The Sport Spy MLB Report - 4/6

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Monday's Opening Day Wrapup
-Philadelphia cleanup hitter Ryan Howard hit a two-run home run as the first four batters in the lineup combined to go 8-for-18 with five runs scored, nine RBIs and five walks.
-The Phillies broke a streak of four consecutive opening day losses.
-The loss ended the Nationals' majors-best seven-game winning streak from the end of last season.
-St. Louis SP Chris Carpenter has won his last six starts against the Reds, going 4-0 last year.
-Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols' 17 homers at Great American are the second-most by a visiting player, trailing only Lance Berkman.
-New York Mets won their fifth straight opener and have won 32 of their last 41 Opening Day games. They've won 18 of the last 20 openers in New York.
-Mets SP Johan Santana improved to 4-1 with a 3.56 ERA in five career opening day starts.
-The Pirates, coming off a record-setting 17th consecutive losing season with the majors' lowest payroll, won on opening day for the fourth season in a row. Their payroll is about $34 million, or nearly the same as their 1992 team.
-The Dodgers outhit the Pirates 12-10, but left 10 on base.
-Milwaukee Brewers went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position in their 5-3 home loss to Colorado, as they stranded 11 runners overall.
-Atlanta Braves scored their most runs in an Opening Day game since 1900. The Braves already bested their season-high for runs in a game in 2009 (15) and scored as much as they did in six total games against the Cubs last season (18 runs).
-The Tigers scored six of their eight runs against the Royals' bullpen and batted around in their six-run 7th inning.
-Kansas City SP Zach Greinke allowed two runs but just one earned - he didn't allow an earned run last season until his fifth start.
-The Royals didn't have one player in their opening day lineup who played the same position on opening day last year.
-San Francisco is now 6-0 in six career starts by Lincecum against the Astros.
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Tampa Bay Rays
-The Rays open their 13th season tonight against the Baltimore Orioles. Tampa Bay is 6-6 in season openers, but has lost 4 of the last 5.
-It will be the 4th time the Rays have opened the season against the Orioles, 3rd in the last five years.
-Tampa Bay plays 16 of their first 19 games against teams from the American League East and played 16 of their 30 games in Spring Training against the AL East going 12-3-1.
-Tonight's game is sold out and the Rays are 32-9 when playing in front of crowds of 30,000+ in attendance.
-Over the past two seasons, The Rays are 109-53 at home - the second-best record in the majors during that span behind the Red Sox (112-50).
-The Rays have 100 wins against the Orioles, matching their most wins against an opponent (Toronto). Since September 5, 2007, the Rays are 15-4 at home against the Orioles.
-SP James Shields is the oldest member of the Rays' starting rotation. He led the Rays staff with a 2.11 ERA this spring over 5 starts. The Rays are 9-1 in his last 10 starts against Baltimore.
 

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Baltimore Orioles
-The Orioles are 8-8 when playing their Opening Day game on the road and have lost their last two such contests (2007 and 1995). Baltimore has opened the season at home in 26 of the last 29 years.
-Only 11 players from last year's Opening Day 25-man roster are with the Orioles tonight.
-New 1B Garrett Atkins (98) and 3B Miguel Tejada (285) have combined for 383 HR in their major league careers. The 13 hitters on the 25-man roster own 896 career ML homers.
-SP Kevin Milwood is making his 7th Opening Day start. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 12.96 ERA in three spring starts this year. He's 2-2 with a 6.16 ERA in five starts against Tampa Bay, including a 1-1 mark and 6.63 ERA in three starts at Tropicana Field.
 

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New York Yankees
-The 9-7 loss on Sunday night marked the Yankees' second consecutive Opening day defeat (lost 10-5 at Baltimore in 2009).
-New York's three scheduled starters for the Boston series (Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte) own a combined 28-16 record with a 3.81 ERA against Boston.
-The Yankees will play 32 of their first 51 games (62.7%) against teams that finished 2009 with a winning reocrd.
-New York has recorded five straight non-losing season series and have gone 10-3-2 in season series over the last 15 years against Boston.
-Team has lost 10 of their last 14 and 17 of 28 at Boston, after winning seven straight at Fenway from 5/23-8/21/06.
-SS Derek Jeter leads the Yankees hitters with a .375 average (9-for-24) against Boston SP Jon Lester.
-Among the 381 all-time MLB pitchers with 30-or-more career decisions against the AL East, SP A.J. Burnett ranks first with a .733 (33-12) career winning percentage. He was 13-7 with a 3.38 ERA in 30 starts not at Fenway Park in 2009.
 

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Boston Red Sox
-The Sox improved to 23-17 all-time when starting the season at home, including a 20-17 mark at Fenway Park.
-With Sunday's win, the Sox improved to 9-2 in their last 11 games against the Yankees at Fenway Park.
-Since 2001, the Sox are 28-11 in 39 April games against New York, including a 20-5 mark at Fenway Park.
-1B/3B Kevin Youkilis has hit safely in eight straight games dating back to September 2009, going 11-for-26 with 2 HRs and 9 RBI.
-SP Jon Lester has a 2-4 record and 4.78 ERA over 12 career starts during the months of March and April. He is 40-12 with a 3.50 ERA in his career during the remaining months of the regular season.
-Lester owns a 3-1 record and 3.88 ERA in 8 career starts against the Yankees.
 

