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Monday afternoon Ubaldo Jimenez received NL Pitcher of the Month honors for April and then immediately started building his case for May with a career-high 13 strikeouts in seven innings of one-run ball against the Padres. He also threw 120 or more pitches for the third time in four starts and 115 or more pitches…

Padres right-hander Chris Young has been on the disabled list with a strained shoulder since throwing six shutout innings in the second game of the season and his first rehab outing was a mess yesterday at Double-A. Young couldn’t make it out of the first inning, allowing five runs on two hits and four walks…

Surprisingly picked by Joe Torre as the Dodgers’ Opening Day starter, Vicente Padilla not so surprisingly allowed 18 runs in 21.2 innings before landing on the disabled list with a nerve problem in his forearm. Torre indicated yesterday that Padilla is unlikely to rejoin the rotation before June: He is feeling better, but I don’t…

Just in case you thought Ozzie Guillen was the only member of the White Sox’s coaching staff who likes giving expletive-filled quotes, here’s pitching coach Don Cooper on Jake Peavy and the rest of his staff struggling: You can talk about a whole lot of stuff–mechanics, this and that, and the other things–but it’s time…

With the Astros in the midst of their second six-game losing streak of the young season, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart has some details on just how horrendous Houston’s lineup has been so far. Some of my favorite tidbits … * Houston has scored 72 runs in 24 games, which is 13 fewer runs than the second-worst…

Joe Mauer is out for at least a few days with a heel injury, so the Twins called up 22-year-old prospect Wilson Ramos from Triple-A and he went 4-for-5 against the Indians yesterday in his big-league debut. Ramos ranked No. 3 on my list of the Twins’ top prospects heading into the season, but was…

Last night Jim Tracy did something I’ve been begging managers to do for years, which is use his best reliever in most important spot regardless of whether it involved a so-called “save situation.” Tracy brought in closer Franklin Morales with a four-run lead, one out, and runners on the corners in the eighth inning, in…

Jimmy Rollins began a running program last week, but said Sunday that his strained calf remains sore and speculated that he won’t be ready to come off the disabled list for at least two more weeks. I’ve had pulled muscles, strained my groin and missed a game. Something like this where it felt like somebody…

Ben Sheets was awful again Sunday afternoon against the Blue Jays, allowing nine runs while failing to make it out of the fourth inning. Here’s what he said afterward: My breaking ball is absolutely getting walloped every time I throw it. I wouldn’t say my location has been this bad maybe since my rookie year.…

UPDATE: Lee tried to soften the situation in a chat with reporters after Saturday’s game: “Basically during the season I want to focus on pitching and not worry about that stuff. That’s more spring training and offseason type of stuff,” Lee said. “During the season I want to worry about pitching and focus on getting…

UPDATE: Further tests revealed a Grade 2 strain of Granderson’s left groin, according to the Bergen Record’s Pete Caldera. He has already been placed on the 15-day disabled list and could miss up to four weeks. 4:18pm: Curtis Granderson pulled up lame while running from first to third against the White Sox and has been…

Stephen Strasburg will make his final Double-A start tomorrow, with a Nationals source telling MLB.com’s Bill Ladson that the 21-year-old phenom will be promoted to Triple-A following the game. Strasburg has more than earned the promotion by absolutely toying with Double-A hitters, going 3-0 with a 0.52 ERA, .115 opponents’ batting average, and 23/3 K/BB…

Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports that Chris Dickerson “will have surgery to remove the hook of the hamate bone in his right hand along with arthroscopic surgery on his sprained right wrist.” No word yet on how long he’ll be sidelined, but Dickerson is scheduled to go under the knife Monday and will obviously be…

Earlier this week I wondered if Tanner Scheppers could be close to joining Neftali Feliz and Frank Francisco as late-inning options in Texas’ bullpen. He’s one step closer this afternoon, as the Rangers promoted him from Double-A to Triple-A after the 23-year-old right-hander posted a 0.82 ERA, .079 opponents’ batting average, and 19/0 K/BB ratio…

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., on criticism of the Ryan Howard contract extension: The sabermetricians are welcome to have their opinions about our business. However, I choose to ignore their opinions. Fair enough. However, as Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com notes: “Amaro is getting criticized for the Howard deal not just by sabermetricians, but also…

After missing seven straight starts with a strained hamstring Ryan Zimmerman is back in Washington’s lineup for tonight’s game against the Marlins. Zimmerman stayed off the disabled list while making two pinch-hitting appearances since his last start on April 21, which is the same approach the Nationals took when he initially missed time with a…

Barry Zito is 3-0 with a 1.32 ERA and Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News wrote a lengthy article about the oft-criticized southpaw’s resurgence, noting that he’s gone from “the most sunken of sunk costs” to thinking about pitching until he’s Jamie Moyer’s age. One great month after multiple hugely disappointing seasons obviously…

Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports that Victor Martinez has tried to improve his woeful throwing numbers by participating in twice-daily workout sessions with catching instructor Gary Tuck. Tuck praised Martinez’s work ethic while adding that “he came over here with some really bad habits” and “you can’t break them overnight.” I’d be interested to hear…

Rick Ankiel got off to a great start with the Royals, hitting .308 with three homers and three doubles through 11 games, but then went into a 1-for-21 slump that dropped his OPS nearly 250 points and suffered a strained right quadriceps muscle while running out a ground ball Saturday. Ankiel hasn’t played since the…

After back-to-back scoreless outings on his minor-league rehab assignment, Brad Lidge is scheduled to return from the disabled list tomorrow. Two weeks ago Charlie Manuel said Lidge may not immediately reclaim ninth-inning duties, but fill-in closer Ryan Madson blowing two of his last three save opportunities may have changed the manager’s mind. Even setting aside…

In the least shocking news of the week, Arizona has placed Kris Benson on the disabled list with a sore shoulder. When the Diamondbacks added him to the rotation two weeks ago I wrote that choosing the oft-injured, rarely effective, 35-year-old Benson over various minor-league options made little sense. He was actually better than I…

Out since suffering a high-ankle sprain in the middle of spring training, Ian Kinsler is expected to come off the disabled list and rejoin the Rangers’ lineup tomorrow. Ron Washington has said that Kinsler will move from his customary leadoff spot to fifth in Texas’ batting order, which along with the tender ankle should mean…

Jair Jurrjens left this afternoon’s start against the Cardinals after just one inning because of a strained hamstring. Jurrjens allowed three runs in the opening frame, at which point reliever Kris Medlen got loose in a hurry out in the bullpen and replaced him to begin the second inning. Off to a rough start even…

As a follow-up to my MLB/Twitter report from earlier this week, I’m told that what I called a “ban” on MLB.com writers using their Twitter accounts for non-baseball topics was really more like “a strongly worded suggestion” (that every writer followed, since that’s what happens when your employer makes a strong suggestion). To me that…

Minnesota allowed 10 unanswered runs to Detroit last night to turn a 6-1 lead into an 11-6 loss and now the Twins are without Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and J.J. Hardy for this afternoon’s series finale. Morneau is out indefinitely after leaving Tuesday’s game with back soreness. Hardy has a case of turf toe that…