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Ryan Howard was given a rest until Friday at the earliest by manager Charlie Manuel. It is nothing serious, just some aches and pains and the Phills just want to make sure he is 100% and not a reoccuring injury. For those who have him, this is a tough decision to make a roster move. Hopefully you have a bench player to fill in until the weekend.

Another young superstar is hurting, only he landed on the DL. Joe Mauer suffered a strained quad and will be out for a couple weeks. With the catcher position being thin, I wouldnt necessarily be looking for trade offers to replace him, but a free agent pick up should tide your team over until he returns.

For my 2 cents on the Clemens signing. Clemens is one of those “if you had 1 pitcher for 1 game” type guys. Fierce, hardnosed, and a great clubhouse guys. I think this is a perfect fit for right now in his career. The Yanks genuinely wanted him back and he wanted to come back. The blank check helped also, but this will make the AL East very interesting this summer and not a runaway as it was turning out to be. I stand by my prediction and say the BoSox still win the division, but not until the final week of the season.

By the way, Clemens says he’ll prepare as if his first start will be around the end of May, 1st of June. I’ll leave you with this, guess who and where the Yanks play on June 1st. Until then…

If it was only for 7 innings last night, the Yankees were thinking maybe, just maybe the ship is turning. Super prospect Phil Hughes is cruising along. Some in the Bronx actually were thinking no hitter once he hit the 7th inning. Then it happened. Hughes left the game with a strained hamstring, seems like its in the water these days, and will miss 4-6 weeks. The good news is they found out this kid can pitch at this level, but they need solid outings now. Mike Mussina is due back this week, but this has to be dissapointing.

I keep looking at the NL Central standings and keep thinking the Brewers are going to fade and it has not been happening. Considering no other team is over .500, maybe this division isn’t as good as we thought. We have a lot of baseball left, but the Brewers?

Seems we never talk about the NL West, and there is some very good baseball being played on the west coast. This may be the most exciting division in all of baseball. There are no less than 4 teams with winning records, making this a very interesting race throughout the season.

I think its obvious that ARod woul dbe MVP for April. If you remember a few columns ago, I mentioned Todd Helton. This guy just keeps amazing me with what he does at the plate. He is 1st in OBP in the NL and hitting .385. His power days are over, but he has shown enough to warrant that if you can get him cheap from another owner, I would seriously consider acquiring him, he will lift your team Average and be an asset. Heres a side stat to show you what plate discipline he has and the ability to find his pitch. He has been struck out 6 times and get this, has managed to walk to first 25 times. That is no fluke either. Over a career, he has to have the best BB/K ratio in the history of the game. Until then…

Ryan Howard is expected to be in the Phillies lineup this afternoon in Cincinnati. That is a welcomed sight for a team who has managed 2 wins in their last 10 games. Things aren’t going as Jimmy Rollins planned when he said they were the team to beat in that division. This certainly helps. With Hamels coming into a legit number 1 starter, they need the breaks to start going their way in a hurry, to compete with the Mets and Braves.

Speaking of the Mets and Braves. For someone who loves pitching matchups like I do, today is Glavine/Smoltz part 2. The two teams split this weekends games and this will decide the series winner. I have a feeling the race between these two teams will be very entertaining all season long.

Couple injury status reports. Looks like Chien Ming Wang will return to the Yankee rotation Tuesday against Tampa. For fantasy purposes, he will get 2 starts this week, Boston being the other start. King Felix will play catch Monday and Tuesday and have a bullpen session on Wednesday. Manager Mike hargrove says they will make a determination then if he will officially be placed on the DL, or work his way through it and make a start shortly thereafter. Stay tuned.

No predictions today, somewhat of a hot streak, going 3 for my last 3. Enjoy the games today. Until then…

It may be me, but it seems there a lot of little injuries this year causing some lost games.  Yesterday, Miguel Cabrera went down with a strained oblique.  According to the Marlins, he has a 50/50 chance of playing tonight against the Nats.  I guess it depends on the strain, as Ramon Hernandez has the same injury and has yet to play so far this season.  Cabrera may miss the series and be ready to go Monday.

Ryan Howard has a knee problem the Phils are describing as day to day.  This doesn’t sound too serious, a MRI revealed no damage.  Look for him to be back this weeekend.  That has to be good news for a team desperate for some good news.

As reported yesterday, King Felix will miss 2-3 starts and go on the DL.  I think it’s still too early to determine how many starts he’ll miss.  I would say he’ll miss more than 3+ starts.  No need to rush him so early in the season.  Looks like Randy Johnson will be back next week.  He struck out 7 in 6 innings yesterday.  He’ll most likely face the Padres  next week.

