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Stewarts debut, a feel-good story in the Bronx, Heyward and Holliday return and more in Fridays Between the Lines. Jadeveon Clowney Jersey . 1. Blue Jays RHP Zach Stewart impressed in his Major League debut, allowing two earned runs on seven hits, with four strikeouts over seven innings in a no-decision against the Orioles. Stewart, who is 24, was 4-3 with a 4.39 ERA in a dozen starts at Double-A. The 24-year-old had 49 strikeouts and 21 walks in 69 2/3 innings, so hes not going to overpower in the majors. If hes going to stick around, Stewart will rely on location, keeping the ball down and inducing more groundballs than fly balls (he had eight ground ball outs and nine flyball outs in his debut). 2. Brewers RHP Zack Greinke has everything going for him but his ERA. Hes 6-2, with a 1.24 WHIP and a ridiculous strikeouts-per-nine rate of 11.81, easily the best of his career. His previous high was in 2009, when he struck out 9.51 per nine innings. Greinkes strikeout rate is also the best in baseball, among pitchers with at least 50 innings, this season. Torontos Brandon Morrow ranks second with 10.93 strikeouts per nine and hes the only other starter with more than ten strikeouts per nine innings. The downfall for Greinke thus far has been his home run rate, allowing seven homers in 53 1/3 innings (1.18 per nine innings), his highest rate since his rookie year and his rate of home runs per flyball is 13.5%, which ranks 12th-worst among pitchers with at least 50 innings this season. 3. Making a spot start for the Yankees Thursday, 32-year-old Brian Gordon allowed two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched in his first big league action since three relief appearances for Texas in 2008. Gordon had opted out of his minor league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies after going 5-0 with a 1.14 ERA in 12 games, nine of them starts, at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Gordon was dominating, posting 56 strikeouts and seven walks in 55 1/3 innings, so there is some reason to believe he could have success at the major league level. Gordon didnt start pitching until 2007, after his career as an outfielder stalled at Triple-A. However, to be fair, while its a tremendous story of perseverance, its not easy to place significant major league expectations on a 32-year-old rookie. In recognition of Gordons dominating strikeout-to-walk ratio at Triple-A, and Greinkes excellence, here are the major leaguers with the best K/BB rate this year (minimum 50 innings): Player Team K BB K/BB Roy Halladay Philadelphia 114 14 8.14 Zack Greinke Milwaukee 70 9 7.78 Dan Haren L.A. Angels 87 15 5.80 Cole Hamels Philadelphia 97 19 5.11 David Price Tampa Bay 94 20 4.70 Cliff Lee Philadelphia 111 24 4.63 Justin Verlander Detroit 105 26 4.04 Bartolo Colon N.Y. Yankees 72 18 4.00 Jeff Karstens Pittsburgh 47 12 3.92 Josh Tomlin Cleveland 46 12 3.83 4. Cubs OF Kosuke Fukudome was sliding out of the a regular job last season, but is bouncing back this year and not just because of Tyler Colvins struggles. Fukudome has a .409 on-base percentage (and .828 OPS) which, in its own right, should be enough to hold down a regular spot in any lineup. Fukudome also makes a lot of contact; hes one of 28 players in baseball to have fewer than 5.0% swinging strikes this season. White Sox LF Juan Pierre has the lowest swinging strike rate, just 1.9%. 5. Nationals 2B Danny Espinosa may never hit for a high average, though his .254 BABIP is likely to improve, but he does bring other things to the table, including 12 home runs and 41 RBI, which rank third among second basemen. Espinosa has decent plate discipline, but tends to have poor contact rates, which would seem to be more of an indication of a hole in his swing, one that will be exploited, particularly by good major league pitchers. 6. Braves RF Jason Heyward returned to the lineup Wednesday, after missing more than three weeks with a shoulder problem. Heyward hasnt been able to duplicate his rookie season success As a rookie, Heyward did have some good fortune, including a .335 BABIP and 16.8% home run/fly ball rate. This season, while presumably playing at least a little bit with the shoulder injury that ultimately sidelined him, Heyward has a .238 BABIP, though his home run/fly ball rate remains an exceptional 18.9%. 7. Cardinals LF Matt Holliday is also back in the lineup, which is good for the Cardinals since hes one of seven players, with a minimum of 100 plate appearances, to have an OPS over 1.000 this season. When Oakland traded Holliday to St. Louis in July, 2009, they received Brett Wallace, who went to Toronto before settling in Houston and the 24-year-old is having a decent season, hitting .316 with little power, as the Astros first baseman. Also in the deal: RHP Clayton Mortensen, who has performed well (2-3, 3.26 ERA, 1.23 WHIP) splitting time between the Rockies rotation and bullpen, and OF Shane Peterson. 8. Rangers LHP C.J. Wilson struck out 10 Yankees Thursday, the fifth time this season that he had a double-digit strikeout game, after recording two all of last year and Wilson has effectively improved across the board from last year, which was already pretty good in his first year as a starter. 9. Minnesotas Tsuyoshi Nishioka returned to the lineup, more than two months after breaking his leg, and played shortstop for the Twins, with Alexi Casilla handling second base. It probably speaks to the quality of Minnesotas lineup (with no Mauer and no Morneau), but Nishioka did hit third on Thursday, so there are obviously expectations that hes going to be able to produce offensively. The good news for the improving Twins is that Mauer has been activated off the DL and is expected to play Friday. 10. If you havent seen the trailer for the movie Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Johan Hill, you can check it out here. Fridays Best Pitching Matchups:PHI (Roy Oswalt) at SEA (Michael Pineda)DET (Rick Porcello) at COL (Jason Hammel)CWS (Edwin Jackson) at ARI (Daniel Hudson) Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Kareem Jackson Youth Jersey . The Bruins suffered their share of setbacks, a notable one just a week earlier. Once the Pac-12 tournament got rolling, the Bruins took off.Custom Texans Jersey . Darvish is scheduled to make his season debut Sunday at Tampa Bay after getting through an extended bullpen session without any issues.DURHAM, N.C. -- Coach Mike Krzyzewski is out of the hospital and at practice with No. 4 Duke after feeling light-headed during a loss at Wake Forest. Team spokesman Matt Plizga says Krzyzewski led practice on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the school issued a statement that Krzyzewski was taken to Duke University Hospital in Durham for a precautionary examination after the 82-72 loss in Winston-Salem.. Jared Crick Womens Jersey. He was sent home in the early morning after the school says his condition improved. The 67-year-old Hall of Fame coach took a knee during a timeout in the second half of Wednesday nights game. He did not attend the postgame news conference. Associate head coach Steve Wojciechowski said after the game that Krzyzewski had not been sick and has been in good physical shape. cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