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Minnesota Twins
-For the second consecutive year (6-1 loss vs Seattle last year) the Twins lost on Opening Day. Minnesota went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.
-SP Nick Blackburn went 8-4 with a 3.06 ERA with three complete games in 18 first-half starts. His 240 hits allowed led the AL.
-Blackburn is looking for his first career win tonight against the Angels, after posting a career record of 0-3 with a 5.72 ERA in five starts. He made his first career start in the Majors vs. Los Angeles on April 2, 2008, allowing one run on five hits in seven innings.
-The right-hander has posted a career road record of 7-17 with a 6.46 ERA in 39 games.
 

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Colorado Rockies
-LHP Greg Smith, who did not pitch in the Majors last season, will start for the Rockies in place of LHP Jeff Francis.
-Colorado has won its last 7 games vs the Brewers, matching the club's longest winning streak vs Milwaukee. The Rockies have won 7 of their last 11 games at Miller Park since going 6-12 in their first 18 games at the venue.
-RP Franklin Morales has successfully converted each of his last 8 save opportunities.
-SS Troy Tulowitzki went 1-for-4 yesterday to extend his hitting streak vs Milwaukee to 11 consecutive games. He owns a career .490 career batting average (24-for-49) vs Milwaukee.
-Ian Stewart hit his home run on a 3-0 count, last season the Rockies had just one home run on a 3-0 count.
-Bullpen inherited a total of 4 runners in yesterday's game and did not allow any of them to score.
-SP Greg Smith has never faced a team from the National League Central Division.
 

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Seattle Mariners
-The Mariners were 14-5 versus the A's last season (6-4 on the road, 8-1 at home). Seattle is 38-10 vs Oakland since 2007.
-Seattle didn't allow an extra base hit to the A's last night. The Mariners are 24-8 when they limit the Athletics to only singles, including 4-1 since the start of the 2009 season.
-Three stolen bases last night marked the first by the Mariners on Opening Day since 1992. Prior to last night Seattle had only recorded 9 stolen bases all-time on Opening Day.
-OF Ichiro Suzuki is riding a current 21-game hitting streak against the A's - batting .380 with 7 RBI during the streak.
-Turned four double plays last night defensively, just the 47th game in team history with four-or-more in a nine-inning game.
-SP Ian Snell is making his 8th career start versus an AL West opponent, going 3-2 with a 3.53 ERA. In his final 9 starts of the 2009 season, he went 5-1 with a 3.00 ERA - allowing 2 earned runs or less in 7 starts.
 

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San Francisco Giants
-Last night, RHP Tim Lincecum tossed 7 scoreless innings, allowing just 4 hits with 7 strikeouts. Since he entered the Majors in 2007, Lincecum has now had 16 starts in which he has not allowed a run while throwing at least 7 innings, which is the highest such total for any pitcher over that time.
-Mark DeRosa owns a .315 average with 8 HRs and 16 RBI in just 28 games at Minute Maid Park.
-Led the Majors last year, allowing two runs-or-less in game 67 times last season (St. Louis 65 / Chicago NL 56)
-Scoring 4 runs was one key to the Giants' success last season, as the team posted a 66-15 record when plating 4 or more runs in a game, which was the highest winning percentage among all MLB teams.
-The Giants have scored 2-or-less runs in 57 of Barry Zito's 98 starts.
-Zito has pitched at Minute Maid Park just once in his career, receiving a loss in 5.2 innings of work while allowing 6 earned runs on 4 hits and 5 walks.
 

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Los Angeles Angels
-The Angels have now won six of their last seven Opening days. OF Bobby Abreu's 13-game Opening Day hit streak came to an end last night (0/4).
-Los Angeles was 6-4 versus Minnesota in 2009 and have won seven straight season series over Minnesota.
-SP Joe Saunders finished the spring with a 1-2 record and 5.40 ERA in five starts. he is 3-1 with a 4.10 ERA lifetime against the Twins.
-RP Fernando Rodney was 0-0 with an 8.53 ERA in seven spring appearances.
-OF Bobby Abreau leads the Angels hitters against Minnesota SP Nick Blackburn, hitting .538 (7-for-13) with a HR.

Milwaukee Brewers
-The Brewers are 38-47 all-time against the Rockies, including 0-1 this season and 0-6 last season.
-Milwaukee went 12-for-37 in yesterday's 5-3 loss to the Rockies, but just 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position - leaving 11 runners on base.
-SP Randy Wolf has a 2-4 record and 5.95 ERA in eight career starts at Miller Park - first start as a member of the Brewers pitching staff.
-Wolf is 5-3 with a 4.02 ERA in 13 career starts versus Colorado, including a 1-1 mark with a 2.96 ERA in 4 starts last season.
 

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