We didn't quite get a full night of action Wednesday, as one game was rained out. Still, 14 games works. Let's start off The Lineup by giving some love to a trio of underappreciated left-handers and go from there.
Complete Tuesday night scoreboard
3 UP
Paul Maholm, Cubs. After a horrific first two starts, the left-hander is starting to endear himself to Cubs faithful. Wednesday, he threw seven shutout innings against a good Braves' offense, allowing only three hits in a 1-0 victory. This means that in Maholm's last four starts he is 4-0 with a 1.07 ERA and 0.83 WHIP. The Cubs have won 10 of their past 17, including taking series from the Dodgers and Braves consecutively.
Christian Friedrich, Rockies. The 24-year-old lefty was once a top-40 prospect in baseball, as he was a first-round pick in 2008, but bad 2010 and 2011 seasons caused his stock to plummet. He entered this season as a bit of an afterthought due to all the pitchers Colorado acquired in the offseason (and in 2011). Wednesday afternoon, though, he made his major-league debut -- yes, in spacious Petco Park against the anemic Padres, but stick with me here -- and threw six strong innings. He gave up five hits and only one earned run while striking out seven in a 6-2 Rockies win. More importantly, it ended a five-game losing streak for Colorado.
Jason Vargas, Mariners. The Mariners have Felix Hernandez. Within the last year, they've traded Doug Fister and Michael Pineda. And there's also a trio of studly, young arms in Double-A right now eyeing the majors. But I'll tell you, Jason Vargas is not too shabby. Wednesday night he went out and threw eight innings of five-hit ball against the Tigers, allowing only one earned run and striking out six in a 2-1 Mariners victory. He's certainly no ace, but is capable of these gems on occasion.
3 DOWN
Kyle Kendrick, Phillies. As Danny Knobler tweeted from Citizens Bank Park Wednesday night, the boos for Kendrick were so loud you would've thought Bobby Valentine was in the house. Kendrick only recorded three outs, but he managed to cough up four hits, two walks, a hit batsman and five earned runs. Oh, and the game, too. He entered with a two-run lead and the Mets won 10-6.
Marlins closers. Ozzie Guillen switched to Steve Cishek as his ninth-inning guy and Wednesday Cishek blew a save against the Astros. And then Heath Bell pitched a scoreless 10th. Is there some kinda "home run feature" curse? Or Castro curse (don't tell Ozzie I said that, please)? They did end up winning the game, 5-3, in 12 innings, but burning an extra three innings worth of relief adds up over the course of 162 games. They need to get the ninth inning settled.
The Diamondbacks. The scuffle continues. It just depends on how broad a picture we want to paint. We could say they've lost five in a row. We could say they've lost seven of eight. We could say they're 7-15 since a 7-3 start ... or we could say they're 10-18 since a 4-0 start. It's all pretty bad. The good news is there's a lot more season left and the D-Backs were 15-22 at one point last year.
Double the fun. After the Orioles-Rangers game -- a.k.a. the follow-up to Josh Hamilton's four-homer game -- was washed out Wednesday night, our eyes then turned to Thursday. That is because there will be a doubleheader, starting at 4:05 p.m. ET. Two teams playing better than .600 ball, the Hamilton drama and the Orioles trying to scrape together enough healthy, rested pitching are among the many storylines. Game 1 pits Colby Lewis against Wei-Yin Chen. Game 2 is Derek Holland against Tommy Hunter.
Lefties meet in rubber match. Big one here. After a David Robertson blown save Wednesday night, the Yankees and Rays have taken one game each in the Bronx. Thursday, in the rubber game, we get a marquee pitching matchup: CC Sabathia (4-0, 4.15) vs. David Price (5-1, 2.35). 7:05 p.m. ET
Stopper time. The Nationals drafted Stephen Strasburg (2-0, 1.66) No. 1 overall and committed millions to him so he would be a game-changing ace. He looks the part this season and he'll get the chance to prove himself again Thursday, as the Nats need him to stop a three-game losing streak and avoid a sweep in Pittsburgh. Kevin Correia (1-2, 3.38) gets the nod for the Pirates. 7:05 p.m. ET
Full Thursday scoreboard
• Sleeping on the job. I couldn't stop myself from laughing, because I found this headline utterly hilarious (on MLB.com): "McNamee arrives; juror dismissed for sleeping." Come to find out, it was a 27-year-old unemployed man who continually told the court during voir dire that he'd rather be sleeping than serving on the jury. How about that for civic responsibility.
• A bit too honest? Via Big League Stew, an Austrian news outlet used "Ex-Junkie" in their headline about Josh Hamilton's four-homer game Tuesday night. As Stew noted, it isn't exactly incorrect, it just doesn't seem proper to use when celebrating his accomplishment, no?
• Find the loophole. When the new CBA was announced, one of the biggest issues many had was the cap on international spending, especially because that was one of the ways small-market clubs could close the gap on large-market ones. Well, loopholes are already being found, and Baseball America outlines them and how those actions might work out.
• Too many bunts. Much ado has been made about Don Mattingly's eighth-inning decision to bunt Tuesday night. There were runners on first and second with no outs and Mark Ellis at the plate. When Ellis laid down the sacrifice, that meant there were runners on second and third and one out. That's good, right? Well, Matt Kemp was coming to the plate with first base open. So Mattingly essentially took the bat out of his hands. Andre Ethier followed with an inning-ending double play and the Dodgers lost by one. Anyway, over at Fangraphs.com, Dave Cameron goes to great lengths to outline how overused the sacrifice bunt is in today's game. I agree with him, but I don't think the people who love bunting are prepared to budge anytime soon.
• Affordable tickets. Whining about ticket prices is a common refrain among fans who see the astronomical salaries of players and believe there's no chance a real family can reasonable attend a baseball game. And while there are plenty of expensive tickets in many stadiums across the country, the reality is that with a 162-game season, it's not that hard to find a great buy. Time.com has a feature on tickets being sold on the cheap via the secondary market -- noting $4 seats in Fenway Park, $1.99 seats in Minnesota and $1.45 seats in Pittsburgh. Miami, Cincinnati and Washington were also found to have seats selling for $2 or less. If you really wanna go to a game in your area, just nose around.
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