A bit of rivalry this flavor this weekend.  BoSox and Yankees play 3 in Fenway.  Schilling and Pettitte go tonight.  It’s fun to watch the early games and late season games in this rivalry,  this should be a good one this weekend.  Cards and Cubs play a set in Chicago.  Ted Lilly starts this afternoon, a good few outings for him so far.  The Mets get to return the favor and beat the Braves this time in New York.  The Mets are hot.  Sunday we get Glavine/Smoltz part 2.

AJ Burnett and Daniel Cabrera play tonight in Camden Yards.  This should be a high scoring game.   Take the Over.  Until then…

As you may be aware, Alfonso Soriano suffered a hamstring pull in yesterdays blowout and will miss at least 5 days. The Cubs are optimistic he will avoid the DL, but don’t be surprised if he lands there. Again, with these type of injuries, there is no rush in getting him back out there and aggrevating it and missing more time. Check the waiver wire for some short term relief.

Bartolo Colon is scheduled to make his debut Saturday against the Mariners. He fell out of favor with me the past couple years. I would definitely give him a start to see what he does before activating him. On the Angels front, the big sigh of relief you heard yesterday was from LA or Anaheim or wherever they’re from. Vlad Guerrero’s x-rays were negative and unless you’re George Constanza, that’s a good thing. The Angels could not afford to have his bat out of the lineup.

Roy Oswalt is going today on 3 days rest. I don’t believe this will be a problem, but noteworthy nonetheless. Also DiceK part 3 takes place tonight in Toronto. Hopefully this circus ends soon. John Smoltz gets to avenge his loss to the Nats tonight with back to back efforts against them. Tomorrow is definitely more enticing for pitching matchups, until then…

You either hate him or love him, but every baseball fan should agree he is a special talent we may never see again in our lifetime. Bonds returned to where it all started last night and just to show how much he loves Pittsburgh and their fans, he gave them a little bit of history. Zach Duke was terrible, when Russ Ortiz is doubling down the line, its not a bad night, its a career low bad night. Chacon gave up the second blast. 736 and 737, steroids or not, is impressive.

Rafael Furcal showed he is back and should have no problems. 2-5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. No SB attempts, that should come as early as tonight. That game is featuring Jake Peavy against Jason Schmidt. There are 2 games I really really like today and this is one of them. The Padres will put it on the Dodgers tonight and knock Schmidt around.

The other matchup I am looking at is the Phillies/Astros game. Carlos Lee with 3 jacks last night and Oswalt picks up his 100th win as well. Today things change as the Phills with Cole Hamels get the job done and beat the Astros.

Roy Halladay gets the rare 10 IP CG victory. He only threw 107 pitches in 10 innings. That is effecient. I wonder if he had a side session to get all his work in. Anyway, great performance last night.

I guess C. Zambrano is still fuming over getting the white milk. 4IP 6 H 6ER, 4 BB and 2 K’s. As it turns out, Sweet Lou wanted chocolate as well, he was a little cranky after the game. Hey Cubs, when these guys want chocolate, get them chocolate!

Finally your Yankee starting pitcher injury of the day goes to……Carl Pavano. Forearm tendinitis. Do you think Georgy just fedexed a certain pitcher a blank check and said I’ll see you here May 1st?

The Nats attempt to be the first team to lose 10 games today in New York. Go get em, boys. Until then….

Well the unthinkable happened. The Washington Nationals went and beat John Smoltz last night in Atlanta. If the Braves could’ve mustered any resemblance of an offense at all, Smoltz wins, but as it stands, the Nats are only 5.5 games back, look out Mets. The Twins and Orioles needed last atbat hits to beat the D Rays and Royals. You need these type of wins over the course of the season if you want to be contenders.

Your hamstring pull of the night goes to Gil Meche of the Royals. Good job Gil. Other injured pitcher news, it looks like Jared Weaver will rejoin the Angels this weekend and make his first start Monday. I would wait until after Monday at least to see how it goes. I would believe he would be on a pitch count and not make it past the 6th.

There seems to be a lot of aces going today. The matinee in Chicago puts Harang against C. Zambrano. Is it just me or does it seem like Zambrano is like that hot headed kid who wanted chocolate milk and got white instead and can’t exchange it. Hey Carlos, it’s just milk, how about smiling every once in a while and not looking like someone took your bicycle.

Houston and Philly, Oswalt and B. Myers. Two teams that need a series win. Speaking of the Astros, if I am Brad Lidge, I put a for sale sign in my yard like yesterday. I will actually be in PNC Park in right field praying for a Barry Bonds homerun ball. If so check ebay tomorrow, I have a deal for you. Halladay and J. Bonderman go in Toronto and in Minnesota J. Santana and S. Kazmir face off in the Dome. The Ben Sheets/Anthony Reyes matchup in St. Louis should be fun as well.

