won his first start with six shutout innings against the Astros. Zito allowed three hits and one walk while fanning five.
Zito’s counterpart Wandy Rodriguez cruised through five innings before unraveling in the sixth. Walking the first two hitters to start the inning led to his downfall.
Randy Wolf allowed four runs in 6 2/3 innings, but picked up his first win as a Milwaukee Brewer with eight strikeouts. Wolf helped his cause by throwing first pitch strikes to 22 of the 29 hitters he faced.
Chris Young of the San Diego Padres worked six scoreless innings, allowing one hit with five strikeouts to pick up the win.
Closers:
First save chance with his new team and Mike Gonzalez blew it for the Baltimore Orioles allowing a two-run single to Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays to lose the game.
New Minnesota Twins closer Jon Rauch had little trouble in his first save opportunity striking out two in a scoreless inning of work.
