Boxscore

No, he doesn’t wear a ruby-quartz visor to contain the destructive energies produced by his eyes, but Xavier Nady continues to have a fine April, like he so often does. Raise that trade value, X-Man!

The Pirates (8-12) scored all their runs in the 6th thanks to two-out hits from Ryan Doumit and Nady, and it was all they needed. Paul Maholm (1-2) got the win and Matt Capps (S 5) got the save. Ricky Nolasco (1-2) got the loss for the Marlins (12-8).

The Pirates, ever full of hope about winning, host the Cardinals tonight at 7:05pm EDT. They send Ian Snell against Todd Wellemeyer.

Boxscore

So pitching wasn’t exactly a strong suit in the game between the Cardinals (13-8) and the Brewers (12-8).

Kyle Lohse had his first bad outing of the year for the Cardinals–the first of many, I’m sure–and lasted only four innings. Needless to say, he didn’t really factor in the outcome of the game thanks to the Brewers bullpen, which couldn’t hold an 8-3 lead.

The hero of the game is Gabe Kapler, who drove in the winning run in the 12th off Jason Isringhausen (1-1) to give Seth McClung (1-0) the award of last bullpener standing.

The Cardinals move to Pittsburgh where Todd Wellemeyer faces Ian Snell at 7:05pm EDT. The Brewers next host the Phillies and Cole Hamels, sending out Dave Bush at 8:05pm EDT.

Boxscore

The Reds (8-12) and Matt Belisle (0-1) discovered that minor league batters aren’t as good as their Major League counterparts when they played the Dodgers (8-11).

Belisle had dominated during rehabbing in the minors, but managed only one scoreless inning in the four he pitched. He sure didn’t provide Josh Fogg any competition for that fifth starter’s spot.

Meanwhile, for the Dodgers, Brad Penny (3-2) cruised to a win and Chan Ho Park (S 1) pitched the final three innings to pick up his first career save.

Lots of misery for the Reds over the last few series. Bright spots were provided by the young guys as both Edwin Encarnacion and Joey Votto homered.

Also worth noting, Jerry Hairston, Jr, made his first appearance as a Red. Yes, he was called up before the game when Juan Castro was DFAd. I envision it as a big fight between Wayne Krivsky and Dusty Baker. I mean, these players are on the receiving end of some serious man-crush action from the higher-ups despite never providing any benefit to their teams. Perhaps Krivsky and Baker are made for each other, given their love of no-hit, crappy-fielding middle infielders.

The Reds try not to lose another series when they Edinson Volquez against Hong-Chih Kuo tonight at 7:10pm EDT.

Boxscore

On the day that speculation is raised about the Cubs possibly throwing the 1918 World Series, a year before the South-Siders did so, the Cubs (13-6) responded by hammering the Mets (10-8). Take that, history!

The Big Moose (3-1) was excellent in seven innings, while John Maine (1-2) wasn’t so much.

I imagine the Cubs are hoping for more decades-old scandals to erupt to continue propelling them on their charge into first. Who knows what skeletons Ron Santo has hidden.

The Mets try to stop the Cubs 4-game winning streak when they send Nelson Figueroa out against Ted Lilly at 2:20pm EDT.

Boxscore

I stop paying attention to baseball over the weekend, and lo and behold, the Astros (8-12) embarked on an actual winning streak. Sure it’s only two games, but that’s a start.

Roy Oswalt (2-3) seems to have returned to his old self, pitching 7 innings, striking out 6, and allowing just three runs. Former Red Justin Germano (0-2) was awful for the padres, allowing 10 runs, all earned, in his 3 1/3 innings. Ouch.

It’s nice to see the Astros offense start to come around. Berkman and Tejada both homered for Houston.

The Astros seek to continue their streaking ways tonight when Jake Peavy goes against Brandon Backe at 8:05pm EDT.