Jeff Francoeur finally drew his first walk of the season after 132 at bats without a single free pass.  He has now walked once this season in 134 AB and 12 times total in 391 major league at bats.  He is hitting just .231

 

Mike Lowell has yet to find his home run stroke for the Red Sox, but he is leading the majors with 19 doubles and is hitting a robust .339 for Boston. 

 

Since beginning the season 0-9 with 7 K, Prince Fielder is 40 for his last 111 (.360) with just 21 K to go with 5 HR and 18 RBI.  He is hitting .333 overall.

 

Albert Pujols went deep once again, his 17^th of the season in just 33 games (and a game winner to boot).  The amazing Albert is also leading the majors in RBI with 41, and has walked 31 times while striking out just 9 times in 144 plate appearances.  Possibly more impressive, yet less noticed, is that Pujols is one of only 4 first sackers in baseball, and the only National Leaguer, with 0 errors while starting more than 30 games.  Albert also possesses the top Range Factor among all 1B at 11.88.

 

Famed Moneyball catcher Jeremy Brown was recalled by Oakland today to replace Jason Kendall on the A’s roster while Kendall sits out a suspension for charging the Angles John Lackey (in the same brawl that saw Chris Bootcheck go on the DL after straining his hamstring running out to join the fracas).  Brown, who did not play on Tuesday, was hitting .333 with 3 HR and 11 RBI in 19 games at Sacramento.  Adam Melhuse is expected to get most of the playing time while Kendall misses four games.

 

The Padres saw their 9 game win streak stopped on Tuesday in a 5-4 10 inning loss to the Brewers, while the Phillies extended their own streak to 9 with a win over Pedro Martinez and the division leading Mets.   It was another 5-4 thriller that saw the Mets score 4 times in the 8^th and 9^th innings only to lose in the bottom of the 9^th. 

 

Duaner Sanchez, in the Mets loss, gave up his first run of the season in 22 innings.  His ERA rose from 0.00 to 0.41.  That leaves the Phillies’ Rheal Cormier as the major league leader in innings pitched without surrendering a run (earned or otherwise) with 14. 

 

The Marlins lost their 11^th straight home game, and fourth overall, as their record dipped to 8-22. 

 

The White Sox saw Jim Thome hit his 14^th homer of the year as Freddy Garcia got himself on track. He ran his record to 5-1 with an impressive 8 inning, 5 hit and no walk performance over the struggling Angels.  The White Sox are now 23-9, the top mark in baseball.

 

Meanwhile, Jose Contreras went on the DL, suffering from sciatica in his right leg.  5-0 with a league-best 1.41 ERA and a 13 game winning streak, Contreras will miss at least two starts.

 

Since going 0-4 and seeing his average drop to just .177 on April 18, Ichiro has gone 29 for his last 79 (.367) to raise his overall average up to .288.

 

Adrian Beltre has 13 hits in his last 42 AB (.309) to up his BA to .230.  He has hit safely in 6 straight and 8 of 10.

 

Red Sox starter Josh Beckett (my preseason pick for Cy Young) improved his record to 4-1 in Boston’s 14-3 rout of the Yankees and Randy Johnson.

 

In last weekend’s series against the Phillies, Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel fielded 0 ground balls and 0 popups despite playing every inning of all three games.

 

Meanwhile the slick fielding Vizquel has made just one error so far this season and is hitting .330, making him an early top candidate for this year’s mid-summer classic.

 

Jeff Kent, looking to right himself, hit his 2^nd homer of the year on Tuesday and drove in 4, raising his average to .209.  Houston lost its 5^th straight against the suddenly tougher-than-expected NL West.  It was the Dodgers’ 4^th straight win.

 

Barry Bonds faces Carlos Zambrano on Wednesday night as he once again takes aim at the Babe in what could be his final at bats before the Dodgers come to town on Friday night.  The Giants and Cubs play a matinee on Thursday and Bonds likely will not start. 

 

Bonds hit number 500 of his career and numbers 71, 72 and 73 in his record breaking 2001 season against the rival Dodgers.  Hank Aaron hit his 715^th against Al Downing of the Dodgers on April 8, 1974.

 

Cubs CF Juan Pierre possibly took number 714 away from Bonds on Tuesday night but in the same game saw his personal 18 game hitting streak against the Giants come to an end as he went 0-4 in the Cubs’ 8^th straight loss.