As it turns out, Mike Mussina may land on the DL if he will miss a couple starts. Do you think Cashman has a certain pitchers number on speed dial in Texas? Until then…

The Braves continued their dominance on the NL East last night with an 8-3 win over the Nats.  Nothing impressive though, the only lead they have had all season was the walk off last inning win against the Marlins.  Pathetic.  On the flip side, the Braves have been terrific.  As you heard here first, Tim Hudson had a fantastic start Tuesday going 7 innings giving up only 3 hits.  They’ll slow down, but they look awfully good right now.

Oh yeah I knew I was forgetting something.  The most hyped game in a while not involving the Yankees was played last night.  The hype was for Ichiro and DiceK.  DiceK won that battle, but unfortunately for him the battle he wanted to win, didn’t happen.  King Felix stole the show going the distance giving up only 1 hit.  If he needed a coming out party, not the kind Olen expects to throw, this was it.  Of course it comes as no surprise he dominated from those on this site, but he did it in tough circimstances when his team really needed it.

Travel day aroung the league today, an abbreviated schedule.  Philly needs the win today.  To go in and beat the Mets would do wonders for a struggling team right now.

What is with all these hamstring injuries.  Mussina leaves last night with a hammy.  Don’t these guys stretch beforehand.  Drives me nuts.

Thats all for today.   I’ll have some intriguing matchups for the weekend in tomorrows post.  Until then…

Lets run down some injury status of some prominent players.  First, it looks like Chris Carpenters elbow is a little more than the Cards lead on.  He will be shut down for 2 weeks and they are optimistic he will be able to go by the end of the month.  I’m not so sure.  With an elbow problem, they are going to be real careful, look for him to be out at least a month, best case.  Jason Schmidt tweaked a hamstring in his start yesterday.  He said it felt better by the end of the game and should not miss a start.  Still with a hammy, keep an eye on this situation.

Hideki Matsui was placed on the 15 day DL with a hamstring.  I don’t think this will be abythign but a normal stint on the DL.  Rafael Furcal is expected to rejoin the Dodgers Friday.  He will play in their A affiliate today and with the Dodgers day off Thursday, he will play Friday.

Randy Johnson made a rehab start Sunday at the Single A level.  He struckout 4 over 6 innings.  He said he had good velocity and will make 1 more rehab start before rejoining the Dbacks later this month.

Yesterday, as I expected, D. Cabrera’s outing against the Tigers was flawless.  7 IP 7H 2ER 5K and more importantly no walks.  He looks very good early on.   I’m sticking with my prediction that Hudson will have a good week, so the Braves should handle the Nats today.  Another good matchup should be the Angels and Indians.   Ervin Santana and Sabathia go at it.  Theres a couple pitchers who I expect to pitch well today.  Until then…

So after 1 full week of games, the usual cast of characters shines through.  The top HR producers, Arod, Vlad, Rollins, Dunn, Sizemore, sound familiar?  RBI’s you ask- Ok Arod, Vlad, Mig. Cabrera, Beltran, Reyes.  You have your Ellis’s sprinkled in, but for the most part, the superstars did their job.  Pitchers on the other hand, other than Santana, no real superstar shone through.  Kip Wells had 2 terriffic starts.  I believe he will have a tremendous season, if he is still available, pick him up.  Livan Hernandez, El Duque, Peavy also had 2 starts worth mentioning.  On the flip side, Zito, Bedard, Brett Myers, Kazmir, did not pitch like the staff aces they were predicted to do.

Chris Carpenter suffered a setback during his side session over the weekend.  This does not sound good at all.   This is an elbow problem, so I would think the Cards will be ultra careful with this, so early in the season as well.  Speaking of injuries, Yankees lose an allstar and get one back, and thats just in their outfield.  Matsui was sent to the DL and he will be replaced by Johnny Damon, who is now just coming back from his own injury.  All Damon did was hit a triple in his first at bat. An 11 pitch at bat by the way. Not bad.  When was the last time the Yanks opened the season with their entire rotation not getting out of the 5th??  Never.  Never Ever.  This is why they will not win this division.

Here’s a couple 2 start pitchers to keep an eye on.  Tim Hudson gets the Nats and Marlins, both at home this week.  John Maine draws the Phillies and Nats, both at home.  Maine and Hamels, Olens heartthrob, get it on in the Mets home opener today.  Daniel Cabrera should have 2 great outings this week also, Detroit and KC, again both at home.

Any comments please post on the message board.  Until then…